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[0:00] But take your Bibles and go with me to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 is where we are at, making our way to the gospel of Matthew. And we are ready for verses 19 through 34.

[0:12] Matthew 6, verses 19 through 34 will be our text this morning. A very familiar text to many of us, something that we have probably heard a number of times. I would say that the section of Matthew in which we are in, commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is something which really contains a lot of familiar topics or familiar verses to us.

[0:34] One that we have heard quite often since childhood, or some that we have heard repeated time and time again. But yet they come to us with great force, at this time more than any other. They have great application in our life.

[0:46] And my desire is that this morning we will see in Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 34, the truth which God wants us to hold on to, but also the application which it has in our daily life.

[0:58] We see here Jesus dispelling or proclaiming, not dispelling, proclaiming to the multitude in front of him what it looks like to live within his kingdom.

[1:09] If you remember when John the Baptist came, John the Baptist came proclaiming, the kingdom of heaven is near, the kingdom of heaven is near, the kingdom of heaven is near. When Jesus Christ steps onto the scene, it shifts from the kingdom of heaven is near to the kingdom of heaven is here.

[1:25] And when the kingdom of heaven shows up, everything changes. And wherever the king is, so too is his kingdom. And within the realm of that kingdom, life is different.

[1:40] And that really is what the Sermon on the Mount is about, is what it looks like for life to be lived within the kingdom of heaven, under the lordship of the king of kings and lord of lords, who is Jesus Christ.

[1:54] If you remember, Matthew is writing to a primarily Jewish audience, and he is exalting and lifting up Jesus as the king of kings and lord of lords.

[2:06] This is the king we have anticipated. This is the king which we have been looking for. This is the king who has come, as Isaiah would say, to rule over us for all of eternity.

[2:21] So these principles of kingdom life are not a passing fad, are not something that existed just during the time of the physical walking of Christ upon the earth.

[2:34] But these are eternal principles to be lived out by kingdom people under the reign of Jesus Christ. So if you are physically able and desire to do so this morning, I'll ask if you'll join with me as we stand together, and we read the word of God found in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 19, going to the end of the chapter, which gets us down to verse 34.

[2:57] The word of God says, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in or steal.

[3:11] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body, so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

[3:23] If then the darkness that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

[3:37] You cannot serve God and wealth. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on.

[3:49] Is not life more than food and body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

[4:04] And who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, that they do not toil nor do they spin.

[4:15] Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

[4:29] Do not worry then, saying, what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

[4:42] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself.

[4:54] Each day has enough trouble of its own. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness in giving us this day.

[5:06] We thank you for the ability and the opportunity to read your word. We pray as we have heard it, we have read it. Lord, now that the power of the Spirit would open our eyes and minds up to see it.

[5:20] Lord, that we would have a great understanding of what it is that you're telling us. And Lord, that that understanding would move us to application and move us to being who you've called us to be in this world that you have placed us.

[5:33] Lord, we thank you and we praise you and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. The section of scripture before us shows us what it looks like to live with kingdom ambition.

[5:51] I want you to see this morning, kingdom ambition. What it looks like to live with it and exactly what it is.

[6:02] This is probably the last message in which I needed to try to stay calm. Because the reality is, is that Christ sets forth for us this truth.

[6:15] The people of the kingdom are to be ambitious people. They are to be people of great desire. They are to be people of great longings.

[6:25] They are to be people of great wants. They are to be people of great ambition for the king and his kingdom. And yet the reality is, is that our ambition, our excitement, or our desire seems to get knocked off course by this world.

[6:43] If you remember in the parable of the soils, one of the greatest tragedies we see here is not that the seed of the kingdom never take root. Two of the soils are places where the seed took root and was soon choked out.

[6:56] It either withered out because of the stony ground, or it was choked out by the joys and the concerns and the cares of this world. So what we have seen is, in 50% of the soils, two out of the four, the seed took root.

[7:09] Yet, that which should have been the main focus, that is, the seed of the kingdom, was choked out by the cares and concerns of this world. Or the pressures of everyday life.

[7:20] The thing is that people of God are to be people of ambition. We are to be excited. We are to be joyous. We ought to be celebratory in our life.

[7:33] And we ought to have a longing for his kingdom to be displayed all around us. But the truth of the matter is this. That that ambition is often misguided and misdirected away from that which it should always be placed upon.

[7:49] Now, there are some truths that are not taught in this passage. And we need to displace those before we get into it. The first truth that is not taught here is that money is evil. Money is not evil.

[8:01] Money is a tool to be used by the people of God for the kingdom of God. Now, we're just going to dispel these from the very beginning. God is not against money.

[8:12] Right? It is the love of money. You understand that. You've seen that in scripture. So, it's not telling us here that we need to live in cardboard boxes and we need to live apart from everything else.

[8:23] It is not saying that. Rather, it is saying that we ought to live open-handedly. Whatever he puts in, we use and utilize. Whatever he takes out, we let him have it. We celebrate. Right? He is not saying that money is evil.

[8:33] He is also not saying that we should not be prepared for the future. Because the Bible says that it is a wise man who lays up for the generations that come after him. It is a wise man who stores up for his children's children.

[8:48] Right? So, it's not saying that we shouldn't make future preparations. It is not saying that we shouldn't take the necessary precautions. It is not saying that we shouldn't work. Because the Bible also says, it says in the Old Testament, and it repeats again in the New Testament, that if a man does not work, he should not, what?

[9:05] Eat. Right? We know that one, right? It's good being a part of a working class church. Right? It's good being a part of those people. So, we understand the things that it is not teaching us.

[9:18] It is not teaching us that money is bad. It is not teaching us that future preparations are bad. It is not teaching us that labor and work is bad. So, now that we have those things cast aside, and we know that the pastor is not on a horse here and going to tell you all these things, we're going to lay them over there, and we're going to look at the truth of Scripture and see exactly what it is teaching us.

[9:43] And see the truth of kingdom ambition. Number one, we see that which distracts. That which often distracts the people of God from living with a proper ambition or excitement for God.

[10:00] That which keeps kingdom people distracted and keeps their eyes off of ambition for the advancement of the kingdom. And it is that big one called money.

[10:13] Look at what it says. Do not store up for yourselves. Now, we put this along beside it. It is the book of Proverbs, it says, and I think it says it also in the book of Psalms, that a man is to store up for his children's children.

[10:28] Right? But look at the emphasis here. Do not store up for yourselves. Do not store up for yourselves. By the way, we need to go ahead and lay this out here.

[10:39] Any time we do something for self, it is sin. Right? Now, I'm not saying that when we take care of ourselves, or when we discipline ourselves, or when we enjoy ourselves, or when we stop and take some time to relax.

[10:58] But when self becomes the center of attention, it is always sin. Always. Always. Because the reality is, is that any time I step back and say, hey, I've just got to do me for a little while.

[11:16] That's not right. That's dangerous territory to tread on. Now, do I need to step back and be still? Yes.

[11:26] But what does the Bible say? Be still and know that there is a God. That I'm not him. I can't do everything on my own. I can't do everything in my own strength. So sometimes God humbles us, at least me, and makes me stop and rest.

[11:43] But it is different from storing up for yourselves. Look at what it says. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Now, again, Jesus is going to contrast here two treasures.

[11:55] There is the treasure on earth and the treasure in heaven. Because it says, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

[12:08] Again, we have seen the truth that he is not saying, don't save money. He didn't say that. He is saying, don't make mammon or money your treasure. It is a tool.

[12:18] Right? It is a tool to be utilized. It is a tool to be used. It is a tool to be experienced. I will never forget. I like pocket knives. I got a pocket knife for Christmas, and I appreciate that very much.

[12:31] I like pocket knives. I have a collection of pocket knives. I remember my favorite knife that I lost. My wife and I, you know, we're from, I'm from Bell Buckle, right? I married a city girl.

[12:42] She was all the way from Shelbyville City Limits. But it's okay. I brought her out to the country as soon as I could. We've lived in Bell Buckle and Wart Race, and we've been around. And, you know, people would joke with me on our first anniversary, she gave me a shotgun.

[12:56] On our second anniversary, she gave me a pocket knife that had our anniversary engraved on it. Actually, I think I got those backwards. Our first anniversary was the pocket knife. See, she was looking at me. Husbands, you learn that, right?

[13:07] Look, make sure that eye contact, you know those looks. First anniversary was the pocket knife. Second anniversary was the shotgun. That's great, just like everybody else. And I remember I had that pocket knife. Our grandfather had engraved on it, and I had it.

[13:20] And she said, now, I gave you this knife to use. I was like, okay. She said, I didn't give you this knife to treasure. You know where this is going, right? So I put the knife in my pocket, and I used it, and I used it.

[13:32] And I loved that knife. It was my favorite knife. You know, it had my wife's name on it. It had happy anniversary, first anniversary. We were celebrating. And I rolled that knife up in a big spoil of cable somewhere.

[13:43] And when I was working for Bell South, we were tearing down the cable. And I'm sure it got melted down with a bunch of copper and steel. And somebody else used it. Probably is a totally different product. But the only way I lost it is because I was using it.

[13:55] It wasn't meant to be stored up or to lay it up on the shelf. And now she's given me things. Since then, I put them up there, right? She gave me a couple of knives recently as a celebration because I was welcomed into the grandparent realm.

[14:09] She learned her lesson. 23 years of marriage, she gave me two knives. This one's for you to look at. This one's for you to use. I said, great. Thanks for making that clear. So the pretty knife I carry on Sundays.

[14:22] The knife I use I carry every other day of the week. But these are things that we utilize. This is what money is, right? It is a tool that God gives us to use. It is not a treasure he gives us to desire.

[14:37] And the thing which distracts so many people is that we have misplaced the tools that God has given us. Look at what he says. Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, but rather store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

[14:52] And then he makes this transition. The eye is the lamp of the body. So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?

[15:04] And we kind of seem to think that this is a little bit misplaced because we can also make the application here that whatever we're looking at is that which fills us. But let's take it in context because in context, the king is speaking in light of money here.

[15:18] And what he is saying is if you live your life focused on the financial, then you're feeling you're so full of darkness. If you live your life focused on monetary gain and you live your life focused on what I can get and you live your life focused on what I need and you live your life focused on how much I can put up and you live your life focused on this, this, this and this.

[15:41] And you're not living your life focused on the kingdom of heaven. And how great is that darkness inside of you? I remember when I hired on with the phone company, a great gentleman there.

[15:51] I knew him. His kids went to school with my brother and I. And every morning he would walk into our room. We were the linemen.

[16:02] They were the splicers. So we were all in construction together. He would come in and talk to us. And I remember he told us, boy, it's just a few months and I'm retiring. Just a few months and I'm retiring.

[16:13] And he had taken every call out. He had taken every hurricane. He had taken every natural disaster. And he looked at me. He said, Billy Joe, I get a million dollars in the bank.

[16:23] I'm leaving. When I get a million dollars in the bank, I'm leaving. And his eye was on it all the time, every day, every day, every day. That man went in for a simple outpatient surgery, had $990,000 in the bank and died on the operating table.

[16:39] But his eye was on one thing. See, we have to be careful about that which distracts us.

[16:52] Is money necessary? Is money primary? No. No. Because it is the thing that Satan uses more than anything else to distract us from being ambitious about the one thing we ought to be ambitious about.

[17:13] And it is not only used in our personal lives. Let's just be honest. It's also used in corporate lives. That is the body of Christ. More division and more distractions have been brought into the church local.

[17:24] Not necessarily this one, but inside local churches. And I would say over the years, probably this one as well, if we were just to be completely transparent, honest, more discord has been welcomed into the church over this one distracting element.

[17:38] That is money. When the church doesn't have enough or the church has too much, it's a distraction. That's just being honest. And it's whenever we look and our eye is focused on that one thing, it becomes a distraction from that which we ought to be ambitious about.

[17:56] And it is one that our enemy, Satan, loves to use and absolutely knows how to use. Number two, not only do we see that which distracts us.

[18:07] Number two, we see that which deters us or that which causes us to stop. And Jesus, being the king of kings and lord of lords, and as John chapter 3 says, he needed no one to explain man to him, for he knew man so well.

[18:22] Jesus, knowing man so well, knows exactly what to put behind this distracting element of money. Because immediately after talking about money, he begins to talk about worry. Because nothing will make you worry more than money, right?

[18:34] If I don't have enough, I worry. If I have too much, I worry that someday I might not have enough. And those two seem to go hand in hand. But as the book of Proverbs says, money grows wings like a bird and flies away.

[18:46] Can anybody else testify to that, right? As soon as you have it, it'll leave you, right? As soon as you have it, it flies away. But there's this one thing that comes together with it. One thing that is always in partnership with it, and it is this thing called worry.

[19:00] And Jesus says, for this reason, that is, having a single eye to the kingdom of heaven, having a single eye to storing your treasure in heaven, for this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life.

[19:16] Do not be worried about your life. And he says, the thing which deters the people of God in the kingdom of God more than anything else, the thing which distracts us most is money, the thing which deters us most is worry.

[19:33] Across the world and across our nation, there are churches struggling. And I'm just going to go ahead and say it, and it may not make me very popular. It may not make me popular when people watch it.

[19:43] It may not make me popular when people hear it. But the thing which has stopped most churches in their track is worry. We don't know what we should do or how we should do it.

[19:58] And we're worried that we're going to do it wrong. We're worried that we're going to overdo it. And there's this thing called worry. And it is being so concerned again with self.

[20:11] Jesus takes two basic elements of our life and shows us the foolishness of worrying about them. Two very basic elements, food and clothing.

[20:27] Now, I'm so thankful nobody here just got up this morning and said, I hope God clothes me because I'm walking out the door anyway. Right? If he clothes you on the way, I rejoice and I praise him for that.

[20:39] If he gave you the desire to get up and put clothes on yourself, I rejoice and I praise him for that. Right? So, again, this is not discounting work. This is not saying that we shouldn't do anything. Because even the birds of the air go and gather what God freely provides.

[20:53] Right? And even the flowers of the field absorb the sun and the water and the soil. And they grow their effort the way God made them. God gave them the ability to absorb and to use what God provided for them.

[21:07] But Jesus here says, do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. And do not worry about what you will wear. He has taken two very basic elements of life and showing us the absurdity of worrying over these matters.

[21:25] Because he says that by worrying, we will never add a single minute to our life. By worrying, we will never be able to change anything about us. Friend, I absolutely believe the emphatic declaration of scripture that is appointed unto man once to die.

[21:44] I believe that with all of my being. That God has a day appointed for me to die. And I believe that the day that God has appointed for me to die is a day that will not be changed or transformed by any current events.

[21:57] I just believe that. I believe with all of my being that before I was formed in my mother's womb, before the foundations of the world were laid, before God said, let there be light, he knew how long I would live and he knew the day that I would die.

[22:11] That's the God I believe in. And I believe that he knows it with absolute certainty. He knows what will cause me to die. He knows what will cause me to cease to live. He knows when it will happen.

[22:22] And though things may take my family by surprise or it may take this world by surprise, it will never take him by surprise. And I absolutely believe this, that my worrying over these matters will never change that appointed day.

[22:35] I believe that. I believe that I cannot worry myself a longer time. I believe that I cannot even worry myself a shorter time. Because I believe in a God that's in absolute control.

[22:48] Now I know that that seems foolish to some. I know that it seems foolish to some. And I remember when this reality first came to grips in my own life.

[22:58] I was with another pastor. I wasn't pastoring at that time. This man was actually my pastor. And I was a very new believer. And we had climbed, we went on a hike, and we were, we decided to take lunch at the top of this old rickety fire tower, this abandoned fire tower.

[23:14] Most of them now have even been torn down or had fences put around them. This one was just up for the climb. And so we climbed to the top of the fire tower, and we were up there overlooking this valley, and we were all there. And the walls of the upside of it were missing.

[23:26] Most of them were missing. So many of us, like conscientious believers, were sitting in the center of it. And he was like hanging out the edge of the fire tower, just like, man, look at this. I was like, man, you're foolish.

[23:37] He said, listen, God knows the day I'm going to die. And he lived with such abandon. He lived with such freedom. He lived with such selfless concern.

[23:48] I remember that sunk into me, and I went, wow. Now let's fast forward a few years. That man took his own life. You think that took God by surprise?

[24:02] No. Because, see, I believe in a God who's in absolute control. And I believe in this reckless abandonment.

[24:14] Because he says, do not worry. You cannot add anything to your life. Now, this isn't the character traits of the world. Again, this is not saying be foolish.

[24:27] This is not saying that. This is not saying we tempt God. This is not saying that we are unwise, because we are to be as wise as serpents, but gentle as doves.

[24:37] Again, use the rest of Scripture to go along with it. Scripture is the best commentary on Scripture. So understand these things. But it is this innate desire to be in control.

[24:50] And when it seems as if things are out of our control, we begin to be worried. Because he says, But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is still in the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?

[25:08] Look at verse 32 says, For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

[25:20] The contrast here for Jesus is the difference in approaching the concerns of life with those who are in the kingdom and those who are outside the kingdom.

[25:33] Gentiles are a term that is generally used to refer to non-believers. Right? People outside the kingdom of God. And what Jesus is saying is, there is a stark difference between those living under the reign of the king in the realm of the kingdom and those who are living in the realm of the world.

[25:55] It should not amaze us when non-believers worry about certain things. What is amazing is when believers begin to be so self-consumed with worry. Satan uses it to deter us.

[26:09] Because the reality is this. The what-ifs will always keep us from doing what he's called us to do. The what-ifs.

[26:22] And I'm not just speaking of physical illnesses. Right? Well, what if we lived recklessly with our finances? What if we lived ambitiously for the sake of the kingdom in our lives?

[26:35] What if we left that job that we felt like God was calling us to leave so that we could serve his kingdom more? What if we decided to sell everything and to be completely devoted to the Lord?

[26:45] What if we did that? And the worries and the thoughts and the problems and the concerns. Friend, listen to me. I've been there. I know. Right? I know.

[26:57] I know every one of those concerns. I know every one of those worries. I know every one of those battles. They've all been in my mind. Each and every one of them.

[27:07] And I know. The reality is this worry is that which often deters us from living truly ambitious for the sake of the kingdom.

[27:20] Number three and finally. We see that which distracts us, that which deters us. And number three. To be kingdom ambitious. We see that which should define us.

[27:31] That which should define us. It is not wrong to be ambitious. I think at times. We get a misconstrued idea that when Christ calls someone to himself, he completely reconstitutes them and completely changes their personality.

[27:48] And now he makes them walk around like monks in clothing. And they all look depressed. And everybody has this sad look on their face. And it's all poor, poor, pitiful us because we're followers of Jesus.

[28:00] That's not the case at all. As a matter of fact, those who are following the king ought to be more excited than anybody else. Because we know in the end who wins. We know where we're going. There's a throne awaiting us.

[28:11] Not just some abyss, right? There's a realm awaiting us. There are cities that are built with streets of gold awaiting us. All things will be made new. We should live with a greater ambition and a greater excitement than anyone else around us.

[28:26] But we ought to be defined by one general ambition. And he has it wrapped up in one verse, verse 33. That which defines us.

[28:37] But seek first. By the way, that word seek there means to continuously seek. Not a one-time event. But to be so ambitious.

[28:50] So desiring. This is your greatest motivating factor of life. More than money. More than clothing. More than possessions. More than anything else.

[29:01] More than what you're going to eat in just a few minutes when you leave here. More than what's waiting on you when you walk outside. The one thing that ought to be your greatest desire. The one thing that you ought to be more excited about and more ambitious to than anything else.

[29:17] As individuals and as a church. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. That is what should define us as kingdom people.

[29:30] Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. It's not our righteousness, right? It's not that we may be in a right standing with God. Literally what it is telling us. The thing that ought to be the greatest ambition for us.

[29:43] The thing that ought to be the greatest motivating factor for our lives. The thing which we should devote the most attention to. Is this. The expanding of his kingdom. And the reality of people getting to know who he is.

[29:55] It is the promoting of the king of kings and lord of lords. And the expansion of his kingdom. Kingdoms were never made to stay confined.

[30:07] Right? They were made to expand. And we ought to seek his kingdom in our personal relations with other individuals. We ought to seek his kingdom in our interactions within other individuals.

[30:17] We ought to seek his kingdom in our relationships with other individuals. We ought to seek his kingdom in our decisions as it affects all of our, our choices. We ought to seek his kingdom in how we take care of ourselves. We ought to seek his kingdom in, in, in how we operate as a church.

[30:30] We ought to seek his kingdom when it makes us popular. We ought to seek his kingdom when it makes us unpopular. This past week I read a series of emails where an individual with a kingdom mindset was challenging something that was going on within his workplace.

[30:45] And he had emailed a colleague, a very loving email, and said, you know, I'm questioning whether or not we're doing this for the right reasons. And he laid out the reasons of kingdom principles, not judgmental at all, but saying we should not conform to society, but rather we ought to be a light to society.

[30:59] And he struggles with all these things. I really believe it's a sin issue, not a personal choice. And then I read the response in the email, and he got blasted. I mean, he got blasted. But you know what I do?

[31:11] I rejoice in the reality that he's seeking the kingdom in his interaction with his colleagues, and he's seeking the kingdom in the stance that he's taking among the place of his work. Seek first his kingdom.

[31:23] It didn't make him popular among his colleagues. He's not going to be real popular when they go back to work. It's going to make him an enemy of most. But it's okay. Because it's not about his little kingdom, but about the true king's kingdom, right?

[31:38] Seek his kingdom and his righteousness. And in all of these things, the reality is this. He could lose his job over that. He had asked me before.

[31:51] He had sent me the email before and asked me to pre-read it. That's always sounds great. Pull the trigger. Right? Do it.

[32:01] The reality is you could lose your job over that. Tell you what. You could keep your job and lose your treasure in heaven, or you could seek the kingdom, and then all these things will be added unto you.

[32:11] Many of you get a copy of the Baptist Reflector. And I'm ending. I hope you read the Baptist Reflector. It is a great paper of the Tennessee Baptist happenings, and I think it accurately tells us things that are going on national level and even local level.

[32:29] I'm a huge supporter of the Baptist. I'm a huge supporter of Randy Davis. There are some decisions that go on in the Southern Baptist realm, just like many others, that I have questions and concerns about. And I try to approach those.

[32:40] I don't want to say a huge supporter, but I'm a very... I believe that Randy Davis, the Executive Director of Tennessee Baptist, does a phenomenal job of balancing the times, both personally and corporately as I've interacted with him.

[32:57] There's an article. It doesn't get a whole lot of publications. It's a very small article at the bottom of one of the pages. I want to think that it was maybe page two or page three. I can't remember.

[33:09] Of a church with this type of mindset. I hope you saw it. Where the church had a budget, and they exceeded their budget. And when they exceeded their budget, they wanted to have a single eye and a single focus and be ambitious about the kingdom.

[33:26] So they took every dollar that went over their budget and gave it to missions. To the sum of $200,000. For the check.

[33:38] To form a partnership with the Hawaiian Baptists so that they could do vacation Bible school over there. To Lottie Moonfield, so 100% would go to the international mission field. To the local state offerings so that the church planning continued going on in our state.

[33:54] And they said this one line. They said, because we didn't believe that it was our responsibility to hoard it. But we were entrusted to use it. Now that's a great example of a corporate life.

[34:06] And something that can be applied to individual lives as well. Because we understand this. Jesus made this great principle. You cannot serve two masters.

[34:20] Because wherever your master is, your heart will be there also. And that's just a good way of saying whatever we're excited about or ambitious about in our heart will always be put on display in our actions.

[34:42] But we see that which should define the people of the kingdom. That which they are most excited about. Is the advancement of the kingdom itself.

[34:55] And the making known of the king. Not necessarily the making known of themselves. One more illustration and I'm done. We received a card.

[35:08] It's on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall. And it's addressed to Wartrace Baptist Church. No individuals. Nobody in particular.

[35:21] Wartrace Baptist Church. Thank you for making my children's Christmas great. Of the 30 plus kids.

[35:36] Probably a lot more than that. 11 plus or 15 plus seniors. We had one from the senior citizens home too. I believe Miss Shannon. All those who received those gifts.

[35:46] Many, many, many of the children never know that those gifts come from us. This one was outside of the school system. So they did know that they had come from us. But notice who they think.

[35:59] Not an individual. Not a person. It was a church. Who was ambitious. At that moment. For the kingdom. And our desire is.

[36:11] That they would not see who we are. But through our actions. That they would see who he is. It's about his kingdom. It's not about ours. And that should be the defining mark.

[36:24] Of every kingdom individual's life. Let's pray. Lord. I thank you so much. I thank you for this day. God.

[36:34] I thank you for allowing us together. Together. Thank you for allowing us to worship. Lord. May our lives. Be marked. By a desire. And an ambition. For the kingdom.

[36:46] Lord. May it be marked. By our desire. To be followers. Of you. In all that we do. Lord. Amen. Lord. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

[37:21] Amen. Thank you.