Do Not Be Anxious About Your Life (Luke 12:1-34, Jeff Kliewer)

What more could we say? You have done it all, your sacrifice. It's beyond what we can even grasp with our minds, that you would give your body and blood.

Thank you, Jesus, for taking away our sin. Thank you for dying in our place.

Thank you for giving us new life. And Lord, I pray that today, that all true disciples who follow you, who know you, would be set free from any fear and anxiety in their lives.

And for all of us, Lord, that you would make us of one mind, completely devoted to you, not divided, in Jesus' name, amen.

So you'll notice as we study through the book of Luke that we've been taking large passages of scripture, not just maybe one verse at a time.

I think if you focus on only one verse, the danger is that you lose track of what the author was trying to say in context.

Sometimes what the author does, in this case, Luke, is present a concept by laying out example after example or developing a theme over time.

Now, we preached through Luke chapter eight almost a month and a half ago.

And many of us have probably already forgotten. But because we're moving quickly, it hasn't been too long to remind you about the stories that taught us not to be afraid.

Do you recall Luke chapter eight? The second half of the book, the disciples were terrified because a storm had arisen on the lake and they thought they were gonna die.

But instead of dying, Jesus, waking up from his sleep, rebuked the wind and the waves and calmed basically a hurricane.

And it says then in the text that they were greatly afraid of him.

So the fear of God replaced the fear of dying. And then the very next story we learn about in Luke chapter eight, you have fear once again because there is a demoniac, a man who is possessed by not just one demon but a legion of demons.

And this is a scary dude. But Jesus goes and rebukes the demons, casts them into a herd of pigs who then run off a cliff and the man is set free.

And what comes from that, the disciples and those who see how powerful he is are afraid of him and the people of the town actually ask him to leave.

They're so afraid of Jesus because his power is so great that a fear of God has replaced a fear of demons.

Then you have a desperate man named Jairus, desperate because his daughter is dying and he can't help her.

She's suffering from some terrible disease. And as a father, you could imagine what

Jairus was feeling, the kind of fear and anxiety because as much as he wants to help and how he tries to solve the problems that arise in his life and the life of his family, this is something he can do nothing about.

His daughter is gonna die and she dies. Jump over to another story.

We'll come back to that one. A woman who's been desperate because a flow of blood coming from her for 15 years, racked with anxiety because she's lost everything that she has.

She spent all of her living on cures, but none of them worked. Jesus comes to her and heals her.

And now the fear of life and the anxieties of life give way to a fear of God, but also a peace from God.

She has peace. And then coming back to the other story, Jesus goes to Jairus' daughter, now dead for a long time and he raises that dead body from the coffin.

A fear of God replaces a fear of death. And not only so, there's great rejoicing and a trust in him and peace replaces fear.

So the point of that sermon and repeating it here is to say that it's a theme in the book of Luke that disciples who truly follow

Jesus, they leave everything to follow Christ. Remember that? A true disciple is one who leaves everything to follow

Christ. One of the benefits of being a true disciple is that the fears of this life, of death and despair, anxieties about finances, these fears can be put to death by the fear of God.

And not only a fear of God, but what becomes trust in him, a peace that passes understanding, is available to disciples.

That's what Luke has in view again here as we go in to Luke chapter 12.

Turn with me there. Those who belong to Christ must be wholly devoted to him.

And a fully devoted follower of Christ is given freedom from fear.

God takes away our fear of death. He takes away our love of money which causes so many of our anxieties.

And he takes away the anxieties of this life. Luke chapter 12, verse one and following.

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, beware of the leaven of the

Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.

Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light. And what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

So the context for Jesus' teaching here, he evidently has come out of the

Pharisees' house. A Pharisee had invited him to come into the house. And in that place,

Jesus essentially goes off on him. Remember last week, how strongly he pronounced woes against him for hypocrisy.

And at the end of chapter 11, we see that all of these scribes and Pharisees are on the outside being cordial and friendly towards Jesus, but what's the true intention of their heart?

To kill him. They wanna kill him. It says they're laying in wait for him. They want to provoke him, verse 54, lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.

On the inside, the Pharisee wants to kill Jesus, but on the outside, they're still calling him teacher, cozying up to him, inviting him into their houses and trying to provoke him with questions.

So the point is, the Pharisees are hypocrites. What they are on the outside is not what's true on the inside.

They look good and all the people still think they're religious, but Jesus has pointed out they have murder in their hearts.

Just like Abel was killed, Zechariah, the last prophet that was killed in the Old Testament, they are responsible for the blood of the prophets.

That's what's in their hearts. So in chapter 12, verse one, Jesus now has emerged from the house, and evidently, rumor has gotten out about Jesus.

He's been in this house talking. He's gonna come out. Crowds have gathered to see him. And it says, so many thousands of them, of the people had gathered that they were trampling one another.

Trampling to press forward, to hear what he has to say. So Jesus is preaching, evidently, has precisely the opposite effect of mine.

Because you'll notice that always the first row is empty, and people try to push back as far away as possible.

They're trampling each other to get close, to hear what he has to say. He began to say to his disciples first, so they need to hear this.

You'll notice because they're the ones who are gonna lose their lives at the hands of these hypocrites.

The disciples need to hear this. He's preparing them to withstand them. And he says to them first, beware of the leaven of the

Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Notice what

Jesus does not say here. He does not say, beware of the

Pharisees. He does not say, be afraid of them.

What he says is, be afraid of being like them. Be afraid of the leaven of the

Pharisees. So leaven is something. I don't actually know what leaven is, but it's something that goes into dough.

It's yeast. Leaven is yeast? Thank you. I should have looked that up. So it's yeast.

It's something that goes into dough that has a way of working through the dough and pervading the entirety of the dough so that when heat is introduced, that bread is able to rise.

So the bread rises because of the yeast in it, the leaven. And Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the

Pharisees. Why? Because a small bit of yeast or leaven is introduced into dough and it has a way of spreading.

In the same way, hypocrisy can spread. Putting on an outward show, looking good for one another, to go to the temple, or in our case, to come to church, to look the part of a

Christian. There is a temptation that we would do that. To try to put on the outward show.

Aren't we all prone to that? We all wanna be liked. As a preacher, I want you to like what

I have to say. And so I could be tempted to try to make it as appealing and as entertaining as possible rather than focusing on being as true to what

Jesus says as possible. It's a temptation for me. It's a temptation for each of us to put on a show.

To put our best foot forward, to look good to others. But on the inside, we might be far from God.

Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is what? Hypocrisy. That's the warning.

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light.

And what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. I once saw a documentary that was made by New Tribes Missions.

And you can Google this. It's available on YouTube. It's called ETOW, E -E -T -A -O -W.

In the language of the Muk tribe of New Guinea. That means it is true. The Muk people for a long time worshiped spirits and they were animistic in their religion before Christianity was introduced there.

And one of the traditions of the Muk people was once in a while, a God would appear to them.

Only it was one of the men wearing a mask. And all the men knew this.

The mask was kept in a certain room in a certain house. And once in a while, a man would put on the mask and come out and dance and make spooky sounds,

I suppose, and pretend to be a God. And the women were required to believe that this was indeed the visitation of a

God. Only it was a man wearing a mask. In fact, if any woman ever stumbled across that mask, she would be killed.

Because exposing hypocrisy is dangerous. You see, a mask is putting on something over your face to hide your true self.

And these Muk people were doing that. When Christianity came there, they listened to the gospel, which was told from Genesis to Revelation, telling the story until finally the lights came on.

And this people that once wore masks were set free and brought into the light. The mask came off and was exposed for what it was.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus hates hypocrisy. There are no stronger words in the

Bible than what we read in Luke chapter 11. It's also in Matthew 23. And the target that offends him so much that he was railing against, that he was aiming at, was hypocrisy.

Putting a mask on to hide your true self. Our God desires purity of heart.

That's why the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, not just outwardly, not just through religion and rituals, but what is truly happening inside of you on a daily basis.

If you give God 2 % of your attention on a daily basis, your thoughts are occupied on God 2 % of the time, and the rest of the time, it's far from God.

There's an element of hypocrisy in that. Think about it. We have a

God who is the creator and sustainer of all. We can't even make our hearts beat, yet we're so worried and anxious about so many things.

Our lives and how things are gonna go for us and making money to provide and all the things that are on our minds occupy our minds, and God is pushed to the corner.

When he's all we need, he demands purity in the inner parts.

Hypocrisy then is when we put on that mask and we act like we're close to him, when in fact, our hearts are hardly ever thinking of him.

Hypocrisy is coming to church on Sunday and thinking that those hours, couple of hours, if I'm really going long, three hours, who knows, is all that is required to be devoted to God.

In truth, we're told to pray, according to 1 Thessalonians 5, what? Unceasingly.

That's all day long. Our thoughts constantly returning, everything that arises constantly communicating with God.

Hypocrisy is putting on a mask to look like that's us, when in fact, it's not. Well, things get a little harder here before they get better.

Verse four and following. I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do.

But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows.

So which is it? Are we to fear or not fear? Notice the repetition of the word fear in this passage.

In the first place, verse four, we are not to fear, do not fear. But verse five, we are to fear.

To fear him, yes, I tell you, fear him. And then finally, in verse seven, fear not.

So the question you should write in your Bible is, do I fear or not? And the answer is, you fear

God, not man, but only if you're right with God.

Why does that fear get replaced with perfect love? There are some who do not fear

God, and they should. But if you've truly come to know

Christ, his perfect love casts out fear. And so in the end, this passage is meant to be an encouragement, to say do not fear.

But it comes on the other side, the beginning point of the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom, according to Proverbs.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In verse five, we're told to fear him.

We are dealing with a God who kills, according to this text.

He has determined the day of each of our death, unless the rapture happens first, which I hope it does.

But not only that, we are dealing with a God who has authority to cast into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear him. So why then in verse seven have we come to the place where we're told that even our hairs are numbered, we're so valuable to him that we're not to be afraid?

Fear not, the answer then is given in eight and following. I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the

Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God. There's safety there.

The Son of Man confessing that you belong to him. Jesus saying, this one belongs to me.

You're snatched out of that fire. The fire of hell cannot touch you. There's no danger for you because you are acknowledged before the angels of God.

On that judgment day when all the angels are assembled before the throne of God and God is seated there and you go to stand before him, you have nothing to fear.

Nothing. For the Son of Man will acknowledge you on that day and say he belongs to me.

There's no fear of judgment. But verse nine, the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the

Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Here Jesus is using fear as a motivational tool to bring you to Christ.

Now it's true that many people come to Christ because they feel the love of God for them and that draws them.

God does draw people by his love. And he draws us by so many ways.

One of God's tools that he uses in his scriptures is fear. I like what

Kevin DeYoung said about that. He said that often we want God to just have one tool in his tool bag, love, perhaps.

And we don't want him to have other tools. And he says we make God like a quack doctor that only prescribes one thing for everything, bloodletting.

Do you have a headache? Here's a leech for that. Do you have chronic fatigue? Here's two leeches for that.

He says, do you have gout? A couple leeches will take the edge off. A quack doctor has but one solution, one tool in his basket of tricks.

That's a quack doctor but not our God. In the scriptures there is a broad array of tools that we see

God using. We're told God so loves the world that he gave his only son.

That's a picture of a loving God who gives a gift that no one can earn and we receive it and that's true.

It's so true. It's beautifully true. Romans 5 .8 says the same thing. While we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. That's the love of God but I think some people don't respond to his love.

I think some people say, okay, we have a loving God, good. I'll be fine in the end. He's a loving

God after all and to those people who have not yet acknowledged the son before men, meaning that you would openly confess

I am a Christian. I am saved by the blood of Jesus alone. I'm a sinner, I need

Christ. I belong to Christ. He saved me. You would be willing to say that to anyone. You would be willing to publicly be baptized in water to say

I am crucified with Christ. As he was buried, I'm buried. I am raised to walk in newness of life.

You're not afraid to do that because you recognize you should fear

God more than men. Jesus here uses fear to motivate people to recognize we are talking about heaven and hell.

Maybe there's some listening to me right now, maybe in this room or on video, watching on YouTube.

You think I'll be fine in the end because I know God is loving. It doesn't matter what

I do with Jesus Christ. Hear these words. Everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but the one who blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. There is a sin that will never be forgiven.

So of course the question is what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? In the context here, we see acknowledging before man, before the angels, that Jesus is the son of God is the aim of verse eight.

Everyone who acknowledges me, the son will acknowledge. So the person who will not be forgiven is that same person who will not be acknowledged on the last day.

The answer is that the Holy Spirit is the Holy One of God who gives a holy law to men to teach us right and wrong.

The Holy Spirit gave the law. He's also the one who gives a conscience to men to govern our choices right and wrong.

He's also the one that testifies of Christ. To blaspheme the

Holy Spirit is to reject his ministry, teaching you what's right and wrong.

Well, we've all done that. We've all gone against our own conscience. We've all broken the laws of God. The law says do not covet.

Which of us hasn't in our hearts coveted something that didn't belong to us? So the

Holy Spirit sends preachers, Christians who believe in Christ by the

Spirit, proclaiming that Christ has died on a cross and rose from the dead. That preaching is a spiritual thing.

It's not something to be trifled with. If in God's grace he sends a preacher to you to tell you that Jesus is his only son and that the

Father has given his son for you, that only came to you because the Spirit sent that preacher.

That friend who came to your house and told you this or stopped you at the gym or in the supermarket or who handed you a track, that gospel came to you by the

Spirit and that message is not the mere wisdom of men. According to 1 Corinthians, it is the wisdom of God.

And when the Spirit preaches the wisdom of God, to reject that has eternal consequences.

To reject the law alone was enough. To go against your conscience even one time, you're guilty of sin, that's enough to be unforgiven.

How much more are those who have trampled underfoot the blood of the covenant? Hebrews 10, there are strong warnings.

The Spirit preaches Christ. He exalts the Son of God.

Now you say, wait a minute, there was many years where I wasn't a Christian. Even up until this point, I've used the

Lord's name, Jesus, in vain. When I've dropped something on my toe, I've said,

Jesus. I've spoken a word against him. I guess I'm going to hell.

He says, no. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. The unforgivable sin is rejecting

Jesus Christ to the end. The full ministry of the Holy Spirit to you, every gift of his, the spiritual gift of his grace, drawing you to Christ, telling you about Christ, you reject that to the end.

There is no other payment for your sin. You will stand on the judgment day with your deeds, good and bad, and you will try to offer those things to God.

There will be no forgiveness. Because you have rejected the only source of life.

This is a scary thing, and I'm glad that Jesus uses fear, because his fear is motivated ultimately by what?

Love. Some people, really, if you look at our culture, a majority of the culture in America would be very offended that I'm preaching this way.

Very offended. It would be much easier to fill rooms by saying there's no such thing as sin.

There are preachers who have the biggest churches in America who say they will not preach about sin, and judgment, and condemnation, and wrath.

People would rather hear that. But I tell you, it is far more loving to tell you the truth as Jesus does.

That there is a judgment, but that this loving God wants to take your judgment away, the punishment that we deserve laid upon him.

To those who have that knowledge, according to Isaiah 53, to accept Christ. So if for a long time you've been contemplating and thinking, and the love of God has felt attractive to you, but you're not sure you're really ready to go there yet, what are you waiting for?

Please, I'm pleading with you, this text says they will not be forgiven. If you won't listen to me, fine, fine.

Listen to Jesus. The one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

So we need not fear. In the end, this is an encouraging word. The good news is, if you will acknowledge the

Son, you have nothing to fear. Even if they take you before men to the synagogue, put you on trial, your life is on the line.

It's what he's talking about in verse 11. They bring you before the synagogue, and the rulers and authorities do not be anxious.

You say, how can I not be anxious? They're gonna put me to death. Jesus is saying, yeah, they might, but I'll tell you what to say.

Don't even worry about what you'll say. You speak, my Holy Spirit will teach you what to say in that hour.

You don't need to be afraid. Now, for an adventure in missing the point.

In the midst of this heavy teaching where Jesus is using the fear of God to draw them to repentance, you get an outburst in verse 13, look at this guy.

Don't be this guy. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

And between verse 13 and 14, you can just imagine an awkward moment of silence where he just looks at him.

And Jesus says, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? You see, this man was anxious about many things.

And I'm sure all of us have anxieties as we come to church on a Sunday morning. Things that are weighing heavy on our mind.

In this case, this man was thinking about something entirely different than what the preacher was saying.

His mind was on his money. His money was on his mind. But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

And he said to them, take care and be on your guard. Now he's gonna use him as an illustration to continue to prove this point.

That you must have no hypocrisy, undivided, full devotion to Christ. And there's no fear in that.

You're set free in that place. Here's a counterexample. The man who's caught up in his money, in covening, wanting more and more.

He said to him, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall

I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Stop there. He says, man, so maybe Jesus had a particular emphasis on men, so I'm gonna say something to men right now.

It's very easy for us as men to get caught up in our role as provider, in trying to provide for our families, and our minds can get sidetracked from what matters most onto making money and providing for our retirement.

It's very easy to get sidetracked. Look what he says to himself. I like how he talks to himself here in verse 19.

I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. I know someone who says something really funny.

I love whenever he's feeling like someone's not listening, he'll say, I talk to myself, what a wonderful world.

And it just cracks me up every time he does that. And that's kind of what this guy's doing. He's just talking to himself, first of all.

He says, soul, and then he just says, what a wonderful world it is. He has all that he needs.

He has ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God interrupts that conversation that he's having with himself.

God says to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

So there's the counterexample. We can be weighed down with anxieties because our mind is on the world and not fully set on Christ.

And now the news turns more comforting. And we have some of the most comforting words that Jesus speaks in the entire

Bible. He speaks them to us who've understood this so far. We have acknowledged the son.

So we're safe. What do we have to be afraid of? We've forgotten the things of this world and begun to focus on the kingdom.

Look what he says to us now, verse 22. He said to his disciples, therefore

I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Pause there, this is a chance for women to listen, okay? I've talked to the men. Now women, don't be so anxious about what you will wear, especially when you're getting ready for a date night.

Just get dressed, come on, let's go, don't worry about it. You look great, you look beautiful. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn.

And yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Hmm, he's not saying, listen, you've got this.

Everything's fine. You'll be fine, you've got this, you are capable. Have self esteem, you're gonna be okay because you can do it.

No, he's not saying that, is he? He's saying, you don't have this. You can't add one day to your span of life.

What can you really do? You can't keep yourself alive, therefore don't worry.

Just trust the one who's holding your life in the first place. If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

Why so anxious? Don't you know that your father who can take care of sparrows.

The other day I found a bird that just died and it was laying in my driveway. And it broke my heart to have to pick up this thing with a trash bag and throw it away.

Your heart just goes out to this little bird. And if I care about that bird, and if God cares about a bird and knows when a bird falls to the ground and the exact number of that bird's days and how many hairs are on your head, how much more does he care for you?

Little sheep, belong to a good shepherd. He cares for you, you're okay because he cares for you.

Why are you so anxious? He has you, you belong to him. This is why it's so good and so freeing to fully devote yourself to Christ.

Because when you're divided and you're wearing a mask, you're always worried about your mask getting ripped off. But when you're fully devoted to Christ, you know he's got you.

There is nothing to fear and you really will feel fearless. I remember one time in Dallas having a gun pulled on me just for preaching

Christ. And I just remember a peace, I just turned and walked away. Another time a guy in Philadelphia threatened me with a gun because I was getting a little too aggressive with the gospel.

And I don't remember my heart even racing, just peace. Nothing to fear,

I know who has me, just walk away. When you're in the will of God, when you've devoted yourself to God and you're not trying to play it both ways, wearing a mask, there's fearlessness, the anxieties go.

Verse 27, consider the lilies how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even

Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today, tomorrow thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?

Oh, you of little faith. I love that expression, by the way. I always ask people, oh, ye of little faith.

Oh, ye of little faith, says Jesus. Why are you worried? Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.

For all the nations of the world seek after these things and your father knows that you need them. He knows.

And here's the summary verse. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you.

Matthew puts it this way. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

And so in closing, we'll look at these last three verse as a conclusion to the matter. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, the kingdom.

He's given you his son. You will dwell with him in eternity in heaven.

What do you have to fear? He's caring for you. You know where this story ends.

And I guess that's the last just word of encouragement to all of us struggle with anxiety from time to time.

Listen, you know where this story ends. Focus on that. You know the conclusion.

Ravi Zacharias, who many of you like his teaching, and we have an apologist in resident here who's learning and goes by the name of Edwin Swanson, also uses this analogy, that there was once a man who found a horse and he celebrated because he found a horse and what a great thing to happen.

But then his horse kicked his son in the femur and broke his leg.

And now he was very angry and thought, this horse kicked my son's femur. I have such bad luck.

And he was very upset and anxious about this until a band of rebels came through town and they were recruiting young men to go join their rebel cause.

But when they saw the man with the broken leg, they said, ah, forget him and moved on and left the family alone.

And the man said, how lucky that my son broke his femur. It was good, then it was bad, then it was good.

And then another bad thing. We could go on like this all day. I'm sure you guys could keep the story going. But the point is, you don't know whether it's good or bad or what

God is doing in this life until you know what? The conclusion. The conclusion tells you that it's all gonna be good in the end.

Romans 8 .28 makes sense because we know the conclusion. In the end, we are with him in the kingdom.

Amen? Sell your possessions, give to the needy. Let go, provide yourself with money bags that do not grow old.

With a treasure in the heavens that does not fall or fail. Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Fully devote yourself to Christ. Take off every mask, belong to him openly, identify with him, acknowledge him, and know he's got you.

Your fears will go away. Your anxieties will go away or diminish greatly. And when they come back, you fight them off by remembering the end of the story.

Let's close in prayer and worship team. Let's pray.

If there's anybody here that you've never acknowledged Jesus before men, I'm not even gonna ask people to open their eyes, but I'm gonna ask you right now, if you want to acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God, just slip your hand into the air.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. You acknowledge that before men, nothing to fear.

Okay. Pray a prayer like this. If for the first time, you need to accept

Christ and acknowledge that he is the son of God who died for you, just say, dear God, in your own heart, say,

I am a sinner. I deserve punishment, I deserve wrath.

I should be afraid because you are the God that made the universe and everything in it.

But I have sinned against you, I've broken your law, I've gone against my own conscience, and I've even rejected the preaching of Jesus.

Forgive me, save me. I trust you to forgive my sins, to give me eternal life.

Please save me, Jesus. Amen. And if you now are a Christian, you've been a

Christian, but you have been struggling with anxiety. And you realize maybe it's because my mind has been on earthly things, like making money, like building barns and holding on to money bags that grow old, treasures that thieves can come and take and moths can destroy.

Right now, just pray that you would be wholeheartedly devoted to Christ and that he would take away all your fear, all your anxiety.

In your own heart, just ask him to give you more confidence in Christ, that you belong to him and it's his good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Ask him to set you free from fear, to take away your anxiety and give us the joy of the

Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's rise and sing joyful worship to a