Don't Worry, Mate | Avoiding Worry in Everyday Life (12/14/2003)

Well, I'm sure y 'all heard the news this morning and Saddam Hussein was hiding in a hole

It's interesting how many times the Bible says that the wicked shall fall into their own pit and This verse says the righteous of the perfect shall direct his way

But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness And that is what happened today.

So that's amazing news to start out the day with But You know, he fell into his own pit.

That's what the Bible says happens with all wickedness I think one of the most childish things that adults do is they're just like children.

I think they can get away with their sin never happens Never happens now,

I will agree with dr. RG Lee that sometimes it seems that there's a payday someday

It seems like that. You don't get paid back immediately And that's where the devil is able to trick young people sometimes because they do something wrong.

They look over their shoulder. Nothing happens They say well, okay We'll try that again and they do it again and look over their shoulder

They don't see anything happening. And then what they don't realize it's not like cash. It's like a credit card and The bill comes and all those little have you ever noticed how those little dollar amounts add up to a big dollar amount?

They don't look like they should but they do and we think our sins are little But they add up and then there is always a payday the

Bible says Your sins shall find you out So that's what happened to Saddam today

But it happens to all of us because God is just we cannot get away from sin

It's best to do as brother Otis has said in his in his Bible studies before he said if you're gonna sin

Make sure you go find a place where God can't see you and then do it Well, I want to review last

Sunday's message a little bit because today's message is tied in together with it last Sunday's message was how

To have a kept mind and today's match message is no worry mate

How many of you saw Crocodile Dundee's movies? You know kid brings out a little knife and points it at him and he says that's not a knife and he reaches back here

And pulls out this knife out. That's a knife Kid runs off. Well that could typify the word couldn't it?

The sword is the Word of God So when you have that there are no worries. That's gonna be the message today Let me review last week's a little bit today's

Message is going to be in Luke chapter 12 starting with verse 16, but last time we talked about a couple of what

I think are excellent life verses for you Philippians chapter 4

Starting with verse 4 and then 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 starting with verse 3

You should note those in case you weren't here last time. You didn't get those Please note them in your notes for today because those are two of the most practical

Living verses that a Christian can have because we don't realize sometimes that the whole battle happens right between our ears

This is where spiritual warfare takes place There is no deed that you can do without your mind thinking of doing it first And so if Satan is out to try to destroy your testimony or Weaken you

Spiritually or hurt your heart or send a fiery dart through your heart.

He's going to attack right here first and so last Week's message was on how to have a safe protected mind as a

Christian Philippians 4 4 says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice and that word rejoice in the

Greek language is calmly happy Be calmly happy. You cannot be calmly happy if you're worried

So today's message is about worry Specifically, but last Sunday we talked about how do you keep a sound?

Mind a healthy mind in the Lord. Will you start out that the Lord? Tells us to be calmly happy and he says you should be rejoicing or calmly happy Always and the word always means ever or perpetually unceasingly

And then he says and again, I say rejoice the Greek word again is in this verse is

Paul in which means oscillatory repetition It's like something that's oscillating like a little birds heartbeat

Or like your own heartbeat or like you're breathing in and breathing out. It just keeps going

So he says rejoice in the Lord always and then he says you should oscillate in that.

That's what he means when he says again Oscillate let it just oscillate all the time in your life.

It never stops this rejoicing this calm happiness, well worry can stop that and That's why

God says it's a sin to worry He Goes on and says let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand moderation here means appropriateness It means

One commentator says it means sweet reasonableness being reasonable

The Greek word literally means the word reasonable with the little Word epi in front of it, which means intensity it adds intensity to it.

So it means be intensely Reasonable in the way that we think be careful of nothing that means don't worry about anything

But in everything by prayer that's asking and supplication that's being bound to your master and Begging as a servant being bound to the master and pleading with the master is what that word literally means

So don't worry about anything but in everything by asking and by being bound to the

Lord and With Thanksgiving let your request be known unto

God well Verse 7 then says the result of that is that the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds

Through Christ that word through is actually pain which means in so it's in Christ Verse 8 said finally brethren now look at this for a moment.

This is one of the greatest life verses God literally tells us how to think and he implies as he tells us he implies how we ought not to think

Now think about it a minute we're gonna look at what God says we are to think about now We're always thinking you can't stop thinking if you're alive.

So you're always thinking God says if you put these thoughts in your mind, they will root out the thoughts.

I don't want you thinking about It also implies that we have to be listening to what we're thinking about all the time now if you're saved today if you have received the

Lord Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior and You have him as a real relationship in your life

Then you have two men you have the new man and the old man

You have the new spiritual man, which is in at one with the Holy Spirit You have your spirit and the

Holy Spirit in union That's the new man and then you have the old carnal flesh the body that you live in with its brain

Which is an organ like your heart or anything else? It's a fantastic computer, but it's part of the old man and so you have to understand that you now if you're saved you are the new man and You as the new man in conjunction with the

Holy Spirit need to rule the old man and bring it under submission and make it be a servant of righteousness unto

God the only way you can do that is to think about what you're thinking about all the time as Thoughts come into your mind that don't fit in Philippians chapter 4 verse 8

Then you as the ruler along with the Lord as the ruler of your own body Need to cast that thought out of your mind and not allow it there

Now we talked last time about practically how to do that There may be many ways the way I do it is when a thought comes into my mind

And I then capture it and realize that's not from the Lord Then I'll pray and say Lord.

I don't believe that's your thought. Please give me the mind of Jesus Christ That's a scriptural prayer

Give me the mind of Jesus Christ Let me think about this situation as he would and the other thought will be cast out of your mind at that point

It'll go away. God will remove it and you can think right So that's how we do it.

Now. Let's look at the list of The things he says if these come into your mind, let them stay if Anything other than these categories come in there cast it out

He says finally brethren whatsoever things are true So if it's the truth you can think about it

Whatsoever things are honest if it's honest you can think about it whatsoever things are just Whatsoever things are pure if it's not pure don't think about it

Cast it out of your mind if the pops in there cast it out say Lord I don't believe the

Lord Jesus would think this way about this situation Please give me the mind of Christ and cast this thought out of my mind

It will work every time because God will answer your prayer. He'll do that. He'll cast it out of your mind immediately

It's not pure don't think about it whatsoever. Things are lovely So if it's lovely you can think about it now the

Greek word for that means friendly towards you Isn't that interesting? So if a thought comes into your mind, it is not friendly towards you

It does not edify or build you up make you stronger cast it out of your mind immediately You're the boss in conjunction with the

Holy Spirit because the new you is always united to the Holy Spirit It is not separated ever

Now you say well I am sometimes no, that's the old man you are never separated from the

Holy Spirit God uses the physical union in marriage as a picture of the spiritual union between your spirit and the

Holy Spirit at the moment You're saved when he comes to dwell in your body. He doesn't really dwell in your flesh

He dwells in your spirit and becomes one with you. So you and he together rule this body in this mind

And so therefore if it's not a thought Where it says lovely if it's not a thought that's friendly towards building you up cast it out of your mind

Whatsoever things are a good report Good report means of good reputation things that are well spoken of you can think about those if it's not a good report

Don't think about it. What if you know somebody that's doing something they ought not be doing And you hear about that.

Should you think about that a lot you cast it out of your mind. It's not a good report Think about things if it's your brothers and sisters and they've done something well, and it's a good reputation

Think about that Because you know what pops out of our mouths the stuff we've been thinking about And we're not supposed to speak of one another in a bad way if we're not at least face -to -face, are we?

We're not supposed to talk about each other behind each other's back So if you don't let yourself think of things that are not a good report about the other you'll never talk about them

You see how at all the battlefield is here So if it's not a good report, don't let yourself think about it

If there be any virtue you can think of that virtue means Manly valor.

It's a male. It's a masculine term in the Greek language Manly valor and excellence you ladies can have this too

It just means it's a strong type of valor and excellence If it be a virtue then you can think about it

If there be any praise if it's something you can praise then think on these things

Now if you would learn that verse and walk with it and use it as a practical verse every day

It'll work, but you have to have it in conjunction with this verse in 2nd Corinthians 10 3 look at that for a moment

Please mark these down. I mean you'll need them every day. You need them throughout the day If you've never walked with these verses if you will go out from here today and make a pledge to walk in these verses

It will change your life. You'll never have to have a bunch of rules to live by so many of the

Certain branch of our Baptist brothers and sisters have a list of rules. They call them standards. It's just a way to be manipulative and Pharisaical You don't need that what you need is to obey verse 8 walk with the

Lord Let your new man rule in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. Let the new man rule over your body and mind

It's all you have to do 2nd Corinthians 10 3 shows the negative side of this it shows

What do you do when a thought other than the kind listed? Comes into your mind.

How do you handle it? It says for though we walk in the flesh that just means we're walking around in a body still aren't we?

We're not in heaven yet Though we walk in the flesh. We do not war after the flesh now that's talking about spiritual warfare

You cannot battle Satan with the strength of your arm It won't do you any good even

Israel couldn't battle Satan by running to Egypt Which is a picture of the world and Pharaoh which is a symbol of Satan They would run to Egypt for protection, but could

Egypt ever protect Israel No, and did it anger the

Lord when they ran to Israel rather than coming to him for protection? Yes So when we're battling spiritual warfare, don't depend on your personality.

Don't depend on your intellect Don't depend on the books. You've read don't depend on your friends

Don't depend on a set of rules Rules are of the flesh and of the world They're not of the heavenlies there won't be rules in the heavenlies

So don't depend on any of that stuff Realize that you battle with the spirit not with the flesh

Verse 4 says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal But mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds

Satan in this world can get a stronghold in your life if you're not careful Usually it will always it's when you allow sin in or a wrong thought that's not listed in the verse

We already studied and you let that thought stay in there and you think about it over a period of time Satan can get a stronghold in your life in that area of your life whether it be uncleanliness unclean thoughts pornography

Whether it be anything that comes into your mind and defiles you if you allow that and you don't cast it out then

Satan gets a stronghold in your life and you can't cast it out anymore or you think you can't and It becomes more difficult when the enemy takes the hill brother

Roger. Is it easy to go take it back? No Would it be easier if you never allowed him to take the hill?

Yes You catch him as he climbs up through the trees at the foot of the hill and you destroy you cast him off the hill

When these kinds of attacks these spiritual attacks come young people you should listen to me whether you're it's a temptation towards pornography or These things that come in your email or the internet and you're tempted to click that button.

Don't click the button Change your email address so you don't get those things But if you allow that to come in one time

You're letting that in me climb up that hill and getting closer to the top and once he gets the top You're not just gonna throw him off in one day.

You're gonna battle that maybe for years, even if you're saved But here's how you stop that from happening

Realize he can have strongholds and look at verse 5 cast down Imaginations and every high thing.

These are thoughts in your mind. These are imaginations or thoughts they may not be real but they lift themselves up higher than even

God and reality and truth and they lift themselves up as if they are real and true and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and Bring those things.

It's talking to you. Now. You are to bring these things into captivity and Bring all of these kinds of thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ.

Now you are one with Christ You you're if you're saved You're the real you is one with Christ and is never separated

Only your flesh can walk in the wrong way or lead you in the wrong way So as long as you fit stay filled with the

Spirit and you walk with the Lord you are one with Christ And what you are commanded in this verse to do is to bring every thought that comes into your mind

Because your mind is still part of the flesh It can think anything you've ever seen or heard or touched

Any of your senses anything that's come in it can think and it can bring it up and I'm convinced

Satan can help it bring it up and you are tested by God from time to time to Take that thought and literally bring it into captivity and hold it up against Jesus Christ and see if it can stand and if it

Can't you are to cast it out of your mind and you say Lord. I don't believe this thoughts from you. I So don't let me think like this cast this out of my mind now that was last

Sunday's message and It brings in to play here

Things that can bring one particular types in called worry If you don't think right if you can't handle the spiritual warfare

Battles and cast thoughts out of your mind moment by moment throughout every day They begin to build up in your mind

They begin to take a stronghold in your heart mind and you become a person who's a very weak Christian and you go around Worrying or caring about everything in your life thinking that you're going to take care of it yourself

That's kind of like depending on Egypt on the horses of Egypt and on the Pharaoh to save you

But you get to thinking that way and it doesn't happen overnight it happens by not obeying God and not listening to what you're thinking a

Good Christian is always thinking about what he's thinking about and when you get lazy in that and you let thoughts roll around in there for a while and you let your old carnal mind think about those things you become weak and One of the weaknesses that can come in is fear and worry

God says he's not giving us a spirit of fear The Holy Spirit will never lead you into fear ever if you find yourself gripped by fear in the middle of the night

You're gripped by Satan and your old flesh. You're not gripped by God So all you have to do is come to the

Lord and say Lord You know if this is demonic activity in my life Would you please bind the demons and rebuke them and send them away from me?

Let me think clearly And do that for my whole family if you're the father Pray that prayer for your wife and your children say just send him away from this house.

Let us have the peace of God tonight Lord if it's my flesh then help me think right tonight because I know you have not given me a spirit of fear

This is not from you. Lord. Let me have the mind of Christ. That's practical ways. You can pray

Am I saying you pray those prayer patterns? That's how I do it You will pray to the Lord in your way, but that's how you do it and The worry the ungodly fear and worry will go it will be cast from your mind and you can go to sleep as a baby with the peace of God Now turn to Luke chapter 12 verse 16 this passage of Scripture deals specifically with this aspect

Of not being a healthy thinking Christian one of the worst things you can do as a

Christian It's not the most unhealthy is to worry all the time It's real easy for us men to worry about financial things

It's easy for the ladies to worry about their babies their children

We men worry about that. I'm sure the women worry about the finances too, but we can all worry about these things

And we have to learn not to do that. This passage of Scripture is one of the greatest in the whole

Bible It gives you point after point on how to avoid this problem this way of unhealthy thinking

That you might have so Luke chapter 12 verse 16, do you have it? Raise your hand if you've got it okay,

I Figured most of you knew where Luke was. I'm just seeing if you're awake actually want to do it.

Okay, Luke chapter 12 verse 16 And he spake a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully

Now this rich man, let me ask you a question. Did this rich man make this ground to bring forth plentifully?

Mean he can plant Kenny. He can water Kenny, but can he make anything come up?

He can't well, would it be just for him then to take pride in it if it did If he went out and told the other farmers man, come over here and look at my field

Look here Rick. See look what I've done. Let me see yours Rick kind of now you don't see mine Well, look at look at what

I've done Would that be just for me to do that Why would that be wrong

Well, let me put it a different way Would it be just for Dree to come up here and just say I just want to tell you all how proud

I am that I sing so well Would that be just I mean she looks at me and she said, you know, you don't quite sing that well brother

Mitchell Man, and then why would that not be just did you create your voice?

No, you did not So things that the Lord brings forth we are not to brag on them unless we're gonna brag on him

But it's difficult for us with our prideful natures to make sure that's really what we're doing

We have to be careful, don't we? So look at this man his ground bring forth brings forth plentifully now

Look how he starts to think and he thought there's the first problem Spiritual warfare started going between his ears and he's not thinking about what he's thinking about And He thought within himself

Now he's gonna talk to himself. He's got at least two bad people in there that he's talking to And he says what shall

I do Because I have no room where to bestow my fruit. Is that his fruit?

Or did the Lord just give that to him and loan it to him for his use? No, he thinks it's my fruit He thought he did this

And he said this will I do be careful when you think that way because the book of James says you ought to say the

Lord willing if the Lord wills this will I do and We should learn that more and more

We've been taught this false way of praying so much on the TV and radio and preaching we hear now

Where we think God is a genie in a bottle and that prayer is rubbing that bodily comes out and we get what we want

So we get to the place where we just say well I'm gonna go do this Lord help me go do this and we never say if it's your will

In fact, we've been taught by so I've read some books by some leaders in certain groups where they say that you know a couple of things wrong about prayer, but one of them is that if you ask

You should be so specific in your asking and you should expect God then to give it

Now Problem with that is the same author that book says the prayers where it says if it be thy will he says that's a cop -out

Don't ever use that he says that's a cop -out He said only people pray that when they don't think they can get the prayers answer

Well, that's interesting because I remember one person who prayed that his name was Jesus He said

Lord take this cup from me nevertheless Thy will be done That's not a cop -out.

That's exactly how well to pray every prayer Well, we've been taught by books and things. That's not the way to pray this

Read this book. There are too many books down here at the Ark way too many And then there are those who say if you just speak it and claim it it'll have to happen because God's bound to answer your

Prayers that way how many of you've learned by Truth that's not true. I Mean if you've tried to find

God and then it just didn't happen the way you were asking Well, that's because he's sovereign and we are not so this man has all of this messed up And he said to himself this will

I do He's forgetting something. He's forgetting. He's not God I will pull down my barns and build greater and There will

I bestow all my fruits and my goods and I will say to my soul soul now

He's talking to himself, but he's not paying attention to what he's saying So thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy ease eat drink and be merry

Now, you know what? That's the mindset of the end times. He was a little bit ahead of his time, wasn't he?

Because Jesus said in the last days, it'll be just as the days of Noah They'll be eating drinking and giving in marriage

So as we move into land the last days the predominant thoughts on the heart and minds of men is going to be food and sex and activity and things and So much covetousness over things the economy is gonna be fantastic in the end times don't worry about the economy

If you've ever been worried, it's gonna collapse. Don't read don't believe those people when they write the little books and articles

Oh, it's just gonna all collapse. No, it's gonna get better Because Satan knows the more stuff you got the less you'll think about God.

He knows that about me, too The more stuff we have we have number one take care of it.

That's a care We have more cares in our life and in the less we think about God just gonna get better and better As far as the economy goes there may be some dips in it

But generally it's gonna get better until the end times and everybody's gonna be thinking about eating drinking and being happy That's the way this man was but look at God what he said to him in verse 20, but God said unto him thou fool

The whole world with this mindset God says you're a fool thou fool

This night thy soul shall be required of thee Then who shall these things be which thou hast provided?

So is he that layeth up treasure for self? Just leave the word him off of it

Just use the word self So is he that layeth up treasure for self, that's the thing that's wrong with money.

It's not the money It's who you're gonna use it for and Is not rich toward God The first thing we need to do that.

We see in this passage that would keep us from worrying about our economic state gentlemen is To realize who owns it all

It is not we who create our economic well -being So it's not always we who create our economic lack of well -being so don't worry about it

God knows our needs and we're gonna see this later on in this passage as we go. He knows our needs before we even ask

So if we think we bring it to pass we will worry But if we think God brings it to pass and he owns it all and it's all in his hand and he loves you more than he loves the birds in The sky

He feeds them He loves you more than he loves the flowers and he clothes them

Then how can we worry because we're not thinking right see the battles right here

It is so easy for Christians to think wrongly and yet we walk around thinking we're spiritual

You're not spiritual unless you're thinking about what you're thinking about most all the time and Practicing the two verses we just gave earlier from last week's sermon

You're not spiritual if you don't practice those now I'm not saying you had to know those verses But the principles you had to have been practicing those are you weren't walking around spiritual very often you're walking around carnal most the time

You just say you're spiritual because that's what you're supposed to think and say we're Christians spiritual.

No Not always We have to be in control of this old man

The new man has to be in control under the Lord Jesus Christ In that union with the

Holy Spirit or where carnal is the devil we can do anything The lost world can do and do it worse than they do it and then we'll get caught at it

And then what Satan wants to do is mess up our testimony That battle is going on all the time

So when we start thinking wrong, that's the first step in having happened to us What happened to this man, you're not rich toward God when you're selfish the old man

All he likes to think about is the self It's all about what I want to go do according to my plans on my timing

I don't really care about yours That's selfishness. It's all about what I want to eat today.

Not what you want to eat. That's selfish It's all about what I want to go do it's all about what I want to hear what you know

Where do we go? We'll go where I go. That's the self Well, I'm gonna go make a good living

I'm gonna make a lot of money so that I will have everything laid up for my self

Not so that I can help others who are having a hard time You see so sometimes we get into that carnal way of thinking and don't realize it

Because we're not paying attention to what we think about God said in verse 22. He said unto his disciples.

Therefore I say unto you take no thought That means don't have a care for your life

If you read that in the Greek it would say this way it would say therefore I say to you take no thought for self -life

What you shall eat neither for the body what you shall drink The life is more than meat and the body is more than Raymond When Jesus says take no thought the word thought is

A word that means to be anxious about don't be anxious about what you're about your life what you're gonna eat what you're gonna wear

What you're gonna put on? The life is more than meat and the body is more than Raymond Well, I want to close this message by having you look up above the passage.

You just studied you started with verse 16 I want you to look at verse 15 This is really how the

Lord began this whole passage So this is the topic he was just talking about and look what it says and he said unto them

Take heed and beware of covetousness. That is the desire for things the desire for things

Beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in The abundance of the things which he possesses

Your life has nothing to do with the things you have or don't have nothing in God's view

Nothing to do with it Whether you're a great man or not a great man has nothing to do with the things

That you possess in this life in this world That is decaying and going away and the moth is eating it and the thieves are taking it every day

IRS is their name, but anyway That's that's not what your life is your life is in Jesus Christ Your life is that you're that new man in union with him and The old man is that which brings you into contact with this world?

And he's the one that thinks you need to worry about all this stuff or lack of the stuff It's all a lie

It's all a lie what Satan is telling you is that your father in heaven will let you starve to death and be naked and be cold and Let you be mocked by the ungodly because your

God is not great That's what Satan is trying to tell you when you start to have that fear. I call it entrepreneurial fear gentlemen

When you have that fear That's Satan tempting you to doubt God that he'll take care of you that he's a good

God That he's a father who loves you more than you'd love your own children or ever could Or it's to have you doubt that he is able

To help in your time of need he's not strong enough. He doesn't have it He's not he either he hates you doesn't love you, or he just doesn't have it can't do anything about it

Did you know that it's been said that the Jews and we know that the Jewish people Unfortunately are blinded as a people to the

Lord Jesus Christ so that so they know not God But they have a religion that believes in the one true

God and so they think they know him in World War two when Hitler began to murder the millions of Jews little boys and girls grandmoms and granddads men and women

By the thousands added up to over eight million of them that he killed Saddam Hussein has killed

Probably maybe not eight million, but at least five hundred thousand or a million of his own people

They know that they're starting to uncover it more and more every day They're finding them under highways where he buried him and paved the road over But it said that when that happened that the

Jews looked up at God and they said okay We got to make a decision one of two things has happened here

Either God can save us and didn't Or God can't save us and is not able guess which one they picked

God was not able Either God can save us and did not or God Is not able to save us even if you wanted to that's the one they picked but they don't know

God That's what Satan wants you to think but you do know God Satan wants you think either

God doesn't care and he's not going to lift you up in time of need or God cares, and he's looking down like this.

He's just not controlling anything anymore, so he can't help you Neither one of those thoughts glorifies

God and neither one of those thoughts is true and therefore it should be cast out of your holy mind

You should grab that thought hold it up to Jesus bring it into captivity if it doesn't stand it's cast out of the mind

It's not allowed to dwell there if you will practice that daily moment by moment throughout your walk

You'll have a healthy mind you won't have to worry at all About anything your mind will be sound your mind will be kept in Jesus Christ by God And you will be a strong powerful

Person in God's hand in this world. You won't be weak You won't be the one that's having to be helped you'll be the one that God is using to help others

So let's stand and have prayer together this afternoon after lunch at the afternoon service

We're going to have the Lord's Supper But before that we're going to have two baptisms

So I hope you can stay and have meal with us and then have our afternoon service. It begins at 115 and we'll have

Baptisms and then we'll have the Lord's Supper. Let's pray father. We thank you for your word We thank you

Lord For how you both love us and both have all power

And you will always come to us in time of need Lord we pray for Sharon bland this morning.

We ask you to be with her and the illness of her mom We know Lord that her mom may not be with us much longer

So give Sharon strength help her to be a strength to her mom at her side this morning bless her protect brother

Raymond Lord, we ask you watch over. My dad is he's not able to be with us Lift up his spirit in his heart

And father we thank you for the brave soldiers who? Who risked their lives to capture this evil man?

Thank you for the victory and the rejoicing that they're having today over that Capture give them wisdom.

We pray you give the Iraqi people wisdom as they bring him to trial that they will Meet out exactly what is just for this man

And Lord, we ask you to go with us in our time of fellowship Bless our time together our discussions be upon you and we ask you to bless the meal