Kingdom Focus Conquers Worry Worksheet

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

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

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.