Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- The Greatest Kingdom ~ Pastor Jarrod Doyal ~ Matthew 6:33

Well good morning church family. Super glad you're here. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started. Lord we come before you this morning we just thank you for allowing us to be here Lord God. For those affected by the storms last night Lord I just pray to be with them Lord and just grant them an extra measure of grace and provide for them and

take care of them Lord. Lord just ask you be with Pastor Ryan and his family as they're traveling this morning. Keep them safe Lord and just give them a good time of rest and and relaxation Lord and just bring them back safely to us Lord. I ask your blessing upon this time. We love you Lord. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

You guys can go and have a seat if you like. Well God just thank you that you are our firm foundation Lord God. That you will never fail. That you are always faithful Lord God even when we're not. But God we just give you praise. We give you thanks for who you are Lord God. We give you praise for in you there is victory. There's victory over sin and victory over death Lord God. Sing that chorus one more time.

And would you guys stand with us for the last one? Not the last one but that's okay you can stay it anyway.

It's praise of my soul. It's praise of my life. It's breath in my lungs. Consider it the victories I don't. The battles I fight. It's crown that I hoard. Consider it the praise of the heavens. The kingdom to come. Consider it that's your surrender. To me I surrender. I surrender. God we just we give you praise this morning. Lord I give you thanks. Lord God may we live our lives with abandon. Complete and total abandon for you Lord God and your kingdom. Let us forsake our own kingdoms Lord God. And seek after yours. Father we love you Lord God. We praise you. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Morning. How's everyone doing today? It's good to be here. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. It's great to be in our church. It's great to be in our nation. I felt really encouraged on the 4th of July to be together with family and prayer. I hope you did too. In your bulletins as usual on the left side there is activities almost every day of the week. Several small groups and Bible studies. I encourage you guys to get involved with those.

Very good way to get to know people in the church and really develop relationships with one another. And fellow believers and to study God's word. In the center section we got several things coming up. There's the baptism on Wednesday the 15th at 7 o'clock at Paris Park. And there's still a sign up sheet in the lobby. Or you can talk to Pastor Ryan about that if you're interested in getting baptized.

There will not be a meal. But there will be desserts and drinks. And at the pool will be some swimming if you want to partake in that. There's a women's breakfast July 11th. And there's a sign up. July 11th in the Agape room. I guess you don't need to sign up for that. Just show up. Rock River Rapids. The youth group will be going there. Derby on July 11th from 12 to 7. There is a little cost.

And a permission and sign up sheet. Also in the lobby. And then finally there's a women's retreat September 18th in Waboka, Oklahoma. Registration is still open until August 1st. And there's a QR code there in the middle of the bulletin if you want to open that up and get more information about that. And with that let's open our Bibles to Psalm. Psalm. I forgot. Don't let me forget. The Guatemala team will be going. When are they going, Jared?

July 28th. July 28th. So we ask that you pray for them. There's a picture of the team that's going on the insert. And on the back side there are some requested medications if you'd like to make a donation. And there's a suitcase in the lobby there that you can make your deposit in if you would please. And let's... Stand for the responsive reading. We'll go to Psalm 5.

Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God. For to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice. In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity.

You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. But as for me, by your abundant loving kindness, I will enter your house at your holy temple. I will bow in reverence for you. O Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my foes. Make your way straight before me. There is nothing reliable in what they say. Their inward part is destruction itself.

Their throat is an open grave. There flatter with their tongue. Hold them guilty, O God. By their own devices let them fall. In the multitude of their transgression, thrust them out, for they are rebellious against you. But, let all who take refuge in you be glad, let them ever sing for joy. And may you shelter them. May those who led you go without bread, and if they have turning to you , you shall be alone.

May you find happiness. love your name may exult in you. For it is you who blesses the righteous man, O Lord. You surround him with favor as with a shield. Good morning. Sorry, as we get the sound levels adjusted here.

I hope everybody had a good 4th of July. I hope everybody came back with all 10 fingers and toes.

Okay, if you got your Bibles this morning, open them up to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I want to start off by reading a few verses that talk about the kingdom of heaven. And then I'll kind of get into why here in just a few minutes. But Matthew 3.2, this is John the Baptist talking. He says, repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Likewise, in Matthew 4.17, Jesus, at the very beginning of his ministry,

came teaching the same thing. And he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Matthew 5.3, blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Matthew 5.10, blessed are those who persecuted because of righteousness for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. And then Matthew 6.33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be added to you. The week before, we're going to read a little bit about the kingdom of God. We're going to read a little bit about the kingdom of God. Before last, my wife and I and several sponsors, we took a group of youth to Falls Creek Church Camp. We had the slideshow going here just as church was opening this morning. And may I just

say, we had an amazing week. I mean, the Lord moved in awesome ways, and I'm just so blessed and so thrilled to be able to take a group to church camp this year. But we also, we also had a very, very interesting week. If you'll notice, the golden plunger.

It's sort of symbolic of some of the events that we dealt with. We had a lot of rain, and we had a lot of plumbing issues in our cabin. We dealt with all that. We also used the plunger as our banner, if you will, and tabernacle for our youth group to find us. Our motto for the week was, you know, our cups and our toilets overfloweth. But like I said, the Lord moved, despite all of

that, the Lord moved in hundreds of people's lives. And for our group specifically, we had two kids surrender their lives to Christ for the first time. We had two recommitments, two who wanted to get baptized, and two who answered the call to ministry. So, I mean, praise God, you know. Praise God. I get a little geeked up about that. So, the message today is sort of a continuation

of the theme of Falls Creek this year, which was the greatest. It's based off of the Great Commission in Matthew 28. And through the week, we looked at several aspects of the Great Commission and God being the greatest ever. We looked at the response to Jesus, just being in the presence of Jesus, which was worship, humbleness, and God being the greatest ever. And we looked at the

gracefulness, confession, and repentance. Those are some of the four responses that we see throughout Scripture of being in the presence of Jesus. We looked at the greatest focus, which was to go forth and make disciples. That should be our main focus. We looked at the greatest relationship, which is our relationship with our Creator and our relationship with others.

And then lastly, we looked at the greatness of Jesus. We looked at the greatest focus, which is our relationship with our Creator and our relationship with others. And then lastly, we looked at the greatest journey which was to become more like Christ to be molded into his image and so this morning I've titled the message the greatest kingdom the greatest kingdom during one of the Falls Creek Tabernacle services they had a poll to determine who was like the greatest athlete of all time so they had like the greatest the the greatest like basketball players you know like they they threw up a picture of like Michael Jordan and LeBron James and and I'm gonna do that poll this morning I'm kidding no I'm not I don't want to I don't want to

cause a church split but they had a poll for the greatest basketball player which is Michael Jordan if you don't if you don't agree that's okay you can be wrong it's fine the greatest golfer in my opinion is Tiger Woods I mean he still has records that have not been broken the greatest football player so on and so forth you know and and so this morning's message is all about the greatest kingdom and I think it really ties in nicely with celebrating America's 250th anniversary and I want to start off by saying that we are so incredibly blessed to live in the country that we do amen amen thank you you know we get to enjoy an experience the freedom to show up here on a Sunday morning and a Wednesday evening we get the freedom to be able to carry around

our bibles to preach the gospel to tell whoever we want to about jesus free from the worry of persecution okay and we we get to enjoy so many different freedoms i get to work where i want to i get to say what i want to and i don't have to worry about my government coming after me or anybody else for that matter necessarily but i'm free to do all that and mind you there are still places in the world where you are not free to do those things i'm grateful to all the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect our freedoms and our way of life and if you're here this morning and you're a veteran or if you're watching online and you're a veteran or you're or you're active

duty i just want to say thank you thank you for your service we so very much appreciate it

many of my family have served and i've got a few that are serving actively right now

i've got a few who are actively serving right now and there are many who would argue that america is the greatest country on earth and i'm one of them i'm one that would argue that america is the greatest country the greatest nation on earth i've talked with people who were born in other countries but immigrated here and they'll tell you the same thing a lot of them will tell you the same thing i was uh i was on an airplane flying out to el paso to go visit my brother this last march and i sat next to a plane and uh the man was from texas he was born born here in the united states his wife was from europe and i forget which country in europe but um his wife was from was from europe

and she had immigrated here and i just struck up a conversation with him and i just straight up asked her um do you do you like living in america better than your previous country your previous home and she absolutely said yes without hesitation just instantly and she loved this country so much that she went through all the classes took through took all the tests passed all the tests and everything and she became a naturalized citizen of the united states in many respects and by many metrics the united states of america is the best and greatest country in the world however we're not perfect not by a long shot well i looked up some statistics

i can't even hardly say that statistics i looked up some statistics and i found that america is the best and greatest country in the world so i'm going to give you some statistics um on the internet and uh and just a quick google search shows that the united states globally ranks 12th in education we rank 59th in crime rates we're among the highest in consumer debt and to kind of break this out for you as of september 2025 the u.s has racked up over 18 and a half trillion dollars in consumer debt that's according and to be fair here's the breakdown of that debt 69 of that 18 and a half trillion are mortgages the other 31 which is roughly 5 5.75 trillion has broken out between car loans

student loans credit cards and miscellaneous debt i found that the united states ranks number one in two categories number one incarceration we incarcerate more people per capita than any other country in the world and we also rank number one in defense spending last year the federal government spent 954 billion dollars on defense that's more than china russia and the next four countries combined that's how much money we spent on defense so it's safe to say our country is great but it's not perfect it's not perfect i still have to lock my doors at night i pay way too much in taxes as we all do i pay way too much for groceries gas the cost of living is just skyrocketing the cost of health stuff still breaks and i either have to fix it or replace it

people still do bad things just because they can and in my opinion despite those shortcomings america is still the greatest nation on earth but far from perfect so this morning i'd like to tell you about a greater kingdom about the the greatest kingdom the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of heaven jesus gives us a little glimpse of the kingdom of heaven in the book of matthew in chapter six so let's start in verse let's start in verse 19. matthew chapter 6 verse 19 says don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and thieves don't break in and steal

for where your treasure is there your heart will be also the lie the eye is the lamp of the body if your eye is healthy your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness so if the light was within you is darkness how deep is that darkness no one can serve two masters since either he will hate one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve both god and money verse 25 therefore i tell you don't worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body what you will wear isn't life more than food and body more than clothing consider the birds of the sky they don't sow or reap or gather into barns yet your heavenly

father feeds them and aren't you worth more than they can any one of you add a moment to his lifespan by worrying and why do you worry about clothes observe how the wildflowers of the field grow they don't labor or spin thread yet i tell you that not even solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these if that's how god closed the grass of the field which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow won't he do much more for you you of little faith so don't worry saying what will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear for the gentiles eagerly seek all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them verse 33 pay attention but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will

be provided for you therefore don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself each day has enough trouble of its own here in matthew 6 jesus is giving his famous uh his famous sermon on the mount the greatest sermon in history and i'd like to hone in on verses 19 through 21 here and it starts jesus starts off by saying don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal why would jesus say that like why would why would he why would he tell us not to store up treasures well i think for a couple of reasons number one he doesn't want us to become focused on our possessions and money and number two the

answer lies there in verse 19 where it says moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal you see nothing on earth nothing on earth is going to last forever you know i've had relatives who literally store up who literally store up gold and silver because they think the world's going to end and not saying that's not wise to have some on hand however that eventually goes away it all eventually goes away rust gets to it silver gets tarnished thieves break in and steal it do you think that kind of thing is going to happen in the greatest kingdom no if you park an old classic car out in the field what happens it eventually rusts away why is that and the answer goes the answer goes all the way back to genesis after the fall

you see when man fell in sin everything became corrupted everything became less than perfect everything we've ever known since is the same way it's less than perfect every person every family every community every school every living thing every nation every kingdom every government every empire everything has become less than perfect it's become corrupted because of sin and it'll eventually go away but he says in verse 20 here says but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don't break in break in and steal so you see the greatest kingdom ever the kingdom of heaven in that kingdom nothing and no one is corrupt nothing and no one is less than perfect

moths and rust don't exist and there are no thieves there's no crime rate in heaven they're dead last in crime rate they have no crime i'm convinced there are no locks on the doors in heaven and i'm just going to walk into my neighbor's house without even knocking it's going to be super awkward it's going to be awesome but going but going back to my previous point here i think we as americans by and large have a tendency to focus on our kingdoms on our own kingdoms we have a tendency to focus on our own possessions our own money uh and our own temporary less than perfect kingdoms and that's not where jesus wants our focus if our focus is our own kingdoms what would happen if all that went away tomorrow i've seen people who hear me say

whose focus is on their own growing their own kingdoms their own dreams and and for one reason or another it just it all got taken away in an instant and they just became broken people but you see they they became broken people because they placed all their focus all their time their money and energy on their own kingdoms and that's not where jesus wants us i heard a story of a guy that that owned a store and this is from a another pastor that i'd listened to uh and i'm just going to be kind of speaking in generics here so just bear with me but i heard this the story of a guy that owned a owned a store he had he'd poured everything that he had into this story into the

store he sacrificed much of his personal life his own finances uh into making sure that this store could survive he would spend late nights uh there and uh get up super early the next morning and be there and be there and be there and be there and be there and be there and be there and be there there before anybody else was just to make sure that this store could survive he's he worked hard but he also worried hard he worried hard he worried about the finances and making sure that the store was going to survive financially and then one day this this guy shows up out of nowhere and he says sir I'm sorry to tell you this but your store caught fire in the middle of night and it burned to the ground it's a complete loss it was a complete loss but the man

just smiled he lost everything that he had in that store he lost his income and everything yet he smiled because all that stress all that worry that came with owning and operating that store was just gone in an instant he didn't have to do it anymore he didn't have to worry anymore and I found that the more that we worry about our own kingdoms the less peace we have we've got to make sure it's all locked up and secure we've got to make sure everything's maintained we've got to make sure that nothing gets broken we've got to make sure that everything's maintained we've got to make sure everything's maintained that the payments are up to date that the insurance and taxes are all paid but

you see all of that's going to go away all of it wears out all of it breaks all of it is going to go away eventually when my dad passed away in 2011 one of the things I inherited from him was this my truck my it's a 2002 Chevy Silverado and when I got it I mean this thing was just pristine barely a scratch on the on it the tires were good the the motor ran great you know there's quite a few miles on it but you know it still ran it still ran like it just rolled off a lot it was super nice but as time time has gone on the tires have worn out parts have had to be replaced on this thing there's hail damage the roll top is all but completely falling apart um

you know the trim is starting to fall off it's an old truck you know it's it's 24 years old it's an old truck and i'll eventually have to replace it although i'm kind of hoping to be raptured home before that time but it's all going to go away i'll have to replace it at some point and i can't have all my time energy money and emotions wrapped up into my own kingdom and instead i need to be wrapped up in his kingdom i need to see him in my own kingdom seek first his kingdom jesus tells us starting in verse 25 i'll read this again says therefore i tell you don't worry about your life what you will eat or what you'll drink or about your body what you'll wear isn't life more than food in the body more than clothing consider the birds

of the sky they don't sow or reap or gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them and aren't you worth more than they can any of you add a moment to his life span by worrying and why do you worry about clothes observe the wildflower the wildflowers of the field they don't labor or spin thread yet i tell you that not even solomon and all his splendor was adorned like one of these and if that's how god closed the grass of the field which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow won't he do much more for you so don't worry saying what will we eat what will we drink or what will we wear for the gentiles eagerly seek all these things and yet we know that you need them but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness

all these things will be added unto you all these things will be added unto you if we just seek first his kingdom here jesus tells us that when we're wrapped up in our in building our own kingdom we're going to start dealing with things like worry and anxiety and i could be wrong but i doubt it i don't think god ever intended us intended for us to spend our lives worrying to spend our lives just dealing with anxiety from day to day i i don't think he wanted us to do that when our whole focus becomes on building our own kingdoms there are unintended consequences like anxiety like depression and things like that they all these things start popping up in our lives and when our whole focus but but when our whole focus

is on his kingdom all that goes away all the anxiety all the depression all the anxiety all the all of it goes away and instead of seeking to build our own kingdom he tells us to seek his kingdom and all those things that we spend our time money energy and emotions worrying about he provides those things for us he knows what we need jesus jesus tells us that he cares for and takes care of the birds of the sky and the flowers of the field and if he cares enough to take care of them how much more does he care for you and provide for you that's all about our four fällt Unters and we're going to focus on this image and just talk about it some more right now thanks so instead of seeking our own kingdom where our

stuff even our dreams can be taken away and destroyed in a moment where our peace is replaced with anxiety instead seek the kingdom where our treasures can't be destroyed where our treasures cannot be taken seek the kingdom of heaven seek his perfect becomes, if I'm supposed to seek his perfect, incorruptible, everlasting kingdom, how does one find it? I want to channel Pastor Ryan here. I'm glad you asked. Jesus tells us exactly how to find it here in the very next chapter. So we want to flip to your right one page in Matthew chapter 7

and verse 13. It says, enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. But narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it. This is actually the verse that our youth group, the narrow road youth group, is actually named from. You see, there are two roads,

two gates that lead to two kingdoms. The wide gate and the broad road that leads to the kingdom, to a worldly kingdom, kingdom of destruction. And a narrow gate and a difficult road that leads to the kingdom of heaven, that leads to life. Well, how do I know which road I'm on? Well, Jesus gives us a clue here in verse 15. He says, be under guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are

ravaging wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

So you'll recognize them by the fruit. The clue he gives us here, if you're on the wide path, there's going to be signs. It's like any road you travel, there's going to be road signs, right? He says to beware of false prophets, false messengers. Well, how do I know? a false prophet when I see one? Well, will he look a certain way? You know, will he be dressed

up in some kind of super ominous way, like a black robe and a black hood? Probably not, but if you do, you might want to turn and go the other way. He says you'll recognize them by their fruit. Well, what is the fruit? What is their fruit? It's their attributes, their characteristics. Their characteristics. They'll often claim to have a word from God. They'll claim to have a

word from God, and I'm telling you, if somebody is coming up to you claiming to have a word from God, it better line up with the word of God. It better line up with what Jesus says here in the Bible, because if it doesn't, you better turn and run the other way. They'll often have a huge crowd following them, and they'll say things like, I've had a dream from God. They'll set dates for things and direct people away from God and his kingdom. They're leading a lot of people away from God,

people away from his perfect, incorruptible, everlasting kingdom. If you're seeing people like that on the road you're on, you pretty well bet you're on the wide road. Jesus says you'll recognize them by their fruit. So the question becomes, are the people on the same path as you producing fruit consistent with the fruit of the Spirit? Do they have these attributes? Do they

have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness? goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Do they have those attributes? Do they have those characteristics? If not, I begin to question which road you're on. Is the path you're on easy? Because Jesus said the narrow road that leads to life is a difficult one. It's often difficult. Friends, Jesus never said that being a follower of him was going to be easy. On one occasion in

Matthew chapter 8, he told the scribe who wanted to follow him that following him meant he was going to be essentially homeless. He said, foxes have dens, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. On another occasion in Matthew 16, Jesus told his disciples that following him meant they would have to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. The narrow road to the greatest kingdom ever is not always an easy one. Often it's filled with

trials and afflictions and tribulations. James, the half-brother of Jesus, told us in the very first chapter of his letter to consider it pure joy when we experience these various trials. I mentioned, you know, we took a group of kids to Falls Creek a couple of weeks ago. And while we had a great time, guys, we did experience a lot of trials. We experienced an incredible amount of trials before, during, and after. I was talking

with some of my sponsors beforehand, and they detailed, how they were experiencing trials in the days leading up to Falls Creek, the days leading up to leaving for church camp. Then while we were there, I mentioned we had a lot of rain and plumbing issues. I mean, like we had raw sewage in one of the bathrooms and rainwater backing up into the other one. We had a flash flood in front of our cabin. That was fun. I was talking with my sponsors

afterwards. They were telling me how they were still dealing with trials. We went through an incredible amount of trials. We had a lot of trials. We had a lot of trials. We had a lot of trials. We had an incredible amount of trials before, during, and after that camp. But knowing that the gospel was changing these kids' lives, guys, guess what? It made it all worth it. It made it all worth it.

Knowing that the gospel was going out, changing people's lives made it all worth it. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. Knowing that the gospel was going out, that seeds were being planted, that work was being done, and treasure was being stored up in a place that it can't be destroyed or taken from me, made it all worth it. In the midst of all those trials, in the midst of walking that narrow, difficult road, guess what? There was joy. There was joy because the gospel

was changing people's lives. The gospel was changing people's lives. So I've talked about the kingdom of heaven being the perfect, incorruptible, everlasting kingdom. But the question becomes, what does that kingdom look like for us? If you flip over to John chapter 14, John chapter 14, give you a second to get there. John chapter 14, verse 1, tells us, don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. This is Jesus talking.

Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, you may be also. You know the way where I'm going. Lord, Thomas said, we don't know where you're

going. How can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is talking to his disciples here after the Lord's Supper, which we'll get to here in a minute. And he's telling them that he's going to leave, and he's telling them where he's going to go and how to get there. And he says that in my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so,

I would have told you. Brothers and sisters, in the greatest kingdom, there is a place for you. There are dwelling places in God's house. There are dwelling places in the greatest kingdom for you. And I'm betting there are no locks on those doors. Like I said earlier, when I get to heaven, I'm going to straight up walk into my neighbor's house without knocking. It's going to be awkward, and it's going to be awesome. Here, I have to lock my

doors. I have to lock my doors. I have to lock my doors. I have to lock my doors. I have to lock my doors at night. There, I don't. Here, I have to worry about making my house payments. There, my mortgage is already paid for. It's paid for, guys, by the blood of Jesus. The mortgage has been paid. The taxes and insurance are non-existent because there's no chance of my dwelling place in

heaven ever being destroyed or taken from me. My place in the greatest kingdom is secure. It can never be taken away. It can never burn down. It can never break or wear out. There will be no plumbing issues. Thank God. It will never break or wear out. The roof will never have to be replaced. There's no hailstorms. There's no fires. There's no floods. There's none of that.

My dwelling place and my Father's house is secure, but how about yours? Do you have a place secured in the greatest kingdom? So this morning, I'll go ahead and start closing here if the ushers want to start getting ready to come in. I'm going to start closing here. I'm going to start closing here. I'm going to come in and do communion. This morning, church family, I have a couple of questions

to leave you with and ponder on. Number one, whose kingdom are you focused on? Your kingdom? Your less-than-perfect, corrupted, temporary kingdom? Or God's perfect, incorruptible, everlasting kingdom? Second question, are you on the right road to His kingdom? Are you on the right road to His kingdom? Are you on the road that focuses, on the worldly kingdoms, all of which are going to go away?

Or are you on the road that is narrow, that is difficult, but leads to everlasting life, that leads to the greatest kingdom to ever exist or ever will exist?

So this morning is Communion Sunday. This is a time that we remember what Christ did for us by taking our rightful place on the cross. In doing so, Christ gave us the opportunity for new life, both in this life and the next. And I asked a question a minute ago about which road you were on. And if you're on the narrow road that leads to life, that leads to the greatest kingdom,

this communion we're about to take of is for you. However, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that whoever eats the bread or does not eat the bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin. So, brothers and sisters, before you take communion, this needs to be a time. I'll go ahead and have the worship team come on up. There needs to be a time of self-examination.

You need to take some time and examine your life and see if there is any offensive way in you and confess that to the Lord. Ask His forgiveness. And get right with the Lord. So, for the believer and follower of Jesus, there needs to be this time of self-examination. If you have some sin issues, get it taken care of before you take communion. If you need to let the tray pass by this time, that's okay.

If you need to do business with the Lord, get it done before you take communion, okay? There's another group of people that I want to talk to before we take communion as well. If you're here this morning and you cannot confidently say, that you've surrendered your life to Jesus and asked Him to be the Lord of your life, if you've never put your faith and trust in Him to be the Lord of your life and your Savior, I would encourage you to let the communion tray pass by. Okay?

If you've never come to this point of surrender, you can do that this morning. I would encourage you to come find me, come find one of our leaders. We'd be happy to talk it over with you and pray with you. But, but, let the communion tray pass by. Okay? If that is you this morning, may I just say, let today be the day of salvation, okay? Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you for another day.

Thank you. I thank you for your son Jesus. And I thank you that we have a great, the greatest kingdom to look forward to. Lord God, and I thank you that, that we can get there by the blood that you shed, by your body, that was broken on the cross, Lord.

Lord God, we just, we come to you this morning, God. We remember your body that was broken. We remember your blood that was shed, Lord. And we, and we, we thank you for that. We thank you for taking our rightful place on that cross. Father, we do this in remembrance of you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.

Lord God, we thank you. We come before you, God, with grateful hearts. God, in humble spirits, Lord God. We want to say thank you. We want to say thank you for your body that you willingly offered up for us on the cross. Your body that was broken, and your precious blood that was shed to atone, to pay for our sin. You took our rightful place on that cross. You saw the ugliest parts of us, Lord God.

You saw just how sinful we could be. And you still chose to go to the cross. You still said that it was worth it. So, Lord God, we thank you. We praise you for your body that was broken and your blood that was shed. And we do this. We take this communion this morning in remembrance of you, Lord God. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake.

And if you bow with me one more time. Lord, we come before you this morning and we just thank you for your word. We thank you that in you, Lord God, we have hope. Hope for a perfect kingdom. We have hope for new life in you. As we leave here today, Lord, I just pray that we would be a kingdom-minded people. That our focus would be not on our own kingdoms, but on yours, Lord.

One that we could enter into by your blood, by your body that was broken. We love you, Lord. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Be blessed, guys.