WEBVTT

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I'm thinking today of Matthew 13, 44. Jesus is

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speaking and he says, The kingdom of heaven is

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like a treasure hidden in the field, which a

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man found and hid again. And from joy over it,

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he goes and sells everything that he has and

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buys that field. Man, a whole sermon series preaches

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out of this one verse, that's for sure. But there's

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one thing in there that really ought to encourage

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us. What would you pay? What would you give?

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What would you lose and never be able to get

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back in order to have the kingdom of God? That

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is to say, the reign of God, the presence of

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God in your life. And the answer is literally

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everything that you have. Everything that I have,

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I would readily sell, give up in order to have

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the kingdom of God. Now, that's hard to think

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of when I think about... some of the intangibles,

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my feeling of peace, family, my loved ones, my

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jobs, my bills paid, things like that. But we

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would literally give all that up. If we understand

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the value of the kingdom of God and how God at

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work in us and God's presence in us, then we

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would never be providentially hindered. We would

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never have a job or a situation or a gift or

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a loss that would interfere with God's presence

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in our lives. We would let it all go. in order

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to have God and God alone at the helm. His control,

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his power, his purpose, his provision. Lord,

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we have everything to do to celebrate what's

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in you and all that you want to do in us. So

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we say, help us let you be first. Please, God,

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please make us able and to remember that this

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kingdom of God thing that is you in us, it's

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worth more than we have.