Seeking God’s Kingdom: The First Step to Your Full Potential

nice and calm morning today um and it's kind of easy on the soul you know and uh I'd like to actually read a place from the Bible that kind of relates to that as well and it's Matthew 11 uh verse 28-30 come to me all you who labor in are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find right you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light you know in in our world um there's so many different ways to cope with you know the heaviness of uh what you might be going through you know different things but we're offered something else by the Bible offered the cross where we're able to come up and lay all of our burdens there and this this verse it promises us not just physical rest but also spiritual rest you know and it's much deeper than what the world can offer um so that being said let's listen to the word that is being said today uh try to take it for ourselves and also uh worship God and with that being said let's stand up and pray Lord God we thank you for this morning that you've given us today Lord and we ask ask you Lord fill this place with the Holy Spirit God help us to understand what you're trying to say to us today Lord bless the messages Lord bless the singing God we ask you Lord God speak to us today Lord guide us and lead us in your word Lord May the Holy Spirit fill us in Jesus name we pray amen good morning church today we're going to be singing a song by the name of Lord I Lift Your Name on High [Music] Lord I Lift Your Name on High Lord I love to sing your Praises I'm so glad you're in my [Applause] life I'm so glad you came to save us you came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth to the cross my death to pain from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the sky Lord I Lift Your Name on High Lord I Lift Your Name on [Applause] High Lord I love to sing your Praises I'm so glad you're in my [Music] life I'm so glad you came to save [Music] us you came from Heaven to Earth to show all the way from the Earth to the cross my death to pay from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the sky Lord I Lift Your Name on High you came from Heaven to Earth to show the way from the Earth to the cross my death to P from the cross to the Grave from the grave to the sky Lord I Lift Your Name on High [Music] [Music] I heard an old old Story how a savior came from Glory how he gave his life on Calvary to save a WR like me I heard about his groaning of his precious Bloods atoning then I I repented of my sins and won the victory oh Victory in Jesus my Savior forever he sought me and B me with his redeeming blood he loved me a I do him and all my love is through him he plunged me to Victory beneath the cleansing flood I heard about his healing all his cleansing power revealing how he made the lake to walk again and cause the blind to see and then I CED dear Jesus come and heal my broken spirit and somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory oh Victory in Jesus my Savior forever he of the and B me with his redeeming blood he you love me and I do him and all my love is to him keep blun me to Victory beneath the cleansing blood I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory and I heard about the streets of gold be on the crystal sea about the angels singing and the old Redemption story and some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of [Music] victory oh Victory in Jesus my Savior forever he sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood he loves me a I do him and all my love is to him he pled me to Victory beneath the cleansing [Music] flood praise the Lord brothers and sisters that we can all come here together uh and worship God's name and hear his word and I'm just going to read a quick Bible verse in Isaiah 40 verse 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength they will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint praise God and I also want to announce our program and for this morning we'll have a group of young guys sing a song for us and then right after that we'll have brother Peter say a word for us God bless I'm only human I'm just a man help me believe what I I could be and all that I am show me the stairway I have to climb Lord For my sake teach me to take one day at a time One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus that's all I'm asking for you just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do Yesterday's Gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine Lord help me today to show me the way one day at a time do you remember when you welcome oh Jesus you know you're looking below this wor cheating and Ste violence in crime so for my sake teach me today One Day at a Time One Day at a Time Sweet Jesus that's all I'm asking from you just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do Yesterday's Gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine Lord help me today show me the way one day at a time that was a a beautiful song actually probably one of my favorite songs uh and it has a good meaning and uh today I want to ask you a question are you struggling maybe a lot of you say yes I am I I struggled getting up in the morning today yes especially for young people uh you may be uh you may have struggled just getting up but are you struggling in your life we all dislike struggling and the reason why is because struggles are hard struggles are painful and they bring us discomfort and we don't like that as uh young people a lot of young people over here today you may be struggling at school with your grades or just load it's hard if you're a little bit older and you're already picking uh picking your career you may be struggling to pick your career what are you going to do in life some of you may be struggling with friends maybe you don't have a lot of friends or the ones that you do the relationship is difficult some of you may struggle with your image you don't like the way you look maybe you're too tall or Too Short some of you may struggle to find your future partner that's difficult and that's a struggle some of you may be struggling with Temptations and that is a big struggle some of you may be struggling with sin the good news is that our struggles they don't last forever there will come a time when all the struggles will stop and actually that time is not really far away we think about well yes that's going to stop in eternity in reality for all of us all these struggles they will stop in the next 100 years pretty much guaranteed for some of you it may be in 30 years in 40 years if you're a young person 60 years but 60 years not that much you've already lived 15% of your life so you can see how time passes by fast but the struggles will end and it's not so far in the future the Bible says in Revelation 21:4 there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain that's talking about heaven that's where our struggles will stop however the reality is that we are here still on this Earth and we struggle do remember when you were a little child now a lot of you are still young but when you were a little child and as a child you did not really struggle that much as a child you may have seen your god-given potential a lot more clear as a child you believed in your abilities that you could be someone you actually knew that you were going to be someone special that's why as a child maybe when you heard a musician you said to yourself I'm going to be the musician or when you saw a beautiful painting you said someday I'm going to be a great artist or as a child some of you may have said you know when I grow up I'm going to be a doctor or a engineer or if there was a a missionary preaching here you said you know someday when I grow up I'll be a missionary that little mind it was full of potential and it believed in itself it saw its potential a lot more clear the heart of a child but as we begin to grow you know we begin to struggle in life we begin to struggle maybe in school some of you maybe are struggling in school and you start saying you know what I'm really not that smart you begin to maybe struggle with friends and you start saying to yourself you know I'm I'm just not that beautiful or I'm not that handsome you begin to struggle with Temptations and maybe sin and you begin to isolate you begin to hide from people because you don't want anyone else to know what's going going on and so that Vision that once God put into your heart when you were a baby when you were a child it becomes blurry and you stop seeing it you stop believing in yourself that you could be someone special you become discouraged and you begin to struggle in life you know and amidst these struggles and amidst this blurry vision for many people in life people begin to make important choices in their life they want to they still want to pursue happiness in this country we read uh the pursuit of happiness and so with this Vision blurred person begins to pursue happiness and they try to make the best choices that they can that they believe they they begin to make career choices the best choice that they believe they find the best partner they can they believe this is the best partner they begin to live the life to the fullest the way that they believe is going to be the best life for them the only problem is is that this is what a person thinks but often time the reality is much different if we look at how many people are actually happy it's uh the statistics say that about three out of 10 people are happy with their career so that means seven out of 10 are really not happy with their jobs that they they once thought were going to be the best career for them it says that um about two out of 10 or three out of 10 people are happy uh with their marriage are happy couples that means the majority are not even though they thought they found that right person and they they made that best choice in their life yet it turns out that only two out of 10 or three out of 10 are actually happy with that choice and only about three again three out of 10 people believe that they live their life life to their full potential so that means even though the person thinks I'm going to live my life the best way yet the majority of people find out that they are not living the life that they once wanted to live they are not living their full potential and so the question today for us is how do we make sure that our life is is Meaningful that our life we're going to live to the full potential you know there is a sure way there is a sure way and so and the Bible says it gives us this first step so if we want to make sure we live our life to our full potential we have to get this first step right and the first step is this it's written in Matthew 6:33 but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness seek first his kingdom and his righteousness this is our first step this is our our priority this should be your priority when we begin to live this first step our blurry vision that uh from the struggles in life it begins to clear up we actually begin to see things a lot more clearer and eventually clearly and when we follow this first step in our life then the second step which is choosing our career choosing our life Partners choosing our friends which are really important choices those secondary choices they become much clearer they actually become much more successful do you remember the story of Moses so when Moses was spending time with God his face Shone people saw his face is shining and so as long as Moses was spending the time with God he could not make any mistakes the only time the Bible says afterwards that he made a mistake when he tried to do things his own way again he made a mistake but as long as he was God he was mistake free well what if I skip step one you know what if I am not going to put the kingdom of God first in my life because I have a choice I can skip it I can just go right to step two Choosing My Career choosing my life [Music] partner you know naturally as people we're blind just like a blind person we're blind and if we skip step one as blind people making choices pretty quickly we find oursel in a hole and we will find ourselves in many different types of holes because there's no other way we're blind people and we're going to fall we're going to find ourselves in life's traps and we're going to find that is not because we're going to be thinking I'm making bad choices we can be thinking I'm making the best choices I make the calculated choices but I'm still blind that's the problem I still cannot see the end I don't see that optimal end because I'm a blind person and so as a blind person when I skip step one and start making choices in my life I become that statistic that that statistic that that I've read and as a blind person you know because we don't see the end we don't know what will ultimately lead us to the best success often times it's the choices that lead us to best success is not the ones that would make naturally and so we don't really know is this um as a blind person for sure is this the right career for me or not is this the right partner for me or not I don't know you know I just take a chance I I think they are and so I'm going to take the chance and I'm going to make that choice because I believe it's the best but ultimately I don't know if it's the best but the Bible calls us to take this first step it says get your first step right if you get the first step right you're going to make the right second step and it says to First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness so what does it mean to seek this kingdom of God you know it's not this casual seeking you know there's a church service I'll come there it's okay it was nice and then I leave it's like I'm this casual Christian that's not what the Bible says Look Look what Jesus says how we have to seek the Kingdom of Heaven it's written in Matthew 11: 12 the kingom of Heaven is taken with great struggle and the zealous ones lay hold on it when we take this word struggle it means it's another word for like violence or fight I don't know if any of you fought but that takes a lot of energy to fight and takes a lot of focus and if you're fighting you're trying to make sure that you're not going to lose you know the danger and so Jesus says this is the type of energy we have to put forward to find the kingdom of God in our life we have to fight for this Kingdom in our life we have to struggle struggle with all of our strength to try to find this Kingdom for us that it would be inside of us so that takes a lot of energy from us that's going to take a lot of emotion from us it's going to take a lot of our Focus most of it in fact that is really the only focus that we should have in our life and so so especially for us when we think about what does that actually mean to struggle for the kingdom of God it's things like if I have a choice I can go to church today let's say it's the weekday I I can go to church or I can go with my friends to play volleyball you know it' be funner to go at least it seems to me to go with my friends to play volleyball but I am going to go to church second we may think I can serve in church right I can serve in church um I can sing just like our brother sing today I can play in a band just like uh our brothers and sisters they they serve with music I can do that that takes energy or maybe you know what um I'm not going to do that because I'd rather go to the gym and and work out right or I can go to the Bible study that's that that there is or you know what today I'm I'm really not going to go to the Bible study because I'd rather stay home and and maybe play some video games with my friends I can put in my energy to help organize uh youth games maybe there's youth uh activities coming up that that takes energy we're going to meet this day and this day and we're going to who wants to volunteer we have Thanksgiving coming up we have Christmas coming up who wants to volunteer uh to help put these programs together you know it's not going to be me why because I'm too busy like I'm busy with school I have to focus on my homework so so I'm just going to stay home I can uh be reading the Bible at home you know either I can decide I can read the Bible in the morning or in the afternoon or at night I decide every day I'm going to read this Bible at this time well you know what maybe no maybe I'm just going to stay on my phone and before I go to bed I just watch some funny videos you know that's more so it's all these choices um and the question is am I so so think about the choices that you make in life and the question is are you struggling for the Kingdom of Heaven are you struggling or are you a casual Christian so give yourself an assessment how is your struggle are you searching for these opportunities now I did not list all those things you know but the question is are you searching for the opportunities in your life to do God's will to promote his kingdom and if you are it's going to be a struggle it's going to be a lot of uncomfortable choices that you would rather not make because there's much easier choices out there that I can default to and often times people choose that so how is your struggle you know I'll say we often times struggle in our life because we don't really struggle to find God if we struggled more to find God's Kingdom in our life then we our worldly struggles they would subside and fade away they would just fade away and if if we struggle in the midst of our struggle to find the kingdom of God we still have to make choices we make real life choices our careers our partners in life our friends we still make these choices amidst our struggle for the to find the kingdom of God but now these choices that I begin to make they turn out to be the right choices and the reason why it's not me just making them it's not me the blind person that I am making this choices it's God he's beginning to lead me and even though now I'm making these choices while I got my first step right and while I'm making these choices I still don't know the end I still don't really know is this truly maybe the best choice in my life often times I kind of feel the same even though I'm struggling to find the kingdom of God often times I may feel that I'm the same but when people they to look at your life they say wow you made some smart choices in your life how did you do that it's so it's as though they look at you that you were always a person that had Clear Vision but in reality you didn't you were still Blind by Nature the only reason why those choices were right is because there was the one who sees the one that the scripture says who is light he was the one that was shining the way before you because you were holding on to him and so now the choices that you've made in your life about your career about your life partner they actually came out to be very successful you know because God he wants us to succeed he wants us to be successful for his kingdom he wants us to be uh and I'm not talking about the riches the the success but if we read in the scripture God really wants us to be successful he wants us to live out our full potential but God wants us in this life to struggle for his kingdom when we are going to struggle for his kingdom then only then will you reach your full potential in life when you struggle for his kingdom then your career is going to bring a blessing for yourself for other people and it's going to be the right career that God wanted you to have and through it you will be able to reach your full potential your future relationship will be the correct one and it's going to it it's going to help you reach your full potential that God had for you in this life you will be able to use all your talent and you will be able to make an important impact in this life and the most important thing is that when this life is going to be over when you're going to come before God when you did that first step in your life he's going to accept you into his kingdom with Glory with joy God is going to Rejoice about you it's like him having a smile about you and your life and say good job you lived out your full potential so my dear friends my question question for all of you young folks and maybe some of us are not so young how are you struggling today for the kingdom of God ask yourself this question and with these words let us pray e amen and lastly we're going to be singing a song by the name of yes I know [Music] Come Ye sers lost and lonely Jesus blood can make you free for he sa the the worst among you when he save the r like [Music] me and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the viess sinner clean and I know yes I know Jesus BL and make the violent sinner clean to the FI he giveth power through the [Music] mountains makes a way find water in the Des turn the night to Golden day and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the viess sitter clean and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the violent sinner [Music] [Applause] Queen he is nearly PS the power of Hells at P guides you to the path of safy gives you [Music] Grace for every day and I know yes I know Jesus blood can make the vi sin clean and I know yes I know Jesus work make the viess clean praise God well my dear friends our service has come to the end and I think we were all encouraged by the word today and uh making the right choices and you know sometimes our flesh wants some things but but how we learn today when we choose that then we struggle you know then we struggle but God gives us a choice and if we choose him then then our struggles are lifted praise God for that and um with these words I'd like to end but does anybody have any needs no needs and then after service actually right now we're going to go to the gym instead of downstairs so there's going to be hot meal for for all of us and you know we can sit and talk to each other and have a good time um with these L let's pray Lord God thank you so much for this word Lord thank you for the the songs Lord God that you put on Mark's Heart Lord that we can Lord serve and worship your holy name because you are worthy of all the honor and all the praise Lord there's no other God but you Lord God may this word God that we heard Lord may it instruct us may it help us in our week and in our life Lord Lord God that we always choose you Lord God help us to always choose you in our life Lord God that we always put you God in our life as our priority Lord bless each person here and and God we just want to thank you for such a wonderful morning in Jesus name we pray amen Our Father in Heaven hallow be your name your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our Daily Bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen have a blessed day