So there's not a lot of blanks in the verses
that we're going to look at today, and we're
just going to look at one pair of verses. So
it's going to go by, that part's going to go
by pretty quickly, but you will notice there
is quite a bit to fill in. And I'm going to be
filling mine in up here at the same time with
you, okay? So the verse, we kind of know the
verse a little bit. If you'll look just above
the crown on the right -hand side there, there's
a clue that I've written in. It says days of
the month. All the rest have. Does anybody know
what the verse is based on that then? No, February
has 28. Say it again. 31 is correct. So the reference
is Matthew 6, 31. You can put that in the top.
And if you want to get ahead a little bit, you
can put the 31 in the little blue box down there
as well. And so, the actual verse is written
out there for verse 31. And it says, therefore,
take no thought, saying. Anybody know what goes
in there? Anybody know this verse at all without
me going to the Bible and looking it up? I kind
of know it from memory. Okay. It's what shall
we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? That's the King James Version.
And if you read the others, they're almost the
same. So the question is, don't worry about it,
don't think about it. He doesn't even say don't
worry, really. He says, take no thought. In other
words, don't focus on it, don't think about it,
don't dwell on it, don't doubt it, nothing. Saying,
where shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or
wherewithal shall we be clothed? That's Matthew
6 .31. And then he continues on in 6 .33, and
this one you probably know a little better because
I quote it a number of times in my sermon, although
I may not always give the reference. He says,
but seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be Added unto you
is the actual word. Given would work as well,
but if you look up in the Bible, it will almost
certainly say added. Okay, so before we go any
further, when he says these things shall be added
unto you, what things is he talking about? Based
on what we just read, what he's talking about.
What things? Yeah, what kind of blessings? Pretty
specific, laid out there in the verse. Yep, what
you will eat, what you will drink, and what you'll
wear. Yeah, right? So your earthly needs. This
is in the story where he tells them don't bother
taking a bunch of extra money or rations with
them, right? So people get worked up about where
whatever they think they're going to need is
going to come from. People get worked up about
where whatever they think they're going to want
is going to come from. They get worked up about
that too. But typically needs will rock you to
your core. Like if you haven't eaten in a couple
of days and you don't know where you're going
to get food from, you're going to get very desperate.
You're going to start thinking, I've got to do
something, right? Something has got to be done.
If you're thinking about, well, I would rather
have a pink shirt to wear than a light blue shirt,
and you're frustrated that you don't have money
to go buy a pink shirt, I mean, that's not a
big deal. You might be disappointed. It might
affect you a little bit that you can't buy it,
but it's not going to rock your world. You're
not going to go rob a bank or get thrown in jail
to try to have a pink shirt, right? But you might
get thrown in jail to make sure you can eat.
These are the basic needs, is what he's saying.
Don't worry about the basic needs, which are,
by all accounts, more important than the things
that we want. Then what's his righteousness?
Take the complicated word righteousness and make
it simple. What is righteousness? You're explaining
it to a five -year -old. How would you explain
righteousness to a five -year -old? Being right,
doing right. Okay, but it's his righteousness,
right? So it's the righteousness that is provided
to us by God. That becomes our top goal. So if
we seek his righteousness and also seek the kingdom
of God, and we talked about the kingdom of God
last week, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven,
interchangeable terms, and we seek those, the
kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God, what are
we talking about? What did we say last week?
You can go back on your worksheet from last week
if you need it. What do we say the kingdom of
God or kingdom of heaven is? How do we define
it? Anybody remember? Or do you want to look?
Good thing we got cheat sheets. The kingdom of
heaven is what? I told you this is the noun definition.
Remember that? Yes. So it's the person, place,
or thing that is doing or in God's will. So that's
the kingdom of God. So for example, if an animal
were doing exactly what God wanted that animal
to do, then that animal is part of the kingdom
of God. If I'm doing what I'm supposed to do,
exactly what God wants, then I'm part of the
kingdom of God. So does that mean that any person
who tells the truth is part of the kingdom of
God? So the action lines up, right? Except what?
What's the problem? Say it again? Yeah, it does
not. Outside Christ, it does not line up. So
we have sin already. So even now, if we tell
the truth, that doesn't make us part of the kingdom
of God because if we tell the truth, we're doing
it for reasons that is not obedience or loyalty
to God, right? So people tell the truth all the
time. Like, what time are you going to be there?
I'll be there at 2 o 'clock, right? And they
totally intend to be there at 2 o 'clock. What
color shirt was he wearing? I saw him, he was
wearing a blue shirt. I mean, that's all truth.
And you can rightly say that all truth belongs
to God. But in order for truth a person speaks
to actually be true, what's inside has to be
true. Right? And so, the facts are still true,
but it's not really truth if what's inside you
is a lie. That make sense? So you don't care
what God thinks. You're not doing it because
of God, not doing what God wants you to do. You're
doing it because you have other motives. And
people will do that. They'll tell you the truth
because they want you to hate somebody or they
want you to give them something or they want
you to buy their product, right? So the righteousness
is the righteousness provided by God for us.
It's rightness, if you will, being right. And
then the kingdom of God is the person, place,
or thing where Jesus is. God is in charge. All
right, so now we're on reflection questions.
So we're going to take a moment to reflect on
God's word. Ignore that slightly off -color box.
I'll come back to it. So number one, what worries
are weighing on your heart today? Now, this is
a personal reflection. You don't have to tell
us what it is. Write it on the line. What bothers
you? When you stop and think about it, what makes
you go, ugh, I don't like that, or I'm not sure
what's going to happen there? And obviously it's
just a line, so you can maybe put a category
of things. You can say money things, you can
say age things, or looks things. You can put
a category, or you can put a brief list of three
or four things that you know every time it comes
up in your head. When you start thinking about
it, you start to worry, bothered by it, driven
to action. Okay, so then what might it look like
for you to seek first the kingdom of God today?
So what are some examples of things? And if you
have a good one you think would be a good answer,
you can just tell us it, and maybe somebody will
also like your answer. So what would it look
like for you to seek first the kingdom of God
today? Okay, so prayer would be good. Yep. I'm
running out of lines up here. So you take some
of those answers, pick some other answers, whatever,
and we're going to come to a list of spiritual
disciplines in a minute. I would submit to you
that the spiritual disciplines are all kingdom
of God stuff, and so they all work for that.
But I also think these verses tell us to do something.
Remember, this is the commands and promises.
That's what this whole series is about. So there's
a command here. Actually, there's two, really.
So the first one is essentially don't worry or
don't give thought to these needs that you have.
And if you're not supposed to give much thought
to your needs, you're probably supposed to give
even less thought to things that you just kind
of passingly want, right? So if it's telling
you don't worry about finding food, then it's
probably really telling you don't worry about
the color of your shirt. Does that make sense?
So don't worry. Seek the kingdom, and then seeking
the kingdom can be composed of all the spiritual
disciplines. Number three, where have you personally
seen God provide for you recently? What has God
done for you? You should have some examples.
Can somebody give me one? Where have you personally
seen God provide for you recently? I can give
you some of mine, but take a stab at it. Go ahead,
Holly. Amen. Yeah. And so if God will do that,
will he not do the other things as well? I think
Holly's testimony is to say to all of us that
if we were in that same situation, we could expect
him to do that for us. But whatever else needs
done, we can also expect him to do it. He did
it. He got saved. Most of you all claim to be
saved. So can you say that God... provided your
salvation? You could say that, right? But mostly
that's not real recent, like it's not last week.
Anybody else want to give us an example of something
that God has provided for you recently or how
God has provided for you recently? Is there an
example of food or money or... shelter, that
you know that not just that you have it, but
there's some reason why you know that God provided
it. Anybody have an example like that? Think
about where you live. Is God providing that for
you? And how do you know specifically he's doing
it rather than it just sort of happened, right?
Because there's lost people that have houses
too. But how do you know that God did that? I
have an example in our life. When we were living
in Michigan, the house that we were living in
now went into foreclosure and the bank was going
to take it away. And our house in Michigan was
in foreclosure and the bank was going to take
it away. So at that time, we had no prospects
of where to live. We were essentially going to
be homeless if they took both houses. I was working
part -time in the daycare and making about $300
a month. And Sherry was getting... Full unemployment,
that seems to be getting about $300 a week. So
we were making $1 ,500 a month. The mortgage
on our house in Michigan was $1 ,125. $1 ,125
a month. We were also getting food stamps. We
had house insurance through the government, all
that kind of stuff, because we didn't have any
income. So we were looking for a job up there.
Sherry put in over 300 resumes and applications.
like a 350, something like that. I put in 120,
I get the number because it's 126 or something.
I think it was 126 resumes and applications.
And we had a bunch of interviews, but nobody
offered a job. And I'm driving home from Bible
college one day, and I had just told Sherry 48
hours before this event that we were definitely
staying in Michigan. God was going to work out.
Trust the Lord. It's going to be fine. Somehow
or other, God's got a plan. I'm driving home
from Bible college, and God said, you're going
to move back to Toledo. And I said, Really? That's
totally not what I thought was going to happen.
And he said, you're going to move back to Toledo
because Stuart, which is Sherry's grandpa, is
going to get sick. When he gets sick, I want
him to know his grandchildren before he comes
to be with me, and I want them to know him. I'm
like, okay, we'd never heard anything about him
being sick at all. I said, okay. So I went home
to Sherry, and I said, I think God, first of
all, I said, I got something to tell you. She
said, I got something I want to ask you. And
I said, well, go ahead and tell me first. She
said, no, you tell me first. And finally I talked
to her and you go in first. And she said, I want
to put in resumes and applications for, I don't
remember who went first for sure, but anyway,
I want to put in resumes and applications for
sure in the Toledo area because I went into toledoblade
.com and they have six jobs that I'd like to
have. I want to put resumes in for all of them.
Like some are facts, some are email. And I said,
okay, that's fine. And she said, what do you
mean? Are you sure? Because you just said two
days ago, we're definitely going to stay here.
God's going to take care of it. I'm like that.
And I said, well, God just told me as we're driving
home that we're moving back to Toledo, so that's
what we're going to do. So we went to the children's
workers banquet at our church at that time, and
they were honoring us because we'd been bringing
a bunch of kids to church. Alicia was really
active inviting her friends, and we had a bunch
of kids coming and stuff. And we left there,
came home, and of the six jobs, four of them
had asked her for an interview. Before they asked
her for an interview, three of them went to a
second interview and two of them became job offers.
And one of those job offers came with a free
apartment. While both of our houses are in foreclosure.
So now we know where we're going to live. So
God provided us with a house, which was really
an apartment to live in in Perrysburg. Now what
that caused was that took her out of the restaurant
industry and into the property management industry
where she's been at all this time. The effect
of that has been there are several people in
our church, our friends and family, stuff like
that, that have gotten jobs and got into that
industry and it's been all good for them, whatever.
And Sherry just went back to work Thursday to
her job and they're promoting her to vice president
of the company that she's working for. And so
her income is bigger than my income, even counting
New Heights and Life Station sizably. The job
that she had that she's getting promoted out
of to the next level normally requires a master's
degree. That means you have to have six years
college education to graduate. Sherry does not
have a day of college. See how that works? So
God put her in that business and moved her up
through the business and put her in a job that
requires a master's degree, making more money
than I make between Life Station and New Heights
combined. And we kept our house, got it out of
foreclosure. God paid off over a very short period
of time. That's another story, but a very short
period of time. All that debt. And we live where
we live and we have the family that we have,
we're taking care of because God miraculously
intervened. You see that? And she doesn't have
to work in the restaurants anymore. She would
work at the restaurant, she would get off at
4 a .m. and sometimes have to be back in at 8
a .m. Now she doesn't have to do that. She works
daytime hours and guys get to see her. She doesn't
have to travel anymore for work and all that
kind of stuff. So that's an example. If you'd
say like, For example, like you're living with
family and if you're, Holly and Chris, like you
guys don't really have a mortgage payment, right?
That's a God thing. Because how many people don't
pay $800 to $1 ,200 a month for rent? In this
world right now, how many people don't pay that
dollar a month? Not very many. Or pay a mortgage,
right? Not very many. That's a God thing. And
I know it came by a certain avenue that that
happened, and it came with blessings and frustration,
but that's how it always is. God arranged that.
So then you have to think, okay, now if God did
that, then what else can God do? Yeah. Yep. Yep.
That's it. I'm just saying. Those are stories
that will... So if you know what God has done
for you lately, then when you face a new challenge,
when you face something you're not expecting
or a question that you have you don't have the
answer to, you don't have to look at what God
is going to do. You don't have to know that.
God knows what he's going to do. You just have
to know that he has done and he will again. He
does not change day by day, right? What did you
do to your slinky? Okay. All right. So that's
the purpose of that. It helps you not focus on
what the outcome is going to be because you know
that God has already acted, okay? So here's the
kingdom priority challenge, and then we're going
on the right half of the page. This week, every
time you are tempted to worry, stop and pray
this. Father, I trust you. Help me seek your
kingdom first and rest in your promises to provide.
God has promised to provide you with your basic
needs. I do know that sometimes people get wrapped
up in the wants and it makes it impossible. For
example, we have people at the life station who
are doing a lot of emergency food too. But if
you dig into their finances, you'll find out
that they spend $400 a month on cell phone bills
and another couple hundred dollars a month on
streaming services and like that. And that's
not really right, right? It's not our job to
hunt those people down and figure out who's being
legit and who's not. And it's a relatively small
number, but there are people that are like that.
I'll never forget years ago, I was planting on
the north end of Toledo, a church over there
in New Heights North. And it wound up folding
in to become part of another church. But anyway,
there was a guy who had come and he accepted
Christ through the church there. And he was doing
ministry with me. And it was Christmas time.
And I went to his house and I was in his living
room. We were just talking, praying, reading
the Bible. And he had a stack of video games
and DVDs and stuff on the floor. And I asked
him what it was about. And he said, well, I want
to be able to buy Christmas presents for my kids.
So these are all the DVDs and video games and
stuff that I'm taking to the store to sell. I'm
just going to take them to Allied Records and
sell them so I can have some money so I can buy
gifts for my kids. And I thought, I've never
done that in my whole life. I've never had to
do that. Would I do it? Absolutely. And if you
look around your house and see the things that
we have, sometimes they have monetary value.
And he was just thinking along the lines of he
didn't know how he was going to. So he was taking
part of the provision that he had, the video
games and DVDs that he didn't really need, and
he was going to sell that so they could buy gifts
for his kids, which the kids probably didn't
necessarily really need the gifts either. But
the point is, he didn't have the money, and so
he was making an arrangement to get it. And sometime,
maybe God puts us in that position so we can
learn our lesson. Fast forward, we provided the
Christmas gifts, obviously. But the point is,
realize that God has provided you with an abundant...
set of resources, and then you decide what you're
going to do with them. Okay, so now we're over
on the right side. Seek first the Matthew 6 study.
I did not forget the off -color box. Okay, it's
still there, so we'll come back to it. Okay,
this is following along. Therefore, take no thought
saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we eat?
Or wherewith shall we be clothed? Right. Okay.
It's actually eat, drink, clothed. Okay. Then
it says, but seek ye first the. Yeah, came of
God and his. Righteousness. Yep. And all of these
things shall be added unto you. So now. Don't
look at the verse above. Now write out the full
verse from memory and then compare. So do as
best you can to get it. You should be able to
get it, at least the key points. Try not to look
at them. Don't just cheat and copy. I'm covering
mine up. I should love more space. I'm breathing
in the kingdom of God. I'm squeezing it in. Did
you get it? Mostly? Mostly? How'd you do, Haley?
Did you mostly get it? So what are the three
areas not to worry about based on this first?
All right, so you could just write, do not worry
about... which will eat, drink, or wear, right?
That would be enough for that part. And then
instead, what? Do what? Starts with seek. Or
you could use a different word if you don't really
know seek well. Yep. Yep, that's it. Okay? So
the commands are what? Don't worry. Seek the
kingdom. The promise is what? Needs. God will
fulfill all your needs. Right? Okay. So now,
if you'll notice, here's a box. And I made this
for you. You can use it. You can make one just
like it if you want to leave this in your folder.
It's not hard to do. you'll notice that each
one of these is a spiritual discipline. There
are actually more of them. Some of them you may
not know all that well. And so what I've done
is, I think if you're seeking first the kingdom
of God, based on what we said before, what Chris
and I were talking about back and forth a little
bit, we'd be practicing the spiritual disciplines.
So you can study, and you should, every day.
If you're seeking the kingdom of God, truly,
if that's your goal, You want to be the person
that is doing what God's will is, then you want
to learn something from the word of God every
day, right? You can journal every day. Just put
a note down. It doesn't have to be grand, everything
that happened. When I journal, I find myself
thinking like, oh, I bought it. It was blue.
Oh, I ate it. It was spicy. You know, like I
get into all kinds of little details and stuff
like that, but you don't have to do that. You
can just put, I had a good day today. So -and
-so stopped by. I had a bad day today at work.
It was kind of tough. Someone so yelled at me.
You know, you can put just a little blurb. Those
are things that in a year or 10, you will forget.
But can you imagine if you had a journal like
that for every day and it was just one or two
lines? And then 10 years from now, you look back
at that 3 ,650 pages of two lines about each
of your day. How strong would your memory be?
What would you be capable of as far as thinking
about what God did or didn't do, what he provided
or didn't provide? You can see we're missing
the patterns of the Lord. We know he's good and
he's doing things, but if we could journal and
make entries like that, then we could look back
and say, okay, God did this, did this, did this,
did this. I can safely say he's going to do this
every time because every time this situation
ever come up, he's always done it. So I think
he's going to do it every time. And you look
in the word, you find scripture that supports
it, and you know that. But we're not doing it.
Prayer, which was the number one thing. And I
think safely you could say that it is probably
the easiest. You don't need a pen. You don't
need a Bible. You just talk to God. Right? So
if it's the easiest, why are we not doing it
like all the time? What does the Bible say about
prayer? How often should you pray? without ceasing.
Like, never stop. That's what it means. We're
like, oh, we can't do that, right? But you have
hundreds of words of self -thought in your brain
all the time. Thinking, I'm hot. I'm cold. What's
he talking about? I'm tired. I want to get up.
I want to play games. I want to play with this
toy. I want to do that. I want to do that. I
want to do that. All those things in your head
all the time. All you have to do is take 10 %
of the words that are going through your head
all the time and dedicate them to God. What do
you think, God? Should I do this? Am I really
this? Is this really happening? And just continually
talking to God the same time you're doing everything
else. We do it all the time. You drive your car
and you talk to people you're riding with, right?
Play softball, talk to the person in the field
next to you. You watch TV and talk about the
show. So we always multitask. We do it all the
time. So we can talk to God in our heads about
anything all the time. And according to what
the Bible says, Paul says we can learn to do
it nonstop. Certainly should be doing it every
day. And I would submit to you as much as we
can of every day. Then worship. And that's not
just for Sundays and Tuesdays. It should be every
day. Declaring the worth of God through song,
dance, poetry, art, right? So Haley, you do a
lot of art. How many times when you're doing
art are you thinking about God? Yeah? Yeah? So
you're listening to Christian music while you're
drawing? Does that seem to, like, sink in? There
you go. So that makes your art a form of worship
because you chose to do that. Because you could
be listening to hard rock or drug crap or, you
know, nastiness. You don't want to do that because
of the kind of person that you are. But you think
there are people out there that are artists that
are doing that? You better believe it. I don't
know what percentage it is, but I guarantee you
it's not a small percent, right? Because people
surround themselves or enjoy what it is that
they like. And so people like drugs or drug culture.
And when they listen to music, they listen to
drug music. And when they are doing art and they're
listening to music while they're doing art, they
listen to drug music while they're doing art.
Make sense? Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's
a trick, right? It's really Satan. It's really
the devil. All of false worship. essentially
arrives at one place. Okay, so I have to go down
through all these, sharing the gospel, that's
talking to somebody about Jesus. You should try
to do that every day. Serve and give, try to
do that every day. Intake the word, that means
add Bible to yourself. Try to do that every day.
Memorize scripture, do it every day. I'll bet
you there's on this list there three or four
or maybe six that you can say, well, I do that
a couple times a week. You mean I'm supposed
to do it every day? Yeah, that's exactly what
I'm saying. If you're seeking first the kingdom
of God. So you should memorize Bible before you
turn on the TV. You should share the gospel before
you talk about football. You should worship God
before you listen to any other kind of music
or whatever you're walking in the wilderness.
The songs that come to your mouth should be songs
of praise for the Lord. Right? Okay. Then we're
on prayer focus. Write a personal prayer based
on Matthew 6, 31 and 33. In your prayer, you're
trying to ask God to help you seek him first
and trust his provision. Remember we said that
at the bottom, Father, I trust you help me seek
your kingdom first and rest in your promise to
provide. So you want to put a prayer down there
that you could pray your own words, not big words
like promise and or not concepts like and rest
in your promise. But what would you say? You
want to talk to God, write a prayer there that
you would say to God about. Seeking him and his
provision. What does it look like for you? I'm
doing it too. Nothing says you have to take up
all the lines as long as you've accomplished
whatever in your prayer. It doesn't have to be
a long prayer. topic to get off on, but I do
recommend to get distracted onto, but I do recommend
that you end your prayer with, in Jesus' name,
amen. Okay, so we're almost there. There's one
part of the verse that we didn't focus on. What
was it? The verse was, therefore take no thought,
saying, what shall I eat, what shall I drink,
or wherewith shall we be clothed? So what part
did we not talk about? And there's a clue on
the paper for you next. What do the blue letters
look like they might spell? Therefore. We didn't
talk about the therefore. So what is the therefore?
Remember, whenever there's a therefore, you should
always ask yourself, what's the therefore therefore?
Right? So what was he talking about? And so if
you go to the previous verse, so the book is
going to be, start with an M, Matthew chapter
6, and it's the previous verse. So if it's the
previous verse, It must be verse 30. Very good.
Okay. And Matthew 6, 30 says, I'll get there.
I'm almost there. That is not what I expected.
Okay. So go ahead and read it. Yep. Yeah. Okay.
All right. So that, I know where I went wrong
with my little reference there. Okay, so cross
out 30 and put 24. So all of the, everything
that's 25 through 30 is explaining 24. Okay,
so now we're going to read 24. That's where I
went wrong. I had to look it up on my notes.
Okay, so 24 actually says, No one can serve two
masters, since either he will hate one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise
the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Okay? And so, a man cannot have what? There's
no blanks. Just finish it. A man cannot have
two gods. Very good. So really, when we're talking
about food, if you just have what, you'll have
food. Money. We're talking about what you wear.
If you just have plenty of money, you won't worry
about what you're going to wear. You can wear
whatever you want. Just go buy it. Or make it.
Buy the machines and make it yourself if you
have enough money. And so on. So then he gets
into, he talks about how, consider the birds
of the sky. They don't sow or reap. Can any of
you add one moment to his life by worrying? All
of that is an explanation all the way down to
verse 31. So he says, so don't worry. So I submit
to you that much worry arises out of coveting
money. Much worry. Because let's say you're a
multi -billionaire and you run into a company
that's doing something you don't like. Like Twitter.
What do you do? Just buy it. That's what Elon
Musk did, right? So if you have enough money,
all worldly problems are solved by money. So
if you allow your problems to be worldly, then
you're going to think that your solution is going
to be money. Does that make sense? But kingdom
problems are not solved by money. How much money
do you have to put in the offering plate to be
allowed to go to heaven? To be allowed to go
to heaven? I would think it would be more than
that. What? There is no amount, right? You could
put all your money in the offering plate and
it wouldn't be enough. You could put all your
money in the offering plate and all the money
that you can ever get in all your lifetime stealing
from everybody you can possibly steal from, working
90 hours a week, it'll never be enough. Why?
Because you sinned against God and the righteous
wages of sinning against God is death, separation
from God. What's serving? How much do you have
to serve to be allowed to go to heaven? Well,
there's no amount that you can serve to be allowed
to go to heaven. These things are not to go to
heaven. We go to heaven because of Jesus. So
the spiritual disciplines have a purpose. What
are the spiritual disciplines? Purpose. What
are we accomplishing? When we pray, what are
we doing, Chris? What do we get out of it? What's
the goal? Yeah, that's ultimately the goal. So
how do we get that by praying? It is God's will
that he would save us. That's right. So we pray
for his will to be done. We pray for Jesus as
Lord and Savior. We're dedicating ourselves to
God theoretically over and over and over again.
That's why I say you should pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. So we are serving the Lord over and over
and over again. There are people who have served.
tens of thousands of hours volunteering in their
lifetime and they're going to hell because they
don't know Jesus, right? They're condemned already
by what they have done with the son of God. That's
John 3, 17. So it all comes about whether you
go through Jesus. So the purpose of the spiritual
disciplines is not to get us saved. It is to
draw close to God, okay? So we say, if God is
like this and we enact these spiritual disciplines
that make us more like that and do the things
that God would want us to do, What is the kingdom
of God? It's a person, place, or thing that's
doing God's will, right? So if we are doing God's
will, then that is going to be the kingdom of
God. But you can't get in the kingdom of God
unless you have your sin dealt with first. That's
dealt with by Jesus, okay? So we cannot have
an extra God. So if somebody's worried, anxious,
upset, mad about something, and it isn't about
money, then what is it about? Let's say I told
Chris that... I didn't like the way he dressed.
And, you know, he can't come in here anymore
like that. And he goes away and he's pretty upset.
He's like, hey, I'm wearing my Christian t -shirt.
It's the same I dressed last week. Whatever,
I'm dressed fine. Everybody's dressed fine. What's
your problem with me today, right? And he starts
to get a little worked up about that. Is it about
money? Because he could dress differently. He
probably has other clothes. It's not about money,
right? And besides, I'm being unreasonable anyway.
So he doesn't need money to buy different clothes
because his clothes are fine. So what's it about?
What's the problem? If he goes home and he's
threatened, worried, upset, angry about the fact
that I said that, what's the problem? It's not
money now. It's different. Say it again. Okay,
right. So it becomes a heart problem because
you ran into somebody that was being stupid.
I said something dumb, right? I'm wrong. And
you're home spreading about it. So what should
you do? Okay, you start by praying. You practice
spiritual disciplines. You draw close to God.
After you consult the word, what does the word
tell you to do if you know a brother has sinned?
Before that. Say it again. Yep. Talk to him.
That's right. One -on -one. And then if that
doesn't work, then with one or two others. And
if that doesn't work, then you bring it to the
church. Right? And that's how it's done. So when
you're home, fretting and worrying about the
fact that Pastor Dan said something stupid, what
you're supposed to be doing is setting up a time
to come and confront me. That make sense? But
you're not willing to do that. So if you're not
willing to do that, as Tommy said, it's the condition
of your heart, which is to say that your heart
is focused on something else. So it could be
appearances. So I don't want to go and talk to
him because I'm afraid of what I'll look like.
It could be fear in the sense of like, oh, we're
going to argue. I don't want the outcome. I don't
want to argue. I don't want struggle or drama
or any of that. I don't want any of that. So
if God tells you what you have to do, and you're
supposed to do it, you have to do it. So it's
really rebellion then. So there are other gods
other than just money. And Jesus is saying, you
cannot have multiple gods. You can only have
one. And so if you just have one, then you will
practice spiritual disciplines. And you will
not worry about where your food's going to come
from. You'll not worry where your drink's going
to come from. You'll not worry about how you're
going to dress. God will give you all of that.
As Holly said, he will fulfill all your needs
in time. So there's a list there on your page.
I assume you already filled this out, Kashan.
Okay, so ways that people allow money to become
a master in their lives. Give me one. They do
what with it? Yes. So they start thinking, I
won't be happy unless I have money. And if I
have money, I should be happy. That's a good
example. What's another one? Yes. A ton of overtime.
I'm going to get that money. They call it the
hustle. I'm going to do the necessary hustle
to get where I want to be. And you see dads that
are completely absent. A kid's got a nice house
and a car, but he's got no dad. Right? That kind
of thing. Okay, give me one that's uncustomary.
Like that doesn't fit the mold. I'll give you
an example. People allow money to become a master
in their lives by spending money. So how does
that work? So people are living at their house
and they're going online and they're ordering
stuff. And they're not happy unless packages
are arriving. Yep. So they watch TV. Oh, yeah,
that's such the coolest thing. And they're right
on the phone or right on the internet ordering
it. Right? So spending money. How about the opposite?
Saving money. So some people think you can't
spend money. You have to be a miser. Pinch pennies.
I was guilty of this myself as a lost person
and even early on in my Christian walk. I would
not spend even when I needed to. Even when it
was the right thing to do, I would resist spending.
I was stuck resisting spending. Guess what? In
every husband and wife couple, one person winds
up taking on the role of spender and one person
winds up taking on the role of saver. And both
are wrong. That's the problem. But when they're
together, when they start working together and
they realize there is a way for us to submit
the total sum of our money to God, then they
can both be right. They're both wrong to start
with. She spends too much money. He saves, he
never wants to spend any money at all. Or vice
versa. Right? And every couple has one spender
and one saver and both are wrong. That make sense?
And so... So sometimes we think we have freedom
because we can spend. We think we have freedom
because we can save. You have freedom in Christ
and Christ alone. And then the bottom right -hand
corner, did you finish this part too? Don't worry.
What does the blank say? Say it again, Natalie.
Seek the kingdom of God. Okay? So the answer
to this, the solution to all of it is simply,
so here's what I'm saying to you. If your money
is interfering with you being... If you're wealthy
and your money's interfering with you being in
the kingdom of God, get rid of it. If your tastes...
I had a young brother who got saved, and then
his tastes were interfering with his ability
to follow God. He said, I will only ever wear
designer clothes. Got to be the top brands. I'll
never wear anything else. And I said, money is
an idol to you. You've got to let it go. Alright,
we're running out of time.