That Sunday - when the offering was processed - the pastor’s card was found there in the offering. Next to Revelation 3:20 - someone had written Genesis 3:10. Revelation 3:20 begins, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” Genesis 3:10 reads, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked…”

What causes stress in our lives? Anxiety? On the east coast they’re buying duct tape and plastic and covering windows and doors. The threat of biological terrorism has people scared of what will happen. Around here in the last couple weeks the price of gas has gone up almost 30 cents. What will happen if we go to war? What about the ordinary things of life that we all go through at home - at school - at work. How are we suppose to handle all this?

Please turn with me to Matthew 6:9-13. This morning we’re continuing our series of messages focused on living in the Kingdom of God. We’ve been looking at the Lord’s Prayer and seeing how this prayer touches our hearts and teaches us about life in God’s Kingdom.

As we’ve done the last few Sundays we’re going to read this prayer out loud together - to get it fresh in our minds. Then we’re going to go back and look at verse 11 where Jesus has a lot to say about stress and anxiety.

Let’s read together starting at verse 9: Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Once again look at verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Daily bread is the basic stuff that we need to live life. In verse 11 there are two major thoughts that are a part of this prayer for the daily things of our lives. First, Give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer acknowledging that God does provide for our daily needs.

During the Exodus - about 2½ months after the Hebrews had left Egypt - after they had passed through the Red Sea - they entered a place called the wilderness of Sin - which is on the southern Sinai Peninsula. And there - in this wilderness - the people began to grumble against Moses and Aaron.

They said things like, “We wish God would have killed us back in Egypt. At least there we had plenty to eat. There was bread and meat. But, you - Moses and Aaron have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us with starvation.”

God - being very merciful, very gracious, and very loving - told Moses what He - God - was going to do to supply the needs of His people and what the people should do. Basically, the instructions were that God was going to rain down bread from heaven. In the morning the people would find this bread spread around on the ground like little wafers. Bread that the people eventually called manna.

According to God’s instructions - each morning the people were to go out and gather up whatever bread they needed only for that day. Every sixth day the people were to gather enough bread for 2 days - the seventh day being the Sabbath - when God wouldn’t send bread and the people weren’t suppose to work or bake anyway.

Its pretty basic - gather only as much bread as you need for one day. No more - except on the 6th day. Trust God to provide.

In Exodus 16:5 - God tells Moses that His whole purpose in doing things this way is to test the people - to see if the people will follow instructions.

Now, let’s be careful here. Do you think God knew whether or not the people would follow instructions? Of course. God knows everything. The test is not for God. Its so the people - and Moses and Aaron - will learn to follow instructions.

God is God. He could have sent bread down 24/7 if He wanted to. The people could have just stepped outside their tents any old time and picked up bread whenever they wanted it. Can you imagine how easy grocery shopping would be if the food just kept landing at your front door? The point being that through all these instructions and gatherings God is going to teach the people of Israel something about Himself.

When God sent the bread the people gathered it up. True to form - some people kept more bread than they needed for just that day. Maybe they thought, “What if God doesn’t send bread tomorrow? How will we have enough to eat.” So they kept extra bread. And, the bread they kept - by the next morning became filled with maggots and smelled terrible. So, the people learned - gather just enough for today. God will provide for us tomorrow.

On the sixth day - the bread they kept according to God’s instructions - gathering enough for two days - stayed fresh - even though it was kept over night. So, the people learned. God is in control. God provides. Trust God for our daily bread.

Sometimes - in the circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in we loose sight of this truth. We need to be reminded - brought face to face with the reality - acknowledge - that God does provide. “Give us this day our daily bread” is first a prayer acknowledging that it’s God who does provide for us.

Say this with me, “God provides.”

Second, “Give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer asking God to provide for our daily needs. Someone might say, “If God is God and God knows my needs and God provides, why do I need to ask? What difference does it make? God’s going to do what He wants to do anyway.”

Turn forward with me a few verses to Matthew 6:19. Look with me at how Jesus takes this truth about asking for daily bread and applies it to our lives.

If you’ve been with us for these last two Sundays you’ll recall that the Lord’s Prayer is a part of a larger teaching that we call the Sermon on the Mount. Which is recorded in Matthew chapters 5 to 7. In that teaching Jesus is explaining what life is like in the Kingdom of God. Time and time again - in all of what Jesus is teaching in this sermon - and here in the Lord’s Prayer - Jesus keeps coming back to our hearts.

In other words - Jesus is teaching that the Kingdom of God is not about some unknowable God who does whatever He feels like doing regardless of who we are. The Kingdom of God is much closer than that. The Kingdom of God touches our hearts - our lives - the core of who we are. The Kingdom of God is about our own personal relationship with God.

Matthew 6:19 - Jesus says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

How many of you remember Jack Benny? Putting it mildly, Jack Benny had a problem letting go of money. There was a sketch where a robber comes and points a gun at Jack Benny and the robber says, “Your money or your life.” And after a long silent pause, again the robber says, “Your money or your life.” And Jack Benny says, “I’m thinking. I’m thinking.”

Money is very important to us. In the case of Jack Benny one wonders just how important money is. Money represents security - investment - influence - control.

Today, many people are concerned about what will happen to social security. How many of you have IRA’s or some kind of retirement plan? How many of you have money in the roller coaster ride we call the stock market? How many of you are putting money aside for your children to go to college? Where we live. What we drive. The schools we go to. Our occupation and earning potential. There is a prudence to the wise use of money.

But Jesus reminds us that all these things that we can place our security in - give priority to - with our thoughts and actions - are temporal - they rust - they’re easily stolen from us. What God gives us lasts forever.

Jesus is asking a hard question. “Where is your heart? In whom or what are you trusting?” Our attitude towards wealth and material things represents the priority of our hearts - the priority of our character - our will - the inner core of who we are. So we need to be very careful with the priorities of our heart especially when it comes to wealth.

Asking God to provide our daily bread changes the focus of our hearts - reorients our hearts - our focus - towards God. That’s crucial to understand. We have a choice in whom - or in what - to place our trust.

Look at verse 22. Jesus teaching about this choice we have. “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.”

The eye is another way of talking about the priorities of our heart. The eye lets light into our heart. If our eye is darkened by the wrong set of priorities - focused on trusting in the things of the world - then our hearts will be shaded in darkness - kept apart from God and His provision.

Verse 24: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

There’s that choice again.

Verse 25: “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?”

Its easy to read this and think that Jesus is talking about God providing things to eat and drink and clothing. But there’s a deeper issue here. Notice He says that “life is more than food and clothing.” He’s talking about more than the external things that we struggle to trust God for.

Jesus is dealing with our hearts - the place where we choose to trust God. Put another way, saying “don’t worry about all these things” means that we have a choice - to worry or not to worry - not to trust or to trust.

Say this with me: “I have a choice”

“Give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer of choice which comes from a heart trusting God - a heart that has learned that everything else in the world eventually comes up empty and that the only things of value come from trusting in God.

Jesus goes on - very practically. In verses 26 to 34 Jesus gives us four reasons to make the choice to trust God Notice how basic these are to the core concerns of our lives.

Verse 26: “Look at the birds of the air - Jesus is giving this sermon out on a hillside by the Sea of Galilee - thousands of people sitting around on these grassy hills - farm land near by - farmers sowing and reaping. Jesus begins to use the setting they’re in to illustrate His point. “Look at the birds of the air - Jesus perhaps pointing to a flock of birds flying by - they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns - all the things we concern ourselves with and get stressed out about - and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”

Imagine - Jesus is saying this to people who all their lives had been told that they didn’t measure up spiritually - intellectually - socially. You’re more valuable to God than these little birds. God takes care of them. God will take care of you.

We’re valuable to God. Say that with me. “I’m valuable to God.” We take care of the things we value

Reason two - verse 27: “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

When our time is up. It’s up. God knows what’s coming - what each day will bring - hardship or blessing. We don’t have the foggiest idea. But, when it comes God will be there with us.

Reason three - verse 28: “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow - look around you at the flowers of the fields - they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon - one of the richest men who ever lived - 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!”

Clothing is one of our basic needs. It represents warmth - shelter - modesty - protection. We don’t need wealth to buy clothes because God clothes us. God protects us.

Reason four - verse 31: “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the gentiles - those who do not know God - eagerly seek all these things - they’re stressed out over all these things - but, remember - God - your heavenly Father knows that you - His children - need these things.”

Food and water. We can’t live without them. God provides them for us.

Why trust God? Jesus says, “You’re valuable to God. He knows what you need. He’ll take care of you. So, choose to trust Him.”

Verse 33 - this is the bottom line of what Jesus is teaching here - verse 33: “...seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

There’s a song we used to sing when I was kid. Maybe some of you know it… The chorus goes like this: “I’ve got a mansion just over the hill top, in that bright land where we’ll never grow old; and some day yonder we will never more wander, but walk the streets that are purest gold.” Have you heard that?

That’s where we’re going. The Bible describes heaven as the place where God dwells with us - where we live forever with God - life forever in God’s Kingdom. Where God wipes away our tears. Where He has done away with death. Where God takes away our mourning - our pain. Where God meets the deepest needs of our hearts. (Revelation 21)

That’s the Kingdom we’re seeking after. That’s the priority. That’s where we choose to put our trust - in the God who provides for us now - giving us a taste of heaven today - and the God who has eternity with Him planned for each of us tomorrow.

All of which is asked for with these words, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Today, we have a great opportunity to make some serious and renewing choices about where we will place our trust - to reorientate our hearts to what is heavenly and not earthly. We have the opportunity to serve God and not money or things - to serve without worry or stress - to trust our Heavenly Father to care for us. To seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and let God take care of the rest.

_______________________