Are You Chasing the Wrong Goal? | The Kingdom of God Is Closer Than You Think
Pastor Nick Scheske | Jesus and The Kingdom of God | Part 3 | Matthew 6:33, Luke 13.10-16| May 18, 2025
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matt. 6:33)
Luke 13:10-16
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Matthew 4:17
From that time on, Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
1. We confused the Kingdom with the Church
2. We delayed the Kingdom until Christ returns.
3. We spiritualized the Kingdom, instead of “becoming” it.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” – Matthew 5:3
Luke 13:10-12
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
Luke 13:12-13
When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Luke 13:14
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
Luke 13:15-16
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
The biggest barrier to the Kingdom of God, is allegiance to the Kingdom of Self.
“Whose Kingdom am I Pursuing?”
By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:16)
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matt. 6:33)
“Humility is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God. – Andrew Murray, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness.
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:16)
“Whose Kingdom Are You Pursuing?”