All right, would you open to
Luke chapter 12? Luke chapter 12. Let's pray. Our Lord God, we
come this morning for the purpose of worship, so we pray that you
would work in us a spirit of worship, that you would captivate
each mind, and that you would enable me to preach your truth
from the scriptures. It is written, apart from me,
you can do nothing. And we understand that, Lord. So we call upon you to come and
do a work of grace among us. We pray for the people of this
congregation, Lord, asking your blessings upon them. For those who undergo particularly
severe trials at this point, we ask that you would Be with
them, let them know you are with them, and uphold them. We pray for those who are struggling
spiritually, Lord. Let them know that their struggle
will not be vain, that you will not let them lose. For Lord, you have given us the
victory that is in Christ Jesus. Bless any other person who stands
to preach your gospel today. Enable them to do so clearly. May they be indeed a sweet-smelling
savor of Christ unto you and a savor of life to many. In the
name of Christ we pray, amen. We'll begin reading in verse
22. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not
worry about your life, what you will eat or about your body,
what you will wear. Life is more than food and the
body more than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do
not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn,
yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you
are than birds. Who of you, by worrying, can
add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very
little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how
the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon,
in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today,
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe
you, O you of little faith? And do not set your heart on
what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it. For the
pagan world runs after all such things, and your father knows
that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these
things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little
flock, for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give
to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves
that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will
not be exhausted. Where no thief comes near and
no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also. Now, These words of our Lord were
directed specifically to his disciples. We read in verse 1
that a crowd of thousands had gathered. But even though there
was a crowd of thousands, it says at the end or near the end
of verse one, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples. It might be that some others
heard him, but he did not direct his words to them. And you know, we're gathered
here this morning, and we're certainly not thousands, Some of you profess to be disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is a disciple? Well, it's
someone who comes under the discipline of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when I say discipline here, I'm not talking about necessarily,
you know, that you got in trouble and therefore the Lord renders
some discipline to get you back in line. Discipline actually
has a broader sense. It involves all the teaching
and instruction and training involved in making someone suitable
for a particular purpose. When a person joins the Army,
they send them to basic training and they discipline them so that
once they actually enter the workforce of the service, they
are trained. Hopefully their mind has been
brought into subjection to the hierarchy there. They've been
trained in the basic tasks that they must do so that they can
be useful to the military. Well, those who are disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ are those who come under His training,
His personal training, for the purpose of making them
fit for the very purpose that He has designed them. Others
say you could define it as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes,
but that kind of misses the point. It's not so much that they followed. It's an action of the Lord to
discipline them, to bring them along. And he speaks specifically
to them. There are some of you this morning
to whom the Lord is going to speak specifically. Others will
hear it, but inasmuch as they have not yet come under the discipline
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are yet people of their own minds
and their own will. This word is not directed to
them. I'm not saying that it won't
help them. But this is a word spoken to
his disciples, and it had some frightening things in it. He
says, told them to be on guard against hypocrisy. He tells them
that nothing that's been concealed will not be disclosed, that nothing
that's been hidden won't be made known. Now he's not talking about
that secret things you've done that you shouldn't have done
are going to be made known. He's talking about all this stuff
that he's been telling them and not telling everyone else. It's going to be made known.
And who's going to make it known? They are. And not only this, as they do
make known what they have learned, it is going to bring out into
the light that which men have tried to hide in the darkness
of self-righteousness. The very thing that the enemies
of the Lord Jesus Christ hated about his word was that it revealed
them to be exactly what they were. Children of Satan, full
of wickedness, whited sepulchers, which look pretty on the outside
but are full of dead men's bones. Our Lord could have preached
law all day long and in the darkness of the law they would have found
corners to hide in. And people would have continued
thinking they were righteous. They would have continued thinking
they were righteous. But when the glorious light of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes to bear on people,
there's nowhere to hide anymore. Verse 3, what you've said in
the dark. will be heard in the daylight. And what you have whispered
in the ear of the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs."
What they've been talking about amongst one another and with
the Lord. The time's coming when they will
be heralds. It'll all be out in public. And
so he says to them, I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid
of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. Why
would he tell them that were it not that there were people
who were going to do exactly that? You know, he didn't say, do not
be afraid of dinosaurs. Why? Well, there weren't any.
There was no danger to them from dinosaurs. There was danger to
them, would be danger to them from those who kill the body.
Both religious people and irreligious people would come to hate them
and speak contemptuously of them and seek to kill them. And some
would succeed. He said, don't be afraid of them. And he says in verse 11, when
you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not
worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say,
for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should
say. Now why did he tell them that?
Because the time would come when they would be brought before
synagogues, rulers, and authorities to give an answer. for why they
continue to preach the gospel when they've been told not to. In the midst of this, someone
spoke up. You know, you can tell when people have not been paying
attention to what's been preached. They ask stupid questions or
they make stupid demands. Verse 13, someone in the crowd
said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance
with me. You know, it's kind of like,
weren't you paying attention? We got bigger fish to fry here
than your inheritance. Bigger issues. You know why we're
always preaching the gospel here. It's not like there are no other
important issues in the world. I understand there are. But we've got this one hour a
week and we've got an issue much more important than any other
issue that is found in this world. Everything the world is concerned
with will last only as long as the world does. What you and
I have gathered here for this morning lasts forever. What men are concerned about
is food for the body, clothes for the body. They're concerned
about riches. They're concerned about their
relationship with other people in the world and will people
like them or not like them. We're here because we need food
for our souls. We need to be clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. And we're concerned over whether
or not we are accepted by God. So it would really be foolish
for us to turn our attention away from that matter into something
as insignificant as what shall we eat. What shall we wear? Where shall we live? And the Lord did answer this
fellow and basically said to them, or to him, you're worrying
about the wrong thing. You're worried about your inheritance
and this life, and you don't even know that you're going to
live long enough to get it. I remember reading an article
written by Brother Bob Coffey and he says, people spend so
much time and energy gathering and storing up for a day that
might not ever come and in the process ignore the day that will
come for all of us. In verse 22 then he says again,
said to His disciples, having taken care of this guy out of
the crowd who obviously was not a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who wasn't concerned really with the things that Christ
was preaching. He was worried about fleshly
and worldly things, not spiritual things. And the Lord dispensed
with him in a way that would answer him
properly and would help provide information to everyone else.
And I hope that by God's grace, this man understood what the
Lord just told him. But once the Lord had said that
to him, he turned back to his disciples. And he says, therefore, I tell
you, do not worry. You could put a period right
there if you want to. Do not worry. Now, if you knew
me, and I know that you do, but I mean if you knew me like I
know me, you would say that man has absolutely no business even quoting the Lord saying,
do not worry. I worry about almost everything.
It's just, it's so, anxiety is so tied up in me. You'd be surprised
sometimes when I try to get ready for Sunday morning and I look
in there at that rack of suits and jackets and shirts and pants,
you know. I can't wear that, I wore that
last week, like anybody's gonna notice. You know, well, but that's
the one Bonnie got me If I haven't worn it in a while, she's going
to think I don't like it. Or I wonder if I still fit in
those pants. It takes me a long time to pick
out what I'm going to wear. So that's a level of worrying
I do. Fortunately, my daughter, bless
her heart, and I mean that in the nicest way. I had all my
dress clothes with me on one trip. And I carried them all
up to her living room. And you know, she used to work
in a men's clothing store. And I said, Mary, you make as
many outfits out of this as you can, and you take a picture of
them. And so I've got 20 or 30 ways that my clothes can be combined. So if I want to now, it's a lot
easier. I just open up my phone, go to the right place. Okay,
I'll wear this outfit today. Do not worry. But he goes a little
farther. He says, do not worry about your
life. He said, wait a minute, of all
the things that we ought to worry about, it's our lives. After
all, you know, when there's life, there's hope. So we hang on to
that. We do everything to make sure
our lives last as long as they can and are as pleasant as they
can be. And we might have been taught
not to say this out loud, but our thought is, you know, that's
the main thing. We got to get that if we don't
get anything else. Well, scriptures never say ignore
your life. Scriptures never teach us that
the things of this life are unimportant. But our Lord Jesus did tell us,
don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't lay
awake at night thinking about it. Don't stretch yourself so
far. You're fraying at the seams and
coming apart because you're trying to lay hold of the things of
this life. Don't worry about it. Don't worry
about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what
you will wear. Life is more than food and the
body more than clothes. Well, I just kind of told myself
I'd forgotten about that verse. See, I spend all that time picking
out my clothes Sunday morning. You need to wear some clothes. But which clothes you wear, providing
they're doing the proper part of providing modesty, it just
doesn't matter. It's not important. I remember, especially when I
was in my teen years, and I imagine this is through most teenagers. I was so worried about what I
wear because I wanted to look like the others. The funny thing was the others
I was looking at was probably only three or four people. I
look at my yearbook and nearly all of them dressed kind of like
my mom dressed me. Mom bought my clothes. But you know I wanted
to look, and you'll pardon this word, but I wanted to look groovy. I wanted to walk into school
and be, woo, look what Joe's wearing. But we still worry some. He said, well, the body's more
than clothes. Clothes are to serve the body.
They aren't a thing in themselves. And he told them to consider
the ravens a nasty bird, a dirty bird. unclean." He said, consider
them. He said, God feeds them. Aren't
you worth more than a raven? Don't you mean more to God than
ravens do? And who of you by wording could
add an hour to your life, a moment? People, you know those folks
won't go to the doctor because they're afraid something's wrong.
Well, the fact is, not going to the doctor is not gonna make
it so there's not anything wrong. The doctor may reveal what it
is, but he says, don't worry about
it. Don't think that by worrying,
you're going to make your life last longer. You're probably
going to make it last shorter, because anxiety's tough on the
body. Since you can't do that very
little thing, add an hour to your life. Why do you worry about
everything else? And then he told him to consider
the lilies. They do not labor or spin. And then he brought
forward the most glorious personage in Israel's history, the richest
of them all, most finely dressed, Solomon. He said, not even Solomon was dressed like one of those
plants. He said, if God clothes the grass
of the field, do you think that he's going to forget to clothe
you? And then he said, called them, O ye of little faith. You know, when we do worry, when
we fret, and when we allow our energies and our time to be consumed
by the pursuit of those things we're worried about in this life,
we are showing that we are of little faith. And so don't set your heart on
what you will eat or drink. Don't worry about it. So you
shouldn't be concerned about getting food. He said, don't
set your heart on it. Don't make that the end of your
life. Don't make that the purpose of
your life. To gather for yourselves enough
food that you can never see an end of it. We are to go out and
to work. The scriptures say that. There's
no question about it. So much so that the apostle Paul
said, a man that won't work, he shouldn't eat either. Our
Lord's not saying, Don't do anything. He's saying don't worry about
it. Do what you're supposed to do.
Go out and be productive. And be as productive as you can
according to your talents and energies. Sure, we're all supposed
to do that. But he says, don't worry about
it. He says, the pagan world runs after such things. And then
here's what I love. Your father knows you have need
of them. Do you think God doesn't realize you need to eat? Do you think that the God who
made us and causes the grass and the field to grow up and
all the plants and trees and vegetables and all that, do you
think that he doesn't know what they're for? Do you think he doesn't realize
that we get hungry? And if we don't eat, we get sick.
And if we go long enough without eating, we die. The Lord already knows everything
you need. You know why we worry? We worry
because we want more than we need. Now, there's nothing wrong
with wanting it. What's wrong is when we allow
our desire for it to consume our minds in the pursuit of it
and we begin to worry about whether we'll ever get it or if we have
gotten it, we worry about whether we'll lose it. How blessed is that man into
whose hands the Lord can lay the blessings of this life in
abundance. And he can enjoy them and never worry for a second
about whether or not he loses them. He was happy before he
got them. He was happy while he had them.
And if the Lord took them away, he was still happy. Why? His
happiness, his contentment, his, what's the opposite of worry?
Comfort. We'll just go with that. His
comfort. And peace, there you go, peace in this life was not
founded upon the things he owned. And then verse 31, seek his kingdom. Now if there's something for
you to put your mind to, it's this, seek the kingdom of God.
If there's something you wanna give your energies to that'll
wear you out, I mean, if that's what you're intent on doing,
wearing yourself out in your pursuits, pursue this. And in fact, see to it that you
pursue this at the expense of everything else, if need be. See to it, and you say, what
is the pursuit of the kingdom of God? Well, some of you are
here this morning doing that. You are seeking God's kingdom. You believe yourself to be a
citizen of that kingdom and you've gathered with some of the other
citizens of that kingdom that you may hear about it and enjoy
participating in its activities. But this is just one part of
it, though a very important part of it. But it means that your
whole life becomes directed by this principle. Seek the kingdom of God. That's
why he says, seek his kingdom. In another place it says, seek
ye first the kingdom of God. And then all these things will
be given to you as well. What? Food, clothing, shelter. Everything your father knows
you need. You cannot, listen carefully, you cannot go hungry
seeking the kingdom of God with all your heart. I'm not saying
you'll always have steak. I'm not saying there won't be
times when the pantry is empty and you have no clue where the
next bite's coming from. Now David said, I was young and
now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his
seed beg bread. All these things. Then he says,
do not be afraid, little flock, for your father has been pleased
to give you the kingdom. So he starts with this word and
just make a few comments here. Do not be afraid. How much fear
rules us. How many times does our Lord
have to tell his disciples, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He comes to them walking on the
water and they're scared to death. He says, don't be afraid, it's
me. Peter says, well, if it's really
you, Call me out there to walk on the water with you. Well,
don't be afraid. Come on out. Don't be afraid. Lord, you've told us we're going
to be persecuted. Somebody's going to be put to
death. Right. Don't be afraid. The angel comes to Mary to announce
the birth of the Lord. And he says, you know, hail Mary. Of course, we don't use the word
hail. Hello. Got her attention, Mary. Don't
be afraid. the shepherds." And they said,
don't be afraid. Why? Well God is kind of scary. And the life He calls us to is
scary to our flesh. Our flesh can't understand it.
Our flesh only knows how to deal with what it can see and with
what the natural mind will expect. And when the pantry is full,
the natural mind says, oh, you've got to get out there and find
some food. You're going to die. Well, if your pantry is empty
because you're too lazy, maybe you do need to get up and go
to work. But that's not a problem of Lack of faith, that's a problem
of taking or using the means that God has ordained for us
to get our food. Still, we don't have to worry
about those things. People right now, because all
that's going on in Washington, they go, constitutional crisis.
Okay. Say, yeah, but, and this all
depends on your politics. I don't know what it is. I know
this area tends to be conservative, but we'll just tell them both
ways. Some people are going, they might
get rid of our president. And others are going, we might
not get rid of our president. What we ought to say is, it's
God's president. He'll be there as long as God
wants him to. And no matter what kind of man
he is, God will use him to fulfill his purpose, and then we'll set
him aside and put somebody else in there. And all these people
who think they're so powerful and doing so much, all they are
is pawns on God's chessboard, and he's moving them around. And the day's coming when he'll
move the last piece and say to the world, checkmate. We don't have to worry about
it. May be a crisis for them, it's not for us. Do not fear,
little flock. God's people are called a flock.
Why? Well, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way. So we're sheep. But the Lord
Jesus Christ has gathered us into a flock of sheep. And the
thing about a flock of sheep, you see a flock of sheep, it
means they're under somebody's care. Somebody's watching them.
Because if nobody's watching them, they all wander, and before
long, they're all alone, even though sheep have no ability
at defense. They have no ability at offense.
All they can do is run. And quite often, the predator
can run much faster. So we are a flock of God's sheep. So he calls us a flock, and he's
saying to those, and he characterizes them by an animal who can't take
care of itself. And he says to them, don't be
afraid. But he adds an adjective there. He says, do not be afraid,
little flock. Now, I don't know how many people
in this world are truly saved. I know they claim, I think there
are two billion Christians, but they're counting everyone that
says they're a Christian. And that's all the denominations
that go by Christian, and we realize that it can't be that
everyone who claims to be Christian actually is, because they're
all believing, many of them believing things that are mutually exclusive.
They can all be wrong, but they can't all be right. But the scriptures say many are
called. The gospel goes out to many. Few are chosen. Few are
chosen. We gather like this on Sunday
by Sunday, and we're just a little group. And you know something?
Right now, as I look at what's here Sunday morning, this Sunday
morning, there are less here Sunday morning than there were
when we first started. That's going the wrong direction. That's the Lord's little flock. Nearly everywhere I go that the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ is being preached,
it's a small group. So he addresses us for what we
are, little flock. The kind of animal can't take
care of itself and doesn't even have any significant numbers
to make any real significant influence in a world full of
things that would naturally make them afraid. And he says to those
very people, don't be afraid. Don't worry. Why? For your father has been
pleased to give you the kingdom. Now here's the first reason for
this flock not to be afraid. God is their father. Now, let that sink in for a minute. This is the God who spoke and
it was, who commanded and it stood firm. This is the God who
called the flood on the world and destroyed everyone in it
except Noah and his household. This is the God who raised up
Pharaoh, specifically that he could slap him back down to demonstrate
his own power. Who raised up Nebuchadnezzar
against Israel, and once Nebuchadnezzar had fulfilled his purpose, God
smacked him back down. And he's raised up empires, he's
judged people, And you and I have the privilege
of, from our hearts, from our spirits, lifting our
spiritual eyes toward heaven and praying, Our Father, which
art in heaven. We don't have to pray, Oh, great
God that does judge all men according to the works. No, he's our father. He has given us the spirit of
adoption. People say, oh, I want the fullness
of the Spirit. Here it is. It's the spirit of adoption whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. And that word, Abba, was the
tender word for father. Everybody's got a father. Not
everybody has Abba. Language, we would say everybody
has a father, not everybody has a dad. You can call someone father who
treats you horribly. You can identify as father someone
you hate because it's just an objective fact. That's your father. But you don't call anybody dad.
unless there is a relationship. And you look to that person as
the one who loves you, cares for you, and does for you what
dads are supposed to do. I was sitting in a restaurant
on one of my preaching trips. I just got up, was eating breakfast. This was before all the motels
had all their free breakfast things, so you had to find your
own restaurant and get your breakfast. And I'm sitting there, feeling
a little bit lonely. And a couple of booths down was
another, I'd call him an old man, but he was probably about
as old as I am now. But this was 20 years ago, so
I looked at him and thought, there's an old man. And he looked
lonely. You know, he just, just kind
of no expression, kind of a worn out fella. If I hadn't stayed
for a few more minutes, I wouldn't have realized there was anything
good in his life. And he's sitting there, and then
in walks a woman. And I'm looking at him, and the
door's over here, but I caught her in peripheral vision. And
then I heard these words, hi, dad. And his face just lit up. And she called him dad. Because
I'm sure that when she was a little one, he took care of her. And
there was a bond between them. And therefore she walked in that
restaurant. And she said, Dad, she wasn't
afraid of him. And he was happy to see her.
When we pray our Father, When we cry out, Abba Father, according
to the spirit of adoption, our God is glad to hear our voice. Putting it in human terms, He
brightens up when we call Him Dad. Because in that word, there
is so much goodness packed. Your Father, And in another place, our Lord
was talking to the disciples, and He said this, the Father
Himself loves you. Now, on the one hand, we say
everything we have comes to us in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we understand what that means, but what our Lord
was telling us is don't think that the only reason that God
loves you is because I died for you. It's the other way around. I died for you because the Father
loved you. Before our substitute bore our
sins in his body on the tree, the Father already loved us. And he looked upon us in our
sin, and in human terms, he wept for the mess we'd made of ourselves.
and he determined to do something about it. He loves us. You fathers and you mothers,
it'll work for you too. How much do you love your children?
I hear sometimes from older people They'll complain, my kids never
contact me. Now maybe it wasn't a good home,
I don't know, but that always breaks my heart. How lonely an existence that
must be when one's own children does not maintain communications. My parents and I talked a good
bit. In the last year of my mother's
life, We talked some, but I was busy, you know how that gets.
Been kind of stressed out about the whole things have been going
on the last three years with my dad and take care of him.
So out of weariness, I didn't call that often. If I could rewind it, I'd call
her every day. And our Father wants to hear
from us. And then your Father has given
you the kingdom. Now we try to build our little
kingdoms in this world. And again, this is one of those
things that can be hard to preach because it's not as though we
are not to work as is required. to make a living. Where it goes astray, where we
go astray, is when we put so much of ourselves in it that
our happiness, our joy, and our ability to enjoy this life is
founded upon how much success we can achieve getting stuff. The bigger the house, The nicer
the car, the more prestige, the bigger
the position. You say, well, I don't seek those
things. Maybe you don't, but I know it's
natural to our flesh to do that. And when it drives us to distraction,
The Lord says, you're going at this wrong. You're going at this
wrong. You're worried about the kingdom
here. He says, your father is giving you a kingdom and not
a kingdom that you will work and sweat for. And when you die,
you leave behind so that all your heirs can fight over it.
and the lawyers take up a bunch of it trying to settle it, and
the government taking a bunch of it if you made enough for
it to be taxed. And people that never worked
for it will squander it. He says here, verse 33, sell your possessions
and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves
that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will
not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." He's saying you've piled up a
bunch. You've gone after a lot and worried
yourself obtaining it. He said, here's what will do
good for you. Sell what you got. The abundance he's talking about.
Give it to those who don't have enough. Give it to the poor and
you provide for yourself a purse that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will
not be exhausted. I saw on the internet yesterday
that Bill Gates is once again the richest man in the world.
You know, those guys, the stock in their companies goes up and
down. It just depends on what cycle they're in. But I guess,
once again, Mr. Gates is the richest man in the
world. Rich as he is, his riches are exhaustible. He could eventually have nothing. But this, these riches, this
kingdom, It's a treasure that can never
be exhausted. Where no thief comes near and
no moth destroys. Now we don't worry nearly so
much about actual thieves, burglar type thieves, or people that'll,
you know, catch you out on the highway somewhere and, and, and
rob you. We've got police, we've got lots
of lights, we've got good locks on our doors, you know. But now
we've got a new kind of thief. People find out how to get online
and you gave out a little too much information and left your
computer not secured enough and suddenly they've drained your
bank account and gotten out several loans in your name. So there's
still people that can take away from you everything you've got.
It could all be gone. No one can touch the treasures
of the kingdom of God. And no moth destroys. We fed after clothes, and of
course now we got all these artificial fabrics, and I don't guess the
moths like them too much. And we got moth balls and things
like that, but still, you wear them out. But the clothing given to us
in Christ never wears out. Nothing can touch it. It's a
kingdom. We're not the kings of it. But
we are the blessed citizens of it, and it is ruled by a king
who has unsearchable riches, who by the sacrifice of himself
bought for all his people absolutely every good thing that the God
of creation can provide for them." Now you think on that a minute. People say, well, you know, I'm
working for, you know, crowns and extra blessings in heaven.
What? You already have, if you're in
Christ, you already have title deed to everything, every good
thing that God could give to a person. You already have title
deed to it. You haven't yet taken possession
of it because it's in a secure place.
But you'll get there and it'll be yours and you will enjoy it. He's giving it to us. He's not saying there's a kingdom
if you can go out and conquer the enemies that have overrun
it. This kingdom's never been overrun.
It's the kingdom of Jesus Christ. He conquered the area. It's all
His. And the Father merely hands it
to us. Now, that does not mean there's not a struggle to get
in. It's not, but it's not a struggle
to get in like there's only so many spots. You know, like on
Black Friday when everybody, you know, they got five big screen
TVs out there and you got a thousand people in the parking lot that
want one. It's not that kind of thing. Our Lord said, the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force. Well, we think of violence, you
know, we always think of that in negative. What he's saying
is there's a struggle going on because the world hates this
kingdom and the world does all it can to block anyone from entering
that kingdom. And you're not going to be fighting
with other people trying to get in. The only fight you're going
to have is with people who don't want you to go in. And it'll
be a struggle. But if you want in the kingdom
of God, believe me, you're going to get in there. Because those
who fight against you are nothing compared to the one who fights
for you. Greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world, says John. So if we're going to give ourselves
to anything and pour ourselves, heart, mind, and body, into the
pursuit of something, Let it be the kingdom of God. Let it
be that no matter what we're doing, in the doing of it, we
are seeking God's kingdom. That's what we really want. These
other things are just some necessary distractions along the way. And
do not try to find a kingdom in this world, because this world's
passing away. And if the world doesn't pass
away before long, you'll pass away and leave it all behind. Seek first the kingdom of God,
and you'll have everything you need. Seek the kingdom of the
world. You might get a lot of what the
world has to offer. but eventually you'll lose it,
and in the end, you won't have anything of what you need. The
scriptures say that through the knowledge of Him, the King of
this kingdom, we have all we need for life and godliness. And if we don't have Him, we
don't have anything. Fear not, little flock. You say,
well, I don't, boy, the way you preach, I'm not pursuing the
kingdom of God enough to get it. This isn't to make the sheep
fear more. This is to comfort the sheep.
You want that kingdom? There's nothing out there can
keep you from it. If you want to have a difficult
time, and a disappointing life. Seek the kingdom of the world.
If you want to be full of anxiety and worry, fret over your way
in this world. If you want peace, contentment,
and eternal and unusable, Riches, you seek
Christ with all your heart. He never fails. All right, Eric. And John and Scott will come
and help us with the table.