Seek The Kingdom 1st!

Seeking the kingdom of God should be our first priority. We need to understand that we are already in the kingdom when we are born of water and spirit. Jesus taught that we should not worry about our needs because God takes care of us. Instead, we should seek God's kingdom and righteousness first. To seek the kingdom, we need to study the gospel of the kingdom, love, faith, forgiveness, and obedience. We also need to build a personal relationship with Jesus through prayer, reading the word, and spending time in his presence. We must submit to Jesus' authority and choose to live according to his righteousness. This process takes time, but God promises to provide for our needs as we seek him first. Welcome. This is Make Today Great, Study in the Word. I'm Bible teacher Marilyn Poston. I hope that you will enjoy the broadcast on today and that you will receive a word from the Lord. My topic today is Seek the Kingdom First. It is very important, first of all, that we know what the kingdom of God is. Before we can seek his kingdom, we have to know what the kingdom is. We also have to know that we are in the kingdom. When we are birthed into the kingdom by the water and the spirit, then we have come into God's kingdom. Jesus told Nicodemus, unless he was born of the water and the spirit, he could not even see or enter the kingdom of God. We have to be born of the water, we have to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and of the spirit by being filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is important to know that we are in the kingdom before we can seek the kingdom of God. Once we have been birthed into the kingdom, then we have to seek it first. Seeking the kingdom of God must be our first priority. Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. In the preceding verses, starting at verse 25, Jesus was telling the people not to be worried about what they were going to eat, what they were going to drink, what they were going to put on. He told them that if I take care, if our heavenly father takes care of the lilies of the field, he takes care of the birds of the air, how much more is he going to take care of us, his people, his creation? So we don't have to be worried about and stressed out and depressed over what we're going to eat, what we're going to drink, how we're going to make it, how we're going to obtain things. But he said if we would seek him and his kingdom and his righteousness first, he said all of these things would be added to us. We don't have to worry about everyday life. We need to cast our cares on God because he is concerned about everything concerning us. First Peter 5 and 7 says, cast your cares on him for he cares for you affectionately. So he does not, God does not want us to be worried. He does not want us to be stressed out. And I know in the days, in the times which we live now, it would be easy to be stressed out about money. It would be easy to be stressed out about paying our bills, our living expenses because it seems that when you go to the grocery store and you get maybe two or three items and you go to the cash register, it's like you can't believe how much it adds up to. Or you go to fill up your tank with gas and you are just amazed at how much it comes out to be. But God does not want us to be worried about these things. And I know it may not seem easy, but if we know what the word of God says and practice what the word of God says, we do not have to be worried about our life. We have to seek him and his kingdom first. And he said, all of these things would be added unto us. So what does it take to seek the kingdom? So we have to, let's first go to Colossians chapter one, verses 12 and 13. We have been translated. We have been moved. We have been moved, translated out of the kingdom of darkness over into the kingdom of God's dear son, who of course is Jesus. So now that we are in the kingdom of Jesus, we have to know what it means to seek his kingdom first. So first of all, this is not a tangible kingdom at this point. And this point in time, it's not a tangible kingdom, but it is a spiritual supernatural kingdom. And we, the saints of light are the kingdom citizens. And Jesus is our king. We have to come under his authority. We have to come under his rules. And the kingdom of God is solely governed because it is a monarchy. God, Jesus is the king and he is a monarchy. So we have to come solely under the rule of the king. We have to come under the laws, the statutes, and the precepts of Jesus, our king. We are no longer our own, but when we come into the kingdom, we are acknowledging Jesus as Lord. We are acknowledging Jesus as our savior and our king. And we are saying when we come into the kingdom that Lord, we submit to your authority. We submit to your rule. We submit to your laws and your precepts. So we have to have an understanding of what the kingdom is so that we can seek after it. Matthew 9 and 35 says, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. So if we want to know what the kingdom is, the kingdom of God is, we have to look at what was Jesus teaching. Because it said he went throughout all the cities, all the villages, everywhere he went for his earthly ministry, those three and a half years that he walked on the shores of Galilee doing ministry in those three and a half years. What was he doing? He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He was healing every sickness and every disease. So we need to study the gospel of the kingdom because that's what Jesus, those are the things that Jesus taught that he taught to his apostles. Because Acts 28 and 31 tells us that the apostles went about proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. And that's what they did what Jesus taught them. They taught the same things that he taught. So we have to know the things that Jesus taught. A few of the things that he focused on was love, faith, heaven, he talked about heaven and hell, forgiveness, being a servant, doing the will of the father. He taught about obedience. He taught about eternal life. We have to know the things that Jesus did in the scripture in Acts 10 and 38 says that he went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. So these are the things that Jesus taught. These are the things that Jesus did. He talked about love. He told us first of all to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, body, and strength. To love our neighbor as ourselves. He even told us to love our enemies. So he talked a lot about love. He talked a lot about faith. He told us we have to trust God. We have to trust. We have to believe. We have to have faith. We have to forgive. We have to forgive those that despitefully use us, those who scandalize our names, those who put us down and talk about us and run us in the ground. He told us to forgive. He didn't say if they come and ask you for forgiveness. See, forgiveness is not for the other person. Forgiveness is for us. He said he can't forgive us if we don't forgive others. So Jesus, he went about teaching all these things. He told the Pharisees in Luke 17, 20 and 21 that he was not coming in signs that they could see. So the kingdom, he said the kingdom of God is in your midst. So if we're seeking Jesus, we're seeking his kingdom. We need to submit to his authority, submit to his will, and build a relationship with Jesus. If we want to seek the kingdom, we would seek to build a relationship, a personal intimate relationship with Jesus. We have to seek him. We have to seek his counsel, seek his guidance, seek his direction. Seek to build a relationship with him because we have to know him. We have to understand and know who Jesus is. We have to come to the knowledge of him and the fullness of who he is and what he did for us and the great love that he has for his people. So we have to spend time with Jesus. We have to pray. We have to talk to him, not just talk but listen. We have to listen to what he's telling us. We have to read his word because that's how we come to know him because he is his word. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. And in verse 14 of John says that first John chapter 1 that the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. So if we study the word, if you want to know Jesus' character, study Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Study the epistles because the apostles, they were with Jesus. They knew him. They had contact with him. They were in his presence. So they witnessed his character. They witnessed the things that he'd done. And they showed us Jesus through the gospels. We have to know him. We have to spend time with him. Not just talking. And not just talking to him when we need something. But we need to spend time getting to know Jesus. Spend time in his presence. Spend time in worship. Spend time in praise. That's how we get to know Jesus by spending time with him, knowing him, knowing his character, knowing what he's like, what he's going to say and what he won't say. Because he said, my sheep know my voice. And the voice of a stranger they will not follow. And we have to submit to Jesus' authority. See, when we are seeking him and his righteousness, his righteousness is his right way of doing things. So if we're doing things our way, then we're seeking our own righteousness. And the scripture tells us in Isaiah 46 that our righteousness is as filthy rags. But we, excuse me, Isaiah 64 and 6 says our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have to know that we are the righteousness of God. Second Corinthians 521 in the ESV says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. That in him we might become the righteousness of God in him. So he took on our sin so that we could take on his righteousness. But it is still up to us to make a decision, to make a choice. I'm going to live God's way. I'm going to live the way God would have me to live. He's made us righteous. But we have to walk in it. We have to live in it. We have to make a decision. I'm going to do things God's way. I'm going to seek him and his kingdom first. And he said, all these things that you're seeking after, all the money, all the possessions, all the material things, all this stuff we just killing ourselves trying to get, he said, I'll add them to you. And it is a process. It's not going to happen overnight. But he said, if we seek him, his kingdom first, then everything that we are seeking after, everything we're trying to get on our own, he would add them to us. But we have to seek him. And we have to know that we have been made the righteousness of God in him, and we make a decision. I'm going to put off. See, the scripture tells us to put off things, put off lying, put off fornication, put off sexual immorality, put off backbiting, put off malice, put off hate. We are told to put off all these things and to put on the new man and be renewed in the spirit of our minds. We have to renew our minds with the word of God. Because when we become saved, our spirit is reborn. But our mind is still contaminated. Our mind is still contaminated by the world system. Our mind is still contaminated by the world and the world's way of thinking, the world's way of doing things. So we have to change our mindset. We have to change our thinking by renewing, refreshing our mind daily with the word of God. That means reading his word, studying his word, meditating on his word, and speaking his word. If we want to change our life, if we want to live a righteous life, that just means choosing, making a decision to do things God's way. We have to renew our mind with the word of God. Because that old man, that fleshly man, those desires will rise up and overtake us and cause us, those fleshly desires is what draws us away from God. The scripture says we are enticed by our lust, by the lust of our flesh. And that flesh will rise up and it wants to pull us away from God. It wants us to pull us away from the word. And if we do not stick with the word, then we will get drawn away by our own fleshly desires. We will get drawn away. And then we won't be in relationship with God. And then we are not seeking his kingdom. And then that's when all these other things, worry, stress, discontentment, depression, mental anguish, emotional problems, emotional turmoil, all these things can set in on us because we have gotten away from God. We have gotten away from his precepts. We've gotten away from his laws. He told us to think on what's true, what's lovely, what's a good report. But when we are stressed out, we are worried. We're worried about our paying our bills. We're worried about what's going on on our job. We're worried about trying to keep up with the neighbors or what we think the neighbors are doing, our people on social media. We're trying to keep up with all of these things. We're worried about our kids, our marriages. We're worried about all these things. And we're allowing these things to stress us out, allowing these things to depress us. These spirits of depression and spirits of emotional turmoil that want to come in and destroy us. See, it's the enemy, Satan, that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus said, I come that you might have life and have that life more abundantly. But if we are allowing these things to overtake us, if we are allowing depression, if we are allowing aggravation, irritation, and all of these things to come in to destroy our health, destroy our marriages, our money, our jobs, if we allow those things, then we're not seeking the kingdom first. If we are overtaken with these things, we are not seeking the kingdom first. We have to seek what Jesus taught so that we can follow him, so that we can have the peace. He said his kingdom is a kingdom of peace. His kingdom is a kingdom of joy. That's what's promised to us in the kingdom of God. But if we're seeking after stuff, we're seeking to get things, if we're seeking to do things our way, then we do not have that joy and that peace in the Holy Ghost. We do not have the joy and the peace and the strength and the power and the ability of God that's available to us in the kingdom. There's so many things available to us in the kingdom, but he said he's given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. But if we're trying to do things our way, we're seeking things rather than seeking the giver of things, then we're going to be lost. We're going to be in trouble. We're going to be filled with worry, filled with stress, filled with pain, filled with depression. If we're seeking things rather than seeking God. He said seek him and his kingdom. Seek love. Seek forgiveness. Seek peace. Seek God's way of doing things, his way of doing things. He said I know the plans, Jeremiah 29 and 11. I know the plans that I have for you, plans of good and not of evil, to bring you to your expected end, to bring you to your divine destiny, to give you a future and a hope. But we won't have those things, not totally. You know, we can make things happen, some things happen. But if it's not what God has promised, if it's not what he has for us, then is it really worth having? Because, you know, it's just an imitation. It's not the real thing. It's not genuine. It's not the life of abundance and peace and joy that God has for us. It's what we have conjured up on our own. And you know what? It's going to fail. Our life that we plan, it's going to fail if it's not what God says and if we're in the kingdom. See, when we're in the kingdom, we're supposed to come under the rule and the authority and the guidance and the counsel of our King Jesus. So if we're trying to do things our way rather than doing things his way, seeking after the wrong things, trying to obtain things our way rather than seeking him in the kingdom first and allowing him to give us what he promised us, then we are going to end up in a place where we are not happy, a place where we are not joyful, a place where we are not at peace because we're trying to do it our way. Seek the kingdom of God first. He said, I'll add. He didn't say how soon. He said, but I will add. And we have to decide, am I going to keep doing things my way and live this life of turmoil, live this life of mental anguish, of emotional distress, because I'm doing things my way rather than seeking God in his kingdom first and then having still coming up short. Because when you do things your way, you're going to come up short because God's way is a way of peace. God's way is a way of love. God's way is a way of joy. He said, I do exceedingly abundantly. Above all, we can ask or even think according to the power that's in us. Why is that power in us? Because we are in the kingdom. It's all about choices and decisions. We have choices to make and decisions to make to decide whether we're going to do things our way or whether we are going to do things God's way. It's up to us to make a decision. Am I going to seek things or am I going to seek Jesus? Am I going to seek things and stuff or am I going to seek the kingdom first? Seeking the kingdom should be our number one priority. It should be the number one thing that's on our plate. Sometimes, and it's not that we're just seeking things, we just get caught up. We get caught up in living. We get caught up in life. We get caught up in jobs and don't even realize that we're not seeking the kingdom. So we have to examine ourselves. We have to examine what we're doing and know, am I on track with God? Am I on track with what the Lord has for me? Am I seeking him first? Because sometimes we get off track and don't even realize we're off track. But God wants us to seek him. He wants what's best for us. He said, I know what you have need of. I already know that you have need of clothes and I already know you've got need of food and I already know you have need of cars and all these things. I already know you have need of them and I desire to give them to you. But seek me and my kingdom first. That's the key. That is the key that he has. He said, seek me and my kingdom first. And that's the key to getting what you want. He said, all these things that you're trying so desperately and so eagerly and with great anticipation trying to get, I will just give them to you. If you seek me and my kingdom first. I pray that you receive something from the word on today. Again, I'm Bible teacher Marilyn Poston. This is the Make Today Great podcast. We can make each day great by making a decision that I'm going to be glad because this is the day that the Lord has made. I pray that you make that decision and know that I'm praying for you. And I pray that you receive something from the word of God on today and that you make a decision to seek him first and to make each day great. God bless you. I love you all.