Sunnyside First Baptist Church
From The Kingdom on the Mountain: "Seek First His Kingdom
  • Open The Eyes Of My Heart
  • Jesus Messiah
  • How He Loves
  • Matthew 6:25–34
    — Good morning and welcome to First Baptist
    — My name is Pastor Jeff Pagel
    — Thank you for choosing to be here this morning.
    — Our message this morning is from Matthew 6 beginning in verse 25.
    — We will also have communion at the end of our service.
    — Our Trustee’s met last week, one of the issues that we dealt with was our lack of Missions giving.
    — Missions giving was eliminated as “money saving,”
    — Frankly… that was short-sighted.
    — So beginning today with our communion/bevenolent offering at the end of the service
    — We will begin accumulating money to once again support missions…
    — What missions, how much, and when is it given are ALL really good questions…
    — They are questions for you! Are you being called to help direct our missions giving?
    — I am forming a Missions Advisory Team
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    Missions Advisory Team - “HOPE 4 THE LV THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST”

    Purpose: Pray for the reach of the Gospel in the Lower Valley
    Discern the best use of our time, talent and treasure, our resources, in furthering the reach of the Gospel.
    Provide recommendations to the Elders/Trustee’s in distribution of our resources.
    Distribute those resources in furtherance of the Gospel
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    — If you would like to be a part of this group in any way please see me… we would love to welcome you to serve in this way.
    — This morning we cannot forget the 250th birthday of our United States of America
    — It certainly is NOT perfect. We find many flaws. But we also enjoy freedoms that most of the world cannot even imagine
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    July 4th Reflection: “Freedom, Gratitude, and a Greater Kingdom”

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    — Today we give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy — to worship, speak, gather, pray, serve, and live in peace.
    — We remember that freedom is a gift, but it is never free.
    — It has been protected through courage, sacrifice, and service.
    — So we honor those who served, those who sacrificed, and those who never came home.
    — But as followers of Jesus, we also remember our greatest freedom is not political — it is spiritual.

    Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

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    — Christ frees us from sin, shame, fear, and condemnation.
    — He frees us to love, forgive, serve, and live as citizens of His Kingdom.
    — So today, may we be thankful without being prideful, patriotic without forgetting the cross, and faithful in using our freedom to love God, serve others, and share the hope of Jesus.
    — For those who sacrificed, and most of all for the freedom we have in Christ.
    — Help us live with gratitude, humility, and grace.
    — Let’s get to our message for today
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    THE KINGDOM ON THE MOUNTAIN: “Seek First The Kingdom”

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    — We have spent the last several weeks considering The Sermon on the Mount
    — I believe this is Jesus STRONGEST statements about His Kingdom; Our part in it and how we can share it
    — Seek first his Kingdom, make that a primary focus in our lives.
    — How do we even grasp that idea? What does it mean for us today? What does it mean for me today?
    — Seeking His Kingdom as it comes to earth in many, many different ways.
    — Considering how we should be involved in bringing His Kingdom to earth… We are the ONLY hope that humanity has for everlasting life.
    — Let’s live our lives out in exactly that fashion.
    — We continue today in the Matthew 6.25-34.
    — Let’s start with an illustration
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    ILLUSTRATION — “THE ROCKING CHAIR”

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    — Worry is like a rocking chair. — It gives you motion, but no progress. — It feels active, but it takes you nowhere.
    — Anxiety can even feel responsible. — It can masquerade as careful planning. — It can wear the clothing of wisdom. — But often it is simply the soul spinning in place.
    — Jesus speaks into anxious hearts with tenderness and authority. — He does not mock burdened people. — He shepherds them.
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    — Church, Jesus knows real people have real needs. — He speaks here of food, drink, clothing, and tomorrow. — He is not dismissing difficulty. — He is confronting the kind of anxiety that pushes the Father, pushes Jesus to the margins of our lives and makes us run from God
    — He teaches us to embrace the coming Kingdom of God and to seek out our part in it.
    — As you know I like to work from a Guiding Question, here is that question

    GUIDING QUESTION: “How can followers of Jesus live with real trust in a world full of real needs?”

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    — If you look at your bulletin you will find our opening prayer.
    — Read along as I pray
    Father, we come before You with grateful hearts, trusting not in ourselves, but in Your mercy through Jesus Christ.
    Quiet our minds, soften our hearts, and open our ears to Your Word. Strengthen the weary, center the distracted, humble the proud, and remind the fearful that Your grace is enough.
    May our worship draw us closer to Christ and deeper into the life You have called us to live.
    In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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    INTRODUCTION: “Do not be Anxious”

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    — The repeated phrase is “Do not be anxious.” — Jesus is not promoting denial. — He is calling for trust in the Father’s care.
    — He points to birds. — He points to flowers. — He points to the Father. — And He points to the Kingdom.
    — Here is the first of our 3 points this morning
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    # 1THE FATHER’S CARE IS GREATER THAN OUR FEARS

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    — Listen to this passage
    Matthew 6:25–30 NLT
    25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
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    — Jesus points to birds that neither sow nor reap, yet are fed. — He points to lilies that neither toil nor spin, yet are beautifully clothed.
    — And in verse 30, he asks really a “haunting” pointed question

    “Why do we have so little Faith?”

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    Faith gets small when:
    1. We forget what God has already done.
    2. We trust what WE can control more than WHO controls all things.
    3. Fear speaks louder than truth.
    4. We misunderstand faith.
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    — Let’s look at an application
    Application: Anxiety often shrinks God in our thoughts. Jesus enlarges Him again.
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    #2 ANXIETY CANNOT ADD LIFE, BUT TRUST REORDERS LIFE

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    Matthew 6:27–32 NLT
    27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.
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    — Let’s me provide for you a summary… Listen here
    — Worry cannot add an hour to life. — It cannot secure tomorrow. — It cannot create peace.
    — The nations chase these things as ultimate realities. — But Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father knows.”
    — That sentence is deeply pastoral. — You are not overlooked. — You are not invisible. — The Father knows.
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    Application: The believer’s peace does not come from mastering the future. It comes from knowing the Father.

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    —Our next point

    #3 THE CURE FOR ANXIOUS DISTRACTION IS KINGDOM PRIORITY

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    Matthew 6:33–34 ESV
    33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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    — “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
    — This is not one priority among many. — This should be our first priority… It is the ordering center of our lives..
    — Listen to Lamentations 3.40.
    Lamentations 3:40–41 “40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! 41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:”
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    — Anxiety is a reality in our world and in our own circumstances
    — Jesus is NOT condemning those who experience ANXIETY in it’s many forms
    — What he is saying is that our focus is being crowded out by our anxiety when
    — Jesus answers just like God answered the Jews wandering in the desert when they complained about food and water
    Matthew 6:34 “34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
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    — “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” — Jesus does not deny tomorrow. — He simply refuses to let tomorrow become today’s tyrant.

    Application: Today has enough trouble for today. — But today also has enough Grace for today.

    ================================
    — Our

    CHRIST-CENTERED, FOCUS STATEMENT - Jesus calls all anxious hearts to rest under the Father’s care.

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    — Grace teaches us that the answer to fear is not control but confident, daily, Kingdom-first trust in the God who already knows what we need.
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    — Let’s look at our Guiding Question…

    GUIDING QUESTION: How can believers live with real trust in a world of real needs?

    ————————————————————— — By remembering the Father’s care. — By refusing the illusion of control. — By seeking the Kingdom first. — By living one day at a time under grace.
    — LET’S PRAY

    CLOSING PRAYER/COMMUNION

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    Father, as we come to the table, we remember the body of Christ given for us and the blood of Christ shed for us. Help us receive communion with repentance, gratitude, wonder, and joy.
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    — LET’S PAUSE FOR A MOMENT AND REFLECT,
    — How we have fallen short… how we have missed the mark.
    — We come not as a people who have it all figured out but we come as your humble servants
    — We come to sit at your feet and for you to teach us your ways.

    Communion

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    — Cis once again will be our “rover” she will serve those in other parts of our building
    — She will come back and serve those who might have trouble getting to the front
    — Jim and I will be serving from the front
    1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV
    23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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    Closing Prayer

    —As our nation remembers its 250th birthday, we thank You for the blessings of freedom, sacrifice, and opportunity.
    — We confess our need for Your mercy and wisdom. Make us humble, just, compassionate, and faithful.
    — May we never confuse any earthly nation with Your kingdom, but may we serve well as citizens and shine clearly as followers of Jesus.
    In His name, Amen.

      • Matthew 6:25–30NLT

      • Matthew 6:27–32NLT

      • Matthew 6:33–34NLT

      • Lamentations 3:40–41NLT

      • 1 Corinthians 11:23–26NLT

  • The Old Rugged Cross
Sunnyside First Baptist Church
sunnysidefbc@gmail.com
509-837-3084
https://sunnysidefbc.faithlifesites.com
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