When asked what’s the only thing you need, a Christian naturally answers, “Jesus”, “God”, or “the Holy Spirit”. All or any of these answers seem absolutely right and holy, but Jesus disagrees.

All These Things!

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I want to take some time today to think about things, you know, when if you were to ask a question, you know, what is the one thing that you need? They would naturally reply Jesus, God or the Holy Spirit and all of these answers, although they seem absolutely right and holy, you know, we find in the scriptures that Jesus actually disagrees with that. Surprisingly, you know, he states in Matthew six, verse 32, your heavenly father knows that you need all these things, all these things.

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Apparently, we need something more than just heaven there. We we have needs here on the planet. There are some down and dirty necessities that demand our attention. And, you know, we we know that we live in two realms. We know that we are both a spirit, but we live in a body and our soul, our mind, our will and our emotions, they all have demands and needs, legitimate ones as well. But the thing is that although many of the needs that we harbour in our hearts and are looking to fulfil and looking to satisfy, you know, the world chases after them in ways that are often detrimental.

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You know, the outer life and the inner life have cravings. Yeah. And all of these bid for your energy and attention. Each one of them insists that they are necessary, important and urgent generally. But the thing is, although Jesus recognises here and certainly doesn’t rebuke us for needing all these things, we need to understand that the devil also deals in things. He shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world, and then says to him, We find it recorded in Matthew Chapter four in what’s called the temptation.

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He says, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me again. We hear this refrain, all these things, you know. But thankfully, Jesus does have an antidote to the anxiety that the pursuit of things can stir up in us and, you know, really gives us a an avenue to get our needs in perspective, he says. In Matthew 6:33 is really following on from this recognition that we need other things other than just him, other than just kind of spiritual things he recognises, hey, I see your needs, but here’s how to fulfil and satisfy those needs without losing perspective.

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Matthew 6:33, very famous verse and probably well known to most who are listening to this seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added to you again. We hear this statement, all these things. The problem really arises when we allow things to have us rather than us having things, I think, and disentangling ourselves from this prideful climb, you know, to possess, you know, and discovering a really deep contentment in God’s provision and a trust in God’s gracious provision is really not the norm in our culture.

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And even as believers, we can fall under this mesmerising spell that money like sings and tries to offer us. It’s so important that we got our heart and life from this unrelenting bombardment. Yeah. In this never switch off culture. Yeah. We live in a time where unless we really aggressively focus on the freedom that Jesus offers us and fearlessly God, our hearts from covetousness, I mean it is thrown in our face 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365.

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And at the same time, we need to understand that kingdom living is abundant living. All these things, as we’ve seen, are on the table and in the contract, you know, but but there are two tables sitting before us, the devil as his attaché case open and his pen in hand, offering all of the world’s kingdoms in exchange for our time and attention. By this. Do this. Be this. Where this. Drink this. Eat this.

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Yeah, time and attention are really the currency that we come and offer on the altar. Where is your time and where is your attention largely being focussed? Are you chasing after all these things, apart from Christ? Are you running after all of the things that the world is seeking, as Jesus described it? You know, but see, the thing is, in in the contract, in the Covenant, even stronger than a contract. I mean, the devil comes with contracts because as as we’ve been told, I mean, it’s not true.

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It’s not right. But we’ve told that we’ve been told that contracts are made to be broken. Well, you can believe this. Like just take this one to the bank. If the devil offers you a contract, he will break it. The moment you put your signature on the paper, he’ll come and he’ll say, this is going to say fulfil you. You’ll put your your put your name on the paper. And then before you know it, he’ll turn around and begin condemning you for doing the very thing he’s just dentist you into.

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But Jesus doesn’t make contracts to be broken. He makes a covenant that is eternal, never to be broken. There’s this covenant, this new covenant is full of better, richer promises than has ever been offered to humankind before. And it includes, as we’ve seen, it includes all these things that the world is presently seeking, but that the great thing is in God’s economy, they’re added as a side benefit. They’re not the focus of our pursuit.

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His kingdom, his covenant, the establishment of his covenant is the the focus and the passion of our pursuit. And all these things are added, added. Besides, as Jesus said, the main offer is the kingdom and abundant life here and into eternity are the results. So I guess when we come to each day, we can choose which table we’re going to sidle up to. We can choose where we’re going to put our focus and our time and our attention and our energy and our money.

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You know, where you place your trust. And so your time is not something that’s forced. It’s something that you choose. Now, sometimes that choice is very pressured in a certain direction. And so I’m not here to try and judge anyone. I’m just as susceptible to all of the kind of noise as anyone else in many ways. But I can tell you this, if we will become fiercely devoted, ferociously press in to the things of God, you know, don’t fall for the siren call of Satan with his meagre rewards, you know, even honestly, even the richest returns the world can offer a dung and dust compared to the slightest taste of God’s loving provision.

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What a great day we live in to share our worth. What an awesome time we live in to seek and establish his kingdom. May his kingdom come in our lives in your life, and may you experience the rich reward. May all these things be added to you in abundance. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today, if you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com.

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Have a great day.