“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:25-33)

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and author of over 100 books, booklets & Bible studies. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on more than 1,400 US outlets daily and in more than 140 countries.

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well friends I join you in all that’s

coming at us right now it has engulfed my

life my world my family as it has yours

the feeling of what’s coming up next and

how do we make it through figuring all

of this out looking to our leaders and

they’re trying to figure it all out at

the same time and trying to bring this

crisis under control I was in Las Vegas

not to gamble we were doing a taping on

a Bible study on U-Turn how God can

turn your life around in fact we started

the Bible study off at the welcome sign

in Las Vegas and we ended the Bible

study with the goodbye sign where folk leaving

in Las Vegas and everybody was leaving

Las Vegas because it was shutting down I

found myself in a semi crisis situation

because flights were being canceled the

hotel told us we were gonna have to

leave and so we’re trying to figure

stuff out on the run so I like you I’m

in the midst of this figuring things out

and I’m doing it in the midst of

teaching the Word of God isn’t that how

life works sometimes you’re doing

something that’s consistent with the

word of God and there’s chaos happening

all around you and that was simultaneous

to me here just the other day and so

we’re trying to figure this thing out

when we get into situations like this

when we get into scenarios where you

know we believe in God we have a

knowledge of the Bible but then life

hits us

and not only hits us it hits everybody

around us I mean it’s hitting my family

and we’re talking to each other and I’m

calling and checking on them and they’re

worried about their father who they

keep reminding me is now in that

vulnerable age group so they’re

concerned about me and that there is the

temptation and the tendency to turn

legitimate concern into illegitimate

worry so I want to make sure we

understand the difference we ought to be

responsibly concerned because this virus

is real we ought to be concerned about

social distancing we ought to be

concerned about our loved ones being

protected we ought to be concerned about

where we go what we touch and washing

our hands because that’s responsible

concern but worry is when the situation

is controlling you and you’re no longer

controlling the situation and how you

respond to it worry is concern gone

haywire

it tells you you can’t sleep now I’m

gonna keep you up it tells you I’m gonna

make your heart palpitate it tells you

you’re gonna sweat now it begins to

dictate your well-being when that happens

you’ve crossed over from legitimate

responsible concern to illegitimate worry

if God allows for concern he does not

want us to worry because we have a father

now we talk about God but when Jesus

talked about God in the context of worry

he like he did in Matthew 6 he says

don’t worry don’t worry don’t worry he

said three times and then he says

because you have a father and if you can

think about God now in the midst of this

chaos as a father

yes he’s all-powerful he’s all that but

he’s also daddy you can take a deep

breath because that sense of his care in

the midst of crisis brings a calming

sense into your life into your emotions

and it brings down fear you know in that

same passage he makes a rather

convicting statement he says oh ye of

little faith because you’ve turned

concern into worry do not let and I’m

talking to me too because not only do I

have me my family but thousands of

people in our congregation and then the

community that we’re here to serve and

then ministering even more broadly I can

get a little shaky but Jesus told me

don’t do that don’t let it go there

because you have a father I just want

you to know that this father that we

have loves us cares about us and even

though he’s allowed this crisis because

it couldn’t happen nothing happens if it

doesn’t go through his fingers first to

look to the spiritual in the midst of

the medical and the physical what is God

saying to you individually what is he

saying to your family

what is he saying to our nation and even

our world he is speaking by the way and

the basic thing he’s saying is I need

more of your undivided attention you’ve

wandered too far from me now I’m

changing your habits I’m making you

talk to people I’m making everybody

listen to the same thing folk

talking about prayer we’re talking about

prayer before crisis has a way of

producing caring so people are caring

about one another asking about one

another we get news reports of people

trying to help one another people are

talking about unity and can we all get

along now because crisis has a way of

creating something that the absence of

crisis does not do because you can

become pretty independent when nothing

is wrong so what I want to come out of

this for me and for you and for us is to

raise the question God what are you

saying I need to adjust it in my life

because I’ve been forced now to sit home

I’ve been forced to talk to family

members that I haven’t been engaged with

yet when courage to reach out to other

church members who need a word

or some some relative that I haven’t

called in a while let me make sure they

are ok they have enough food crisis is

an opportunity for caring not for fearing

don’t worry, why? you got a daddy and your

daddy says if you put him first in the

midst of a situation that will cause you

to worry you’ll see that He can meet

your needs so do me a favor why do you have

to adjust your life on a dime because

things are changing on the dime remember

this is a time to be concerned it’s not

a time to worry