What Must Our Focus Be?

The title of today's message is, What Must Our Focus Be? It's in the form of a question. I think it's something that's important for us to consider. What must our focus be? In God's Holy Day cycle, that we walk through year after year, and He gives that to us every year for a purpose, that it might be a reminder to us. We've come through the Passover in the days of 11 bread now.

That gives us the reminder of the price that was paid for our sins, so that we can move forward. We can live unleavened lives. We can be reconciled to God our Father in Heaven, and we can have a personal and direct relationship with Him and our elder brother, Jesus Christ. We personally, and most recently, celebrated the Feast of Pentecost as well. It highlights the giving of God's Holy Spirit, and that very presence of God in us that binds us together as the family of God, and helps us to understand the oneness that we can have with one another as God and Christ are one, and the fact that, by this Spirit, we become the children of God. We've walked through these spring holy days, and while we're in the middle ground, when you come into Passover, days of 11 breads right around the corner, you walk through days on 11 bread, you know that Pentecost is seven weeks to the morrow after the seventh Sabbath from the day of the wave sheath and the counting that begins. So, we come through Pentecost now, and we think, well, Trumpets is a ways away. And maybe in some sense it's not on the horizon as immediately as is Pentecost following Passover in the days of 11 bread, but it is ahead of us, and it is significant. And because there's a space of time, doesn't mean that God's plan of salvation has taken a pause. And indeed, I believe as we go from days on 11 bread through Pentecost with a focus, we should go from Pentecost to the Feast of Trumpets with a focus as well. Trumpets represents the day of the Lord, the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the kingdom of God on this earth, the resurrection of the saints, who will be a part of that ruling family, reigning and ruling with Christ for a thousand years in that established kingdom. And so, again, in the interim time between Pentecost and Trumpets, what must our focus be? What must we be keeping in mind as we move forward from this point towards that Holy Day? Now, right alongside God's Holy Day plan, we're living in a very unsettled world.

And I think we would all agree with that as well. Just turn on the news, look out the window, look around the hall today, just how we're having to sort of organize ourselves. We're living in a very unsettled world, and the world we know is a very anxious place. And, again, it's legitimate. There are things that are anxiety-causing happening in the world around us, at least if you don't have an understanding of what God's purpose is and what His deliverance ultimately will be.

That anxiety can be overwhelming. So we live in that unsettled world. It's an age of continuing famines, diseases, plagues. I saw a new source this morning that I read, and it was predicting that because of the weather patterns in Africa, what you're going to see likely happened moving forward. There was the big locust plague that took place. They said, again, with the rains and the extension of the season, as it's been, the breeding cycle has continued longer than normal, down two, three generations, and it's looking like there's a possibility it could be 8,000 times worse, they said, than the early Africa locust plague of this year.

Certainly by multiples, at the least, it would seem. So these things are taking place around us. We're living in a world as well of health crisis, of civil unrest, of inequalities and injustice, all the way around. And it's a very unsettled age. This isn't happening just off in the distance somewhere. It used to be, you know, we kind of sat here in our little bubble of the Pacific Northwest, and we turned on the news, and you see what's happening in this part of the world or that part of the world. You know, some of this is happening right in our own backyard, and the unrest is real.

We live in a world that is searching for answers. You know, for 200 years, we've had world superpowers that have, I'd say, exercised their influence in generally good ways over the face of the earth and seek to put certain forms of governance and freedoms and ways of governing man's self into power and into play. But even with all that, there's still problems, and they're still searching for answers, and the problems still exist in this world.

And as a result, people are becoming ever more anxious about what the future will look like. And the question for us, again, as God's people, is what should our focus be? As we're walking through the Holy Day season, as we're walking through this world, you know, Christ said, you're not going to come out of the world in terms of proximity.

You know, we're not to be of the world, but we still live in it. So we, in some ways, walk through these things right along with the rest of the world. What must our focus be? Summer months are what lie generally between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets, and it's a time of travel and vacation for a lot of people.

Young people are out of school. There's family reunions. There's world travel that often goes on, and yet now a lot of that is being curtailed and scaled back, put on hold. So there's more time people have on their hands. There's maybe a little more of an opportunity to catch your breath, to sit and think, what should our focus be?

I'd like to encourage all of us not to allow this time between now and the Feast of Trumpets to go to waste. If we have some extra time on our hands, let's not just fritter it away with Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime. Let's put it to good use. As the people of God, let's use it to zero in on what our overarching focus must be. As the people of God.

I want to begin today in Matthew 6. A very familiar stretch of Jesus Christ's words. You have the Lord's Prayer, as it's considered in the middle of this, and yet you have also, towards the end of the chapter, some very important thoughts to consider pertaining to the focus. Matthew 6 and verse 19 will break into the context there. Matthew 6 verse 19, here Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

And so, if our hope and treasure is in the things of this world, you and I are going to look around at the world as it currently exists, and we're going to have anxiety. We're going to start to feel overwhelmed.

I was watching a video this morning of a shop owner just standing outside her shop, trying to protect her shop from vandalism, and, you know, two by fours, ladders, all these things went through the front window of this shop, and this lady is just, you know, please, please don't. And then they turned and turned a two by four on her. You know, this is an anxious world, and this is an unsettled place. And again, if our focus is tied up and our treasure is here, we're going to be quite anxious, quite unsettled as well, because there's a lot of disturbing things going on. Verse 25, it says, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, about what you should eat, or what you would drink, or your body, what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and body not more than clothing?

It says, Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And so Jesus is saying, you know, don't live your life with anxious care, with worry. There are legitimate things to have concern about.

Our daughter graduated from high school here this last week, received her diploma, was accepted to college, and she'll be, you know, you worry about your children, you worry about their future. What kind of world are they going out to make their way through? So there's legitimate things that we can have concern about. But Jesus is saying, don't live your life with anxious care and worry, just kind of wondering how everything's going to work out.

You know, is this just something that's heading down and there's no hope for our future? That would be a bleak place to be in your mind.

But again, in the end, we understand God is in control. He's the one who takes care of all things. He is the one who pours out the blessings upon us. He is the one that has our good end in mind.

And He is the one who's in control of our lives.

Verse 27 says, which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to His stature?

They were placing the camera today trying to determine if I was about the same height as Dale, and no matter how much I worried, I think He's got me just a little bit. But again, what are you going to do with your focus? What are you going to do with your time?

Can add one cubit to your stature.

Verse 28, so why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. Yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. You know, the powerful, wealthy, wise king, and just think of all he would have in his wardrobe and how he would array himself. And God says, you know, the lily of the field. That's just by my hand, and even Solomon doesn't compare. Verse 30, now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. The point is, you do need these things. But God knows. God's in control. Verse 33, and here we zero in on our focus, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. You know, we've got enough to worry about today. Don't overwhelm yourself about tomorrow. And so we here have a clear message from Jesus Christ as to what we should be focusing on. And it's not the cares or worries of this world. We should be aware of what's going on. And yes, indeed, at times they can be consuming, but it should not be all-consuming. It is the kingdom of God and the righteous character of God that must be our focus. It must be our consuming focus, overriding focus in our lives. You know, often it's just seek first the kingdom of God and a person moves on, but we can't forget and His righteousness and the character of God that must be in place by which, without it, we won't even be the children of God. So this is our first priority in this life. Seeking after the goal God has set before us, anticipating it, desiring it, earnestly seeking it, and building your life around that focus, actively working to be ready for its arrival. You and I, as the people of God, must live as a people who are kingdom-focused. That is what God has set before us as the goal, as the vision, and the life we live today must be with that perspective at all times. If we focus on the things of God, His kingdom, His holy righteous character, then the anxious worry and the fear that accompanies this world would begin to fade away. If we recognize that God is in control of all things, and that His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then a degree of that upset that plagues mankind can begin to diminish from our lives as well. The challenge this world faces is that it does not hold to the same vision that we do. It doesn't have the same focus, doesn't have the same goal and desire, and so it is a world that is immersed in seeking how to solve its problems, how to find the solution to what it is that is now plaguing mankind. And as a result, it keeps seeking to resolve its own issues the only way it knows how, it is by human reasoning.

We all have human reasoning, right, as a part of us, but we also have the Spirit of God that says there's something different and something better than human reasoning. But this world around us seeks to solve the issues that are at play according to human reasoning. That's the default mode, okay?

And the problem with doing such is that the problems we see in this world are not a human fix, by and large. We've got to be careful by getting politically motivated in these things and saying, well, if you're of this persuasion or this party, here's the fix. You know, I won't deny that there's certain things that I would say can either make something better or make something worse, all right? But the fix isn't a human fix. The fix is not a Republican or Democrat fix. It's not a constitutional fix. What's wrong in this world is not a governmental fix. It's not a human fix at all. And it's what we have to come to understand if we're going to accept and understand how we should respond as the people of God.

The prophet Jeremiah clearly understood this point. He noted in Jeremiah 10, verse 23, that the way of man is not in himself. He says, it's not in man who walks to direct his own steps. Again, that's Jeremiah 10, verse 23. And so, it's on our own, apart from God, we don't have the solution to what plagues this world. Because the core reason for the world's problems, brethren, are not physical at their core. They are spiritual. And that's the basis of what we see erupting in a world around us today. Yes, there have been injustices, and there's enough injustice to go around, all right? But the core root problem of these things are not physical with a physical solution. They are spiritual. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, verse 7, that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's in opposition. It resists God. It fights against God. It's not subject to the laws of God, nor indeed can be, right? So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's the condition of the world. And sometimes we look at it and say, well, it can be fixed, or we can fix it. Or the Church of God should fix this system. Let's go out there and fix it.

The system will not be fixed because it is not God's system. The major world events and the problems we see happening today is because we live in a world that has not aligned itself, according to the truths of God. And so those who are reconciled to God, taking on the nature of God, we shouldn't think that we can go out and fix a culture that has been built by the carnal nature, which is in opposition to God, not subject to the laws of God, nor indeed can be. But we look for a better way. You and I live in a world that is not living in a reconciled relationship with their Creator. Therefore, it's a world that's not focusing on what truly matters first and foremost. To us, again, it's the kingdom of God and the holy, righteous character of God. The Republicans don't have the answers, the Democrats don't have the answers, but God the Father and Jesus Christ have the answers. And they will bring the solution. And we look forward to that day. Understanding our future and what God has in store must be the driving motivation behind what we're doing now.

And I would just say if fear is what we're doing now, if anxiety, if the cares of this world, if worry is what we're doing now, and if worry is what we see for our future, then I would say that will govern what we're doing now. If we look into the future and what do we see? Worry, fear, anxiety, trouble, problems, that's going to be our reality today, and how we view this world. And it's going to be unsettling, but we have to keep our focus on the real future, the real plan of God that wipes away all these fears.

Jesus Christ tells us to make the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God our top priority, no matter what's going on in the world around us.

Sometimes I tell Darla, I say, don't, when I get desperate for Friday afternoon and my sermon's not where I think it should be, I go to my office and I say, unless the house is on fire. I don't want the phone, I don't, you know. And we're living in a world that is on fire, and we need to stay focused. We can't become distracted.

Because, you know, you open that door, you turn on the television, whatever it is that you do, and we should be aware of what's going on, but we can start chasing after everything that's going on and become distracted from our focus.

Backing up in Matthew 6, we see that Jesus taught His disciples to include the focus of the kingdom of God as central to their prayers. Matthew 6, verse 9, Jesus said, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And so we pray Thy kingdom come, and I think probably all of us, I hope we do, pray Thy kingdom come every day. And yet, how much of it is with a deep yearning and a desire to actually see that kingdom?

And it can be almost rote repetition. You know, Thy kingdom come, Thy kingdom come, but do we, in our hearts, say, please bring it now.

The world needs it now. We need it now.

You know, when life is good, we still pray Thy kingdom come, don't we?

But maybe in our heart we say, but, God, maybe not quite yet.

Because, you know, I just got that job.

In the pay scale, they've recognized my education.

They've recognized my hard work and my value to the company. I've received the promotion, I've received the pay raise, I just bought the house.

Shiny new car in the driveway. Really cute girlfriend.

Or boyfriend.

Or maybe we're married and we have our children now, and life is going good. God, Thy kingdom come just... not quite yet.

And that kind of comes, I would say, from a culture we've lived in a good age.

You know, the last hundred years in this country has been a good age to be alive.

And it's been a good age for the Church of God to be alive.

And it just stresses me a bit to think how we've used our time.

But I was communicating with Dari, I sent him my sermon notes, I send them over to Nigeria and Ghana every week because as they've been shut in, they can just kind of disperse them out on email to the brethren, have something to study through on the Sabbath. So I send my notes, and Dari replied last night, and he says, you know, it's amazing, I was looking at your sermon, and he says, it is so in line with what I'm talking about today, our focus of the kingdom of God. He says, but it's interesting the differences as well. He says, because your sermon comes from the perspective of plenty.

You know, you live in a nation of plenty, job security, abundance, as we have in this country. He says, my sermon is from the perspective of nothing. And the fact that, you know, seek first the kingdom of God, we can't make our life just be about survival day to day. And that's what it is there for them. It's about survival day to day, just for food in the mouth, roof over their head.

And he says, you know, for us seeking the kingdom of God, our life can't just be about day to day survival. It's got to be about what God puts before us and what we're seeking, and how do we look around outside of ourselves and help one another to get there as well, and to strengthen and encourage each other. So he says, it's interesting, I'm going to take some of your notes and incorporate it into my message, but just to kind of see the contrast of, I'm talking about a nation that has had plenty, and suddenly we look around and the world's on fire and it's in our backyard, and we say, oh no, oh no. And he's coming from a perspective of a place that's been in deep trouble for a long time, and survival has been the issue day by day. So from our plenteous perspective, we sometimes say, thy kingdom come someday. But, you know, my car still has under 100,000 miles, has a new smell, good life, right? Someday. The only answer to this world's problems, brethren, is to return to Jesus Christ in the establishment of the kingdom of God, and that is why it must be our focus today. We must earnestly desire it today. And as we walk from Pentecost to Trumpets, again, Trumpets being that holy day that shows the ushering in of these things, I believe that must be our focus first and foremost.

Our focus, source and kingdom of God, must not become distracted by the cares and anxieties of this age. If it does, we run the risk of missing out for ourselves. You know, life is good. Maybe when things start to head down the road, that it looks too bad. I'll make a course correction and we'll head for the kingdom. If that's our focus, we may not even be there. Matthew 24, verse 38.

In the words of Jesus Christ, Matthew 24, verse 38. Remember last week I said when I read through Genesis about the flood, I think about our age. Well, this is what Christ is focusing on here. Matthew 24, 38, He says, For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will be the coming of the Son of Man. You know, life on earth was carrying on as usual. And maybe pretty good. Eating and drinking, marriage, giving in marriage. You go back to Genesis, you know, all flesh had corrupted themselves. But, you know, Noah the preacher of righteousness is sounding the alarm, and people are probably listening and going, Well, I don't think I'm quite ready to get on that boat. And maybe you're even a little crazy, Noah, but I'll keep that in the back of my mind and fine. If the rain starts falling, we'll make for the boat. But of course, when the rain started falling, it was too late, wasn't it? Verse 40, speaking of the coming of the Son of Man, He says, Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, the other left. Watch, therefore, for you do not know the hour for which your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has made ruler over his household, to give him food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. He's not distracted, he's not slacking off, he's not doing his own thing, he's doing what the master left him to do. Verse 47, Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come in the day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So, brethren, as Christians, our focus needs to be constantly on the kingdom of God, and the righteousness of God, yielding ourselves to the preparation work God is doing in our life today, yearning to be there, yearning for the establishment of it. The time between now and the end of the age is our preparation time.

You know, it's not time to slack. It's not time to say, Our Lord delays his coming, and we're just going to kind of eat and drink and be merry, and when we see things really get tough, we'll fall back in the line. No, this is a preparation time for a better age to come today. And I'll just say, while the time is good, we should make good use of the time, individually and as a church, because the age is coming where I think we can see it on the horizon. Times won't be so good in this country. This is our time to grow in the grace and the knowledge of God and Christ. It's our time to grow in their nature and character, and to focus on what it truly means to be the children of God and the bride of Jesus Christ.

That's what the Bible does say our role will be, right? Children and the family of God, the bride of Jesus Christ, as any good bride, we need to be making ourselves ready for our husband when he does come. And that preparation must be now. You and I, brethren, have not been called by God to be the fixer of this age, the fixer of the system, you know, to vote the right person in the office or to come up with the right solution for this age. This age stems from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the carnal mind that is enmity to God. And there is good in this age. There are good governing principles in this age as well. But again, it's still the wrong tree. And it's a system that will not stand. We've not been called to be the fixers of this age. We've been called to prepare ourselves for the reign of the kingdom of God alongside Jesus Christ as the bride of Christ and to be the fixers in that age, to be the restorers of truth and the healers of the breach. And so we've been called to take on the nature of God and Christ that will match us to our husband and to our Father in heaven. So our focus needs to be. Hebrews 12, verse 28.

Hebrews 12, verse 28. Again, the world can be burning down around us. We do care. We do drieve. We do sigh and cry. Right? We are to do that. These are our fellow man, but we understand that there is a better age coming that is from a completely different source. Hebrews 12, verse 28. What should our focus be? Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. You and I should be learning today how to serve God, how to serve Jesus Christ acceptably with reverence and with godly fear, so that we'll be prepared to do so when the kingdom comes. Again, we've not been called to fix this age before Jesus Christ returns to fix it, but we've been called to be prepared to fix it when he does come. I spoke on trumpets last year about the fact that what God and Christ are going to be doing is not a restoration project, a remodeling project of an existing system. The fact the kingdom of God, as Daniel says, is going to come is going to crush all the systems of this world, and it will build again from the foundation up, the true system, the kingdom of God. And so, Christ isn't going to come back and just sort of put this system here together properly in a way that allows it to work properly, you know, install the right man at the top of the government with the right party persuasion to allow it to function well. No, he's going to break into pieces all the other kingdoms of man. And you and I are going to be preparing, and we are preparing now to assist in that process and assist in building something completely new. No human establishment survives the end of the age. Right? No human establishment survives into the kingdom of God. No human establishment is the fix-all to the problems of this age, but we have set before us the opportunity to be a part of the real solutions that God has in store, and that indeed is where our primary focus must lie. So again, the question and the title of the message is, what must our focus be? And sort of the sub-question we would ask ourselves is, what am I doing to prepare now? What is my focus today?

Clause in chapter 3, verse 1, the apostle Paul addresses this concept. Where should our focus be? And it's hard, you know, brethren, we have to work a job. We have to have food on the table, a roof over our head. God knows that, but we still have to do our part. But where is our overarching focus? Clause in chapter 3, verse 1, Paul says, If then you were raised with Christ, to seek those things which are above, were Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

You know what I'm saying? If you've been baptized, if you've committed yourself into a covenant relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, your focus is going to be directed somewhere above. Not on the things of this earth. And what that means is that the truths and the values of the kingdom we look to are what are going to be governing our lives today. And kingdom's not here yet, but its effect is here.

And it lives in you and me. And it is what is to be governing our life right now. And today, it's about preparation. It's about being those whom Jesus Christ will seek upon His return. In seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we learn to look at the difficulties of the age around us differently.

We should be good citizens of the nations that we live in. We should be good people, good neighbors. Do the right things. Do the righteous things. Seek out those in need and help them. Lend a hand where we can. We must do those things. But again, the concept of what will fix this system isn't coming today. It is coming at the return of Jesus Christ. And we must be preparing.

Again, clause 3-1, if you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, too, is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

And that again is what we're anticipating with the approaching Feast of Trumpets. Where God our Father says, this age is done, and He tells His Son, now is the time to go. And this Kingdom will be established, and real solutions will come.

I mentioned in last week's sermon that the unrest of this age makes me even more anxious for the preaching of the Gospel. Even more anxious for the message to go out that there is a better way, there is hope for the future, there is change coming, but repent now and believe in the Gospel.

It doesn't appear that many will, but certainly the message, the warning, must go out. Anything that man comes up with is a solution which is temporary at best. But the solution that the Kingdom of God will bring is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Can you see this focus all throughout Paul's writings?

Think of the age he lived in. He was a Roman citizen, advanced roads, advanced medicine, advanced empire, strong military, but a very corrupt way of life as well, very much like the world we live in today. He looked for a permanent solution, not a temporary one. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed bay by day.

He says, For our light afflictions, which is for but a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, you know, flip on the news, look at the world around us, there's many things we can see. We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. The solutions for this world that will be true and lasting will come as a result of the reign of the kingdom of God. It doesn't mean we don't still live here, and we don't try to contribute for the good. We must. But again, the kingdom of God is where our focus must be, and the kingdom of God is where we see true and lasting effects in our life. Jesus Christ's last Passover on earth is, to me, very telling, and a lot of what he went through with his disciples following that.

We read through it every year during our Passover service, and to me it's a good portion of Scripture to go back and do slow, methodical, intensive study into. But following that Passover, Jesus shared a piece of information with his disciples regarding what he would be doing between his resurrection and the Second Coming. And to me, to understand what Jesus Christ is doing should help us to understand what we ought to be doing as well. John 14, verse 1. John 14, verse 1. Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. He says, In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may be also. So what is Jesus Christ doing? Well, he told his disciples here, in that day, he says, I'm returning to heaven, I'm be at the right hand of my Father, I go to prepare a place for you, and I'm coming again, that you may be with me where I prepared that place. And so the place he said he's preparing is in his Father's house, under the Father's roof.

And I would ask all of us to ask ourselves the question, are we prepared to live in the Father's house? You know, not just, are you anxious to do so? I think we would all say, yes, we're anxious, but this is a different question. Are you prepared to live in your Father's house, in our Father's house? Because again, Christ said he was going to prepare a place for his disciples, and he's coming again, that includes us to receive us to himself. Are we truly prepared for that moment, or do we simply desire it? Christ is making preparations. More disciples, yet even today, are being added, and he prepares a place for them.

Are we preparing a place for his return? In our heart, in seeking first the kingdom of God, and taking on the nature of God, are we preparing the place to reign in our life with Christ as well?

It's probably safe to say all the church desires the return of Jesus Christ, but how many are actually prepared? Again, there's a difference. Remember the parable of the ten virgins. All virgins, it would appear a type of the end-time church, all had oil, all were looking for the bridegroom. You know, the call goes out, the bridegroom comes, they all woke up. They all wanted to be there, but five weren't prepared. And they went real quick, tried to make some preparations, and came to the door, and what was the response? I don't know you. They had lamps, they had some oil, some level of the Holy Spirit, yet the lamp was going out. They all wanted to be there, they all said, Thy kingdom come, and yet five were not prepared, and they missed out.

Our elder brother, our future husband, is in heaven right now, seeking preparations for our involvement in that kingdom. The question is, are we doing so here on earth today? Whether we are or not is going to depend on what our focus is, where we're putting our energies, and what it is we're seeking first.

Part of seeking first the kingdom of God means to make the necessary preparations to receive the kingdom. It's building your relationship with God now. It's on your knees before Him in prayer. It's studying His word. It's fasting. It's drawing close to Him. If you're going to reside in the Father's house, is it going to be an... My mind just went blank on the word, estranged. There it is, relationship. I don't think so. We're not going to say, well, we know where the Father dwells. We'll just be out in the outer corner, not make any noise, and not be a distraction. That's not the family He's building. The point is, we're to be living under His roof, and it means that we need to be taking on His very nature today, and we need to be the bride that Jesus Christ expects to find when He comes.

He's gone to prepare a place for us, and indeed, preparing for Him must be our focus as well.

Every day is about choices.

How we're going to spend our energies, what's our time going to be taken up with, and our time does get taken up with many things that are important, but oftentimes it also gets taken up with temporary things and things of no lasting value. Again, if a Netflix binge is how we're spending this extra time we've been given, I'd say we're not using it so well. We need to zero in on what our focus is.

It's only so many hours in the day. How much time do we spend in prayer and study, focusing on the things of God? It's important to ask and assess because the answer will determine where our focus lies. Ephesians 5. Again, Paul, it's hard to avoid his writings. He understood where the focus must be.

Ephesians 5 and verse 15. How are we using our time? See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. You know, circumspectly is like you're... you have an awareness of the condition around you, what's going on around you, and you're living your life with an understanding and a perspective of what's happening. Again, Ephesians 5.15. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. The days were evil in the days of the Apostle Paul, the height of the Roman Empire. The days are evil in our time as well. Are we going to walk with an understanding of these things, and are we going to use our time wisely? Verse 16, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation. Just something that just goes into nothingness. It's like drunkenness is sort of like this. You build a little fire and a plume of smoke goes in the air, and it just dissipates to nothing. It's dissipation. There's no value to it. He says, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. We all have responsibilities in this life, so we can't just quit our job so that we can stay home and pray and study the Bible all day. Maybe I get to do that. That's a blessing. That's a blessing, but we don't have— there's so many responsibilities. There's so many things just for living day-to-day that we must care for as a matter of Biblical principle as well. So we can't just chuck all those things out of the window, but how we're using our time is important. In our school, our work, our family, it all must be regulated through the perspective of seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

We are called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ first.

Right? Citizens of the kingdom of heaven first.

Not second, not third. Use your interactions with this world as an opportunity to demonstrate that a better way is coming. Redeem the time because the days are evil. Put first things first, and never lose sight of what the kingdom of God means to you.

It's value. It's importance in your life.

Final passage for today, Matthew 13, verse 44.

Again, how important is the kingdom of God to you? Because His importance is going to depend on how it ranks in your priorities. Matthew 13, verse 44. The words of Jesus, again, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for the joy over it goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that field.

Notice He gave up all that He had accumulated. Right? All His life efforts. Go and sell it all just for the joy of finding that treasure.

I would ask us to consider if there is joy in our life over seeking the kingdom of God and the treasure that it is.

Are we willing to trade all for it? Is that our focus?

Continuing on, verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant sinking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and he bought it.

Again, I think back in that video I watched this morning about that woman just, she wasn't being aggressive, she's just standing outside her shop window saying, please, no, please.

And what did they took away from her all that she had, right? Just in an instant. But it was a physical treasure. If our treasure is in heaven, moth and rust do not corrupt. Thieves do not break in and steal. And it is our top priority.

If we're not willing to forsake all to seek first the kingdom of God, then it won't be first. It'll be second, it'll be third, it'll be fifth, whatever priority we give to it. If the kingdom of God is secondary to our family, we won't seek it first.

If it's secondary to our career, our goals, our life's aspirations, we won't seek it first.

And if it's secondary to the cares of this world, we won't seek it first.

You know, Jesus told the rich young ruler who said, you know, what do I have to do? And he says, well, keep the commandments. Well, all these things I've done, what else do I need to do? And Christ said, well, go sell all that you have and follow me. And the man went away sorrowful because he had many possessions.

You know, the kingdom of God was important to him. He says, I've lived this way of life and I want it. And it was important. And he says, but not that important. Not at that price. Right? Not at that cost.

During this time, brethren, between Pentecost and Trumpets, we can ask all of us to consider very carefully what is the highest priority in our life and what is it that we're doing today to seek after it and to grab hold of it with all our might.

Not only individually, but what is our focus as the Church of God?

Because I think in some ways, we've wandered into an age where we can lose our focus very easily. And in some ways, we have lost our focus. The kingdom of God and the righteousness of God is what should bind us together as the people of God. Seeking first that kingdom and that righteousness as a priority is the first calling of us all. Again, we must do it individually and collectively. If we put that effort in its proper order, then all the other cares of this life are going to fall into their proper perspective and place as well.

The cares of this world are real, and they should be addressed. They do have a proper place in our life. You know, what happens to our neighbor should have a proper place in our life.

How we represent the kingdom of God to this world and how we involve ourselves in a positive way should have a proper place in our life. But again, nothing should trump what comes first. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things, all these things that your Father in heaven knows that you have need of, will be added to you.

So, brethren, let's use this time now between Pentecost we've just come through and moving forward today of trumpets well. Let's not lose our focus. Let's laser target ourselves on our focus. Seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God. Let's do it together. Let's make it first priority together.

And all these things will be added to you.