Think back in your life to previous Christmases and try to think about what your favorite Christmas gift was growing up.  It could be when you were 12 or 15 or 16.  Is there one gift that stands out to you more than any other?  For me, it was two.  I was thinking about this this week and I thought there were two gifts that really stood out.  Number one was a bicycle.  I was twelve years old.  I really wanted this cool three-speed bicycle and I checked on Christmas Eve at about two in the morning. I got up to see if it was under the tree and it was.  And I was so excited my mom was starting over my shoulder.  She saw me get up and she said, "You get back to bed or you're not getting that bike."  I'll never forget that.  Highly memorable.  The gift I'd almost didn't get.

The second gift, I really wanted oddly enough was this little ventriloquist dummy called Danny O'Day.  Anybody remember Danny O'Day?  A few of you are that old.  It was 10 bucks in series catalog.  You pull the string and the mouth moves up and down.  It's a Danny O'Day puppet and I got it for Christmas.

Okay, so I went on eBay this week to find out if there were any there and I found one on eBay for a $167.00.  No, I'm not going to buy it of course, but it said "vintage".  How do you think I felt?  Like vintage -- I thought, you know, the older you get, the more valuable you are.  Gift giving in Christmas goes without saying.  It's part of our culture.  Here are some facts about that.  Women get more gifts than men.  That's a fact.  Women spend more time selecting the appropriate gift than men.  That doesn't surprise me.  Women are more successful in finding the desired gifts than men.  Again, no surprise.  10% of women's gifts were returned whereas 16% of the gifts given by men were returned.

But Christmas is also very expensive.  It's estimated that this year, the average American will spend $750.00 total on gifts. And every year, I've noticed this for a number of years.  Economist will put together the total value of the 12 days of Christmas.  Remember the song "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree?"  The song is about a series of gifts each more lavish than the previous gifts.  There are 364 of those gifts in that song.  So, economist try to figure out in modern day terms what would have cost to give that.  Everything from the 12 drummers drumming up to the partridge in a pear tree comes out to modern day value $96,824.00.  The pear tree is really the only thing that didn't bump up from last year.  It's $149.00, not including the partridge, which is $159.99.  Four calling birds are $599.96.  Six geese laying, a 150 bucks.  The price of gold has gone up, so the cheapest we could to on five gold rings is $499.95.  The most expensive item in the list of the 12 Days of Christmas is a whopping $6,294.03 to hire nine ladies dancing.  Their hourly rate has gone up I suppose, which brings it to a 15% increase from last year?

Besides that, giving gifts at Christmas can be stressful.  We worry about things like "Did I spend enough?", "Will they like this gift?", "Will they be offended if I didn't get them a gift?", "Will they be offended if I returned this gift?"  Now, we all know that it's not about the gifts.  It's about "the gift" as Paul said in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 9, "Praise be to God for his indescribable gift" -- singular.  He was speaking about Jesus.

Now, I have had to turn to Matthew Chapter 6, this s a famous section we're going to study today on worrying.  It is something that a lot of people do during this time of the year.  Christmas is one of the worst times of the year for many people in our culture.  So, I want to look at this little section, this famous section in the Sermon on the Mount on worrying.  Now, as we study this passage, you're going to notice that there are three gifts or presents that are presented here.  God has many more, but these are three that maybe you haven't thought off.  We're going to begin in Verse 25 and go to the end of the Chapter, Verse 34.  Now we have been studying the gospel of John, and for those here who are wondering where does the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, fit in to our chronology of John, it would be best to have to stick it between John Chapter 5 and John Chapter 6.  John 5, Jesus heals a man in Jerusalem.   John 6, Jesus is back in Galilee feeding the five thousand.  Between those two events is this term on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7.

Okay.  It is called the Sermon on the Mount.  I never liked the title.  It tells you no information at all.  It's like if I said, "The name of my message today is the Sermon from the pulpit."  Every sermon is a sermon from the pulpit.  This is much more than the Sermon on the Mount.  This is a mountain of a sermon.  This is a monumental sermon.  This is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest one who ever lived.  It is the kingdom manifesto.  It is the king speaking to subjects of the kingdom about the ethics of the kingdom, the manifesto of the kingdom of God.

And I say it's the greatest sermon ever preached because when Jesus finishes it, in Matthew Chapter 7, it says, "and they were astonished at his teaching" because he taught them as one having authority, not like the Scribes.  This was the most riveting, most refreshing message they had ever heard.  One of my favorite stories about Billy Graham is when he was going to Bible school.  Next to him was his good friend, Roy Gustafson, now in heaven, but he used to preach here a lot when he was alive.  And next to those two was their other friend Charles Macy.  Now, they were in Florida Bible Institute in college and Charles Macy was sleeping in the middle class, head was down and he's snoring a little bit.  The teacher that day was none other than the great Dr. William Evans, who gave us the book Great Doctrines of the Bible.  He sees Charles Macy sleeping and he says to Roy, "You wake that boy up!" and Roy says, "Dr. Evans, you put him to sleep, you wake him up."  That could never have been said of Jesus Christ.  He spoke with authority and people were hanging on every word.

And we're going to look at just a few of those words today right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and consider these three gifts.  Maybe these are gifts that the Lord has been wanting to give to you for a long time.  Number one, the gift of care free living.  The Lord wants that for you.  He wants you to have that as a gift.  Look at Verse 25, "therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body.  What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing."  Talk about appropriate words for our economic-challenged times.  How apt these words are.  Therefore, don't worry, and it means to stop and action already going on.  If you're worrying, stop it.  He says that three times in this passage.

Let me just direct you down to Verse 31.  "therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear" and then finally look at verse 34, "therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

See, that little word worry? I'm going to tell you abut that word.  The word "worry" that is used here in the original language is Merimnao or Merimnas and it comes from two words being stuck together in combination.  The first word is Merizo, which means "to tear" or "to divide" and the second word is nous, which means "the mind."

So in the Greek language, the word "worry" literally means "to rip", "tear", or "to divide" the mind.  Isn't that an appropriate description of how worry works?  James said a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.  This divides the mind.

Now, look at the word "life", Verse 25.  "Therefore, do not worry about your life."  (00:10:49), it means "the external, physical, temporal life."  Don't be anxious or worried about this world.  Don't focus just on this world.  William Inge said, "Worry is interest paid on trouble before its due."

We always want to reach forward and talk about what will happen if and tomorrow and next week and we borrow the troubles and bring them in today.  That's a huge problem.  It's a huge issue.  I went online this week and I Googled the word "Anxiety", 61,200,000 hits.  Now, I Googled that word -- fear, worry, anxiety, I do it every few years and I watched the numbers climb as the websites become more replete.

I found articles on anxiety, institutes devoted of curing anxiety, mailing lists, chat rooms discussing anxiety, I even found an internet site called "Addicted to worrying".  It's where people email their great anxieties and compare notes.  Some of them were sad.  Some of them were actually quite humorous.

For example, one wrote in, "I worry that when my co-workers get a lottery pool going and I don't join in, that they will win and everybody will quit and I'll have to do all this work by myself."

Wow, imagine carrying that around all day.

Someone else wrote, "I worry that my cat will sit on my face while I'm sleeping and I'll suffocate."

So get rid of the cat.

Here's one, "I worry that one day they will stop making chocolate and I will starve to death."

But seriously, one of the great tyrants of our modern society is burdensome living that comes from anxiety, worry.  I went on the website for the National Institute of Mental Health.  They said anxiety is the most common mental health issue that is faced today.  According to their stats, 40 million Americans ages 18 on up have an anxiety disorder and spend the greater part of their day feeling anxious.

What are top the causes of worry?  What would you figure would be the top cause?  What would it be?  Yeah, economics, money, finances; pretty typical.  Family issues, the future, the possibility of war, drugs, violence, inflation, all of those typical things ranked high in the charts.

God wants us to live a carefree life.  What Jesus says flies in the face of what the world does all the time.  He says, "Don't worry."  What did Paul say in Philippians 4, be anxious for what?  Nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication that you request be made known to God.

It's not saying you should do nothing.  It is certainly to okay to plan for the future.  It's okay to save for the future.  It's just not okay to worry about the future.

Now, you'll notice that Jesus illustrates this with birds.  Look at Verse 26, let's just skip ahead.  "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns.  Your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"  Now, I think I know what happened.  He's teaching on this beautiful overlook on the northern parts of the Sea of Galilee.  I stood there many times.  It's a beautiful setting, very rural setting and Galilee, the Sea of Galilee happens to be a crossroad for the migration of several species of birds.  They're everywhere, they're beautiful.

And as Jesus was teaching the Sermon on the Mount, a whole bunch of birds came by and Jesus said, "Hey, look at the birds" as the perfect illustration and it is a perfect illustration.  Have you ever seen a worried bird?  Think hard.  Ever seen humming birds worry or birds in your backyard or maybe a pet parrot, you've ever seen it take its little claws and put its little beak down in and just sweat it out?  "Honey, I don't know where we're going to get money to pay for the rent on the nest."  You ever see that?  No, they don't worry, at least they seemed to be carefree.  They're singing.  They're fluttering around.  It's a great illustration, "Look at the birds of the air."  Yet your heavenly Father, he says he feeds them.

According to a study at the University Wisconsin, 40% of all the things we worry about never happen.  Never.  30% of the things we were worry about, same study, are things from the past that you can't change.  12% of what we worry about are typically over criticisms made by other people toward us mostly, which are untrue.  We worry about that.  10% are worries about our health, which the last time I checked, won't improve when you're worried, actually it gets worst.

Same study said only 8% of the things we worry about in life are legitimate.  I love what somebody said, worrying is sort of like a rocking chair.  It gives you something to do but doesn't take you anywhere.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:30, "A heart at peace gives life to the body."  Or the new living translation puts it, "A relaxed attitude lengthens life."  Therefore, do not worry and again do not worry and again Verse 34, "Don't worry."  But here's what I love about Jesus.  He didn't just say, "Don't worry, be happy."  He now gives us reasons to pin that commandment, that imperative on reasons we shouldn't worry.

So if the first gift he wants to give you is the gift of carefree living, it's because it's tied to the second gift and that's the gift gracious provision, God will take care.  So, beginning in Verse 26 on down to Verse 33, as Jesus is talking about how he will provide the necessities of life.  And here's what he does.  He will use two, really three illustrations.  The other creatures of life, lower creatures of life; birds, flowers and then other people in the world who are not believers and he compares that their relationship with God to our relationship with God.

Before we jump into that, there's a premise that I just completely left out until now.  It's a premise this is all based on.  And you'll notice something, you'll notice in Verse 25, what's the first word?  "Therefore"  The only time you see a "therefore" it's because it's referring to something behind it.  You know the rule, whenever there's "therefore", find out what's it's there for.  You don't begin a thought "Therefore," it's tethered to a previous thought.

Now the previous thought is in Verse 24.  "No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God.  That is one master and mammon or money that is the other master."

So it's clear what he's saying.  He's saying, "I am to be the master of your life.  If I am the master of your life, worry is absolutely unnecessary."  And it's true, right?  If God, if Christ is the master of your life, what do you got to worry about?

Psalm 24, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and the people they're in."  So, just think about it, if he created everything, if he owns everything, that means he can resource people with everything.  The earth is the Lord's and he can provide.

Moreover, if the Lord is your master, then guess what?  Everything you have, you don't have.  It's his, you're borrowing it.  You're a steward of it.  That means if he gives something to you, it's Hallelujah, if he takes something away it's what?  Hallelujah, it's what Job said.  "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord", he said that when he lost his children, his health and all of his possessions.

I love the story about the man who came up to John Wesley and he said, "Mr. Wesley, your house is burned down."  And Wesley said, "No, it hasn't because I don't have a house and the one that I'm living in isn't mine, it's the Lord's anyway, and if it burned down, it's one less responsibility I have to worry about."  That's a perspective.  He's the master of it all.  He's the owner and dispenser of it all.  But he's more than that.

He's more than just your master.  That just implies ownership.  He's your heavenly Father.  Now, that implies relationship.  And so in Verse 26, he compares us to lower creations, "Look at the birds of the air" and I'm sure they're all like this, when he said that.  "For they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them."  Are you now of more value than they?

Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?  Cubit is 18 inches, the idea is length.  I think the meaning is, "Which one of you can add any length to your life by worrying?"  Can worry lengthen your life?  "What if I die?  What if this thing from the doctor -- what if I --"

Well, last time I checked, you can't lengthen your life by worrying but you can sure shorten it to add that stress to it.  So why do you worry about clothing?  "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin and yet I say to you that even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the heaven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith."

There's a phrase I don't want you to miss.  It tells the whole story.  It's the phrase "Your heavenly Father".  Look at the birds of the air, they're not worried.  Your heavenly Father feeds them and he's not their heavenly Father, he's your heavenly father.  He's their creator but he's your heavenly father.  It's a very, very powerful argument against worry.  Your heavenly Father feeds them.

Think what it cost God to make you his child.  What did it cost him?  His son.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life."

So, if God would spare no expense in saving you, don't you think he'll take care of you?  I mean, think of how irrational this is.  We believe that God can save us from hell.  We believe that God can break the shackles of sin.  We believe that he can take us to heaven.  We're he's not so sure he can take care of us this week.

If he can do the big stuff, then the rest of the stuff follows.  He is your heavenly Father.  Romans 8, Paul puts it this way, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"  You see, when you receive the gift, Christ, all the other gifts come with it and that is his gracious provision.  You say, "Like what?  What comes along with it?

But Jesus mentions two here, the basic necessities of life, food and clothing.  You may not have steak and lobster every night, but you won't starve this week, I will guarantee.  None of you will starve.  God, your Father, will take care of you.

Now, I love what David said.  He said, "I was young, now I'm old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's people begging for bread."  And Paul writes, "My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ, Jesus."

One of the great things about being a grandparent to that cute little kid that you saw, Seth, I look at little Seth, I've never seen him worry about where his next meal is coming from.  Never.  He is not worried about his clothes, is it going to be ones here today, am I going to get pants today or --

"Mom, where's that hat?"  He's totally carefree and when he gets old enough to understand a little more, he's still going to be very carefree.  He's not going to worry about where he's next meal is coming from, there's mom and dad because there's a relationship, there's going to be care, and there's going to be provision.  It's based upon the relationship that he has with his mother and father.

Now, go back to our point.  No bird can claim that relationship.  No bird has been redeemed.  No bird created in the image of God.  Your little (00:25:21) wasn't given these promises, but God gave them to you.

Verse 28 again, look, "So why do you worry about clothing?"  That's a great question.  A good question to ask next time you're in the store.  Why do you worry about clothes?  Some people live for clothes.  It's all about clothes.  For some people, their favorite spot in the whole world is their closet.  It's worrying about clothing.  Look what he does, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.  They neither spin or toil and yet I say to you that even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Now these are the wild flowers that grow around the Sea of Galilee and every early spring and late winter, they're beautifully arrayed.  There's one little red poppy that grows over there.  If you've ever been to Israel at that time, you've seen this brilliant red crimson poppy and it's gorgeous.  The problem is its very short lived.

And these wild flowers, as beautiful as they are, died very quickly once the sun gets to a certain temperature early on in the air, they burn out.  So they're very temporal.  So women, when they wanted to start their fires to bake bread will just grab a few handfuls of wild flowers and grasses and throw them in the oven and they would light up.

And now here's another very powerful argument about why we, as God's kids, shouldn't worry.  They have a temporary nature, we have an eternal nature.  Yes, we have a body but this body is wasting away, so we shouldn't all be consumed about the body.  How does the body look?  How does the body get preserved?  And I'm going to teach my body to ski and to swim and take it here and take it there and stick stuff on it and do stuff with it because it's all about the body that's being consumed with this life.

If you look at these little flowers and they're even more beautiful than Solomon's wardrobe guaranteed.  If you took a piece of king's clothing put it under a microscope, get it real zoomed in, it look sack cloth, gunny sack.  Take a little flower and put it under a microscope and see the arrangement, the beauty, the intricacy of that creation, it's marvelous.

Let's test your memory.  What were you worried about one year ago today?  Can you remember?  Now some of you can because you're still worried about it today.

But I bet most of you cannot remember what you were worried about a year ago.  Now look at Verse 31, after comparing to the lower creations, he now compares us to other people.  Therefore, do not worry saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink" or "What shall we wear?" for after all these things, the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father, there it is again, knows that you need all of these things.

See, worry is one of the characteristics of unbelievers.  The word Gentiles is Ethnoi.  Ethnoi simply means peoples -- plural, peoples, multitude, hordes, and it was typically understood by those ears back then that it was a reference to unbelievers, Pagan peoples, those who are not of the covenant relationship of Israel.  That's characteristic of an unbeliever to worry about this life.  You know why?  Because this life is all they got.  They don't believe in an afterlife.  They don't live for the afterlife.  That's not even in their thinking.  It's all about this life only.

So, it would make sense that an unbeliever would worry about this life since this life is all that they will have.  They can make no claim to God's supply, so there is a reason to worry.  They have no promise of eternal life.  There's no promise of peace in the midst of life's storms.  There's no covenant relationship with God.  There's no heavenly father to take care of them.

Said the robin to the sparrow, "Friend, I surely like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so?"  Said the sparrow to the robin, "Friend, I think it must be they have no heavenly Father such as who cares for you and me."

"Don't be like them", Jesus says, they worry about that stuff.  They have to forage on their own, they have no heavenly father.  I want you to think of it this way.  As a child of God, when you are consumed with worry, it sends a message to the world that says, "There's no real difference between a believer and a non-believer."

I mean, imagine trying to witness to people while you're consumed with fear, anxiety, and worry.  All you need to do is accept Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior.  You need to receive Christ and they look at your life and go, "Why should I do that?"  I ask you -- let me ask you this way.  Do I face life like a Christian or do I face life like an unbeliever?  Or ask it in a different way.  Does my Christian belief affect my way of life, the way I do life?  Because what I believe affect the way I live.

                            
And go to Verse 33, he's still talking about the second gift of gracious provision, God will care and God will provide.  But here, we have a little caveat if you will.  And that is God's provision is proportional to your vertical focus, verse 33, but a word of contrast, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you."

A couple of things I want you to notice.  First of all, the word first, "Seek first", Protoss(ph), not second, not third but Protoss(ph) first as a matter of priority.  Not after you get your degree, after you have a career, after you settle down, after the kids are gone, if you have any time leftover and you could squeeze a little bit something in for God, but seek first as a priority of your life the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.

Now, second notice the words "These things."  He uses it three times.  He says, Verse 33, "All these things will be added", go back to Verse 32, "For after all these things, the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  What things?  These things.  Alright I know, but what are these things?  All the things Jesus has spoken about, food, clothing, all the things you're not to worry about.  Here's the most important part of this.  Jesus is saying, "If you focus in your life on just one thing, I'll take care of all these things."

The Gentiles are seeking these things, all you do is focus on one thing and I'll take care of these things.  So rather than worrying about your life, why don't you just start working from my kingdom and I'll make sure all these things get taken care of for you.  Now, is that a great deal or what?  How many of you think that's a great deal?  All you go to do is think of one thing and he'll take care of all the things.  To me, that's a great deal.

So, I have a question for you.  When is the last time you sought first as a priority the Kingdom of God?  So what does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God?  I go to my backyard, look for the Kingdom of God, go down the street, I'm seeking the Kingdom of God.  No, it's pretty self-evident what it is, it means to pour your lives into something that's eternal, not temporary.  Don't worry about this life, this temporary external life.  Focus on the eternal nature.

You are made for eternity, not temporarily.  Seek first the Kingdom of God means to make your focus on the eternal reign of Christ.  Seek to bring as many people under that reign as possible.  To make the greatest impact and influence that you possibly can while you're alive.  When was the last time you did that?

Now the best thing I can think of by way of illustrating that is an example.  You know to me, the greatest example is somebody who sought first the kingdom is a guy by the name of Paul the Apostle.  I mean, this guy was like the "Eveready Bunny", he just kept going and going and going and they beat him up and he keep going and he put him in jail, keep going, the threatened his life, keep going, he almost got killed, he'd kept going and they couldn't shut him up.

And so, he go from place to place, place to place, finally he's his way back to Jerusalem and in one of his stops they say, "Paul, don't even go to Jerusalem.  Don't you know what's awaiting you when you get there?  More bad stuff.  They're going to imprison you, they may even kill you.

You know what Paul said to them?  Here seeking first the Kingdom of God.  Paul said, "None of these things move me nor do I even count my own life dear to myself that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus Christ."

You're telling me about how my life is in danger.  I don't even care about this life as much that life.  Now he had no death wish but he thought, "I want to make sure that my life is being poured out for that which is eternal and I'm following God's plan.  That means more to more than anything."  That's seeking first the Kingdom of God.

I love what one person said, "Blessed is the person who's too busy to worry in the daytime and too tired to worry at night."  That's some great kind of life.  You just pour out and expend your energy on the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you, two great gifts; carefree living and gracious provision.

Here's the third quickly, the gift of supervised trouble.  Now this ought to be good news to all of us because you're going to have some trouble.  Look at Verse 34, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  That's like saying, "God is the God of tomorrow."  Like he was the God of today and was the God of yesterday and will be the God for all eternity.  He'll supervise it.  It's part of the sovereign nature of God.

You will have the grace tomorrow to face what will happen to you tomorrow.  I talked to people in the worst of circumstances who said, "I could never have faced this, I thought, until I faced it.  God gave me the grace and strength."  He's supervisor of your trouble.  You know what God's like?  He's like a good weight coach.  A good weight coach knows what you can handle.  You're trying to bench-press a little bit and the weight coach doesn't go, "Yeah.

And put like 500 pounds on each sides.  You get crushed, that would be a bad weight coach.  A good one puts just enough that it'll be hard for you and your muscles will ache later, but it will strengthen you but not too much so that you would be crushed.  That principle is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "God is faithful and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure."  Now that's temptation, but that's also one of the trials and bad things of life.  He knows what you can handle.  Eugene Peterson translated it this way, "God will never let you down.  He will never let you be pushed past your limit.  He will always be there to help you come through it."

So when you woke up this morning, you know who was there to greet you whether you knew it or not?  God's mercies because they're new every what?  Every morning and tomorrow when you wake up, God's mercies will be new every morning.  And the next day something maybe worst coming on the horizon, but God's mercies will be there every morning.

So these are just a few of God's gifts, his presents to his children and I think these are some of the most important presents during this Christmas season we could ever receive.  A few things to walk away with:

Number one; realize that God wants your life to be freed from the shackle of care and worry.  Realize that.  That's how he intends us to live.

Number two; exercise a thankful heart for the presence of God, P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E, his present with us and the presents, the gifts of God which are his provision.  Next time you have a meal, thank him.  Next time you get a pair of pants, thank him.  Next time you get any provision, express that thanks.

Number three; personalize God's care during this next week.  Here's some I dare you to do.  Next time you see a bird, I want you to stop and say, "He's not your heavenly Father, he's my heavenly Father.  He's your creator, he's my dad."  Everybody who hears that will think you're weird but you'll never forget it.

Finally, prioritize your life.  Really consider what it is to make as your life's priority seeking the reign of God over you and over anybody else you know.  Make that your first enterprise, the Kingdom of God.  And if you do, don't sweat the small stuff.  Relax, don't worry about it.  In fact, if Jesus said three times "Don't' worry", that means that if you worry like that, that's sin, it's unnecessary.  It's unbecoming.

Dr. George McCauslin ran a YMCA outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Rough times, rough economic times, a lot of members quit, money was going down in the budget, staff was squabbling.  George McCauslin found himself working not 40, but 85 hours a week getting hardly any sleep and waking up in the middle of the night, he was consumed with the YMCA, even on a day-off, that's where all of his thoughts were drained into that pond, the YMCA, the YMCA.

He would seek a counselor, a fine Christian counselor, who looked at him square in the eyes and was honest saying, "George, you are going to have a nervous breakdown if you cannot figure out a way to bring God into this problem and let this go over unto his lap and not yours."  George didn't know how to do that, but he took a long walk after the counseling sessions with a pen, a pad of paper, walked out into the woods, out into the woods, he kept walking and the more he walked, he just felt a little bit more at ease and he sat down under a tree and he just felt a little bit less burdened and he finally he wrote a letter to God.  "Dear God, I herby resign as Executive Director of the Universe."

And he said, "Wonder of wonders, God accepted my resignation."  God is wanting your resignation today as well.  Stop trying to put the world on your shoulders and carrying it around like you have to run it or worry about it.  It's his world.  It was here before you got here.  It'll be here after you're gone.  Let him run it.  Let him run you life.  He's your master and he's your dad, your heavenly Father.