Fresh Fire, Part 6: Who’s #1? (The Game Plan for Peace)
Type: Sunday Morning Service
Series: Fresh Fire
Sermon: Part 6: Who’s #1? (The Game Plan for Peace)
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
Worry convinces people they are in control, but it only delivers exhaustion and distraction. Trusting God means releasing the illusion of control and remembering that a loving Father already knows every need. When God’s kingdom comes first, peace replaces anxiety and daily life is lived one day at a time.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
The Illusion of Control and the Burden of Worry
Many people live as if their anxiety can shape the future, but worry is simply a mental exercise in futility. It focuses attention on problems that may never happen and drains emotional, physical, and spiritual strength. Instead of adding value to life, worry divides the mind and steals peace.
Why Worry Doesn’t Work
Worry cannot change outcomes, extend life, or improve circumstances. It raises stress, weakens the body, and clouds judgment. Even when real challenges come, anxiety offers no solutions and often makes situations feel heavier than they truly are.
Remembering Who God Is
God is described as a loving and responsible Father who faithfully cares for creation. If birds are fed and flowers are clothed with beauty, it is clear that people matter even more. Forgetting this truth leads to living like spiritual orphans rather than beloved children.
Faith That Reorders Priorities
When God is placed first, every other need falls into proper alignment. Faith does not deny responsibility, but it refuses to panic about tomorrow. Trust grows as attention shifts from fear to God’s promises.
Living One Day at a Time
Peace is found by focusing on today rather than borrowing trouble from tomorrow. Each day carries enough responsibility on its own, and God’s grace is sufficient for it. A life centered on God’s kingdom leads to confidence, stability, and lasting hope.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Begin by asking participants to share something they commonly worry about and how it affects them.
Read Matthew 6:25–34 aloud and discuss why Jesus connects worry with faith and trust.
Talk about practical ways worry distracts from God’s purposes and how focusing on God’s kingdom reshapes daily priorities.
Close by inviting everyone to name one worry they need to release to God this week.
Action Step: Each day this week, consciously give one specific worry to God in prayer and refuse to take it back.
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Matthew 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount, spoken to people living under Roman occupation and economic uncertainty. Daily survival depended on harvests, weather, and political stability, making concerns about food, clothing, and security very real. When Jesus addressed worry, He was speaking to an audience familiar with scarcity and fear. His words challenged cultural assumptions by presenting God as a personal Father who actively provides for His people. This teaching reframed faith not as ritual alone, but as deep trust in God’s daily care.
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Introduction: Talk about backpacks and how heavy they feel when filled with books, then explain that worry can feel like carrying a heavy backpack in our hearts.
Scripture: Read Matthew 6:26–27 together.
Craft: Have kids decorate a paper backpack and write or draw worries they want to give to God.
Game: Play a relay where kids carry a backpack and then drop it at a finish line to show letting worries go.
Discussion questions: What kinds of things make you worry? How does God help us when we’re scared?
Wrap-up prayer: Pray together, thanking God for caring for every part of their lives.
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Good morning.
How many of you are gonna watch the Super Bowl today?
Let me see.
How many of you could care less about the game?
Let me see.
I think there's more who care less.
This must be a mature church, huh?
How many of you are going to a Super Bowl party just for the food and the fellowship?
Yeah, yeah, I I I get ya I get ya.
You know what's funny is uh this afternoon primarily men but people will be yelling and screaming at a television set this evening.
And and they they will be yelling their minds out, thinking that their behavior is going to affect the outcome of the game in some way, shape, or form.
And and and I'm just as guilty of it.
I mean I have favorite sports teams and I've watched games and and I've yelled at the television thinking that the officials actually hear me
Thinking that somehow my encouragement or my anger will alter the outcome of the game in some way, shape, or form.
We call them armchair quarterbacks, right?
Now here's the reality.
Most of us are the armchair quarterback of our own lives.
We actually think that we're in control.
We actually think that by our own efforts, by our own ingenuity.
By our worrying and fears and anxieties, that we can change the outcome of some future event
And the Bible says it just ain't so.
You might be looking at me right now and saying, Pastor, do you know you have your wife's backpack on your back?
The answer is yes, because this is how most Americans live life.
They have a weight called worry resting on their shoulders.
They have a weight filled with all different kinds of things that they believe that if they just carry it
If they shoulder the burden, if they're just really strong, that they can actually make a difference in their finances, in their health, in their relationships.
Now now hear me.
I'm not talking about apathy.
I'm not talking about irresponsibility.
I'm talking about understanding that he's God and you're not.
Who can say amen?
That's all I'm talking about.
Jesus in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 presents the most
beautiful sermon that has ever been articulated in the history of humanity.
And in much of those chapters he talks about Christian values.
We value the meek.
We value those who seek after righteousness.
We value being a light to the world.
We we value certain things.
But we also have Christian behaviors like praying.
Giving, doing good to our fellow man, fasting, uh putting God number one.
And and here as we wrap up chapter six of Matthew
He says that we shouldn't ever worry.
It should never, say never.
It should never be a part of our lives.
So this is how I put it.
Number one, release the illusion of control.
Because control is nothing more than illusion.
Worry is the illusion that if I stay anxious long enough, I can control the outcome.
Worry is a sign that you think that you might have some
power over the future.
Let's be a little bit more specific.
In the dictionary, this is what it says.
Worry is a
Mental distress or an agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated
In other words, worry is about things that have not happened or may never happen.
Worry, according to one manual that I read, is not even an emotion.
I find this interesting that worry is not an emotion.
What do they say it is?
Worry, according to this manual, is a mental exercise in futility.
Think of that.
A mental exercise in futility.
And in verse 25, Jesus just
puts on the brakes in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount where he says, do this, do this, do this, do this, and he says, do not worry.
Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, not about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Well, what's interesting that do do we have that that Maslov diagram that I uh talked about Wednesday night?
Do we happen to have that?
I guess that's a no
Oh, we were supposed to have two diagrams up there today.
They didn't make There it is!
Yes!
So we talked about this Wednesday night.
And according to a famous psychologist from the 1940s, he says that we have ascending needs.
In other words, level five there at the bottom is the physiological needs, and those physiological needs are food and their drink and their clothing.
Now now look at verse 25 again.
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat.
what you will drink or about clothing.
So Jesus, it's almost like he knows that we have those needs.
It's like he knows Abraham Maslov is going to come on the scene in 1948, and he's going to come up with this idea.
And this is what he says: until you get those physiological needs met, you can't even worry about your safety needs.
It doesn't matter if you're not safe, if you're starving to death, in other words.
And then he says you can't even worry about love until your physiological and your safety are met, and then ascending all the way to self-actualization.
where you realize who you are and what your purpose in life is and all of those kinds of things.
But I created my own pyramid.
Here's my pyramid.
Who can say amen?
See, listen, listen, listen.
This is what Jesus is saying.
He's saying, I know
That you're hungry for food.
I know that you're hungry for drink, but I want to give you the secret of life.
If you put God first, say first.
If you put God first, then He will take care of your physiological, your safety, your love, your esteem, and your self-actualization.
Who can say amen?
So you don't have to worry about any of these other things because worry doesn't work.
It doesn't even work.
Look at verse 27.
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
Can you actually grow yourself?
No, they they've actually done studies where they find out that the more you worry, it can actually stunt your growth
When I was in high school, I was like the shortest guy in seventh grade.
I was the shortest guy in eighth grade.
I was the shortest guy in ninth grade.
And I would pray, God.
God, I want to play in the NBA someday.
And and a 5-1 point guard is not going to make it into the NBA.
And I would fret and I would worry about it and I'd get
frustrated and all kinds of things and then all of a sudden one day I started growing I went from 5'1 to 5'11 in about a year I just
Shut up.
I mean, I started growing and I was like, this is awesome.
I'm gonna be seven foot two
Well the scripture says which of you by wearing can add a cubit?
A cubit is is from your your fingertips until your elbow.
For me, that's about two feet.
But I stopped at 511 and all my worrying never got me another inch.
All it got me was an upset stomach and a headache.
That's all I got because worry doesn't work.
It can't add time to your life.
It can't add itches to your stature.
One study showed 92% of what human beings worry about never say never.
It never takes place.
And the few things that do, it doesn't help anyway.
Worry promises you control, but it delivers exhaustion.
Literally, unchecked worry leads to devastating consequences.
Physical, emotional, spiritual.
Worry drains your body.
The word worry comes from a German word for to choke or to strangle.
It's to cut off the airways.
And you start gasping for air.
According to most physicians, when you worry,
Stress hormones flood your system.
Fatigue increases.
Blood pressure rises.
Your immune system dips.
Worry does not add to your life, it actually takes away.
It divides your mind.
The re the root
Greek word uh uh in this particular passage for for worry is to be pulled in different directions.
Worry literally splits your focus between fear and faith.
James describes this as being double-minded.
And he says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
When you're a warrior, you're unstable in all your ways.
Warry literally sees trouble around every single corner.
There's a an old song, I think it's from the 80s now.
I can't believe I'm actually this old by Bobby McFarn.
Do you guys remember this one?
Be happy.
Or don't worry.
Be happy.
This is what a line from the song.
In every life we can have some trouble, but when you worry, you make it double.
It's true.
It's true.
Worry finally distracts you from God's mission.
Worry.
Listen to this
When God presents you an opportunity, worry is suspicious.
Worry ponders what if.
rather than what can be done.
It's always concerned about the worst case scenario.
And it literally clouds our minds and rains on our parade and paralyzes us from actually doing anything.
They tell the story of uh Apollo 13.
Maybe you watched the movie and that's one of our spaceships went out to the moon and it was having
problems and they didn't know if it was gonna make it.
And so when they landed they asked Jim Lovell if he was worried.
And this is what he said.
I was too busy fixing the problem to worry about it
We need to be too busy on God's mission to worry what could go wrong.
Who can say amen?
We're busy doing what God wants us to do.
And here's the good news: you're in control of one thing.
That's whether you worry or not.
You're in control of whether you worry or not.
Peter tells us that there is something you can do with your worry.
You can what?
Cast.
Somebody said the word cast.
Well, guess what?
I got a little football right here.
Okay?
Now let me show you what the scripture doesn't say.
The scripture does not say take the football of worry and hand it off to God your running back.
It doesn't say that that you're a defensive end and after you hand it off to God, you sneak up behind him and stripsack him and get it back.
That is not what you're supposed to do.
It says you're supposed to what what was the word?
Cast.
Do you know what that means in the Greek?
It means to hurl, to throw.
It doesn't mean that you're supposed to do just a little dabble, do you here?
How many of you, be honest?
How many of you worry about your kids?
Yeah?
Well this is what the scripture says you're supposed to do.
You're supposed to throw.
Well, she made that catch because she doesn't worry.
How many of you worry about your finances?
Anybody?
Worry about finances?
Well, guess what?
The Bible says you're not supposed to worry, you're supposed to cast.
You're supposed to throw it.
Anybody worried about your health?
If you're worried about your health, the Bible says you're not supposed to.
You're supposed to cast it on God.
Oh, look at that.
It almost bounced up there.
We don't have to carry this knapsack.
I'm gonna cast it to my wife over here, all right
You do not have to carry that burden any longer in Jesus' name.
Who can say amen?
You can give it to God today because the scripture says he cares.
for you.
That word care means thoughts.
So the more thoughts you spend on worry, the less you can think about what's really important.
Because God is already
thinking about you.
The scripture says he already knows what you have need of.
He has a plan already set aside.
So what we need to do is point number two, remember who your father is.
Remember who God is?
Matthew chapter 6, verse 26.
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
God is describing for the second time in this chapter that God is your
Heavenly Father, if you worry, you're acting like a spiritual orphan.
You are denying that God is even there.
It's practical atheism, is what one author said
Let me let me just remind you who your father is.
Number one, God is a responsible father who can say amen.
He's so responsible that Jesus actually implements or employs the stewardship of the universe to prove that God cares for you.
He says, have you ever looked at the birds of the air?
Look at the birds.
Have you ever seen a stressed-out robin before?
I mean, out there on the branch.
I wonder if there's gonna be any worms available today.
Or maybe a sparrow hoarding seed.
You know, I better hoard up, I better store up for next season.
No.
The birds know God has got their back.
Birds don't have retirement accounts, yet your heavenly father cares about them.
In verses 28 and 29, the scripture says, consider the lilies of the field.
It goes from birds to flowers.
Lilies don't have jobs, yet they're dressed better than Bad Bunny.
They're dressed better than Solomon, the scripture says.
Have you thought about that?
Who was Solomon?
Who can tell me?
Was he poor or rich?
He was the richest man that ever lived, right?
He was so rich, the scripture says that silver was considered as trash.
Go back and look it up.
It's you're you're reading this and it's like silver is trash.
Give it to me.
I'll take it, you know.
But that's what the scripture says he had so much wealth, so much abundance.
That means he had the the best clothing available for anybody.
And Jesus says, even the wildflowers are dressed better than him.
How much more will God take care of you?
You know why?
Because God loves you.
Our God is a loving father.
He takes care of nature.
He takes care of
birds he takes care of flowers how much more will he take care of his own children you are not an afterthrough
thought you are not forgotten you are extravagantly loved by God you are valued you're thought of constantly and he wants to spend as much time with you as possible who can say amen
And then I said it already, God already knows what you need.
God's not dumb.
He's wise beyond anything we could ever imagine.
He's already got the entire situation.
worked out.
The problem isn't him.
He points out that that control, when you want control, what it really is, is a faith issue.
Either you have to hold on to everything, or you trust that God is holding on to any everything
Matthew chapter 6 verse 30 says this Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
Listen, O you of
Little faith.
Oh you of little faith.
You know what he's doing?
He's teasing us.
He's teasing the disciples.
Do you remember when when they're out on the storm and Jesus goes walking on by and Peter says, let me walk on the water with you?
And Jesus says, Come on.
Peter walks out and then he he starts looking around.
He starts worrying and he sinks down and and Jesus grabs him, gets him into the boat, all of a sudden they're on the seashore, everything's done.
And he looks at his disciples and he says, Oh you of little faith, four different times he uses that phrase.
And he's not reprimanding them.
He's like looking at them because it's just two words.
It's little faiths.
That's what he's saying.
He's saying you guys are little faiths.
I I know you can be better.
I know you can be bigger.
I know you can do more.
I know there's more in you.
I made you.
You're potential.
You're made to believe.
You're made to trust me.
I'm the one who made you.
I love you.
You don't have to worry any longer.
Who can say amen?
Worry is focusing on what might happen when faith is just recognizing that it doesn't matter what happens as long as God is right there with me.
Matthew chapter 6 verses 31 and 32, 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.
Again, I need to reiterate, he's not talking about not caring about life.
He's not talking about apathy.
He's just talking about leaving tomorrow in his hands.
He's saying, you know, you can trust me with
all your tomorrows.
I will be there.
No matter what the reports are today, I've got your future in my hands.
And so Jesus concludes by simply saying, refocus on what really, really matters.
After dismantling worry and reminding us that it doesn't work.
Reminding us that God is your Father.
Jesus gives us a play that will help us to win the game every single time.
And it's found in Matthew 6, 33.
But seek first.
The kingdom of God and his righteousness.
And most things, some things,
All these things will be added to you.
Remember the the triangle I put up there.
If
God is your foundation.
If he's your number one, if he's at the at the top of the food chain, you don't have to worry about any of the other needs you have in your life.
He will
always come through in Jesus' name.
So we have to focus on God's kingdom.
God's kingdom is is life's priority.
Don't forget God's kingdom.
His values are are found in chapters 5, 6, and 7.
Meekness, gentleness, all of those types of things.
They're called beatitudes.
God's
Behaviors are also found.
Reading your Bible, giving, praying, fasting.
Seeking God's kingdom means putting first things first.
Prayer before panic.
Who can say amen?
Worship before worry.
Trust before tension.
And then focusing on God's promises.
Smack dab in the middle of this verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness.
And there's a promise.
All these things will be added.
You can trust God.
He will be there.
It's like a blank check.
You can take it to the bank.
You can cash it with him.
He will see you through.
He will take care of your finances, your physical body, your relationships, your loneliness, all of those things.
God says, give them to me.
I'll take care of it.
Yesterday I was reading my in my devotions and I and I read Psalm chapter 91 verse 4 and in the New Living Translation this is what it says His faithful promises are your armor and protection
What?
How can just a word be armor?
Yeah.
The word of God is as good as armor.
It's better.
The word of God guarantees your protection.
You can go into the middle of a
thousand-man army and if you have the promise of God you will be safe in Jesus' name because you're surrounded by his promises
By the word of the living God.
And that word is alive and active and sharper than any double-edged sword.
Penetrate to the dividing of soul and spirit and joints and morrow.
And it discerns the intents of your heart and your mind.
It can read your mind when God becomes your number one pursuit, all the other things you need in life.
Are going to be worked out.
That doesn't mean life will be easy.
Doesn't mean things will be simple.
There will be times that you need to actually stand on the promises.
There'll be times when you you have to say, you know what, it looks dire right now.
But I'm going to trust my father.
He's got my back, he's got me.
I can trust him every step of the way.
And then the last verse to me is another little jab at each of us.
Listen to what it says in verse 34.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.
For tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
In other words, we're supposed to live one day at a time.
If you have ever gone to a 12-step program, if you know anybody in the AA or celebrate recovery.
This is one of the big things that is stressed to them in their recovery.
And that is you can only
Take one day at a time.
The more you look down the road in a worrying attitude, the more danger it's going to present, the more likely you will relapse and go back to drugs or alcohol or whatever it is.
But as long as you hold on to your higher power and there's only one, God, his son Jesus Christ, who can say amen, and live one day at a time, you're going to be okay.
So this is what I want to encourage you to do the rest of today.
Enjoy good lunch.
If you're going to a Super Bowl party, make good friends.
Spend it with family.
Enjoy the food.
Root for your favorite team if you have one.
Enjoy the fellowship.
Without a doubt, choose the alternative halftime show.
Today's game is really meaningless.
It's meaningless.
There's nothing
important that will be done at that game today unless there are people evangelizing out in the parking lot.
That would be the most important thing taking place.
You might not know this, but uh the sex trade thrives during the Super Bowl.
There there are
Girls and boys being trafficked at every single Super Bowl, so it's a huge day of evil.
And so the good things that might be done during the Super Bowl is people might be getting delivered out of darkness
set free from from those types of things.
This is what I know.
One team's going to win and one team's going to lose.
But both teams are going to be worried tomorrow about next season.
Right?
Even the winners, they celebrate for one evening and then it's on to next season.
Because what have you done for me?
Lately.
Worry is a game that none of us will ever win.
So in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls a timeout.
He says, here are my values.
Here are the behaviors that will lead to fresh fire in your life.
But time out.
Don't worry.
Time out.
Don't let stress and anxiety get the best of you.
Time out.
Don't fret away your life when God's
already got it in his hands.
If you want fresh fire to burn in your life, you have to stop pouring the cold water of worry
on your your your life.
You need to not ask what if, but say even if.
What if uh it's a bad doctor's report?
So what?
Even if God still got me.
What if I lose my job?
So what?
Even if God still got me.
Amen.
Would you stand with me, please?
Listen, it was no coincidence that there was a word and an interpretation before I preached.
Guys, guys, this is so important.
God gave it to you twice.
I I'm just letting you know.
He gave it to you twice.
So if you deal with
Fear, worry, anxiety in any way, shape, or form, I need you to come down to the front right now and we're gonna pray for you.
Anybody?
I'm waiting.
If you're worried about getting a job, you should be down here.
If you're worried about a prodigal son or daughter, you should be down here.
If you've been fretting about your health, you should be down here.
You might say, Pastor, do we have to come forward?
Well, probably not.
But in moving out of that aisle, walking down.
and coming up here, you are saying, God, I'm gonna take it one day at a time.
I'm gonna give today, I'm gonna give all my worries today to you.
Keep coming, keep coming, make a little bit more room up here.
Come on in.
Come on in here
Can can you guys move this way just a little bit?
We got a bunch of people coming down the middle aisle.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
There's room over here
Come on over here.
Now this is what I need from the rest of everybody.
I need you to stretch out your hands towards these men and women.
Com
You know, I'm really proud of the young people that have come forward too.
And let me let me tell you why.
That young people today, I'm talking about elementary, middle school, and high school, face more stresses than mental patients did in the 1950s.
Our world has changed dramatically in 75 years.
years.
The childhood that many of us grew up with, it does not exist.
It's not here any longer.
And so the pressures that young people are experiencing, don't say, oh young people.
We need to be praying for them on a regular and consistent basis, okay?
And so would you stretch towards everybody that's up here?
And we're going to pray for something supernatural to take place.
Heavenly Father, we come to you right now in the name of Jesus Christ.
The name that is that is superior and above every other name.
And at the name of Jesus, every stronghold must bow its knee today in that beautiful name.
And so, Father God, worry, fear.
Fear, anxiety are all strongholds that can can take a place in our minds, Father God.
And the Bible says that that our warfare is not carnal, but
It is spiritual to the pulling down of strongholds.
So in this moment, Father God, we say no to worry.
We say no to anxiety.
We say no to fear.
And we command them to uproot from our hearts.
Minds and to be gone in the name of Jesus Christ.
We command them to back off.
We command any demonic imp or spirit that is trying to harass anyone in the body of Christ.
You have no right.
These are sons and daughters of
The living God, and because they're sons and daughters of the living God, they have a right to live in Shalom.
They have a right to live in peace, Father God.
A peace that passes all understanding.
And so, Father God, we give you our worries.
We cast them.
We throw them.
We hurl them onto your shoulders, Father God.
into your hands and we promise we're not taking them back ever again in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
So we unload them unto uh the Prince of Peace, the one who has all power and all author
Authority and Almighty and the one who will deliver us today in Jesus' holy and precious name.
So we declare freedom, we declare hope, we declare anxiety-free zones in our homes, in our cars, in our work.
Workplaces and at our schools.
And when the enemy attacks, Father God, we know that with every temptation you make a way of escape.
And it's gonna happen again and again and again in Jesus' name.
So we declare victory today, Father.
Father God, and we're gonna give you all the praise and all the glory, and together everyone says Pray Jesus, praise you, Jesus, praise you, Jesus.
The worship team is going to help you celebrate as you leave today.
You can stay with us as long as you want to.
Pastor and team, would you take it from here, please?
