Seek First the Kingdom of God
Weekly Reading
Monday: Acts 17
Tuesday: Numbers 19, Acts 18
Wednesday: Numbers 20, Acts 19
Thursday: Numbers 21:1-22:1
Friday: Acts 20
Saturday: Psalm 79-80, Proverbs 18
Sunday: Job 23-39
Tuesday: Numbers 19, Acts 18
Wednesday: Numbers 20, Acts 19
Thursday: Numbers 21:1-22:1
Friday: Acts 20
Saturday: Psalm 79-80, Proverbs 18
Sunday: Job 23-39
Sermon Notes
Key Passage: Matthew 6:19-21, 33-34
Revelation 11:15
Daniel 2:44
Matthew 6:25-26
2 Corinthians 10:3-4
James 4:7
Ephesians 6 (armor of God)
Matthew 5:20
Romans 3:21-26
1. Seeking His Kingdom implies there is another kingdom
2. Seeking His Kingdom means seeking eternal things
3. Seeking his kingdom means that we are called to replace the worry or anxiety that we feel horizontally with concern for His kingdom
4. Seeking his righteousness
"It is mortal warfare between all that is good and holy on one hand, and all that is evil and corrupt on the other, this conflict has raged in full fury from the moment it began until this very hour. Every tension which you feel, every trial that you experience, every crime that you read about, every sorrow that you endure, every war, every injustice, every pain is but a part of this dreadful conflict. God has taught me a good many things about spiritual warfare while I was on the battlefields of Korea as I watched the spiritual precepts of his word being illustrated before my eyes. He implanted firmly in my heart the fact that I could never expect a spiritual victory if I were willing to let the enemy erect strongholds in my life. … God’s people have been called to life of warfare. Their role is that of a soldier. The believer is not chosen for a life of ease and comfort on this earth. He is a pilgrim and a stranger here and is to wage a constant warfare against the spiritual forces of great darkness." - Army Chaplain Robert Rayburn, Fight the Good Fight
"I shall never forget the feeling of absolute helplessness which overtook me on the drop zone near Musan on the Good Friday morning that I made my first parachute jump. The Lord protected me and brought me safely to a landing on the bank of a little creek. The first sergeant, who jumped with me, went right into the water behind me… Before either of us could get out of his parachute however, we began to hear bullets whizzing past our heads… we were among the very first few men to land on the ground. When the first bullets went whistling past my head I fell flat on the ground and the sergeant dropped himself on his stomach in the shallow water. I grabbed quickly, and almost instinctively, for the .45 caliber pistol which was hanging on my belt on my right side. It was then that I took it from its holster and had it firmly grasped in my right hand that a snickering realization overwhelmed me… I held in my hand a weapon that I knew hardly anything about. It was almost utterly useless to me, for I had no training nor practice in handling of it at all… I thank God my friend Sgt. Streebie had an M1 rifle with him and that he did know how to use it. He made short work of the soldiers who were shooting at us, and soon he had left me and was leading his company. The Lord wrote that experience indelibly upon my memory. I thought about it many times in the following days. I acquainted myself with my pistol at the first opportunity, but also pondered the spiritual lesson, which the Holy Spirit had made very real to me. Alas, there are entirely too many Christians today who are in the moral struggle that is going on between Satan and his forces and our Lord Jesus Christ, with His forces, who have been reduced to ineffectiveness because they do not know the weapons of their warfare, and as a result, they are depending upon others to impart spiritual strength to them and to ward off the attacks of the enemy as well. Or perhaps, they are not consciously depending on others to fight for them, they are making an effort to fight the devil with the wrong weapons…. The pistol in my hand on the drop zone was of no value to me, no more will the weapons of your spiritual warfare be of value to you, unless by His grace, you learn what they are, take them, use them, become proficient in the use of them, and never allow yourself to be found without them." - Army Chaplain Robert Rayburn, Fight the Good Fight
Revelation 11:15
Daniel 2:44
Matthew 6:25-26
2 Corinthians 10:3-4
James 4:7
Ephesians 6 (armor of God)
Matthew 5:20
Romans 3:21-26
1. Seeking His Kingdom implies there is another kingdom
2. Seeking His Kingdom means seeking eternal things
3. Seeking his kingdom means that we are called to replace the worry or anxiety that we feel horizontally with concern for His kingdom
4. Seeking his righteousness
"It is mortal warfare between all that is good and holy on one hand, and all that is evil and corrupt on the other, this conflict has raged in full fury from the moment it began until this very hour. Every tension which you feel, every trial that you experience, every crime that you read about, every sorrow that you endure, every war, every injustice, every pain is but a part of this dreadful conflict. God has taught me a good many things about spiritual warfare while I was on the battlefields of Korea as I watched the spiritual precepts of his word being illustrated before my eyes. He implanted firmly in my heart the fact that I could never expect a spiritual victory if I were willing to let the enemy erect strongholds in my life. … God’s people have been called to life of warfare. Their role is that of a soldier. The believer is not chosen for a life of ease and comfort on this earth. He is a pilgrim and a stranger here and is to wage a constant warfare against the spiritual forces of great darkness." - Army Chaplain Robert Rayburn, Fight the Good Fight
"I shall never forget the feeling of absolute helplessness which overtook me on the drop zone near Musan on the Good Friday morning that I made my first parachute jump. The Lord protected me and brought me safely to a landing on the bank of a little creek. The first sergeant, who jumped with me, went right into the water behind me… Before either of us could get out of his parachute however, we began to hear bullets whizzing past our heads… we were among the very first few men to land on the ground. When the first bullets went whistling past my head I fell flat on the ground and the sergeant dropped himself on his stomach in the shallow water. I grabbed quickly, and almost instinctively, for the .45 caliber pistol which was hanging on my belt on my right side. It was then that I took it from its holster and had it firmly grasped in my right hand that a snickering realization overwhelmed me… I held in my hand a weapon that I knew hardly anything about. It was almost utterly useless to me, for I had no training nor practice in handling of it at all… I thank God my friend Sgt. Streebie had an M1 rifle with him and that he did know how to use it. He made short work of the soldiers who were shooting at us, and soon he had left me and was leading his company. The Lord wrote that experience indelibly upon my memory. I thought about it many times in the following days. I acquainted myself with my pistol at the first opportunity, but also pondered the spiritual lesson, which the Holy Spirit had made very real to me. Alas, there are entirely too many Christians today who are in the moral struggle that is going on between Satan and his forces and our Lord Jesus Christ, with His forces, who have been reduced to ineffectiveness because they do not know the weapons of their warfare, and as a result, they are depending upon others to impart spiritual strength to them and to ward off the attacks of the enemy as well. Or perhaps, they are not consciously depending on others to fight for them, they are making an effort to fight the devil with the wrong weapons…. The pistol in my hand on the drop zone was of no value to me, no more will the weapons of your spiritual warfare be of value to you, unless by His grace, you learn what they are, take them, use them, become proficient in the use of them, and never allow yourself to be found without them." - Army Chaplain Robert Rayburn, Fight the Good Fight
Discussion Questions
3DQ - 3 discipleship questions to ask each other: What is God saying to you? What are you going to do about it? How can I help?
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