Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

Thank you for joining us for this broadcast from The Ninth Avenue Church of Christ in Haleyville, Alabama.

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Now.

We take you to the pulpit of the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ here for a few minutes.

And then after I'm up here, Danny will say a prayer and then I believe they're song in between the mop.

And we're splitting this.

This lesson as we're talkin about.

Families were talking about again.

We just sang the song seek, first, the kingdom of God and his focus is supposed to be talkin about now.

I'll specific I'll be talking to.

Our kids are teenagers in our little children.

But if you're not a kid or a teenager little child, this is still for you.

So don't turn out.

Don't think I know I don't have to listen to this.

This is still going to be very beneficial to you.

As we talked about the importance of seeking first, the kingdom of heaven, in Matthew 6:33 tells us that where Jesus is saying, seek, first, the kingdom of heaven seek, first, the kingdom of God seek first, baseman me, sick.

First things that are above That's sometimes too hard because we like to live our lives, the way we want to leave them.

There are things that interest us.

There's things that we think are important and Jesus here telling talking to one of the his Sermon on the Mount.

He sang.

The most important thing is me and I don't want anyone here, especially our children to forget that.

That's the most important thing we can do is to serve him and sometimes we forget that along the way.

Sometimes we think it's all about serving self.

Maybe we think it's about serving, an idea.

Maybe it's serving a job.

Maybe it's fill in the blank.

What we serve.

But the most important thing and really, the only thing we should think about serving is his God, his kingdom and his people.

And if anything gets in the way of that, then it needs to be out of our lives, but it's it brings up this point and I was talking to a friend years ago.

Struggling about involvement struggling with how can we encourage people to get excited?

And he said, there's the difference between doing good things and doing great things.

And that's part of us.

We have these different ways.

We can seek first the kingdom of God.

In the first way, is to understand the difference between good things and great things are things that are good to do.

There are things that build up character, through things to be good, that they're good to be involved in.

But sometimes those good things can get in the way of doing great things, and one of the great things Kingdom work now, can we do good things?

While doing great things?

Absolutely.

Can I be involved in some type of activity and still serve God? Absolutely, but can I do things and then neglect to serve God.

Absolutely.

I can be involved with a group of friends.

I can be involved in work.

I can evolve in the community.

But if I hide my Christianity, then I'm just doing, maybe a secularly good thing thing.

That's not really.

Harmful.

Is it harmful to be involved with course not even harmful to build up character by doing certain activities.

Absolutely not.

But if I hide my Christianity, if I hide Christ who I'm supposed to be serving, then it's really all meaningless.

If it's all being done in vain, as we just read.

It says, if the laborers who built the house, don't consider the Lord.

Sting is being built.

Inventing it is, is there a will?

There not be a house when others still going to be a house, but it's just going to be done in vain matter.

So there are things that we can do that are awful.

But if we leave out God then it becomes.

Absolutely meaningless.

And this is probably I have written down.

This is one of the hardest questions we have to ask ourselves.

Am I spending too much time?

Doing good things when I to could be doing great things and maybe that looks like while I'm doing things that I'm already involved with maybe it's for for kids and for Cricket activities.

Maybe it's a job for adults.

Obviously.

It's job or maybe some community service and Community effort with that were in Can I do those things?

And then of course, to use my advantage or maybe use my situation to talk about Jesus.

Absolutely.

And that's part of doing those great things and it leads into this next.

This next point of the second thing seeking God.

First thing the kingdom of God, first really is about his growing where were planted.

That's one.

That's also taking awhile for me to get used to is growing where you're planted using, where I am to influence the people that are around me using what, I'm already good at and growing right there where you are students, you're at school.

We have no choice to go to school.

I'm sorry.

You may hate.

That you have no choice to go to school.

But you choose to grow where you're planted.

You're in a situation where oh, where you are, but grow in Christ first.

Again, the difference between doing good things and doing great things, and I were talking about growth.

I finally got back into growing.

I like to grow hot peppers.

And so, I bought some hot peppers and then yesterday, Catherine, I talked about, she want to grow sunflowers Birmingham.

We actually ran to Haley Dobbs at Colliers.

Is that how you pronounce it in Birmingham.

We went all the way to Birmingham, just to pick flowers know, I'm kidding.

We to Birmingham cuz I had to pick up a computer that was getting fixed and then we weren't, you know, we decided while we're here.

Let's go look around at some nurseries and I really like the What's all in the process of growing plants?

Sometimes is it?

It it shows the importance again of growing where you're planted.

Is it a good idea to keep up running a plant in the refinancing uprooting?

And replanting will know it's going to be eventually harmful to your to the roots.

Is a good plant needs.

Good, strong roots, but we need good.

Strong.

Roots as children of God, and that comes from one doing great things seeking first the kingdom of God and everything that goes along with that.

But that also means we have to then decide.

I want to grow right where I am.

And I'm going to grow in Christ, but I'm also going to make sure that as I grow out, but I also grow deeper with in the, in the, in Christ.

I go deeper in the word of God.

I grow grief deeper, and who I am, I get deeper relationships.