Scripture Text: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked, “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify of what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:1-18, NIV)

Scripture Text: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:36, NIV)


Recently, we have been inundated with a flood of media coverage on the death on Princess Diana and Mother Theresa. This media coverage has transformed Princess Diana from a globe-trotting divorcee on the world party circuit into a suffering saint whose life was completely devoted to charities for the poor and afflicted. Mother Theresa was so saintly that masses of Catholics want to circumvent the Roman Catholic method of canonization and immediately grant her sainthood. Princess Diana was probably neither as bad nor as good as the media portrayed her and her untimely death is truly a tragedy. Mother Theresa was a woman of extraordinary compassion and she spent her life bringing comfort, help and hope to the poor and dying. Nevertheless, I fear that in this flood of reporting, the media is communicating to the world and the church that salvation of the soul from sin is unimportant or that it is achieved by humanitarian endeavors.
One of the first tele-evangelists, the late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, was a man of the Bible, who truly taught the word of God. In fact, it may have been his radical evangelicalism that caused the Catholic Church to locate him in Western New York where he could not rise any higher in the church. They didn’t want him to become too powerful; they tried to keep him in his place. He once said, “The antichrist will come disguised as a great humanitarian. He will talk peace, prosperity and plenty, not as a means to lead us to God, but as an end in themselves.”
In these days especially, it is important to remember Jesus’ words to the crowd that followed him after he multiplied the loaves and fishes. He said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27, NIV). However important social welfare programs may be, salvation lies in receiving the bread of life and not in promoting worthy causes. True religion should not be confused with humanitarianism, no matter how similar they may appear on the surface. The object of humanitarianism is not to identify with the world in its shame and affliction, nor to permeate the world with the gospel, but rather to remold the world into the image of enlightened humanity. Humanitarianism is a liberal form of religion that emphasizes service to humanity above all other concerns. Since the self is included in humanity, there is always a keen interest in serving one’s own welfare. Although some humanitarians are inclined to acknowledge the need for the assistance of God, the goal is the greater happiness of man, not the glory of God. Humanitarianism embraces both agnostics and atheists. In humanitarianism, the emphasis is not on legalism, keeping the law as a condition of salvation. Instead, they emphasize service to the community as a sign of magnanimity and good will. Charitable services are done, not to win merit in the sight of God, but to ease the human conscience in the face of social wrong and to achieve a sense of human brotherhood. Humanitarian service, which may beneficial and well-intended, is not the same thing as the righteousness that comes from faith working through love. When concern for social improvement preempts the hope for the righteousness of the kingdom, we are humanitarians rather than disciples of Christ. The focus is no longer on deliverance of humanity by a divine Savior, but on the rebuilding of humanity. While the humanist seeks to improve this world, the evangelical prepares for a new world, a new heaven and earth. In the midst of the discussion of the humanitarian efforts of these Princess Diana and Mother Theresa, Jesus words kept coming to my mind, “You must be born again.” That phrase was absent from the commemorations of these two women.
Some people say, “I am a Christian, but I am not born again.” Let me tell you something, there is no such thing as a Christian who is not born again. There may be a cultural or religious Christian who is not born again, but there is no true Christian who is not born again. You are identified with Christ when you say, “I am a Christian,” or “I am born again.” You don’t need to say, “I am a born again Christian” because that is like saying, “My car is blue blue”: it is redundant.

Humanity’s Two Basic Problems

Salvation is like a large pie with many slices. There is justification, forgiveness, propitiation, sanctification, glorification and new birth. These are all parts of the pie. New birth is not the whole of Christian life, but it is the initiation or entrance to it. Suppose we compare man and his problems to a person who has accumulated an enormous debt on his credit card. Now, if we truly want to help him, we have to help two problems. (1) Someone has got to pay the debt. This is not the final solution, if you pay the debt, but you don’t change his nature, he is going to accumulate more debt again. If you want a real cure and deliverance, you need to pay the guy’s debt and you also need to (2) change the guy’s nature so he doesn’t accumulate more debt. When we carry that principle into the realm of humanity and salvation, mankind has two basic problems:
1. A debt he cannot pay.
2. A nature he cannot change.
Because human nature is what it is, mankind sins and sins and sins. It is the natural thing to do. You don’t have to teach your children to lie or how to be deceptive, they know it from birth.
Years ago, when I worked at the produce department of an A&P supermarket, we had one-way glass in the fruit stands. One day when I was working, a mother left her small child in a shopping cart right next to a mountain of cherries. This child couldn’t have been old enough to talk, but when his mother was out of sight, he looked around to make sure no one was watching him, then he grabbed one of those cherries and put it in his mouth.
Just as he did that, I knocked on the glass. It startled him so much that he swallowed the cherry and just about choked on the seed. But that big pile of cherries kept calling to him. He looked at the mountain of cherries and then he looked all around again to make sure that no one was watching him. He put his hand in the pile of cherries again and when he got it right to his mouth, I knocked again. This time he dropped it and burst into tears. His mother came running down the aisle, wondering what had happened to him. Who told that little fellow it was wrong to eat those cherries? He knew it in his conscience because God had given him a moral nature. Who taught him to take the cherries although they did not belong to him? That was his human nature acting out. Two things were at work in this situation: a conscience saying, “this is wrong” and a will saying, “I want to do it anyhow.”
Man has two basic needs and Jesus takes care of both. The first need, the debt we cannot pay, is covered by the Christ’s sacrifice. Through His sacrifice, from the crucifixion to resurrection, Jesus took the consequences of our sins upon Himself. When He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34b, NIV), he was taking the consequences of our sin, which is being forsaken by God. Jesus, on the cross, took the consequences of our sin. The wrath of God was poured on Him so that it did not have to be poured out on us. There on the cross, Jesus offered His perfectly righteous life because He was holy, virgin born, therefore without sin or condemnation. His perfect sacrifice satisfied the debt that you and I owe. That solves the first problem, because we are forgiven our debt of sin.
The second problem is a problem of nature. We are forgiven but we still have the nature of our sinful ancestor, Adam. This Adamic nature is going to continue to live and act the same sinful way. The second part in the plan of salvation is called new birth. As humans, we have been born in and bear the image of Adam, our earthly father. When we are born again, in our spirit, we bear the image of our heavenly Father. 1 Corinthians 15:49 (NIV), “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” We need to be born again in order for our salvation to be complete. Not only do we need forgiveness, we also need a new nature that comes from new birth.

Being Born Again: Three Questions and Three Answers

1. “Why must I be born again?”
In the original language, it is clear that Jesus’ reply is not a suggestion but rather a command. Grammatically, it is an imperative and absolute command, it is not optional. You must be born again. There are two reasons why you must be born again. The first reason is found in John 3:3, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
As a student at Moody Bible Institute, each of us had a weekly assignment of ministry. Throughout your career as a student, you got different kinds of assignments so that you have diverse ministry experiences. I preached at a rescue mission, was involved in hospital visitation, taught Sunday School and so forth. Once I was assigned to the Cook County Hospital, which was, at that time, the largest municipal hospital in the world. Cook County Hospital is an enormous hospital where all the poor patients were sent. Nowadays, people complain about having a double room, but in Cook County Hospital, there were 80 people to a room. There were wards with forty beds on each side of the room. We would go there once a week to witness and minister to the patients. In one particular ward, I was handing out gospel tracts and there seemed to be almost total apathy. When I came out, I said to a fellow student who was ministering in another ward, “Man, those people just don’t get it. I was handing out tracts and there was no interest at all.”
He said, “You just came out of ward 4?”
I said, “Yes.”
He said, “I know why they didn’t get it. That is the blind ward.”
I was handing out reading material to blind people. Of course they were not responsive, they could not see! That is the problem with the person who is not born again. They cannot see the kingdom of God.
Years ago, we had a reporter from Newsday come here to do an article on our church. None of the other churches would let him come because Newsday isn’t always friendly to churches. But we believed that the power of God would work through the situation, so we let a reporter come to every event we had. He came to a Wednesday night prayer meeting, rode the buses that picked up children for church and even attended a deacon’s meeting, in which we interviewed 19 people for membership. He heard the plan of salvation and personal testimonies 19 times. This reporter wrote a decent article; he told about buses and people and events, but he didn’t write anything about the kingdom of God. Do you know why? He couldn’t see it. He was here, but he could only see what the natural eye could see. He could not see the kingdom of God and so when he reported, he reported nothing of the kingdom of God. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. I have no idea whether Mother Theresa was born again or not. No one of the reporters mentioned it because they cannot see it. All they can see are outward signs: helping the poor and humanitarian acts. Even if she told them, they would not understand it because they view the world through natural eyes. The spiritual realm moves right by them. Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

2. “What is the nature of the new birth?”
In verse 5 Nicodemus answers, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”
Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God and you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom here and now on earth or after you die. If you are a citizen of the United States, you must be born in this country or become a naturalized citizen, but in God’s kingdom, there are no naturalized citizens. The only way to get into the kingdom is by birth. The kingdom of God consists of God’s children who are a part of His family by birth. Therefore we all must be born again because (1) Unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God and (2) unless we are born again we cannot enter the kingdom of God.
In verse 4, Nicodemus asks Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” His next statement is cynical and reveals a lack of belief: “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” Some people interpret “born of water” to mean baptism but the word baptism is not explicitly stated. The word “baptism” is in God’s vocabulary. If Jesus meant baptism, He could have said the actual word instead of the ambiguous phrase, “born of water”. What does that phrase mean? Well, first of all, it is important to realize that Jesus was a good communicator and when you are a good communicator, you start from where people are and take them to where they ought to go. Nicodemus’ framework for the conversation was what he knew about physical birth. “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
The first indication that the natural birth process has begun is when the mother’s water breaks; it is the trigger for the birth process. The phrase “born of water” refers to natural birth. Jesus is trying to take Nicodemus beyond what he knows (natural birth) to spiritual birth. In this passage, Jesus is translating Nicodemus’ knowledge of the physical realm into an understanding of spiritual life. You must be born of water, natural birth, and of the Spirit, spiritual birth. To be fully alive, you must be born naturally and then born again, spiritually. A fleshly birth makes us children of Adam and imparts Adam’s nature, but a spiritual birth makes us children of God and imparts a heavenly nature. A fleshly birth unites us with all of the children of Adam and makes us mortal. When we are born again, we are born of incorruptible seed and are united with the family of God. As the Scripture says, “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:49, NIV) Spiritual birth is regeneration, not reformation. Spiritual birth is as mysterious as the wind that cannot be seen although its effects are seen. While there are aspects of spiritual birth that are unseen, there are manifest results that are evident to everyone.

3. “How can I be born again?”
In verse 9 Nicodemus asks, “How can these things be?” Jesus answers him in verses 15-16, “That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Like natural birth, there are two elements to spiritual birth: the seed and the nurturing womb. When the seed is received in the womb, the result is natural birth. I once heard a great preacher say, “When the seed of the word of God is received in the womb of faith, there is a new birth, a natural, spiritual birth.” The Bible speaks of that seed in 1 Peter. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” John 1 tells us how we can be born again but it also tells us ways that are unable to save us. Many years ago, I preached a sermon called, “How Not to be Born Again” based on these verses. Verse 13 reads, “children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” We cannot be saved by natural descent. The king of England is chosen because of his bloodlines and natural descent. It is a genealogical inheritance. The basis for his power and position is natural descent. Natural descent is not the basis for becoming a child of God. Your parents may have been missionaries, pastors or ministers but that doesn’t make you a child of God. Salvation is not inherited. Verse 12 says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” That is the spiritual water break, the trigger for salvation. You must receive Him.
Philippians 1:3 is part of Paul’s greeting and it says, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” I like that concept of the first day. Do you know what my first day was? September 2, 1939. That was the first day of my natural life. If I didn’t have a first day, there wouldn’t be a today. All of us have a first day in the natural realm, but friends, we all have to have a first day in the spiritual realm too. My first day in the spiritual realm was October 9, 1959. That was my first day. I was born again on that day. Have you had a first day? One of Satan’s lies is, “I was always a Christian.” That is nonsense. Nobody is always a Christian. That is like saying, “I always was.”
“When were you born?”
“I always was. I wasn’t born, I was just always here.”
That’s ridiculous! You weren’t always here. You have to have first days for your natural birth and your spiritual birth.
There is a fascinating footnote to this message. Lee Hamblen’s wife’s sister a Christian Mission Alliance Church in Eastern Long Island. He told me a story that was so interesting that I followed it up personally. I went to this woman whose name is Mrs. Clark. She and her husband own all of the ferries to Shelter Island and they happen to be born again. Her brother and sister-in-law have been missionaries for 30 years with a Bible club movement in England and they told a story about the recent Louis Palau crusade that came to London. Louis Palau has been compared to Billy Graham; he is a great evangelist. Louis Palau is an American who speaks fluent Spanish and English as well as other languages. Palau is a very common man but God’s hand is really on his life. He can talk to anyone from homeless people to royalty. He recently held a crusade in London and during his time there, he met privately with Princess Diana. He presented the claims of Jesus Christ and he pressed her for a decision. She told him that she wasn’t ready to make a decision yet so he gave her his home phone number and said, “When you are ready, you can call me.” She called him two weeks before the crash and said, “I’m ready.” Louis led her to Christ on the telephone and she received the Lord into her heart.
The media is not going to report this because they cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Although I don’t know the details of the situation, I think that it’s good news because we all must be born again. Are you born again? Have you had a first day? You can have it today. Let’s pray.
“Heavenly Father, we pray that You would touch the hearts of Your people today. We pray for all those who have gathered here who are not born again, who have not had a first day or may not be sure of their salvation.”
If you thinking, “I’m not sure if I have ever had a first day” then you can use these words to speak to God:
“Dear God, I confess that I need you. I confess that I am sinful and a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, holy and without sin. I believe that when You died on the cross, You died for me, taking my sins upon Yourself. I believe that You were raised from the dead on the third day. Dear God, right now, on this day, the best way I know how, with all of my heart, I invite Jesus Christ to come in and be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of all my sins and by Your Spirit, create Your new birth in me.”
If you have prayed this prayer, I would like to pray for you and to direct you in the way of Christ. If you have questions or would like to talk to someone, please contact our office to make an appointment.

by Dr. Lester F. Ayars

Scripture Text: Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:25-34

What is worry?

The Greek word that is translated “worry” (in the NIV) or “to take thought of” (in the KJV) is a word which means to divide, to pull in different directions, or to tear apart. When a person is in a state of worry or anxiety, they are no longer focused because they are pulled in different directions and are being torn apart through this dividing pull.
The second thing that you need to know about worry is that it is always about the future. No one worries about the past. You may regret the past, you may feel sorry about the past and you may worry about the consequences of the past but you don’t ever worry about the past. You never worry about the present. You may have fear, apprehension, guilt or conviction of sin in the present, but you don’t worry about the present. Worry is always future tense. We always worry about something that has not happened. Therefore, worry always deals with some imagined fantasy of events, circumstances, interactions or reactions. But worry always take place on the level of fantasy because, if it has not happened, it’s not real.
I once heard the story of a lady who was mourning the tragic death of her son who left a young widow and three small children. She was expressing this grief to a friend and her friend said to her, “Why you don’t even have a son!”
She answered, “Yes, I know, but wouldn’t it be awful?”
Isn’t that foolish? Her overactive imagination produced a dead son, a young widow and fatherless grandchildren. Well, that’s what worry is: imagination. It is looking in dark unbelief to the future and painting dark scenes of things that never happened and acting upon them as though they are real. That is worry.

What is wrong with worry?

1) Worry does not help.
Matthew 6:27 reads, “Which of you, by worrying can add one cubit unto his stature?” Some scholars have suggested that one of the disciples had an inferiority complex about his height and Jesus subtly addressed this when he asked this question. I don’t know about that. Do you know how sometimes you can be doing something serious and some crazy though flies through your mind. I was giving the message at the Vandermeersch/Padgett wedding and I thought, “This whole marriage is a conspiracy against short people.” They were all tall. The bride and groom were both taller than me. Bob’s sisters are all tall. The shortest guy there, besides me, was Pastor Mike. Now, of course, it was not a conspiracy but Jesus makes an important point by asking this question: Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? Suppose we did a study of ten short people. We assign five of these people to worry every day for one month and then chart their growth. Their job is to worry morning, noon and night about their height. The other five will also be measured but we are going to tell them to accept themselves just the way they are and not to worry at all. At the end of the month, they are all going to be the same height whether they worried or not because worrying does not help. It is as simple as that: it doesn’t help. It doesn’t matter how much you do it, how often you do it or how intensely you do it, worry will not change anything. What’s wrong with worry? It doesn’t help.

2) It reveals a lack of faith.
Matthew 6:30, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Worry reveals a lack of faith.

3) Worry produces ungodly character.
Matthew 6: 32. “For after all these things do the Gentiles seek…” Unbelievers worry and if you live like an unbeliever, you are becoming like one and your character is being molded by your unbelief. The power of the Christian life is not that the Christian life stands apart, it is different from the world. The world is fearful of the future, but kingdom people should be confident and at peace with the future.

4) Worry has consequences, that affect the body, the soul and the spirit.
Worry can cause physical fatigue. A famous doctor said, “Worry, not work makes us weary.” Worry can cause hives and allergic reactions. There was a little boy who, every time he had to go to his aunt’s house, would develop hives. His aunt was a clean nick and always hollered at him so he was worried himself into having hives. Asthma can result from worry. There was a young man who was waiting at the altar for his bride. Finally someone came and told him that she was not coming just as the church bells rang. From that point on, every time he heard the church bell ring he had an asthma attack. High blood pressure, insomnia, loss of appetite. There are also emotional consequences of worry...Those who worry experience fear and depression. The spiritual consequences of worry reflect a lack of faith and lead to un-Christlike character. Worry diverts and distracts us from lasting spiritual achievement. Worry about the future renders an ineffectual present and keeps us from the Word of God.

Five Steps to Living Worry Free

Have faith in the love of God and the value that God places on each of His children.
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
The birds of the air do not sow or reap or have a place to store their grains; God provides for their needs. Not one sparrow falls without His knowledge and permission. Our Heavenly Father regards us more than the lilies and the grass of the field. And Jesus asks, “Are you not much better than they?” The first step in conquering worry is to realize who we are and what we mean to God. Although God cares for the birds and clothes the lilies and grass, humans are more valued than these things. God did not send His Son to die for the grass. Jesus wasn’t nailed to the cross for the lilies. God sent His Son into the world because we, who are made in His image, are worth so much to Him. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 8:3-6, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Although man is so small compared to the vastness and infinity of the universe, God places such enormous value on man “that thou visitest him”. If you are that important to the Ruler of the Universe and way down below you he cares for the birds, lilies and grass, then what are you worrying about? How much more will God take care of you, provide for your needs? That is what Jesus is saying.

Have faith in God’s providence for the future.
Remembering that all worrying concerns the future, we need to trust in God’s providence and faithfulness. We study history in order that we may be able to understand and deal with future things when they happen. David, at the end of his life said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” David is saying that if you are a child of God, then you will be provided for. “I have never seen the righteous forsaken.” Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday” (throughout history), “and today” (the present), “and for ever” (the future). Realizing that He is the same helps us to see that if He provided for His people in the past, is providing for His people in the present, then he will provide for His people in the future.

Have the right values and right priorities.
Because your values determine your priorities, we must establish our values first and then determine our priorities. Matthew 6:25. “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat and the body than raiment?”
The things that Jesus lists are what we call essentials: food clothing and shelter. We spend about half of our time worrying about nonessentials, the extra things that we don’t really need. Jesus is telling us that worry is so fruitless that we should not even worry about the essentials. Worrying about the nonessentials is ludicrous if you don’t even have to worry about the essentials. This is why He says (verse 25b), “...Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”
My mother-in-law fell and broke her hip and had to have surgery. It was injured badly enough that she was not able to get up and put any weight on it. She had been staying in Senior Quarters, a beautifully appointed adult home, which provided assisted living. It was evident that she could not return there because she needed around-the-clock care and rehabilitation. So my wife and I had to go and clean out her room. It took us about an hour. It was raining that day and Grandma didn’t have any luggage so we put all of her things into large plastic garbage bags, a box and one shopping bag. I pulled the car into the garage and because it was raining, I didn’t even take the bags into the house, I just unloaded them on one side of the garage. They sat there for two or three weeks and when I would pull into the garage and see those bags lined up against the wall, I thought, “Is this all there is to Grandma, nine bags of stuff? Is this it? Probably all together it isn’t worth $500.” No, life is more than clothes. Life is more than food. Those nine bags of stuff, are not what Grandma is about at all. We are all going to leave our bags of stuff. Grandma was a person who trusted Christ as a relatively young person, who lived for Christ and prayed for the work of the Lord for many years. Her life is more than food and drink and things that can be put into plastic bags and stored in the garage. Let me tell you something, your life is more than that too. We need to stop living for stuff in plastic bags
We need to get our values right. We need to live, as the old chorus says, “With eternity’s values in view.” We then need to prioritize our life based upon correct values. How do we prioritize? It means this in the words of Jesus, Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. You can’t put that in a plastic bag and it’s not going to stay behind when you go. It’s going to go with you.

Live one day at a time.
Matthew 6:34: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” The secret to living right is to live one day at a time. If you live in the past you will stagnate. If you live in the future, you will fantasize and worry. Live in the present. “This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Pray the prayer of faith.
Philippians 4:6-7 is another significant and powerful passage on worry: “Be careful for nothing: But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.”
This last point, praying the prayer of faith, is the key for everyone who knows that worry does not help and realize their worth and have the right priorities and values but are still unable to stop worrying.
My wife and I woke up very early one morning and as we are lying in bed, my wife said, “Would you pray for me that I will not worry about which nursing home my mother goes into?” We had five or six options, some closer and some farther away. So, the enemy used that to cause her to lose sleep, to be anxious, to experience all the physiological effects and psychological effects. So that morning when she said, “Would you pray for me that God would release me from worry?”, she was choosing the alternative to anxiety. “…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Why should we pray with thanksgiving? Can you thank God for something before you have it? Yes, if you believe it’s coming, if you believe He is faithful. So, we prayed together and just said, “Lord, we are putting this into your hands. We know that you know what is best for us and for Grandma. Although we have our preferences, we surrender them to your perfect plan. Lord please make us worry-free.” We were released from our worry because of our prayer. We are all released when we release our anxiety through a prayer of faith. We are released when we give Our Father our worry. When we place it on the One who said, “Cast all your care upon me for I care for you.” And that is how to live worry free.

By Dr. Lester F. Ayars

Sermon delivered to the congregation of the Northport Baptist Church

Scripture Text: “And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, 'I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.' And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord...”
(1 Samuel 30:1-8a, KJV)


Discouragement: who has not experienced it? Some of you are experiencing it right now. Some of you have already gone through it. If there are some who have not experienced discouragement, you will at some point in your life. In the spiritual realm, there is a war raging between God and Satan. Satan's strategy is to disable Christians, to cause them not to glorify God, and discouragement is one of his greatest tools.

I know no weapon more powerful than discouragement. I can withstand just about anything, but if I am discouraged, then I am in big trouble. I can withstand the devil. I can withstand cantankerous Christians. I can withstand affliction. I can withstand just about anything except discouragement.

Demolition teams used to take buildings down with a large bulldozer or with a wrecking ball. The ball would swing back and forth, hitting the building, and it would sometimes take days to bring a building down. Engineers discovered that with some advanced engineering and pyrotechnics, you could bring a building down in about 50 seconds by planting dynamite at key structural points of the building. When the charges were ignited, the building would implode. The building didn't blow out, it caved in. Because the atmospheric pressure pushing in on the materials is greater than the structural strength of the building, it implodes, caves in. In 2 Corinthians, there is a repeated phrase, “for which cause we faint not.” To faint means to implode. It means that the strength of resistance inside us is not as great as the strength of the pressure pushing in from the outside. When you faint, you implode, you cave in, you lose heart, you lose faith and you give up.

There are three levels of discouragement. The first level is mild discouragement, when only our emotions are affected. The second level is stronger discouragement, when your spirit is affected. At this point, other people begin to notice something is wrong, that you are not yourself. Your friends, family, spouse, classmates, co-workers or the people at your church see that something is wrong. Your spirit is noticeably affected. The third level is disabling discouragement, the worst kind. This discouragement renders it impossible for the discouraged person to handle the normal responsibilities of life. They try to escape by sleeping, to dull the pain by drinking; they anesthetize the hopelessness through substance abuse.

Three Causes of Discouragement
1) Disappointment.
Disappointment comes when things do not happen the way we expect them to happen. We can be disappointed with God because our prayers have gone unanswered. We can be angry with God because He didn't bring someone into our lives or take someone out of our lives. We are disappointed because we didn't get the raise or the new position. We experience all kinds of disappointments. We are disappointed in what we think God should have done, disappointed in people, disappointed in institutions. Disappointments are a source of great discouragement.

Back in the 1970's, when Jimmy Carter was President, before the Soviet Union had become somewhat democratic, there was a great deal of persecution of evangelical believers. Some notable religious leaders were sent to prison camps in Siberia. One of them was a Baptist by the name of Georgi Vins.

One of the great achievements of Jimmy Carter was a negotiation with the Soviets to release Georgi Vins in exchange for the release of a Russian spy that the Americans had captured. Georgi Vins was the leader of the independent Baptists in Russia and was imprisoned for his religious dissidence. His own testimony was, “I was in Siberia and they called for me and gave me a change of clothes and a shave. I thought they were going to execute me.” Without any explanation, they shoved him on an airplane and, “Three days later I was in the White House of the United States of America with the President.” He became the most famous evangelical in the world in terms of name recognition and he had quite a powerful message.

One Saturday, shortly after Georgi Vins arrived in the United States, I received a phone call from a fellow pastor on Long Island and he said, “Les, you will never guess who I have coming tomorrow morning.” I asked him who it was.

He said, “Georgi Vins, the dissident that was released by President Carter from prison in Siberia.”

“How did you get him?” I asked.

“Well, he was in Franklin Square for a missions conference. I happened to attend it and I offered to pay half of his way back to Indiana if he would speak at my church Sunday morning.”

In the meantime, my wheels were spinning wildly. Here was this famous minister with an incredibly current testimony. I said to my friend, “Ken, you're my buddy, right? We are long-standing friends. Do me a favor. Send Vins to me Sunday night. You don't need him Sunday morning and Sunday night. You should spread the blessing around. Sunday morning is the premium time, so you have him Sunday morning and I'll have him Sunday night.”

I could hear the hesitation in his voice, “Well, he wants to get back to Indiana.”

I said, “I'll pay the other half of his way back home.” He told me that he'd work on it and kind of gave me an affirmative.

This was Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I came to church with an ace in my hand, a Christian celebrity coming to speak at our church. Because I wanted to play it cool, all I said was, “Folks, we are going to have a guest tonight who may be the most famous Christian in the world right now. He has a stirring testimony and I'm not going to tell you who it is. You are going to have to come and find out. If you miss tonight, you will be sorry the rest of your life because it will probably be your only chance to hear this man. So, invite your neighbors, your friends and as many non-Christians as you can and let's pack the church to hear this powerful testimony.” I gave this announcement at both of the morning services and the church was buzzing with the news of the mystery guest. They were guessing all kinds of different people, even Billy Graham, but I didn't tell them who it was. I wanted it to be a surprise.

After the service, my music director came to me and said, “Oh, by the way, we are not going to be here tonight. We are scheduled to do a concert in another church on the south shore.” That news did not make my heart rejoice, but there was nothing I could do. He had already made the commitment so I had to let him go in peace. A little while later, our best keyboard player came to me and said, “I am not going to be here Sunday night either. I am going to a concert at a church in another town.” My great evening began to disintegrate.

After lunch on Sunday, the phone rang. It was my friend, the pastor, who said, “By the way, he's not coming.”

I could not believe it. “What do you mean he's not coming? Make him come.”

“I can't make him come,” Ken said.

I said, “I'll tell you what, I'll pay his whole way home. I'll buy his airplane ticket and get his translator back to Indiana. I'll pay all of his expenses.”

He said, “I'm sorry, but he's not coming.”

I was immediately discouraged, really discouraged. I was mad at God for letting the whole thing happen. I was mad at my pastor friend for not delivering the famous Christian. I was mad at Georgi Vins for not being willing to come and stretch himself a little bit. I was mad at all my music people for all bailing out on me. I was incredibly unhappy and immensely discouraged. I was disappointed.

When I took the last phone call, the one in which my pastor friend said that Georgi Vins was definitely not coming, I took the phone and went outside because I didn't want any disruptions while I talked to Ken. We had a phone cord that could stretch about thirty feet, so I was out on the porch while I was talking on the phone. My wife was in the kitchen and she could tell by my body language that I had not received good news. When the phone call was over, she came out and said, “Well, he's not coming, right?”

“Nope, he's not coming.” I was angry with Ken, angry with God, angry with everybody.

She said, “Well, let's pray, honey.”

I said, “You pray.”

She reached for me and said, “Let me pray for you.”

I said, “Don't touch me. I don't want to be touched. You go in the house and pray. Don't touch me.” Have you ever been so discouraged you didn't want to pray? I was like a porcupine ready to defend itself. Disappointment leads to discouragement.

2) Unwholesome comparison with others brings discouragement.

Unwholesome comparison is comparing the growth of your cell group with somebody else's cell group, or comparing how quickly you recovered from a surgery versus how quickly somebody else recovered from the same surgery. It is comparing bank accounts, jobs, children's behavior or a thousand other things. When we compare ourselves unfavorably to other people, the result is discouragement.
I remember one day, years ago, when I was home visiting my father in Texas, I took him to see an old family friend. He had been eager to go but was very quiet during the visit and on the way home he said, “Don't ever take me there again. I don't ever want to go there again.”

When I asked him why, he said, “All that guy did was brag about how much money he got from this and how much from that and how much he got from his retirement and the oil well they found on his farm. Whenever I get around him and all his bragging, I feel so discouraged.” Unfavorable comparisons lead to discouragement.

3) An unbroken chain of adversity brings discouragement.

Trouble, trouble, trouble. Sometimes you have problems and when they get better, a different problem confronts you and that problem is followed by another problem. You experience an unbroken chain of adversity. That was David's situation. King Saul was hunting for him because he wanted to kill him. David joined the enemy army and they rejected him. Returning from battle, he found his town burned with fire and his wives and children captured. In their grief, his own people turned on him, wanting to stone him. All of these circumstances precede the verse that says, “And David was greatly distressed.” He was stressed out. The unbroken chain of adverse circumstances caused great discouragement.

Encouragement In the Midst of Discouragement
Now, we will explore the three things that David did that led him out of discouragement.

1) David took responsibility for his discouragement.

David did not wait for someone to come along and encourage him. When you are discouraged internally, it is very difficult for people to encourage you. Being discouraged internally is not something that other people can alleviate, it is something that you have to do. Only you can get out of it.

In 1 Samuel 30:6, we read, “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” He had to encourage himself because his discouragement was an internal problem. Ultimately, it is not the circumstances that cause discouragement, it is our reactions to the circumstances. It was not only the disappointment that crippled me on the no-show Georgi Vins weekend, it was how I viewed those things, how I felt about them and how I felt about the people who were involved in the situation.

While the King James Version says, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God”, the New International Version reads, “But David found strength in the Lord his God.” Now, it is true that David found strength, but there is more going on here than the phrase implies. The Scriptures say that David encouraged himself. This wasn't something that he just stumbled on and found, it wasn't something that fell out of heaven on him. It was something he did. David found strength by encouraging himself in the Lord his God. What a great verse! I knew that verse for years before I knew how he did it. One day, as I was reading this passage again, I discovered that the Scriptures do tell us how David encouraged himself.

2) David acknowledged his dependence on God to get him out of discouragement.

The second thing that David did to get out of discouragement was to call for the ephod. 1Samuel 30:7 reads, “And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, 'I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.' And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.”

The high priest wore many priestly garments. He had a crown and a robe, a belt, a breastplate that was adorned with precious stones in memory of the sons of Israel and he also had something called an ephod. The ephod was like a short-sleeve vest that had either one pocket that went all the way across the front of it or two pockets on either side. In this pocket were two mysterious stones called the Urim and the Thummim. We don't know very much about these stones. We do know that when the people wanted to hear from God, when they wanted His direction or to discern His will, they would go to the high priest. The high priest, through prayer and through the use of these stones, was able to get direction from God. When David said, “Bring the ephod,” he was indicating a dependence on God to get him out of his problem.

3) David turned to the Word of the Lord.

1 Samuel 30:8 reads, “And David inquired at the Lord…” If David was living today, and if the same scenario took place, the only thing that would be different is that David would say to Abiathar the priest, “GET MY BIBLE!” The purpose of the Urim and Thummim was to find out what God had to say about the situation.

Antidotes for Discouragement
David discovered three things when he took responsibility for his discouragement and turned to God and His Word to overcome it.

1) He discovered that comparison with others is wrong.

2 Corinthians 10:12(b) reads, “…but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” That is why, for example, the values that underlie beauty pageants are unbiblical. Beauty pageants consist of a series of comparisons with no absolute standard. We all have different talents, abilities, degrees of intelligence, stations in life, etc.; we have different gifts in the Holy Spirit and different opportunities. If we compare ourselves unfavorably with others, we will always be reminded of the devil's lies, “You're really not all that good. You're really a loser. You're really not up to par. You really don't cut it. You might as well give up. You don't have the right stuff.” Scripture contradicts these lies. The parable of the talents illustrates God's attitude towards the use of the gifts that we have been given. The variety of our giftedness and our opportunities is revealed in that one of the servants was given ten talents, one had five and one had two. Each of the servants was rewarded equally when they used what they had. The servant who got in trouble, ironically, is the one who had the least. He was not rebuked because he had the least, but because he didn't use what he had. Even God doesn't make unfavorable comparisons.

In true humility and sincerity, a brother in the men's worship team referred to this worship team as the “B” team. I waited until we could be alone and I said, “I have a mild rebuke that I feel I should give to you.” He kind of braced himself, because our defenses go up when we hear that we are about to be rebuked. I said, “In the kingdom of God, there is no “B” team. When I went to school we had a “B” team for all our athletic teams and the “B” team was not as good as the “A” team. I reject, and the Bible rejects, the idea of a “B” team in the kingdom of God. If we are all doing our best with what we have been given, then we are all on the “A” team.”

We don't have “B” team ministries in this church. Every ministry is an “A” team ministry. We don't compare ourselves. After I gave this message in the last service, a woman said to me, “Pastor, thank you for giving that message. The devil has had me believing the lie that, because I am a new Christian and am not very talented in many areas, I am just a “B” team Christian. Thank you for affirming that I am an “A” team Christian.” So, we should not compare ourselves unfavorably with others.

2) Only the Word of God can correctly interpret adversity.

Job was potentially one of the most discouraged individuals in the Bible. Viewing Job's adversity through human eyes leads us to compare him with his contemporaries and therefore to misunderstand the purpose of his suffering. Only through the lens of scripture are we able to see God's higher purpose and glory in adversity. The end result of his suffering was encouragement rather than discouragement. In his epistle, James uses Job's life as an encouragement to those who suffer, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”(James 5:11). Through the Word of God, we are able to see the fulfillment of God's purpose in the sufferings of man.

3) Discouragement grows out of disappointment that is actually misplaced faith.

If you expect someone to come through, an individual, an institution or a group of people, the reason you get discouraged when they fail you is that you believed in them and they disappointed you. When I was standing out on the back porch with my prickly “Don't touch me; pray for me in another room” attitude, God convicted me so that I actually said, “I have sinned against You, Lord because I have misplaced my faith. I have placed my faith in the most famous Baptist minister in the world. I placed my faith in the talents of my music director and my worship team. I placed my faith in my friend who I trusted would deliver this stellar guest.” I was reminded of Psalm 62:5-7(a), in which David speaks to his soul, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory...” I began to realize what had happened.

Two hours later, we gathered in the sanctuary for the evening service. The place was packed and everybody was looking around for this mystery guest. They were unable to see him, but they thought maybe he was sitting in the front row or maybe he was going to come out of the back doors or down the center aisle to surprise us. Heads were turning around, everyone was anticipating something big.

To top it all off, since I thought that Georgi Vins was coming, I didn't prepare a sermon. I had a church absolutely full of people with expectations, who brought their unsaved neighbors and friends. I had no sermon. I had no music program. I had no message. But I had one thing. The one thing I had was the one thing that I missed all along. “My soul, wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him.” I had expected all these different people to deliver when really only God can deliver. When it was time to introduce the mystery guest, I instead introduced the saga of my misery. Then I confessed my sin for placing my faith in different people that I should not have placed my faith in. I proclaimed that I should have trusted in God alone.

I said, “Well, we don't have the worship team and we don't have Georgi Vins, but, Hallelujah, we have God Almighty!”

So I preached a little message and 14 people received Christ. All kinds of wonderful things happened and we went out saying, “That was one of the greatest services we ever had because we counted on God and on no one else.”

I challenge you: if you're discouraged, take responsibility for it. You have no control over what happens to you but you have total control over how you deal with your situation. Encourage yourself by turning to God and to God's Word. And in God's Word you will find hope, help, and the strength to overcome discouragement.

“Father, we pray that You will use the Word this morning, use these great, scriptural truths so we may encourage ourselves. Lord, help us to realize that comparison is unbiblical, unholy and unhealthy and leads to misery. Help us not to try to interpret our adverse circumstances apart from what the Bible, Your revealed Word, teaches. Help us, Heavenly Father to not sin against You by placing our faith in someone other than You to do the things that only You can do. I pray that this congregation Father, will go out of here and encourage themselves in the Lord, their God. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.”

Summary Points:
* Satan's strategy is to disable Christians...and discouragement is one of his greatest tools.

* When we compare ourselves unfavorably with other people, the result is discouragement.

* When you are discouraged internally, it is very difficult for people to encourage you.

* I reject, and the Bible rejects, the idea of a “B” team in the kingdom of God. If we are all doing our best with what we have been given, then we are all on the “A” team.

* Only through the lens of scripture are we able to see God's higher purpose and glory in adversity.

* I had expected all these different people to deliver when really only God can deliver.

* You have no control over your circumstances but you have total control over how you deal with your situation.