OVERCOMING FINANCIAL FEAR AND WORRY

 Since the pandemic there has been a large increase in anxiety, especially among Gen Z, which is 12–27-year-olds.

What are some of the things they are worried about?

FOMO, Comparison, Friends, Their Future, Finances

People of all ages struggle with worry and anxiety in the area of finances.

Matthew 6:25 (NKJV) – 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?

Matthew 6:26-27 (NKJV) - Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?

 Loren Cunningham – Have you ever seen a worried bird?

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I HAVE A HEAVENLY FATHER WHO LOVES ME AND WANTS THE ABSOLUTE BEST FOR ME!

 Matthew 6:31-32 (NKJV) - 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 knows that you need all these things.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

 The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Jesus the King!

We want Jesus to rule and reign over every area of our lives including our finances.

Three questions to help us step under His rule and reign more fully:

 

1.      WHAT IS OUR SOURCE OF IDENTITY AND SIGNIFIGANCE?

Matthew 6:24 – No one can serve two masters; for 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 and mammon.

In idolatrous cultures, mammon was a money God, a god of wealth or riches.

Derek Prince – Mammon is an evil spiritual power that grips men and enslaves them through the medium of money.

Derek Prince – Mammon is not money itself, but the spiritual power that works through people’s attitudes toward money.

 1 Timothy 6:10 (NKJV) – For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Jimmy Evans – Mammon promises us those things that only God can give security, significance, identity, independence, power and freedom.

 If we are looking for money to provide those things, we have given place to the spirit of mammon, and we will be living in constant fear and anxiety about finances.

Our identity is in Christ and Christ alone. He is our security. He is our identity. He is our significance.

 

2.      WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?

Matthew 6:22-23 (NKJV) – The lamp is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.

 Message – Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar

The good eye describes someone who is generous and giving.

The bad eye describes someone who is selfish, covetous, and miserly. (Spirit – Filled Life Bible)

 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) – But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Acts 20:35b (NKJV) – And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

 

3.      WHERE IS YOUR TREASURE?

Matthew 6:19-20 (NKJV) - Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:21 (NKJV) – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 Treasures on earth will all pass away.

Accountant of John D. Rockefeller was asked, “How much did he leave behind when he died?” the accountant answered, “All of it.”

We can lay up treasures in heaven by what we give away to missions, ministries, and hurting people here on earth.

 1 Timothy 6:17 (NKJV) – Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

1 Timothy 6:18 (NKJV) – Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Ron Blue – Your treasure is the thing that is most important to you.

As we grow in Christ, we begin to treasure what He treasures.

Jesus Christ treasures people. Exodus 19:5, John 3:16

PEOPLE ARE FOREVER

 Treasures in heaven are people whose lives have been impacted by the ministries that our giving has helped make possible.

Ruby – It’s amazing what God can do with a life when you give Him everything.