What Jesus Says About Worry & Anxiety (#2 of 2)

Greg Laurie: Don't worry about anything, pray about everything. Worry is a pathway of anxiety and stress and sleepless nights. Prayer can put our hearts at ease. God's peace will protect you if you pray about it instead of worry about it. So turn your panic into prayer, turn your worry into worship, turn your anxieties into petitions. Lord, I'm troubled by this right now and I just commit it to you.
Guest (Male): Have you noticed how problems always seem bigger in the middle of the night? They can overwhelm us, they can rob us of sleep and steal our peace. In the middle of the night, when we can't figure out what to do, we need to remember that God works the night shift. He's up all night anyway, why not cast our cares on Him? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie returns to the Sermon on the Mount for great reassurance from Jesus Himself for worry-free days and restful nights.
Greg Laurie: Grab your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 6. The title of my message is "What Jesus Says About Worry and Anxiety." Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 25: "I say to you, do not worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable to Him than they are? Can you with all of your worries add a single moment to your life? Why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. So if God so cares for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He certainly cares for you. Why don't you have more faith? Don't worry about these things saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father knows all your needs. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Point number one, if you're taking notes: the believer should not worry. Jesus was not saying a Christian should not think about or be concerned with the needs of their life, including housing, food, and clothing. Elsewhere in scripture, we're told to plan for the future, to work hard, and to save our money. Jesus was saying, "Don't worry about these things." In verse 25, he says don't worry about everyday life. A better translation would be, "Stop having anxiety about this." It's one thing to think about it; it's another thing to have constant anxiety about it. Worry is not a virtue. Let me take it a step further: worry can actually be a sin. Worry is really a lack of trust in God. You're not trusting God. If you believe Genesis 1:1, that should deal with worry once and for all. What is Genesis 1:1? It says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." If that is true—and of course it is—that God created the heavens and the earth, this all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign God, then certainly He is able to deal with your problems and mine. So why then am I worrying about them? Number two, worry is a lack of trust. It's not believing God's in control. A classic example of this is the prophet Daniel. He was called by God to be an advisor to King Darius, and Darius really valued the counsel of Daniel. The other counselors to the king were jealous of Daniel's influence and they wanted to undermine him. They hatched a plot to get the king to sign a decree that no one could pray to anyone except the king or they would have to die. Daniel had a habit of prayer. Every day he would pray; in fact, three times a day he would pray. After he read this decree that he could no longer pray, he prayed anyway. He was arrested and put into a den of hungry lions. An interesting thing happened that night. The king was up all night, unable to sleep, worrying about Daniel, and Daniel slept like a baby. He probably used one of the lions for a pillow and propped his feet up on the other one. That is the difference between a believer and a non-believer. When chaos and turmoil is happening around us, a believer can be at rest, but a non-believer cannot. The Bible says He gives to His beloved sleep. Number three, worry does not make life longer, it just makes it more miserable. Verse 27 asks, "Can all of your worries add a single moment to your life?" Now, there are obviously things that we can do to bring our life to an end sooner than we should, like living dangerously or in a very unhealthy manner. But by and large, the Bible is saying God's in control of your life. Your days are numbered, so help me apply my heart to wisdom. By worrying about it, you're not going to extend the length of your life. Number four, instead of worry, put God and His will first in your life. Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Put God first in your life. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says if your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. That means if you're focused on what matters, it will affect you in everything that you do. In your business, you want to seek first the kingdom. Some of you are getting ready to go to college or trade school or be an apprentice somewhere. You're thinking about your career and what you're going to do down the road. That's a good thing. Find that job—and maybe that will change a number of times; it often does. No matter what you do, do it for the glory of God. Our goal should be to honor God, do honest work with excellence, have personal integrity, and a good testimony in the workplace. Sometimes people may be successful financially, but to get there, they've lost their integrity and their reputation. You should be an honest person. You should be a trustworthy person. You should be a hard-working person. Your word should be your bond. Sometimes Christians will use spiritual things to justify laziness. Maybe the boss is walking around on the worksite and you're just standing around. The boss asks what you're doing, and you say you're praying. Well, you might start praying about your next job, because you're not working for me anymore. I expect you to work, and that's a realistic expectation. Put God first and He will bless you as a result. Now, if you're single—how many of you are single? Raise your hands. How many of you are happily single? How many of you would like to be married one day? How many of you are married and wish you were single? Don't you dare do that. It's always a guy that does it. Sure enough, a guy had his hand up first. When you're looking for that person, know this: God cares about this. He has a lot to say about the person you will spend the rest of your life with. Pray about this and look for a godly person. Some people believe they're called to "missionary dating." I'm going to date these non-believers and lead them to the Lord. Maybe. Or maybe they'll pull you away from the Lord. The Bible says don't be unequally yoked together with non-believers, for what fellowship or friendship does light have with darkness, or righteousness with unrighteousness? It's far easier when you're a believer to get pulled down than for you to pull someone else up, because they have gravity on their side. I've seen so many Christians get misled and get into trouble by getting into these relationships. Honest truth: marriage is hard enough with two Christians, much less a believer and a non-believer. You want someone that shares your beliefs, your faith, your worldview, and your values. This really matters when you have children. These are things to think about now. But if you find yourself married to a non-believer, however that came about, don't give up hope. God can still reach that person. Keep praying for them, but the idea is to put God first if you're a single person and ask for His will.
Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. I've heard people describe a trip to Israel as seeing the Bible actually come to life.
Greg Laurie: I've been to Israel many times and I've led a lot of tours and I have to say that's absolutely true. When you're walking on the same stones that Jesus Himself walked on, that's something that is enriching to your faith. It's not just a travel experience; it actually energizes and enhances your study of the Bible. Think of it as a vacation with a purpose. We're going to be taking a tour of Israel April 6 through 15, 2027. You can find out more at israel.harvest.org.
Guest (Male): Step right into biblical history. Join Pastor Greg for a tour of the Holy Land, April 6th through 15th, 2027. Get details at israel.harvest.org. Pastor Greg is offering a series of points today to help us live a worry-free life, insights drawn from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6.
Greg Laurie: Point number five: if you put God first, life will find its proper balance. Verse 33 says all these things shall be added to you. What things? What you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, what you're going to drink, where you're going to live. All the things that are important to us will be taken care of. But put God first. A classic example of this is the story of young Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba. His father was getting ill and getting old, and it was time for the crown to be passed on from father to son. David said, "Solomon, my son, know the Lord God of your father and serve Him with an undivided heart." David passed into eternity, and now here is young Solomon with the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Lord comes to him and says, "Solomon, ask Me and I'll give you whatever you want." Can you imagine if God appeared to you and said, "I'll give you whatever you want"? What would you pray for? It reminds me of a story of a man walking down the beach who saw something embedded in the sand. He reached down to pick it up and saw it was a lamp. As he rubbed the sand away, a genie appeared. The genie said, "Oh master, I will give to you one wish." The guy asked what happened to three wishes. The genie said they had a cutback. The guy says, "I've always wanted to see the island of Maui. I've heard it's really beautiful, but I'm afraid of flying. So genie, my wish is to have a giant bridge built from California to Maui so I can drive over." The genie said, "Are you insane? That would cost so much money and take so much time. Come up with something else." The guy says, "Well, I've never understood women. They mystify me. I would like to understand them better. So my wish is I want to understand women." The genie says, "Coming back to that bridge, two lanes or four?" Back to Solomon. The Lord says, "What do you want? I'll give you anything you want." Solomon says, "Lord, I want wisdom to rule your people." The Lord says, "Because you didn't ask for wealth or power, I'm going to give you the wisdom you prayed for and give you these other things as well." I'm not saying that God's going to make everyone wealthy, but what I'm saying is God will give you what you need when you need it. Just put Him first in all things. Another way to seek first the kingdom of God is with your finances, because where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be also. When you invest in the kingdom, when you get paid and you say a percentage of this belongs to the Lord, that is a person who is seeking first the kingdom. Do that as well and God will bless you. He promises He will. There's one last point and we'll bring this message to a close. The best antidote to worry is prayer. We all know the verse Philippians 4:6: "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer with petition and thanksgiving present your requests to God." Another way it's translated: "Don't worry about anything, pray about everything." The peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I love that phrase "guard" because it suggests a Roman sentry, like a centurion guarding the door of your heart. God's peace will protect you if you pray about it instead of worry about it. So turn your panic into prayer, turn your worry into worship, turn your anxieties into petitions. "Lord, I'm troubled by this right now and I just commit it to you." It's like the moment it hits you, boom, it goes right back up as a prayer to God. People turn in different directions when troubles come. Some turn to other people. There's a place for your family and your friends. Others turn to drink, thinking it will make it better. It'll just make it worse and create a lot of other problems. You need to turn to God. Take your burdens and give them to God. Everything that I have said is for a Christian only. These are not just self-help tips for you. These are promises to the believer, promises to the follower of Jesus Christ. Before I can seek the kingdom, I need to enter into the kingdom. Jesus said to a religious man named Nicodemus in John 3, "You must be born again to enter the kingdom of God." If you're born once, you'll die twice, and if you're born twice, you'll die once. If you're born once physically, you'll die twice. You'll die physically, and then you'll face what the Bible calls the second death, when you stand before the judgment of God in eternity. If you're born twice—physically and then spiritually by putting your faith in Jesus Christ—you die once. Yes, death comes, but the Christian doesn't even have to be afraid of death because death is not the end. It's a transition. I leave this place and go to another place. If I'm a believer, that other place is my Father's house, heaven, because death died when Christ rose. This is the hope that we have. The believer never dies, technically. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." Then he asked, "Do you believe this?" So yes, the body goes into the ground unless the Lord comes for us first in the rapture of the church. But the soul lives on, and the Bible even promises a bodily resurrection. We don't have to be afraid of these things, but you need to have Christ living inside of you. Is He living in your life? I mentioned that the believer can be at rest even when things are in turmoil around them, like Daniel in the lions' den. Only the believer can have this rest. If you're not a Christian, frankly, you probably should be worried and very concerned with all the things going on in our world right now. But if you're a Christian, you can be at peace and rest knowing God is in control. I want to close by offering you an opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ, an opportunity to be forgiven of all of your sin, an opportunity to come into this relationship with God so you can be born again. To be born again means to be born from above; it's a spiritual birth, starting all over again. Jesus, who died on that cross for our sin and rose again from the dead, stands at the door of our life right now and He knocks. He says if you hear His voice and open the door, He'll come in. Have you asked Jesus Christ to come into your life yet? This is all about a relationship with God. This is for you. Someone else can't do this for you. You need to say, "Jesus, come into my life." He will. Let's all pray. Father, thank you for your word to us and thank you for your promises to us. But we must know you first, we must be born again. I pray for any person here, any person watching, listening, wherever they are: if they don't have this relationship with you, let it begin right here, right now, as they open their heart and ask you to come into their life. While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying, if you would like Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you would like Him to forgive you of your sin, if you would like to know that you will go to heaven when you die...