Live Free with Josh Howerton - No Stress | Ep. 353 | Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

We have a heavenly Father who knows your needs. We don’t need to be distracted worrying about keeping up with all the things of the world. We need to seek His kingdom, and everything else takes care of itself. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up? My name is Bro, and this is the Daily Drive. And as always, we are honored and excited to spend a few minutes with you today. So grateful for all of you who listen. We've been talking this week on the Daily Drive about distractions, about the importance of focus and living an intentionally purposeful life, one that is full of joy and love. You see, whatever has your focus has your attention. Whatever has your attention has your devotion. Whatever has your devotion has you. Yesterday we looked at a couple of sisters Martha and Mary who illustrated that principle. One was super busy and distracted, and the other one chose to sit and soak in every word from Jesus.

So Jesus tells the stressed out one Martha. Martha, slow down. You're so distracted by so many details. There's only one thing really necessary, and your sister has chosen it. Now, of course, Jesus was not advocating that you shouldn't work hard and get things done. He was saying that everything we do ought to flow out of our time with him. When you and I are just busy, busy, busy, we get distracted from the main thing, and those distractions begin to overwhelm us and suck the joy out of our life.

But when you and I bring our to-do list to him first, he gives us peace, perspective, and purpose in what we do, because only one thing is necessary. Today I want to look at some of the words of Jesus found in his famous sermon or mount. You can find that in the book of Matthew, which is the first book of the New Testament section of the Bible. It's chapters 5 through 7. And I want to just read these words from Matthew 6 as he continues this whole one thing is necessary approach to life. He says this, that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food? and your body more than clothing? In other words, he said, don't set your focus there. Don't let those things be the center of your life. Yes, go ahead, go to the grocery, hit the outlet mall occasionally. You can even put something in your Amazon cart. But don't let those things consume your life. Is it life more than that?

He goes on, verse 26, look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store away food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him? than they are. Again, Jesus is not saying, don't work, don't plan, don't budget, don't save, don't invest. The Bible is full of instructions to do all of those things. I mean, Debbie and I just sat down with a financial planner this week, someone to help us make sure we're doing a good job of managing God's money. And gang, it is his money. He owns it all. And you and I are just simply managers of his stuff. I can remember making 35 bucks a week as a student ministry pastor and supplementing our income, I work in construction and a referee in basketball. We felt rich and very provided for way back then. And we ate a lot of peanut butter and a lot of ramen noodles.

And so now sitting down with somebody talking about retirement funds, although I never plan on retiring. And terms like Roth IRAs and end-of-life expenses and investment opportunities, all that just seems surreal to us. We still feel very rich and very provided for. And hopefully we've done a good job along the way honoring God. with what he's given us. So Jesus is not saying here,

don't budget, don't plan, don't save. He's saying, don't stress out about that stuff. Don't let stuff consume you. Don't let your life be centered around any of that. It's just a distraction. Instead, consider the birds. They're not stressing out. They're not saying,

we were going to fly south for the winter, but you know with the price of worms these days. Hey, did you see what they did to their nest? I think we really ought to upgrade our nest as well. Gotta keep up with the Cardinals, you know. They're not saying those things. Their conversations go more like this. Said the Robin to the Sparrow,

what I'd really like to know is why those anxious human beings rush around and worry so. Said the Sparrow to the Robin, well, I think that it must be, that they have no Heavenly Father, the kind that cares for you and me. All that anxiety over temporary stuff is a distraction from the one thing that is necessary. So Jesus asked a rhetorical question. He says, can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.

So Jesus goes on, and why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all of his glory, a dude with a closet full of designer clothes, was not dressed as beautifully as they are. Jesus

is saying, they don't try so hard to be beautiful. They just are. They don't stress out about what everybody they think so not the way they look. They don't carefully post, you know, filtered selfies. They just grow content to enjoy their maker and bring joy to the rest of the world. And Jesus adds, and if God's care so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things saying, what will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts

of unbelievers. These are fatal distractions, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. And here's that only one thing is necessary theme. Seek the kingdom of God. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. You ever got up in the morning, you're a little groggy, and you put on a button-up shirt, and you miss the top button, you put, you know, button number one in a slot. You ever got up in a number two and all through the day your shirt is all jacked up and people are pointing at you their lavidated look at look at that guy jesus is saying if you get the top button right everything else lines up put god first seek him above all else make him the one thing that is necessary he will give you

what you need gang we have a good good father don't get distracted don't get anxious or overwhelmed by all the things of this world set your focus on him and let his love, goodness, and provision carry you through this day. And I'll see you back here tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Bailey Drive.