“The Gift of the Kingdom”Main point: Jesus presents the kingdom to us as a gift. We receive the gift in the two ways he presents.BLESSING THE CHILDRENSERMONIntroductionMy friends, do you ever feel like your salvation is a long way off? Do you ever feel like you keep trying to do this Christian thing, but something just doesn't seem to match up for you? Do you ever feel like your timing is off with God - you’re on then God is not, then God is on and you are not? Do you ever feel like you just can't figure out what you're supposed to do? Or maybe worse…Do you ever feel like God is playing an “I gotcha” game with you? Like maybe God is just waiting for you to mess up so he can smack you down? Or like maybe God is dangling a carrot in front of you just to pull it away at the last second so he can keep egging you on?Do you ever feel like God is making you pay for your past sins and you never can get out of the hole?There's a bumper sticker meme, you might have seen it, that shows a picture of Jesus peeking out from around a corner. The caption simply reads, [pause] “I saw that!”It's intended to be humorous, but jokes are only funny because they use humor to reveal the truth about what we’re really thinking.If you could identify with one of these probing questions, I have good news for you this morning:God has brought salvation near to you today. God doesn’t play “I gotcha” games.God doesn’t dangle a carrot in front of you just to pull it away at the last second.Children of the heavenly father are not left guessing about our Father’s intentions.Hear the words from Jesus this morning…"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.Like we said a couple of weeks ago, God is a Good Father. We heard the question in the text, “What Father, when his child asks for an egg, would give them a scorpion?” From the mouth of Jesus we heard again, that just like a Good Father - God gives good gifts to his children.Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadows. (James 1:17)Today we see the Good Father again. But this time, along with the good gifts, we see the good intentions of the Good Father. “It is your  Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.God does not give begrudgingly. God does not keep you guessing.It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you… what is it? The kingdom. -  …where God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. …where God’s perfect intentions are known and believed.…where our conduct and our being is in perfect harmony with him.And to that end, Jesus gives us two exhortations to align ourselves more fully with God’s perfect reign in our lives and in our world. They are not easy, but they are two of the many guiding words Jesus gives to us so that we may receive the kingdom.Store up treasure in heavenFirst, it says, store up treasure in heaven.

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