The Kingdom, Week 4

Tim Rivers | October 8, 2023

Listen

Transcription

What's up everybody? Come on. Put your hands together and love Jesus right now with a great ovation of praise. I'm so glad that you're here today. I'm so delighted that you're here. While I was looking at that recap video, I saw that house. I was like, wait a minute. That is a nice house. We're so glad this is your first time here at Embassy City. We want to say welcome to Embassy City. One of the things that I've just been praying about and that I so much enjoy about this house is the sense of joy that's here. If you are a guest here, you probably have already been hugged a couple of times, and that's because we really believe that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Disney prides itself on being the happiest place on earth. Has anybody been to Disney?

Except for the lines, it is a pretty happy place. It'll make you wear mouse ears and that's, that's a whole thing. But what if the House of God could become the most joyous place on earth, right? We have a lot to be joyous about. If you're breathing today, if you're in your right mind today, if you're clothed today, if you got shoes on your feet and you got water to drink and bread, you got a lot to be thankful for. So one more time with a heart of Thanksgiving, give Jesus some praise in this place and all those that are joining us line, thank you so much for being with us. Be sure to stay active in the chats. One thing about modern technology is you get to be in community, even online. So make sure that you're talking to one another, that you're high fiving, that you're preaching with the preacher, even online. You be firing up the keys. Amen. Preach. That's the word right there.

Alright, grab your Bibles. We're going to Matthew chapter six. We're in the fourth week of our series that we have called the Kingdom, and has this been a blessing to anybody? Good. I always pray and I always ask the Lord, Lord, what do you want to show your people? What do you want to teach your people? What do you want your people to discover about you? And I'll be honest with you, when we started this series, the Kingdom, I thought that this was going to be a very ethereal angels and demons spiritual series. And what the Lord is taking me to is very practical principles of the kingdom. Now they are the secrets of the kingdom. So not everybody gets to understand this, but it's amazing that when you look at the scripture and you just realize that God isn't trying to trick you through his word, amen.

Because a lot of people will read the Bible and think that God somehow is trying to be uber complicated. Has anybody read the genealogies and you're like, nah, man, I don't get it. Why is this in here? The word of God is actually very simple. We tend to complicate it more than it is. And so what I've loved about this series is we're looking at just the basic principles of the kingdom. And so we're going to continue today. All right, Matthew chapter six, verse number 25. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. It's not life more than food in the body, more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither soar nor reap, nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about your clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Lemme just stop and say this when he says, oh, you of little faith, it's not a rebuke, it's a term of endearment. In other words, it's like a father or a mother telling their child, don't worry. Oh little one. That's literally what Jesus is saying. Therefore, why for? Because if God closed the grass, he'll take care of you.

Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear For the Gentiles? Seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all, but somebody say, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So I'm going to take my topic today from verse number 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So my title for today is Prioritize the kingdom. Prioritize the Kingdom. I really feel like I have a word from the Lord for somebody today in prayer last night I was so tired, we did, we went to this little pumpkin patch thing and the allergies were getting to me and I was tired, but the Lord kept me up and said, there are going to be some people coming in here today listening online today that are dealing with anxiousness, anxiety, worry, fear. And the Lord wants to help you today to overcome that. And so I believe in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, before you walk out of here, God is going to release you from the grip of anxiety and you're going to walk in the freedom that God has for your life.

Let's pray. Heavenly, follow me. Thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. Thank you for your word for there is a lamp to my feet and a line to my path. I pray that in the next few minutes, God, we would dig it to your word, that you would give us revelation, ears to hear, hard to receive a mind, to understand what you would say to us. We thank you. We give you your name, all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. One more time. Put your hands together and give Jesus some praise in this place.

Amen. When we think about the kingdom, we have to address the fact that it is pretty difficult for most of us to wrap our minds around the concept of a kingdom. Most of us were born into a democracy and we've grown up in a democracy. And so we have no real context for how a kingdom works except for movies. We watch movies and we see kind of how a monarchy works, but in actuality we don't really understand the concepts of a kingdom by personal experience. In fact, if you think about our country, the United States, it was birthed out of rebellion to a kingdom. Think about that. 1776 Declaration of Independence, the 13 colonies of the Kingdom of Great Britain in the Americas decided to rebel and cut political ties with the kingdom of Great Britain. So our very country was birthed out of rebellion and independence away from a kingdom.

So it's no wonder then that our entire culture is bent on having an independent nature because remember, whatever you sow, you will also reap. And so if this country was planted in rebellion, no wonder there are fruits of rebellion. I'm already preaching. Since the seed is rebellion, the fruit is going to be rebellion. So we live our lives bent on being independent. We don't like as a culture, as a country, the word authority, even when I said the word authority, some of y'all puckered up what you mean authority, right? Because a lot of times we have a negative connotation with authority. Just the word authority evokes this emotion of like, no, I'm not going to be put under, I'm not going to be brought under submission, I'm not going to.

And oftentimes that's because we think of a authority in terms of what we've experienced. So whether it's in your family or in a church or at a job or if you've had a negative experience with authority, then when you hear the word authority, you automatically have a problem with it. The problem with having an independent mindset is that when you come into the kingdom of God, if you keep that independent mindset, you will treat God not as king, but as an option. If you have independent mindsets, if you have a rebellious mindset, if you value your own opinion more so than submission, you will end up only coming to God in crisis or in times when you can't fix it by yourself. Okay? How many of us are so independently minded that we come to God with a plan B, we come to God with a prenup that wasn't even in my notes.

We come to God and we say, God, I'm going to ask you for the answer, but if you don't give me the answer, I'm going to go with my plan. I'm ask you if you want me to marry this person. But if I don't get an answer in the space of time that I want, I'm going to lead on my homegirls and what the internet says and personality tests, and I'm going to come to God and I'm going to ask him to intervene on my behalf. But if he don't come through, then I'll come through for myself. I'm going to ask God, God, do you want me to buy this house? And if he doesn't give me an answer, then I'm going to depend upon my own abilities and my own strategies. And for many people, they will treat God like a secondary option. Oh God.

And don't feel bad. If you're going through your head right now and being like, oh Lord, he talking to me, this is probably all of us, right? Because here's the thing, when you have an independent mindset or you have lived independently and our culture emphasizes the idea of having independence, what ends up happening is you prioritize your life in a way where you place God, you relegate God to the second position. And here's the thing about priority. Priority is a thing that is regarded as the most important than another. Priority is a thing that is regarded as the more important than other. Here's how, whether or not you prioritize the kingdom when you get sick, do you go for the medicine first or do you pray first?

Can we just get practical? Here's how you know whether or not you prioritize the kingdom. When it's time for you to make a business decision. Do you gather everybody and go to strategy first or do you pray first? Oh, lemme get a little more practical when it's time to B, discipline your children. Do you go to God first or do you go to that conversation first? You'll know whether or not you prioritize the kingdom based on where the kingdom is placed in your life. The problem with trying to live independently of the kingdom is that it causes unnecessary. Somebody say unnecessary. Unnecessary. It causes unnecessary anxiety.

Now, I want to talk about anxiety a little bit, and I'm not a psychiatrist or professional counselor, but I've dealt enough with people that I know the difference between clinical anxiety and what we can consider like normal anxiety. On one end of the spectrum you have what is called often called generalized anxiety disorder or gat. This is a clinical anxiety. It can be trauma induced, it can be be something with just your chemical imbalance. But generally when you have generalized anxiety disorder, it means that you live in a perpetual state of worry and fear. And generally it's not reasonable when you have gadd. And again, it can could be various reasons why you have it, but if you are perpetually in a state of worry and anxiety to where it is crippling to you, you can't go to sleep, you can't function normally, then it is very important. Hear me? It is very important that you seek help and there's nothing wrong with that. So many times in the church we have idolized theology so much that we've disregarded therapy, and I'm saying you need both. So if you're dealing with a clinical sense of anxiety, first of all, pray secondarily, seek help. Find a therapist, find someone, find a counselor, find someone you can talk to, and if need be, you may need to take some medication and that's okay. Did you know that God can use medicine?

I know of a man who had an ingrown hair and refused to go to the doctor and dy that don't make any sense. Don't think of medicine as evil. God can use medicine to help fix problems, right? So I'm not talking about gad today. I'm talking about what is considered normal anxiety. Normal anxiety is when you are dealing with a situation or scenario that is causing you worry, but it's not unreasonable. For instance, you're about to get married and you've never been married. You've lived a single life and you get ready how many this has happened to you. You get ready to walk down the aisle and all of a sudden everything within you is like what is about to happen? Right? Some of y'all still got anxiety, you've been married for 15 years, maybe this is deeper, or you're about to get in a car accident, you are going to have worry or anxiety or you're about to have a child, or you have these instances in your life that cause anxiety.

But here's what Jesus was talking about. Jesus said, there are things in your life that will cause you anxiety. There are things that are going to happen in your life that are going to cause you some worries, some fearsome apprehension. There are things in your life that are going to cause you to think how in the world am I going to get through this or how am I going to face this? But when Jesus talked about anxiety in Matthew chapter six, he wasn't talking about anything unfamiliar or anything crazy. He says, do not be anxious about food, water, and clothing, basic needs. But here's the problem. When you don't have the kingdom prioritized, right, you'll start having anxiousness and worry and fear about your most basic needs.

And this is what I think is interesting about this passage. I've heard this passage. Of course, I grew up in church and so I've heard this passage all throughout my life, right? See, first the kingdom of God. First of all, nobody explain what that actually means. That's the first issue that I was at, right? Am I supposed to be running in church? Do I bring a flashlight to church? What is seeking the kingdom made? But the more interesting part I think of this passage is that Jesus says this. He goes, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body what you will put on. Isn't it interesting that Jesus didn't say, don't be anxious about if you will eat or if you, that's a whole different scenario. When you don't have food, I'm going to be anxious. But Jesus is trying to show us in this passage that when you don't have the kingdom prioritized, right? It's not that you worry about if you have food, you worry about what food you're going to eat.

It's a whole lot different. When you think about you getting worried about options, you are worried about not if you should get married, you are worried about who you should get married to. You are not worried about if you should eat. You are worried about should I eat steak or Italian or sushi or ramen or do I cook at home or do I eat mac and cheese or do I go gluten-free or do I? He didn't say You're worried about if you should have a child. You're worried about how many children to have. And what ends up happening is when we don't include God in our decision making process, we start worrying and getting anxious about options.

It's not if you should go to church, it's where do you go to church. So what ends up happening is you get so overwhelmed by options that you do nothing. How many have ever gone through that scenario where it's like you can't decide on where to eat and it's been two hours and you haven't eaten? I cannot tell you, Janice and I did this the other day. We were driving and we did the typical, what do you want to eat, man? I'm not sure. What do you want to eat? Well, I don't want to eat that. Okay, well, I don't want to eat that either. Well, okay, then what should we eat? And we're getting close to the house. And so I'm like this. Well, do you want me to go somewhere or should we go to the house? She's like, I don't know. What do you think? And I said, man, I asked you first so you know what I did? I just took another lap.

Has anybody else done that? Let's take another lap while we think about it. You are running out of gas taking laps because you can't decide what you're going to eat. Isn't this exactly what we do with God? We won't go to him. And so we just drive around in our cycle of anxiety, in our cycle of worry. It's not that God isn't a provider, it's that I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And so you're calling your friends, driving around, you're going to Google, driving around, you're going to WebMD, driving around, but you never stop and ask the Lord. And Jesus says, the Lord is so concerned about you that he wants to be included in the details of your life.

And he demonstrated it by saying, look at the flowers. You know how detailed flowers are? Have you ever looked at a flower under a microscope? All the little details of colors and how it works? I don't even know how it works, but it's pretty complicated and God is interested in that. When we look at birds, how many have ever looked in the sky here recently and thought, wow, that crow is majestic? And yet God is so concerned with birds that annoy us, that he makes sure they get fed and then some of them feed us unless you're vegetarian.

It's amazing to me how often we will trust God to heal us from cancer, but we won't trust God to help us pick the right spouse. Come on now. We will go to God about crisis in our life, but won't go to God over the color paint. And I know you think that seems silly. There are some things you can do by yourself, but why not include the Lord? Why not if he's interested in the colors of the flowers, how much more interested, easy, and what we prefer? So Jesus talks about anxiety, and then Jesus does this. What I love about Jesus is he paints a picture of like, don't be anxious about the stuff, right? Don't get overwhelmed and worried about your most basic needs, what you should eat, what you should drink, what you should wear, and how many have a hard time trying to pick your outfit for Sundays. Some of y'all are like, nah, I just throw on whatever. Some of y'all spent hours just picking an outfit and Jesus like, just ask me. I'll tell you what to wear.

But what does Jesus say is the antithesis to anxiety? It's in verse number 33, but seek first the kingdom of God. The antithesis to anxiety in your life is seeking the kingdom of God. Now, the word seek doesn't mean that the kingdom of God is lost. It's not the same thing. The word seek means to pursue with utmost importance. In other words, when Janice and I were dating, I was seeking after her, I would drive from Fort Worth to Royce city three to four times a week. Why? Because I was pursuing her with utmost importance. I was trying to demonstrate to her that I will seek you. I will call after you. I will go after you because you're that important to me. Let me tell you something. I ain't driving an hour and a half for just anybody, but when I saw her, I said, I will drive three hours round trip to be in a relationship with her. This is what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not saying that the kingdom of God is lost and you're trying to find it. Jesus is saying, prioritize the kingdom in your life. Pursue the kingdom with utmost importance. Make sure that the kingdom of God and his righteousness is the most important thing in your life. Why? Because you'll consume food and poop it out.

You'll drink and be thirsty again. You'll close will wear out, but the kingdom of God is everlasting, so why not seek the most important thing? This is why Jesus says in Matthew chapter 13, he tells the story of a man who was looking for pearls and then when he said, the kingdom of God is like a precious pearl that somebody finds, and when he finds it, guess what he does? He is joyful, he's happy, and he buys the entire plot. Why? Because he has now found the pearl of great price. What Jesus is also not saying is, I want you to switch anxieties because how many people will switch their anxiety from I'm anxious about what I can do to now I'm anxious about what God can do. How many people have prayed with anxiety? Don't leave me out here by myself. I know everybody is like God, please, I need you to come through.

I'm not the only one who has prayed anxiously right for God to come through. I've traded often my anxiety for my own solutions, for the anxiety of God's solutions. Jesus is not saying trade anxieties. He's saying prioritize the kingdom. So let's talk about how to prioritize the kingdom. If you have a piece of paper or your phone, I'd like for you to write something down. I don't often ask you to participate in that way, but I'd like for you to because I think this is really going to help you, especially when you come through into this week. I want to give you something very practical, how to prioritize the kingdom. Number one, it's in your thoughts, and this is what I'd like for you to write down. This is a question, what gets priority of my thoughts? Just write that down and then if something comes to mind, write down what gets priority of my thoughts. Now, why am I talking about the thoughts? Because everything you do begins in your mind. Anxiety is a product of thinking. Worry is a product of thinking. Worry is a fruit, not a root.

So when you feel anxious and you feel worried, that's not the problem. You have to go deeper and figure out why do I feel this way about this? Colossians chapter three verse number one, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. The mind also can be called the mindset is a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. I got to read it again. A mindset or the mind is a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situation. If you mindset is off, you will interpret situations in your life off. If you have a suspicious mindset that when somebody does something that doesn't pair with what you think is normal, you will be suspicious of them. How many have ever met a suspicious person?

You may be sitting next to 'em right now. They're like, I don't know they wearing black. That means something. We're getting close to Halloween, like what are they doing? The thing is, if your mindset is off, then your interpretation of situations will be off. This happens in marriages all the time. They misinterpret situations or scenarios or what someone says, why? Because your mindset is off about your spouse. When your mindset is off about your spouse, then when they say something or do something that in every objective situation would be normal, you lash out at them because your mindset is off. What the Bible says is it begins with correcting your mindset. Romans chapter eight talks about the mind that we are not condemned, but the scripture says that let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. If you set your mind on spiritual things, you will live a spiritual life. If you set your mind on carnal things, you'll live a carnal life. I can tell you, if you get your thinking right, you will get your life right.

That's why in fact, Matthew chapter six, verse number 25 in the King James version says, take no thought about your life. So when Jesus talks to the people, he says, first of all, anxiety is a product of bad thinking. So let me ask you this. Are you thinking about the kingdom? Because lemme get practical. It's hard to think about pornography when you're thinking about the kingdom. It's hard to think about cheating on your taxes when you're thinking about the kingdom. It's hard to think about making a bad business deal when you're thinking about the kingdom. It's very difficult to end up in bad scenarios when you're thinking about the kingdom. It is much easier to experience joy when you're thinking about the kingdom. It's much easier to go through. I'm not saying it is easy, but it's better. It's easier to go through trials and tribulations when you're thinking about the kingdom. Your mindset determines your behavior. So how do you prioritize the kingdom? Start thinking kingdom thoughts. How would God respond to this? How would God interact with this person? How would God treat this person? How would God think about the situation? How would God want me to work through this? Get it in your mindset.

Here's the second thing of how to prioritize the kingdom with your time. Write this down as a question, what gives priority of my time? And then answer that question. Philippians chapter four, verse number six says it like this, do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds. Am I tripping and I just read this word? Doesn't this make so much sense, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus? Prayer is the antithesis of anxiety. With your time, do you spend time talking to the Lord? Lemme get real practical. How weird would it be if I told everybody how much I love my wife, but don't spend any time with her?

Wouldn't that be weird? Come on, y'all. Help me out. Then why do we do that with God? Amen. I love the Lord because he heard my cry, but we don't spend any time with him and I'm not saying that as a rebuke. I'm telling you this as an encouragement. Spend time with the Lord. Here's what Jesus did when he demonstrated to us how we should pray. In Matthew chapter six, we call this the Lord's Prayer. He said, pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, I want you to notice something that when Jesus showed us a pattern of prayer, he prioritized the kingdom before he got to daily bread, before he got to your needs, before he got to what you want, your bread, your water, your clothing. Jesus said, if you want all that stuff, let's get your priorities right, prioritize the kingdom. Then we'll get to your daily bread. Why? Because God wants to know, am I going to be your Lord and Savior before your bread?

Am I part of your life? Even if I never answer the daily bread prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done. When you pat your prayer with God as the center, everything else will work out. Prayer is fundamentally two things and sometimes people don't pray because they don't understand what prayer is. A lot of us have been taught that prayer is mental and emotional manipulation of God, that if I pray a certain way, if I get into the right cadence, if I do it with the right emphasis and if I speak in tongues just right, then God's going to intervene.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that thought that was prayer. I do believe in praying out loud. I believe in fervent effectual prayer. I do believe that sometimes we got to get loud with it, but the fundamental idea of prayer is not for us to manipulate the will of God or twist his arm or it's really two things. It is an expression of our powerlessness and it is an intimate conversation between a father and a child, and if we could see prayer in this slide, we would long to pray more and we would pray more effectively. Prayer is not about us twisting God's arm for our will. Prayer is about us admitting that we don't have any power and secondarily, it's a child coming to a father.

I talked about this before, but when our children come to us, they may ask for something that's called prayer. That's it. When a child comes to you as a parent and asks you for something that's called prayer, prayer is an exchange of wishes. So when, let's say Zane or he's about to be two tomorrow when Zane comes, I know I'm very sad actually. When Zane comes and he can now say, eat or drink or help me, he will come up to me and he will say, daddy eat, and I say, alright, I got you. As I'm going to fix his food, he may start tripping.

He's anxious about whether or not I'm going to get him food because he's still growing in his trust with me. He made his prayer known to me and now me as his father, I'm going to supply his need. When you pray, pray, believing that God will answer your need. You don't have to be anxious about it. You can just make your request known unto God and then back up and trust that your father will take care of you. The problem with why most of us don't know how to pray is because we have a broken relationship with our father, our earthly fathers, and so we look at God like an earthly father will. He's going to walk out on me. Is he not going to take care of me? Is he going to beat me? Is he going to, no. You have a good father that knows about your needs, that caress about what you need, even to the smallest details about your sandwich, prioritize prayer.

Here's the third thing. You're treasure. How do you prioritize the kingdom? Number one, it's with your thoughts. Number two, it's with your time, and number three, it's with your treasure. Write this down as a question. What gets priority of my treasure? Or you could put wealth, what gets priority of my money, my treasure, my wealth? Here's what Matthew chapter six, verse 19 says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there, your heart will be Also treasure is accumulated wealth in the form of money, jewels or other valuables.

How are you prioritizing the kingdom with your wealth? Now, this is a touchy subject. Most people don't want to talk about money. Talk to me about prayer. Talk to me about my thoughts, but don't touch my money, but it's a valid question. How do we prioritize the kingdom with our finances? Well, the Lord God, when he formulated the people of Israel, he taught them how to prioritize his kingdom with their money and it's a thing called the tithe. Now, some people are afraid to talk about tithing because there's a lot of conversational. Well, that's not a New Testament and da, da da. Here's the thing, tithing is a principle, not a law. Lemme say it again. Tithing is a principle, not a law, so let me explain the principle of tithing. The principle of tithing, the word tithe means one 10th.

There isn't a lot of explanation on why God decided on one 10th he's God. Some people try to rationalize it. Well, think about the 10 commandments. Think about the 10 plagues. Think about the 10 spies. It's like, no, I think God just chose 10% God and he can do that, but more importantly than one 10th, what tithing actually represents is the first fruits. Now, why is that important? Well, because God decided, I want to show you what you should do to show me how you're prioritizing me with your wealth, and what I'd like from you is I'd like for you to give back, give back 10% of the a hundred percent that I gave you. Fundamentally, when people have a problem giving back to the Lord, it's because of the word back.

God is not asking you to give him something that he hasn't already given you. Is that okay? God is saying, I've given you a hundred. I want 10% back, but it's not about the percentage. People get caught up in like, well, 10% of my paycheck. It's not about the percentage. It's about the mindset of first fruits that when I get all of this from God, God, this is yours. Let me read Malachi chapter three verse 10. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need, whose test is it? Is it a test for you or are you testing the Lord?

The word test doesn't mean like, Hey, I'm going to see if you can get this right. The word test means to prove. God is saying that the way you prioritize him with your money is that you trust him with it and don't get caught up in the percentage. Here, let me give you this truth. Bomb. God, don't need your money. Your 10% is not going to change his net worth. He already owns everything. Your 15% don't change it. Your 50%, if you're Pastor Warren, a hundred percent or 90%, he's a reverse tithe. It doesn't change the worth of God, but it changes your mindset. Amen, about how you prioritize your money. We know that there is an issue with prioritization of money by the resistance that your flesh has to give unto the Lord. Let me tell you how I feel about tithing. I don't trip out about money in church. I don't go through the giving records. I don't know who's tithing in here, but I do know that even if you don't start with 10%, I'm asking you the question, how are you prioritizing God with your money?

Because this is what I do know where your treasure is there, your heart will be. Also, did you know this Statistically 75 to 90% of regular church attenders do not tithe, so I'm, I'm not talking about this because there's some kind of issue. God has blessed us as a church that we're financially stable. We are in a paid off building. It's because of your generosity. It's because God has moved upon you to do, but what I'm trying to tell you is that if you don't prioritize God in your money, your money will rule your thoughts.

If Uncle Sam gets his percentage from you before you get your money, how much more should God get? Priority of our, we all have done this, right? My first job, I remember they told me, you're going to get, I think I made $8 an hour and I calculated, okay, eight times 20, oh man, this is going to be nice. Then I got my check and it was like a hundred bucks. I went to my parents. I said, yo, what's up with this? They said, taxes. I said, TA, why don't parents, this is a side note why parents tell you, I think parents enjoy watching your face when you come with your first check talking about this is less, they're cheating me.

Uncle Sam is going to make sure that he gets his first fruits. Yes. How much more should we willfully prioritize the kingdom? Lemme tell you how we do it in our home. We have an automatic draft that happens every two weeks. When that check his boom, it goes automatically. Why? Because I'm trying to demonstrate to the Lord. Lord, I trust you with all of my finances. That with you is you already own the whole thing, and what does tithing do? Tithing goes into the work of the Lord. It goes to help the furtherance of the kingdom on the earth. That's what tithing is. Okay? Does that make sense? Yes. Here's the fourth and final way that you prioritize the kingdom is with your talents. Write this down please. In the form of a question, what gives priority of my talents, and you can write it down. One Peter chapter four, verse number 10 says this, as each has received a gift, as each has received a gift, everyone in this place and watching online, you have a gift from God.

Use it to serve another one. Another as good stewards of God's varied grace, who whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. A man God wants your talents. Do you prioritize the kingdom with your gift? If you have a gift to speak, are you prioritizing the kingdom? If you have a gift to sing, are you prioritizing the kingdom? If you have a gift of business, are you prioritizing the kingdom? If whatever your gift is, sometimes we think of gifts within the church as being like the ones on the platform, singing and playing an instrument or teaching, but can I tell you that God will use your gifts wherever you are to further his kingdom?

You can do it at your job. You can do it in counseling. You can do it in therapy. You can do it by your business. God wants to know that. When you think about what God has given you, your gifts and talents, do you prioritize the kingdom? That's why there are certain jobs you cannot do and glorify God. It's impossible. So how are you glorifying God with the talents that you do have? Because God wants all of you, he wants all of you bring your talent as an offering to God and some people, they're waiting for somebody to mysteriously know what they're good at and then ask 'em to serve in that capacity, but an offering must be offered.

Boy, that's regulatory. An offering is what you offer is in the word. It means that you are bringing it to the Lord, so whatever the Lord highlights, even right now I'm telling you, get on the website, sign up, say, Lord I, I'm good at shaking hands. I'm going to open the door. I'm good at directing traffic. I'm going to be on a parking lot team. I love kids serving our kids team. I love praying with people. Join the altar team. Show up to prayer meetings. I love to teach. Start a party. I love to sing. Write a song, sign up for the worship team, but prioritize the kingdom. Why do you want to prioritize the kingdom in closing with this so that all these things can be added to you? I love the fact that Jesus didn't say, Hey, prioritize the kingdom and not go back and address the anxieties and worries.

Jesus just gave us a loop about how to go about getting the things that we need. He says, oh, I know that you're worried about what to eat and what to drink and what to wear. I'm not ignoring that, but what I am saying is if you prioritize me, I will make sure to help you with everything else. Don't do this by yourself. Do it with me and it makes everything else much better. It's amazing how that when you seek the Lord, he will start showing you step by step how are you supposed to open the business, who you're supposed to be in contact with, who you're supposed to marry, when you seek the kingdom, when you have him in the process of everything to do in my finances, man, there's something about when I give to the Lord, I'm like, Lord God, where's all this stuff coming from? God's showing me. He's teaching me. He's why? Because I'm prioritizing him, and when I prioritize him, he's going, ha, we about to take this to the next level.

Yes, there are many of us that are unnecessarily dealing with anxieties of our own making, and what I pray this word does for you today is to realign your thoughts, your time. You have money. What's the last one? And your talents. I am so kingdom minded. I forgot. I'm sorry, but that's what God wants from you. Now, here's the thing. It's up to you. You can keep worrying. You can keep being anxious or you can give it to God and see what happens. I would say, try the Lord. Try the Lord he told you to. You might as well take him up on his offer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. I pray God, that you would give us revelation from this word. Help us to walk out of here and practice what is in your word and thereby live a fruitful life. I thank you, Lord God, for everyone that's in this place that's online, I pray that you would bless their lives abundantly God, so that they may just flourish in your kingdom. In Jesus' name and everybody say amen. God bless.