Pastor Rusty Milton
Luke 12:22-34 ESV
"Overcoming Anxiety with the Fatherhood, Promises, and Providences of God."

Where do you find your security? If in your own control over situations, you are on "un-Fathered" ground, and your anxieties will seek to control you. Moreover, you won't be able to show the glory of God because of your fear of messing up. Find your security in the fatherhood, promises, and providences of God. In Luke 12, Jesus explains these principles by exhorting his listeners to overcome anxiety by knowing their value in God (vv. 22-30), and by considering what God has given them in Christ (vv. 31-32). When you feel overwhelmed by anxiety, therefore, choose to put your trust in your Father, and be willing to take steps of faith to deeply invest in the kingdom of God.

Luke 12:22-34
English Standard Version
Do Not Be Anxious

22 And 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. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 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! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,[b] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his[c] kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.