An Unwelcome Guest | Luke 12:22-34

Timothy Ateek: Hey, I'm so glad you made it today. If this is your first time ever with us at Watermark, thanks for trusting us with your Sunday. Our goal is that this would be a place where you can take either your first or your next step with Jesus Christ. I'm so excited about this morning. Today, you're going to get to hear from our friend Trip Lee.

Many of you already know exactly who Trip is. He came and spoke about a year ago, and he encouraged our church so much. I'm so thankful that he was willing to come back. His wife Jess is with him. His mom and his aunt are here today worshiping with us at Watermark. If you're not familiar with Trip, Trip is a speaker. He's a writer. He's a hip-hop artist. God is doing incredible things through him.

The thing I love about Trip is that his passion is to declare the goodness and glory of Jesus Christ, which is very fitting here at Watermark, because we are all about Jesus. I am so thankful for how I've watched Trip's deep commitment to the gospel and to handling God's Word accurately. So, it's a joy to have him back. Would you do an incredible job of welcoming Trip Lee back to Watermark?

I'd love for us to just pray together like we do on Sunday mornings, and then I'll pray for Trip. So, if you will, take a moment for yourself and just pray and ask God to speak to you clearly this morning. Then, would you pray for the people around you, your family, friends, other followers of Jesus Christ, and those who don't know Jesus who are in the room today? Ask God to speak to them as well. Then, would you pray for Trip and ask God to speak through Trip to you?

Lord, I pray that you would use this time in a very meaningful way. I pray that not one person would leave this morning without having heard from you. Holy Spirit, I pray that as we open up the Word of God, would you lead and guide us into all truth that Christ may be glorified in our hearts and in our minds?

Thank you for Trip Lee. Thank you for his family. Thank you that you brought him here today. I want to ask and pray that you would fill him full of your Spirit and that every word he says would just be your words through him. Would you use him to bring you great glory today? We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Trip Lee: Amen. Thank you. Good morning. Will you allow me, please, to pray one more time just to ask God to help us? I know it's a lot of prayer, but God doesn't get tired. He's still listening.

Father, we come before you again in Jesus' name. Father, we keep coming before you, because you are the one who's in charge of everything. If it's going to be a good use of our time, if we're going to leave seeing you more clearly and knowing how to respond to you, God, we need you. That's how needy we are, Father. Even to respond to you, to listen to you, we need you. So, Father, we pray you would speak to us from your Word. God, we pray you would give me grace not to say anything you haven't already said.

Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room, my friends in this room, God, that you would help us to hear from you, to focus. If there's something in our minds that's distracting us, we pray you would remove it. God, if our hands are closed tight over something we don't want to let go of, we pray you would open our hands. Father, for my friends who aren't really sure how they feel about Jesus, we pray you would help them to see Jesus clearly. Father, we ask that you would speak to us, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

I am so grateful to be here with you again this morning. I'm grateful to the team for inviting me. Every time I come here, one of the things that's always immediately clear to me is that even though this isn't my church, I am amongst family, that y'all are people who love the gospel of Jesus. Y'all love the Word, and you're always so welcoming. So, I am so grateful to get to be with you again this morning. Thank you for having me.

I want to start by reading the text. Turn in your Bible to Luke, chapter 12. I heard that y'all are going through the book of Acts right now as a church. As you might know, then, the author of the book of Acts is the same author of the gospel of Luke. This is Luke, the disciple of Jesus. Luke and Acts can almost be seen…

You know how The Lord of the Rings is three books but it's really one story? This is like that…except better because God wrote it. Luke and Acts are almost like two halves of one book. We get to see Jesus in the gospel of Luke, and we get to see what happens after that in the book of Acts. So, in Luke 12, I'm going to start reading at verse 22. This is what God's Word says.

"Then he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: They don't sow or reap; they don't have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than the birds? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? If then you're not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?

Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you-you of little faith? Don't strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don't be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won't grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That's God's Word. I know that's a longer text. I appreciate y'all staying engaged. I want to talk to you this morning about An Unwelcome Guest. I want to ask you a question. I just want you to think about it. What is the first question you ask when you get invited somewhere? Some of y'all probably went to Super Bowl parties last weekend. Maybe somebody invited you to their house. "Hey, do you want to come over for the Super Bowl?" What's the first question you ask?

I'll tell you what the first question I ask is. "Who else is going to be there?" You know I'm right. Especially for those of us who are introverts… When someone invites me somewhere, I'm like, "Let me see who else is there, because this could either be the time of my life or the worst time of my life, depending on who's there." The reason we ask that is because we know that even if a get-together has been planned well and there are great activities and it's a great location, it can be ruined if it has the wrong people. Sometimes there can be a weak link.

It's not just get-togethers either. It could be a dinner or a birthday party or even a group text. Have you ever had someone add someone else to a group text? It's like, "The vibes are off now. The jokes don't hit the same. This is different." Sometimes, depending on who's there… Sometimes it's a meeting, maybe at work. There are some people who, you know, are maybe more harmful than helpful. If you're feeling convicted because you think it's you, then I think you should pray about that.

Sometimes there are people who make it last longer, who go on random tangents, who pull down the morale of the group. If there's a weak link, it can ruin the good planning, the good intentions, and even the strengths of other people in the room. Well, this morning, in this text, I think Jesus is going to talk to us about somebody we should never invite into the room no matter what the circumstance is, someone who can ruin whatever else was good about the situation. That someone is worry.

Worry is like that weak link team member that adds nothing to the team, that makes everything worse, that drags down morale. Worry takes us on tangents that are a waste of our time and energy. If you walk away with one thing from this, I want it to be this: worry is never a welcome addition. You might say, "Well, why is worry such a bad thing?" It is hard to hear, because no one really wants to worry.

Nobody, when they were writing out their New Year's resolutions for 2026, was like, "Do you know what I'm going to do every day? Worry." Worry is not something we plan on, but it does show up. I think the text is going to tell us why worry isn't a welcome addition and who we should invite instead. All right. I'm going to give you three reasons why worry isn't a welcome addition.

1. There's more to the story. There are a lot of things that are easy to believe apart from having any context. The thing itself maybe sounds good if you're not paying attention to the context around it. I'm going to tell you just a little bit about a group of people, and I hope it doesn't offend anybody. There are some people who are called flat earthers. If that's you, I'm glad you're here today. Flat earthers think the earth is flat.

You might say, "Well, Trip, didn't we settle this dispute hundreds of years ago?" We thought so. Most of us did, but sometimes people fall too deep into Internet rabbit holes, and it's hard to climb back out. So, people will say, "No. When I'm outside and I look, I don't see any curvature in the earth." They say, "If it's round, then gravity wouldn't even work like this." They say all of these things. There are whole YouTube channels devoted to people who are flat earthers.

All it takes is looking at the context a little bit more to show there's more to the story. All it takes is one plane ride, and you're like, "Oh, that is a little curved." It sounds like it makes sense based on what you have, but you need more context. Jesus is saying worry is like a flat earther who likes to talk a lot and give opinions without taking into account the whole story. Jesus is saying there's more to the story.

When Jesus tells us not to worry, he's not denying the truth that we have needs and concerns. Jesus is saying to us, "I understand you're worried. I understand you have needs and concerns, but you have to look at the big picture." Let's look again at verse 22. "Then he said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.'"

It is crazy sometimes the things Jesus says to us in a way that seems very casual. He'll say the hardest thing you ever heard very straightforwardly and bluntly. "Don't worry." It's in some way similar to the most common command in the Bible, which is "Do not fear. Don't be afraid." Well, not only do we often worry, but there are some days where it feels like the only thing we do is worry.

Worrying is not just acknowledging that something is hard; worrying is dwelling on difficulty and troubles. Worrying is allowing our minds to be overcome by anxiety and unease. Often, it's just a reflex to any friction or any difficulty that pops up in our lives. I think what we see in our current culture in 2026 is we are more anxious and worried than we've ever been. It seems like worrying has surpassed baseball as our national pastime. We're always worried about stuff all the time.

Jonathan Haidt wrote a book called The Anxious Generation. People are beginning to define whole generations by anxiety. Jesus is going to zero in on two particular kinds of worry, though, as he tells us not to give into it…food and clothing, life and the body. Of course, these are basic needs of ours. We need food and clothing, so we can't dismiss them. We can't just say some little Christian platitudes. Of course we need food to survive.

In God's wisdom, he created us with a need to fuel our bodies in order to keep going. I wonder if you've ever thought about the fact that you have to consume other living things in order for your life to continue. We need fuel. Of course we need food, unlike God, who doesn't need food, who doesn't need to eat, who never runs out of energy. He doesn't need to be refueled. We are humans. We're limited. We do need food. So, it's not surprising that that would be one of our main concerns.

Of course, he also brings up clothing. Now, when Jesus says "Clothing," he's not just thinking about our fashion and our style. Though if he was, when I stood before Jesus, he would say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." But that's not what Jesus is addressing right here. The main function of clothing is not fashion and style; it is protection for our bodies, protection from the elements, a way to stay warm, a way to stay cool. Again, understandably, clothing is a very real source of concern for us.

At this point, you may be tempted to say, "But, Trip, slow down. You're not being practical. Doesn't the Bible say we should work and we should provide for ourselves, that we should be wise?" Of course. Jesus doesn't tell us we shouldn't care about food and clothing; Jesus says we shouldn't worry about food and clothing. He doesn't say, "Ignore food and clothing"; he says, "Don't worry about food and clothing."

I don't want you to hear Jesus saying, "That doesn't matter. Eh, don't worry about it." But more like, "That matters, but don't invite worry into this." These basic needs are too important to let worry come in and make it worse. So, instead of worry and anxiety for these things, we should be giving them healthy attention. Healthy attention to these things says, like, "Wow. Things are a little tight financially right now. Can I take on an extra shift? Can I cut back expenses? Can I ask for help?"

Worry looks like, "Things are tight. I'm going to be out on the street in five minutes. I don't know what's going to happen. My life is over." That worry turns into desperation, and that misshapes the way we interact with the world, because instead of giving it careful attention, we've given it power over our peace. We've said, "I cannot have peace until I know for sure how I will have these things, until I see those things in my hands."

The heart of the difference is this. We're reducing ourselves to eating and clothing machines. We're reducing our entire existence to that. Jesus is saying, "You are more than that. There is more to who you are than food and clothing." We all know that when something is a really anxious area for us, it can kind of take over our whole lives, that it can determine if we have joy.

Some of us, when we are anxious about finances, it hurts our ability to enjoy anything, because at every turn, we're thinking about, "But what does this mean for our finances?" or "I'm with this guy. He's doing good financially." It can really take over everything. Some of us get anxious about our work, so we haven't had a moment of joy in our work for years. Some of us get anxious about conversations with family at holidays, so we dread it over and over until it comes up.

I had a friend who had had a difficult season at church and just could not bring himself to walk into a building with God's people. Worry can take over things. Worry can sometimes look like avoiding something because it feels like too much. So, not fretting about it but avoiding it. It comes from the exact same place of anxiety. It comes from giving a very real concern an unreal amount of status in your life.

Maybe somebody in here is like, "You're talking about people just fretting over their anxieties all the time." You say, "That's not me. When something feels hard to me, I just pretend it's not there. I don't think about it at all. That's how I deal with it." Well, I just want you to know…I'm sorry to break this to you…that's the same thing, bro. It's the exact same thing. To pretend it's not there is to say, "This is too much for me." It's just showing up in a different way.

Because those cares and concerns are always right in front of our face, it can feel like it's the only thing that gets attention. When you're drowning, the only thing you see is water, but Jesus is lifting up our eyes over the edge to the entirety of who we are. He's saying, "Your life is about more than just staying alive." Think about Luke, chapter 4, where Jesus says, when he's being tempted by Satan, "Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

You may say, "Trip, that sounds nice, but I can't eat words. I can't clothe my family with words." Here's part of what Jesus is getting at. You are a complete human being. If the only kind of sustenance you think about… If the only thing you ever feed is your physical body, then you have not understood who you are. If you think the only thing to take care of about you is your physical body, then you are neglecting who you are as an entire person.

Do you know that human beings are made up of material parts? We are physical. This is us. Our body is not just like a rental car that's carrying us around. This is us. But it's not the totality of who you are. You're a person who has a soul, who has a spirit. Jesus is saying you can't think of yourself as just a body.

Part of what that means is the things we're passionate about… That's a question for you. What are you passionate about? What do you get excited about? Do those passions reflect who you are as an entire person? What are your work goals besides getting paid a lot of money? What are your relationship goals besides your physical needs? Jesus is saying you're not just a physical body. He's saying there's more to you than that.

As an encouragement to husbands and fathers and heads of households…maybe you need to hear this…you are not a provision machine. Your worth and value are not completely tied up in how well you feel like you're providing for your family in any given moment. There's more to you than that.

I know there are some people in this room who feel like they're not providing in a way that they would like to, who feel like they're letting people down. Maybe you feel insecure. Maybe you feel like you don't deserve any joy. Maybe you feel like a complete failure. Jesus is saying there is more to life than food and clothing. That's not the totality of who you are. Jesus is saying let's not reduce ourselves.

Just before this, Jesus tells this story about the rich fool. I want to read some of that to you. This is Luke 12, starting at verse 13. "Someone from the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' 'Friend,' he said to him, 'who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?' He then told them, 'Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions.'

Then he told them a parable: 'A rich man's land was very productive. He thought to himself, "What should I do, since I don't have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this," he said. "I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I'll say to myself, 'You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.'" But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared-whose will they be?" That's how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.'"

Jesus says, "One's life is not in the abundance of his possessions." You cannot sum up the life and the value and worth of somebody in how much stuff they have. Then he tells a story about a rich man, and we see from this rich man that he's also caught up in anxiety. This man is so rich, he's like, "What am I going to do with all my riches?" He's like, "What am I going to do? I need to have barns." He says, "I don't have anywhere to store my crops, so I'll tear down my barns. I'll build bigger ones."

He says, "Then, when I have everything stored up, I'll finally be able to relax and eat, drink, and enjoy myself, once I have so much stored up it can never be gone." Jesus says, "You fool! You might die tomorrow." I think some of us can talk ourselves into thinking this. The lie we tell ourselves is the key to our peace and happiness is wealth, and that's false. That is the same lie that wealthy people and poor people believe.

Greed is its own form of worry. Greed is believing the lie that "The only way I can be safe is to have so much I can't even imagine a way that all of this could run out." But what if there's space for peace and contentment without the certain idea that you have more than you could ever need? Jesus is saying this is the same issue. You do not have to invite worry into the situation.

If you've been telling yourself the lie, "If I can just make this much money, then worry will be completely gone from my life," you have lied to yourself. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "He who loves money will never be satisfied by it." Some of the richest people you've ever seen are frustrated that they don't have the riches that other people have.

Jesus is saying your life is not in the abundance of it. The rich fool doesn't have perfect security. He has told himself, "I have perfect security if I can store everything up." Our security shouldn't be completely rooted in food and clothing. Food and clothing isn't the source of all of your problems, and it's not the main solution to your problems. The longer we hold on to that lie, the more we'll continue to be anxious.

There is no amount of money, no amount of shelter, no stocks, and no inheritance that is more secure than the promises of God. There is no number in an account of how much money you have; there is no offer letter that is more secure than God saying, "I promise I will provide for you." Your security cannot be rooted in your sad little human provision. It's all God's anyway. So, it would make sense for us to just trust the one who owns it all in the first place. It is better to have nothing but Jesus than to have everything but Jesus. Worry is never a welcome addition. The first reason is because there's more to the story.

2. There's witness testimony. It's hard to believe something unless you can really see that it has been done before. It's hard to believe it can be done. During the Olympics, you'll see sometimes… And I love the Olympics. It seems like no one cares about the Olympics anymore. It's very impressive, and I still like them. Olympics, if you're watching, I'm still supporting you.

One of the things you'll see is when they interview Olympians and ask them about their dreams and when they first wanted to do it, do you know what it will always be? They'll be like, "Oh, well, I was sitting in my living room with my mom when I was 7, and I saw [this person]. I saw Shaun White snowboard. I thought, 'Maybe I could do that one day.' I saw Michelle Kwan skate, and I was like, 'Oh, maybe I can do that one day.'" You say, "Trip, if you love the Olympics so much, how come you have so few Olympians in your mind?" I don't know.

The thing that made them believe they could do it was they saw an example. So, maybe you're saying, "I can't imagine not being anxious and worried about food and clothing and still being provided for." Jesus is going to give us some examples. He's going to show us why we should lock worry out of the house. Here are the examples. Now, these may not be the examples, the witnesses, that you expect to hear from, but here we go.

Verse 24: "Consider the ravens: They don't sow or reap; they don't have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than the birds? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? If then you're not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?" Jesus calls his first witness to the stand: ravens. Of course, this would not be admissible in a court of law, but this is Jesus. He can do whatever he wants.

We know what ravens are. They're large birds that are found all over the world. Ravens do not go hungry. They eat seeds. They eat meat. They're smart. They know how to find it. But do you know what ravens don't do? They don't farm. They don't get seeds to plant them. They don't store. They don't have bank accounts and refrigerators and barns to store food in. They don't have meal plans for the week. Ravens don't have monthly budgets, yet they eat. The text doesn't just say they eat; it says, actively, God feeds them. Not just they end up eating, but they're actively fed by God.

Then he asks them this penetrating question: "Aren't you worth a lot more than birds?" He's saying, "You are valuable." Not just you have value in a generic sense. He's saying, "No, no. You are valuable to God." And not because you've earned it by providing for yourself. You are made in the image of God. You have intrinsic worth and value. You cannot do anything to be more worthy than you are.

I know sometimes people like to invest in gold bars because they don't lose their value. It's a hard metal. The value doesn't shift all the time. Then there's something like cryptocurrency, where the value is always shifting. Sometimes we think of ourselves more like crypto. We're like, "Oh, well, it depends on the season and what's going on. Then my value looks really good."

Some of us are like, "Man! Work is going so well" or "This season of life, I feel like I'm providing well" or "I can't see any needs." We think, "My worth is up here. My value is up here. I feel great about myself." Then in harder seasons, our value plummets. I want you to know our worth and value is more like gold. It is very solid all the time. Here's why: because what's going on in the world around you, what's going on in your bank account, and what's going on in your home does not change your worth and value.

Your worth and value is rooted in the fact that you are made in the image of the God who created everything. The Bible tells us not to murder because there's such value in an image bearer of God. There is nothing you could do to give yourself more worth and value. One of the most comforting truths in the world is there is nothing you could do to lessen your worth and value. Jesus is saying, "Aren't you worth more than the birds?"

This is what it says in verse 25. He said, "If you're worth more than the birds and God feeds them, of course he would feed you." Verse 25: "Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? If then you're not able to do even a little thing, why worry about the rest?" This is at the core of what we need to understand. Does worrying even actually help anything? This is at the core of what we do.

We think by worrying we're actually doing something about the problem. Inviting worrying into your hard situation is like calling a woodworker when your plumbing goes bad. It's not going to be able to help you. Worrying is like spilling something on the ground and just staring at it. Just staring at a problem doesn't do anything to solve the problem. Reminding yourself how horrible it is does not solve the problem.

What's crazy is worrying actually makes us less productive, because it confuses what we do with what God does. Worrying assumes we have sovereign power to fix everything we don't like on our own, and it distracts us from the things we could actually be doing to help the problem, because we have put the entire weight of the world on our shoulders.

Jesus is like, "If you can't even add an extra millisecond to your life by worrying, what makes you think that by worrying you could change anything in any substantial way?" Do you think by worrying about how difficult a season of marriage you're in, the worry itself is going to do anything to fix your relationship? Do you think the worrying itself is going to do anything to make your bank account grow? Do you think the worrying itself is going to do anything about that thing you are so stressed and anxious about? The worrying does nothing.

He calls another witness. Verse 27: "Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you-you of little faith?"

Again, to state the obvious, wildflowers usually don't have jobs, but he said God has made them look good. They look fly. He says they are adorned. He said even Solomon doesn't dress better than the flowers. He says wildflowers have never been promoted, but they dress better than Pharrell. He says they look great. He's saying if God clothes the grass, which will disappear soon… Grass was often used for fuel to bake bread and things. He's saying, "If the grass that isn't made in the image of God is taken care of by God, then don't you think God will take care of you?" He calls them "You of little faith."

One of my favorite parts in the Gospels is when Jesus refers to his disciples as "You of little faith." It's the second time Jesus feeds a multitude. Did you know he did that twice? What's crazy is the second time it happened, the disciples again were like, "Man, how are we going to feed this crowd?" I'm reading it like, "What are you talking about? Didn't you see what just happened a couple chapters earlier?"

Jesus had been teaching. A huge crowd was following Jesus. It says "5,000," but that was probably just the fathers, just the heads of those households. There were also women and children, so it was probably 20,000. It's an arena. It's a Taylor Swift concert of people following after Jesus. Jesus is like, "Hey, how are we going to feed them?" to Philip, and Philip is like, "Uh, I don't think Uber Eats delivers this far out." You know, Jesus is testing him.

Peter points to a child who has barely a little bit of bread and barely a little bit of fish. Peter is like, "Oh, this kid has a sleeve of Ritz crackers. Maybe that'll do." Here's what Jesus does. He says, "Okay. Start passing it out." They start passing it out, and this little bit that would feed a family… They keep passing it, and there keeps being more, and they keep passing it. Then, after every single person eats, the baskets are full with more stuff than was there in the first place. Crazy.

Obviously, if we had been there, that would be the most amazing thing we had ever seen. Not something you would forget. Yet here we go again. There's a multitude, and they're like, "Hey, how are we going to feed all of these people?" We read that, and we think it makes sense that Jesus says, "You of little faith."

But how many of us in this room have had times when we had no idea how something was going to work out, and God showed up and provided in some miraculous way? We said, "God, I never would have been able to do that. Thank you so much." Yet we find ourselves somewhere two weeks later, and if somebody were reading the book of our life, they would say, "Don't you remember how God provided for you last week? Do you not remember how God provided for you last year? You of little faith, why is it hard for you to remember God's track record of provision?"

One of the most important things for us, as believers… Sometimes we think the only way we can grow is by receiving new information, learning new things. One of the best ways you can grow is by remembering what you've already heard and remembering what God has already done. If the only thing you ever did was remember the clear truth from God's Word and the clear truth of the ways God has provided, you would grow incredibly. Look at his track record. Every bite you've ever taken was given to you by God.

A lot of times, we still worry, even if we've seen God provide, because we just don't know how. A lot of times, the worry is about the how. Like, "I believe God can provide, but I just don't see it." I understand that. But sometimes we just have to look at his track record and trust him. Like, "I don't know how you're going to do it, but I didn't know how you would do it then either."

Sometimes you have to talk to friends who also trust Jesus and be like, "Look at how the Lord has provided for them." This is a good reason, with other members of your church, when God does something amazing in your life, to just tell people. Like, "Hey, here's what the Lord has done." It's a good testimony to how good he is.

One of the things I love about these witnesses Jesus calls is it reminds us that we are just parts of creation. Yes, we are human beings. We are the crown of creation. We are made in God's image. We can do incredible things. We can make incredible art. We can even design robots that will take all of our jobs. We can do anything. But you are still a creature created by God, and everything you receive depends on the Creator providing for you.

This is not to discount your hard work. This is not to discount your discipline and the things God has called us to do. We do have agency. We do have responsibility, but we are a part of creation. We should live in that way and trust God as our provider. Worry is never a welcome addition. There's witness testimony.

3. There is a better teammate. I'm a big NBA fan, and one of the exciting things about the NBA, and the reason the NBA is better than your favorite sport, is the trade deadline, which has just happened. What happens at the trade deadline in the NBA? This doesn't happen in other sports. In the middle of the season, the most incredible things can happen, where a team just makes a big trade that completely changes the course of the team.

Now, as a Dallas Mavericks fan, it's very difficult for me to talk about trades. I'm still in mourning. My wife was like, "Trip, don't talk about this. It's going to take you 10 minutes out of the way." But I do want to say that Nico… No. The reason people make trades is because there's someone on their team (usually) who's not doing a good job, and they think, "If I could have somebody better in this spot who was actually helping the team to win, that would be big."

Here's what Jesus is telling us. "Okay. You've had worry on your team. Worry isn't doing a good job. Worry makes everything worse. Worry does not actually help you to provide. Worry doesn't add a single second to your life." So, the question is…If worry is not a welcome addition to any team, then who should we trade it for? Who should we have on the team instead? Listen to verse 29.

"Don't strive for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don't be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom."

In that part, Jesus is making this distinction between the ways of this world we live in and those who inherit the kingdom. Jesus talks about the gospel of the kingdom. He talks about the kingdom of God a lot in the Gospels. When we talk about kingdom, it is a reminder that the King has shown up. We're talking about the reign of God, the reign of Jesus, asserting itself in this broken and fallen world. Jesus is beginning to give a picture of what it will be like when all things are made new, and he's starting with his people.

So, Jesus is saying, "Okay. If you're citizens of the kingdom, this eternal kingdom…not this world that's going away…my eternal kingdom that has different values based on my truth, then don't you think you should interact with this world in a different way than those who are not citizens of this kingdom?"

Jesus is saying, "If your heavenly Father knows what you need, and you know that the King of Kings knows you, shouldn't that make you interact with your needs differently than those around you?" He's saying, "Everyone around you sees things in that way, and they worry. That's not how you should interact." One of the things it should make us do is pray, because he knows what we need.

Now, sometimes we think prayer is informing God. Let me just tell you something. God has absolutely nothing to learn. You've never said anything to God and he was like, "I never thought about it that way." God knows. God knows exactly what you need. There's nothing we could teach him, even about ourselves. God knows you better than you know yourself. Prayer is not informing God; prayer is trusting God. Prayer is not filling God in; it is leaning on him.

Prayer is giving things over to him. He knows what we need. Do you know how powerful it is that God knows what we need? It's not just that someone knows; it's that God is the one who knows. It would be one thing for my friend to know everything I need and to not be able to meet any of those needs. The God who knows before we tell him is the God who owns everything. Everything belongs to him.

So, if you know you have needs, God already knows. It is the same God who owns the earth and everything in it. It is the same God who has never forsaken his people. It is the same God who split the Red Sea. It is the same God who fed his people with manna from heaven. It is the same God who, when we were sinners who could not make our way back to the Father, gave his Son Jesus. That's the God who knows everything you need. What more could he do to show us to make us trust him?

So, who are we inviting onto the team instead of worry? It is trust…trust in this God who has proven himself over and over again. Here's what that trust looks like. Verse 31: "But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you." This is a verse that so many of us have heard so many times, sometimes the meaning has been lost. He's saying to seek his kingdom. If the kingdom is this rule and reign of God, what does it mean to seek it?

Well, here's the thing. We all will seek after something. My 13-year-old son is very passionate about Jordans, so he thinks about Jordans. When he's on his iPad, he is looking up Jordans. He's like, "Dad, can you buy me those?" I'm like, "Those are \$4,000. No." But he's seeking. He's plotting. He's scheming. He's making birthday lists. I'm like, "Don't ask my mom for those either." He is trying to find ways to get Jordans.

This is what human beings do. The things we're passionate about, the things we want to see… We plot. We scheme. We seek. We build skills. We build teams. Jesus is saying, "Let all of those skills and gifts and passions be aimed at seeking the kingdom of God." Our lives will be ruled by whatever we think is ultimate. We will learn and plot and scheme toward it.

To seek the kingdom means entering the kingdom, trusting in Jesus. It means embracing kingdom values the way Jesus has called us to live. It means extending the kingdom's reach, telling other people about Jesus and welcoming them in. It means banking on kingdom rewards. Meaning, I'm not living every moment of my life for treasures on this earth that will disappear.

Jesus is saying, "Why would you spend your life stacking up money in a house that's going to burn down?" Jesus is saying, "There is an eternal dwelling place. Live your life as citizens of the kingdom around this new value system." This doesn't mean "Follow God and he'll give you everything you want." It's "Be faithful and trust him to take care of you." Do your part and let him do his. You be you and let God be God.

You know, some of us are anxious about things that are going on at work right now. I want to encourage you. This week, go to work and be faithful with what God has called you to do. Love your coworkers. Do good work. When you're plotting and scheming to do well at work, let it be not just because you want a promotion but because you want to do work well, that you want to serve people well, you want to love people well.

Let it be to love your coworkers who are working alongside you. Let it be because Scripture says that we all work for Jesus, and we should work wholeheartedly as for God and not for men. Seek the kingdom. Have the kingdom values, then let God be God. He's not saying, "Be lazy and don't work." He's not saying, "Don't make sure you eat." He's saying, "Don't live a life of anxiety, because God can provide, and he knows you need it."

The final thing he says in verses 33-34 is "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won't grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Sometimes, when we see people who are billionaires, who have never-ending wealth, we wonder why they can give so much, and part of the reason is because even when they give a lot, they still have a lot. They're not worried about their security.

Here's the amazing thing about God being our provider. We do not have to clutch onto everything we have as if this is all we have. This is not all we have. Those who know God should be more generous than anybody else because we know that our Father, our King, owns everything, and he knows what we need. We do not have to hold on to stuff as if this is all we have. We can be openhanded because we have Jesus.

At the beginning of this message, I said when I get invited somewhere, my first question is, "Who else is going to be there?" I think what we've seen in this text is that worry makes everything worse, but the good news is Jesus makes everything better. Jesus does not make a promise, "If you follow me, everything will go well."

"What if I have sickness?" It will be difficult, but if Jesus will be there, then I'll be okay. "What if debt is there?" That may be difficult. It probably will be. But if Jesus is there, I'll be good. "What about illness?" If Jesus is there, I'll be good. Jesus is saying, "I want you to come follow me. I want you to trust me."

Here's the thing. If you're here today, and you don't know Jesus, I hope one of the things that strikes you about this text is that Jesus is calling you to let go of burdens. I know people think that following Jesus is just heaping burdens onto ourselves. I want you to know that this Savior Jesus, out of love, made himself poor that we might be rich. He let go of everything to come here and live a perfect life and then die on the cross for our sins, the ways we have turned away from God, including the ways that we're anxious, as if God isn't a perfect provider.

We know we don't have enough righteousness on our own either. But here's the amazing thing about Jesus. Jesus says, "Hand me your burdens." Jesus says, "Let me pay for your sins." Following Jesus is not taking on burdens; following Jesus is taking off your burdens. Not only your burden of anxiety but your burden of sin and guilt and shame.

When Jesus calls you to follow him, he's saying, "Trade in your anxieties. Trade in your shame. Trade in your guilt for forgiveness of sins, for eternal life. Trust me, and I will graciously provide for you for all of eternity. Not just your physical needs but for every part of your person." Worry makes everything worse, but Jesus makes everything better. This morning, if you don't know Jesus, Watermark Church and I want nothing more than for you to know this Jesus who makes everything better. Let me pray.

Father, we come before you again in the name of your Son Jesus. God, we thank you so much for your provision, and we thank you for your goodness. Lord, we thank you for being so gracious to take our burdens. Father, we pray you would help us to see you clearly and to respond to you clearly. I pray for my brothers and sisters, that you would help us all to trust you instead of worrying. Father, for my friends who don't know you, who are not really sure where they are, help them to trust you instead of trying to do it on their own. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.