WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 So there's not a lot of blanks in the verses 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:03.379 that we're going to look at today, and we're 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:07.000 just going to look at one pair of verses. So 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.740 it's going to go by, that part's going to go 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:10.179 by pretty quickly, but you will notice there 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:13.560 is quite a bit to fill in. And I'm going to be 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:16.399 filling mine in up here at the same time with 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:19.199 you, okay? So the verse, we kind of know the 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:23.160 verse a little bit. If you'll look just above 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:26.260 the crown on the right -hand side there, there's 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:29.140 a clue that I've written in. It says days of 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:34.590 the month. All the rest have. Does anybody know 00:00:34.590 --> 00:00:41.530 what the verse is based on that then? No, February 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:47.149 has 28. Say it again. 31 is correct. So the reference 00:00:47.149 --> 00:00:50.090 is Matthew 6, 31. You can put that in the top. 00:00:50.350 --> 00:00:51.950 And if you want to get ahead a little bit, you 00:00:51.950 --> 00:00:53.990 can put the 31 in the little blue box down there 00:00:53.990 --> 00:01:11.609 as well. And so, the actual verse is written 00:01:11.609 --> 00:01:14.530 out there for verse 31. And it says, therefore, 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:18.489 take no thought, saying. Anybody know what goes 00:01:18.489 --> 00:01:21.390 in there? Anybody know this verse at all without 00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:23.629 me going to the Bible and looking it up? I kind 00:01:23.629 --> 00:01:31.969 of know it from memory. Okay. It's what shall 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:37.840 we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:39.879 shall we be clothed? That's the King James Version. 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:42.579 And if you read the others, they're almost the 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.739 same. So the question is, don't worry about it, 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:48.780 don't think about it. He doesn't even say don't 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:52.659 worry, really. He says, take no thought. In other 00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:54.680 words, don't focus on it, don't think about it, 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:58.340 don't dwell on it, don't doubt it, nothing. Saying, 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:02.680 where shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.400 wherewithal shall we be clothed? That's Matthew 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:10.460 6 .31. And then he continues on in 6 .33, and 00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:11.840 this one you probably know a little better because 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:13.539 I quote it a number of times in my sermon, although 00:02:13.539 --> 00:02:15.699 I may not always give the reference. He says, 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:23.879 but seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:31.460 and all these things shall be Added unto you 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:33.719 is the actual word. Given would work as well, 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:35.379 but if you look up in the Bible, it will almost 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:39.159 certainly say added. Okay, so before we go any 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:43.240 further, when he says these things shall be added 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:50.280 unto you, what things is he talking about? Based 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:51.639 on what we just read, what he's talking about. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.500 What things? Yeah, what kind of blessings? Pretty 00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:59.280 specific, laid out there in the verse. Yep, what 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:03.139 you will eat, what you will drink, and what you'll 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:07.479 wear. Yeah, right? So your earthly needs. This 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:09.639 is in the story where he tells them don't bother 00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:12.400 taking a bunch of extra money or rations with 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:18.879 them, right? So people get worked up about where 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.500 whatever they think they're going to need is 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.169 going to come from. People get worked up about 00:03:24.169 --> 00:03:26.509 where whatever they think they're going to want 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:28.530 is going to come from. They get worked up about 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:32.650 that too. But typically needs will rock you to 00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:36.129 your core. Like if you haven't eaten in a couple 00:03:36.129 --> 00:03:37.569 of days and you don't know where you're going 00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:41.110 to get food from, you're going to get very desperate. 00:03:41.729 --> 00:03:43.610 You're going to start thinking, I've got to do 00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:47.229 something, right? Something has got to be done. 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:53.789 If you're thinking about, well, I would rather 00:03:53.789 --> 00:03:56.229 have a pink shirt to wear than a light blue shirt, 00:03:56.349 --> 00:03:58.189 and you're frustrated that you don't have money 00:03:58.189 --> 00:04:01.909 to go buy a pink shirt, I mean, that's not a 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:04.610 big deal. You might be disappointed. It might 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:06.289 affect you a little bit that you can't buy it, 00:04:06.310 --> 00:04:08.189 but it's not going to rock your world. You're 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:11.449 not going to go rob a bank or get thrown in jail 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:13.990 to try to have a pink shirt, right? But you might 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:15.689 get thrown in jail to make sure you can eat. 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:22.860 These are the basic needs, is what he's saying. 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:24.959 Don't worry about the basic needs, which are, 00:04:25.100 --> 00:04:29.399 by all accounts, more important than the things 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.500 that we want. Then what's his righteousness? 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:36.980 Take the complicated word righteousness and make 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:41.139 it simple. What is righteousness? You're explaining 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:42.879 it to a five -year -old. How would you explain 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:48.259 righteousness to a five -year -old? Being right, 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.769 doing right. Okay, but it's his righteousness, 00:04:52.050 --> 00:04:55.550 right? So it's the righteousness that is provided 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:59.589 to us by God. That becomes our top goal. So if 00:04:59.589 --> 00:05:03.389 we seek his righteousness and also seek the kingdom 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:05.050 of God, and we talked about the kingdom of God 00:05:05.050 --> 00:05:06.990 last week, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:10.629 interchangeable terms, and we seek those, the 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:12.310 kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God, what are 00:05:12.310 --> 00:05:16.029 we talking about? What did we say last week? 00:05:16.069 --> 00:05:17.910 You can go back on your worksheet from last week 00:05:17.910 --> 00:05:19.500 if you need it. What do we say the kingdom of 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:21.699 God or kingdom of heaven is? How do we define 00:05:21.699 --> 00:05:25.459 it? Anybody remember? Or do you want to look? 00:05:28.019 --> 00:05:31.819 Good thing we got cheat sheets. The kingdom of 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:37.500 heaven is what? I told you this is the noun definition. 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:51.209 Remember that? Yes. So it's the person, place, 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:56.269 or thing that is doing or in God's will. So that's 00:05:56.269 --> 00:05:59.129 the kingdom of God. So for example, if an animal 00:05:59.129 --> 00:06:01.990 were doing exactly what God wanted that animal 00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:03.430 to do, then that animal is part of the kingdom 00:06:03.430 --> 00:06:05.750 of God. If I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, 00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:08.269 exactly what God wants, then I'm part of the 00:06:08.269 --> 00:06:11.829 kingdom of God. So does that mean that any person 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:15.170 who tells the truth is part of the kingdom of 00:06:15.170 --> 00:06:23.149 God? So the action lines up, right? Except what? 00:06:23.230 --> 00:06:28.310 What's the problem? Say it again? Yeah, it does 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:31.110 not. Outside Christ, it does not line up. So 00:06:31.110 --> 00:06:34.470 we have sin already. So even now, if we tell 00:06:34.470 --> 00:06:36.310 the truth, that doesn't make us part of the kingdom 00:06:36.310 --> 00:06:38.889 of God because if we tell the truth, we're doing 00:06:38.889 --> 00:06:41.850 it for reasons that is not obedience or loyalty 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.550 to God, right? So people tell the truth all the 00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:45.509 time. Like, what time are you going to be there? 00:06:45.569 --> 00:06:46.870 I'll be there at 2 o 'clock, right? And they 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:48.629 totally intend to be there at 2 o 'clock. What 00:06:48.629 --> 00:06:50.129 color shirt was he wearing? I saw him, he was 00:06:50.129 --> 00:06:51.610 wearing a blue shirt. I mean, that's all truth. 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:54.149 And you can rightly say that all truth belongs 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:56.949 to God. But in order for truth a person speaks 00:06:56.949 --> 00:06:59.050 to actually be true, what's inside has to be 00:06:59.050 --> 00:07:03.949 true. Right? And so, the facts are still true, 00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:06.750 but it's not really truth if what's inside you 00:07:06.750 --> 00:07:09.779 is a lie. That make sense? So you don't care 00:07:09.779 --> 00:07:11.800 what God thinks. You're not doing it because 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:14.360 of God, not doing what God wants you to do. You're 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:16.720 doing it because you have other motives. And 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.220 people will do that. They'll tell you the truth 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:19.980 because they want you to hate somebody or they 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:22.000 want you to give them something or they want 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.860 you to buy their product, right? So the righteousness 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:30.220 is the righteousness provided by God for us. 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:33.079 It's rightness, if you will, being right. And 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:35.339 then the kingdom of God is the person, place, 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:39.459 or thing where Jesus is. God is in charge. All 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:40.860 right, so now we're on reflection questions. 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:43.500 So we're going to take a moment to reflect on 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:46.800 God's word. Ignore that slightly off -color box. 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:50.339 I'll come back to it. So number one, what worries 00:07:50.339 --> 00:07:53.720 are weighing on your heart today? Now, this is 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:55.100 a personal reflection. You don't have to tell 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:58.720 us what it is. Write it on the line. What bothers 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.500 you? When you stop and think about it, what makes 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:06.100 you go, ugh, I don't like that, or I'm not sure 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:09.379 what's going to happen there? And obviously it's 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:11.500 just a line, so you can maybe put a category 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:14.000 of things. You can say money things, you can 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.779 say age things, or looks things. You can put 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:19.879 a category, or you can put a brief list of three 00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:21.540 or four things that you know every time it comes 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:23.879 up in your head. When you start thinking about 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.699 it, you start to worry, bothered by it, driven 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:46.940 to action. Okay, so then what might it look like 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.159 for you to seek first the kingdom of God today? 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:55.759 So what are some examples of things? And if you 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.220 have a good one you think would be a good answer, 00:08:58.299 --> 00:08:59.820 you can just tell us it, and maybe somebody will 00:08:59.820 --> 00:09:02.500 also like your answer. So what would it look 00:09:02.500 --> 00:09:04.279 like for you to seek first the kingdom of God 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:20.720 today? Okay, so prayer would be good. Yep. I'm 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:24.279 running out of lines up here. So you take some 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:26.720 of those answers, pick some other answers, whatever, 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:28.799 and we're going to come to a list of spiritual 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:31.600 disciplines in a minute. I would submit to you 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.039 that the spiritual disciplines are all kingdom 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.580 of God stuff, and so they all work for that. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:42.019 But I also think these verses tell us to do something. 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:44.679 Remember, this is the commands and promises. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.799 That's what this whole series is about. So there's 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:51.100 a command here. Actually, there's two, really. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.000 So the first one is essentially don't worry or 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.220 don't give thought to these needs that you have. 00:09:57.820 --> 00:09:59.600 And if you're not supposed to give much thought 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:01.700 to your needs, you're probably supposed to give 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:03.379 even less thought to things that you just kind 00:10:03.379 --> 00:10:06.379 of passingly want, right? So if it's telling 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:08.580 you don't worry about finding food, then it's 00:10:08.580 --> 00:10:09.919 probably really telling you don't worry about 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.139 the color of your shirt. Does that make sense? 00:10:15.659 --> 00:10:20.570 So don't worry. Seek the kingdom, and then seeking 00:10:20.570 --> 00:10:23.289 the kingdom can be composed of all the spiritual 00:10:23.289 --> 00:10:26.970 disciplines. Number three, where have you personally 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:30.870 seen God provide for you recently? What has God 00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:35.350 done for you? You should have some examples. 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.409 Can somebody give me one? Where have you personally 00:10:38.409 --> 00:10:41.590 seen God provide for you recently? I can give 00:10:41.590 --> 00:10:45.570 you some of mine, but take a stab at it. Go ahead, 00:10:45.590 --> 00:11:04.269 Holly. Amen. Yeah. And so if God will do that, 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:08.669 will he not do the other things as well? I think 00:11:08.669 --> 00:11:11.070 Holly's testimony is to say to all of us that 00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:13.289 if we were in that same situation, we could expect 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:16.070 him to do that for us. But whatever else needs 00:11:16.070 --> 00:11:18.629 done, we can also expect him to do it. He did 00:11:18.629 --> 00:11:22.370 it. He got saved. Most of you all claim to be 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:25.779 saved. So can you say that God... provided your 00:11:25.779 --> 00:11:28.759 salvation? You could say that, right? But mostly 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.360 that's not real recent, like it's not last week. 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:39.000 Anybody else want to give us an example of something 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.320 that God has provided for you recently or how 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:50.120 God has provided for you recently? Is there an 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:55.740 example of food or money or... shelter, that 00:11:55.740 --> 00:11:59.080 you know that not just that you have it, but 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:00.820 there's some reason why you know that God provided 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:06.039 it. Anybody have an example like that? Think 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:08.899 about where you live. Is God providing that for 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:10.820 you? And how do you know specifically he's doing 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:12.480 it rather than it just sort of happened, right? 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:13.700 Because there's lost people that have houses 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:18.700 too. But how do you know that God did that? I 00:12:18.700 --> 00:12:23.720 have an example in our life. When we were living 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.379 in Michigan, the house that we were living in 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:30.519 now went into foreclosure and the bank was going 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:33.200 to take it away. And our house in Michigan was 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:34.799 in foreclosure and the bank was going to take 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.500 it away. So at that time, we had no prospects 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:39.879 of where to live. We were essentially going to 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:44.960 be homeless if they took both houses. I was working 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:50.019 part -time in the daycare and making about $300 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:53.519 a month. And Sherry was getting... Full unemployment, 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.580 that seems to be getting about $300 a week. So 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:59.519 we were making $1 ,500 a month. The mortgage 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:04.580 on our house in Michigan was $1 ,125. $1 ,125 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:08.419 a month. We were also getting food stamps. We 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:10.639 had house insurance through the government, all 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:11.960 that kind of stuff, because we didn't have any 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:17.379 income. So we were looking for a job up there. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.519 Sherry put in over 300 resumes and applications. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.320 like a 350, something like that. I put in 120, 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:27.320 I get the number because it's 126 or something. 00:13:27.419 --> 00:13:29.100 I think it was 126 resumes and applications. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:31.360 And we had a bunch of interviews, but nobody 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.559 offered a job. And I'm driving home from Bible 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:36.679 college one day, and I had just told Sherry 48 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:38.639 hours before this event that we were definitely 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:40.019 staying in Michigan. God was going to work out. 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.480 Trust the Lord. It's going to be fine. Somehow 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.860 or other, God's got a plan. I'm driving home 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:46.399 from Bible college, and God said, you're going 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:51.679 to move back to Toledo. And I said, Really? That's 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.539 totally not what I thought was going to happen. 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:55.559 And he said, you're going to move back to Toledo 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:57.500 because Stuart, which is Sherry's grandpa, is 00:13:57.500 --> 00:14:00.019 going to get sick. When he gets sick, I want 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:01.840 him to know his grandchildren before he comes 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.600 to be with me, and I want them to know him. I'm 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:06.460 like, okay, we'd never heard anything about him 00:14:06.460 --> 00:14:09.720 being sick at all. I said, okay. So I went home 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.019 to Sherry, and I said, I think God, first of 00:14:13.019 --> 00:14:14.139 all, I said, I got something to tell you. She 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:15.620 said, I got something I want to ask you. And 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:21.629 I said, well, go ahead and tell me first. She 00:14:21.629 --> 00:14:23.929 said, no, you tell me first. And finally I talked 00:14:23.929 --> 00:14:26.990 to her and you go in first. And she said, I want 00:14:26.990 --> 00:14:30.190 to put in resumes and applications for, I don't 00:14:30.190 --> 00:14:31.330 remember who went first for sure, but anyway, 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:32.929 I want to put in resumes and applications for 00:14:32.929 --> 00:14:35.570 sure in the Toledo area because I went into toledoblade 00:14:35.570 --> 00:14:37.629 .com and they have six jobs that I'd like to 00:14:37.629 --> 00:14:40.870 have. I want to put resumes in for all of them. 00:14:40.870 --> 00:14:42.750 Like some are facts, some are email. And I said, 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:44.169 okay, that's fine. And she said, what do you 00:14:44.169 --> 00:14:45.929 mean? Are you sure? Because you just said two 00:14:45.929 --> 00:14:47.230 days ago, we're definitely going to stay here. 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:48.710 God's going to take care of it. I'm like that. 00:14:49.309 --> 00:14:51.370 And I said, well, God just told me as we're driving 00:14:51.370 --> 00:14:53.529 home that we're moving back to Toledo, so that's 00:14:53.529 --> 00:14:56.690 what we're going to do. So we went to the children's 00:14:56.690 --> 00:14:58.789 workers banquet at our church at that time, and 00:14:58.789 --> 00:15:01.129 they were honoring us because we'd been bringing 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:02.870 a bunch of kids to church. Alicia was really 00:15:02.870 --> 00:15:04.750 active inviting her friends, and we had a bunch 00:15:04.750 --> 00:15:08.110 of kids coming and stuff. And we left there, 00:15:08.169 --> 00:15:10.950 came home, and of the six jobs, four of them 00:15:10.950 --> 00:15:14.360 had asked her for an interview. Before they asked 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:15.840 her for an interview, three of them went to a 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.139 second interview and two of them became job offers. 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:20.080 And one of those job offers came with a free 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.120 apartment. While both of our houses are in foreclosure. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.279 So now we know where we're going to live. So 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.299 God provided us with a house, which was really 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:31.879 an apartment to live in in Perrysburg. Now what 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:34.159 that caused was that took her out of the restaurant 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:37.519 industry and into the property management industry 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:39.950 where she's been at all this time. The effect 00:15:39.950 --> 00:15:41.490 of that has been there are several people in 00:15:41.490 --> 00:15:43.269 our church, our friends and family, stuff like 00:15:43.269 --> 00:15:44.850 that, that have gotten jobs and got into that 00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:47.370 industry and it's been all good for them, whatever. 00:15:48.590 --> 00:15:50.950 And Sherry just went back to work Thursday to 00:15:50.950 --> 00:15:53.210 her job and they're promoting her to vice president 00:15:53.210 --> 00:15:56.090 of the company that she's working for. And so 00:15:56.090 --> 00:15:59.629 her income is bigger than my income, even counting 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:03.149 New Heights and Life Station sizably. The job 00:16:03.149 --> 00:16:05.450 that she had that she's getting promoted out 00:16:05.450 --> 00:16:08.629 of to the next level normally requires a master's 00:16:08.629 --> 00:16:10.769 degree. That means you have to have six years 00:16:10.769 --> 00:16:14.529 college education to graduate. Sherry does not 00:16:14.529 --> 00:16:19.870 have a day of college. See how that works? So 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:22.190 God put her in that business and moved her up 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:23.450 through the business and put her in a job that 00:16:23.450 --> 00:16:25.610 requires a master's degree, making more money 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:27.610 than I make between Life Station and New Heights 00:16:27.610 --> 00:16:31.570 combined. And we kept our house, got it out of 00:16:31.570 --> 00:16:35.330 foreclosure. God paid off over a very short period 00:16:35.330 --> 00:16:36.549 of time. That's another story, but a very short 00:16:36.549 --> 00:16:42.259 period of time. All that debt. And we live where 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:44.059 we live and we have the family that we have, 00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:45.879 we're taking care of because God miraculously 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:50.019 intervened. You see that? And she doesn't have 00:16:50.019 --> 00:16:51.340 to work in the restaurants anymore. She would 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:52.740 work at the restaurant, she would get off at 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:54.620 4 a .m. and sometimes have to be back in at 8 00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:58.940 a .m. Now she doesn't have to do that. She works 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:01.700 daytime hours and guys get to see her. She doesn't 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:03.639 have to travel anymore for work and all that 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:07.779 kind of stuff. So that's an example. If you'd 00:17:07.779 --> 00:17:10.230 say like, For example, like you're living with 00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:14.210 family and if you're, Holly and Chris, like you 00:17:14.210 --> 00:17:15.690 guys don't really have a mortgage payment, right? 00:17:16.730 --> 00:17:20.190 That's a God thing. Because how many people don't 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:23.869 pay $800 to $1 ,200 a month for rent? In this 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:25.670 world right now, how many people don't pay that 00:17:25.670 --> 00:17:29.589 dollar a month? Not very many. Or pay a mortgage, 00:17:29.769 --> 00:17:33.440 right? Not very many. That's a God thing. And 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.119 I know it came by a certain avenue that that 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:38.759 happened, and it came with blessings and frustration, 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.279 but that's how it always is. God arranged that. 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:43.420 So then you have to think, okay, now if God did 00:17:43.420 --> 00:18:10.980 that, then what else can God do? Yeah. Yep. Yep. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.039 That's it. I'm just saying. Those are stories 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:19.859 that will... So if you know what God has done 00:18:19.859 --> 00:18:22.599 for you lately, then when you face a new challenge, 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:24.319 when you face something you're not expecting 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.539 or a question that you have you don't have the 00:18:26.539 --> 00:18:28.720 answer to, you don't have to look at what God 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.660 is going to do. You don't have to know that. 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:33.200 God knows what he's going to do. You just have 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.720 to know that he has done and he will again. He 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:39.119 does not change day by day, right? What did you 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:47.140 do to your slinky? Okay. All right. So that's 00:18:47.140 --> 00:18:50.039 the purpose of that. It helps you not focus on 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:51.599 what the outcome is going to be because you know 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:56.160 that God has already acted, okay? So here's the 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:57.920 kingdom priority challenge, and then we're going 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:00.299 on the right half of the page. This week, every 00:19:00.299 --> 00:19:02.819 time you are tempted to worry, stop and pray 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:06.240 this. Father, I trust you. Help me seek your 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:09.299 kingdom first and rest in your promises to provide. 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:13.759 God has promised to provide you with your basic 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.339 needs. I do know that sometimes people get wrapped 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:18.519 up in the wants and it makes it impossible. For 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:21.119 example, we have people at the life station who 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:24.619 are doing a lot of emergency food too. But if 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:25.900 you dig into their finances, you'll find out 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:28.559 that they spend $400 a month on cell phone bills 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.400 and another couple hundred dollars a month on 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.240 streaming services and like that. And that's 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:37.019 not really right, right? It's not our job to 00:19:37.019 --> 00:19:38.740 hunt those people down and figure out who's being 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:40.660 legit and who's not. And it's a relatively small 00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:42.579 number, but there are people that are like that. 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:46.119 I'll never forget years ago, I was planting on 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:47.960 the north end of Toledo, a church over there 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:49.799 in New Heights North. And it wound up folding 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:51.839 in to become part of another church. But anyway, 00:19:52.099 --> 00:19:54.119 there was a guy who had come and he accepted 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:56.319 Christ through the church there. And he was doing 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.640 ministry with me. And it was Christmas time. 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:01.059 And I went to his house and I was in his living 00:20:01.059 --> 00:20:02.920 room. We were just talking, praying, reading 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:08.339 the Bible. And he had a stack of video games 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:11.960 and DVDs and stuff on the floor. And I asked 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:15.240 him what it was about. And he said, well, I want 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:17.319 to be able to buy Christmas presents for my kids. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.779 So these are all the DVDs and video games and 00:20:20.779 --> 00:20:23.039 stuff that I'm taking to the store to sell. I'm 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.200 just going to take them to Allied Records and 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:26.279 sell them so I can have some money so I can buy 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:30.059 gifts for my kids. And I thought, I've never 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.220 done that in my whole life. I've never had to 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:36.339 do that. Would I do it? Absolutely. And if you 00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:38.240 look around your house and see the things that 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.180 we have, sometimes they have monetary value. 00:20:41.420 --> 00:20:43.460 And he was just thinking along the lines of he 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.680 didn't know how he was going to. So he was taking 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:48.519 part of the provision that he had, the video 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:50.500 games and DVDs that he didn't really need, and 00:20:50.500 --> 00:20:52.160 he was going to sell that so they could buy gifts 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:53.880 for his kids, which the kids probably didn't 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.119 necessarily really need the gifts either. But 00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:58.200 the point is, he didn't have the money, and so 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:00.480 he was making an arrangement to get it. And sometime, 00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:03.900 maybe God puts us in that position so we can 00:21:03.900 --> 00:21:06.339 learn our lesson. Fast forward, we provided the 00:21:06.339 --> 00:21:09.400 Christmas gifts, obviously. But the point is, 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:13.980 realize that God has provided you with an abundant... 00:21:15.849 --> 00:21:18.730 set of resources, and then you decide what you're 00:21:18.730 --> 00:21:22.190 going to do with them. Okay, so now we're over 00:21:22.190 --> 00:21:25.569 on the right side. Seek first the Matthew 6 study. 00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:31.549 I did not forget the off -color box. Okay, it's 00:21:31.549 --> 00:21:34.509 still there, so we'll come back to it. Okay, 00:21:34.569 --> 00:21:39.490 this is following along. Therefore, take no thought 00:21:39.490 --> 00:21:44.390 saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we eat? 00:21:45.019 --> 00:21:49.759 Or wherewith shall we be clothed? Right. Okay. 00:21:51.019 --> 00:21:54.799 It's actually eat, drink, clothed. Okay. Then 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.720 it says, but seek ye first the. Yeah, came of 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:05.480 God and his. Righteousness. Yep. And all of these 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:10.720 things shall be added unto you. So now. Don't 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.640 look at the verse above. Now write out the full 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:18.019 verse from memory and then compare. So do as 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:20.619 best you can to get it. You should be able to 00:22:20.619 --> 00:22:25.359 get it, at least the key points. Try not to look 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:30.079 at them. Don't just cheat and copy. I'm covering 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:59.849 mine up. I should love more space. I'm breathing 00:22:59.849 --> 00:23:19.829 in the kingdom of God. I'm squeezing it in. Did 00:23:19.829 --> 00:23:35.250 you get it? Mostly? Mostly? How'd you do, Haley? 00:23:36.210 --> 00:23:40.329 Did you mostly get it? So what are the three 00:23:40.329 --> 00:23:43.329 areas not to worry about based on this first? 00:23:45.349 --> 00:23:47.809 All right, so you could just write, do not worry 00:23:47.809 --> 00:23:50.680 about... which will eat, drink, or wear, right? 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:54.059 That would be enough for that part. And then 00:23:54.059 --> 00:24:09.019 instead, what? Do what? Starts with seek. Or 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:10.680 you could use a different word if you don't really 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:20.099 know seek well. Yep. Yep, that's it. Okay? So 00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:25.200 the commands are what? Don't worry. Seek the 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:33.799 kingdom. The promise is what? Needs. God will 00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:38.839 fulfill all your needs. Right? Okay. So now, 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:41.319 if you'll notice, here's a box. And I made this 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:43.960 for you. You can use it. You can make one just 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:45.799 like it if you want to leave this in your folder. 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:48.359 It's not hard to do. you'll notice that each 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:51.339 one of these is a spiritual discipline. There 00:24:51.339 --> 00:24:54.400 are actually more of them. Some of them you may 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:56.680 not know all that well. And so what I've done 00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:59.579 is, I think if you're seeking first the kingdom 00:24:59.579 --> 00:25:01.480 of God, based on what we said before, what Chris 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:03.240 and I were talking about back and forth a little 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:05.599 bit, we'd be practicing the spiritual disciplines. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:10.259 So you can study, and you should, every day. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.180 If you're seeking the kingdom of God, truly, 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:15.940 if that's your goal, You want to be the person 00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:17.960 that is doing what God's will is, then you want 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:19.920 to learn something from the word of God every 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:27.140 day, right? You can journal every day. Just put 00:25:27.140 --> 00:25:29.819 a note down. It doesn't have to be grand, everything 00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:31.400 that happened. When I journal, I find myself 00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:34.079 thinking like, oh, I bought it. It was blue. 00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:36.460 Oh, I ate it. It was spicy. You know, like I 00:25:36.460 --> 00:25:38.259 get into all kinds of little details and stuff 00:25:38.259 --> 00:25:39.880 like that, but you don't have to do that. You 00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:43.339 can just put, I had a good day today. So -and 00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:46.309 -so stopped by. I had a bad day today at work. 00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:48.069 It was kind of tough. Someone so yelled at me. 00:25:48.250 --> 00:25:50.769 You know, you can put just a little blurb. Those 00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:53.490 are things that in a year or 10, you will forget. 00:25:54.589 --> 00:25:56.730 But can you imagine if you had a journal like 00:25:56.730 --> 00:25:58.549 that for every day and it was just one or two 00:25:58.549 --> 00:26:01.490 lines? And then 10 years from now, you look back 00:26:01.490 --> 00:26:06.210 at that 3 ,650 pages of two lines about each 00:26:06.210 --> 00:26:09.589 of your day. How strong would your memory be? 00:26:09.930 --> 00:26:11.849 What would you be capable of as far as thinking 00:26:11.849 --> 00:26:14.250 about what God did or didn't do, what he provided 00:26:14.250 --> 00:26:18.309 or didn't provide? You can see we're missing 00:26:18.309 --> 00:26:21.670 the patterns of the Lord. We know he's good and 00:26:21.670 --> 00:26:24.410 he's doing things, but if we could journal and 00:26:24.410 --> 00:26:26.230 make entries like that, then we could look back 00:26:26.230 --> 00:26:28.230 and say, okay, God did this, did this, did this, 00:26:28.250 --> 00:26:31.349 did this. I can safely say he's going to do this 00:26:31.349 --> 00:26:33.549 every time because every time this situation 00:26:33.549 --> 00:26:35.720 ever come up, he's always done it. So I think 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:37.240 he's going to do it every time. And you look 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:38.700 in the word, you find scripture that supports 00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:41.099 it, and you know that. But we're not doing it. 00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:45.299 Prayer, which was the number one thing. And I 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:48.339 think safely you could say that it is probably 00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:53.079 the easiest. You don't need a pen. You don't 00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:58.559 need a Bible. You just talk to God. Right? So 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:00.539 if it's the easiest, why are we not doing it 00:27:00.539 --> 00:27:02.420 like all the time? What does the Bible say about 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:06.740 prayer? How often should you pray? without ceasing. 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:11.720 Like, never stop. That's what it means. We're 00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:14.839 like, oh, we can't do that, right? But you have 00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:18.099 hundreds of words of self -thought in your brain 00:27:18.099 --> 00:27:21.960 all the time. Thinking, I'm hot. I'm cold. What's 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:24.460 he talking about? I'm tired. I want to get up. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:26.079 I want to play games. I want to play with this 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:27.480 toy. I want to do that. I want to do that. I 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:28.799 want to do that. All those things in your head 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:31.500 all the time. All you have to do is take 10 % 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:33.779 of the words that are going through your head 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:36.660 all the time and dedicate them to God. What do 00:27:36.660 --> 00:27:39.720 you think, God? Should I do this? Am I really 00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:42.500 this? Is this really happening? And just continually 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:44.480 talking to God the same time you're doing everything 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.079 else. We do it all the time. You drive your car 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:49.200 and you talk to people you're riding with, right? 00:27:53.140 --> 00:27:55.119 Play softball, talk to the person in the field 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:57.259 next to you. You watch TV and talk about the 00:27:57.259 --> 00:27:59.490 show. So we always multitask. We do it all the 00:27:59.490 --> 00:28:01.390 time. So we can talk to God in our heads about 00:28:01.390 --> 00:28:03.529 anything all the time. And according to what 00:28:03.529 --> 00:28:05.210 the Bible says, Paul says we can learn to do 00:28:05.210 --> 00:28:08.289 it nonstop. Certainly should be doing it every 00:28:08.289 --> 00:28:10.170 day. And I would submit to you as much as we 00:28:10.170 --> 00:28:13.390 can of every day. Then worship. And that's not 00:28:13.390 --> 00:28:15.829 just for Sundays and Tuesdays. It should be every 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:18.549 day. Declaring the worth of God through song, 00:28:18.549 --> 00:28:23.329 dance, poetry, art, right? So Haley, you do a 00:28:23.329 --> 00:28:24.750 lot of art. How many times when you're doing 00:28:24.750 --> 00:28:38.380 art are you thinking about God? Yeah? Yeah? So 00:28:38.380 --> 00:28:39.759 you're listening to Christian music while you're 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:45.420 drawing? Does that seem to, like, sink in? There 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:50.480 you go. So that makes your art a form of worship 00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.700 because you chose to do that. Because you could 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:55.980 be listening to hard rock or drug crap or, you 00:28:55.980 --> 00:28:58.799 know, nastiness. You don't want to do that because 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:00.839 of the kind of person that you are. But you think 00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:02.440 there are people out there that are artists that 00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:05.809 are doing that? You better believe it. I don't 00:29:05.809 --> 00:29:07.390 know what percentage it is, but I guarantee you 00:29:07.390 --> 00:29:09.930 it's not a small percent, right? Because people 00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:13.349 surround themselves or enjoy what it is that 00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:16.650 they like. And so people like drugs or drug culture. 00:29:17.049 --> 00:29:18.769 And when they listen to music, they listen to 00:29:18.769 --> 00:29:21.710 drug music. And when they are doing art and they're 00:29:21.710 --> 00:29:22.829 listening to music while they're doing art, they 00:29:22.829 --> 00:29:24.049 listen to drug music while they're doing art. 00:29:24.289 --> 00:29:29.950 Make sense? Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's 00:29:29.950 --> 00:29:32.490 a trick, right? It's really Satan. It's really 00:29:32.490 --> 00:29:35.279 the devil. All of false worship. essentially 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:37.960 arrives at one place. Okay, so I have to go down 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:39.440 through all these, sharing the gospel, that's 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.039 talking to somebody about Jesus. You should try 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:44.420 to do that every day. Serve and give, try to 00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:46.859 do that every day. Intake the word, that means 00:29:46.859 --> 00:29:50.519 add Bible to yourself. Try to do that every day. 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:52.980 Memorize scripture, do it every day. I'll bet 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:55.579 you there's on this list there three or four 00:29:55.579 --> 00:29:58.460 or maybe six that you can say, well, I do that 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:01.039 a couple times a week. You mean I'm supposed 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:04.279 to do it every day? Yeah, that's exactly what 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:06.619 I'm saying. If you're seeking first the kingdom 00:30:06.619 --> 00:30:08.799 of God. So you should memorize Bible before you 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:12.099 turn on the TV. You should share the gospel before 00:30:12.099 --> 00:30:15.660 you talk about football. You should worship God 00:30:15.660 --> 00:30:17.740 before you listen to any other kind of music 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:20.380 or whatever you're walking in the wilderness. 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:22.799 The songs that come to your mouth should be songs 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:26.880 of praise for the Lord. Right? Okay. Then we're 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.039 on prayer focus. Write a personal prayer based 00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:34.750 on Matthew 6, 31 and 33. In your prayer, you're 00:30:34.750 --> 00:30:36.930 trying to ask God to help you seek him first 00:30:36.930 --> 00:30:40.109 and trust his provision. Remember we said that 00:30:40.109 --> 00:30:41.950 at the bottom, Father, I trust you help me seek 00:30:41.950 --> 00:30:43.950 your kingdom first and rest in your promise to 00:30:43.950 --> 00:30:46.349 provide. So you want to put a prayer down there 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:48.650 that you could pray your own words, not big words 00:30:48.650 --> 00:30:53.650 like promise and or not concepts like and rest 00:30:53.650 --> 00:30:56.630 in your promise. But what would you say? You 00:30:56.630 --> 00:30:58.589 want to talk to God, write a prayer there that 00:30:58.589 --> 00:31:03.950 you would say to God about. Seeking him and his 00:31:03.950 --> 00:31:09.990 provision. What does it look like for you? I'm 00:31:09.990 --> 00:31:26.190 doing it too. Nothing says you have to take up 00:31:26.190 --> 00:31:27.789 all the lines as long as you've accomplished 00:31:27.789 --> 00:31:29.250 whatever in your prayer. It doesn't have to be 00:31:29.250 --> 00:31:50.079 a long prayer. topic to get off on, but I do 00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:53.240 recommend to get distracted onto, but I do recommend 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:54.900 that you end your prayer with, in Jesus' name, 00:31:54.980 --> 00:32:01.160 amen. Okay, so we're almost there. There's one 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:03.740 part of the verse that we didn't focus on. What 00:32:03.740 --> 00:32:06.099 was it? The verse was, therefore take no thought, 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:09.059 saying, what shall I eat, what shall I drink, 00:32:09.099 --> 00:32:11.220 or wherewith shall we be clothed? So what part 00:32:11.220 --> 00:32:15.799 did we not talk about? And there's a clue on 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:24.599 the paper for you next. What do the blue letters 00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:27.880 look like they might spell? Therefore. We didn't 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:30.339 talk about the therefore. So what is the therefore? 00:32:31.460 --> 00:32:33.680 Remember, whenever there's a therefore, you should 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.720 always ask yourself, what's the therefore therefore? 00:32:36.700 --> 00:32:39.859 Right? So what was he talking about? And so if 00:32:39.859 --> 00:32:42.380 you go to the previous verse, so the book is 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:46.559 going to be, start with an M, Matthew chapter 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:50.960 6, and it's the previous verse. So if it's the 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:55.069 previous verse, It must be verse 30. Very good. 00:32:55.829 --> 00:33:01.029 Okay. And Matthew 6, 30 says, I'll get there. 00:33:01.109 --> 00:33:27.880 I'm almost there. That is not what I expected. 00:33:28.019 --> 00:33:52.920 Okay. So go ahead and read it. Yep. Yeah. Okay. 00:33:55.460 --> 00:33:59.319 All right. So that, I know where I went wrong 00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:02.160 with my little reference there. Okay, so cross 00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:07.779 out 30 and put 24. So all of the, everything 00:34:07.779 --> 00:34:13.019 that's 25 through 30 is explaining 24. Okay, 00:34:13.079 --> 00:34:15.460 so now we're going to read 24. That's where I 00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:17.300 went wrong. I had to look it up on my notes. 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:22.579 Okay, so 24 actually says, No one can serve two 00:34:22.579 --> 00:34:25.659 masters, since either he will hate one and love 00:34:25.659 --> 00:34:28.699 the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise 00:34:28.699 --> 00:34:31.579 the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:47.480 Okay? And so, a man cannot have what? There's 00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:50.639 no blanks. Just finish it. A man cannot have 00:34:50.639 --> 00:35:00.519 two gods. Very good. So really, when we're talking 00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:03.800 about food, if you just have what, you'll have 00:35:03.800 --> 00:35:06.920 food. Money. We're talking about what you wear. 00:35:07.099 --> 00:35:09.460 If you just have plenty of money, you won't worry 00:35:09.460 --> 00:35:11.219 about what you're going to wear. You can wear 00:35:11.219 --> 00:35:13.380 whatever you want. Just go buy it. Or make it. 00:35:13.420 --> 00:35:15.239 Buy the machines and make it yourself if you 00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:18.079 have enough money. And so on. So then he gets 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:20.619 into, he talks about how, consider the birds 00:35:20.619 --> 00:35:23.380 of the sky. They don't sow or reap. Can any of 00:35:23.380 --> 00:35:25.920 you add one moment to his life by worrying? All 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:28.340 of that is an explanation all the way down to 00:35:28.340 --> 00:35:32.880 verse 31. So he says, so don't worry. So I submit 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:39.760 to you that much worry arises out of coveting 00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:45.599 money. Much worry. Because let's say you're a 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:48.079 multi -billionaire and you run into a company 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.460 that's doing something you don't like. Like Twitter. 00:35:53.420 --> 00:36:00.610 What do you do? Just buy it. That's what Elon 00:36:00.610 --> 00:36:05.210 Musk did, right? So if you have enough money, 00:36:05.329 --> 00:36:10.230 all worldly problems are solved by money. So 00:36:10.230 --> 00:36:13.349 if you allow your problems to be worldly, then 00:36:13.349 --> 00:36:15.449 you're going to think that your solution is going 00:36:15.449 --> 00:36:18.590 to be money. Does that make sense? But kingdom 00:36:18.590 --> 00:36:21.110 problems are not solved by money. How much money 00:36:21.110 --> 00:36:22.789 do you have to put in the offering plate to be 00:36:22.789 --> 00:36:28.590 allowed to go to heaven? To be allowed to go 00:36:28.590 --> 00:36:30.469 to heaven? I would think it would be more than 00:36:30.469 --> 00:36:35.610 that. What? There is no amount, right? You could 00:36:35.610 --> 00:36:37.050 put all your money in the offering plate and 00:36:37.050 --> 00:36:38.550 it wouldn't be enough. You could put all your 00:36:38.550 --> 00:36:39.829 money in the offering plate and all the money 00:36:39.829 --> 00:36:41.710 that you can ever get in all your lifetime stealing 00:36:41.710 --> 00:36:43.989 from everybody you can possibly steal from, working 00:36:43.989 --> 00:36:47.389 90 hours a week, it'll never be enough. Why? 00:36:47.530 --> 00:36:49.550 Because you sinned against God and the righteous 00:36:49.550 --> 00:36:52.429 wages of sinning against God is death, separation 00:36:52.429 --> 00:36:55.860 from God. What's serving? How much do you have 00:36:55.860 --> 00:36:58.159 to serve to be allowed to go to heaven? Well, 00:36:58.159 --> 00:36:59.940 there's no amount that you can serve to be allowed 00:36:59.940 --> 00:37:02.340 to go to heaven. These things are not to go to 00:37:02.340 --> 00:37:05.860 heaven. We go to heaven because of Jesus. So 00:37:05.860 --> 00:37:08.179 the spiritual disciplines have a purpose. What 00:37:08.179 --> 00:37:11.019 are the spiritual disciplines? Purpose. What 00:37:11.019 --> 00:37:13.280 are we accomplishing? When we pray, what are 00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.599 we doing, Chris? What do we get out of it? What's 00:37:16.599 --> 00:37:22.769 the goal? Yeah, that's ultimately the goal. So 00:37:22.769 --> 00:37:29.630 how do we get that by praying? It is God's will 00:37:29.630 --> 00:37:32.510 that he would save us. That's right. So we pray 00:37:32.510 --> 00:37:36.030 for his will to be done. We pray for Jesus as 00:37:36.030 --> 00:37:38.869 Lord and Savior. We're dedicating ourselves to 00:37:38.869 --> 00:37:41.809 God theoretically over and over and over again. 00:37:41.809 --> 00:37:43.650 That's why I say you should pray in Jesus' name. 00:37:43.690 --> 00:37:46.309 Amen. So we are serving the Lord over and over 00:37:46.309 --> 00:37:49.469 and over again. There are people who have served. 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:52.820 tens of thousands of hours volunteering in their 00:37:52.820 --> 00:37:55.079 lifetime and they're going to hell because they 00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:57.360 don't know Jesus, right? They're condemned already 00:37:57.360 --> 00:37:58.980 by what they have done with the son of God. That's 00:37:58.980 --> 00:38:01.579 John 3, 17. So it all comes about whether you 00:38:01.579 --> 00:38:03.880 go through Jesus. So the purpose of the spiritual 00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:07.239 disciplines is not to get us saved. It is to 00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:12.119 draw close to God, okay? So we say, if God is 00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:15.460 like this and we enact these spiritual disciplines 00:38:15.460 --> 00:38:17.940 that make us more like that and do the things 00:38:17.940 --> 00:38:20.110 that God would want us to do, What is the kingdom 00:38:20.110 --> 00:38:22.909 of God? It's a person, place, or thing that's 00:38:22.909 --> 00:38:25.550 doing God's will, right? So if we are doing God's 00:38:25.550 --> 00:38:27.449 will, then that is going to be the kingdom of 00:38:27.449 --> 00:38:29.550 God. But you can't get in the kingdom of God 00:38:29.550 --> 00:38:31.130 unless you have your sin dealt with first. That's 00:38:31.130 --> 00:38:35.190 dealt with by Jesus, okay? So we cannot have 00:38:35.190 --> 00:38:40.050 an extra God. So if somebody's worried, anxious, 00:38:40.110 --> 00:38:42.550 upset, mad about something, and it isn't about 00:38:42.550 --> 00:38:46.710 money, then what is it about? Let's say I told 00:38:46.710 --> 00:38:49.340 Chris that... I didn't like the way he dressed. 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.280 And, you know, he can't come in here anymore 00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:56.440 like that. And he goes away and he's pretty upset. 00:38:56.900 --> 00:38:58.739 He's like, hey, I'm wearing my Christian t -shirt. 00:38:58.860 --> 00:39:00.579 It's the same I dressed last week. Whatever, 00:39:00.739 --> 00:39:03.480 I'm dressed fine. Everybody's dressed fine. What's 00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:05.099 your problem with me today, right? And he starts 00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:07.079 to get a little worked up about that. Is it about 00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:10.119 money? Because he could dress differently. He 00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:12.480 probably has other clothes. It's not about money, 00:39:12.559 --> 00:39:15.460 right? And besides, I'm being unreasonable anyway. 00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:17.739 So he doesn't need money to buy different clothes 00:39:17.739 --> 00:39:20.599 because his clothes are fine. So what's it about? 00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:24.039 What's the problem? If he goes home and he's 00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:26.480 threatened, worried, upset, angry about the fact 00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:30.320 that I said that, what's the problem? It's not 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:34.400 money now. It's different. Say it again. Okay, 00:39:34.619 --> 00:39:37.239 right. So it becomes a heart problem because 00:39:37.239 --> 00:39:39.980 you ran into somebody that was being stupid. 00:39:40.440 --> 00:39:44.500 I said something dumb, right? I'm wrong. And 00:39:44.500 --> 00:39:46.460 you're home spreading about it. So what should 00:39:46.460 --> 00:39:50.719 you do? Okay, you start by praying. You practice 00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:52.400 spiritual disciplines. You draw close to God. 00:39:52.820 --> 00:39:54.780 After you consult the word, what does the word 00:39:54.780 --> 00:39:56.940 tell you to do if you know a brother has sinned? 00:39:59.659 --> 00:40:06.559 Before that. Say it again. Yep. Talk to him. 00:40:06.619 --> 00:40:08.579 That's right. One -on -one. And then if that 00:40:08.579 --> 00:40:10.760 doesn't work, then with one or two others. And 00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:12.539 if that doesn't work, then you bring it to the 00:40:12.539 --> 00:40:15.260 church. Right? And that's how it's done. So when 00:40:15.260 --> 00:40:17.280 you're home, fretting and worrying about the 00:40:17.280 --> 00:40:19.460 fact that Pastor Dan said something stupid, what 00:40:19.460 --> 00:40:21.179 you're supposed to be doing is setting up a time 00:40:21.179 --> 00:40:24.340 to come and confront me. That make sense? But 00:40:24.340 --> 00:40:25.860 you're not willing to do that. So if you're not 00:40:25.860 --> 00:40:27.940 willing to do that, as Tommy said, it's the condition 00:40:27.940 --> 00:40:30.679 of your heart, which is to say that your heart 00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:32.460 is focused on something else. So it could be 00:40:32.460 --> 00:40:35.559 appearances. So I don't want to go and talk to 00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:36.880 him because I'm afraid of what I'll look like. 00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:40.440 It could be fear in the sense of like, oh, we're 00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:43.239 going to argue. I don't want the outcome. I don't 00:40:43.239 --> 00:40:46.099 want to argue. I don't want struggle or drama 00:40:46.099 --> 00:40:48.440 or any of that. I don't want any of that. So 00:40:48.440 --> 00:40:51.000 if God tells you what you have to do, and you're 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:54.019 supposed to do it, you have to do it. So it's 00:40:54.019 --> 00:40:57.840 really rebellion then. So there are other gods 00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:00.980 other than just money. And Jesus is saying, you 00:41:00.980 --> 00:41:03.599 cannot have multiple gods. You can only have 00:41:03.599 --> 00:41:07.739 one. And so if you just have one, then you will 00:41:07.739 --> 00:41:10.139 practice spiritual disciplines. And you will 00:41:10.139 --> 00:41:11.619 not worry about where your food's going to come 00:41:11.619 --> 00:41:12.880 from. You'll not worry where your drink's going 00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:14.980 to come from. You'll not worry about how you're 00:41:14.980 --> 00:41:18.139 going to dress. God will give you all of that. 00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:21.280 As Holly said, he will fulfill all your needs 00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:25.300 in time. So there's a list there on your page. 00:41:25.420 --> 00:41:26.860 I assume you already filled this out, Kashan. 00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:30.920 Okay, so ways that people allow money to become 00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:35.199 a master in their lives. Give me one. They do 00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:38.539 what with it? Yes. So they start thinking, I 00:41:38.539 --> 00:41:40.039 won't be happy unless I have money. And if I 00:41:40.039 --> 00:41:42.139 have money, I should be happy. That's a good 00:41:42.139 --> 00:41:48.780 example. What's another one? Yes. A ton of overtime. 00:41:49.159 --> 00:41:52.780 I'm going to get that money. They call it the 00:41:52.780 --> 00:41:55.559 hustle. I'm going to do the necessary hustle 00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:59.300 to get where I want to be. And you see dads that 00:41:59.300 --> 00:42:02.900 are completely absent. A kid's got a nice house 00:42:02.900 --> 00:42:06.320 and a car, but he's got no dad. Right? That kind 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:09.219 of thing. Okay, give me one that's uncustomary. 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:14.320 Like that doesn't fit the mold. I'll give you 00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:19.619 an example. People allow money to become a master 00:42:19.619 --> 00:42:25.619 in their lives by spending money. So how does 00:42:25.619 --> 00:42:30.960 that work? So people are living at their house 00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:32.960 and they're going online and they're ordering 00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:35.380 stuff. And they're not happy unless packages 00:42:35.380 --> 00:42:42.039 are arriving. Yep. So they watch TV. Oh, yeah, 00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:44.340 that's such the coolest thing. And they're right 00:42:44.340 --> 00:42:45.820 on the phone or right on the internet ordering 00:42:45.820 --> 00:42:50.699 it. Right? So spending money. How about the opposite? 00:42:53.860 --> 00:42:57.579 Saving money. So some people think you can't 00:42:57.579 --> 00:43:00.780 spend money. You have to be a miser. Pinch pennies. 00:43:01.659 --> 00:43:04.159 I was guilty of this myself as a lost person 00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:08.699 and even early on in my Christian walk. I would 00:43:08.699 --> 00:43:11.260 not spend even when I needed to. Even when it 00:43:11.260 --> 00:43:13.199 was the right thing to do, I would resist spending. 00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:16.760 I was stuck resisting spending. Guess what? In 00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:19.519 every husband and wife couple, one person winds 00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:22.199 up taking on the role of spender and one person 00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:25.760 winds up taking on the role of saver. And both 00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:30.550 are wrong. That's the problem. But when they're 00:43:30.550 --> 00:43:32.650 together, when they start working together and 00:43:32.650 --> 00:43:34.750 they realize there is a way for us to submit 00:43:34.750 --> 00:43:37.670 the total sum of our money to God, then they 00:43:37.670 --> 00:43:39.429 can both be right. They're both wrong to start 00:43:39.429 --> 00:43:42.989 with. She spends too much money. He saves, he 00:43:42.989 --> 00:43:45.230 never wants to spend any money at all. Or vice 00:43:45.230 --> 00:43:49.269 versa. Right? And every couple has one spender 00:43:49.269 --> 00:43:53.449 and one saver and both are wrong. That make sense? 00:43:53.969 --> 00:43:57.360 And so... So sometimes we think we have freedom 00:43:57.360 --> 00:43:58.920 because we can spend. We think we have freedom 00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:01.300 because we can save. You have freedom in Christ 00:44:01.300 --> 00:44:03.019 and Christ alone. And then the bottom right -hand 00:44:03.019 --> 00:44:06.699 corner, did you finish this part too? Don't worry. 00:44:08.940 --> 00:44:10.679 What does the blank say? Say it again, Natalie. 00:44:12.320 --> 00:44:15.679 Seek the kingdom of God. Okay? So the answer 00:44:15.679 --> 00:44:17.679 to this, the solution to all of it is simply, 00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:20.000 so here's what I'm saying to you. If your money 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:23.139 is interfering with you being... If you're wealthy 00:44:23.139 --> 00:44:24.719 and your money's interfering with you being in 00:44:24.719 --> 00:44:30.360 the kingdom of God, get rid of it. If your tastes... 00:44:30.360 --> 00:44:34.300 I had a young brother who got saved, and then 00:44:34.300 --> 00:44:36.480 his tastes were interfering with his ability 00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:38.900 to follow God. He said, I will only ever wear 00:44:38.900 --> 00:44:43.360 designer clothes. Got to be the top brands. I'll 00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:49.579 never wear anything else. And I said, money is 00:44:49.579 --> 00:44:53.889 an idol to you. You've got to let it go. Alright, 00:44:54.329 --> 00:44:56.110 we're running out of time.