All right, somebody new up here, if you don't know who I am, I'm
Dwight. I'm the one that teaches the
youth on Wednesday night. So if you do have a youth from
6th grade to 12th grade, by all means, this is an opportunity to
see kind of what they will learn.
So if if you also receive this message from a junior high
level, I apologize. All right, so that's who I'm
used to teaching. So anyway, that's, that's just
kind of where we are. But first let's open up in
prayer for Thanksgiving and supplication.
Lord, we just first, we want to thank you for your presence.
What a blessing it is to know that you are always there, Lord,
that you are always, no matter where we go, you are with us,
Lord. And as we learned this morning
with your omniscience and omnipresence and, and who you
are and the fact that you care so much about us to be here is
awesome. So we just want to say thank you
for that, Lord. And as we prepared to study your
word, Lord, we're asking for blessings.
I'm asking you to speak through me, Lord, Let it be your words
up here, not mine. And I just look forward to
seeing where you're going to take us with scripture today.
Lord, it's a a true blessing to be able to study your word, to
be able to look at what you have planned for us as we go
throughout our days in Jesus name, Amen.
All right, so I got to make sure all these see all these fancy
things that we have. I just have a whiteboard I
usually teach from some of you may have seen it, but we were
we're going over the Gospel of Matthew.
So we're currently on the Sermon of the Mount, right.
So we're going to back up a little bit because it's been
since November since we really have discussed anything about
the Sermon on the Mount. So if you're not aware, we Jesus
is there and he's teaching his disciples, right?
So he's teaching his disciples, there's a crowd probably about
your size. So we can just imagine, right?
So there's a crowd there. They're listening to him teach
his disciples and what he's really doing is he's discipling
them, right? So what He is providing them is
really how to live right? How do we treat our enemies?
Forgiveness, the golden rule, righteousness, the needy, how to
pray? Jesus provided us a road map to
living with Him and the character He wishes for us to
live. Then we're going to kind of jump
back into verse 24 through 30, which we read earlier.
And this is where Pastor Eric kind of left off, right?
So he's talking about kind of three main things and really
will say 4 because we already know you can't serve right,
can't serve 2 masters God, money, the world God, right?
So and then he also talks about not taking care of the birds.
If he takes care of the birds, how much more valuable are you
are the birds his creation and so are you.
And then he also, he talks about can't add anything to our lives.
And if and if you remember that scripture, there is kind of in
some of yours, it'll talk about not adding an hour.
I like to think about not adding height.
So some of your scriptures may say not you can't add a cubit to
your height. I would love to add a cubit to
my height, but it's really about adding, right?
You can't add anything to your life because he's already given
it to you. And then the plants don't even
worry. Even though, you know, and Cindy
and I, we planted some tulips this year in the fall, right?
So you got to get your tulips ready and we're doing our work
and we we're planning them. But then what do we got to wait?
We got to wait all winter long to see if we did it right.
But God's got it right. If those things bloom, it's not
because of what we did it. They're going to bloom because
of how God has taken care of the soil and how God has taken care
of the water and the sun and all those seasons.
They will bloom because of him, not because of us, right?
So if God takes care of the plants, how important are we?
And so that's where we kind of pick up right where he left off
on that. And am I going backwards?
I am. I knew I was that was going to
happen. All right.
So therefore in Matthew 631 through 34.
So if you haven't turned to Matthew, turn to Matthew chapter
631 through 34. Therefore do not be anxious
saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what
shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all
these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them
all. But seek first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day of its
own trouble. All right, so we're going to
break this down and we're going to go verse by verse.
I'm going to give you guys some homework.
I hope you don't mind. You'll you'll have to read some
scripture. That's just because I'm used to
junior highers and they need homework, otherwise they get in
trouble. Maybe that's all of us.
All right, so undivided, seeking the Kingdom without anxiety, and
we're going to talk about Gogs. How do we seek God's Kingdom 1st
and how do we trust Him to handle what we are anxious to
control? If you are like me, right?
I'm a control freak, all right? I'm one of those guys that I
have to control every situation and everything.
I want to make sure things are right.
You know, we just had Christmas, so think about Christmas
vacation. If you've ever seen that movie,
right? He was a control freak.
The lights had to be perfect. He wanted the perfect Christmas
and everything just goes S That's kind of me.
So how do I change that in order for my recognition and my
identity in Christ and what that means to me and what eventually
hopefully my wife, you and everybody else will see.
So we're going to talk about kind of that trusting over
worthy, all right. So therefore do not be anxious
saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we
wear? So therefore we got to figure
out what that there is for all right.
So we've seen therefore before get it?
No, all right, so I'm moving on all right, So transitioning by
saying consequently for this reason, right.
So for this reason. And what reason was he talking
about? So he was talking about the, the
birds, he was talking about the plants.
He was talking about, you know, you can't be serving 2 masters.
Therefore, do not be anxious. Now I did a little word study on
the on that word anxious. And if you look at that Greek
word, it has 2 words that kind of combine to make this as we
think about it, it's actually divided and mind.
So combine those words and you get that word anxious.
So a distracted or pulled apart mind.
So, you know, when I think about God and I think about the world,
how many of us are anxious about that divide?
How many of us worry about I'm over here with God, but yet I
have to live in the world and I have to do certain things.
And this is where I, I'd love to tell junior highers, you know,
if you're going to call yourself a Christian, where do you need
to be? Do you need to be with God or do
you need to be in the world? And if I'm going to call myself
a Christian, and this is something that I've had to learn
over my my time as a Christian, when I first walked with him,
I'm like, OK, I'm going to visit Jesus on Sundays and the rest of
the week, you know, I'm going to live in the world.
And here's where we need to be all in.
What a great opportunity to hear this message at the end of this
year. As we look at 2025, there are
some things that has happened that you're like, 02025 was
great. Maybe 2025 wasn't so great.
What's 2026 going to be like? Are we worried about that?
Well, I know one thing that we're worried about, right?
You're worried about if I'm going to go as long as Pastor
Eric. So that way because you're
hungry, right? You're going to want to eat and
you're like, OK, what are we? Are we going to eat after this
and drink? And if you're like me, you know,
I had to hit the closet this morning and I'm like, what am I
going to wear? I'm so glad none of you are
naked right now. So I'm glad you did worry about
that a little bit. So you did put clothes on right.
So So what does that look like? What is this world that makes
total sense when we just discussed the most important
things in our lives should be about God, But yet what do we
worry most about? Have we really given up that
world that we live in? I think one of the things I and
I like to identify as a Christian.
So what does identify as a Christian?
That's probably. Is that too difficult to read?
No. And so the great poet Lecrae.
All right, if you don't know who Lecrae is, he's a rapper.
He's a Christian rapper. He's Yeah.
We're not going to talk about his theology, but he did, he did
say some interesting things, right?
I'm not the shoes I wear. I'm not the want me to rap it
out. I can rap it out.
I can like get down here and we can do the whole no, you don't
want that. My wife just said, no, do not do
that. Do not embarrass yourself or me,
is what she said. So I'm not the shoes I wear, I'm
not the clothes I buy. I'm not the house I live in.
I'm not the car I drive, right? My identity is found in Christ.
So what do we worry about, right?
If our identity is in Christ, we have to make a decision.
We have to give control back to Jesus, right?
I have to give control back when I think of my protection of my
family. We live in a world where it's
different today than it was, you know, 100 years ago.
We can go 200 years ago and the things we worry about today,
it's a world that has kind of creeped into our houses through
what I call and I don't have my phone on me, but picture this.
This isn't my phone. I mean, that would be weird.
But this, these little send boxes is what I call them.
All right? These send boxes are in our
house. The world is in our house.
How do I protect my child from that world?
How do I you know, and it's easy to say you can take it away and,
and not allow them to have it. But let's be honest, right?
The world is what the world is. So how do we influence our
worldview without our identity in Christ?
Are we worried about food, clothing, the house I live in
and the car I drive the place, You know, are we worried about
what I look at, what I take in all these things, right?
These are going to help identify and provide that trust in my
relationship with Jesus Christ. So that trust at some point I
have to give my child, my my life over to Jesus and trust
that he knows what to do with it.
I, I think at the end of the day, I who knows the answer, the
answer is always Jesus, right? So when I'm struggling with
things, where do I go? For me, I'm a control freak.
I want to try and fix it. And then I'm, when I've really
screwed it up, then I go to Jesus and I'm like, hey, you
need to fix this mess. And Jesus is probably like,
dude, you created a big mess. But don't worry, I got it and he
fixes it. Wouldn't it be nice if I went to
Him first? So then as we continue down our
scripture one I am reminded right in Philippians 46.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything but
by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known to God.
I think about Has anybody done the Alcatraz trip?
All right, Does anybody know what rule #5 of Alcatraz is?
Because I had to tell my kids this all the time.
Rule #5 of Alcatraz, right? They will provide food, water,
clothing and medical care. All else is a privilege, right?
Rule #5 of Alcatraz, they kind of get it.
As a prisoner, you walk in and if you've never walked it, well
anyway, we won't get into that. But as a prisoner, right, you
walk in, there's certain things you don't have to worry about.
Food, water, clothing and medical care.
This is this is kind of like the the world and everything else is
a privilege. We are blessed to be able to
come here today to hear his word.
Now granted, you're listening to Dwight speak, but it's really
His word that you are hearing and He is reaching you in a way
that is completely different than everybody else.
When you have your identity in Christ, He is talking to you
specifically, and I'm here to tell you that He is talking to
you specifically because you are His creation and He loves you.
He wants nothing but the best for you.
Now that best may not be what we think is the best, but to think
that He will take care of us is trusting that worry, not being
anxious about everything, right Prayer.
Where do we go to? So Matthew 632 for the Gentiles,
seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that
you need them all. Surrender over control.
Give your control over to Jesus as we look at that verse, I'm
going to go back right? It says for the Gentiles, the
the word Gentile here is is kind of, and I will say not a
mistranslation, but probably a misuse of word.
When we look at Gentiles, some of your translation may say
pagans, but really the word ethnos means a group of people,
right? A group of people, in this case
for the group of people seek after all these things.
What type of group of people are we talking about?
Non believers, right? Non believers seek after these
things. Non believers out there and we
can even say believers in other faiths, other religions.
What are they concerned about? If you ever have an opportunity
and and I would encourage, you know, there's nothing I should
say. It's interesting.
When you go to a Hindu, Hindu temple, what's the first thing
you see them give the gods food, Second thing, drink.
Third thing, it's kind of weird clothing or other gifts.
They're gods need that. Why?
Because they don't have one God that takes care of it all.
So the Gentiles seek after all those things.
What about us? What does your heavenly Father
know? What does he know about you?
And what does he know specifically about you?
This morning we went over omniscience and God being
present. Where's God present?
He's present everywhere, right? So we think about that in a very
generic sense, like God. And Pastor Mike brought it up.
God was already in this room before you showed up.
He was already here as we were walking in, setting up, setting
up the chairs and and doing all this.
This does not, by the way, magically happened.
It godly happens because God's already got a plan.
But anyway, we'll get into that a little later.
I got some some more homework for you.
But anyway, all right, so God's already here.
Why not give him control? Why not?
What? What's the worst that can
happen? What's the worst that can happen
when you turn your life over to Jesus Christ?
What's the worst that you can happen?
The worst that you that can happen is you get to heaven and
you get to spend eternity with him.
That is literally the worst thing that can happen.
There may be some pain going on on along the way.
There may be some things that, as I would like to say, he
shapes and molds US and, and does some different things to
us. And sometimes it hurts if we we
look at the who's the clay and who's the Potter, right?
He's the Potter. And sometimes he throws us in
the fire and we need to burn in order to see who he has created
in US, right? He's created each and every
single one of you for a specific person purpose.
And that control is pretty much what we need to surrender to.
OK, now it's not working. Next slide.
OK, well, I'll just keep talking.
If you can handle the slides from here on out, the next
slide, you're going to get some homework because it would be
beneficial for each of us to understand right when we think
of how much he cares about us, right?
How much He cares about us more than the birds and the plants.
And why does He care? I want you to take a look at
Psalm 13914. You don't have to do it today.
This is homework. All right, So if you want to
take, go ahead and take a picture, but just make sure I'm
in it. 13914 discuss how you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Jesus is discussing this. Matthew 1031.
You're worth more than sparrows. Your hairs are numbered, even
all my Gray hairs. Ephesians 210.
You are God's masterpiece for good works.
Do you know that? Think about what you know.
I think of a masterpiece. I think you know, in the US
we're like, oh, we have master artists and all these things,
but you go over to Europe and you're like, wow, this thing was
painted beautifully. Masterpiece.
Do you realize He created you even better than a human painter
can paint a painting? And then Isaiah 43.
Four, you are precious and does anybody know, honored you are
precious and Otter and honored. Not Otter, not an Otter.
Even though they are important, they're also very special.
This is that junior high. And me, I like to squirrel
sometimes. We can talk about otters and
never mind, I'm already getting the word with my wife.
So this kind of reminds me when I when I look at this homework
and, and I think how precious I am and how I had to surrender
control. So everybody remembers that I
was or am a control freak, right?
So how did I get to Utah is a very great story on how God does
things and how God, well, God does if you get your hands out
of it, right? So there we were 3 1/2 years
ago, Cindy and I, my wife, we're in Israel on a Calvary Chapel
church trip. I am currently the pastor of
youth and, you know, doing some different things within the
church, running the school of ministry.
Cindy's heavily involved. We both got good jobs.
Everything is happy, everything is great.
You know, you would look at us and be like, wow, those two are
doing really well. And and, you know, my pastor's
looking at me. He wants to bring me on staff.
And I'm thinking, oh, does it get much better than this?
I'm standing here telling you it does because I get a phone call
and it says, hey, the Air Force is changing positions.
It looks like they want you to either go to.
And it was funny. I was talking to Andrew today
about Seattle, wants to either go to Seattle or Boston.
And if you know me and if you know my wife, she's not a big
city person. That's why we live in Far West,
even though the city's coming this way.
And I'm like, OK, well, that's looks like where we're going,
right? And I look at my wife and she
says, I don't know if I want to do this.
And I was like, OK, well, I'll just throw some stuff out there.
I interview for a job a month later at Hill Air Force Base.
Don't hear anything. And so now this is March, April,
May rolls around, not hearing anything.
My boss comes to me and says, hey, we are really happy with
you. So what we're going to do is
we're going to try and keep you the longest.
We're going to try and keep you here and we'll figure things
out, but that gives me less choice on where I can go.
So then it really gets narrowed down to probably some bad jobs
in Seattle or now we've lost complete control.
I got to give it to God. All right, so, so all this is
happening and literally Friday my boss is telling me how he is
going to take care of me by really giving me limitations.
That Monday, Hill Air Force Base offered me a job.
By Friday, I accepted the job. My pastor, by the way, at
Calvary Chapel is still not happy.
He asked when I'm coming home and I said I am home because I'm
with the new church family. That's a whole nother story.
But when by the time Friday hits and I decided to take the job,
literally within three months we had sold the house, moved,
bought a house and settled into a new job that I absolutely
love. And it's been the best job I've
ever had in my career. And then we find this church
called Redemption, and we're like, yeah, we don't know, It's
kind of a far away drive, blah, blah, blah.
What, Someone's going to plant a church.
Then I am standing here in front of you guys loving everything
that God has done on this adventure in the last 3 1/2
years. And it's the first time I've
really prayed to start off with, it's the first time that I went
and just you know what? If God's going to open this
door, he's going to take care of it.
Literally when I called the housing office to say like, hey,
we're going to move, they're like, Oh well, good news.
We don't have anything available for I think it was like 6
months. I'm like, what?
You're not going to be able to pack my stuff up for six months?
I'm like, Nope. And they're like, wait, is this
Dwight? And I'm like, yeah, oh, do you
Remember Me? And we had a long discussion.
I'll tell you what, I'll get you done next week.
That's how it happened. I mean, and it was like, whoa,
all God taking care of things. So that way I could stand here
today and talk to each and every single one of you.
It's a huge blessing. And so now that we're, if you
want, you can turn to Philippians chapter 4 and we're
going to talk about 10 through 11 and then talk about 19.
So Paul, so if we take a look at kind of how God takes care of
things, Paul is a great example to see an individual who, you
know, we may think that, you know, Paul's had had his issues,
right? Paul is devoted completely to
Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ is doing.
And at this point, Paul is sitting in prison, right?
So he's in prison for preaching and talking about Jesus Christ.
And this is what he says in verse #10 of Philippians 4I
rejoiced in the Lord greatly. And that now at length, you have
revived your concern for me. And he's saying basically at
this point, hey, you guys, I get it.
You're concerned for me. You were indeed concerned for
me, but you had no opportunity to assist.
You don't have the ability to come to Rome where I'm sitting
in prison and take care of me. Not that I am Speaking of being
in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be
content, to be content. So we go all the way back,
Sermon on the Mount, he's talking about being a disciple
of Jesus Christ. He is providing guidance on how
to be a good follower of Christ. It's telling us that, hey, you
are the creation. This is why you are here.
You have a specific purpose each, and I'm looking out at
this room. Each and every single one of you
have a specific purpose, all right?
Each and every single one of you have a specific purpose.
Hard to fathom unless you recognize God's attributes and
those attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence,
right? This God that we follow knows
every single one of your hairs on your head.
I would count them, but it would take me a long time, right?
So he, he knows this. Then he goes on in verse #19 and
says, and my God will supply every need of yours according to
his riches in glory in Jesus Christ.
See, Paul recognized who was in control.
He recognized that once he surrendered that control because
remember, would you say Paul was a control freak before he got to
know Jesus? I mean, this is the guy that was
literally watching and controlling the stoning of
Timothy. Oh, Stephen, why?
I don't know why I said Timothy, but the the stoning of Stephen
watching all this happen, he follows Jesus Christ, and now he
is trusting God for every single one of his needs.
He's in prison in Rome, right? Alcatraz #5 rule #5 but where
does he go but seek? This is funny because it's being
delayed. So it looks like I'm pressing
the button, but I press it, it gets delayed, and then she takes
care of me back there. Thank you, Shay.
All right, but seek, second, the Kingdom of God.
Is that what it says? No, it says seek 1st the Kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added
to you. Seek first.
The Sermon on the Mount is all about Jesus discipling his
disciples, right? Telling them, hey, this is, this
is how we go about life. If you want to spend life with
me, right, it's not going to be pretty.
It's not always going to be beautiful.
There's going to be times where we're going to struggle.
There's going to be times where you know we're in the valley.
There's going to be peaks and valleys and, and all these
things. He's not saying that once you
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior that your life is
going to be hunky Dory and everything will be just fine.
He's not saying that. But what he's saying is you seek
first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness will take care of
you and all these things will be added to you and all what
things, right? So we have to go all the way
back to the Sermon on the Mount. We're talking about peace, we're
talking about the Golden Rule. We're talking about food, water,
clothing. All these things will be added
to you. And the best part is yet to
come. So, so the real question becomes
like, how do we seek the Kingdom of God?
How do I put him first? This is going to be, I wouldn't
say a plug for some of the things we're doing at
Redemption, but this is kind of a plug for some of the things
we're doing at Redemption. So daily prayer, why daily?
Why not? And if we go back to Matthew 68
through 13, right? It says pray then like this.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, your Kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us of our
debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Lead us not into temptation. And what and what is one of the
key things? I think we tend to skip over
with this when we pray like that.
There is an assessment when you break that down.
Give us this day, Our Daily Bread.
It doesn't say this week. Give me my daily bread.
It doesn't say this month or in 2026.
Give me our my daily bread. It says this day.
So this gives and makes me understand that this is a daily
prayer, right? So I'm seeking the Kingdom
first, then maybe I should start with daily prayer.
Next Bible reading. How important is Jesus in our
lives? Did you know that?
And let's see. So there are 160 hours a week of
which you sleep. And let's just say you you
conservatively sleep for 8:00 work for 40 hours a week on
average. Did you know there's 72 other
hours? What are we doing in those 72
other hours, right? Would it take 15 minutes to do
some Bible reading? If you log on to RNO and see the
daily reading plan and click on it, it will actually help you
read your Bible daily, right? How awesome is that?
For 72 hours out of the week, 15 minutes a day.
Anybody do the math on that? For how long that would be for
the week? Is it 2 hours?
I don't know, I didn't do the math on that.
But either way, right? So another way is to Bible read.
So go, go to RNO website, take a look at it, click on it, read
along with us. If you're not going to read
along with us, I want to encourage you to read your Bible
daily and then Bible study, right?
So out of those 72 hours, here's another way where where we can
give God the first, right, the first action Bible study.
We have community groups within redemption where we get together
with our groups and we actually study scripture, whether or not
you're a single male. We've got female studies.
We got small, small community groups.
If you want to come to, for instance, my group and you're
over the age of 90 because we're all old.
I would that would be awesome to have some fresh faces.
If you're 22, when you want to come to my group, it's, yeah,
you're probably going to be like, wow, this is what old
people do. So, you know, at the end of the
day, though, there is a group out there for you.
So I would encourage you to get on the redemption website, find
a community group. Because if we do Jesus one hour
a week, right on Sundays, are we really seeking him first?
Are we really seeking the Kingdom first?
Is our identity really in Christ right?
Our worry, our anxiety, all these things can be lessened if
we think of the Kingdom first. Unfortunately, you're not going
to know that. I can tell you time and time
again and it's just like, you know, sometimes when you're when
you're talking and, and you just know you need to do something.
What a great opportunity. 2025 closing 2026.
I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, right?
I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions, but here's what I
am a fan of. Let's dedicate 2026 to Jesus
Christ. And what does that mean, right?
You may start off with just a daily prayer.
You may just start off with maybe a daily reading.
You may join a community group, right?
But where is that going to take you in your relationship with
Jesus Christ? This is what he's talking about,
right? So as we seek the Kingdom first,
there's also some other things we can do Worship.
Now I'm here to tell you, I'm I'm surprised that they haven't
invited me up here to sing because I do have a great voice
That that is totally a joke. You don't want to hear me sing.
That's why I think Doug came up and adjusted my mic because I
thought maybe it was on for a second.
He's like, dude, we got to turn you off.
But you know, at some point, right?
We what does worship look like? What does worship look like for
you? Are you worshiping once a week?
How about serving? Are you serving once a week?
How? What does serving look like?
Here's a plug for for redemption.
Another plug. Sorry, the pastors had no idea I
was going to do this. They didn't like, hey Dwight,
you need to talk about this. This is all me.
So don't yell at them for me plugging all this stuff.
But but serving, we already know God's presence is here when we
show up. But when we set up in the
morning, there's a very small group of us.
Hint, hint, there's a very small group of us that we just come
in, we do our thing and, you know, we sit back and we're
like, OK, good. You know, we line up the chairs,
we set up the stage and music gets to practice and
everything's good and we don't really think about it.
But I'm here to tell you that that pleases God, right?
The the coffee doesn't. There's not a.
A coffee fairy back there that kind of makes the coffee and
pours it all in and and does all this and like, oh, they will be
so happy at church today, right? No, there are individuals that
come in early to make sure there's coffee here.
So that way you can stay awake through service, even though,
hey, whatever. All right, but what about the
kids right now there are individuals back there who and
I, I love my wife because she loves babies and I'm so glad we
don't have babies right now because we are old.
But she gets her little baby fix and goes back and gets to hold
your children and that pleases her heart, which then happy
house, happy spouse pleases my heart.
All right, so another way. So these are all the things and
there are many more things we can do that puts the Kingdom
first, right? So Kingdom over anxiety and I
guarantee and I will guarantee this.
All right, if you do just one of these things extra a day, you
don't have to go in and, and try and do it all at once because
that's just like our resolutions, right?
Our New Year's resolutions are we usually, we typically go all
in. I'm going to work out five days
a week. I'm going to get, you know, I'm
going to drop 50 lbs and I'm going to do this.
And then week number one hits and you lost a half pound and
you're like, Oh, this isn't working.
I'm done, right? So I'm not saying go all in and
do every single one of these things at once.
What I'm saying is let God work on you and begin somewhere.
Begin somewhere because then I know right having gone through
this myself is I know once you start these things and you see
God take control of your life and you give God more and more
control, 1 you realize how much control you actually think you
had and then two, the blessings you will receive on the other
end is awesome. A relationship with Jesus Christ
is it changes and when I say changes your life, it will
change your life. Your perspective will be
completely different on how you look at your sin, on how you
handle your day-to-day operations of life.
And here's what I want to do with you guys.
I want to live life with you guys and living life with you
guys means serving, means reading my Bible sometimes means
getting rid of those nasty thoughts, praying.
I want to pray with you guys. I want to pray for you guys.
I want you to pray for me. You know, this is this is what
it's all about. This is our community here.
And if I get to live life with you, how much more blessed will
I be, right? How much worry will I have if I
know that I have something happen to me?
You will take care of my wife. If I lose my job, you guys will
provide the food, right? Because God's going to talk to
you. And if you are spending time
with Jesus Christ, you can't help but help.
So this is the verse that that kind of brings us a little back.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will
be anxious for self-sufficient for the day is its own trouble,
right. So we have a tendency to think
about tomorrow even though you're sitting here.
Some of you are like, but I really don't want to go to work
tomorrow. I've been off.
The kids are like, I'm so glad I have tomorrow off.
I can sleep in. My dad made me come in and help
set up chairs with this old man named Dwight, and he was
directing me. And, you know, all these things
are happening in that, right, Ethan?
Yeah. I see you.
All right. So.
Right. So don't be anxious about
tomorrow. I need to be reminded of this.
And it's funny because my grandson asked me a Riddle a few
weeks ago. Let's see if you guys can get
this what am I I'm always coming, but I never arrive.
I'm always coming, but I never arrive tomorrow.
Tomorrow will always be there. Nothing we can do about tomorrow
because today is today. So if you're going to worry,
worry about today. But I think we've already gone
over how you handle that worry, right?
Let's pray, let's read, let's study, let's love each other.
Let's show each other how much God has loved us by shining that
light to others. Jesus is not just saying that
food, clothing, or tomorrow don't matter.
What he's saying is that it is something for him to worry
about, not you. That's a different perspective.
It's something for him to worry about, not you.
So as we close, here's what I want you guys.
As we go into 2026, I want you to choose trust over worry,
trust in Jesus Christ. I want you to choose surrender
over control. Let's surrender our lives to who
Jesus Christ is and what he does.
And then let's choose the Kingdom over anxiety.
This world provides Enough worry, anxious.
Let them all worry about it. Let you know if you have to turn
off the social media, if you have to turn off the news,
We'll, we'll tell you what's going on.
We'll tell you about Jesus Christ.
We'll tell you how he loves you. And that's the goal, right?
Because we just celebrated, we celebrated the birth of Christ
who came to die for us, who also came to take away the worry for
us. That's the key.
He came to take away the worry for us.
Seek him first and let him handle the rest.
Let's close in prayer. Lord, you're awesome.
As I think about all those things that I used to worry
about and, you know, I think about food and clothing and, and
all these things and, and it tends to bubble up.
Lord, I can just turn to you and say take it.
The hardest thing to do is for us to give up control.
And I'm asking that each one of us today take a look at that
control and just say take it. You sent your son to take it for
us. You sent your son because you
love us, You care about us. And Lord, if there are
individuals in this room that want to know you more and want
to have that relationship and just don't know where to start,
Lord, I want them to feel encouraged to go to somebody
that does know. Lord, I want them to just wake
up and begin to seek your Kingdom first, Lord.
And maybe it's time as we head into 2026 that even us believers
who have kind of maybe strayed a little, not been as consistent.
Lord, help us re get re energized in who you are in our
lives, Lord, so that way we can go out and show and reflect who
you are and what you have done for each and every single one of
us. Lord and I thank you for your
love and what you continue to provide this church in this
community at this time with these individuals.
Thank you, your Son's most holy and precious name, Amen.
Amen. Would you stand and sing in
response with us?