This is a message I delivered today about why not to worry to a congregation seeking their next pastor. It is highly practical for life, not just the pastor search process.

“Why Not To Worry” or “Trust God!” (Is 46:9-10)

This is another message to encourage you regarding your pastor search. But it is also a practical message for you outside the pastor search process. A lot is at stake regarding your next pastor, but more at stake personally for how you will understand & process your own life. What I’ll present to you today is THE doctrine that provides me the most peace in life… one that destroys worry & anxiety.

Today is a bird’s eye view of Scripture to show how it fits into A unified theology. It would be good for you to place your life events & the pastor search process into the theology we’ll discuss. I pray you will leave here encouraged about life in God’s family…

Now to a thought I’ve presented to you before. Q: What can God do? (Anything) Q: Why? (B/c He’s God). If you nail that down, you’re a long way to living a life of peace, rest, contentment, & joy (Get that?!). Why? B/c your faith AND trust will be in God alone!

Truth #1: God is sovereign & controls all things without exclusion or omission (Repeat). Let’s read Is 46:9-10… then think thru it together… (Take God at His word)

Remember the former things of old; for I am God, & there is no other; I am God, & there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning & from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, & I will accomplish all My purpose…

Paul rewords this thought in Eph 1:11 writing that “(God) works all things after the counsel of His will…”

These passages unsettle some who think us robots who don’t have a will… but that is not right, which we will address in shortly. Important: From here on, Scripture trumps our heart & logic.

Thank God for Is 46:9-10 & Eph 1:11. Why? #1: God is consumed with glorifying Himself[1] & will not do anything that does not result in His glory.[2] #2: Because God is love[3] everything He does or allows is only & always loving! #3: So rest in knowing God is on our side (All believers)… because we are in Christ, God is always working FOR us not against us. Ro 8:31-32… (Think about your life circumstance)

If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us ALL THINGS? (Take God at His Word!)

God’s sovereignty is important because we’re sinful & incapable of anything good unless GOD does it! Jesus (Jn 15:5), “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” Know it or not… admit it or not… Jesus is the source of everything good.[4] Paul wrote in 1 Cor 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” God Is ALWAYS Working For His Glory & Our God ALL THE TIME!! That means in YOUR life!

Now, If You Are A Christian: The sovereign God of the universe… who holds all things in His hand… who created the universe with a spoken word: 1) Lives in you… 2) Is on your side… 3) Is in absolute & complete control… & 4) Nothing or anyone can change those things! Ro 8:37-39

We are more than conquerors thru him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death… life… angels… rulers… things present… things to come… powers… 39 height… depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Put your life events in this matrix! Put your worry or anxiety into it. Take God at His Word! TRUST GOD! The result of driving this theology deep into your soul is growth in faith, joy, peace, contentment, & absence of worry or fear! But that’s not all…

Truth #2: The sovereign God on our side means… there is no need to worry about anything. All inclusive!! Q: What can God do? (Anything) Q: Why? (He’s God). Let’s flesh this out…

Rich Fool introduction to Luke 12:22-32…

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, & the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, & 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? 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, 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, & 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 & what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, & your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, & 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.”

Aside: Mostly God uses fellow believers to help, provide, & encourage others (Ac 2, “Sell & give…”).

Again, put your life matrix into the Scripture! Jesus said those things b/c He KNEW God was sovereign, providential, & in complete control of everything. Thus Jn 10:10… “I came that they might have life & have it abundantly!” Q: How big is your God? Let’s have God answer that question…

Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us…

Jer 32:17 “Ah, Lord God! It is you who has made the heavens & the earth by your great power & by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

Jer 32:26 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

Lk 18:27 But (Jesus) said, “What is impossible w/ men is possible with God.”

When we worry or are anxious… about anything… we have forgotten who God is. We have forgotten what He can do. We have not believed what He says about Himself!

Why should we not worry? Because of who our God is! Why should we not be anxious? Because God is in control of everything! Why should we not fret? Because God is sovereign over the internet & viruses & governments & weather & ISIS & politicians & economies & Iran & armies & bosses & presidents & congress and and and and and… (Is 46:9-10; Eph 1:11).

There is something to be said for trusting God & His providential actions! Your life too! What to do if struggling? PRAY… present your situation before God. Also for those who see others in need to be the hands God uses to meet their needs…

Praying doesn’t mean God will necessarily change your circumstances, but it DOES mean he will transform your heart! Again, let’s take God at His Word from Phil 4:6-7…

Do not be anxious about anything (Sound like Lk 12:22?), but in everything by prayer & supplication w/ thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus.

Remember what Paul went thru who wrote this? Listen to 2 Cor 11:23-27…

(I’ve had) more imprisonments, w/ countless beatings, & often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 39 lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night & a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers… robbers… my own people… from Gentiles… in the city… in the wilderness… at sea… from false brothers; 27 in toil & hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger & thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Who is God? What can He do? Why?

I’ve found that God WILL NOT leave nor forsake you! I KNOW that peace comes from Him, not my circumstances! Everyone here today has two options… live under your own strength OR… cast all your anxieties on Christ… flee to Him because His yoke is easy & burden is light…

[1] Isaiah 48:11

[2] John 12:28

[3] 1 John 4:8

[4] James 1:16-17