Put God first
Why should you put God first you should put God first because God put you first
God in Christ put us first and I want to challenge you today friends to put God first
How do you put God first but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all
these things will be added to you there are two clauses in this little verse and I think
they give us two answers to that question simply to put God first you must a seek God b trust God
first the text exhorts us to seek God there are three types of people
there are those who do not seek God they don't know what real happiness is
there are those who seek God but not first they are the most miserable of people and
don't know why when in reality there's a civil war going on in their hearts
there are those who seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and they are the happiest people in the world you want to be truly happy
Thomas the Kempis gave the formula he simply wrote seek God not happiness
seek God seek God personally
indeed you cannot seek God for someone else no one else can seek God for you it's an
individual and intimate matter you must seek God for yourself
Jonathan Edwards wrote a series of resolutions to govern his life the opening ones are most
memorable number one I will live for God number two if no one else does I still will
this is the first and foremost and fundamental principle for seeking God there must be a
personal resolve that is determined to seek God no matter what others say or do
you must seek God personally the unsaved the unbeliever may seek the benefits of God but
they do not seek God the good news is if we are not seeking God God is seeking us
this is the mission statement of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew
or rather Luke chapter 19 verse 10 for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost
this is why Jesus came from heaven down to seek sinners and not to punish them but to save them
and in a real sense every morning God by his mercy
wakes us up we must make a fresh determination to seek God and not chase sin
Jesus says seek first the kingdom of God and here first is not first in series or order or process
it is first in priority Jesus is not merely saying put put God first in your family second or
your education third and you can no no no he is saying God is to be the most important
thing in your life that is not to suggest that you should have no concern for the other areas
of your life and the things that matter to you it is to say that your commitment to God should
shape and guide and govern every other area of your life you're to seek God first
in your family seek God first in your education seek God first in your ministry
he desires first place he deserves first place he demands first place in your
life if you put God back in first place whatever was in that spot will not go softly into the night
I need you to really hear what I'm telling you see if God wasn't in that space and something else was
then that means the moment you tell that something else I'm putting God back where God needs to be
that something else is not gonna sit back and say okay I'm cool with that that's something
else that's gonna fight you and fight you to the place where you're gonna know what real resistance
looks like as a matter of fact that's the first thing you're going to deal with is resistance
the resistance says the devil doesn't want to say bye you always remember this people are
God the devil never wants to say bye the devil's always going to try to advocate for why he needs
to be in your life there are certain spirits and people that are occupying space in your life that
God needs to occupy and the moment you say look I can't do this anymore I don't want to be involved
in that anymore you know what's going to happen the devil's going to give you 101 reasons why
you can't live without it but you gotta be willing to declare I need so much of God but it doesn't
matter what you say doesn't matter what you do I am changing and putting God back in first place
that's why you got to make up your mind that God is not your backup plan God is your plan
I need to say it again God is not your backup plan God is your plan bible says in Proverbs chapter 16
verse 3 commit your works of the Lord and your thoughts will be established God requires to be
first in all things because his plans are the best for your life there is no failure in God
and so God is alpha and omega he's the first and the last beginning at the end according to
revelations 22 and 13 and so the bible says in proverbs 3 and 6 and I don't want you to miss
this it says in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path in all your ways
acknowledge him and he shall direct your path which means your plans consistently fail be in
lack direction because you fail to acknowledge him many times we only want to take God the big
ticket stuff we don't want to take God the small stuff that's why you keep failing because you keep
taking God the big stuff and never take God the small stuff there comes a moment in your life you
gotta learn to take God everything I just take God everything you gotta get to a place in your life
where you learn how to trust God and how to rely on God and put God first because we often don't
pray until we need God we don't even come to church in a consistent basis until we're facing
something significant there comes a moment in your life you gotta say Lord I'm putting you first
somebody can be a witness when you put God first God will turn around and God will put you first
am I talking to anybody here today that knows that God honors people that puts him first
Seek God first in your time beginning every day in prayer and reading and meditating on his word
put God first in your time put God first in your money proverbs 3 9-10 says honor the Lord with
your possessions with the first fruits of all of your increase your barns will be filled to
overflowing and your vassal brim over with wine and then seek God first in your relationships
first Corinthians 15:33 makes it clear bad company corrupts good character
I'll give you a simple way to spot a person who is seeking God
the one who is seeking God usually hangs out with others who are seeking God
seek him first in your relationships or as Jesus says
a new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you so you also should
love one another and by this will all men know that you are my disciples as you love one another
how do you put God first the first answer in this verse is this
seek God the second answer in the verse is this trust God
the verse begins with a divine command but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness it
ends with a divine promise and all these things will be added to you Warren Worsby is right
God's people live on promises not explanations
we don't live on explanations we live on promises and somebody here knows
you can live on a promise for a long time if you trust the one who made the promise
this is God's guarantee if you put God first
he'll take care of everything else
people that don't have a God on their side have to worry about what tomorrow's going to bring
the bottom of verse 32 says your heavenly father knows that you need all these things
every need in your life is a part of the the compassionate omniscience of God
in fact Matthew 6 verse 8 says that the father in heaven knows what you need even before you ask
in a real sense
to trust God
is to pray instead of worry
The Lord gives us a key that lets us know if he's really in first place in our lives
and the key is this we find out that he's in first place by how we respond to worry
worry it lets us know and for some of us uh that hits me hard it confronts me
because it lets me know that even though I say God is in first place even though I declare it
even though I preach about it what I worry about tells me the truth Jesus talks
about the worries of this life and he contrasts them with putting him first there's a couple of
great quotes that I found this week and one is from William Law and he says this if you have
not chosen the kingdom of God first it will in the end make no difference what you've chosen instead
at the end of your life it won't matter if you didn't choose him first
because you will have made no difference you will have existed you might have had a few toys
you might have had some people that love you you might have a great funeral but you won't
have made a difference it's a great quote from Tozer as well that says as God is exalted to the
right place in our lives a thousand problems are solved all at once what would your life look like
if the problems were solved without you working them but the Lord of God himself
began to fight your battles for you as you were seeking him first worry hijacks your future
it sucks out the joy of today
Jesus says for the pagans run after all these things
what am I gonna eat what am I gonna drink what am I gonna wear he says
they're running after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them
but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and then all these things will be
given to you as well it shows us that the things that the world has to worry about and work for
are really God's gift to us it's a guarantee from the Lord I will take care of you
when you set your heart on seeking me he goes on to say therefore do not worry
about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself each day has enough trouble of its own
is that a mouthful or what that's good stuff each day is going to have enough trouble it's
only like yeah and years will have enough trouble of their own two and sometimes more than enough
so seeking him first is the key to breaking the power of worry
Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7 it says be anxious for nothing but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace
of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus
if you if you if you are really seeking God prayer will be your first response not your last resort
you'll never get your needs met by focusing on your needs
but if you seek God first by the time you look up he will provide what you need
indeed if you put God first he'll take care of everything else
no this is not a promise of prosperity
it is a promise that God will meet your needs
if you seek God you can trust God if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
then all these other things will be added to you or if I can say it the way I like to say it
if you take care of God's business God will take care of your business
I found this to be true that when I seek God's heart he fixes my broken one
he fixes my weighed down anxious heart Jesus says don't worry about all those things don't
worry about tomorrow it's going to worry about itself seek me first go all in with me first
you need to really know God and set your heart to know him to know him intimately
seek his strength because his strength is more than enough
seek it continually go all in