Consider the Lilies

Well, happy Sabbath, everyone! What beautiful music! That was really wonderful. Really appreciate the youth choir. Wonderful words, inspiring, and wonderful to hear the instruments as well. The flute was beautiful, so we really appreciate the wonderful music, praising and worshiping God. Well, I hope you're having a wonderful Sabbath. My wife, Kathy, and I really appreciate the opportunity to come and visit, have an opportunity to see old friends again.

Some have gotten older. Friends that are old? Well, maybe old friends, new friends. Good to meet you and have an opportunity to visit and get to know each other a little better. Really looking forward to the rest of the evening and having that opportunity as well. I know some meeting for the first time. It's always an interesting experience. Sometimes people meet me for the very first time. Do you know what the most common thing that I'm told when someone meets me for the first time? No, it's not, wow, you're the most amazing speaker of all time.

It's not that. It's usually, you're a lot shorter than I thought you'd be. So that's usually the number one comment. I did get one the other day that was kind of cute. I felt this presence kind of at my side. I turned over and it was a little guy. He looked up at me and he said, you're the jelly guy. So I've done a couple of jelly videos, so now I have a claim to fame that I get to sing with jelly once in a while, the real star of the home office.

So that's been kind of fun. In fact, for all of you who are interested, they're planning to video a brand new jelly video. They're starting the production. They're getting the set all done. And so that's one of the exciting things that's going on at the home office right now. It's been a very busy time. Of course, with ABC graduation, it was just a week ago. We had ABC continuing education classes this week.

We had the general conference of elders just two weeks ago. So all kinds of different things that have been going on. And you heard about the announcements about planning for the feast. So all kinds of activities and a flurry of busyness around the office, of course, with Mr. Elliott coming in and being our new president. So it is quite an interesting time, a busy time, and one that will continue to be that way, at least for a while, I'm sure.

And so we're looking forward to all the preparations for the camps that are coming up this summer. I know a lot of you are going to summer camp. How many of you are going to summer camp this year? Okay. Who's not going to summer camp? Oh, okay. Just a few. Well, we'll show up maybe for a little bit. But yeah, it's going to be a fantastic time. We've got wonderful activities that we're planning for, a fantastic theme this year at summer camp. And so we're certainly encouraged by that and looking forward to making all the connections. I know many of you, I've heard, are going to Pinecrest. Why is Pinecrest the camp this year? Anybody tell me why?

I'm not sure why. It seems that everybody just gets together and says, hey, let's go there. Is that what happens? I don't know. But that seems to be one of the camps that'll have quite a number of teens there this year. And so looking forward to an exciting time in Missouri. Of course, this weekend with the theme Consider the Lilies, a kind of flowery theme might sound a little different to begin with.

Well, what does that have to do with anything? Flowers and God's way and teenagers all mixed together sounds like maybe a smelly kind of a proposition. I don't know. But as you think about that, you probably never thought of why flowers drive so fast. Do you know why flowers drive so fast? Because they put the pedal to the metal. Ah-ha. Okay. Someone told me another one. We were talking about flowers this morning, and someone said, yeah, do you know what flowers like to drink? I said, I don't know. What do flowers like to drink? They said, bud light. I don't know.

They're like, oh, boy, that's really bad. The hard part about those bad jokes is it's hard not to repeat them. That is really—you know, you get them in your mind and then you can't get them out. I don't know. It makes it kind of difficult that way. What with this theme, Consider the Lilies? Of course, it's all wrapped around what Christ himself said in Matthew 6. In fact, maybe we could remind ourselves about that by going over to Matthew 6, verse 28.

Here's where that theme passage comes from, the very words of Jesus Christ. And it's a reminder that the world that we live in is one that we are faced with challenges. Anyone going through some difficult times right now? We're faced with all kinds of pressures. It doesn't matter if you're a teenager, you're a young adult, or you're a senior citizen. There are so many difficulties, possibilities that are out there that seem to put weight on us, and whether it's our relationships.

Sometimes it's expectations that are put upon us. Sometimes it's our jobs that have difficult pressures and expectations that are put upon us. Or if we're younger, what are we going to do when we grow up? What about our relationships? We've got social media everywhere, and sometimes it just feels like we could be overwhelmed with so many things happening, our families and our children. And if you feel overwhelmed, you're not alone. Oftentimes that just seems to be the mode of life. And here, Christ is addressing those types of feelings that we all face. So Christ says, why worry about clothing? Matthew 6, 28. Consider the lilies of the field. Well, what do the lilies have to do with that?

Well, it says they grow, but they don't toil. They're not worried about working. They don't spin. They don't have to do those types of things to make their own clothes.

I think that's the implication that he's saying here. And yet, I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Do we have any flower lovers out in the audience today? Love flowers, gardening. Flowers are amazing. And here he's talking about how beautiful they are. Well, what did we do to bring out the beauty in the flowers? Well, they grow. They do their own thing. And so God takes care of them is the point that Jesus Christ is making. If God clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow's thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

And so here we really have, I think, a profound truth about how much God cares for us. And sometimes we don't step back to really consider how much God really loves us, how much he's watching out for us, how much he keeps us in his mind, especially when we're facing worry, when we're wondering about things. We have doubt about things, or there's just anxiety that we face that seems to well up inside of us. When things are uncertain, this passage is reminding us that they're not about flowers.

This isn't talking about clothes. It's really about who do we trust. Who do we trust? Do we recognize that we can trust God? And he says, just look at the flowers. Just look at those lilies. They're beautiful. They're delicate. They're radiant in their beauty.

And God makes sure to take care of them. Now, they don't last forever, last a season long, but the point is, if he does that for a flower, what do you think he'll do for you? And so Christ makes this point. When we face the challenges of life, when we're faced with worry or fear or doubt, the challenges that we may run into at school, in our friendships, in our future plans, in what our families or our jobs may force us to deal with, we face these heavy weights of responsibilities in the world around us.

God wants us to keep this in mind. When it comes to anxiety, when it comes to worry, well, face it. We all feel it sometimes. We all feel those sense of, wow, what's next? What's going to happen? And whether it's pressure to conform, fit in at school or work or uncertainty about what am I going to do for college or a career or my next job or how am I going to pay for these things for my family? Worry and anxiety are something that certainly can impact our thinking. And yet, here we see God's care is so much beyond those things that just are passing. They're temporary things. Those things aren't lasting.

And so the idea that Christ is really getting to us is to help us to understand our own thinking. Don't let your thinking get away from you is what he's saying. You may have those worrisome thoughts, but don't forget who's in charge. God's in charge. And his care? How much does he care for us? He says it's so much deeper than just the concerns of this life. He says he loves us so much that he cares for the lilies, he cares for the birds, and he's going to provide for you, too.

And that's something you can absolutely count on. In fact, it's not something that you hear about just in this one passage. If we turn just a couple of pages over to Matthew 10, here Christ addresses the same subject, but he says it in a little bit different way. So in Matthew 10, notice verse 29. When we're facing feelings that are overwhelming, maybe things that are influencing us, maybe it's things like our image on social media. Do you ever worry about your image? What do people think when they see me on Instagram or Facebook or any of those types of things? How do they view me? Sometimes that self-doubt that may prop up is a challenge that we all face.

You know, that maybe we just don't measure up. You think God really cares for me? Maybe I'm just not good enough. Maybe I'm not good enough for others. I'm not good enough for God. Yet, here we see Matthew 10, 29, Christ says that's not the case. God cares so much for you. Here he says, aren't two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Do not fear, therefore, you are more of more value than many sparrows.

So God not only cares about the flowers, He cares about the birds as well. I mean, do you ever have a thought about how valuable is a little bird, a little sparrow? I mean, they're everywhere, it seems, right? Well, when you begin to think about that, they're little tiny little things, just little tiny little birds. The other day, I was getting into birds around our house, and I found this app that's called Merlin Bird. And on this particular app, you can look up different birds. And so I happened to look up a little sparrow. Now, what's cool about this app is you can be sitting out in your backyard, and you can press a little button, and it'll listen for the birds that are singing, and it'll identify them. It's like, whoa, look at that! That's a cardinal, or that's a little house sparrow, or that's a finch, and it's just kind of fun doing that. Kind of off track a little bit, I was playing with this little wren. There was a wren that was flying around, and it was whistling away, and I found the little app, and it identified that it was this Carolina wren, and I played the recording of its song back to it, and it would whistle, and then my phone was whistling back at it. This bird came flying over and landed on the little post right next to me, looking around, trying to figure out where's this other bird, and here it's my phone doing that. But anyway, here's this little house sparrow, and it's funny the way that it's described on this particular app. You know, think of a sparrow. Okay, you got that in your mind. I know you probably can't see the little picture here on my phone, but the description here says, males have smart black bibs, bright rufous snaps. I'm not sure what a rufous nap is, but they've got one. It says stunningly patterned wings with brilliant buffs and browns.

Underparts are pale and pearly gray. It sounds like, wow, this is some bird. And then it says, females are plain brown.

That doesn't say say it that way. But then it does say, a cute face and lighter eyebrows.

That's the way it's described. And of course, if you play the song...

Okay, we've all heard that, right? But how much do we actually even pay any attention to it? You know, it's just this little brown bird. I see it all the time. I don't pay any attention when it's singing or doing much of anything. And yet here, God says He notices everything about them.

He notices every little... I mean, these tiny little birds that we mostly ignore, God cares enough to notice every single one of them. Even when it's in trouble, God knows.

And so you begin to think about that. You know, sometimes when we think about ourselves, we might feel like, you know, maybe I'm kind of overlooked. Nobody notices me. I'm kind of like those little birds. Nobody pays any attention to me. I feel kind of isolated sometimes. I'm not really with the gang. Maybe you feel that way if you ever scroll through social media.

You look at everyone else's perfect life. Wow, they're just... they've got this beautiful moment that they've captured at this party or this amazing achievement that they accomplished. Or look at all the friends they have on their social media. You ever see those kinds of things and think, wow, I don't really measure up to that. I can't be that perfect. Nobody really notices me. And yet, it's easy to feel that way. It's easy to feel unimportant, easy to feel small, easy to feel invisible. But what is Christ telling us here? I think He's telling us something amazing.

He notices these little tiny birds that most ignore. How much more does He notice you?

That's what He's saying. God notices you, every worry, every difficulty, every struggle, every emotion, every secret tear that you might shed. He's saying, you are so valuable. You are more valuable beyond measure, beyond measure, He says. And so when the worry comes or the fear or that feeling of being unimportant, when those things start to enter our thinking, He's saying, well, hang on.

Hold on a second. Don't let those thoughts overrun your brain. He says that is just not the case. God knows every detail of your life, and He's there to help, and He's there to lift you up, and He's telling you, you are loved, and you are cherished, and you are treasured, even way beyond the lilies, way beyond the sparrows. There's a wonderful passage that's over in the book of Isaiah. If you turn with me over to Isaiah chapter 41, notice verse 10.

Notice verse 10. Here's the prophet Isaiah speaking, and really relating this same concept when we really begin to understand worry and fear and doubt and anxiety and this sense that sometimes you wonder, well, where are you, God? Do you really care about me? Are you really paying attention to my life? Do you recognize how challenged I am right now and how I'm going through these difficulties and trials? And sometimes it feels like, well, okay, where are you, God?

I mean, between what Christ said about the lilies, what He says about the sparrows, and here Isaiah is reminding us, here's what God really thinks. Here's his perspective. And in chapter 41, notice verse 10. He says, fear not, for I am with you. I think we could also say, don't worry. Don't worry. Or don't have anxiety. You know, God is with us. He says, don't be dismayed.

I am your God. But even beyond that, He doesn't stop there, not just say, well, I take care of the flowers or I watch over the little birds. Okay, I'm there. That's what He says. Okay, I'm with you. But you notice what else it says here? Not just that He's with us, but it says, I will strengthen you. So God is not only with us, but He's there to help us. And He's here to strengthen us. Whatever the challenges that we're facing, whatever worry might try to overcome our thinking, He's there to strengthen us. He says, yes, I will help you. I'll uphold you with my righteous right hand. And so God's right there. He's not going to let us fall. He notices everything. And so He knows everything about us. And so if we feel like this little sparrow, and we feel a little unimportant or unnoticed, well counteract that thinking, because God does care, and God does notice. And He's fully aware of everything about us, every fear, every aspect, every thought. And His perspective is, I'm here to help you. Not only do I love you, but there is nothing in your life that is too small for God's attention. And that's an amazing thought, isn't it? There's nothing in my life that's so minor that God doesn't care about it. God cares about everything in our lives. And so to put it in that perspective, it can begin to change the way that we think when we begin to worry about things, when we begin to fear what might come. And isn't that one of those things that maybe often comes to mind, maybe for all of us? Well, what's going to happen tomorrow? What will a dance be like tomorrow? Will anybody dance with me? Yeah, well sometimes those simple little worries, well does God care about that? Yeah, He's saying right here He does. And yet sometimes the bigger things come up too. What am I going to do? What's next? How is my family going to overcome this difficulty that we're facing, this trial? My health issues? What's going to happen? Anyone ever worry about things we don't know what will happen? The fear of the unknown? What's going to happen next? I think we all face those kinds of things. And these passages about the sparrows and about the lilies are good ones to remember that we can trust God even in the unknown. Even in the unknown, when we don't know what's ahead and we don't know what's going to happen, when we're going to face the challenges that lie ahead, it can feel like, wow, it's just like a black hole out here. I don't know what's going to be next, what my next job might be, or where I'm going to go to college, or if I'll be able to finish this project, or what's going to happen with my job, those kinds of things. What's going to happen? Well, that's where Christ said, consider the lilies. Don't stress about it. What happens to those lilies? Well, it said God takes care of them. Does that mean, well, they're just going to die? No, the implication here in that passage in Matthew is that God takes care of them, and even though I don't have a green thumb, God does. And those flowers are going to bloom. They're going to bloom. And if we have trust in God when we don't know what's coming, the fear of the unknown, one of the greatest difficulties every human being is challenged with. When we don't know, can we trust God in the unknown? Christ says, yes, flowers bloom. I take care of the birds. So if we're stressed or we're overwhelmed, where do we turn for guidance? You know, do we look to TikTok or Instagram?

You know, hopefully what we're doing is we're recognizing where the ultimate encourager is.

Who knows? And that's the amazing part. If we look over at the Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5, is one of those passages I think many of us are pretty familiar with this particular verse because it emphasizes this fact that we can trust God even though we don't know what's coming next, even though we might have those anxieties and those fears. It says, here's how you deal with that.

How can I deal with those things that I'm unsure about? Well, when we look at the Proverbs, Proverbs 3, verse 5 reminds us, here's where we look. Just like the flowers being taken care of by God, just like the birds don't fall without God knowing it, it says here, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. And so once again we see that formula that when we don't know, when we're not sure, when we're stressed or we're worried or there's anxiety on the horizon, look to God.

Trust in him even though it looks bleak, even though I feel this way, and it's real, it feels real that I'm not going to be able to do this. He says you acknowledge God, and what do we find?

It's a promise. Isn't that a promise? He shall direct your paths. It's not like, well, maybe he'll do this. He might. He'll think about it. Doesn't say that. He shall. He will.

So this is undoubted. This is a promise from God. And so can we completely rely on him?

I think that's the great part. I don't have all the answers. None of us do. But God knows.

God knows. And so he's telling us, even when things are kind of vague, they're unclear, guess who's already there? He's reminding us God's already there, ready to guide us step by step by step. One of the songs we sing in the hymnal is a verse that's taken from the book of Lamentations.

If you turn over to Lamentations chapter 3, verse 22, it's this little book kind of squeezed just before Ezekiel. If you could find it after Jeremiah, you can kind of figure out where I'm at.

You could find Lamentations here. And Lamentations, interesting book because it's a lot about worry and fear and crying and difficult. The lamenting is about Jerusalem and how difficult things have become and how awful circumstances were. And God's people did not stand up for the truth. And so there's anguish and just a challenge perspective here. And yet, among all of what's written here is this really powerful little section in chapter 3, verse 22, that we oftentimes sing at Sabbath services. So take a look here at Lamentations 3, verse 22. It says, Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. Almost sounds a little bit like, okay, consider the lilies. Think about those lilies. They're going to be okay because God's watching out for them. God's going to make sure they're okay. God is merciful. We're not going to be wiped out, consumed. Why? He says because His compassion fails not. God doesn't fail. It says, They are new every morning. Every morning. Great is your faithfulness. So it emphasizes that very fact.

Of course, we sing that song. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.

Morning by morning, new mercies I see. And so in that, it makes it really clear that considering the lilies, remembering God's perspective, how He feels about us, that even though we don't know, even though it's unclear, even though it's vague as we look down the line, God is there. And He says it's going to be new and it's going to be good. And He is compassionate. He encourages us. And He will not fail. I might fail. I might fall short. But who doesn't? God doesn't.

God leads the way. And so when you have that kind of focus, even when things are unclear, God's right there. And He's going to be there to lead us. And He's going to watch over us. I was reminded of this focus when I was thinking about the flowers and the lilies and all these things. When we used to live in Minnesota, traveling to one of our congregations in the summertime, they planted some of the fields. If it wasn't beans or corn, there was a field that we'd pass by that was always planted with sunflowers. And these were the sunflowers that get about six, eight feet high. And it was always interesting to kind of drive by them.

I didn't pay much attention at first, but one day I noticed as we went by in the morning, you know, here they are kind of looking at the morning sun. Well, we spent the whole day at services, turn around to come home, and the sun setting in the other direction. And I noticed the flowers had kind of turned, and now they were facing the setting sun instead of the rising sun, and they had kind of turned their face toward the sun. And they just thought, wow, that is amazing to think of these flowers that are focused. I mean, if they're going to grow, they need to be focused in the right direction, kind of soaking in the light, that light that gives them the energy and the life that they have. And I just got to thinking about, maybe that's one of the reasons God uses this flower kind of analogy, this idea that, you know, He has mercy and He is faithful to us every morning. You know, like that morning sun, do we engage with God every single day?

I mean, if we could be like that sunflower, that instead of focusing on our worries, instead of focusing on those things that are the pressures that we might feel from whatever the situation may be, our future, our friends, or whatever. What if we turn to God? What if we continue to face Him, no matter what the day may bring, we look to God because He's the source. He's where our strength is. He's where we're going to find encouragement. And so, our loving God is where we need to continue to look, even when life brings us the challenges that it does, when it feels overwhelming. And so, when we look to Him, things can begin to change.

The worries can begin to fade. And when we think of that, turning toward God in every situation, what will we find? I think that's where lamentations come in. What will we find? We'll find mercy. What will we find? We'll find compassion. We'll find understanding.

We'll find a God who loves us. And it doesn't say, well, every once in a while He'll be there for you.

No, it says His compassion doesn't fail. It doesn't fail at all. And it says, it's new, how often?

Every morning, every day, every day, every day. And so, when we begin to think about that, there's a... I should have had you hold your place in Isaiah. This passage in Isaiah just came to mind that kind of ties in with this. I hope it's over in Isaiah 46. Let's see if it is.

Yeah, this is one of those passages that is a reminder, kind of like those sunflowers turning toward the light, turning toward God. This is that passage that God talks about His uniqueness.

And it is in chapter 46. Look at verse 9, Isaiah 46.9. When we think of the unknown, because sometimes that's where our fear is. What will happen? What will happen with my life as I have faced the future? It is a worry. Well, here Isaiah addresses that, inspired by God, in speaking for God. He says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other.

Okay, why remember old things? Well, God did some awesome things. He did some amazing things in the past. I'm sure you could think of a few things after going through the days of Unleavened Bread and probably recounting the stories of Israelites coming out of Egypt and Red Sea parting and manna and all these amazing things. God did some awesome things. Remember those, well, why keep those in mind? Well, He says there's none like me. There's none like, if I did it then, I'm going to do it now. I'm going to take care of you now. I will watch over you now. And here, He even talks about the unknown. If we remember what God has done, He says there's none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done saying, My counsel will stand and I will do all my pleasure. So here, it's telling us, God not only knows the future, I mean, He declares it, the end from the beginning. He knows, and so His plans are sure. His purposes absolutely will come about. There's nothing that takes Him by surprise.

You know, He's not like us. He knows. He understands. And so when we're uncertain, if we're worried, if we're not sure what lies ahead, we can take comfort in the fact that our future is resting in God's hands. He's the one that sees the end and can recognize that difference from the beginning. And so what a powerful thought that God knows. And what's His intent? Well, do we have to wonder, does God really have my best interest at heart? Of course He does.

He wants you to succeed. He wants the best for you. He's going to do everything He possibly can to bring you into the family of God forever. Forever. That's His intent. That's why we're here. He loves us and wants us in His family. He wants you to succeed now and in the future.

And so when you think about the world we live in, I mean, it seems like the world is so obsessed with status. You know, the number of likes you might get on your post, right? Everybody's worried, how many likes do I... Oh, I only got 10 likes. I guess I'm not a very, very fun person.

Well, wait a second. Is it about recognition or about likes? Or, you know, all that... He says, this is temporary stuff. This is temporary things. And even though those types of recognition comes and goes, Isaiah is reminding us God's love doesn't waver, doesn't change.

And he's saying, you know, even though you don't know everything about the future, there is something you do know. We know who holds the future. You know, God holds the future in His hand. And so when you consider that, what more do we need to know? God's got us.

You know, He's watching out for us, and He wants the best for us. And so when we look at what God's got in mind, He's got the best in mind for us. And so when we face our challenges, He gives us ways that we can work through it as well. Not just to put up with it or get over it, or just be totally passive about it. There's some things that we can do when we're faced with the challenges.

In order to be like the lilies, consider those lilies, or be like those little sparrows, there's some practical things I think God's got in mind for us, you know, as we live life.

There's a passage over in Philippians chapter 4 that I think gives an important step in overcoming those feelings of anxiety, or those worries that may come upon us. And in Philippians here, we have the Apostle Paul writing to God's church in Philippi, and reminding us one of those important steps, a practical step, that we can take in order to be proactive, in order to make sure we're putting our life in God's hands. And so in Philippians chapter 4 verse 6, he says, Be anxious for nothing. And if I stop there, I think, well, it's easy for you to say, Paul.

Don't worry about anything. What do you mean? I've got all these challenges. I've got plenty to worry about. What do you mean, don't be... How is that even possible? Well, that's why he's setting up the question that way. Well, how is it possible not to be worried or anxious about anything?

Well, if we look to God, right, we maybe be like that sunflower, we're looking to the light, we're looking to His solutions, he says, in everything by prayer and supplication.

Talk to God about it. Talk to God about your challenges. Bring it before the awesome throne of the universe. Does He know what you need? He says, yes, this is what we need to do. He's saying, pray through your worries. Pray through the anxiety. He's saying, all right, you're going to have it, but it doesn't have to dominate your thinking. He says, if you put it in God's hands and talk to God about it, He says, let your requests be made known to God. I can tell God, wow, I am overwhelmed. I don't know what to do next. I feel useless. I feel like I can't overcome this. And you could talk to God about it and put it in His hands. I need your help.

Don't leave me. Be with me. Strengthen me. We can talk to God and lay it out before Him.

And so He says, let Him know. And He already knows, just explain it to Him. And when we do, those are those first steps to walk through, really to pray through those worries. Because we can ask for confidence. We can ask for an assurance to know. And sometimes it might be, well, God, sometimes it feels like you're not even here with me. I need to know you're here. Help me to absolutely understand that I can trust you in every situation in my life, no matter what. Help me to have that faith and that confidence in you. And what's He going to do? Well, He says, those mercies are there every morning. He says, He's going to be there. Here He says, He's going to answer the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And that's where it's at. It's in our minds, our thinking. Is God going to help us in our thinking? He's going to help us with those things that are weighing us down.

Absolutely. And so He's reminding us we can pray and ask God to give us the strength and the faith and the encouragement so that we can turn to Him every day, one day at a time, just like those little flowers that bloom each day. He says, you could look to me and draw closer to me.

I'm there for you. And God reminds us of that. So grow close to God, draw closer to Him and make it an everyday thing. I think that's one of the challenges that we face. Do we get so distracted with life sometimes? You know, things get in our way. It, you know, captures our thinking and we kind of get off track a little bit. Christ said something interesting as well, if we go back to Matthew for a moment. That is another one of those steps I think that we can overcome the anxiety and the fear and worry that we may face. You know, as we draw close to Him in praying, Matthew 6, 34.

Here we're coming back by the lilies again. Matthew 6, 34. Christ makes an important point that sometimes it's easy to overlook, but I think He emphasizes it here for a specific reason.

Matthew 6, 34. Here's Christ speaking and He says, therefore do not worry about tomorrow.

And maybe that's another one of those times you think, well, maybe that's easy for you to say, but you don't know how much I'm facing tomorrow. But He says, tomorrow will worry about its own things. And then He mentions sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So I don't think He's trying to focus on the trouble of today. I think what He's really getting at here is focus on today, focus on today's needs. Take care of the things that we can do today. Stay focused. Stay present right now in the now, rather than, wow, what's going to happen? I'm not sure how that's going to work out or there's so many things I'm worried about. Don't let that overwhelm. Stay focused today.

Stay tuned right where we're at. Stay present. And if we stay present and we focus on today, just like, hey, those flowers are growing today. His mercies are present today, every morning, every morning. What's a new day? It's a new day is kind of the message there. And so as a new day, let's stay focused here and not be overly consumed by the worries that tomorrow may bring.

And it's amazing how many times this idea of today is emphasized throughout Scripture.

There's an important one over in Hebrews chapter 3. In Hebrews chapter 3, we have a section of Scripture here that's important when we think of this whole idea of the worries and fears that we face in life and how God wants us to really focus and stay present right now. That God is now in the moment. Trust Him now. This is the time. Don't wait till later. Don't put it off. Don't get too far down the line. Look right now. So here, Hebrews chapter 3, notice verse 13. In verse 13 of Hebrews 3, it says, exhort one another daily while it's called today. While it's called today, which is interesting because just a few verses before that, He talked about today as well. If you look back to verse 7, here's a quotation. If you've got a Bible that offsets Old Testament quotes, this little section here is offset where it says, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness. And so here we have this quotation that comes from Psalm 95.

Now in the Jewish tradition, do you know what Psalm 95 was? Or really, still is. They called it a Sabbath Psalm. It would be a Psalm that they read specifically on the Sabbath day.

And there was an interesting interaction in traditional Judaism where the rabbi would ask a question. And the rabbi would start by saying, when will Messiah come? Answer, today, if you will hear His voice. And it's such a powerful thing to think about. Now we're not talking about the literal return of Christ today. No, we're not talking about that. But when is God going to be present with you? Today. He's here right now. You listen to God. You develop a relationship with God. You pray through your worries. Where is God? He's here right now. Today, if you'll hear His voice, He's here to support you. He's here to love you. He's here to encourage you. We don't have to worry about tomorrow because He's right here today with us. And He's not going to leave us. He's not going to forsake us. He's right. And in fact, what more do we have? We don't know if we have tomorrow.

We might not have tomorrow. We don't know. God's given us today, hasn't He? We have today. What could happen? Well, all kinds of things could happen. You know, accidents, crazy things can come about.

But we do know we have today. And so it's interesting to think about that very thing, to be present in the moment now. Now's the time. Now's the time to be committed to God. Now's the time to draw closer to God. Now's the time to commit ourselves to following God and trusting Him, even when things are difficult or things are unclear or unknown or I'm going through a difficult trial. Now's the time to trust Him no matter what. And as we do that, He says, do it now. Do it now.

And so if we look down to verse 14 here in Hebrews 3, we become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. So we can have confidence God's with us. We can be sure that He's with us. We can trust Him because those things that we've been reading, they're not just nice little sayings that the Bible has. These are rock-solid promises of God.

He's with us and He's going to be there. You think about those flowers. You think about those little birds. You think about His mercies and His compassion. He is present and He is with us and He wants to lead us and guide us. And so trust Him. Put your trust and your faith in Him. And He says He is there for us. And so we can begin to overcome the worries that we face with the help of God because He is always present. He is always compassionate every day like we read in Lamentations. Now, of course, we can have help as well. You know, as we read here, verse 13, exhort one another daily. Can we help? Can we help each other? Absolutely. Does God expect us to help each other? Yeah, He sure does. I mean, that's one of those big lessons all the way back at the beginning of the Bible, isn't it? You remember the story of Cain and Abel and, you know, what did Cain say when God was asking him about his brother?

Am I my brother's keeper? Yeah, actually you are. You are. And so we see that throughout Scripture.

And when it comes to these kinds of challenges that we face in our lives, we should support one another. We need to support ourselves with fellow believers. Here, he talks about we are partakers of Christ. Literally, that's a sharer, a participant, a partner. We're partners with Christ. And so together, there's a strength that we have as the Church of God. And we can support each other, and we can encourage each other, and we can mentor each other. I mean, we're family. We're to be a family. We're the family of God. And so we need to help each other. We need to surround ourselves with those that can counsel us, can mentor us, can help us. A faithful friend, a confidant, a minister, even our pastor. When we can get the help that we need, we have that support that can lift us up out of just the perspective that life sometimes brings. And so when we think about that, there's such an important aspect of the support that we can provide for each other, because we are to be our brother's keeper. I was thinking about that coming to the northwest.

Of course, up in this area, you're famous for certain kinds of trees. They're pretty big, aren't they? These giant redwood. I was into this nature program a while back. I was watching this thing about the giant redwood trees, and they're pretty amazing, pretty cool things. Anybody like nature shows? Okay, I like my nature shows. They're kind of fun to watch those things. I was watching this one about the redwoods, and I'm not really brilliant when it comes to nature or those kinds of things, but they're talking about these redwood trees, how gigantic they are. And it's like, well, they must have roots that go down, you know, miles into the ground. Well, here's this program saying, no, not really. They said in this particular program, the way that the redwoods could grow so tall and be so strong, whether the storms or the winds or whatever, was that because of their root system was intertwined with the other redwood trees that were all around. So they were all mixed in together under the ground, not that it's, you know, miles deep, but because their roots were interspersed with each other, other redwood trees, that gave them the support that they needed to be able, to be strong, to be able to grow tall, to be able to fend off the winds and the storms and the rains and the droughts and just time itself. And so I thought that's pretty amazing that if that tree was there all by itself, might not thrive. But because of the support of the other trees, it could grow strong and tall. And so when you begin to think about that, isn't it the same way for us as God's people? I mean, we can help each other, our life and our faith together when we surround each other and we build each other up and we encourage each other. Wow, we can have a strength that really comes from God. So to build that support system that helps us to stand strong when times are tough can make all the difference in the world. And so thinking about that, having that godly support system becomes so important. We don't have to face our challenges alone.

We don't have to be by ourselves. We can share our struggles. We can share the advice that we've learned in life with others. We can encourage each other in the faith in that way. And when we do, we can grow together. And the Proverbs talks so much about that, the fact that together, you know, in a multitude of counselors, there's safety it talks about. And there certainly is. And when we consider that, what a difference it can make in our life and our entire perspective. And so where do we seek that kind of support? I mean, this life can get us going off in all kinds of directions when we want to be recognized, or maybe it's status, or maybe it's, you know, recognition, money, those kinds of things, acceptance from others. We can get bogged down in some of those kinds of things. Noticed on social media. But what really counts here is that our perspective and our peace comes from knowing that God loves us. He loves us and He cares about us. And you can't find that in this physical life, in changing circumstances. It's not there. It is not there.

It's not on Instagram. It's not on Facebook. It's not about scrolling. There's a powerful passage over at the end of the book of Joshua. Just a reminder of what Joshua said at the very end of his life. And if you remember the story of Moses leading the people out of Egypt, Joshua taking over as they come into the Promised Land. Here we are at the end of Joshua's life. And at the very end of his life, he gives a little speech, a little summary of things here, and says something that's really remarkable at the end of Joshua. So this is in Joshua, chapter 21.

And let's see, where should we pick it up here? Let's...

My page is stuck together, so...

Okay, it makes a note that God followed through, verse 43. This is Joshua 21. The LORD gave Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession of it and dwelt in it. The LORD gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. So the important point, God said, I'm going to take you out of Egypt. I'm going to give you the Promised Land, and you will be blessed there.

Does God keep his promises?

Absolutely. There is no doubt. No doubt. It didn't matter that there were Philistines in the land.

Did it matter that there were Hittites and Jebusites and all the otherites that were out there?

No, it didn't matter that there were giants. None of that mattered, because God was there with them and promised them, I will be your God. I will bring this about. And so here we are at the end of Joshua's life, and it says here at the end of verse 44, not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. And then verse 45, not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel.

All came to pass. All. And so when we think about that, has God promised us?

Absolutely. And he says in Philippians 1, he started a good work in you. He's going to finish it. He wants to bring that about. He's not going to leave you or forsake you. Romans 8, 28 reminds us of that very thing. He reminds us that he is not going to turn his back. He's just like the lilies are going to grow, just like those sparrows are going to prosper. He's going to take care of us.

And he loves us even more than the lilies and the sparrows and even the entire universe for that matter. So when that pressure builds, when the challenges are right there at our door, when things seem uncertain or you feel like, I just don't seem to fit in, I'm not sure what to do next. You know, when those thoughts come to mind, remember what God did for Israel. Remember what Joshua says here? All came to pass.

All came to pass. God is a God we can trust in everything. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful day by day. His mercies are constant and they are unchanging.

And so he says, consider the lilies. Consider the lilies. Consider God that—hey, this is just a nice little poetic thought, but it's one of those powerful reminders. We're not forgotten.

God doesn't leave us alone. We're not at the mercy of the ways of this world because God sees us, and He knows us, and He has a purpose for each and every one of us. So we can trust Him, and we can lean on Him in every circumstance. We can find security in His promises. He doesn't change His promises. So that means we don't have to be paralyzed. We don't have to have the fears that, I'm not sure what to do next, so I don't know what to do, and so we're frozen. No, He says, I'm with you. You can move forward in faith. That's the word. Go forward, knowing that we're never alone, knowing that God is always right there with us. And so I think it's a powerful lesson, even more than just a theme for the weekend, probably a theme we need to keep in our minds throughout our life, that every time we feel a little bit of worry kind of creep in, little anxieties start to overwhelm us a little bit, hey, step back. Think about those flowers for a second. Maybe go outside. Look at some flowers, or maybe get out your phone and bring up a picture of a flower, or maybe a sparrow. Take a look at that. Pull up that picture on your phone, or go out to nature and look at those beautiful flowers that God takes care of when those feelings start to come, and then let it remind you. You've got this.

Together with God's strength, there is no doubt when we consider the lilies that with God's help, we can face whatever challenges life may bring.

We're looking forward to the rest of the evening tonight and spending some time together. Appreciate the opportunity, and we'll look forward to fellowshiping here after services.