First things, First

Dear friends, you have been called by God and chosen by the people of God for leadership in the church. This ministry is a blessing and a serious responsibility. It recognizes your special gifts and calls you to work among us and for us. In love we thank you for accepting your obligation and challenge you to offer your best to the Lord, to this people, and to our ministry in the world. Live a life in Christ and make him known in your witness and your work.

Today we install (Bill Berron, Connie Cook and Jeff Hayes )

*thank you to Tina, Rob, and Larry for serving

Do you this day acknowledge yourself a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ?

I do.

Will you devote yourself to the service of God in the world?

I will.

Will you so live that you enable this church to be a people of love and peace? I will.

Will you do all in your power to be responsible to the task for which you have been chosen?

I will.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, pour out your blessings upon these your servants who have been given particular ministries in your church. Grant them grace to give themselves wholeheartedly in your service.

Keep before them the example of our Lord, who did not think first of himself, but gave himself for us all.

Let them share his ministry and consecration, that they may enter into his joy.

Guide them in their work. Reward their faithfulness with the knowledge that through them your purposes are accomplished; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The pastor addresses the congregation:

Dear friends, rejoice that God provides laborers for the vineyards. Will you do all you can to assist and encourage them in the responsibilities to which they have been called, giving them your cooperation, your counsel, and your prayers?

The congregation responds: We will.

The pastor may greet the leaders individually.

Sermon Title: First Things First

Matthew 6:25-33

Well Christmas day has come and gone.

Most of us have the wrapping paper thrown away, the toys out of the boxes, and ate way too much.

Now we are on the dawn of a new year. It’s about this time that people like to make New Years resolutions.

Some people will commit to losing some weight. They will want to exercise more and eat better.

Some people will have financial goals. They will want to save up money to get a new car, go on a family vacation or pay off some debt.

Some will commit to reading more books

Some will want to learn a new hobby such as learning how to play a musical instrument

I can’t help but think though, that if we put God first in everything, then our new years resolutions will become so much easier for us to do.

As long as they are moral, noble, and right.

There is power in priorities. God has a protocol to kingdom living. When we follow God’s order of things it produces blessings.

Let’s go ahead and Read Matthew 6:25-33 together.

Scripture

Matthew 6:25–33 (ESV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,

29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1. Provision Over Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-27

Now in Matthew 6 Jesus comes in strong at verse 25 when he commands us to “Not be anxious about our life”

and then he goes on to explain that we shouldn’t worry about the necessities in life such as what we will eat, what we will drink and what we will wear.

Now you might be thinking “Well I live in “America”. I have no problem with worrying about having food on my table, something to drink and something to wear”

But we do worry about “what” we are going to eat for dinner.

If your anything like me and Kim. The conversation goes...

“so what do you want to do for dinner?”

I don’t know what do you want to do for dinner?”.

I don’t know, i just asked you!

Also, we can tend to worry not about having clothes to wear but, what to wear?

Now your spouse may put on something and ask something like “How does this look? Does it make me look fat? Trick question. Do not answer that!

We need to digest that last line Jesus just said, where he begins to talk about the priority by which we look at life, how we value different things.

He says, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

This is how fear and anxiety works.

We need to, “Be careful what value we give certain things, because the more value you give specific things, the more fear and anxiety will rule and reign around those things.”

If you hold too tightly to things that shouldn’t be held too tightly to, than fear and anxiety will mark your life.

We can have a lot of fear or anxiety over our relationships and it can be something small. Such as sharing something that needs to be said but we are scared about how they may respond.

Or it can be a text message that we send, and we seen that they read it. Why are they taking so long to respond! It’s been 3 minutes and 45 seconds!

or it can be a mistake or misunderstanding that we have worry and anxious thoughts over. We can replay a conversation over and over again.

We can be really good at having “A spirit of offense”. We tend to hear things that were never said.

We also tend to think to ourselves, “Well, I hope they didn’t take it the wrong way” or “I really shouldn’t of said that”, “I should of waited a while before I brought that up”.

Not only do we feel regret, remorse, and shame but we also feel the anxiety and fear that comes a long with it.

Anxiety, fear and worry can lead to a bigger issue. They are gateway drugs to idolatry.

Where we place what we have anxiety, fear and worry about over what God says and who God is!

Listen to verse 26 again...

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

I remember this week, I went outside and got into my car, I started it up and then I seen something.

I seen two birds in the grass on my front yard. I didn’t know what they were doing. I didn’t know if they were dying, eating each other or what!

After a little while they untangled themselves from what looked liked a wrestling match for their lunch and then they flew away side by side.

It reminded me of this verse.

Now trusting in God's provision allows us to release anxiety and embrace a kingdom-focused perspective.

The birds' provision shows God's care for creation and His faithfulness, pointing toward Christ as the ultimate provider.

The birds need food, and the heavenly Father knows it. They are dependent upon God’s daily provision because they cannot plant or harvest or put food in barns.

They work—they hunt for it and then bring it back to their families—but they don’t worry.

If God cares for the birds, making sure that the natural order of his creation supplies food for them, how much more will he care for a hungry human being?

You are far more valuable to Him!

I remember talking to someone, who was really struggling,

They said, I think I know my problem. “I just don’t love God enough” and I said “No. That’s not your problem.”

“Your problem is that you don’t understand how much God loves you”! Because if you understood how much God loves you, then you couldn’t help but to love Him.

You probally heard God loves you before, you heard it from people, you seen it on bumper stickers, you seen it on social media posts.

But when you finally feel loved by God, unconditionally, then you will never be the same again. It changes you!

There is this powerful seen in the movie “The Lion King”.

There’s a moment with Simba, where he see’s his father mufasa die.

and he carries so much guilt and shame for it because Scar had convinced him that he was the reason why his father died.

So that became his identity. He felt like he wasn’t worthy and like he was a murderer. He wanted to be invisible so he runs away to this place called “Hakuna Matata”

The famous song from the lion king goes....

Hakuna matata, what a wonderful phrase

Hakuna matata. ain’t no passing craze

It means no worries for the rest of your days

it’s our problem free philosophy

Hakuna matata

Now this place was where he could have a care free lifestyle, where he can make friends and enjoy himself.

One day, he goes over to a pond or a river of water and is about to wash his face but, he doesn’t see his own reflection, He see’s the reflection of his father,

and as he see’s his father’s reflection it does something inside his heart. It reminds him of who He is!

It reminds him of what he is called to do, his purpose and his destiny

2. Adornment in Simplicity

Matthew 6:28-30

It’s the same with us too. We are created in God’s image! We are his sons and daughters. We are royalty to Him!

But we can’t run or hide from what haunts us.

We can’t run and hide from what hurts us.

But we can run to the father who heals us!

3. Kingdom-First Living

Matthew 6:31-33

FIRST—THE SEEKING IN THE EXHORTATION

Getting your priorities right is not going to be easy.

We must do some ‘seeking,’ which means there must be some desire, some effort and work to accomplish this purpose.

Many things will try to get your attention and efforts before you give yourself to the father first.

Try having devotions or a prayer time and you will understand how many things would try to get your attention away from your pursuit of God.

They want you to give them the priority.

But if you are going to be successful in doing what God wants, you must do some seeking, that is you must give diligent effort to do what is right.

Good things seldom come accidently.

They come by seeking them.

There must be desire, dedication, and determination or you will never obtain it.

SECOND—THE SEQUENCE IN THE EXHORTATION

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Christ states our priorities in this verse. They are to be spiritual. The “kingdom of God” speaks of spiritual matters.

The best way to define what the kingdom of God is,

that’s its the reigning of Christ as king in our hearts.

He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all

He is either our King or our Pawn

He is either our Priority or our minority

Our soul must come first in our pursuits. “What shall if profit a man. if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul”

Yet the world has put spiritual matters on the back burner in order to gain the world.

But when they die, the only thing that matters is their soul and the things of the world which they have gained will be of no value in eternity.

In all your seeking, seek God first.

The verses which precede our text speak of our material needs, such as food and clothing.

These things are not evil in themselves, but they are not to be given priority over spiritual matters.

Churches have ignored our text often in providing food and clothes for people and not supplying anything for their spiritual needs.

God is to come first in all our seeking. Do not put anything before God, no matter how important it may seem to the world.

THIRD—THE SUPPORT FOR THE EXHORTATION

“And all these things will be added unto you.”

How often we learn that if we have our priorities right, everything will eventually be taken care of.

When we pursue our spiritual needs first, all our other needs (not wants) will be taken care of. God promises this blessing.

Application

In Matthew 6:33, Jesus instructs His followers to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, with the promise that all their needs will be provided.

This verse reveals the heart of a life lived in alignment with God's priorities.

This encourages us to evaluate our daily choices and priorities, reminding you that when you prioritize your relationship with God and His kingdom,

you find peace and provision amidst life's uncertainties and distractions.

It speaks directly to the struggles of finding purpose and security in a busy world.

Take this jar here. Apostle Paul says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit abides in us.

Now let me put these ornaments in here and they represent the most important things our life such as the eternal things and the relationships we have.

Now it looks pretty full now, right?

But, it’s not. Let’s take these smaller pebbles, which represent lesser important commitments such as our vehicles, sporting events, earthly possessions, watching our favorite tv shows

Now it’s full! But not really.

Let’s take this sand, and it represents distractions in life such as browsing reels and shorts on social media, cleaning or fixing something at home.

When we prioritize kingdom-first living like that jar, ensuring the big ornaments are secured first, we find that life fills up wonderfully.

But if we start with the sand, everything else struggles to fit.

We say we don’t have time to read our bibles every day, to pray every day, to come to Sunday school or tuesday night or Wednesday night bible study or to volunteer at the church.

But we all do. Except for some of us those things aren’t that important to us.

They aren’t a priority. Maybe this upcoming year you can make it a priority.

Commit to reading the bible every day,

commit to a time of prayer everyday,

commit to coming to sunday school or tuesday or wednesday night bible study.

We have a great class coming up called Experiencing God.

Commit to any of those things and just watch God move in your life and watch everything else fall into place for you because Blessings will come.