Take Care Actually Means Be Anxious and Worried

Sermon outline

Be a doer of the word by bringing your tongue under the Holy Spirit, because the words you speak at home, at work and in church set the course of your life.

1. The unstable man receives nothing

   He reads James 1 from the King James. The man who wavers is like a wave driven by the wind, moved by his emotions, his anger, his moods and his situations, and he will receive nothing from the Lord. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, so be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.

   “So in other words, an unstable man, a man that constantly is moved by his emotions, by his anger, by his moods, by situations, that man will receive nothing from the Lord.”

   • James 1:1-21

2. Be doers, not hearers only

   A hearer only is like a man who looks in the mirror and forgets himself the moment he turns away. Your ability to practise what you preach is greatly affected by your thoughts and your words, and the major conflict is taking dominion over yourself and bringing it into submission to the Holy Spirit. Many of us do not know where we are, because the words we speak do not match what we say we believe.

   “Your ability to practice what you preach is greatly affected by your thoughts and the words that you speak.”

   • James 1:22-23

3. Religion without a bridled tongue

   If a man seems religious and does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart and all he has is religion. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Behaviour can be modified, and some people know Christianity well enough to switch it on, but put them under enough pressure and you discover what is really in the heart.

   Illustration: The church voice that switches on: bless the Lord, hallelujah, I've just been praying for you, brother, the Lord is good all the time, while the heart does not believe what the mouth is saying.

   “But eventually, you put enough pressure, you put them in the right situation, then you truly discover what's in the heart.”

   • James 1:26

4. Take care is a word of fear

   His father used to point out that "take care" means to be worried, to be anxious and to have concern over a thing. It sounds sincere but it is speaking in fear, not faith. Believers must move out of the realm of accepting sickness, disease and poverty in their conversation, and out of old superstitions, because faith requires us to speak what we want to see.

   Illustration: People list "my sinus, my eczema, my asthma" as if they own them. Others keep a pregnancy hidden in the first trimester for fear of bad luck, avoid black cats and throw salt, or announce that the flu going around will reach them soon.

   “Faith requires all of us to speak what we want to see.”

   • 2 Corinthians 12:9

5. Death and life are in the power of the tongue

   A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit, including the spirit of those we love and our own. If we speak death constantly we will eat the fruit of death. You cannot have one language in church and another at home or with friends. Husbands and wives must speak faith to each other and speak the same language in front of the children, because rebellion in children is often something that was sown, and it works the other way too.

   Illustration: Building a family legacy starts with everyone in the house coming to church, no exceptions, and then family devotions, because children learn the word from devotion time and from what comes out of their parents' mouths.

   “So if we're speaking death constantly, we will eat the fruit of death. But if we speak life constantly, we will enjoy the fruits of life.”

   • Proverbs 15:4
   • Proverbs 18:21
   • Colossians 4:6
   • Ephesians 4:29
   • Joshua 24:15

6. Speak to your need from above the circumstance

   Do not talk about problems as if they are there to destroy you or about sickness and lack as if they are in control. When the rent is due, do not start phoning relatives for money; declare that God supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory, be a good steward, and ask what is in your hand to sow. To live in the economy of God while residing in the world, you have to live above the circumstance, not in it.

   Illustration: Have you actually spoken about the car you want? "Lord, I need this VW Polo, and it needs 15-inch rims."

   “You have to be living above the circumstance. You can't be living in the circumstance.”

   • Philippians 4:19

7. Psalm 23 is the language we should have

   He reads Psalm 23 and then prays it line by line as an example of appropriating the word to everyday life: provision, peace, guidance, the difficult colleague at work, the table prepared in the presence of enemies. Even if your mind and heart feel contrary to what you are reading, start doing it, and faith rises while negativity, depression, anxiety and anger leave. Let God be true and every man a liar.

   Illustration: At lunchtime, instead of TikTok, Instagram and other people's WhatsApp statuses, read Psalm 23.

   “You cannot live an earthly life and expect godly results.”

   • Psalm 23
   • Romans 3:4

In this message