Focused on His Kingdom

Bottomline: Seek His Kingdom and His righteousness above all else.

Many of us spend our lives searching for pleasure, distraction, love,mean...

Our attention spans are shrinking..

the average smartphone user touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day. That is just the average, another study on millennials but that at twice that number.

In 2000, before the digital revolution, a certain study found that it was twelve seconds, so it’s not exactly like we had a lot of wiggle room. But since then according to a 2012 study it’s dropped to eight seconds.

According to a 2010 study, we spend nearly 47 percent of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we are doing.

The difficulty is we live in a world and a time that is desperately seeking your attention.

Your attention is one of the most valuable things you own.

We cannot share a throne with God.

Matthew

The New International Version (Chapter 6)

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You cannot pledge allegiance to multiple Kingdoms.

Matthew

The New International Version (Chapter 6)

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

The Kingdom

Jesus mentions it about 72 times

The term "Kingdom of God" occurs four times in Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31; 21:43), fourteen times in Mark, thirty-two times in Luke, twice in the Gospel of John (3:3, 5), six times in Acts, eight times in Paul, and once in Revelation (12:10). Matthew actually prefers the term "Kingdom of heaven" which he uses over 20 times in his gospel.

Graeme Goldsworthy has summarized a definition of the Kingdom of God as "God's people in God's place under God's rule."

The kingdom is an upside down kingdom of love, sacrifice, were we see elevate and bless those the world rejects....its not just about what we do, its about who God is and who we are because of Him.

Romans

The New International Version (Chapter 14)

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...

But we know many things can distract us from the kingdom

Matthew

The New International Version (Chapter 6)

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us today our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Too many of us pray for God’s Kingdom to come all the while seeking and serving other kingdoms.

Many of us do this because we have a control issue

Matthew

The New International Version (Chapter 6)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

When we pursue Christ’s Kingdom, we reject the worlds kingdoms.

Seeking His Kingdom starts first with surrender.

Surrender is worth it!

Matthew

The New International Version (Chapter 13)

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

The Kingdom is worth giving our all to because the King has already given us all.

When we seek the Kingdom of God, we always get to be with the King.

“ The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers. We glimpse it at those moments when we find ourselves being better than we are and wiser than we know. We catch sight of it when at some moment of crisis a strength seems to come to us that is greater than our own strength. The Kingdom of God is where we belong. It is home, and whether we realize it or not, I think we are all of us homesick for it.” ― Frederick Buechner

Some of us need to stop building our own kingdoms and come home!

churchs have a shelf-life but the kingdom does not.