Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the importance of seeking first the kingdom of God, urging believers to focus on Christ as the ultimate treasure in heaven rather than earthly possessions. He explains that true intimacy with God is akin to the union of a bride and groom, where believers should desire to reflect Christ's character in their lives. Beach warns against the dangers of a divided heart, encouraging a single-minded pursuit of Christ, which leads to spiritual fulfillment and glory. He highlights that seeking the kingdom means longing for Christ's presence and allowing His life to be expressed through us. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a transformation of the heart to prioritize Christ above all else.

So this is what we need to do now. I'd like to begin this morning by simply indicating that what the Lord has put on my heart this morning is a message where we can focus more properly on what it really means to seek first the kingdom of God. OK, what does it mean? We hear that Roman six or Matthew six thirty three. We can turn there. All right. Matthew six thirty three. We hear this so very many times. OK, but before we read thirty three, I just like to turn to Matthew six nineteen. All right. And I trust that you're eager and hungry this morning to just be patient and and and permit me to read the word of God to you and and let the word speak to you. But all these things are exciting, aren't they? Matthew six chiefly, we'll get to thirty three. And what we'll do is show you a focused, a microscopic view. We're going to focus in on an aspect of this seeking first the kingdom. And I believe it's going to be a real blessing to you. OK, Matthew six, verse number 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt. And where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Now we can, through scriptures, understand this treasures in heaven to mean but lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, but lay up for yourself the treasure in heaven. Now, I know that's not what it says. It says treasures in heaven. But beloved, let me tell you, there's only one treasure in heaven and it's Christ. Christ. Now, do you see this now, don't set your heart on earthly treasures, but set your heart on the treasure in heaven, the inheritance reserved for the believer in heaven. It is not an inheritance where it is the believer here and Christ here. And it's simply an objective treasure. Oh, yes, there he is, although he will be there, we will see him. But the treasure. Oh, thank you, Norman. Thank you. But the treasure, the treasure that we are to begin to taste, beloved, I pray God will help us to taste this treasure. It is not just a treasure where objectively we view the Lord, but it is a treasure where the Lord comes and he grants to us the wealth of who he is as being part of and becoming our very life. Beloved, we must see that the Lord's intention is that he longs to reveal himself to us in a spiritual way, as does a groom long to know his wife in a physical way. It is an intimacy, it is a sharing of oneself so as to communicate what I am to my wife. Now, we understand what that is in the physical way, which is seen in the marriage bed. It's an act. It's not just see, it's no longer an objective thing. Oh, may God help us to see how nice it is. How beautiful it is to see my wife as she has on her veil and she's walking down the aisle. But it's objective. I see her. She's outward. My heart can pant for her, but it's objective. But something happens at that moment of union, something happens where that which is objective is swallowed up in a union where the two become one spirit. So it is not a knowing the Lord objectively, but it is a knowing the Lord in an intuitive way that enables one to experience a oneness with God in Christ that, listen, you cannot know by simply observing Christ in an objective way. That's the goal of Christ for his people. And this is what I believe the scriptures here are really, really teaching. I understand that there's a lot of times this idea of the treasure in heaven will be the reward of the things that we've done on earth. And oh, beloved, I don't want to get into that now. But oh, my, my, my. There's none of that in heaven. The only thing in heaven is the splendor of the sun and the glory of the believer will be that measure of Christ that is being displayed in his life. That's what heaven is all about. It's the glory of Christ is the splendor of the sun, because wherever the glory of Christ is, their God is being glorified. And that's what God's intention is. We've got to get a taste for the treasure in heaven. So when the Bible says, lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. When we look at Christ and we see the essential nature and character of Christ, we see a treasure that is incorruptible. We see a life that perfectly and entirely reveals what God is like, Pam. We see in Christ God's intentions finally realized, and then we see in Christ a heart of such kindness that he shares with us his very life. So when we when we consider the heart and treasure for the believer, the treasure of the heart ought to be aspiring after all the fullness of who Christ is, that it might find free expression in our lives now to the fullest possible extent. And then it will be consummated when he appears. We shall appear with him in glory. There will be the full manifestation of the treasure which the believer's heart had been longing for during all their earthly pilgrimage. Is your heart aflame for the treasure of Christ? Is your heart aflame that all that Christ is might have full and free course in your life? There's the treasure. There's the true heart of the bride. Right. Isn't that isn't doesn't that reflect the heart of a bride for the groom? Sure. I mean, the bride ought to have a passion, a passion to to just present herself as a as a chase virgin, virgin, meaning undefiled by anything. Just Lord, I want my whole being, my whole inner being to be wholly reserved for the fullness of your lovely life. Verse twenty two and twenty three or verse twenty one, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. For where your treasure is or that word treasure can mean valuable, where your where wherever wherever your heart is focused, which reflects what is valuable to you. There is where your heart will be, whatever valuable to you. There's where your heart will be. Oh, what to God that our hearts would see eternal value in Christ. And there our hearts would be, the Bible says in Colossians chapter three, if you therefore be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, set your heart on things above. Paul is saying, listen, let your treasure be and your heart be in Christ. All right, verse twenty two and twenty three, it's the same teaching said in a different way, same revelation, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single. Now, that word single there means absence of duplicity, that is, if your heart is not double, if your heart is not double desired, that is, if your heart. Only has one treasure, Christ. Now, in context, your heart cannot have Christ as a treasure and then something down here in the earthly realm as a treasure at the same time. See, that's what he's saying. Don't don't don't store for yourself treasure on earth. Don't let your heart be captive to an earthly treasure. And then at the same time, aspire after the true wealth, Jesus said you cannot serve God in man. You'll love one and hate the other. You'll be faithful to one and unfaithful to another. This is why Jesus is so very, very clear and candid about this. He wants the treasure of the heart to be himself alone. OK, so if I be single, my whole body shall be full of light. If the passion of our heart, as was in Paul and Peter and the apostles, was simply to know Christ and to make him known, then the whole body will be full of light. We indeed will be sons of light without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation in whom you shall shine as lights. And of course, the light that will be seen will be who? Christ, the light of the world. See, so the Bible teaches that we need to have single hearts, single hearts, single singleness, singleness of desire. Remember, David in the Old Testament, one thing have I desired. Paul in the New Testament, I press toward one thing. I forget those things which lie behind. I'm pressing toward the one goal which we're going to get into. Now, remember what we're doing. We're looking at what does it really mean to seek the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is summed up in Christ. See, the word kingdom means reign. And so the kingdom of God is the reign of God. Where is the reign of God? Christ manifested the reign of God. There it was. There when we see Jesus, we see the kingdom of God. We see a man in whom God reigned. And the kingdom of God is now not externally, but the kingdom of God is within the church. Christ. And now for that kingdom to increase is that Christ might increase in the church, that he might be all in all, that his life, that his will might be ruling in the church. And then that inner reign of God in the church will turn into an external reign when Christ appears in glory and all those who are looking for him appear with him. Then that reign will then be brought into an external way. But now it's an internal thing. So we see here, but if I and I be evil. Now, see, an evil eye would simply be the opposite of a single eye now, so therefore, if a single eye is the absence of duplicity, the absence of double desiredness, the absence of having our hearts set on Christ and earthly treasures, if that's a single eye, then an evil eye could possibly be a divided heart. This is a very dangerous thing, because if I be evil, my whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in the darkness, how great is that darkness? And now, Jesus, he was a master teacher, was he not a master teacher now? See, it's the same theme. It's the same theme, 19 through 21, same message, 22 and 23, same message. Now, 24, he's summing it up. He sums up what he's saying. No man can serve two masters, you see, two masters, duplicity, both the treasure who is Christ and some kind of an earthly treasure. Jesus said you cannot serve both. That's what he's teaching here. Isn't it wonderful when Jesus comes, he wants to be Lord of all. He wants to be Lord of everything in your life. You say, well, that's a hard saying. Oh, it might be a hard saying, but the Lord can make it a sweet saying if you ask him. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. So Jesus is now talking about the heart issue, the heart issue. Nothing can hold you. Nothing can have you. You can possess things. There's nothing wrong with that. In the will of God, you can possess things, but God will not permit anything to possess you. That's the key. And apart from the grace of God, whenever people possess things. They normally become possessed by those things. So my question to you is, are you possessed by things? Therefore, I say to you now, therefore, now the word therefore is therefore somebody once said that never forgot it. The word therefore is therefore because the word therefore indicates because of what was previously said to connecting word. All right. It's connecting word. So when you see, therefore, I say unto you what Jesus is saying is in light of what I just taught you, don't have earthly treasures or don't let earthly treasures have you don't have a divided heart, an evil heart, have a single heart, have a single heart after Christ. Therefore, I say unto you, take no thought. OK, now what that indicates is this a a single heart, the absence of a double heart or a double desired heart is found when by the grace of God, by the grace of God. Now, here it is right in the Bible. We are enabled. To be in the midst of this world, Paul said, using the goods of this world, but not abusing them, Paul said, if a man doesn't work, he shouldn't eat, we shouldn't go around and be bums, we should work, we should earn a living, we should be able to have what we need. But the key and the important lesson that we are to learn is in the midst of that we ought to take no thought for. Now, what that indicates is that we ought not to let anything that pertains to this world and the essentials of this world begin to cause our hearts to become divided and cease from striving wholly and firstly after Christ and become too preoccupied with this right here. That's what the take no thought for is all about. The way that we can determine whether or not our hearts are getting divided is if we are taking too much thought or in the midst of doing what we have to do, the vision of Christ, the vision of him, the desire for him above silver and gold, as we sung that song, remember, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb that talked about the law of the Lord, which is realized in the person of Jesus Christ. When things become more to us than that, we need to we need to see the yellow light flashing, the yellow light. Your heart's getting divided, pray and say, now, Lord, you help me, you help me. All right. So now we see, take no thought what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on is not the life more than me and the body more than Raymond. Behold, the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought? Now, what I did in my Bible was I put numbers next to how many times Jesus said, take no thought. And I remembered that in context, taking no thought indicates and reveals a heart that has not become ensnared by the cares of this world, by the riches of this world, by the desire for other things, because that's what Jesus is saying. Don't let your heart become divided. It's not possessing things that Christ is against, but it's things possessing you. We can't let things possess us. We must be possessed by the one treasure in heaven and the desire to be conformed into his image and likeness. So maybe mark in your Bible how many times Jesus says, take no thought for. He did it in verse twenty five. Now, verse twenty eight. Why take ye thought for Raymond? Consider the lowlies of the field, how they grow, how they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothed you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought. Now, here's that's the fourth time so far that he said, take no thought saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. OK, now let me just put this in contemporary language. Most of us are old enough to know that the world revolves around these things. Going up the ladder of success, going up the ladder of prestige, going up the ladder, gathering more and more and more and more. You know, the Chapel of the Air is doing a series and it's a good message that Brother Mains is doing, and the title of it is, what's it called, where you begin to. Oh, the word he uses is good. My, my, it slipped my mind, but the message is how to decrease, how to downscaling, downscaling is the word. He's calling the church to downscale. And what he's meaning is this. Come away from the pursuit of these things. Come back to the true treasure. When I heard him a couple of times, I said, yes, that's just what the spirit is saying. He downscaled, downscaled. In other words, don't let these things have you. Don't let them get you. Keep your keep yourself focused on Christ by the grace that is given to us in Christ Jesus. All right. Verse thirty one. Take no thought all these things your father knows. All right, now here we go. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Now there's the question. Seek the kingdom of God. That seems like an ambiguous of a far out, a very, very indefinite statement. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What does that mean? What does that mean? Well, we'll show you in a second. Therefore, take no thought. There's the fifth time. Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow should take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the days, the evil thereof. Now, if Jesus said in just how many verses here, twenty thirty four in 15 verses, Jesus said five times, take no thought. Do you think he might have been trying to emphasize something? Now, when you're teaching your kids. Bill and Jack, Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, do you oftentimes find that it's necessary to repeat yourself? Do you think, Bill, do you have to repeat yourself sometimes, sometimes not too much, though, because your kids listen real quickly, right? Yeah, right, right. OK, why do you repeat yourself? Because it's necessary. Repeating oneself is one of the most effective ways to teach. Jesus repeated himself over and over again. All Paul's theology is the same, said in different ways. OK, Jesus repeated himself because he knew he was dealing with a very important subject. We are inclined in our humanity to drift from the treasure and to get caught up with earth. Now, have you found that tendency to be in your life, the tendency to drift from looking to Jesus as all you should need and desire and get caught up in earthly things? That's why Jesus said it five times in 15 verses. OK, all right, let's go to Philippians chapter three. I think one of the most wonderful things about church is gathering together and digging into God's word. Philippians chapter three, now we're going to focus on what seek ye after, that's a good title for the message. What seek ye after? Well, we know what not to seek after. Jesus just told us five times, right? Don't seek after it. Don't let it don't let it get a hold of you to where it controls you. Anything of earth. All right. All right. So what do we do if we're not to do that? Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Beginning in verse one, finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me indeed is obvious, but for to you it is safe. Now, see that Paul is repeating himself just like Jesus did. Paul learned to teach by studying Jesus. Beware of dogs now that he's not talking about German shepherds and Doberman pinchers there. The word dogs there is a word that is used to describe. Of evil workers, beware of the concision or beware of the Jewish people, the Judaizers who wanted to rip you from Christianity and try to get you to follow the law of Moses as the basis for your salvation, Paul said, beware of them, stay away from them, they're dangerous. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We are the spiritual circumcision. Now, watch verses four through six, four through six, Paul describes all the reasons why he should be able to boast if he looked at earthly things. Though I might have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath wherewith he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Now, watch, beloved, but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. He just got done describing all the things that he was in himself, a Pharisee, zealous for the Jewish religion, but none of that stuff mattered. He counts it all loss for Christ. Verse eight, yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dump or refuge trash. I may win Christ. All right, beloved. Right there is an all inclusive, comprehensive statement that sums up in one thought what it means to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. It's all summed up in that one comprehensive statement that I may win Christ. Lay up for yourself treasure in the heavens that I may win Christ, the ultimate desire within the heart of a child of God is seen when the heart pants after and longs for Christ. And a knowledge of him, remember, not just an objective knowledge, but a knowledge in which what he is in character is formed in the believer so that the believer and Christ become essentially one spirit. Now, that's true positionally, judicially in every born again child of God, but it's certainly not true experientially. That's what God is after, that the character and nature of the man in heaven would be reflected and seen and formed in the believer so that there is a union with Christ so that the head and the body becomes one in expression, one in character, one in in manifestation. What a beautiful calling. What an intimacy. There's the wealth that God wants his church to see after. All right, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. So may I say, beloved, that right now. The treasure. The kingdom of righteousness that we are to be seeking after is that goal. That Christ. And all of his splendor. Might find full expression in us now. And with that will come a longing for his appearing, a longing, why? Why? Because, listen, think about this. What has to happen for the fullness of Christ to be expressed in us? These bodies of corruption must be shed. You see? You see? I've had so many believers ask me, how do you how do you long for the Lord's appearing? Because most believers know that it's just a doctrine. They just believe it. The second coming of the Lord. But it's not springing out of a longing for a longing for him to appear is seen when we begin to recognize Jesus Christ and all that he is. Is ours to know intimately, what's the logical conclusion of wanting all that Christ is to be expressed in us? Want me to tell you Romans chapter one. What's the conclusion? What happens to the believer who is caught and controlled and compelled by a vision of Christ and and we see that the man Christ is God's beautiful, beautiful son who has been given to the church, that the church might be made after and conformed to his very image. What's the conclusion of such a revelation when it gets a hold of someone? First of all, they pour contempt upon anything earthly and then their hearts long for a conformity to the beautiful image of Christ. And that means a putting off of the body of death, a putting off, a shedding of these vessels of mortality so that we might share in a body that is likened unto his glorious body. Yes, yes, watch verse six, chapter two, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well-doing watch, seek for glory, honor and what? Immortality. It's what it says, eternal life. But now versus eight and nine, but to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that do with evil, but glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. All beloved. The treasure. May I say to you. That seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Is longing for Christ. To be made known in you so that he can fill your redeemed spirit, you don't lose your individual entity. You do not become Jesus in his person. However. The character and nature and life that belongs to Christ himself is brought to you and fills your being so that what is being expressed out from the essential you, the redeemed you is a reflection of what comes out from Christ himself, the glory, the righteousness. It's an expression of his own character. That in its fullness. Being expressed individually. And then ultimately corporately in the whole church is a comprehensive, all inclusive picture of what it means to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And that I say is what got Paul. That is the prize of the high calling. That is what Paul sought after. The heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. Was a continued desire for this to be realized more and more, and that would be consummated by the changing when Christ appears, taking off these garments of death and wearing a body exactly like the one that Christ has in glory, the man in glory, the man in glory who is glorified. We're to seek that glory. See, it's not this is not carnal stuff. We're not to seek glory, meaning we're to seek in order that we might be glorified. Now we're to seek the glory that belongs to Christ because that glory is the glory that we shall wear. It is a glory that will reveal God. Yes, it's a glory that will reveal God. Second Thessalonians 2, 14. We're wrapping things up now. When the Bible says to seek glory and honor and immortality, those terms indicate the full expression of all that Christ is. They don't indicate a self-relating kind of a thing where we seek glory. That is, we seek to get on television or we seek to have our names in neon lights. No, it's the glory of Christ. It's the expression of Christ. What does Second Thessalonians 2, 14 say? Verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Watch this now. Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of what? Who can utter that word? Who can utter that? What is the gospel call us to? To them who by patience and well-doing seek after what? Glory. It's not the vain, carnal glory that the church is seeking after now to be the biggest church in town, to have the biggest bus ministry, the nicest choir. No, that's vainglory. And the Bible says, Do nothing by strife or vainglory. That's vainglory. But there is a glory which belongs to Christ. And that is what the gospel has brought us into. Yes, yes, glory, glory. It is the full emancipation, its deliverance from this body that all that he is might have free course. What about first Peter chapter five? Oh, yes. Some of us remember that scripture. Five, ten, first Peter five, ten. But the God of all grace who hath called us what? Unto his eternal glory. You know, the Bible says God will share his glory with no one. He says, I'll share my glory with none other. But yet God gave his glory to Christ. And Christ says, Ye are bone of my bone and flesh. Of my flesh. God will not share it with any other but Christ. And Christ joins us to himself. The two become one. Oh, Satan is a liar. How he has sought to seduce the church and make us some organization or some organization legally related to Christ. Not so. We're an institution run by men. Not so. We are a new creation, a living organism. One with our head. All that we might see, the wealth and the treasure. That's ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord. First Timothy 6, 16. Verse 14, that thou keep this commandment without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light. Immortality is only a vital characteristic of the ascension of Christ. The essential nature of Christ. And now outwardly, we're perishing, we're decaying, but inwardly we're being renewed. And may I say to you that the consummation of that renewal is what? Where is thy death, oh, sting? Where's thy sting, oh, death? There's the consummation. Can you taste it? You pray about these things. You pray about them. You know what, beloved? We have much more, but we're not going to go on because like I said, we don't want to overload. We don't want to overload. I'll just give you one more. Revelation 21, 11. We'll close on this. This is talking about the lamb's wife. Now, you know the lamb's wife, the church. Verse 10, chapter 21. And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Notice it's a holy Jerusalem. Descending out of heaven. Notice where it's coming from. The church doesn't originate in earth. It comes out from the loins of Christ who is the heavenly man. Remember, everything brings forth a new life. Everything brings forth after its own kind, after its own image. We've been born out from the loins of a heavenly man and that's the image that we shall bear. Not earthly. What is this church clothed with? Verse 11. Having the glory of God. The glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. John 17, 22. Don't turn to it. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given to them. Isaiah said, I'll share my glory with no one else. God was speaking. Yet God gave it to his son and now his son right in the Bible says, the glory which thou has given to me, I have given to them. Why? Because I have made them my brethren. I've related them to me as bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. What a high calling in Jesus Christ, beloved. May God help us to see and then help us to offer ourself to Him. Let's just bow our hearts in a word of prayer. Father, we just ask that today you would help us to see more. And in seeing, we would be changed and transformed. Grant us the grace to put away from ourself all those things that are not pleasing to you. Give us the strength in Christ to have heart and soul to see more. Hearts that are not divided, but single. Having our hearts set on one treasure, the treasure of the universe, Christ himself. And our being conformed to his image. Work this, Lord, by the power of your spirit. We ask in Christ's name. Amen and amen.