In the sermon 'Living as Kingdom Heirs', Peter Allison examines Jesus' teachings from Luke 12, focusing on the concept of living without fear and embracing our identity as heirs of God's Kingdom. The sermon highlights three main fears that Jesus addresses: fear of death, fear of persecution, and fear of destitution. Jesus reassures His followers that they are more valuable than sparrows and flowers, and that God, as their Father and Shepherd, will provide for them. The sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking God's Kingdom first, trusting in His provision, and living as Kingdom heirs by being willing to sacrifice earthly possessions and focusing on eternal treasures. It also stresses the need for readiness for Christ's return, living in a state of continuous watchfulness and prayer. The sermon concludes by reminding believers of their role as faithful stewards, doing the will of the Master until His return, and understanding that much is expected from those who have been given much.

Luke chapter 12. I was in the wrong book, it wasn't making sense. Alright, beginning at verse 32. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms.

Provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old a treasure in the heavens that does not fail where no thief approaches nor moth destroys for where your treasure is there your heart will be also Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning. And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when he comes, will find watching. Surely I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

But I know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Then Peter said to him, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all people? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his master will make ruler over his household? To give them their portion of food in due season, blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.

But if that servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself Or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes But he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few For everyone to whom much is given from him much more will be required And to him and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask more The Lord is our hiding place and our shield our hope is in his word Almighty Heavenly Father, please open our hearts, our minds, our understanding to receive, to hear this word as you bring it to us this morning. May it be mixed with faith that we may rightly understand it. May you give us your Holy Spirit that we may also do, be doers of the word.

And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that you would cause to blow away all the chaff, and that you would bring to us your word through a vessel of clay this morning that the glory might be yours. In Jesus' name, amen. This is a lengthy sermon that Jesus has been giving. We've been looking through piece by piece. In the previous parts of this extended message, Jesus has just addressed three big sources of fear.

Fear is a problem that is common to man, especially fear in the presence of Almighty God. Fear is an experience that is common throughout the Scriptures. We are told and we are exhorted and we are lovingly admonished to not be afraid. Jesus has just addressed three big sources, common sources of fear. The first was the fear of death.

Jesus says don't fear. Don't fear death. Don't worry about dying or worry about the people who can kill you because they can only hurt your body. And that's not the end. The death of our body is not the end.

It's not the worst thing that can happen to us. So much of medicine today is driven by a fear of death. And people that are not able To live in the face of death but have a fear of it and that fear drives them to avoid it at all cost Fear can drive people to be silent In the face of those who fear their who can kill the body The mafia works off of this fear. That's how they live. If people were not afraid to die, the mafia would have no power because that is the way they exert their power over people's fear of death.

Fear of being killed. Yes, they can kill the body. Jesus says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to die. It's not the end.

Being cast into hell is much worse. So don't fear anyone that can just kill your body but have no power over your soul. It's the soul that we that wherein our existence is. God breathed into Adam the breath of life and man became a living soul. And physical death of the body doesn't destroy that soul, it doesn't destroy us.

It simply is a departure. The second fear that Jesus addresses is the fear of persecution. Jesus said, don't worry about being arrested and hauled into court to answer to civil rulers who are upset about you living as a Christ follower. Don't be afraid. You have done nothing wrong.

The Lord is still with you, even as you stand in front of that court as Jesus did, or as Paul did, or as the Apostles did on many occasions, and as Christ's followers still do. Stand in front of civil rulers, who like Pilate, told Jesus, don't you know that I have power of life over you, to kill you, to keep you alive. Jesus said, don't fear these civil rulers. Even if all your friends abandon you, and that's typically what happens when somebody is criminally charged with something, then everybody steps back. They don't want to be connected with that person who is a criminal, who is being criminally investigated.

Because why? Because they may get caught up in the investigation. If they show that they're friends of this person, then they will fall under the same scrutiny that this person is. But Jesus says, even if all your friends abandon you, you're not alone. The Holy Spirit will be with you and will give you words to speak as you stand in front of that ruler.

So don't even, Jesus says, don't even worry about what or how you should answer them. The Holy Spirit is with you and will teach you in that very moment what you ought to say. Some of the greatest quotes, the greatest statements that people have made have come in exactly these circumstances. Like the words of Luther are remembered today. Words that were spoken, the Holy Spirit gave him in the moment that he stood before the King and gave his answer.

Or Polycarp. Or Nathan Hale. Hope you all know who Nathan Hale is. The third fear that Jesus addressed was fear of famine and destitution. Fear of not having any clothes to wear, not having any food to eat, not having a house to live in.

Those are very real needs. We need those things. Our body needs those things. We are not like the animals that can simply survive out with nothing. We need shelter of some kind.

But Jesus says, don't worry about those things. Why? Because first of all, life is more than just having those things. Life is more than that. More than what you will eat and what you will drink.

Rather, Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God. Make that your priority. Make that the focus of your life and God will provide these things that you need. God knows that you need them. He knows that we need these things.

And he already provides these things for all of the flowers and the birds of the air. And Jesus' point was, you're far more valuable than a flower, and you're far more valuable than a bird that the two of them are sold for a penny. In other words, they're not even worth the lowest, the smallest denomination of coin. You're more valuable than those. You're worth more than those things.

So if God provides the dress for the flowers of the field and the food for the birds of the air then then He will provide those things for you too for us. But in verse 32 he gives us the ultimate and most glorious and wonderful antidote to fear. Reason not to be afraid. Reason not to be afraid. Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

You See, it's not just that we're more important than a sparrow that isn't even worth half of a penny And God cares for them. It's not just that we're worth more than the ravens, whom God provides food for them without their having to work, without their having to plant and harvest. It's not just that we are worth more than wildflowers, that God clothes in great beauty and they don't weave clothes and so on. More than all of these things, we are God's flock. Not just his flock, but his little flock.

It's really a term of endearment. We are precious to our Heavenly Father, not because of any great intrinsic worth in us, but because He is pleased to regard us as precious in His sight. It's a little flock. We're small in number. And Jesus is reminding His disciples that though they were easily outnumbered by their enemies around them, and easily then in danger of being overpowered, they are still precious in the eyes of their Father.

We are under the care and protection of the Good Shepherd. We are his flock. Remember Psalm 23 talks about how this Good Shepherd cares for his sheep. The Lord is our Shepherd. We shall not want.

He's with us when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We can even be in the desert and He can prepare a table before us and feed us even in the presence of our enemies. Jesus is bringing that language and that context into this statement here to his disciples. Little, little flock. You're precious in the Lord's sight.

You, you are part of his flock. You're precious in His sight. He will care for you. He's the Good Shepherd. But also, He speaks of God as our Father.

And if God is our Father, then we are his heirs. If God's our Father, we're heirs, joint heirs with Christ. We will receive his inheritance. If God is our Father, then He is also the one who cares for us. There's two metaphors here.

There's two statements about how we relate to God. One, as our shepherd, we're His flock, but also as a Father. A father is the one who not only gives us life, but who provides and sustains for us when we are not able to provide and care for ourselves. God as our Father provides for us. He cares for us.

You know, I think the whole of life in one sense is preparation for heaven. This whole family is really to train us and to teach us what our Heavenly Father is like. Marriage is a symbol of how Christ loves His bride, the church. He is the bridegroom, we are the bride. He is the Lord, and we submit as a church and as His people, we submit to Him.

But it's a joyful submission. It's a willing submission. It's a relationship of tenderness, of love. Fathers and sons, right? Earthly fathers teach us how to obey a person that we can see so that we can obey God whom we cannot see.

So we get that training from earthly fathers. We get from fathers, we get some understanding of what it is to be provided for when we can't provide for ourselves. Or siblings, we have brothers and sisters that we live with. We learn how to love people that we can see so that we can love the Father whom we cannot see. Jesus says if you can't love your brother and sister, then how can you love God?

You can see your brother and sister. So don't think that, well, I can't love my sister or my brother because they are hard and they're unkind to me, but I can love the Lord. If you can't love Jesus said, your brother or sister that you can see, you can't live at peace with them, you can't love the Lord, that you can't see. And so see on all these ways and these relationships are giving to us this training and instructing us. Now that doesn't mean if your earthly father abandoned you that that you can't know what a father is.

Remember God is the one that created the ear. He can make people hear. And the scriptures say that when your father and your mother forsake you, the Lord will take you up. You, in a sense, have an even better father. Little flock, little flock, Little flock, little flock, don't fear for your father is going to give you something.

Give. Father is going to give us something. Now there's no labor, there's no work in a gift. There's no way to earn it. If you earned it, it's not a gift, Paul said.

Grace is unmerited favor. If there is some merit to it, then it's no longer grace. And if it's unearned, it's unmerited, then you didn't work for it. It's not a work. So there's no work in this transaction here.

It's a gift. It's a gift from our heavenly Father. It's not dependent on our labor, it's not dependent on us making a contribution to this, even a little one. It's a gift. If we make even a little contribution to it, then it's a work.

It's something that we are earning. God doesn't need our contribution. He doesn't need our labor. This is how our salvation comes to us. It is freely given to us.

But I think The highlight of this is that it's not just our Father who is giving to His children a gift, but He is pleased to do it. He's pleased to do it. It's His good pleasure. Do not fear little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you. To give to you.

He's well pleased to give. Now, in other words, this is not something that God is doing because He has to do it. He's not doing it unwillingly. People often do things that they don't want to do because they have to, because they don't have any other options. So they're forced to do something.

Maybe they just want to look good. They don't want to give a gift, but they want to look like they want to give a gift. And so they give a gift. We're warned about the miser. He may give his, He may offer us food, but the Bible says his heart isn't in it.

He doesn't want to give us that gift. So be careful taking it, because he's offering it to you, but he doesn't want you to take it. But God doesn't, This is not the way God is giving a gift here. He's pleased to give us this gift. To be well pleased with something, or to be well pleased in doing something, means that we consider it good, that it's desirable, that it's something we would gladly choose.

If we are free, completely free as God is to choose, we would choose to do it because it's desirable. It means also to find a sense of satisfaction in it. The Heavenly Father states at Jesus' baptism that He is pleased with His Son. That's the same word. Matthew 12, quotes Isaiah 42, where God said of Christ, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

That's the same word that's used here. And at the transfiguration in Matthew 17, the Father again states that He is well pleased with His Son. Giving us this gift is something that the Father wants to do. He delights in it. He is well pleased in it.

He delights in blessing His children. Earthly parents often delight in giving or blessing their children. But sometimes they don't have the ability to bless them the way they might want to. But our Heavenly Father has no lack of shortage. No lack, no shortage.

There's no inability on His part to bless us exactly how He desires to do so. Gifts are free to the recipient, but they are not free to the giver, are they? The giver of the gift is the one who pays for that gift. So the cost of our salvation has been paid by Jesus Christ. It is a great cost.

We have been bought at a great price, the price of the precious blood of Jesus Christ and therefore we are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are the Lord's. Now the last word in this verse is what we are being given. It's one of those places that's easy to read over and to miss the significance of what God just said. Do not fear little flock for it is your father's pleasure or your father is well pleased to give you the kingdom. Whoa!

Whoa! What? That's, This is amazing. This is an amazing statement right here. Our Father is giving us a kingdom.

Now that's really Way cool. Unfathomable. Amazing. The Kingdom of God is where God's sovereign, omnipotent rule is mediated through the power of Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ. As He reigns in our hearts.

This is a spiritual kingdom, but it is present in this world and it has real physical effects in time and history. So we are then His servants. And so to be given this kingdom means that this rule, this sovereign omnipotent power of the Father as it's exercised through His Son whom He's made King forever, this power is exercised for our benefit for all eternity. We are the recipients. We are the heirs.

And the Father is pleased to give this kingdom to us. At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This was Paul's prayer also for the Ephesian church. And he gives that prayer is recorded in Ephesians chapter 1. He says, he prays for them that they may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his, that's Christ's inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe The exceeding greatness of his power toward us to believe he's praying that we would know this And this is a power that raised Christ from the dead and Seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places at his right hand far above all Principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, that's us, the fullness of him who fills all in all." And then Paul goes on to say, and you, to the Ephesians, you, that's us, he has made alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins.

So he's talked about how the power of God has raised Christ from the dead, seated him in the heavens and given him this kingdom, this rule, and then he's also saved us. He's made us alive, we who were dead, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience." And he goes on to talk about how we all were once fulfilling the desires of our flesh and were by nature children of wrath. But then God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. He made us alive with Christ By grace you've been saved and just like he raised Christ up. He's raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

We, brothers and sisters, have been given this kingdom, and Paul says that means we've been raised up together with Christ, that we've been made to sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. This is, in a sense, the down payment. This is the foretaste of what God is preparing for us. And there is, brothers and sisters, there is no sacrifice here on earth that even begins to compare with what is being given to us There is no sacrifice that even begins to compare with what God is now giving to us and has begun already. In that we are even now in one sense, seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

Christ is returning. That is an absolute certainty. We know with absolute certainty that Christ is returning. Almost every book in the New Testament is filled with declarations and assurances that Christ is returning in glory to raise all men from the grave and to judge the entire world. Thessalonians, Paul said, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord." In Acts 1 when Jesus ascended into heaven the disciples watched him go up, bodily ascend into the clouds, and they couldn't see him anymore and they were so dumbstruck they continued staring at the clouds until an angel came to them and said, Men of Galilee, why are you staring into the clouds, into the heavens? This same Jesus who is taken from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go. They saw him go bodily into heaven. He will come bodily again to earth.

That terrible judgment that we have been studying in our afternoon service with the book of Revelation, that terrible judgment that God brought on Israel and Rome in this first century, which the New Testament speaks about extensively, in fact, in one whole book, a book of Revelation is devoted almost exclusively to that coming. That's just a foretaste. That's a type of this judgment that is to come. God will raise the living and the dead, or raise the dead and judge those who are living and who are dead. And those who are dead.

Now Christ is returning is an absolute certainty, but when Christ is returning, no one knows. And that's Jesus' first or His main point here in this next section. That when Christ is returning, no man knows. Verse 40, therefore you be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect." And he's just been talking about a servant, the servants who are always expecting this return of their master. They don't know whether it's going to be at the first watch, or the second watch, or the third watch.

So he says, blessed are those who are girding themselves, and when the Master comes, blessed are those whom he will find that are watching. They're watching. He gives this example of if we know when the thief comes, then we would be ready for him and we would be able to stop it. Well, We have to be those who are watching, always watching. Paul told the Thessalonians a little bit later, concerning the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves know that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night." Now there's The New Testament does speak often of the eminence of Christ's coming.

And because there were two big comings that are talked about in the New Testament. You might say there are many comings in judgment. God speaks throughout the prophets of him coming in judgment at various times and in various people. But in the New Testament there are these two big coming, two big events. One was the coming in judgment upon Rome and Jerusalem, the great harlot.

And that coming is always spoken of as eminent, it's near. The book of Revelation is filled with these statements about the nearness, the soonness of that coming. And if you look at Matthew 24, if you have your Bibles and you turn there a minute, I want to just, This is one passage where these two comings are both discussed and they are discussed at length. And I think it's one of the most helpful places to see this distinction between these two comings. And there's the first coming of the destruction of the temple and of the judgment on Rome and Jerusalem is discussed in Matthew 24 verses 1 to 35.

1-35 or 1-34. And so all those things that Jesus talks about there pertain to that first coming of God in judgment in 70 AD or in that it was a it was a period of years because there was the great Tribulation there was a great wrath and so on But it's all these are all wrapped up here. It says in verse 34 I surely I say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. That's a very clear statement. All of these things that Jesus is talking about are going to come to pass before this generation that he is speaking to dies and passes away.

Heaven and earth may pass away, but God's words will never pass away. And so there's language here, and notice in the first 34 verses, The whole emphasis on discerning when this is coming. You're going to know when this is coming. Because there's going to be these signs. And Jesus gives these signs.

So that the Israelites that were living in that day would know and be able to identify when Jesus would come in this judgment. He gives a little parable, the fig tree. He says, when it puts forth its leaves, know the summer is near. Even so, When you see these things, know that it is near, at the doors. When you see these signs that I'm giving you, and He gives them these signs, you're going to see the abomination of desolation that's spoken of by Daniel, the prophet.

And then when you see that, you're supposed to flee into the mountains, which the Christians did. They fled the Pella and were delivered. And then there's going to be wars and there's going to be rumors of wars. And the sun will be darkening and so on. But notice in verse 36, there's a complete change in the whole tenor of Jesus' discussion.

He's just been saying, you're going to know when this happens because here's the signs and you need to be watching for these signs. And when you see these signs, you don't have a lot of time. You need to act right away. But then in verse 36, he says, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. And Jesus says even he, in his human nature, did not know that day.

Because Jesus has a human nature. And like us, it is like us. It got tired, it got hungry, it needed to eat, it needed sleep, he was lonely. He has a human nature just like ours, and a human nature is limited in what it knows. And so in Jesus' human nature, He said no one knows but the Father.

He said elsewhere not even the Son of Man knows that Okay, so just complete opposite No one's going to know this coming but as the days of Noah So will the coming of the Son of Man be for in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking Marrying and given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So is going to be the coming of the Son of Man. Just the exact opposite. There's not wars and rumors of wars and famines and lightning flashing from the east. No, it's eating and drinking and being merry until the flood came and took them all away.

That's what the second coming will be like. Therefore, he says in verse 44, Therefore be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect." And then who is that faithful and wise servant? Blessed is that servant whom when his master comes will find so doing." And that's a very similar passage to what we have in Luke. And he goes on in chapter 25 to continue discussing this second coming. And it ends with that well-known passage at the end of chapter 25, where the Son of Man comes in his glory and all its holy angels with him, and he sits on his throne of glory, and all the nations are gathered together before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep and goats.

And he will set the sheep on one hand and the goats on the other. And then he will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. This is the kingdom that Jesus promised his disciples. Prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty you gave me drink. I was a stranger you took me in. I was naked you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." The righteous are going to say, when did we do all that?

And he'll say, that you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. And then he's going to say to those, that has left the part for me, I never knew you. You cursed it into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty you gave me no drink and they're gonna say the same thing When did we see you like this and he'll say and that you did not do it to the least of these, you didn't do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.

There is a clear comparison here. As the righteous are going to have life everlasting, the wicked are going to have a punishment that is everlasting. This is the doctrine of hell. So there's a difference. There's a difference between these two comings.

No one knows the second coming. So Jesus goes on to say, we are to live like heirs of the kingdom. In light of all of these great and wonderful and magnificent truths, we are to live as Kingdom heirs. So what's it mean to live like a Kingdom heir? Well it means that we're willing to sacrifice everything.

It means that our heart is not set on the goods of this world. Jesus says it this way, sell what you have and give alms. Provide yourself money bags that don't grow old. And a treasure in the heavens that does not fail. That's like living as an heir of the kingdom.

If we're living and trying to gather our treasure here on earth and our hope is in our treasure on earth, we're not living as heirs of a kingdom that Christ is giving to us. You see really, what value is it in the big scheme of things? What value are all the goods of this world in the big scheme of things? We can't take any of it with us. None of it has any value in the everlasting life.

And so, see, if we rightly understand this gift that God is giving to us that he's pleased to give to us Then we won't be afraid of losing the goods of this world There's a willingness to let it go for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the Gospel. The writer of Hebrews told them that, he said, you remember the former days when you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings. And you were made a spectacle, a public spectacle by reproaches and tribulations because you were companions of those that were being treated that way. And you had compassion on my chains, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. That's what Jesus is talking about here.

When we realize the greatness of the gift that's given to us. There's nothing that can compare to it. And we can then see in the big picture how really unimportant the things of this world are for us. Now this command needs to be understood in the context of the rest of the scriptures as well. We are not to be a burden to others.

We're supposed to provide for our own. In fact, if we don't, we're worse than an infidel. A wise man leaves an inheritance for his children and so forth. So this isn't saying that you need to go out and I need to go out tomorrow and sell everything that we have and give every bit of it away. That's not what it's saying.

What Jesus is saying here is, when you realize the greatness of the gift that you are heirs of, then you will suffer joyfully the plundering of your goods, if that becomes necessary for the sake of the kingdom. If in order to be a faithful servant and to live as an heir of the kingdom means that you have to give up your life, or means that you have to stand in front of an angry civil ruler who is upset with your Christianity, If it means that you lose all of your house, and you lose your livelihood, and you lose your vocation, and you lose your income, you realize it's not worthy of being compared with the gift that the Father is giving us. We're willing to let it go. To live as heirs of the kingdom means that we are always ready. We don't know when Christ will come.

And so we are always dressed for action. Let your waist be girded. We are dressed with the armor of God. We are dressed for battle because we are in a battle. We are equipped for action.

Let your light shine. We are at work in the kingdom. We are salt in the earth. We are light to the darkness around us. And also to live as heirs of the Kingdom means that we are watching.

And that means that we are praying because praying and watching are connected. We watch through prayer. And it means that we are continuously doing these things. Continuously. This is ongoing.

This is the pattern of our life. It's not something we're putting off, saying, well, I'm going to get this done, and this done first, and then I'll be dressed for action, and then I'll be equipped for action, and then I'll be diligent about watching. This is something we're doing continuously, ongoing. And then in verse 42 and following, Jesus says that living as an heir of the kingdom is doing the will of the Master. Even if he's not there, when he's not present, we are engaged in the will of the Master.

We don't say, well, that's a long way off. I'm going to get my treasure on this earth. I'm going to live on this earth and pursue these things. And then later on, I will do this. I will be ready.

No, Doing the will of the Master is something that is ongoing even as we wait for Him. And the principle Jesus gives there is that to whom much is given much is expected. That those who to whom much knowledge is given more greater will be expected of them. And when they fail to do the will of the Master then their punishment, their chastening is greater. For to everyone to whom much is given from Him much will be required, and to whom much is committed of Him they will ask the more.

So may the Lord give to us a vision and an understanding of the greatness of His kingdom that He is giving to us so that everything else in this world pales in comparison to it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that is a sure lamp to our feet and a light to our path that gives us guidance in the middle of this present and evil age that teaches us to deny this world and its lust which are passing away. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. They are not of the Father, but they are of this world and they are passing away.

Father may our treasure be where our heart is in heaven and May our heart be there. May we use the goods of this world that you have so richly blessed us for your kingdom. May we not be afraid of losing these things. May not even afraid of losing our lives for the sake of your kingdom, for the sake of Jesus Christ who has loved us and given himself for us. Father, so often our eyes are set upon this earth and the things that are here.

We ask that you would lift our eyes up to you, that we may set our eyes on that which is above, that we may be fully content with all that you have given to us, and that the priority of our life might be your glory and your kingdom, your honor and the triumph of your truth and your righteousness. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.