Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] I think we can all affirm that, and yet the vast majority of us don't do this.
[00:00:10] Worse, I think even thinking about it, like even me talking about it right now, is probably triggering a ton of anxiety in many of us. The very idea of self improvement and self discipline and spiritual growth brings up insecurity and anxiety. Of all the different ways we've fallen short of this in the past.
[00:00:30] I said I was going to do this. I was going to sign up for this class, I was going to go to this discipleship group, I was going to do this review Bible in a year plan, but I picked the chronological one. And then I got to Leviticus and said, who signs up for this, right?
[00:00:43] You're like, yeah, that was me. This year, The vast majority of us, we just don't do it.
[00:00:55] And the problem is, if you want to take next steps in your faith, it won't happen by accident.
[00:00:59] It won't happen just in happenstance.
[00:01:03] It will happen because you've actually taken it seriously.
[00:01:06] We all know that this is basic.
[00:01:10] You don't graduate a class unless you do the work. You don't succeed at a job unless you learn the skills. We know that.
[00:01:16] And yet, yet many of us will do nothing differently in our lives in 2026.
[00:01:26] We'll do nothing differently.
[00:01:28] No change to our spiritual disciplines, no deeper engagement in community, no growth in repentance or personal holiness, no doing the hard work of finding real freedom from trauma, from mental health, from issues in our story. So why the heck do we lock up and give up?
[00:01:47] Why are we so content with status quo?
[00:01:50] There's a lot of reasons for that, I'm sure. But the one I want to address today is fear. I want to talk about fear and anxiety and their relationship together.
[00:01:59] I really believe at the core of all of us, in our very DNA as human beings, we're kind of hardwired by God, that we long to feel security.
[00:02:11] It feels safe.
[00:02:13] And I think the risk of real life change, combined with our past experiences of things blowing up or not working, it really rattles our sense of security. It can make it really difficult to honestly engage a challenge to grow or change our life and our faith.
[00:02:31] But beloved, the Gospel of Jesus speaks into this.
[00:02:34] In fact, according to Christ, the solution to life's uncertainties, the solution to, to the anxieties created by the sinful and broken world, is the kingdom of God.
[00:02:45] The phrase Jesus used to describe the rule, the reign, the authority of God in the world.
[00:02:51] And so my main point today is going to be simple. It's going to be this. You, beloved, were made for the kingdom of God.
[00:03:00] That's where we're going today. You're made for the kingdom of God because you're made for the kingdom of God.
[00:03:05] When you seek the kingdom of God, when you seek the rule and reign and authority of Christ here on earth now, when you seek that, you will find over the course of time that it genuinely does calm your fears, soothe your anxiety and grow you in holiness.
[00:03:25] Because you're doing what you're made for.
[00:03:27] I know that as I say that we're talking about anxiety, we're talking about fear, that some of us are just already nervous. If you're someone who struggles with fear and anxiety, freezing in the face of life's challenges, the idea that Jesus can just fix your anxiety might feel triggering. Maybe you've had well meaning brothers or sisters in Christ who tell you things like, you seem to rest in the joy of the Lord, cast your anxieties on him.
[00:03:51] When you found you couldn't just magically stop worrying, it messed up your experience of faith.
[00:03:57] I think the Gospel has hope and healing for you today. I really believe that. And so if that's you, if that's your story and you're already going, I'm not gonna like today. I get way louder a second ago. Yeah, I don't know. Spirit must be telling you guys something I don't know. You gotta deal with that.
[00:04:13] If that's you today, I wanna encourage you to stick it out with us. I do believe God has something for your heart today. We're gonna be in Matthew 6. If you wanna go ahead and turn there in your Bibles. We don't have a Bible with you today. We have house Bibles around the room. Just looking underneath the chairs in front of you.
[00:04:27] Matthew, chapter six.
[00:04:29] Let me pray for us.
[00:04:31] We're going to jump into this text. Jesus, we need you today to be our discipler.
[00:04:37] Holy Spirit. I ask that you would be the one who speaks to us through your word, that you would be the one who challenges us, who grows us. Pray that you would be the one who soothes us and our hurts and our fears and our anxieties. Lord, let us meet with your heart today in the way we actually need.
[00:04:54] Speak to each of us as our heart needs today. Lord, let us leave here today having met with your spirit. We need you for this work, Father, so we pray it in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[00:05:05] Okay, so we're jumping into, in Matthew 6, the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. This is One of Matthew's most famous passages in the whole book. And the thing you have to understand is this, before we dig into it, Matthew is a book that is very Kingdom of God forward.
[00:05:19] That's one of the primary themes, primary phrases that Matthew uses to describe and to organize Jesus's ministry. Jesus is ushering in the kingdom of God that is the rule and reign and authority of God here on earth. It's one of the most consistent messages of the book of Matthew. And the Sermon on the Mount itself is sort of this deep dive into, into Kingdom of God living or Kingdom of God ethics. It's Jesus saying, this is how life within God's kingdom is different from life within this cursed and broken world. And in the sermon, over the course of it, if you go back to the beginning, we see some really specific truths that Christ brings out and builds a theological case for ideas like God blesses those who seem like they don't really deserve it.
[00:06:08] The really interesting one, it's how he launches out the sermon. The people who are bad at faith are the ones who receive the kingdom.
[00:06:15] He talks about how the law in Scripture points to the kingdom of God, not to legalism.
[00:06:23] He talks about how God cares about your heart in your righteous living, not just your righteous acts, that just living by the letter of specific rules isn't sufficient. But the kingdom of God longs to see your heart change and turn toward him.
[00:06:39] And then they get to our text.
[00:06:41] And here Jesus is going to talk about our fears, our worries, and ultimately what we're going to see in this text is the truth, the claim that Jesus himself is trustworthy, that Jesus is trustworthy. And because he's trustworthy, we can trust both him and his provision for us with our worries, with our fears, with our anxiety, we simply get to seek the kingdom in our life every day, and we get to trust God for the rest of it.
[00:07:15] That's what Christ is going to claim here today. So let's read this and talk about it. We're going to start chapter six. And verse 25 says this.
[00:07:24] Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
[00:07:35] Now, our text opens with a therefore.
[00:07:37] And anytime you're reading scripture and you see it, therefore, you have to stop and back up and see what it's there for.
[00:07:44] Which I know is cheesy, but it's actually helpful. It's a helpful exegetical Tool. That's why I say it, because it sticks in your brain.
[00:07:50] In this text where we started, Jesus is purposefully committing what he said to, to what he just said the previous text. So let me briefly back us up and set us up here. In verses 19 through 24, Jesus calls out our treasure.
[00:08:07] It's that famous passage, don't store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. He gives you this gut check. What treasure do you want in life? What do you value in life? Do you want earthly treasures, pleasures, things, stuff, success? Or do you want kingdom of God treasure?
[00:08:26] Because this kingdom of God treasure, this treasure in heaven Jesus says, is permanent.
[00:08:31] It doesn't rot, no one can take it, it's secure. So what does he actually mean by heavenly treasure?
[00:08:38] We have to ask yourself, like, what are the sort of things we experience in this life that are actually eternal? Right, that's what he's getting at. What sort of things that you can do in this life that you can store up that will last into eternity? I think a couple easy, like low hanging fruit on this would be things like when you live your life in a missional and evangelistic way and you share the Gospel with those in need of Christ. That's eternal treasure, right? That's more brothers and sisters at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
[00:09:07] I think it can get more personal than that. You can talk about holy living. Growing in your own holiness is moving your own soul closer toward what its eternity will look like. Killing sin, fighting idols. That's eternal treasure. That's glorifying God.
[00:09:23] And notice, by the way, when you think about this idea that Jesus doesn't discourage you from collecting treasure.
[00:09:31] I think it's one of the most interesting parts.
[00:09:34] Jesus encourages you to store up treasure. He simply gut checks you on what kind of treasure you're seeking.
[00:09:44] I mean, you could live as your own personal smog, hoarding up all the things of this world while they rot away and don't last.
[00:09:52] Or you could seek the eternal treasure of the kingdom of God.
[00:09:56] Revelation has this really cool image in regards to this idea of heavenly treasure. In Revelation 4, John gives this image of the eternal treasures that were stored up being given to the followers of Jesus as they enter into eternity. And he calls them crowns of glory that are being handed the faithful as they enter into the, into the kingdom. And what's beautiful about the scene is that they immediately take all the crowns that have been laid upon them, that have honored them for their lives, for their personal holiness, for the way they've sought Christ and They immediately lay them down at the feet of Jesus as an offering.
[00:10:30] Because just as Jesus says, where your treasure is, your heart is the things you value. Have you, I have you.
[00:10:41] If you treasure this world, this world will have your heart.
[00:10:45] If you treasure the kingdom of God, the kingdom will have your heart, beloved.
[00:10:50] So Jesus follows this talk of treasure by saying, we have to be single minded. We can't have divided loyalties. You can't serve both God and money. And it culminates in verse 24.
[00:11:00] No one can serve two masters.
[00:11:03] You either hate the one and love the other, or, or he'll be devoted to one, despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. The person, according to Jesus, who can see, who isn't blind, is single minded, trusting the kingdom rather than earthly goods. And here Jesus drops this hammer. You can't do both.
[00:11:25] You can't do both.
[00:11:27] You cannot seek the treasures of this world. You cannot sink the things of this world and the things of, of the kingdom. You can't. You can't serve two masters.
[00:11:39] I think that truth is fundamentally discombobulating to us as modern Western Christians because we live in a time and a place where we can really easily convince ourselves that we can in fact serve two masters.
[00:11:54] Because we live in a moment in Christian history where we have ludicrous amounts of religious freedom.
[00:12:02] Ludicrous amounts of religious freedom. If you compare your life of faith to that of the vast majority of your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world and throughout church history, you would be astounded at the freedom you have, at the wealth you have.
[00:12:19] I mean, how many of us have more than one printed Bible at our house right now?
[00:12:24] You know how many thousands of years the majority of our brothers and sisters have had no access to a single full copy of the written word?
[00:12:34] Seriously, to this day, how many of our brothers and sisters. We support a missionary, the Hargers, who are working in Peru, and he talks about how the vast majority of these tribes, they're reaching in the rainforest, may have a chunk of Jane or a section of Matthew, the only scripture in their heart. Link.
[00:12:51] We have Bibles stacked up, growing dust, right? Because we got plenty and we got them on our phone and we put them up on the screens, right?
[00:12:59] By the way, I don't say that to make you feel guilty.
[00:13:02] Praise God that you've been born in a time and a place with such amazing religious freedom, such amazing personal liberty. Praise the Lord.
[00:13:09] That is a gift. We are grateful for it.
[00:13:12] But the downside to that strength, the Downside of that strength. The flip side to it is that we can convince ourselves that we can pursue two masters because we live in a moment where to pursue Christ doesn't cost you all that much culturally.
[00:13:29] To be open in your faith doesn't bear that much weight.
[00:13:34] We don't lose our job, we don't lose access to our finances. We don't have our homes taken or our families threatened for it. And so we can go to church on Sunday and plug into a small group and go to the membership class and do all the things we're supposed to do.
[00:13:51] And we can still in our hearts, pursue wealth and comfort and leisure and worship the idols of our community. We can do both, and we trick ourselves and think that works.
[00:14:03] But what Christ tells us here, that a fundamental level, you cannot serve two masters.
[00:14:09] At some point. At some point, you will run across a decision where you must choose between your loyalty to the world or your loyalty to God.
[00:14:19] At some point, we can straddle the fence, but they'll spread apart enough and we'll go full Jean Claude Van Damme, and we'll have to pick which side we're going on. If you caught that reference, you're my kind of person.
[00:14:32] At some point you'll have to pick which master do I serve, who gets my loyalty in this moment?
[00:14:42] And that is what's loaded into our therefore.
[00:14:48] Because money is a terrible master, because earthly treasure rots away, because you ultimately have to choose whether you want to seek the kingdom of God in this life because of all those things. Jesus says, therefore, don't worry about this life.
[00:15:08] Don't worry about your food.
[00:15:09] Don't worry about your clothes. Your life is more than your material needs. And remember, guys, Jesus is sharing this with an audience for whom lack of food and lack of clothing is a real issue.
[00:15:22] We forget that in the context of our wealth.
[00:15:25] Yeah, of course, life is more than food and clothes. That's easy to say when you are well fed and own dozens of changes of clothes.
[00:15:32] But Jesus is playing hardball.
[00:15:34] He's saying the eternal kingdom of God is more valuable than the necessities of life.
[00:15:39] So much so that you need not worry about them.
[00:15:44] There's something big here, he's saying. Look on to verse 26.
[00:15:49] Consider the birds of the sky.
[00:15:51] They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they?
[00:15:58] Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying?
[00:16:02] And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wild flowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like even one of these.
[00:16:13] If that's how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and thrown to the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you, oh, you of little faith?
[00:16:25] And now Jesus gives us a few images and sayings to back up this idea.
[00:16:30] The two images, by the way, are essentially the same. Birds don't work, but God feeds them. Flowers are shockingly fleeting and yet God clothes them.
[00:16:40] Jesus essentially says, here, look how God takes care of the natural world. Birds and flowers. You are so much more important to God than them.
[00:16:49] And I think we need to stop there for just a moment and reflect on the truth that you, beloved, are important to God.
[00:16:58] Can we sit in that for a second?
[00:17:01] I think some of us are here today specifically to be reminded of that truth. You are important to God.
[00:17:08] You, with all your mess, with all your sin, with all your brokenness, with all your hypocrisy, with all your strengths and joys and sorrows all mixed together into the stew that is you. You, you are important to the Creator, God of the universe.
[00:17:26] I think some of us have internalized a different message, one where maybe, maybe God tolerates us because he has to, or that God is angry with us because of how often you fall short of him.
[00:17:39] The overwhelming message of the scripture and the teaching of Jesus is that sinful, messy, you are precious and valuable to God.
[00:17:47] Never lose that truth that defines how we understand the rest of Scripture. That is a lens through which we understand all of the gospel, that God is good and he wants what's best for you, that he loves you deeply.
[00:18:00] That's a little bit of a rabbit show. Back to our passage. Jesus contrasts these image of God's provision with the futility of our anxiety and worry. Who of you by your worry, can add a minute to your life? Worry is futile. Anxiety is fruitless. It takes so much energy and it both accomplishes nothing and distracts you from the truth of God's caretaking provision for you.
[00:18:20] Now, at this point, I think a lot of us, even those of us who maybe struggle with anxiety, are like, yeah, I know, that's the problem.
[00:18:27] Stick with us. Look how Jesus continues.
[00:18:30] So don't worry, saying, what will we eat? Or what we drink or what we wear? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
[00:18:44] So now Jesus brings it home and starts to get really blunt.
[00:18:48] Don't worry about the things of this world.
[00:18:50] By the way, it's important to note he doesn't mean you shouldn't work to provide for yourself and your family, that you shouldn't plan for your future. Rather, he's saying you shouldn't worry and fret while you do that.
[00:19:01] There's a big difference between laboring in this broken and uncertain world from a place of trust versus a place of anxiety.
[00:19:09] Jesus says that that kind of worry, that's for non believers, his Gentiles. He means people outside the faith.
[00:19:17] All they have is the uncertainty of this cursed and broken world. But you, beloved, you have God.
[00:19:26] And I think it's so easy for that to just be this cliche that goes in one ear and out the other. But I need you to hear that, because Jesus believes this truth is sufficient to engage what we're talking about.
[00:19:39] He says, the fears and anxieties that dominate our life, they make sense for people outside of Christ.
[00:19:48] All they have is this cursed and broken world. And this cursed and broken world is full of uncertainty and pain and suffering.
[00:19:54] Fear and anxiety is a survival tactic in that world.
[00:19:59] But Christ says, but you have God.
[00:20:03] You have something different.
[00:20:06] Jesus repeats a line from his teaching on prayer and reminds you that God sees you and knows you.
[00:20:13] He knows your needs. Can we just stop for a minute there?
[00:20:17] Reflect on the idea that Jesus sees this idea, that it's simply reminding you that God sees you and knows what you need. That for Christ, that's enough to address what's going on here.
[00:20:31] That the assurance of God's knowledge of your needs, that that is enough, according to Christ, to address our fear and our anxiety.
[00:20:43] You have God and He sees you and he knows what you need.
[00:20:48] What Christ is saying here is that our God is so good that him simply knowing what you need is enough to rest your worry.
[00:20:59] Because if he knows what you need, he will obviously meet your need.
[00:21:05] Because he knows you and he sees you. You are not ignored. You are not lost in the crowd. You don't fall through the cracks. You're important to God, and He sees you and he knows your needs. And his character is such that if he sees you and knows your needs, he will surely meet them.
[00:21:25] Because all of this comes back to trust.
[00:21:29] Your worry, your anxiety, your fear, beloved. These are the natural responses to the uncertainty and suffering of the cursed world.
[00:21:41] But you are not owned by the cursed world.
[00:21:45] You are not stuck in the curse of the world. You're not even seeking the things of the cursed world. You Beloved, have Christ and Jesus. People seek the kingdom.
[00:21:58] They seek the kingdom. And because they seek the kingdom, they can trust the Father who knows them, who sees them, who cares for them.
[00:22:06] And this is why our text ends how it does. Look at verse 33.
[00:22:10] But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
[00:22:16] Therefore, backing up to what we just said, don't worry about tomorrow.
[00:22:22] Tomorrow will worry about itself.
[00:22:25] Each day has enough trouble of its own.
[00:22:29] Seek the kingdom.
[00:22:31] Don't trust in the fleeting treasures of this world to protect you. Don't wallow in fear and worry. Don't assume your own strength will be sufficient to face what's in front of you. Instead, give yourself wholeheartedly to the kingdom of God. Why?
[00:22:47] Because he is your provider.
[00:22:49] Because he will care for you.
[00:22:52] But then Jesus ends with this amazing, unexpected twist.
[00:22:57] He says, don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough of its own troubles.
[00:23:02] Wait just a second.
[00:23:04] Hold on. I don't know about you, but that's actually exactly what I'm worried about with tomorrow.
[00:23:10] Right?
[00:23:12] I'm pretty certain tomorrow has enough troubles of its own. That's what I'm worried about.
[00:23:19] Guys, isn't the root of our fears, our anxieties, our worries, the sorrow and despair that can bloom out of these experiences? Like, isn't it really just about our complete and total lack of control over the terrible things that can happen in this world and happen to us?
[00:23:36] Like, isn't that. That it's a core of it of just going, today has trouble, yesterday has trouble. I'm pretty sure tomorrow will have trouble, and I can't do anything about any of it.
[00:23:47] That's kind of at the root here.
[00:23:49] Well, Jesus says, hey, don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow is worrying, As this is the truth of it. And I think this is Jesus coming home to, I think the reality of our human hearts.
[00:24:07] Anxiety is real. Worry is real. Fear is real. Deep, dark sorrow, as a fruit of those things is real.
[00:24:16] Of course it is the only guarantee we have in life in a world this broken and sinful is suffering, that you will lose, that you will hurt.
[00:24:27] The bad things will happen to you.
[00:24:30] And many of us know this from personal experience just as much as from reading the news that really, really, really, really, really terrible things can and do happen and we can do nothing about them.
[00:24:45] That's why we so easily look backward and look forward in both directions. We look with fear and anxiety and worry. It's why it's so hard to actually take next Steps in life, in faith. Because worry is, is the natural response of one who lives in this world and lives for this world. But Jesus tells us that the gospel is the solution.
[00:25:06] Regardless of how much fear and anxiety and worry affects you, Christ is your solution. And the reason for it is simple. It's because he is trustworthy.
[00:25:18] Listen, I understand that that is an answer that is much easier said than applied.
[00:25:25] Right?
[00:25:27] Literally, the only application some of you need to hear today is that 2026 is the year you're finally going to go to counseling and incorporate some spiritual healing into your discipleship. Right? Like, I get that. I can say this from the pulpit.
[00:25:41] Christ is trustworthy, and so you need not fear and that's enough.
[00:25:47] And you just kind of go, really? Now, I know that that answer may take a lot of work.
[00:25:53] It may be really, really intense. Trusting God in a way that actually heals fear and anxiety can take some intense healing and can take a long, stinking time.
[00:26:05] Freedom from fear and anxiety and the sorrow they build.
[00:26:09] Understanding that real healing in this area, because it's never going to be divorced from the truth of Jesus.
[00:26:16] The actual healing you do in this area, whether it's in discipleship or counseling or your own time with the Lord, it's going to be because you've been rooted in the truth of Christ's trustworthiness.
[00:26:26] It's not as if you have a spiritual life and a mental health life and they just fit into new two neat little categories. You are a unity.
[00:26:35] You are one person. And if Jesus is who he says he is, then real healing is always going to be healing that points us back to Jesus.
[00:26:45] The Apostle Peter said in his first letter in chapter five, cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you, because Christ cares for you.
[00:26:56] Okay, so then what am I actually asking you to do practically with this text today?
[00:27:02] In a very real sense, my prayer for our church heading into 2026 is that we would be a church who seeks first the kingdom of God. That's what we were made for.
[00:27:11] We have a lot in front of us as a church this year. Like, it's cool. It's exciting. We're prayerfully seeking to plant a church in St. Charles county in, like, four months. That's not very long. That's exciting.
[00:27:22] We're actively praying for God to help us prepare, like, for the next space that our church is going to be in. We're deeply committed to international and local missional partners. We have children and youth ministry running that is really powerful. And we're seeing lives change. We're learning how to be intentional with our witness, with our neighbors. We have a lot on our plate as a little church, and I'm praying that in all of it, our church would be a group of people who seek the kingdom of God.
[00:27:47] That's. That's part of this.
[00:27:49] But this is for you as an individual as well.
[00:27:52] I want you to consider this today. First and foremost, this is a call to not let another year go by without taking a serious look at your life of faith.
[00:28:03] Like, don't settle for the status quo, beloved. Your faith will not move, mature by accident.
[00:28:11] It must be tended to.
[00:28:13] And you need to know this. Your history of spiritual growth is not an indicator of your future.
[00:28:21] You can't look back on the good old days when you were super plugged in and served and were really active and were exploding in your faith because you were plugged into an awesome church or a great campus ministry and everything worked. That doesn't speak to what happens to you now.
[00:28:35] You must pursue the Lord today, and you must make that choice.
[00:28:41] Don't let another year go by.
[00:28:43] Don't let the call of the Lord pass you by and be content with the status quo. John Piper describes our growth in faith as walking up a down escalator.
[00:28:54] Right?
[00:28:55] You can stop and take a breath, but you won't pause.
[00:28:59] You will immediately begin to regress.
[00:29:02] And some of us, that's our testimony, we think back to when we came to Christ in a youth ministry or a campus ministry. We were so on fire. We were sharing our faith. We were in the Word and we were being evangelistic and doing all these things and discipling others. And then we got a job, and then we got married, and then we had kids, and then life got busy. And then we just stopped doing all of those things. And you sat down and you're like, man, I haven't actually, like, read my Bible for more than five minutes at a time in, like, six months.
[00:29:27] Yeah, we can all do that.
[00:29:31] So, beloved, don't let this pass you by.
[00:29:34] Don't let 2026 be another year of status quo.
[00:29:39] In a cultural moment that invites you to take personal stock and to plan out your personal goals. Don't ignore the health of your soul.
[00:29:48] What will your Bible engagement look like in 2026?
[00:29:51] What will your involvement in community and connection look like over these next three, five months?
[00:29:58] Some of you are here today, and all you need is to be reminded that you are the love and support your brothers and sisters need.
[00:30:05] Some of you need that Reminder today that you're sitting here going, I don't know. I'm not really a person who's dominated by fear and anxiety. You have people in this room who are, who desperately need to be in life on life, community and connection with brothers and sisters, who can ground them in the truth of the gospel.
[00:30:21] And your involvement in discipleship and community is the lifeline that Christ is putting in their life.
[00:30:27] Some of us need that reminder today that our community involvement is important.
[00:30:34] Maybe this is the year you need to think about baptism or taking the step of obedience and becoming a member of the church you attend.
[00:30:41] You need to ask yourself who you're going to disciple this year, not who's going to disciple you. Who are you going to disciple this year?
[00:30:47] Who needs to hear your testimony?
[00:30:49] Who needs to dig into the Word with you?
[00:30:51] Who are you committed to pray for their salvation this year?
[00:30:55] As these are the sorts of heavenly treasures that Jesus encourages us to store up. It's one of the most practical ways you can palpably seek the kingdom of God in your life.
[00:31:05] But as I said a moment ago, right like this, this might mean that you need to finally be willing to take a hard look at what's keeping you from spiritual growth.
[00:31:12] Maybe you have a sin pattern in your life that now is the time to bring it to the light and find healing a bad habit that's turned into an addiction or some area where you feel trapped.
[00:31:23] Maybe it's finally time to look at the ways the sins of others have wounded you in your story.
[00:31:29] Maybe you need to bring some of that pain, some of that trauma into the light. Maybe it's time to finally invite your spouse or your friends or your community or your pastors or a counselor into your full story.
[00:31:42] Maybe you just need a season of counseling alongside your normal community and discipleship rhythms. And by the way, we can help you with this.
[00:31:50] Really passionate about people walking in actual freedom in their life and their faith. And we have ways of helping make sure gospel centered counseling is approachable for you. If you want to talk to one of your pastors, whatever it may be today, I urge you, I urge you, don't let this day pass you by.
[00:32:08] Today is the day of salvation.
[00:32:10] Today is the day to take your spiritual life seriously. Today is the day to find real breakthrough and freedom in Christ.
[00:32:19] Whether you're in this room and you're still considering faith and you're not sure whether you want to give your life to Christ or whether you've been following him for decades, today is the day to take your next step in faith.
[00:32:31] Ben, if you want to come back up, One of the most influential Baptist theologians in all of time was this dude named John Bunyan, which is a great last name for a pastor.
[00:32:42] And he wrote a book that you've probably heard of called Pilgrim's Progress. If you've never read that book, it needs to be on your bucket list of books to read. In fact, that's the book that's our baptism gift, the manual. If you've never read it, Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory. It's a narrative story that. It tells the story of a man named Pilgrim and his journey from the city of destruction to the celestial kingdom. And every single character and every scene in the book symbolizes some aspect of the Christian life and the Christian journey. It's brilliant. It's worth your time. It holds up really way, really well. Anyway, Bunyan has this unique and, I think, helpful take on fear and anxiety.
[00:33:19] He essentially says anxiety, fear, worry, despair and sorrow, they all go together, and they're all common experiences to all Christians.
[00:33:28] He actually says, you should expect to face these things and to face them together.
[00:33:34] The fear, anxiety, worry lead to despair and sorrow.
[00:33:38] The world is cursed, and living in it is hard and painful.
[00:33:41] It's normal that we would worry, that we would despair. The task then, is for the Christian to learn how to take these experiences and submit them to Christ.
[00:33:50] And so in his story, later on in the journey, Pilgrim and his friend, you know, they've spent some time with Jesus himself, and he gives them some gifts for their journey. And as they journey, they. They eventually accidentally wander off the straight and narrow path, and they find themselves captured by this giant named Despair. And he locks them into his dungeon, and he spends days coming down and just beating the heck out of them and telling them mean things, telling them they have no hope, telling them no one knows they're there, no one's coming for them, and just leaving them in the dark, covered in bruises and hungry. And they fret and they worry, and they begin to give up all hope. They can't see a way out of despair's dungeon, when suddenly, in the darkest moment, Pilgrim remembers the gifts that he received from Jesus. And one of them is a key called the Key of My Promises.
[00:34:36] And it contains all the promises that Jesus gave to his church. And it's in his pocket, and he forgot about it.
[00:34:43] And so he pulls it out, and the promises of Christ to his church unlocks their chains and then unlocks the doors and then unlocks the outside door and they find themselves free and back on the path.
[00:34:55] By trusting the promises of Jesus to His church, they found their way out of darkness, out of despair.
[00:35:03] Beloved, the key is the promises of Jesus.
[00:35:08] He is our comforter. He is our caretaker in a scary and painful world. He is trustworthy.
[00:35:16] Every day we will have troubles. Every day we will have pain. Every day we will have anxieties.
[00:35:21] And we will only be free from them genuinely when we cast them to Jesus and trust him for his provision.
[00:35:29] I think what's beautiful about that is the reminder that we as those in Christ can carry the key in our pocket.
[00:35:38] The key is believing the promises of Jesus.
[00:35:41] So what is Jesus's promise for you today, beloved?
[00:35:45] January 4th.
[00:35:47] Heading into a new year, there's a lot of But I want to end by reminding us of one specifically that I think might usher us into this year. Well, in Matthew 11, Jesus says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, where I will give you rest.
[00:36:10] Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and I am humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.
[00:36:22] My yoke is easy. My burdens loyd well that this is the promise of Christ to you today to come to him with whatever burdens you, to find your rest, to find your rejuvenation, to find your freedom.
[00:36:41] So we're going to do this a little different today. I want to invite you to take just a moment to connect with Christ in the way your heart needs. If you can do that in your chair, that's awesome. If you want to get on your knees or grab one of the pastors to pray with you. If you want to come up to the altar and pray, you're welcome to do that.
[00:36:56] I will encourage you to take just a few minutes to be with the Lord in confession.
[00:37:03] I invite you to take this moment to take stock of your year, to think about the highs and lows of your faith in your life, to present them to Christ and to see what promises he might remind you.
[00:37:19] I invite you just to sit with Christ in that moment. In a few minutes, Nick's going to come up and he'll lead us through communion. So let's take a few minutes in this space right now, live and just meet with Christ as our hearts lead to end of Washington.
