Seek First the Kingdom

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for your presence with us.

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And father, we. Are exalting you because you are the Lord and you are our Savior.

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God, we rest in your promise, God, that we are partakers of your life and we are complete. And you, and that we have all that we need. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your family. We magnify you today. We ask that your presence continue to be a part of this service, because the words that are spoken today to equip us, and we would go into this next week with greater faith, greater courage, greater strength.

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In the name of Jesus.

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And all God’s people say Amen. Amen.

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Please be seated. We got, we got some announcements to to make, and then we got a baby dedication that we’re going to step into. Yeah. So we’re excited about these things. Yes. Awesome things happening here, you guys. It’s such an honor and privilege to to be together and to worship together with family. Amen. Amen. You know, as part of our worship, we believe in giving.

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And that is part of our worship and, Proverbs even, and tells us that we glorify God in our wealth and our increase, and that when we do, every dimension of our life will overflow with blessing. Amen. Every dimension of our life overflows with blessing when we come, and we are generous and we give our tithes and offerings so to to give to this house.

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We have a couple ways to do that. We have a box at the back that you can drop off. Our our ushers have envelopes. You can do it with online. There’s QR codes in front of some of your chairs there or q QR code up there. You can. God is moving and doing great things and expanding and sending people.

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And we want to welcome our apostles and Jeremiah and Michelle back. They made it back from Africa. We’re going to be doing a report here in a couple of weeks on a Wednesday night. So we’ll keep you guys posted to that, when we settle that in. But you guys want to hear all the great things that have happened.

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They did two Voice of God training seminars in Kenya. And God is moving. So keep them in your prayers because I know there’s more travel coming that God blesses them. This week we have just a couple of things happening. Tuesday morning we’ll have prayer at 630 and we have Celebrate Recovery Tuesday evening, at 630 also in the evening.

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And our Simcoe building. No, no engage. No junior high or high school this week. We want to have families to enjoy their holiday. We’ve got Thanksgiving this week. I know what I want to encourage everyone in here to invite someone to your Thanksgiving. Yes, because we are family. Amen. And we don’t want anybody alone on Thanksgiving. So make sure that the people next to you have somewhere to go because we believe in family here.

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Amen. So next Sunday we have a couple things happening. It is our family service. Yay!

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It’s our family service. Next week. I always get excited to hear our youth band because they’re incredible. And I know our Simcoe team is going to continue in our Kingdom Way series next week. Ringing a parable and I’m sure a much more fun way than the rest of us bring it. So I’m sure we all get something out of it.

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And then at fellowship, we have our pie contest. Yeah. Thank you, Brian, for your announcement last week. It was all over social media. This week. It was great. You could hear my lovely laugh in the back. It was fantastic. But we it’s going to be fun. So bring a pie. Everybody can participate, so it’s going to be a good time.

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Okay. Do you want to announce anything back? A few more things on that. No, I got nothing to announce. Okay, we’ve got music now. I still have a few more things I was just trying to pass, you know, pass off the the work here. We’ve got music now coming December 12th, 13, 14. So there are there are some postcards in the back.

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I think all the ones got taken from here. So, I know there’s some in the foyer. There’ll be some in the fellowship hall. Spread the word. Invite your friends, share it on social media. We do have a practice today at 2:00 for everybody that’s in in the musical. So if you’re in the musical and performing, please plan to be here at two.

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And with that, we have a baby in the house. So we want to dedicate. So come on, a really great come on us. You know, in this house, we, we love the opportunity to, present our kids into the Lord’s care and to, dedicate them to his way. You know, as Samuel was dedicated in the house of God to serve the Lord.

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We recognize the value of our children in God’s eyes and the opportunity that we have to partner with him to not only, raise our children, but to accomplish the will of the Lord for our lives and our families. So we want to pray for this family and their and their little boy. Go for it. Right. You go.

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Okay.

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This is Luke. Mark. Krieg. Luke means light. And we named him after the apostle in the Bible. Because we’re really thinking on him becoming a doctor. No pressure.

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As far as Colton’s middle name, and it’s a family name, so that’s. That’s him. Yay! Awesome. Well, we’re going to go ahead and anoint him, and, I’ll have dad pray over him, and then we’ll pray over him. Baby, maybe.

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Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this baby boy that I know Grace has been hoping for since she was about three years old and I’ve been hoping for since I met Grace. Thank you so much for his health and just for the family that we have around us in this church family. And, we pray that you always have your hand over his life.

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Do you see him or pray? Know?

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Yeah.

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We’re going to pray. One more prayer. And, father, we thank you for this family. Lord, we thank you for even the destiny that you’ve prepared for this little one. God, we ask that, as this family walks in faith and adoration, Lord. And according to your promises, father, that you would preserve this union, this relationship and that you, father, would fill this young one with ability and blessing.

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And your wisdom in Jesus name, Amen and amen. Amen. We love you guys.

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All right. The, the next thing on the agenda here is a word from the Lord. And so, if you guys would put your hands together, Pastor Shelly is going to bring a word.

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Right. And I also just want to say hi to Joe and Liz. They’re in the house all the way from Greece.

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Welcome back. And and pray for rest. Amen. Amen. Everyone.

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Okay, I’m going to get situated here, get my things set up. So. All right so we are continuing in our Kingdom Away series And I’m actually really excited about today’s topic. Now I do assigned the topic. So. So I do keep ones that I want to preach on for myself.

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And then I give the hard ones to pastor Bob. Like in two weeks.

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Yeah. Two weeks. He’ll be, giving this the parable of the rich young ruler. So that’ll be a fun one. So, like I said, I give give pastor Bob the hard ones. Sometimes I get Pastor David the hard ones. I try to be nice to my husband.

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But actually, this whole series came out of the heart of Pastor Jonathan. And, as you guys, if you didn’t hear some of the first messages to kick off the series, I suggest you go back and listen to them because they are so timely for today and the hour that we are living, that we walk a different way.

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That we understand that we are called to a kingdom way, not a way of our culture. And it is different. And sometimes we have to navigate this. And what I love about Jesus, when he teaches, he gives us parables. He gives us stories, he tells us things. So we can understand the difference between our day to day, because we get caught up in our day to day, right?

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Every day we’re in it, we’re in and out of it. We’re bombarded with the culture around us. We’re bombarded with social media in the news and our coworkers and all the things. And if we’re not careful, we can assume that as part of our culture in the church, when Jesus said, I have not called you to be like the world, I have called you to be different than the world.

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He’s calling to us to a kingdom way. And so this series is so amazing because it’s helping us identify those places that sometimes aren’t clear in our every day that God is challenging us to say, hey, I, I can walk this different because sometimes we also need to know that we can be different. We don’t have to accept the status quo.

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We don’t have to accept the day to day, the dog eat dog world that our culture is pressing down our throats, but that we can walk in a different way. So that’s what this Kingdom series is about. And so today we are going to be talking about Seek first the Kingdom. That’s one of my favorite passages. We’re going to there’s there’s two accounts of ish of this story and in Matthew and in Luke.

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But today we’re going to we’re going to really dive into the chapter of chapter 12 in Luke. And I’m going to go ahead and just read us the passage. Luke 1222 through 34.

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You’re welcome to turn there, or you can follow along. Our lovely Sarah up there is running our PowerPoint. Thank you.

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And he said to his disciples, This is Jesus speaking. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Now, if that is not a mouthful.

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I don’t know. Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body or what you put on it. For. Life is more than food, the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse or barn. And yet God feeds them.

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And how much more valuable are you than birds?

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In which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his life span? If then you are not able to do as small a thing, is that then why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil or spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed, was not arrayed like one of these.

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But if God clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow, thrown in the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

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And do you not seek what you are to eat, and what you are to drink, or be worried? For all the nations of the world? Seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father’s good pleasure.

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It is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that don’t grow old with a treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches it, and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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I feel like this is such an appropriate set of scriptures for us today.

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Because we live in a fear shaped culture.

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Come on, it is thrown at us on every level. We are surrounded by fear. Every social media post. Every news organization. It is the currency of our world today. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear about tomorrow. Fear about our president. Fear about the nations. Fear about this. Fear about that fear. If I’m going to make enough money to buy a house when I’m older.

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Fear. If I’m going to have enough money to buy groceries because inflation is really high and the prices keep going up. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. We live in a fear shaped culture. The world has molded and influenced us to worry at every level of our lives. We worry if our kids are going to be safe at school.

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We worry if our all of it.

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We worry about the health of our babies. Do the doctors have the best interest at heart? What am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to do here? Every where we turn, there is fear and worry thrown at us. Anxiety now touches every element of our lives, our homes, our finances, our identity, our decisions, even our faith in the way we look to God.

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Currently. And culturally, this weight is real. We live in a very anxious world. Do you know that 69% of Americans in 2025 say that personal finance, financial uncertainty has caused them depression or anxiety 69%? That is from the Northwestern Mutual 2025 Planning and Progress study. I’m going to cite my studies here because I think it’s important. 69% of Americans have depression or anxiety over finances.

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61% of people report ongoing anxiety about paying bills, job security, or their future. This is from the American Psychiatric Association in 2025. 59% of people feel anxious about their health. 67% about global events. 40% of employed people worry about their job security. These are also from the American Psychiatric Society. Anxiety disorders affect millions globally. Becoming one of the most common mental struggles in our time.

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The World Health Organization estimates 301 million people worldwide live with an anxiety disorder diagnosed. Anxiety disorder. Younger generations especially experienced rising levels of worry and uncertainty. From the CDC, from the American Psychiatric Society says 43% of U.S. adults say they felt more anxious than the previous year. And younger adults 18 to 34 report higher levels of anxiety. And we’re more likely to say that social connection impacted their mental health.

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From the Youth Mental Health summary from the Annie Casey Foundation here in 2025, it says among youths, 12 to 1720% reported symptoms of anxiety.

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Think we have a fear and anxiety issue. And this is where Jesus steps in into Luke 12. And he knows that we live in a world shaped by fear and pressure and distraction. And he’s saying, I see it, but let me show you a better way. Let me show you a kingdom way. And in verse 33, in Matthew six it says, seek first the kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

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Luke 12 shows us the contrast between the world’s way and the kingdom’s way, and how seeking the kingdom first will free us from worry and distraction and fear. And Jesus moves directly into our main passage, proclaiming the antidote to worry and anxiety and fear. Seek first the kingdom.

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This is the antidote. Seek first the kingdom. He’s teaching his disciples that even though the world has the way of fear, the kingdom way is different. The Kingdom way is choosing God’s reign over fears. Rule. Seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom, and all the things that you worry about will be added to you. This is the key.

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God is not telling us to ignore our situation, but he’s saying that he’s a God of abundance. He’s the God that took a few loaves and fishes and turned it into feeding multiple thousands of people. Yet we live in a world that tells us to fear that our paycheck isn’t going to go far enough. And God said, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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I got you. I got you. You don’t have to buy in to the fear culture that surrounds us. So today we’re going to break down this passage in five points.

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So point number one, the world lives by worry. The kingdom lives by trust.

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Jesus begins the passage by going straight to the root issue. In verse 22 he says, do not worry about your life.

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He doesn’t beat around the bush. He calls it out straight. He’s like, I know what’s going on. I know what you’re dealing with. Let me just put it out here. Do not worry about your life. He knows that worry is the engine behind human behavior. That the world is driven and shaped and often controlled by fear. And anxiety.

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We just read all those statistics. The world’s way is worry. The world says, what if I don’t have enough? What if things fall apart? What if I can’t hold it together? What if I’m not enough? What if I can’t provide for my family? Worry becomes the lens that we look at everything through. It becomes the lens of how we see money, how we make decisions, how we see our future, how we see our identity.

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And it sets a pace of fear and pressure and self reliance.

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Jesus knows if worry rules your life, the kingdom never will.

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If worry rules your life, the kingdom never will.

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It can’t.

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And I love Jesus. Instead of giving him techniques to manage stress.

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To manage their anxiety.

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He gives them pictures. Consider the birds. Look at the flowers in the field.

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The birds. They don’t. They don’t plant food. They don’t have barns that they store massive amounts of food in.

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But I feed them. And look at these beautiful flowers. How beautifully they are clothed. How much more do I love you?

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Jesus doesn’t come with behavior modification techniques.

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He comes to help us understand and to be anchored that God is the provider. He’s telling us to look at the creation. The creation trusts the creator. It’s an invitation that if God could take care of them, how much more will he take care of us?

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This is the first shift. He’s taking us from a place of worry, and he’s trying to get us into a place of trust.

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See, worry is the world’s way. But trust is the kingdom way. The kingdom doesn’t eliminate responsibility, but it eliminates the fear that is underneath the responsibility that our world puts there.

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Trust says my father sees me. Trust says my father knows what I need. Then my father cares for me. That my life is not sustained by my stress, but by his strength. Trust is the foundation for every kingdom response that follows. Philippians four six and seven says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

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Let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Man, there is so much in this scripture that we could unpack. We need to bring our anxiety to the cross and lay it there. And then he says, and then the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, which is beyond our circumstances, the things that are going on, the things that we understand are the things that we see and the things that we know.

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Right. So the peace of God that is greater than the things that we know, the things that we understand, the things that we see are going to guard our hearts and mind.

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Through Christ. This is the kingdom way. Psalm 5522 leave your cares and anxiety at the feet of the Lord, and measureless grace will strengthen you. If you need strength, lay your anxieties at the feet of Jesus.

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Trust is not passive. Trust is kingdom posture, and it is counter to the culture of fear and worry. Our second point today is that the world chases everything, but the kingdom seeks one thing. The world chases everything, but the kingdom seeks one. Luke 2012. Starting in verse 29, it says, and do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, or be worried for the nations of the world.

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Seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them. So here’s the deal. God is not ignoring the fact that we need to eat, and we need clothes, and we need a roof over our head. That is not what he’s saying. He’s saying I see that you need it, but you don’t have to seek after it instead.

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Seek his kingdom, and then these things will be added to you. So what Jesus says seek in these verses, he’s actually using two different words. One word is when the world seeks, right? And the other word was used when his disciples were to seek the kingdom. And these differences are important because it shows us the contrast between chasing and true seeking.

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Those two words in Greek and Liz, you know, can fix me later. And that’s okay. A piece of tail and the tail are the two words that are used there. The first one, a piece of tail. There is a prefix in front of the main words, a tail. And it is really important here because it changes the meaning significantly.

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Because the prefix AP or AP means to put on intensely. To press. So there’s this pressing and adding intensity to this word. So the word epitaph here a piece of tail means to strive, to wish for, to lust, to covet. It means to press after, like searching for a wanted criminal to chase down, to seek anxiously to pursue with pressure.

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You see, this is a fear based trait chasing. I love it in the NIV, in verse 30 it says, the pagan world runs after such things, but your father knows you need them. And in the Bereans standard translation of Luke 1230, it says, The Gentiles of the world strive after these things. The world chases. The world strives. The world runs.

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The world is trying to chase for acceptance, belonging, opportunity, pleasure, significance, image, success, validation. But chasing. Listen to this. Chasing is always trying to catch what’s running away from anybody chasing a child. Lately I did last night. No, please don’t run over the person carrying cake.

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Chasing is always trying to catch what’s running away from you. It’s chasing the attempts to grab things that are slipping through your fingers. So everybody felt that. Everything’s just slipping through my fingers. If I just push harder. If I just do this better. Everything’s just falling apart. That’s what the world does. It’s frantic. It’s rushed. It’s pressure. It’s reactive.

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It’s fear driven. It’s fueled by comparison and insecurity. It’s exhausting.

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Because it’s rooted in fear. The world chases everything. Everything that’s running away from them.

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But the kingdom seeks one thing.

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In verse 31, we’re instructed that we are to seek the kingdom. And that word is a tail without the prefix, without the panic and the pressure. And the fear means to seek with priority, to pursue intentionally, to aim your heart, to desire above all else. In the Strong’s it even says to worship and require as your vital need.

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Seek the Kingdom as your vital need. And all these things will be added. All the things that you’re striving for will be added to you. When we stop chasing the world and we start pursuing Christ first.

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Is he seeking pursues? What is drawing you in and he moves you forward to the one who already promised all things to you. Jesus already promised it.

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It’s like when Jesus went into the wilderness after he was baptized and the enemy came and he tempted him with all these things, you know that he tempted him with everything he was already promised. They were already his. They’re already going to be his. Satan tried to shortcut it.

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Seek first the kingdom and all the things that are already promised will be added to you. Seeking a lion’s our heart with the kingdom. It’s faith driven. It’s fueled by trust in the father. See, Jesus draws a sharp line that the world chases, but disciples seek. And then he adds, he adds all these things, all things will be added to you.

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Do you guys get the magnitude of that? Like we’re striving for little things, like putting a meal on our kids table and God’s like, I got so much more for you than just the meal. Rose gave a testimony last week about it. You know, sometimes we pray for the littlest things. God, please, please just let my son not have to have surgery.

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Instead of saying, God, I believe that you are the healer and you’re going to remove every place. And God says, I am going to provide abundantly. Pastor Jonathan talked about a weeks ago. The kingdom is not of scarcity. The kingdom is like abundance and God has abundance. But we chase after these scarce things instead of turning our hearts to the King who wants to provide abundance.

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And he’s like all the things that you’re looking for I want to add to you. I’m not trying to keep anything from you. I want to give it all to you. To seek me. Seek me. And you’re going to find me. Seek me and you’re going to find me. See, when we trust the one who adds, you don’t have to chase.

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Our world is full of pressures that try to pull us right back into the chase. Right? Tries to pull us right back in to the culture and the fear. One of the clearest forms of that fear takes today is fear of missing out. Come on, FOMO.

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Oh, we might miss the moment. Come on. Who’s felt that? I might miss my moment?

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Who missed that? I might miss the fun. Missed the opportunity. Missed the group. Miss the life that everybody else has. Who?

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And I know we can maybe poke fun at it and laugh. It’s kind of a cliche term, and maybe some of us will relate because we think of FOMO. As for the Gen Z, you know, or whatever. But come on. We all deal with this. And for our younger generation, worries, worries and necessarily about jobs and bills. It’s about being left out.

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It’s about missing that moment, falling behind, not measuring up. FOMO is a fear that your identity depends on being everywhere, with everyone.

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But it’s deeply ingrained in our identity. Insecurity. FOMO says If I’m not included, I’m not valued. If I’m not there, I won’t matter. If I miss it, I won’t measure up.

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Jesus isn’t saying, try the kingdom. He’s saying, make the kingdom your main pursuit.

00:35:12:05 – 00:35:34:23
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Jeremiah 29. We’re all familiar with verse 11, but one of my favorite. If you go a little past verse 13 says, and you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all of your heart, I will be found of you, says the Lord. Seek the kingdom first. It’s God’s way. It’s full of righteousness. It’s full of peace.

00:35:35:00 – 00:35:40:03
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It’s full of joy. It’s full of abundance.

00:35:40:05 – 00:36:17:01
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All right, point number three. The world hesitates. The kingdom fully commits. See, Jesus told us that the world runs after things are chasing things. But there’s another side to worry. It’s not just running. It’s about holding back from the things God’s calling us to. Luke 1232 says, fear not, little flock. It’s your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

00:36:17:03 – 00:36:26:16
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You see, hesitation is also a form of fear. It’s not loud. It’s not panicked. It’s silent. Delay.

00:36:26:19 – 00:36:33:27
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It’s the feeling of, I don’t know, maybe later, maybe something else. Maybe there’s something better.

00:36:34:00 – 00:36:39:13
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There’s a fear of a better offer.

00:36:39:15 – 00:36:47:19
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Fear of not missing out. The fear of committing. In case something better comes along.

00:36:47:21 – 00:37:00:13
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And here’s the connection. We hesitate when we’re not convinced. The father’s way is the best way.

00:37:00:15 – 00:37:09:02
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Fear of a better offer says what if I pick wrong? What if God doesn’t come through?

00:37:09:04 – 00:37:33:22
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What if his plans won’t satisfy me? But Jesus answers it directly in this scripture. Fear not. It’s your father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. He’s saying you’re not missing it. You’re not going to miss a better offer. His way is the best offer. You don’t have to keep your options open. You don’t have to wait for something else to show up.

00:37:33:28 – 00:37:47:01
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You can commit fully because the father delights to give you everything that you need. Yes.

00:37:47:03 – 00:38:13:28
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See, FOMO makes us chase. Right. Fear of missing out makes us chase things that we might miss. FOMO. Fear of a better offer makes us hesitate. But the kingdom invites us to trust and commit. Because the father’s good. Psalm 37 verse five says, commit your ways to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will bring it to pass.

00:38:14:01 – 00:38:26:28
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We hesitate when we doubt the father’s heart, but we commit boldly when we believe his kingdom is the better offer.

00:38:27:00 – 00:38:30:13
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All right. Point number four.

00:38:30:15 – 00:39:01:14
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The world holds tightly, but the kingdom gives generously. We see in verses 33 and 3534 it says, sell your possessions and give to the poor, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So Jesus has moved us from worry into trust. He’s tackled our identity and our commitment. And now he’s going straight for our hands.

00:39:01:16 – 00:39:14:25
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Why? Because what we do with our resource is often the clearest indicator of what we trust.

00:39:14:27 – 00:39:40:06
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See, fear is the root of holding tightly. People don’t hold back because they’re selfish. They hold back because they’re afraid. What if I don’t have enough? What if something goes wrong? What if I need this later? What if God doesn’t come through? For some of us, it’s. What if they don’t use it wisely?

00:39:40:08 – 00:39:44:09
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What if I get taken advantage of?

00:39:44:12 – 00:40:13:21
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So we clutch. We grip. We hesitate. We protect our own things. We protect ourselves from disappointment. But Jesus is showing us that fear keeps us from generosity. You know, there’s been many times in our lives, Jonathan, in my lives, that God challenged us to give, and we did not have.

00:40:13:24 – 00:40:36:21
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And we gave. And he provided. I remember one time our boys were really little, and, we’ve we’ve always believed in tithing, and God’s always provided everything we need with it. It’s been an amazing thing. You know, when when my my oldest son was born, I didn’t go back to work. And Jonathan was working for the church, and he was pretty low man on the totem pole.

00:40:36:21 – 00:41:02:11
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So we’ll just say that, you know, there wasn’t a lot of resources coming in. And, we still tithed 10% every week. And God provided every single time. There were plenty of days. You can ask Jonathan that I was in tears, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. I didn’t think that we were going to have enough by the end of the month.

00:41:02:14 – 00:41:23:28
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I didn’t think that, we were going to make it, but every single time we did. I don’t know, like I’m a math person and somehow the master in math like. It’s like kingdom math is different than us. Math. Okay. Like, for real, guys, I’m not kidding. You. Like, this is what I do for a living. I’m an accountant.

00:41:24:04 – 00:41:38:06
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So, like, let me tell you, when I see what’s coming in and what’s supposed to go out, and I know that we’re not going to have enough. And two weeks later, we got through it. And I still have money in my account. Like the math doesn’t math.

00:41:38:08 – 00:41:59:17
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Because the kingdom of God is it? God is abundance. And things showed up. So we were in this this situation where sometimes the math wasn’t making sense. But God brought us month to month to month and he provided us and he gave me a few side jobs and, you know, all these things, right? God provides in different ways, right?

00:41:59:19 – 00:42:17:23
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So then we were at a meeting somewhere, and I don’t even remember who it was, couldn’t even tell you. We were at a different church and there was a guest speaker there. And of course, they were, you know, doing great things around the world. And at the end, they had asked if anybody wanted to give, you know, you know, a typical end of service thing.

00:42:17:25 – 00:42:29:09
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And Jonathan’s like, I think we’re supposed to give. And I’m like, well, we don’t got anything else to give. And he’s like, well, I think we’re supposed to give anyway. I was like, from what?

00:42:29:11 – 00:42:37:20
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And so we did, because I’m a very submissive wife.

00:42:37:22 – 00:42:44:02
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Sometimes.

00:42:44:04 – 00:43:19:12
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Because I trusted that this was not, anything but from the heart of God. It wasn’t irresponsible. I trusted his heart. I was like, oh, I mean, it was. It was a bit to get me there, but we got me there and we gave and I think I gave like $350, which was like a lot of money. And the next week in the mail show, this $500 check showed up and I was like, what is this?

00:43:19:15 – 00:43:43:01
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And it was for some weird IBM thing that his grandpa had done for him and his name and some dividend or something. And I was like, but we already got this check, like, we’re supposed to get one a year. And I’m like, but we already got this check and it said replacement check on it. So I called them and I was like, wait, but we got this check already like two months ago.

00:43:43:03 – 00:43:47:23
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And they said, well, I don’t know. It never cleared the bank.

00:43:47:25 – 00:43:59:14
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I said, well, I see it in my bank like I do. You want me to send you like the copy of the clear check? And they’re like, well, there’s nothing I can do about it. It said it never cleared my bank. So we sent you a replacement check.

00:43:59:17 – 00:44:09:29
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It’s like, okay, can I say that the check was dated the day before we gave?

00:44:10:01 – 00:44:13:24
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Out? Yeah. The.

00:44:13:26 – 00:44:18:21
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Kingdom is abundant.

00:44:18:24 – 00:44:22:28
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When we hold on to things.

00:44:23:01 – 00:44:39:06
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They just slip through. We can never get a grasp. But we understand the principles of generosity. We understand the principles of God that he is here to give big. He just wants our heart.

00:44:39:09 – 00:45:02:13
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And that is not the first story. Over the years, God’s challenged us to buy a car for somebody. Our two actually like three. And, you know, give this or give that or give it. And I’m not saying that I’m not trying to say this for anything else, but the fact that God has blessed above and beyond anything we could imagine.

00:45:02:16 – 00:45:26:16
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God has opened doors for us that are not possible. The job I have, I shouldn’t have. But God has blessed us abundantly, and he keeps opening doors that we thought were impossible. And it’s because we live in the kingdom. Principles of generosity. And we understand the abundance. We’re not reckless. We have to be good stewards. That’s not what I’m talking about here.

00:45:26:23 – 00:45:46:24
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But I’m talking about the place of the heart. Do we hold on because we’re afraid? Or when God puts things on our heart, does he do? Is he challenging us to follow his word, to stretch us in this area of trust? Do we do it?

00:45:46:26 – 00:46:00:06
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Jesus is not saying here, just sell everything you have. He says, so what you have let me have means your things at your disposal.

00:46:00:08 – 00:46:07:01
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He’s really saying, release the grip that fear has on your heart.

00:46:07:03 – 00:46:17:29
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Invest in what actually lasts. Because where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.

00:46:18:01 – 00:46:23:23
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But when we buy into the fear culture.

00:46:23:26 – 00:46:31:00
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We will never truly understand the heart of God.

00:46:31:02 – 00:47:05:29
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Proverbs three nine and ten says, Glorify God with your wealth, honoring him with your very best and every increase that comes to you. Then the dimensions of your life, every dimension of your life, will overflow with blessing from an uncontainable source of inner joy. I can testify of in Scripture, every dimension of life will overflow.

00:47:06:02 – 00:47:10:07
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See, fear closes our hand.

00:47:10:09 – 00:47:26:27
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Causes us to hold tight. But trust opens our hearts to God and His ways. Our last and final point. Point number five.

00:47:26:29 – 00:47:37:02
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The world invests in temporary. And the kingdom invests in the eternal.

00:47:37:04 – 00:48:05:18
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You see, Jesus has called us to live generously, not to lose something, but to shift something inside of us. Generosity isn’t the end of the teaching. It’s the bridge into a bigger kingdom. Truth. Because generosity isn’t just about what leaves, what leaves your hand. It’s about where your heart ends up. The world invests in what cannot last.

00:48:05:20 – 00:48:39:05
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The world says to protect you. What’s yours? To build your portfolio. To hold on to what you’ve earned. To pour everything into the now. Every earthly investment is temporary. It’s fragile. It’s vulnerable. It’s fading. Our stuff. It fades. It wears out. Our possessions disappear. Opportunities. They come and go. Nothing. This world offers is unshakable. But the kingdom. The kingdom is unshakable and will last forever.

00:48:39:07 – 00:48:50:26
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Luke 1233 and 30 says, provide yourselves money bags that do not grow old.

00:48:50:29 – 00:48:57:23
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With treasure in heaven that does not fail.

00:48:57:25 – 00:49:13:05
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You see, we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. God isn’t after our money. He’s after our hearts. And he knows your heart follows.

00:49:13:07 – 00:49:30:24
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Colossians three verse two says, feast on all the treasures in the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts and heavenly realities, and not with distractions of the natural realm.

00:49:30:26 – 00:49:43:28
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You see, we can invest in the temporary or we can invest in the eternal. So simple. It’s so simple.

00:49:44:00 – 00:49:51:08
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That’s Cathy to come. The awesome.

00:49:51:10 – 00:50:21:24
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So Jesus ends his teaching with the statement in verse 34. It says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You see, this one line pulls it all together. You see, if worry rules our heart. You’ll chase what the world chases. If fear rules our heart. We hesitate and hold tight. But when kingdom rules our heart.

00:50:21:26 – 00:50:58:06
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We seek first. We trust first. We give freely. And we invest in what lasts. This is the kingdom way. This is the kingdom way. It’s not a life shaped by worry. It’s not a life shaped by fear, but a life shaped by trust in the father who delights to give us the kingdom. Do we believe that he delights to give us the kingdom?

00:50:58:08 – 00:51:02:01
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Do we really believe that?

00:51:02:03 – 00:51:08:14
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I think that’s the. That’s the tug here.

00:51:08:16 – 00:51:24:10
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Do we really believe that he has what’s best for us? That his ways are higher and he sees things that we don’t see? Do we really trust him?

00:51:24:12 – 00:51:55:01
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That he’s going to help us navigate? He’s going to have God math. He’s going to make it all work out that he has greater things in store than anything that we could imagine. Do we really believe that that he is our father and that he delights to give us the kingdom? I’m a parent. I will do anything for my kids.

00:51:55:04 – 00:52:39:26
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It’s not hard. It’s what comes out of me. We believe that a father in heaven is like that with us, that he is delighting, to pour out blessing, to pour out love, to pour out peace, to pour out life. That he doesn’t want us to live in a place of worry and fear. That he wants us to come out of this, this pressure that the world puts on us to have it all together, to make it all happen, to figure it out on your own.

00:52:39:29 – 00:52:44:17
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It’s like you don’t have to.

00:52:44:20 – 00:52:52:09
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Do you trust that I want it all for you. And then my way is the better way.

00:52:52:12 – 00:53:19:20
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And then of all the things, all the possibilities and all the pathways that you can take, if you trust me, I will lead you down the best possible way to the expected end. The end that is prosperous and full of love and life and abundance. Well, we’re not lacking for anything.

00:53:19:23 – 00:53:35:21
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He doesn’t want to leave us in a world that is driven and anxiety. I don’t want to be another statistic. Church. I don’t want to be a statistic about the 69% that is worried about tomorrow.

00:53:35:24 – 00:53:40:23
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I want to walk in peace and rest and love.

00:53:40:26 – 00:53:57:26
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We walk responsibly, but we don’t walk with fear. Do we believe that he has the best for us? I believe that’s the heart of this message.

00:53:57:28 – 00:54:10:17
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Don’t strive, but trust. Seek first him. Seek first the kingdom.

00:54:10:19 – 00:54:36:19
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Everything else. I’m not going to pursue it. I’m going to pursue God first. And when we pursue God first, you will be surprised at all the things that you thought you might have been leaving behind. That he puts right in front of you, and he gives you. We’ve seen it in our own lives over and over again. Pastor Jonathan, the Lord, told him to walk away from school right before his senior year of college.

00:54:36:21 – 00:54:43:01
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You’re crazy. God. Some of you know the story. Some of you may not.

00:54:43:03 – 00:54:55:20
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He proceeded to confirm and confirm and confirm that that’s what he was supposed to do. And then not just a few after he walked away, not a few weeks later, his mom passed away in a car accident.

00:54:55:22 – 00:55:03:04
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And then later, people would ask him, would you ever go back? I asked him.

00:55:03:06 – 00:55:15:04
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Would you go back? You know, it was really clear to me why God asked you to walk away. He’s like God told me to. Not unless he tells me to go back.

00:55:15:06 – 00:55:23:07
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So seek for him. Not perfectly. We do it all right? All the time.

00:55:23:10 – 00:55:43:19
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When we don’t, we get realigned and we focus. And we just pursued God. And we watched him do miraculous things in our families. And then God sent a prophet from the East coast that we’ve never met and gave him a word about going back to school. And so then we put a fleece out and said, God, if it’s yours.

00:55:43:22 – 00:55:59:23
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He put a fleece out. He’s the one with way more faith. I’m just going to just throw this out there. He’s like, Lord, if I if it’s time to go back, give me the same scholarship I gave up. And he had given up a full scholarship for the whole year. And so he called the professor and the professor.

00:55:59:23 – 00:56:18:09
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Oh, man. Jonathan, so good to hear from you. Oh, scholarships for due last week here. Okay, thanks. He’s like, but if you can get it into me tomorrow, I’ll put it in the stack. A few months later, he got a call and he got a full scholarship, the exact scholarship that he had walked away from.

00:56:18:11 – 00:56:38:17
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And then he was going to school and he was the only one working. How is that going to happen? I was barely working. How are we going to make our make ends meet? And, you know, I’ve I’ve been an anxious person in parts of my life and a stressful person. I stress out on things, and God’s had to deal with me over and over again.

00:56:38:19 – 00:56:59:28
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But, you know, in this moment, I was not stressed because I knew it was God couldn’t deny it. And if God opened the door, he was going to open it fully and provide the way. And he did. And through some series of interesting events, we put more money in our savings account. The year we went, he went back to school and was not working.

00:57:00:00 – 00:57:08:12
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Then we had the previous five years we were married. God, math. I’m telling you.

00:57:08:15 – 00:57:35:17
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See, when we pursue God, he’s not trying to take things away from us. He’s just saying, look to me. I’ve got the best way for you. Let me add all the things. Let me add everything. All the things that you wanted. All your desires. I want to give them all to you. But I need to deal with your heart first.

00:57:35:19 – 00:57:44:07
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I’m going to give you the provision you need. But I need to deal with your heart.

00:57:44:09 – 00:57:57:17
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Do we trust that he wants to give us the abundance of the kingdom?

00:57:57:19 – 00:58:05:02
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As we enter Thanksgiving season this week.

00:58:05:05 – 00:58:27:08
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I want us to remember. That when we know the father’s heart. And then we know he delights to give to us, to provide for us, to lead and to carry our hearts will naturally respond with gratitude.

00:58:27:10 – 00:58:45:17
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So I this week, we don’t think God out of denial of our circumstances. We thank him out of revelation of who he is. We thank him not because everything’s perfect, but because his kingdom is unshakable.

00:58:45:19 – 00:58:55:22
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We thank him not because we have every answer, but because he has every need covered.

00:58:55:24 – 00:59:15:14
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Gratitude and thanksgiving is the posture of people who have chosen the kingdom way. It’s the posture of people who have decided to refuse the culture of fear and receive the peace and provision of Father.

00:59:15:17 – 00:59:27:12
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So we don’t call out of this place or into this week and into this holiday season with worry. We go into it with worship.

00:59:27:15 – 00:59:40:24
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Instead of leading with fear. We lead with gratitude because we know it’s our father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.

00:59:40:26 – 00:59:46:26
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His good pleasure.

00:59:46:28 – 00:59:58:01
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So as we close, I just wanted to give an opportunity. It’s not something I do very often.

00:59:58:04 – 01:00:08:16
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There may be some in here that need to lay down. Some worry, some anxiety, some fear.

01:00:08:18 – 01:00:16:05
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And I just want to give that opportunity. To take a minute.

01:00:16:07 – 01:00:20:17
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To adjust our hearts.

01:00:20:20 – 01:00:36:13
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To say I really believe that you want to give abundant.

01:00:36:15 – 01:00:47:08
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That we can trust you.

01:00:47:11 – 01:00:58:15
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Some of us don’t know anything other than anxiety and worry. But God wants to free us today.

01:00:58:17 – 01:01:03:14
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It is not a diagnosis of who you are.

01:01:03:16 – 01:01:07:08
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There is peace.

01:01:07:10 – 01:01:16:18
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There is peace to be had in the Kingdom of God.

01:01:16:20 – 01:01:42:10
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So, Lord, we thank you today. God, we thank you that you are the God of peace. That you are the God of love. That you, oh God, are the one that we can put our whole trust in. And so today we come to you and we lay down every place of fear. Every place of anxiety. Every place of worry about the good things and the bad things.

01:01:42:10 – 01:02:16:16
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The things that we can control. The things that we cannot control. Lord, we lay it at your feet today. Oh, God. And we choose today to seek you first, to not be driven by these places of worry. To not let our decisions be driven from anxiety and fear and uncertainty, but to trust you and you alone. So today we choose to lay it at your feet.

01:02:16:18 – 01:04:33:18
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We choose to put it out there. God help my unbelief. Help! Help us be secure in you. Because you are our father and your desire is to give us the kingdom. Your desire is to give us the kingdom.

01:04:33:21 – 01:04:39:12
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And.

01:04:39:14 – 01:04:45:22
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Help me sing this song. I want to sit at your feet.

01:04:45:25 – 01:04:52:08
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And.

01:04:52:11 – 01:05:38:06
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I want to sit at your feet. Drink from the cup in your hand and back against you. And breathe. Feel your heart be this love. You so deep. It’s more than I can stand. I melt in your peace. It’s overwhelming. I want to sit at your feet. Drink from the cup in your hand. Lay back against you and breathe.

01:05:38:08 – 01:06:00:09
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Feel your heart be. This love is so deep. It’s more than I can stand. I melt in your peace. It’s overwhelming.

01:06:00:12 – 01:06:16:08
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The more I see you. The more I find you.

01:06:16:10 – 01:06:24:04
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The more I find you.

01:06:24:07 – 01:06:40:02
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The more I love you. The more I seek you. The more I seek you.

01:06:40:05 – 01:06:44:14
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The more I find you.