Seek the Kingdom of God

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What do you fear? Students fear the finals and grades. Do you fear the soaring price of gas, food, and necessities? Do you fear how you will make ends meet tomorrow? Do you worry about your children? Do you worry about the health of your parents? Are you concerned about relationships? Is your marriage strained or broken filling you with doubts about yourself? Do you worry if God loves you? Do you wonder if you are good enough to get to heaven? Do you believe the powerful lies Satan roars? When we fear things more than we trust the Lord, we sin.
 What happens when people let cares, anxiety and worries of life cover them? Anxiety and cares can cover us, like a dark funeral pall. Jesus likens worry to a seed that falls among thorns. Luke 8:14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
They cannot see the light of truth. Worries over things, pleasures of life and anxiety for the future press and choke the life from them. They do not produce mature fruit. Their fears and worries cut them off from the power of Jesus.  Ok, so it is a sin to worry. It is a sin to doubt the Lord. It is a sin to live under the cloak of anxiety. So what can we do about it?

What do you recall about the apostle Peter? Do you remember that Peter boldly bounded out of the boat onto the water? Do you recall that Peter walked on water for a bit until he saw the waves? Then worries, cares and anxieties covered Peter and he began to sink. Peter speaks from personal experience when he tells us to “cast our cares on Jesus.” Peter knows when we rely on self we will drown in the anxieties of life. Peter understands that the struggles we face in life are not too great for the Lord. Peter reminds us “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.”  That means do what God’s Word says not what people say. That means living life as God says to live life.
Remember Joseph, who did things God’s way and people tried to crush him, but God always worked it out for good. Remember young David who did it God’s way and the giant Goliath could not even crush David.
Rather than letting the cloak of cares and anxiety cover us, step “under the mighty hand of God.” But we protest, “What about my freedom?”

“If I must live under the hand of God then I lose freedom to do what I want!” we exclaim.
What freedom do we lose by doing what God wants?
 We lose the freedom to harm self.
 We lose freedom to harm others.
 We lose freedom to waste time, money and talents

What freedom do we gain if we must live under the Word of God?
 We have the freedom from fear.
 We have the freedom worry.
 We have freedom from anxiety.
 We gain forgiveness for our failures
 We gain Jesus as a companion

Hi Kids. Are you well today? Did you understand what I was saying in my sermon? Did you get the idea that when we live under the mighty hand of God we do not need to worry? Let me show you what I mean.

I have some things in this bag. What is this? Right this is a plier (Channel Lock). When I squeeze the handles, it puts enough pressure on the jaws to crush nuts, wood, even metal.  I need a volunteer. Here is a nut. Would you squeeze the handles? Thanks, great job. The jaws really crushed that. Was that fun? 

Now I need another volunteer. Thanks for volunteering. Your job is to put your finger in the jaws while I squeeze the handles.  Do you understand that there is nothing to worry about? Trust me, I will squeeze harder than the other did, but you will be ok. Ready? That is as hard as I can squeeze. Did I hurt you? No. Why not? You are right. When we are under the protection of the almighty God, He carries the  pressures of life. Thanks for your help.

The Bible tells us that Jesus carried our griefs and bears our sorrows. Jesus carried all our troubles to the cross. Jesus also carries all our sins, the things we do wrong. Because of Jesus, God does not hold us accountable for what we have done. The Lord forgives our wrongs. The Lord loves us and wants us to be with Him always even now, even with our cares and worries. He does not want us to carry those problems. He tells us “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God…  7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Jesus is like the socket that bore all the pressure of the pliers. Jesus stood in the jaws of death, even hell for us. We do not need to fear even death. We will not be alone. We will be under the mighty hand of God and Jesus will be there keeping those terrible jaws from crushing us. Cast your cares on Him, He cares for you. 
To Cast your cares on Him  means Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.     
 

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Welcome to the Priesthood
Grace to You and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5
you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The first lesson explained that as the number of believers grew the need for more specialized ministry grew. The non-Jewish believers complained that the apostles neglected their widows. The apostles declared that their job was to preach and teach. They asked the congregation to select qualified men whom the apostles would then appoint to do the duties. Today we might call these men elders. What happened to Stephen? Non-believers killed him.
In Acts 6:7, we read that a great many of the (Jewish) priests came to faith in Jesus.

So what is a priest?
What does a priest do?
Who can be a priest?
In Luther’s Small catechism, we learn that a priest is one who

>keeps the law
>offers sacrifices and
>Intercedes

The words of Acts 6:7 would be understood by a practicing Jew, “a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”  Keeping of the laws now is replaced with “obedience to the faith.”
What does that mean, “obedience to the faith?”
 1. Not resisting the Holy Spirit”-
  We struggle with selfishness
 2. Longing for the pure spiritual milk- God’s Word
 3. Trusting in Jesus- not trusting self
Second, the priest offers sacrifices. That was a major part of the job of the priest. The RC church says its clergy offer an un-bloody sacrifice. That is the priest does offer sacrifice every time they officiate at mass. The celebration of Holy Communion is for the Roman Catholic Church an un-bloody sacrifice. Let me quote from Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Council of Trent reaffirmed traditional Christian teaching that the Mass is the same Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different. And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner... this sacrifice is truly propitiatory" (Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c. 2, quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1367).
Today I will not offer a sacrifice. We do not teach that the Lord’s Supper is Jesus being sacrificed again We teach this is the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. We do not offer Jesus as a Sacrifice. I am not a priest. I am a pastor. Pastor means shepherd. A shepherd under Jesus christ the Good Shepherd. My Job is to guide the sheep to follow Jesus.
Peter, declares that we, believers, all believers in Jesus Christ are a holy priesthood. Now I know that I am a sinner. I am not holy, yet Peter says we are a holy priesthood.
We are holy in God’s eyes because of the work of Jesus. We are filled with the same Holy Spirit as Stephen. So God declares those who trust Jesus as Savior to be holy.
He also says we are priests. What sacrifice do we offer? We offer ourselves. Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
What is the sacrifice that we as priests offer? We offer ourselves to the Lord.

The third obligation of a priest is to intercede. In the O.T. the priest was the one who prayed to the Lord for the people. The priest was the one through whom the Lord revealed His will.

Now the Lord says we can speak to Him at anytime. Now He speaks to us in His Holy Word.
1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation—

Welcome to the priesthood! You are God’s Priests. You are special. In one way or another the Lord has chosen you (1 Peter 2:9 ) to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Summary
You live by God’s law- love
You offer yourself as the sacrifice
You listen to God’s Word and speak with Him in prayer

 You are a priest of God.
Kids please come up. You can help me this morning.

Good how are you? Wonderful. Can you tell me what this is? Right it is an offering plate. OK, now we will take an offering. You did not bring any offering?

A long time ago in England a young boy was in the same situation as you. He understood the mission sermon and wanted to help support the missionary. He watched as people put coins and large bills into the offering plate. He had no money . suddenly he jumped up ran down the aisle and put himself into the plate, declaring loudly, ”I give myself!” That little boy grew to become a missionary.