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March 24, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
12:41
Jesus Teaches Us The CURE For Anxiety - Luke 12:22-34 | God's Grace Is Greater
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Hi and welcome to another God's Grace is Greater segment.
Today we're picking up right where we left off and we're doing our deep dive into the Gospel of Luke.
Today we're in chapter 12, picking up in verse 22 where we left off.
Now, in our last segment we talked about Jesus giving us the parable of the rich fool.
And what was the moral of that parable?
Well, the moral essentially was That this person who was told to us by Jesus in this parable, this rich man, had not done anything illegal or wrong, but had made a large amount of wealth.
And he decided, instead of using that wealth to honor God and to help the poor and to do good things for others, he decided, I'm going to take all of this wealth and I'm going to build a big storage barn to keep it in, and I'm going to live comfortably for the rest of my life and drink and be merry and have fun.
And Jesus says that in the parable, that the man basically, he loses his life and he says, when you lose your life, what's going to happen to all of this?
You will have done nothing.
You will have dishonored God by not living for him and helping others as you're instructed to do.
And that's what we're picking up.
If you want to read, if you want to learn more about that, watch the video right before this for our last God's Grace is Greater segment.
This is going to be very fascinating where right after that parable, Jesus tells us the cure for anxiety, which is really interesting.
And this can be applied as the whole Bible can in so many different ways, but this can certainly apply to all of us who are feeling that anxiety right now in our lives.
If you want to learn what Jesus tells us about curing that anxiety, listen to these words and then we'll talk about it.
It says, and we're reading from Luke chapter 12, verse 22 to 34.
Then he said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or about the body, what you will wear.
For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Consider the ravens.
They don't sow or reap.
They don't have a storeroom or a barn.
Yet God feeds them.
Aren't you worth much more than the birds?
Can any of you add a cubit to his height by worry?
If then you're not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?
Consider how the wildflowers grow.
They don't labor or spin thread.
Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
If that's how God clothes the grass which is in the field today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you, you of little faith?
Don't keep striving for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don't be anxious, for the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your father knows that you need them.
But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you.
Don't be afraid, little flock, because your father delights in Well, that's fascinating.
to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions and give to the poor.
Make money bags for yourselves that won't grow old.
An inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Well, that's fascinating.
And that's Jesus telling us how to cure our anxiety.
Now, what does he say here?
Why is he saying all this?
Well, again, the context is he had just given the parable of the rich fool, and he had also talked about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
He had talked about being on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which was their hypocrisy.
And that led us to this parable of the rich fool, which then leads us to this Basically, Him explaining how to alleviate ourselves of all of this anxiety we may feel in this world.
Now, what is the cause of anxiety?
That's the first thing we have to look at here.
Jesus says that the cause of anxiety is worrying about what you'll eat, about what you'll wear.
But He's saying, basically, you're looking at all the material things in this world and wondering, how am I going to survive?
How am I going to make it through this?
And people who don't have God, especially people who don't have Jesus Christ in their life, they, I'm sure, are worried about these things more than most.
Because, as Jesus explains, If you look at the world and how it works and all of its splendor, God has provided a way for us all.
And he's saying essentially that in this example he gives of the ravens, right?
They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't have a storeroom, they don't have a barn, but God feeds them.
And he says, aren't we worth so much more than the birds?
And then he gives this example, he says, can you add a cubit to your height by worrying?
Well, no, the answer is no.
And he says, if you're not allowed, if you're not able to even do this, if you're not able to even do anything about it, why are you worrying about it?
And then he goes on to talk about the wildflowers.
And if you look out in the field, any field, you go on the grass or you go on a walk, I suggest you do that.
We should all do that.
Go on hikes if you can and go out in nature.
Look at what nature does.
Look at the trees.
Look at, look at the sky.
Look at the, you know, when it's not being chemtrailed and look at the, the flowers on the grass and, and look at the beauty that God has done and gives to those things.
And Jesus says, if you, if you look at that and understand that God cares so much, he gives that, that beauty and that, that power to those littlest, smallest of things.
Well, how much more will he do for you, you and I?
And he says that we shouldn't have little faith, we should have a lot of faith.
And that we shouldn't act as the Gentile world wants us to act, always thinking about what we're going to eat and what we're going to drink and, you know, those were probably the more important things back then that they were focused on primarily every day because those were the necessities to life, as it were, living.
You know, you could almost replace some of these things, not to rewrite scripture at all, but you could say that not only are people worried about what they're going to eat and what they're going to drink, but they're worried about what other people think of them.
They're worried about what social media posts are going to get the most likes.
They're worried about, you know, what their co-workers are saying to one another when they're not around.
They're worried about social status and they're, you know, they're worried about everything.
But what Christ worries about or what Christ would think about what they are worrying about.
Put it that way.
He says, don't do these things.
Then he gives us the cure.
This is the cure.
Okay, the cure is seek his kingdom and these things will be provided for you.
Simple.
See, the simplest things, though, are not the easiest.
What does seeking his kingdom really refer to?
It means living for Christ, understanding that His grace is greater, that He's already given us an incredible reward in our eternal salvation through His sacrifice on the cross, that all of these things that we worry about every single day, the things that pull us down, the things that drive us crazy, the things that make us cry and make us have terrible anger and everything in between, that all of those things, essentially, Assuredly, mostly, we'll come to nothing.
And that the thing that truly matters is understanding that God in heaven delights to give us the kingdom of heaven.
He's happy to give it to us.
He sent his son to die for us so we could have it.
And it's already been given.
Are you going to accept it?
Are you going to embrace it?
Are you going to live for it?
Then he tells us this interesting quote.
He says, sell your possessions and give to the poor.
Make money bags for yourselves that won't grow old and inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
And he asked me, should I actually go sell everything I have and give to the poor?
He doesn't I'll be very careful here because I think there is something to that he doesn't say though sell all your possessions To sell your possessions and give to the poor What I believe Jesus is saying there if I'm interpreting this correctly and again, I'm not an eschatologist or a Bible scholar I'm just a simple evangelist who wants to share the word but what I believe Jesus is saying here is he's saying make a sacrifice and give to others and
And I know in our lives, it's easy to forget that principle, but when we do unto others and give to others out of the generosity that in the same spirit generosity in which God gives to us, then we will be rewarded.
And it's, it's written in the scripture in the gospel that when we sow that we can be rewarded 10, 30, or a hundred times what we sow.
And in this same way, Jesus is telling us to give up something and help others.
And build our treasure in heaven.
When he says make money bags for yourselves that won't grow old, he's talking about the treasure that we can store in heaven.
Because he then says where it's inexhaustible treasure in heaven.
Where no thief can take it and no moth or anything else, no weather can come and destroy it.
Because the one principle that we have to understand Is that where our treasure is, is where our heart will be also.
Where is your treasure?
Is your treasure in the things of this world?
Is your treasure in relationships?
Is your treasure being built in possessions?
Is it being built in status, power, authority?
Or, or is the treasure that you hold most dear The treasure that has been given to you by the sacrifice on the cross that you know in your heart you have been commanded to give unto others through the Great Commission in Matthew 28.
I'll ask you to think about that as we say this prayer.
Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you so much for blessing us with this incredible set of Scripture, this cure for anxiety, the understanding that when we Build our treasure in heaven and understand what treasure is most important.
Lord, that we will find true peace, that we will find true comfort, that we will find true solace, knowing that you have given us this cure for our anxiety.
Lord, let us learn from the mistakes of others.
Let us learn from the examples that you've given.
Let us learn from the parables which you've told.
But most importantly, Lord, let us learn from the Holy Spirit, which resides inside each and every one of us.
Let us learn how to follow you more closely and share your word to the whole world without shame, without fear, without hesitation, knowing that the ultimate reward has already been given for which we are so thankful.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Alright, well I hope you guys enjoyed it.
That's pretty much where we're going to wrap it up.
Hey, you know, it's an interesting question.
If you want to know the cure for your anxiety, this is it.
But if you have any thoughts you want to share down in the comments, please do.
I want to hear your thoughts on what these verses mean to you in your life.
I love reading the comments and I love reading about you guys and what you think about these words.
So maybe share a little bit about what anxiety you're facing and how God's going to help you through it.
And I hope that I can hear from all of you.
But with that being said, I want to say thank you all for watching another God's Grace is Greater segment.
We'll see you all in the next one.
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