“Fasten Your Seatbelt”

1. “Fasten Your Seatbelt” Part 3 “Kingdom Business”

2. One of the things that should distinguish us as believers is how we respond to uncertainty.

3. Uncertainty, like physical pain, has the potential to drive us toward self-centeredness. • In uncertain times, I worry about ME. • I become consumed with today and my needs and my wants. 

4. We begin to think in terms of survival and protecting what we have. 

5. When we finally take time to pray, our prayers sound like a shopping list. 

6. The problem is that we become so focused on our needs/desires and our particular situations, we lose sight of the big picture-what life is really all about.

7. We miss the fact that God may be up to something and he may want us to be a part of it.

8. Uncertainty backs us into the corner of self-centeredness; an unhealthy preoccupation with "self."

9. When Jesus showed up on the scene, he was surrounded by people whose felt needs were so pronounced that they couldn’t get past them. 

10. They were being taxed by an unjust government with no means of reform/protest.  • They were being led by hypocritical religious leaders that had sold out to Rome.  • They had their land and wealth stolen from them. There was no justice.  • Their children were being confused with the infusion of Roman and Greek values.  • They were poor.  • They felt abandoned by God. No Messiah. No promise kept. 

11. Matthew 6:25 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 

12. “Don’t Worry about Your Needs…..” • Passage context: Prior to this verse, He has just finished encouraging them to approach life from an eternal perspective.

13. "WORRY"-be anxious, fear of the future or the unknown. • Don’t let these things consume your thoughts and emotions. • He is not calling for irresponsibility . . .

14. Two categories of need we are not to be anxious about • 1-Critical needs: your life (things pertaining to survival like eating and drinking).  • 2-Non-critical needs-your body (things pertaining to appearance) 

15. “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”

16. What is life all about? And whatever it is, shouldn’t that be the focus of your concern? 

17. Do those two categories of things consume your worry time? Do they consume your thoughts? 

18. Vs.26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

19. The birds of the air(critical needs) • They have all their critical needs met without worrying a bit.  • OUR heavenly Father feeds them. Not merely nature/instinct. • God established the food cycle; migration patterns; etc.  • Aren’t you more important? He’s YOUR heavenly father. He is merely their creator. You don’t need to worry. 

20. Vs.27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

21. Vs.28 • 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

22. The lilies of the fieldNon-critical needs • The emphasis is not survival, it is appearance. • With no effort at all, lilies look great. Have you ever seen flowers with colors that didn’t work together?  • We are commanded to observe, so I brought one to observe

23. We do not serve a vanilla God. He is not conservative. • To fear that God is going to make your life boring is to demonstrate limited knowledge of God. • If God gave this much attention to detail on a plant that is going to die in a few days, what do you have to worry about? 

24. You and I have no business worrying; getting stressed out over stuff.

25. You do the best you can and leave it at that. 

26. “Oh, you of little faith?” • The Problem: We don’t trust him. • We don’t think he is interested. • We think he has overlooked us. • In uncertainty, we think he has lost power or interest or something . . .

27. Vs.32 • “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

28. 1. Don’t spend all your time seeking those things. That’s what people who don’t trust in God do • 2. Uncertainty provides an opportunity for believers to shine.  • 3. Besides, your heavenly father KNOWS you need these things, and as we have seen, has the power to provide you with them. 

29. We are to concern ourselves with the furtherance of the kingdom of God and the righteous standard of God. 

30. 1. Is anybody worried about disconnected people? 2. Is anybody worried about the next generation of teenagers? 3. Is anybody worried about the children who have never heard? 4. Is anybody worried about the people in other nations who still haven’t heard?5. Is anybody going to talk to your boss? Neighbor? Friend?