Now, how many of you would say that you are a professional at worrying about things? Yeah, yeah, a lot of us, right? You can find things to worry about. You know, there's easy you can worry about your kids, you can worry about your job, you can worry about your fantasy football team. If you're an Eagles fan, you got a lot to worry about, I think. But but worry is a part of life. It happens, right? Now here you go. A couple weeks ago, I was at a conference in New Jersey, and I had to get home. My flight was at 3.25, and the last session ended at 12. I had plenty of time, right? It was plenty of time. However, driving in New York is not fun. You know, it's not it's not easy for me. But you guys, it was still doable. The session ends, and then the keynote speaker who is running this whole conference I was at walks up to me. He's this awesome, awesome pastor from Phoenix. He walks up to me and says, Jacob, I want to have lunch with you. And I was like, I can't deny that. I had to do it. So I go and have lunch with them. Um kind of now a little worried about my time, but go and have lunch with them. Um we end up talking, this is a great conversation. And but however, it was the slowest service in history, okay? So now after the lunch is all over, it's around 1.30. My flight leaves at 3.25. Okay? So then I had to drop him off back at the church that we were at. I drop him off, and then he wants to take a selfie with me. I'm like, do people do that still? I was like, okay. So I had to climb down on this big giant truck that I got from Enterprise. They tricked me. And so I was driving a Ford F-150, I was feeling like post Malone a little bit. No, I wasn't. Okay. And so anyways, I take a selfie, I hop back in the truck, I drive off, and I and then my GPS tells me, okay, you're gonna get there by like 155. I'm like, okay, that's tight, but I can do it. I'm I'm driving, I'm doing it, and then guess what I do while I'm driving in New York? I get off on the wrong exit. I'm like, oh Lord. And then then my GPS says this to me, rerouting. New time 345. I'm like, I'm like, oh my, bless the Lord, oh my soul. Okay. And so I do what every good Christian does, and when you're in a panic, you switch from Apple Maps to Google Maps, okay? Google Maps had me getting there still at 210. I was like, okay. I was like, I mean at uh at around 2.30. I was like, okay, I can do it. I was like, okay. So I get, so I go, I head there, and then I get to the to the um airport, then I park at the wrong rental car place. So I have to loop around the airport, then when I finally get to the right place, I leave my stuff, I'm booking it, I'm running. I'm running as fast as I can. Then I get to the tram and I cannot make this up. The tram is out of service. This is the tram that takes you to the airport. And so I'm like, oh my goodness, this is not good. So at this point, no joke, I cannot make this up. It is like 250, and my flight leaves at 325. I haven't even gone through TSA yet. Okay, I'm a little worried. I'm a little stressed out. Finally, the maintenance guy gets out of the tram, they put people in. I go to, I said, okay, I'm TSA pre-check, I'm gonna be good, I'm gonna be able to walk right on. I get to the pre-check line, and the pre-check line was longer than the regular line. I was like, oh no, this is not good. I'm worried, I'm stressed out, and then a light from heaven came. And they opened up a new line. I can't, guys. I got a confession to make. I elbowed some old lady out my way. I did it. I moved all the way, I got in there, I put my bag on, it's it's I I go through the thing, I get my bag, I'm running to the airport, I'm running to the airport, and here's my judgmental stuff. Here we go. Here's how judgmental I am. Because a lot of times when I'm when I'm at the airport, I'm like, well, how those people are always running? Remember every time you see the people who are running, I'm like, why are you running? Why didn't you plan accordingly to get there on time? Here's me now running, reaping when I sow, right? And then I'm running, I get there, I make it to my gate, and then the lady says, Jacob Gaines, I say, Yes, that's me. She's like, we were about to shut the door on you. I made it, everybody. I made it. At 315, 315, I made it. But you go, I was worried. I was stressed out. And doesn't life happen like that? That things happen, circumstances a lot of times beyond our control, things that we say yes to that we probably should have said no to, and it causes stress. It causes worry, it causes these things in our lives that we have to deal with. Now, here you go. This is what worry does, though. Worry likes to convince us that it is productive. Worry likes to convince us that if we spend time obsessing over things that we can't control, then maybe we can fix it. And and here you go, we all have things to worry about, and we even worry about worrying about things. This is the problem. So today on this baptism Sunday, as we continue our series on mental health called Peace of Mind, I want to talk to us about how not to worry. How not to worry. Because Jesus doesn't just tell us not to, he shows us how to live free from it. And so, why is it that so many of us find ourselves battling worry? Why is that? Why is that? Well, because I tell you why. You want to know why? Here's the reason why. Because worry has convinced us that worry brings a whole bunch of benefits. It's convinced us. I mean, we wouldn't do it unless it was beneficial, right? Like that's why we do it. Yeah, I hope you notice my sarcasm, okay? Now, one of my favorite parenting books I've read, and I love her podcast as were as well, Raising Boys and Girls, Sissy Goff wrote a book called Raising Worry Free Girls, which I recommend any parent who's raising girls to read. Um, she also comes with a workbook called Braver and Stronger Smarter, and she talks about how girls have a worry monster. And this is a voice in their head that there's this unreasonable feeling that things are gonna go wrong. Now, as I've been doing this workbook with my seven-year-old daughter and helping her understand her worry monster, as I'm reading the workbook with her, I'm like, I have a worry monster. Like, this is good for me. I'm like taking notes on it. You know, but we do, we have this thing. We have these things, these worries that convince us that that is true. Now, here you go. Now, this worry monster tries to convince me that worry is good. Now, I want to list out the three benefits of worry. All right, the three benefits, aka the biggest lies we believe about worry. The first one is this worry increases my joy. Because nothing says peace and happiness, like waking up at two in the morning stressing out about things, right? No, the reality is this worry doesn't add joy, it steals it. It steals it. It pulls our attention away from the present moment and convinces us that peace lives out there somewhere. Once this thing is done, once that thing is accomplished, then we'll be good. The second benefit from worry is this worry helps me solve problems because obviously panic and obsession is what I need to resolve my problems. No, we know that's not true. We know that's not true. The reality is this worry doesn't solve problems, it multiplies. It multiplies problems, it makes me obsess over things I can't control and miss what I can do right now. And the third benefit, because it's so beneficial. The third benefit of worry is this worry builds my faith. Thank you, Jesus, for making me worry. Love you, Lord. No, because nothing grows faith like doubting God 24-7. Reality is this worry doesn't build faith. I want you to get this one. It replaces it. It replaces it. I would actually say this: most of us we have a lot of faith. People say, Oh, I don't know if I'm in the faith. No, no, you have a lot of faith. It's what you have faith in that matters. And a lot of us, we have faith in our worry and our and our concerns and our anxiousness, our anxious thoughts. It tries to convince me that I'm God. And spoiler alert, I make a terrible God. And so do you. So do you. So, as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers, what does Jesus say about this? What does Jesus say about worry? Well, he says a lot, actually. Let's check this out. Matthew 6, we're gonna do a little Bible study today. Is that okay? Because it's baptism Sunday, I'm gonna try to preach a little faster. Is that all right? And we're gonna do a little Bible study. Okay, here you go. Jesus says this. He says, Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. Thanks, Jesus. Okay. Sounds good, Jesus. Do not worry about your life. Now, here's the interesting part about this. Jesus says, do not worry. This isn't like a self-help tip from Jesus, like a, oh, do this little life hack thing. No, no. This is a command from Jesus. Jesus commands us, do not worry. And so, if we worry, if we worry, what does that mean? If we do the opposite of what Jesus commands, that's called sin. So to worry is to sin. Now, now that's not like a shame on you for being a warrior. That's actually uh, wow, if this is a sin problem, that means this can become a surrendered problem. And if I can surrender this thing, then I can find hope, I can find freedom, and I can find the life that God truly has for me in Jesus' name. Come on. And so and so I'm gonna surrender that. Jesus gets Jesus gets very specific about this. He says, do not worry about what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothes? Now check this out. Jesus gets practical for us here. He gets practical. He gives us He gives us a solution to stop our worry. He says this. Look at the birds. Jesus. You want me to stop worrying about my life and look at some birds? Tweet, tweet. Like Jesus, I got financial stress. I got aging parents, I got kids that are driving me nuts. I got all you want me to go outside and look at the birds. That's your tip to me, Jesus. Check this out. Why? Why though? Why does Jesus tell us to go look at the birds? What does he say? Let's continue. He says, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns. Check this out. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Think about it. Think about it. Birds, they aren't stressed out. They don't have a color-coded Google calendar. They're not running from school drop-off to soccer practice to piano lessons to eating dinner out of a paper bag in the back of the car. No, no, no. And let's be honest, let's be honest. Parents, we we've gotten so bad with our kids' schedule sometimes, don't we? Like we skip, we get so bad that we schedule our kids play dates. Like we're like, we're like, okay, Johnny can play tag from 11 to 12 o'clock. Actually, Johnny can't play tag because Susie's doing tea party from 10:30 to 12. So maybe we can squeeze you in for some tea and crumpets. But seriously, what are we doing? And Jesus is like, hey, you got too much going on. You got too many things to do. Look at the birds. Look at them. Watch what they do. In other words, slow down. Take a breath. They're not striving. They're not spinning. And yet, and he gets personal. He gets personal. He says, yet, your heavenly father. Your heavenly father. Not the heavenly father. Your heavenly father takes care of them. And then he asks to it. He asks to it. I love this. I love this part. It's so good. It's so good. He says this. He says this. Are you not much more valuable than they are? And so all of a sudden, all of a sudden, this worry thing is less about us fixating our minds on things we can't control. And worry becomes a matter of the heart. It becomes a matter of the heart. It becomes a matter of, do I truly believe that God is for me? And here you go. It's not just a matter of, do I believe in God? It's a matter of, do I believe God? Do I believe him? Do I believe that he's gonna move on my behalf? Can I really trust him? Because listen to this. Listen, we all have things to worry about. We all have different, we all have struggles, we all have things. The bills are real, the diagnosis is real, the pressure at work is real, and you can have things to worry about and still choose to not live a life filled with worry. You can say, God, I see the problem by choosing to trust you. Here you go. Jesus adds on. He said, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? How good is that? How good is that? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. And if and if that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you? Again, he's saying, Stop and look at the flowers. Slow down. Look what he's doing. He says, You have little faith. So do not worry saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, and what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things. And that's another way of saying people who are far from God are getting obsessed over the materialistic. Rather than people who are Jesus followers can say, you know what? I know not everything is going the way I want. I know there's struggles in my life, but yet I'm gonna fix my eyes on God because He's for me and He's with me. And though everything's not going the way I want, I'm not gonna run after those things. I'm gonna keep running to God. I'm gonna keep going to God, I'm gonna keep fixing my eyes on Him. Jesus says, Hey, you don't gotta run after those things. But he gives us a reason why we don't have to run after those things. He says, Because your heavenly Father knows you need them. He knows what you need. He knows you need, he knows. And then he says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Another way to say that is this pray God's agenda first. We're gonna pray God's agenda first. Because when we do, everything else begins to fall into place. Then Jesus adds, therefore, therefore, when Jesus says, Therefore, you should listen, therefore you should listen. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And ain't that the truth? And this is what his worry does. It stills the joy of the moment we're in. We get so caught up with tomorrow that we completely miss today. And now what's interesting about this passage is that Jesus doesn't just say, hey, don't worry. Just stop it, quit it. He actually highlights five things that they worried about back then, and five things we still worry about today. Every day worries. There you go, going starting back at verse 24. He says, No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. Here's the first one finances. Finances. Will I have enough? Can I afford this? That's our need for security. We worry about that. Jesus continues. He says, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. He covers a few there. First one, he's saying food, food. What are we gonna eat? Do we have enough? That's our need for provision. That's our need for then he says, fitness. Do I look healthy? Am I doing enough to stay well? That's our concern about our health. Then fashion, fashion. What will people think of me? Do I look successful? And here's a big one. That one, it's not just about wearing the nicest clothes. That actually has nothing to do with clothes. It has everything to do with ego. Has everything to do with our self-righteousness. It has everything to do with us lifting the opinions of others higher than the opinion of God. What would people think about me? I don't know. So I'm gonna do things that I wouldn't normally do to please people who I don't even like. And so then the last one, future. What if this doesn't work out? What if I fail? And that's our desire for control. So our five everyday worries, finances, meaning we're looking for security, food, provision, fitness, our health, fashion, ego, and the opinions of the other, and future control. And Jesus says this, and Jesus says this you don't need to worry about these things. He's not saying that you won't worry about, he's saying, but you don't need to. And the reason why you don't need to is because your heavenly father already knows you need them. Already knows. So Jesus exposes what worry is about, what we worry about. Now let's expose what worry does to us. Because again, worry is not an external thing. Worry is an internal thing. It's a matter of the heart, it's a matter of trust. Do I trust God to be faithful then and faithful now? The first thing that that we want to expose about the about the lives of worry is this bigger problems. Worry wants to convince you that your problems are bigger than your God. Worry wants to convince you of that. And when your mind gets hijacked by worry, everything starts to look way worse than what it really is. You know, and we all know these thoughts. Your kids will never get better, and they're that way because of you. That bad thing that you're scared of, the thing that you're afraid of, it's going to happen and it's gonna be even worse than what you think. You're always gonna be stuck right where you are. And we've all had these problems. And what worry does, it lies to you, it exaggerates your problems, and it minimizes your faith. And Jesus actually told us this. Jesus told us where those lies come from. He says this in John in John 8. When the devil lies, it's consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. That means those lies come from our spiritual enemy. They come from our spiritual enemy who wants to, he's who's out to steal, kill, and destroy. Did you know that that waking up late at night, worrying about things that you can't control, never adds anything to your life? But it sure enough takes away, doesn't it? And so when you see that, when you see that balance in your life, whether you're a Jesus follower or not, when you see things in your life that are taken away from life instead of adding life to you, man, that is the sign that the spiritual enemy is out to get you. He doesn't want to bring life to you. And so here you go. We continue. That's where those thoughts come from. But the truth is this worry will always inflate your problems. Worry makes small problems feel medium, medium problems feel big, and big problems feel insurmountable. But God is bigger than all of them. Because this is the lie, the lie. The bigger problem, and guess what? The smaller you. The smaller you, the bigger your problem gets in your mind, the smaller you start to feel. I'll say it another way. The smaller your God feels. And I think of those little phrases that love to show up. I can't do this, I'll never change, I always will be this way. And we've all been there. But I love what the apostle Paul tells us this. He says this we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Now, for the longest time, I've read that verse as I take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. But he didn't say I. We live in a highly individualistic culture. Everything's about us. But in that culture, everything was about community. He says we take captive, meaning him and the people around him help take captive the things that are holding him down mentally, emotionally, and together we make an agreement and say, I am not going to be held down. And friends, that's why small groups are so important. I mean, you can come to church and you can say, Man, that pastor at local vineyard, he sure is handsome. He can preach a good word. That gets you butt so far. But getting in the small group, get in like-minded people around you and say, hey, this is my concern. These are the things I got going around. We take captive. We take captive of our thoughts and make them obedient to God. Again, again, that doesn't mean you're not gonna have those thoughts. What is directing those thoughts about what reality really is? Guys, we're all gonna have worries. We're all gonna have doubts, but we're gonna direct our thoughts towards God. Here you go. Let me get going before I start preaching too long. Here you go. The next one is this. The next one, worry will try to trap us with this. We'll give you the worst memory. Come on, I'll give you the worst memory. The worry always has a way of making you forget. Worry has a way of making you forget how faithful God has been. Worry has a way of making you forget how God brought you through this pain. He's gonna bring you to the next one. Worry has a way to make you think that it's all up to you and not up to God. And so, and so we gotta we gotta take those thoughts, Captain, and we're gonna we're gonna direct them to how good God has provided for us. And we'll because what we're gonna say is this God provided for my family once, he's gonna provide again. God provided for my finances once, he's gonna provide again. God is faithful to come. I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna look at the birds. I'm gonna look at what I'm gonna look at how God runs this world. I'm gonna pause and see him and that. Which leads into my three things. Three things, three ways. I want to make it practical for us today. Three ways to overcome worry. Overcome worry by pausing and praying. We gotta get so good at pausing. Man, our world is all about go, go, go. Do, do, do. And what does he say? What does you say? Just stop and look at the birds. Just stop. Stop getting in your own way. And we're gonna do exactly what Jesus says. We're gonna pause and we're gonna look and we're gonna pray. And here you go. You should expect worry to happen in your life. You are gonna get bad news. Life will throw you curveballs. But even in that, we can pause and we can pray. And that's why spending daily time with God is so good, it's so important. Okay, the second one is this we're gonna hold up the evidence. We're gonna hold up that when worry comes at us, we're gonna hold up the evidence. I love this. And you're gonna ask yourself two questions. What does the evidence tell me? Has the thing you're afraid of happened before? This is what we work through with our daughter sometimes. And how many times has it not happened? What does the evidence tell you about how likely it's gonna happen now? Because often we'll convince ourselves of a story that's not even happening. Because usually the thing you're afraid of almost never happens, but worry will try to convince you that it almost always happens. The second question is this what's the worst thing that can happen? If your worry does happen, what's the worst thing that can happen? Now, when I was telling that story about catching my flight, I was really worried because it was a Saturday and I knew I had to come back home for church on Sunday, and the only flight that I knew that wasn't that flight I had didn't leave until like midnight, and I didn't even know it was available. So I was worried. I was like, man, I was like, okay, I do not want to try to fly home at midnight, but when I was in that TSA line before I elbowed that lady, I contemplated, what's the worst that can happen? If I get in late, I get in late. Or if I have to get a rental car and just drive five hours, I'll do that. And when you just acknowledge this is the worst that can happen, then you have power over the worry. See, worry will want to convince you that it's stronger than you and stronger than your God. But when you acknowledge it, when you name it, and you say, hey, this is if this is the worst case, then God's gonna get me through this one too. He's gonna get me through this one too. And so, and so now the last thing I'll say is this give God your entire attention. Give your entire attention to God. I love how Eugene Peterson put it in the message paraphrase. He says this. He says, give your entire attention to what God is doing right now. I love this. Be present in a moment. And he says this, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. Because that's such a great description of worry. Worry works us up, builds us up, and explodes with worry, and normally we take it out on our family and our loved ones. But he says, God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. And so when you pause, when you make space for peace, when you pray, we trade, control for surrender, and we look out and say, God, you are in control of this. I'm gonna release my worries to you. I'm gonna find joy in you. Because where the spirit of the Lord is, there, where there is free. So God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, we thank you. We thank you for this day. We give our entire attention to you, right? We focus in on you, Lord. That's the Holy Spirit saying stop working yourself up over the yesterdays that you can't forget. Stop projecting on the on the tomorrow that aren't there yet. But embrace that right here. Right now. That he's for you. And not against you. So Lord, I want to pray a blessing over every person in this room. Where worry has tried to steal, where anxious thoughts have tried to dominate the minds and hearts of people that you love, Lord. God, we pray your peace. We pray your joy. Jesus, give us the ability to live out your words when you say do not worry. We come to you, Jesus, and we say we don't got that down path yet. We want to. We want to become more like you, Jesus. So we love you in this place today. And we need you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.