Worry, Trust and Kingdom Living part 2

Well, take your Bible, turn back to where we were earlier in Matthew 6, Matthew 6 verse 25 to 34. While you're turning there, I will say that I miss being here this past Wednesday night. There's this cold stuff that's going around. It is kind of hitting us all pretty good. And I was a little under the weather and I want to thank the men who were able to fill in for me. Brother Tommy filled in just the other day when we were out. Jared filled in on a Sunday morning. Keith fills in many times and I'm very thankful for the men who can teach God's Word when I am here or not here.

So I did miss being here and I look forward to what we'll look at this coming Wednesday night. Well, like I said earlier, we're going to be right here in Matthew chapter 6. We're going to finish up verses 25 to 34. I think there is one scripture that I will reference that you can write down later. Last week when we were in part one, I don't think I referenced any other scripture. But oh, we're going to dive in and finish up verses 31 on down to verse 34. And I'll be honest with you, I've been looking forward to this ever since week before last. Because these verses have really meant something to me.

Now last week we started these verses, quite a few verses, verse 25 to 34. And it's all about worry. I think it's obvious to see. It is all about anxious living. The English Standard Version uses the phrase anxious living. The New American does as well. I know I mentioned this last week, but you do need to see it. Anxious living, worry. No matter what translation you have, it is mentioned six times all throughout the verses. That tells us that this is the main subject. Of course if you look at your English translation, there's probably a heading there above verse 25 that helps you see the main subject as well. There's nothing wrong with that.

Now this worry, this anxious living, it would be defined as thinking or patterns of thinking that lead to stress. It could lead to even distress. And you know another level of this thinking and patterns of thinking could be even despair. And this would be unhealthy thoughts. This would be ways of thinking that lead to anxiety. It leads to worry. I think you see the meaning of this worry. I think you see the meaning of this anxious living. But you know it's easy for us to understand what it means, but it's hard for us to apply it to our life. See that's when we say ouch, isn't that right?

Knowing what this means is one thing, but letting the Lord apply it to our lives is where it can be tough. Now not only is worry the subject of these verses, but based off what we studied last week we would have to say that trust is one of the main subjects as well. Remember the context. We know that Jesus is there on the mountain side teaching the great crowds. There are all of these Jews who ultimately did not believe in Him, especially those religious leaders who were scheming and scoffing and scouring at everything that He taught. But there are the disciples there and those early believers there that band of believers.

And Jesus is aiming at the worry that is in their lives. But He is teaching on trust as well. See it is trust that should take the place of worry and anxious living in the lives of God's people. Whether it would be people there as He is preaching this sermon are God's people today. And we need to see that. Trust is what should take the place of worry and anxious living in the lives of God's people. Now we must see how we relate to this teaching. I covered this last week, but we need to see it again. This is relational. Do not allow this to become mechanical in your life and in your thinking.

This is not a set of black and white instructions just to get rid of worry out of our lives. No, as born again Christians, we have a personal relationship with God. God has saved us. We know Him because His Spirit, the Holy Spirit lives within us. And we are to walk with the Lord all of the days of our lives because He has saved us and because we love Him. And if we worry, we see that that is a sure sign that we do not trust the Lord that we love the Lord that lives within us. You see church, this is a personal sin against a personal God. Remember Jesus says our Father two times here. This is personal.

I revisit my confession that I made last week. That confession start up a little conversation in my home. I confess to you that I do not trust my wife's driving. And see, I was honest there. I explained that if I don't trust my wife's driving then I don't trust my wife. Now my question for you is this. What about you? Did you make any confession here? Now I'm not talking about driving with your wife. I'm just saying, have you got to the place where maybe you are confessing worry? Maybe you're confessing a lack of trust.

See, we've got to take what God teaches us and we've got to explore it and let the Spirit apply it and we've got to confess as well. I was listening to Brother Keith earlier share about how he took last week's message and used it as a conversation piece in his home. See, that's what we've got to do here folks. And listen church, how we live here in all that we're looking at, it reveals to us the true condition of our hearts, you see. In all that we're studying here, if we see that we struggle with anxious living, if we struggle to trust in God, it is a heart issue. And not only is it a heart issue, it is a sin. It is obviously a sin.

Now real quick, remember what we learned last week. Now we're not going to do a full review. We don't have time for a full review, but we need to reach back and we need to pick up where we left off. First, we learned that worry is a sin against our Lord. You can say our master. Worry is a sin against our Lord and master. You see verse 25 is connected back to verse 24. And because we can only have one master and one Lord, worry is a sin against our Lord and against our master. And then second, we learned that worry is a sin against our Father. I'll reference this just a moment ago, two times. Jesus uses the term your Father.

Again this is relational. Worry is a sin against the person of God, our heavenly Father. There's an emphasis here that I want us to move on to. There's an emphasis here I want us to see. I wanted to share this last week, but we just didn't have the time. I want us to see that Jesus makes four firm arguments out of the teaching that we covered last week, four forceful questions to call His people to depend on God and the provision of God and the providence of God in their lives. The first argument right out of verse 25. Look back at verse 25 with me. "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious. Don't worry about your life.

Don't worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body or what you will put on it." Now here's the question, here's the argument. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? You see? Jesus is pushing back here. This is a firm argument. This is a forceful question. He's looking right into the face of His disciples. Is not your life more than food and the body more than clothing? And then this second argument, this second forceful question out of the next verse, verse 26. Look back at verse 26. "Look at the birds of the air.

They neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Now here's the question, here's the argument. Are you not more valuable than they are? You see? He pushes back. He says, "Aren't you more valuable than the birds that are flying right over your head right now?" And then the third argument, this third forceful question right there out of verse 27. "In which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life?" You see that question? What is he saying? How in the world can you add to your life by letting worry come into your life? The fourth argument is out of verse 28.

"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow. They neither toil nor spin." See that question? And why are you anxious? Why do you worry about clothing? You see? Jesus is pushing back. He is pushing back with these questions right into the face of his disciples. Now before we can move on, we must see how this all applies to us. There's so much application that we made here, but there's one application that just rose to the surface for me as I was preparing this second part. You see, for some of you, some of you in this room, you worry about the basic necessities of life just like we see here. You do.

You worry about food. You worry about clothes. Those basic necessities. But for others, you have more. You have more. So it's the other way around. You can be more engrossed. You can be more obsessed with your bodies even to a point of making it idolatry. And we must see that it is just as much of a sin for the poor to worry about food and water and clothing as it is for the more affluent to obsess over food and clothing and the body, oh, just like we see in our culture. Now what's the title of the message? I think the title of the message is very obvious. It is a part two. We're looking at worry. We looked at that very well last week.

We looked at trust. We saw that the two go hand in hand and then we're going to see more of the kingdom living. So we're really just picking up right where we left off with verse 31 to 34. Let's go back and I want us to read the verses. Let's look at verse 31. "Therefore," see he had just stated, "O you of little faith." See he's really hitting them right where they are.

"Therefore, do not be anxious saying, 'What should we eat?' or 'What should we drink?' or 'What should we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Now there are three ways we're going to look at these verses. Number one, I want us to see that worry is a sin against our faith. Worry is a sin against our faith.

Now here in verse 31 we see another shift. Have we not seen Jesus make these shifts all along? Jesus shows His people that they relate to God in another way here. He goes from Lord at the beginning of the lesson to Father all throughout the lesson and now Jesus is showing His people that worry clashes with their professed faith in God. He is showing His people that anxious living is not to be mixed up with their faith. That is a contradiction. Now He does this in two ways. The first is more subtle. The second is a little more bold. First He gives them a reminder out of verse 31. "Therefore, do not be anxious saying, 'What should we eat?

What should we drink? Or what should we wear?'" Here Jesus is repeating what He's already taught. Isn't that right? See repetition is good folks. Sometimes we need it. Jesus is repeating what He has already taught, but really this is stronger. This is also a correction we saw last week that He was seeking to correct a pattern of behavior that was in them. So yes He is reminding them, but one step further, He is admonishing them. See, He's trying to get them to go a particular direction, but it's more than that. See He is still correcting them. Now notice the three questions. What should we eat? What should we drink? What shall we wear?

He has already covered this teaching. Look back up to verse 25. "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on it." See the repetition? "And then the principle is not life more than food and the body more than clothing." Remember this firm and forceful argument. This question is a firm question, a forceful argument. Jesus is strongly pushing back against their sin. He is making a strong argument against that sin. So this is a reminder of the reality that it is in their life in verse 31. This is an admonishment, yes, but it is a forceful correction.

Do not worry about these things. Now let me pause here folks. If you hear repetition, it is for a reason. Listen, if I am preaching and I repeat myself, it just could be that that is the way the Spirit needs to say this to you. It could be that when you hear teaching again, it is because the Lord knows you need it. But then second, He gives them a warning. See He goes from a reminder, a firm reminder, a forceful reminder, and He gives them a warning. Look at verse 32. For the Gentiles seek after all of these things. What is He talking about? The questions.

The Gentiles, they seek after all of these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Here He warns that anxious living is what the Gentiles do. Isn't that what He is saying? Now this word Gentile, it really would have gotten their attention. You see the Gentiles were all non-Jews. Most of you know that. And here Jesus is using this term to refer to non-believers. He is using this term to refer to pagans. He says that worry about food and drinking clothes is what the pagans do. On top of that, your heavenly Father knows the things that you do need. You see?

But it is important for us to understand what Jesus is showing those listening. Follow with me. Maybe Jesus did insult them a little here. It could be that He did insult those Jewish believers here because to compare a Jew to a Gentile in any way was insulting. It was. He would have gotten their attention folks. But what Jesus is doing here, He is making a distinction. We need to see. You see the Gentile or the non-believer, they have no hope in God because they do not know God. They have no hope. They have no security that God will provide their needs. Anything they get in their life must come from where? From themselves.

So their lives are all about self. The non-believers' lives are all about sin with no regard to God. They live for sin. They live for self. So naturally they are going to worry about food and drink and clothes. They live for food. They live for drink. They live for clothes. They live for the body. Isn't that what we saw in the principle in verse 25? The non-believer lives just like Jesus describes in verse 25. But remember the distinction. Not so with the true believer. They have hope in God because they know God. They have security in life because they know God will meet their needs. They know that anything they get in life comes from God.

So their lives are about trusting in God. They trust God and they do not have to worry about food and drink and clothes. See this person here loves Philippians 4 verse 6 to 7 which says, "Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God." And the peace of God. See that trust there? The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So notice what Jesus is doing here in verse 31 to 32. Again the shift. He showed them before that worry is sin against their Lord.

Worry is sin against their father and now He shows them that worry is a sin against their professed faith. But more. He shows them that it is pure pagan. You see? He says don't worry about food and drink and clothes. That's what the pagans do. Their father knows what you need. I think many of you here have been to my house at different times in my life or in our life together. Some of you have been to our home back when we did small group ministry in our homes. Some of you have been to our home at different events. Some of you have been for supper, things like that. We enjoy having people in our home.

It's been a while since we've had some of you in our home. But you know during our ice apocalypse some of you had to come over and shower, take a bath. It's really a blessing to be able to share our home like that. And you know some of you went into the back of my home. You know when you go into the back of someone's home you really see how they live. You see the mess. But you know if you came over to my home and you went into the back of my home, the private area of my home, and you know if you saw a little shrine there, maybe a little shrine where I worshiped my ancestors, what would you think?

Maybe if you came into my home and you saw a little idol there where I worshiped a little idol. You know our reference going to India, I went to the part of India where Buddhism is extremely popular and everywhere you went you saw whether they were large or small, those little idols of Buddha, and those folks worshiped the idol. See if you came into my home and you saw something like that you would say that that is not something a Christian should do, much less a pastor. You would say that is pagan. You would say that is non-Christian.

But really non-Christian is not strong enough to worship my ancestors or a little bitty idol or even a large idol. That is pagan. It is pure pagan. Well that is what Jesus is saying here. Worry is something that pagans do. It is against the faith. Jesus is saying that worry and anxious living is contradictory to the faith because at the heart of faith is trusting in God. You see? Now for us, let me show you what we are doing here if we commit this sin. Follow me. We are denying the faith. Yes, we are denying the faith. If we commit this sin, it is an affront to God.

One commentator said it like this and I am quoting, "Worry is practical atheism." Worry is practical atheism and it is an affront to God. And listen, that commentator is right because atheism is a lack of belief or a complete disbelief in the existence of God. And our worry, our anxious living is practical, lack of belief and it can even be a complete disbelief in God. For some of you, you worry, you worry, you have all this anxious living. And look folks, you need to see that it is real and it is a practical, lack of belief in God. It can almost be a complete disbelief in God because it can get to that level.

So worry is a sin against the faith and it is pagan. Number two, worry is a sin against our call. Worry it is a sin against our call. I want us to put our eyes on this verse, verse 33. The shift here you can see, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added to you." Now here we see another shift. Jesus goes from the negative, all of this has been negative, has it not? Now He shifts to more positive teaching. He is telling His people, He's been telling His people what not to do and now He is telling them what they should do. And what Jesus says here really is the heart of all of His teaching.

This is the crescendo, the pinnacle folks. Question, what comes to your mind when I say sit on the edge of your seat? I think we know what that means. You know I think about the fact that high school graduations are coming up. I don't know how COVID is going to impact that. But you know, think about a high school graduation or even a college graduation. We've been to these types of events. When it is time for someone that we love to walk across that stage and get that diploma, we pay attention. We sit on the edge of our seat. All the other time we're just casually looking around and enduring the event. Isn't that right? Think about sports.

You know in a close football game when it gets to the fourth quarter, I mean we really pay attention. Isn't that right? We're on the edge of our seats. Why? We're interested in that tight ball game. Some of you like baseball. You know when you have a baseball game and it's all tied up, you know we really pay attention when it gets to that eighth and ninth inning. Isn't that right? See we're on the edge of our seats. Well see, Jesus is at the heart of this teaching folks. And look, we really need to scooch up spiritually and be on the edge of our seats here. Notice what Jesus says.

"First, he calls his people to seek first the kingdom of God." Now use that word call on purpose. This is our call. He calls his people to seek first the kingdom of God. Now a practical but legitimate question. What is the kingdom? Actually the kingdom of God and kingdom living is the main subject of the Sermon on the Mount folks. I think some of you remember that. It's the main subject. But what is the kingdom? It's really simple. It is the gospel in the administration of the gospel. Let that roll over in your mind. It is the gospel. The kingdom is the gospel in the administration of the gospel. Now think about that folks, think.

Christ came. What did he do? Christ came into the world to save sinners. And what did Christ do? He saved that little band of disciples and those few others during his earthly ministry. Really when you get to the end of the earthly ministry of Christ, there weren't that many disciples and followers compared to all of the crowds that followed him. And then through the power in the work of the Holy Spirit, Christ formed those first believers into what? The church. And the Holy Spirit of God continued to work through that first church there in Jerusalem to save other sinners in other places. And what did Christ do?

Through the person of the work of the Holy Spirit, he formed them in the churches as well. You see the kingdom is the gospel in the administration of the gospel all throughout the world. And right here, Jesus is teaching, this is the beginning of the kingdom work here. And that is what Jesus is calling these first followers into. They were to seek after this kingdom that he was building in them and around them and through them. And this seeking is making the kingdom their pursuit or their number one choice. His seeking is pursuing the kingdom before and above all other things, you see. So Jesus is calling his people to seek first the kingdom.

And then second, he calls his people to seek first his righteousness. Another practical question. What is this righteousness? You can say that righteousness and righteous living was one of the main subjects of the sermon on the bow. I think most of you see that. Jesus was exposing the unrighteousness of the Jews and then he was explaining true righteousness, the true righteousness that comes from God and oh, what that looked like. But what is this righteousness? It's real simple Christ, his life and his work and words reveal righteousness. Let me say that again. And I want you to think with me.

Righteousness is Christ, his life, his words, his work that reveals this righteousness. Now think with me here. Christ Jesus took the righteousness of God as revealed in the old and he explained it in the new. And that is what he is doing in so much of the sermon on the Mount. Christ's Father explained the righteousness of God in his gospel and then throughout the teaching of the New Testament. Christ's Father explained the righteousness of God in his work through his people all through the New Testament. You see? The righteousness is Christ, his life, his works, his words that reveal the righteousness that his people should strive for.

And right here, Jesus is teaching, he is just unfolding this, this righteousness, what it should look like. This is what it should look like for his followers. They were to seek after his righteousness, the righteousness that he is proclaiming, the righteousness that he will unfold before them. And this seeking, this seeking is making righteousness their pursuit, a number one choice. This seeking is pursuing his righteousness before and above all other things. So Jesus is calling his people to seek his righteousness. And then third, again, this call, he calls his people to see his provision. Go back to the verse.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added to you. Now if what we've examined see positive to you, well the last part of the verse is really positive. You see? It just gets more positive. Here Jesus makes his people a promise. He makes them a guarantee. He says that if you put kingdom living and righteous living above everything else in your life, he says I will guarantee your future needs. It is a promise. He plainly says if you do these two things, all that you are tempted to worry about, it will be added to your life. So notice what Jesus is saying here.

Again, the shift from what can be seen as the negative to the positive, very positive. Jesus moves up to the heart of the whole message here. He calls his people to make certain things their supreme choice, their supreme pursuit. He calls these first disciples to seek certain things above and before all other things. Kingdom life, kingdom work, kingdom living, righteousness, his righteousness, righteous living. I love how John MacArthur summarizes this. He says, and I'm quoting, this is the Christian's priority of priorities, a divine priority. I think I like it because he uses that word so much.

This is the Christian's priority of priorities, a divine priority composed of two parts, God's kingdom and God's righteousness. Now in application, I think we need to see two words. If you're taking notes, I'd like you to write these words down. The word pursuit and the word purpose. Look folks, think about all the things we pursue in our lives. I mean, from daylight to dark, all of the days of our life, we're always pursuing certain things. And you know us adults, we're pursuing a paycheck, isn't that right? We're pursuing maybe more financial security, isn't that right? We're pursuing career and better career moves, isn't that right?

We're seeking maybe a new car or a new truck or a better house, isn't that right? I think about you teenagers. When you're getting close, you teenagers, you're pursuing good grades and education and you should. Some of you are pursuing sports and you're thinking about a career and you should pursue those things. Oh, but some of you maybe you're pursuing things like popularity and looks a little too much. And this is an incomplete list, but think about all of the things we pursue, the things we pursue, the things we pursue. But this word purpose. Look at our purpose in life. Adults, what is our purpose? Is our purpose bound up in family?

Is our purpose bound up in our career, in our vocation? Listen teenagers, what is your purpose? What purpose are you striving for in your life? Well, that's just what Jesus is talking about here, folks. What they pursue and their purpose. That's what he was aiming at in his disciples. He is calling them to pursue kingdom living and kingdom life. He is righteousness in the righteousness that can only come from him. That was to be their purpose. And listen church, I'm talking straight to us, not just you. I'm talking to me as well. We must pursue what? Kingdom living and the righteousness of Christ in our life.

Our purpose must be kingdom living and the righteousness of Christ. Should we pursue these other things? Sure, but these things, kingdom living, righteousness, Christ's righteousness should be at the top of the list, folks. To be honest with you, in my notes, up until last night, I called this our responsibility. Actually it's our calling. This should be our calling. Just worry about life, the necessities of life. It's all a sin. It's a sin against our calling. You see, folks? And then number three, I want us to see that worry is a sin against our future. See this in verse 34. Worry is a sin against our future.

Look at the verse, the last verse in this section. "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Now what Jesus is saying here is quite simple. It won't take us as much time. But I want to address two possible misconceptions here that can distract us. It can trip us up. Now listen, Jesus is not calling His people to be slack here. He's not even calling His people not to make provisions about tomorrow. See how you can misunderstand the beginning of the verse? "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow." You see that?

See all through the Proverbs, I referenced this last week, we see that God calls His people to work. He calls His people to plan. He calls His people to prepare for the future, even to save up for the future. Laziness, slothful living, and not making adequate provisions for life, it's always condemned in God's Word. So Jesus is not teaching some sort of slothful, overly carefree approach to life here. Don't get caught up in that. But then also, Jesus is not calling His people to worry about today, but not tomorrow. Look at the end of the verse.

"For tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Jesus is not somehow saying that worry for tomorrow is a sin because we must worry about today. No, that's not what He's saying. All worry is a sin. All worry is a sin. Actually He is saying that today has enough troubles. He's saying today has plenty of temptations. He is saying that today has all of the trials that we must face today. And He is saying, "Let tomorrow's trouble be for tomorrow and just face today's trouble today." So Jesus is saying to take these things one day at a time.

Well when you boil the meaning of the verse, verse 34 down, what is Jesus saying here? He is calling His people to trust Him with tomorrow, their future. You see? He is saying that their future is secure with Him. Their responsibility was to live for His Kingdom in His righteousness today and to trust God with great confidence that He would supply all of their needs tomorrow and in the future. As one commentator called it, he said this is God's social security program. Yeah, that fits. So Jesus is showing His people that to worry about tomorrow is to sin against the future because God has securely stored their future away for them. You see?

Now listen folks, worrying about tomorrow is a lot like these government stimulus checks. I think we've all gotten a government stimulus check or two. But worry, worrying about tomorrow is a lot like these government stimulus checks. It's a sin against the future folks. Now stimulus checks may be a sin against the financial security of our future and our children's future but worrying about tomorrow is a sin against the future provision that God already has waiting for us. You see? And think about that for a minute. Anxious living. Worry about tomorrow is a sin against the future provision that God already has waiting for us.

So worry is a sin against our future. Now as we move towards concluding our message, I want to ask a question or two that come out of this teaching. All right? We're going to reach back also to verses 19 to 24. But when I use the word conclusion, a lot of times if we're not careful we can check out. Don't check out here. Don't start thinking about lunch or maybe this afternoon. I really want you to follow me here. This is big picture. Just follow me and I think this will help wrap this up for us all. Remember verses 19 to 24? It was quite a while when we were in verses 19 to 24.

I mentioned the fact last week that verses 19 to 24 it deals with our attitude and our approach to unnecessary physical possessions. Maybe those things that can be seen as luxuries. And the question out of that teaching is this. Will we make our investments in kingdom in heavenly work? You see? Will we invest in the kingdom? Will we invest in heaven? Or will we hoard things up? Will we hoard up all of our possessions in life? Isn't that what the religious leaders did? What did Jesus say? The pinnacle of that teaching. Verse 24, Jesus says you can't serve God and money folks. You can't serve God and money.

You can't have your cake and eat it too in this teaching. So you're either going to invest in heaven, invest in heavenly things, invest in the kingdom or you're going to hoard it up for self. And then verses 25 to 34, primarily the beginning deals with our attitude, our approach to necessary physical possessions. And the questions that must be asked here is this. Will we trust in God for all of the necessities in life? Will we trust God here? Will we worry? Will we fret? Will we be obsessed with the basic necessities of life? And listen, Jesus says, do not worry about life.

You know what he says in that principle there in the beginning of verse 25? He says life is more important than food and drink. And remember, we need God to change our perspective because we can be looking at things from the wrong side. Then the heart of the teaching, verse 33, Jesus deals with our attitude and our approach towards our purpose and our pursuits. He deals with our attitude and our approach towards our calling in life. And look folks, we all have a calling. The question is if it's biblical and godly or not. And there are a couple of questions that all go hand in hand here. Will we seek kingdom life? Will we seek kingdom living?

And will we seek the righteous life, righteous living? You see, he says seek first the kingdom and righteous living. And he says this must be number one, the top priority on the top of the list, on the very top, top, top of the list. Now question is we really move towards concluding. In what arena does all this take place? We understand the term arena. You know when we go to school, we're in the classroom, the arena of the classroom. Talk about sports, we understand that arena. The basketball court, the baseball diamond, or that football gridiron, we understand that term arena. Well where does all this take place folks?

It's all bound up in the work of the local church. See, kingdom living is centered in the local church. Christ's living should emanate out of God's people as they live, yes in the world, but as they live out their life out of the local church. You know I thought about us. I think everybody here knows our story. You know we were an older church that at one time was almost closed. We experienced a glorious rebirth of a church and God did a wonderful thing for us. We're very thankful. And then the Lord led us to move and we moved and then all of a sudden COVID shut us down, but we just kept plugging along. Isn't that right?

And look at where we are now. In many ways we are just starting off folks, but I look at our future. Our future is bright if we're obedient and the work of the church will grow and it will expand and there's so much more that the Lord has for us. And I pray that by faith the Spirit draws you to what? This arena and to this work, you see? So this is about worry, but more. It's about trust, but more. It's about kingdom living. So let's take all that we have studied. Oh, it was a lot last week and it's a lot this morning. We may need to be good students, not just intellectually, but in prayer, dealing with who we are.

We may need to go back to what we've studied and pray over this and oh, seek to get all that we could get so that we don't miss out on how God wants to do this in us. Let's pray. Let's commit this to the Lord and then we'll pray and close our service.