WHAT IS OUR TOP PRIORITY?
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Jesus teaches us about priorities
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
A) Year 1991, in New York City, A HOMELESS man, a train maintenance worker, and a dog were killed on the subway tracks. Ninety people telephoned the Transit Authority to express their concern about the dog, but only three called about the worker and no one about the homeless man.
B) A husband and wife were attending a county fair where, for twenty dollars a person, a man was giving rides in an old airplane. The couple wanted to go up, but they thought twenty dollars a person was too expensive, so they tried to negotiate a lower price. "We’ll pay you twenty dollars for both of us," they said to the pilot. "After all, we’ll both have to squeeze into that tiny cockpit that was built for only one person. "The pilot refused to lower his fare, but he made a counteroffer. He suggested, "Pay me the full price of twenty dollars each, and I’ll take you up. If you don’t say one word during the flight, I’ll give you all your money back." The couple agreed and got onto the plane. Up they went and the pilot proceeded to perform every trick he knew, looping and whirling and flying upside down and lots more. Finally, when the plane had landed, the pilot said to the husband, "Congratulations! Here’s your money back; you didn’t say a single word." To which the man replied, "Nope, but you almost got me when my wife fell out."
Yes, there are some people who would say, "Well, a person does have to have his priorities!" And so do we. You know what...."Why don’t we ask ourselves this morning." What are our priorities? What is our top priority in our life? What is our number one goal?
Yes, we all have different goals, different priorities, things that are important to us, things that we would like to achieve in our lives. What is your number one priority? Some of your priorities might include losing weight, staying healthy, advancing in your job, saving for retirement, or raising decent children.
Yes, those are all good priorities. But they are also earthly. In other words, all those priorities have to do with the here and now, this life, and not the life to come.
According to the Bible, God wants our top priority, our number one goal, to be not of this world. That number one priority is to be something higher than staying healthy.
It is supposed to be deeper than saving for retirement. It is supposed to be more spiritual than just being stable in life. Those are all good things, but as we think about our top priority in life, God wants us to look up – to look away from this world, and to look heavenward, and to focus on something else.
So, we must take time to evaluate what our real priorities are. What is first, second, third, fourth, and so on? As you examine your priorities, you may be surprised to find that some things you think are high on your list are not as high as you think.
This morning, we are going to see what Jesus teaches about "Priorities".
Do you believe that all of us need a GUIDE to live by? What do you think will happen if there is no guide . . . no laws . . . or no rules? Yes, it would be an awful, chaotic world, if there were no GUIDE... no LAWS... no RULES.
Yes, we have LAWS in this country to regulate our standard of conduct. We have RULES and REGULATIONS to guide us … IRS … school policies … safety regulations … speed limits. We have DIRECTIONS to help us put things together. And we have the BIBLE to guide us morally, ethically, and spiritually.
My fellow believers in the Lord, the BIBLE is our STANDARD. If we lived by it, there is no need for the 1000’s of volumes of laws that we now have. There would be no backlogs in the courts. There would be no crowded jails. If CHRISTIANS lived by the Bible, our Christian life would be so much easier.
But the Bible is so HUGE … 30,442 verses … 845,000 words. Have we MEMORIZED some verses already? Yes, we have memorized our Social Security number … maybe our driver license number or our bank account numbers. What about some verses in BIBLE?
You know what, if we had just memorized one or more verses that we could use to GUIDE us through every situation, it might help us to set our PRIORITIES in life to determine right from wrong and to solve our tendency to stray away from God.
Let me share with you some verses that help me to set my priorities.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Today’s text is a verse that we must live by. We don’t have to know the WHOLE Bible. But if we just concentrate on this 1 VERSE, we will find the help we need to GUIDE us through life to set our priorities.
This verse is found in Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
I believe that most of our problems in life come from not setting our PRIORITIES. Yes, we need a GUIDE … a GOAL … and PURPOSE. And we can find it in this VERSE.
My brothers and sisters in the Lord, the gospel of Matthew said that ABOVE ALL ELSE, we must seek FIRST the Kingdom of God. Yes, ABOVE ALL ELSE in our life, Jesus says that this is to be NUMBER ONE … TOP PRIORITY … OUR MAIN GOAL … for every day.
Yes, EVERYTHING we do is to relate to this goal. Every DECISION we make: WHERE I go … WHAT I do … HOW I do it … WHEN I do it … WHY I do it... WHAT I do. Yes, all these things are to be FILTERED through this verse.
I. THE PRIORITY – "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God."
From our text, we can see that our top priority must be seeking the Kingdom of God. Now, what is it that we are "seeking" for? My fellow believers, the Kingdom of God is not tangible … not physical … it has no borders. It’s not something you can see on a map … or physically travel through. There are no speed limits or gas stations or Cracker Barrel’s there.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
So, what does the "Kingdom of God" mean? Just plain and simple... it is GOD’S RULE over our life. If we choose to live in God’s Kingdom, we must live under the authority of the KING. And that King is Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
Let me say this again, "If you and I are Born-Again, the KING has a rightful authority over our life." He purchased us with His blood.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
The moment that we trusted Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we became a citizen of the "Kingdom of God". That gave Him the right to rule and reign over our life.
Matthew 6:33 also indicates that they are some who are not seeking first the "Kingdom of God and His righteousness." That’s why the verse begins with the word "BUT."
Yes, there are some whose priorities are money ... to be rich in this world.
Fellow believers in the Lord, we cannot serve God … and money at the same time. God is not saying that it is wrong to make money … or to have money. It is also not a sin to be rich. BUT … it is a sin to SERVE and WORSHIP our money.
Let us ask ourselves... what is your top priority in life?
II. THE PROMISE – "all these things shall be added unto you".
Now, let’s talk about the promise of God. What happens when we seek FIRST the "Kingdom of God"? Our passage says, "all THESE THINGS shall be added unto you."
WHAT THINGS? The things that the world is seeking after. MONEY, ...FAME...BEAUTY...RICHES, etc.?
Don’t get me wrong, and I would like to say it again...There is nothing wrong with having material things and be rich. BUT … it is a sin to LOVE, SERVE and WORSHIP our money. It is sin if our riches are the most important instead of God.
My fellow Christians, God desire for his people is to be blessed and prosperous, in Him.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
God wants his people to be rich. His desire for his people is to have an abundance of live. Yes, God is the King, and we are His children.
You know what.... there are so many people have achieved great prosperity and popularity. They have nice cars, live in fine homes, travel to all exotic places. But these same people are the ones you hear about on the news, that they take their own lives or divorced their spouse. The question arises, why would they do something like that, they had everything?
You know why..."because they did not let God be first in their lives." Yes, the reason why so many people are dying spiritually is because they fail to let God be first and they leave themselves open to the attacks of the devil.
Brothers and sisters in the Lord, I believe that God will give us all things, if we will just live under His authority and rule.
Yes, our God may not give us everything we ask for. But . . . He will give us everything we need. If we don’t have it … it’s probably because we don’t really need it.
CONCLUSION:
Let me conclude my message with this "Parable of the Great Banquet." Please turn your Bible to Luke 14:15-24
When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.
And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’
And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
"Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God … and all these things will be added to you." Let us remember this...there is nothing wrong with having land/ house, getting a new car or getting married. They are all good. But don’t be mixed up with our priorities. Don’t make these things our top priority in life.
My brothers and sisters in the Lord..."Do you know why.... we miss God’s blessings?" BECAUSE He is not NUMBER ONE... TOP PRIORITY in our lives.
My prayer this morning is that instead of worrying, we seek his kingdom and his righteousness. And we can start each day by putting God first.
This means, we start our day with prayer, reading His word. And our attendance when the BODY OF CHRIST comes together will be faithful, sincere, worshipful, and meaningful.
Remember God loves you and me. And He will meet our needs and can make us beautiful from the inside out.