1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Hey, I'm Matt Brownell. 2 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:10,480 And I'm Van Owens. 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,160 And I'm Tim Adams. 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:18,120 Welcome to Climbing the Mountain, where we dive into the scriptures and discuss themes, 5 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,280 connections, and real life application. 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,960 We're kicking off a series here where we're going to examine the Sermon on the Mount and 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:34,960 discuss implications for this teaching for Christians today. 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:35,960 Welcome back. 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,280 We are on the third episode now of Anxiety. 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:44,320 And I want to start off again by just reminding us where we've come from. 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,960 And we talked about how we can trust God. 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:52,640 He is a much better master than money or anything we could pursue in the world that 13 00:00:52,640 --> 00:01:00,760 he provides for us, knows all of the details of our lives, and will take care of us. 14 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:02,840 We need to trust him. 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:08,920 What we're talking about here, when we're talking about anxiety, is the type of anxiety 16 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:20,160 that we most often experience in life when we are pursuing earthly treasure, pursuing 17 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,600 the things of the world that lead to anxiety. 18 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:30,600 We're not talking about the type of crippling anxiety that if you are experiencing, we urge 19 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,240 you to go get help. 20 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,080 And that could be talking to a therapist. 21 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,320 It could be getting medication. 22 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:39,960 There is nothing wrong with that. 23 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:44,160 We encourage you to pursue that. 24 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:46,880 If that is how you're feeling. 25 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:52,880 For all of us, Jesus' words are life, and we want to pay attention to what he's saying 26 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,440 here as we move through this. 27 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,080 So let's refresh by looking at the scripture vein. 28 00:01:58,080 --> 00:01:59,080 You want to read it? 29 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:00,080 Yes. 30 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,680 Matthew 6, verses 25-34. 31 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:10,120 It says, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, 32 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,160 or about your body, what you will wear. 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,360 Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 34 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,000 Look at the birds of the air. 35 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,400 They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 36 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,880 Are you not much more valuable than they? 37 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:34,200 Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 38 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,520 And why do you worry about clothes? 39 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,040 See how the flowers of the field grow? 40 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,640 They do not labor or spin. 41 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:47,960 Yet I tell you, that not even Solomon, and all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 42 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,880 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is 43 00:02:53,880 --> 00:03:00,120 thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? 44 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:05,320 So do not worry saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear, 45 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,360 for the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need 46 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:11,800 them. 47 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:17,400 But seek first his kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you 48 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:18,400 as well. 49 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,760 Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 50 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,800 Each day has enough trouble of its own. 51 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:28,800 Thank you. 52 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:33,720 So last time we talked about the birds, and what we can learn from them, now we're going 53 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,560 to look at the flowers of the field. 54 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:43,320 Jesus tells us to see how they grow, and the word he uses for see is closely related to 55 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:45,800 the word translated disciple. 56 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,400 He's telling us to learn from the lilies, a disciple is a learner. 57 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:56,240 What is the lesson we are to take from them? 58 00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:07,880 So I think that you don't see when you are dealing with plants, you never see a plant 59 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,840 straining. 60 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:16,520 You never see a tree sort of, they're not straining. 61 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:25,360 What happens with a plant when it grows is a natural process that is, obviously it's 62 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:31,840 contingent on the soil, and the sun, and the rain, and all of these things, but it happens 63 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:33,840 naturally. 64 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:44,840 And I think that what Jesus is saying here is that if our devotion is in the right place, 65 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:54,960 if we are number one devoted to God, that he will see to it that all of the factors come 66 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:07,200 together so that we can flourish, so that we will have what we need, so that we can grow. 67 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:14,280 And that it happens in time, it happens slowly, you don't plant a seed, and the next day have 68 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:20,240 a rose bush, that it happens through the course of time. 69 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:30,000 It reminds me of what Jesus told his disciples in John where he was saying about the vine, 70 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,360 and remaining in him. 71 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:38,760 If you're in the ground of nutrients that God provides, you will grow. 72 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:43,400 Yeah, two scriptures that came up over and over again, and I was looking at what the 73 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:49,280 early Christians were saying about this, were Proverbs 10.3 and Psalm 37.25. 74 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:56,480 Psalm 37.3 says, the Lord will not let the righteous go hungry or let them die by famine. 75 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:01,280 And then Psalm 37 says, I have been young, and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous 76 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:04,760 forsaken, nor his children begging for their bread. 77 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:12,840 And so these are promises and just truths that have been observed. 78 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:15,160 And here it's a promise. 79 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,640 Jesus is like, I'm going to take care of you, right? 80 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,160 Father's going to take care of you, and from an argument from the less to the greater, 81 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:24,160 right? 82 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,360 He's taking care of the things that are going to be gone by tomorrow. 83 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,360 So he'll take care of us too. 84 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,240 I love that you brought Psalm 37 into this. 85 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,440 Both of those scriptures are great. 86 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,720 37, though, talks about not fretting throughout. 87 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:41,680 It's a really good one. 88 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:48,440 I was just thinking about this, I mentioned in passing before about how sometimes I can 89 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:54,080 hear, we can be at church and well-meaning people can say, just don't worry. 90 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:55,680 It's all going to be fine. 91 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:56,680 Everything will be taken care of. 92 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:57,680 God's got you. 93 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,280 Everything's taken care of. 94 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:06,360 And how unhelpful that comment truly is, because it doesn't necessarily feel that way, and 95 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:07,840 I don't see that. 96 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:11,560 And I love what Jesus does here, because he's actually giving concrete examples about 97 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,280 how God cares for His creation, and how God meets His creations needs. 98 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:20,320 He gives birds everything they need to meet all their needs. 99 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,640 Then he talks about the lilies of the field. 100 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:29,680 They don't do anything, and God gives them everything they need. 101 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:38,840 He provides, using this in the context of clothing, and he's talking about how he provides 102 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,520 for everything they've ever needed. 103 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:46,520 In Deuteronomy 8, that was the scripture we were talking about, how God says, your clothes 104 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,160 did not wear out, you always had enough food. 105 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:54,040 I'm obviously paraphrasing, I don't have it open right this second. 106 00:07:54,040 --> 00:08:05,600 In Jesus, I love that Jesus is giving concrete examples, not just sort of talking in religious 107 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,240 jargon. 108 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:13,840 He's giving concrete examples about how God has cared for His creation, and how He's currently 109 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:19,320 caring for His creation, and how obviously there's still a large element of faith we 110 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:26,240 need to actually engage this and to actually trust, but He's also showing us examples that 111 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,000 instead of just saying, we'll just trust. 112 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,520 He's saying, no, here's an example. 113 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,800 You know that, it feels to me like He's saying, you know this, you've seen this. 114 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:37,400 Come back and remember that. 115 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,560 I like what you're saying there. 116 00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:46,960 It paints God in such an engaged sense that He's looking at the details of these birds' 117 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:47,960 lives. 118 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:55,360 And then, if you compare the lilies of the field, the flowers of the field to birds who 119 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,200 are always going around, we talked about how they're picking things out to make their 120 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:04,840 nests, and they're always, well, those flowers seem downright lazy in comparison. 121 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,480 They're not doing anything. 122 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:07,480 They're not even moving. 123 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:08,480 They're not even moving. 124 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:13,320 They just sit around all day, and God takes care of them. 125 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,120 And I think that's an amazing picture too, that God is so engaged that He cares about, 126 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:22,440 He takes the time to adorn the flowers of the field with such beauty. 127 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,800 They are beautiful. 128 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,200 And you're right, it's another lesser to a greater example. 129 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:30,680 Well, doesn't He care about us? 130 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:32,080 Won't He take care of us? 131 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:39,400 Yeah, I think, Jim, remembering what you said in a past podcast about the audience and how 132 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:47,080 famine and poverty was a reality for a lot of these people, and the way that Jesus is 133 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:53,880 communicating with them is so loving and so beautiful and so patient. 134 00:09:53,880 --> 00:10:00,280 When Shemitra and I first got married, one of the things she said to me is, don't tell 135 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,960 me to calm down. 136 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:09,360 She would be upset about something, and I would say, calm down. 137 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:18,520 And her instant response is, I am calm, because the demanding that you calm down created more 138 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:25,920 anxiety for her, and that Jesus is helping the people with their anxiety, but not by 139 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:32,360 saying, look, stop worrying about it, I got it. 140 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:40,160 It's not that short, terse, kind of commanding type of master. 141 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:45,800 He's showing them things that are abundantly clear right in front of them. 142 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:47,800 Think about the flowers. 143 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:49,080 See how beautiful they are? 144 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,960 See how well dressed the flowers are? 145 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,640 They're not worried about what they look like. 146 00:10:55,640 --> 00:11:02,760 They're not worried about how they're dressed, and it immediately gives you a sense of, yes, 147 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:12,200 the one who's taking care of me, the one who's seeing to the agriculture of my soul, is going 148 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:13,200 to handle it. 149 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:15,120 I don't have to worry about it. 150 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:16,120 Yeah. 151 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,880 At the same time, I kind of want to ask another question about this based on what you were 152 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:26,000 saying, Jim, because you also had in there a piece where maybe I can imagine someone 153 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:32,920 saying, well, I'm not clothed like Solomon, or maybe God hasn't even clothed me period. 154 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:38,080 How would we address someone who might be feeling that? 155 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:47,320 Well, I would want to know, first of all, what they're thinking, the thought behind the question 156 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:48,320 is. 157 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:49,320 Right? 158 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:54,520 And then there's another question where we're trying to ask, well, I'm not clothed in splendor, 159 00:11:54,520 --> 00:12:01,960 because to Jesus' audience, the idea of being clothed in splendor to at least a fair portion 160 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:07,000 of them would have actually been abhorrent to them. 161 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,000 They didn't like that. 162 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:09,760 They didn't trust that. 163 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:16,480 The people who clothed them, words are hard, clothed themselves, and I've said that word 164 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,840 too much today. 165 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,240 People themselves in splendor, they didn't trust them. 166 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:22,240 They didn't like them. 167 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,360 They didn't think they were honoring God. 168 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:36,520 So that would be kind of my first pass answer at that, but also that he gave the lilies what 169 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,200 they needed, and then he made them greater than what he gave them. 170 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:42,200 Yeah. 171 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:47,960 And I think for us in addressing that, one thing that we don't have that Jesus had is 172 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,720 perfect vision into someone's soul. 173 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,800 So Jesus could give this sermon and know this is exactly what people needed. 174 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,920 We have to ask a few questions before we get there. 175 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:05,560 And I know when I'm helping my daughter calm down about some issue at school, she just 176 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:08,720 started school as a freshman in college. 177 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,680 And when I tell her, calm down, it's going to be fine. 178 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:14,600 That doesn't work. 179 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,040 She's just like her mother. 180 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:17,240 You haven't learned that lesson yet? 181 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,120 I've learned it the hard way because I'm not that bright. 182 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,440 I keep learning that lesson too. 183 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:28,680 But when I say to her, so remember when you had to do your capstone project when you were 184 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:32,440 a senior in high school, and she says yes. 185 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,000 And I say, remember what that was? 186 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,640 Tell me what that was like. 187 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:38,560 And she'll tell me about how hard she had to work. 188 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:42,200 And this part of it was hard, and I had to overcome this part of it. 189 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,920 And I'd say, and what was the grade that you got on that? 190 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,480 And she says, I got to be on that. 191 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:55,400 And then I say, that's just like this, is taking the time to help the person to realize. 192 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:03,520 Because for me, when my worry, the bottom of my worry is always I might die. 193 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:08,920 So any issue, my car needs to be repaired. 194 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,920 And I get very anxious about my car. 195 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,600 And why am I anxious about my car? 196 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,640 Well, because if I don't have my car, I won't be able to get to work. 197 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:18,680 If I can't get to work, I won't have money. 198 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:21,340 If I don't have money, I can't buy food and pay rent. 199 00:14:21,340 --> 00:14:24,520 If I can't buy food and pay rent, then I'm going to be on the street. 200 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,000 If I'm on the street and I can't eat, I'm going to die. 201 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,040 That's how my anxiety and my worry works in my mind. 202 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:39,480 And so if I go back to things that I've overcome, and I just asked myself the question, it was 203 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,480 really hard. 204 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:43,480 What was the result? 205 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,480 I didn't die. 206 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:46,480 I survived. 207 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:47,480 I'm still here. 208 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:49,160 I survived. 209 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:56,480 And if I can then say, equate that with my faith and say, I survived because God is with 210 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:57,480 me. 211 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:58,920 God is looking out for me. 212 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,080 God is protecting me. 213 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:08,360 Then it helps me to overcome that cycle of worry. 214 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,840 I'm going to share something here, which I think I've shared with a few of you. 215 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:24,120 And I can relate to what you were just saying there with some of my fears because when I 216 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:33,440 was a kid, after my parents divorced, my brother and I and my sister all lived with my dad 217 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,280 in someone else's basement for a while. 218 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:42,480 And it was a pretty stressful time. 219 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,880 And then when we finally got a place of our own, I was still sharing a bedroom with my 220 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:48,600 dad and my brother. 221 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:56,320 And my sister always got her own room, which made sense, obviously. 222 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:03,840 But we didn't always have electricity, and we didn't always have garbage pickup. 223 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:13,720 And it was a very, and I didn't always have enough clothes or food. 224 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:19,200 And luckily I had the special card that I could get food at school. 225 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,560 It was a pretty stressful time. 226 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:28,160 And so it's in me somehow. 227 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:36,960 I take that with me, and sometimes I'll have this fear, oh no, and things are going to 228 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,680 go sideways and I got to protect from that. 229 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:42,200 Instead of thinking, oh, you know what? 230 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,920 God actually took me through that. 231 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:46,960 I'm still here. 232 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:54,920 That was stressful, but we didn't starve, and we are all okay. 233 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,360 We're okay. 234 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:03,400 God didn't let us go hungry in the end. 235 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,360 I really appreciate you sharing that story, because that's a hard thing to do. 236 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:13,720 That's a hard thing to man to go through, especially as a kid, where you're like, wait, 237 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:19,000 I'm hungry, and you hear those of us that are parents never want to give our kid, say, 238 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,880 nobody, you're not eating. 239 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,320 Now sometimes in the case of my son, he's saying I'm hungry, which actually means I'm 240 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:25,320 bored. 241 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:31,960 And he just wants to eat for the sake of eating, so I will say no, I'm not a monster, I promise. 242 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,320 But nobody wants to ever be in that situation with their kids, and that's a really hard 243 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:37,600 situation. 244 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:44,320 And I think what that reminds me of is he says, you know, he says, see is closely related 245 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,720 to the word disciple, which means to learn. 246 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:54,400 And the idea that like learning doesn't just happen by telling in these people's world, 247 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,600 that it happens by experience. 248 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:06,160 Like Jesus isn't telling them, hey, just don't worry and move on with your life. 249 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:11,680 There is an expectation that it happens from going through things that can be worrisome 250 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:19,360 and making hard choices to trust God and making hard choices to choose to do the right thing 251 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:23,360 and to believe the right thing, and then coming out on the other side. 252 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:30,000 And I think about what Matt just shared about, we might not have had electricity. 253 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:36,360 That's an extreme example, and we are not hoping anybody else is going through that. 254 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:43,960 But there is an element of this is a thing that we have to learn over time. 255 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:50,000 It's not just a thing we get one time, it's something we have to go through and live and 256 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000 experience. 257 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Yeah. 258 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000 I think you're right. 259 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,960 I've come to this where, and I know most people won't like this, I don't like this. 260 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:04,240 I wish there was another way, but we are conformed to Christ often by suffering. 261 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:11,400 And that builds our faith in a way that Easy Street doesn't. 262 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,760 So yeah, it's tough. 263 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,040 But I think the other thing that I was thinking about as we were talking about, how would 264 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,440 we address this for someone who might be thinking, I'm not clothed. 265 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:28,040 Well if you're a disciple of Christ, you are clothed with Christ. 266 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:33,160 So that's a pretty awesome clothing right there. 267 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:38,560 I mean that doesn't help necessarily if you got a pit in your stomach and you're like, 268 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:48,080 I'm starving, but in some senses our life is more than our food and clothing. 269 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:55,840 I also would add to that that if somebody really is in a situation where they don't 270 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:00,960 have food to eat, I will give you my food. 271 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:02,920 You can have my lunch. 272 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,080 I'm not going to, I don't need it that bad. 273 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,440 I can miss a meal. 274 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,000 I'll give you my food. 275 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:14,680 And that's how God initially called his people to live. 276 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:20,160 And I think, I was hoping we could get there, but God called his people to actually make 277 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:24,640 provisions for the people who had no way to get food for themselves. 278 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:30,480 We see it in the book of Ruth, that he calls his people to not cut some of the corners 279 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:35,960 of their fields so that the alien, the orphan, the widow, the people who truly can't get 280 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:42,920 food in their world, who have no mechanism to get it, they have something. 281 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:53,000 And so I think that person who truly has no food, no food, no clothing, that's where 282 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:59,600 the God's people are called to start to help that person and take care of them and to give 283 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:06,840 them some food and clothing with no strings attached to it. 284 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:14,760 I think that's a huge point that we need to be mindful of when we're reading this. 285 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,640 I mean, we knew that we asked that question to Matt originally, like, what do you say 286 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,080 to someone who doesn't have anything? 287 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:26,200 And I was struggling with that coming into this, knowing that all of us are pretty affluent 288 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:31,480 by, like, we're all firmly in whatever you would call middle class America, which is 289 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,280 a fuzzy term. 290 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:42,280 But I know that there are, I have many brothers and sisters who are not in that situation, 291 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,320 which, oh, I wish we had actually had someone who's there. 292 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:50,600 So I appreciate you sharing from your experience, Matt, of when things were different in your 293 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:52,000 life. 294 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:58,320 But there's this, we'll get to it later, it talks about seeking first the kingdom, right, 295 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:05,840 and his righteousness, and it makes me think about the passage in, I think, Mark, where 296 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,920 Jesus says, anyone who gives up, you know, brothers, sisters, mothers, fields, for the 297 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,560 sake of the gospel, receive 100 times more. 298 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:26,800 And there's a, we're giving up our trust in the structures and possessions that we have 299 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:31,800 in hope that God will provide, in trust that God will provide for us. 300 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:37,200 And that's a beautiful part of what the church can be. 301 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:43,080 And so for those of us who's probably most of the people listening to this who are in 302 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:48,680 a position where I have more to give than I need to receive, you know, there's an opportunity 303 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:55,240 to be a part of an incredible blessing for others by grabbing hold of this promise of 304 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,840 not worrying and striving and grabbing. 305 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,040 Yeah, yes. 306 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:07,160 And the church should be a place where you should feel free to ask for help if you need 307 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,920 it and not feel shame or guilt. 308 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:15,120 And I know when I was going through that period of time, I didn't want to have anyone to come 309 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:16,120 over to the house. 310 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,960 I didn't want anyone to see what this thing was. 311 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,120 I wanted to just pretend everything was okay. 312 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:26,960 And that's not what the family of God is supposed to be like. 313 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,760 It's supposed to be okay to be real. 314 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,880 Wow. 315 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,560 This has been a good discussion. 316 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:42,560 And I really appreciate, there was a lot to learn there from just thinking about the 317 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,120 flowers of the field. 318 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:54,920 God loves us and he cares about every detail of our lives and knows every detail of our 319 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:56,400 lives. 320 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:02,640 And even if we are suffering through a tough period, I'm thinking now about the vines, 321 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:07,840 the analogy that I was thinking about from what you were saying, Van, earlier, that the 322 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:15,160 vines oftentimes when they have to struggle for that nutrients, when they have a hard 323 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,160 year, it produces even better wine. 324 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:24,880 So there could be a period of time where you are struggling right now, but if you continue 325 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:30,160 to hold on to God, he will sustain you and get help. 326 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,200 That's what the church is supposed to be there for too. 327 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,720 So I want to thank everyone for this discussion. 328 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,040 We'll come back to this.