Seeking the Kingdom First
Matthew 6:25-34 (NKJV) “ Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “ So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “ Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat? ’ or ‘What shall we drink? ’ or ‘What shall we wear? ’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Luke 12:29-32 (NKJV) “ And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
32 “ Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:31 (NLTse) Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God or Seeking the Kingdom First.
God want us to seek Him, and as ministers of the Gospel I believe that it is our responsibility to seek the things of the kingdom so that we can bring it to the people.
The children of Israel were told to gather fresh mana everyday, and so we are to gather the things of the kingdom so we can bring a fresh word or revelation of the kingdom to the people that the Father has entrusted to us for care, protection and feeding.
V/ 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33 (AMP) But seek ( aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ( His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.
Dake’s bible brings out that the word [seek] means Hunt eagerly.
One thing that I see in life is that things don't always come easy.
In the wild food isn't delivered to the animals, they have to hunt for it. And so it is with us, our messages and words just don't fall out of nowhere, but as we seek the things of the kingdom and hunt for them, they do come.
Psalms 34:10 (NKJV) The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.
Again look at how it says it in the amplified:
Matthew 6:33 (AMP) But seek ( aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ( His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.
Aim at and strive after. Do we aim at and strive to know Him.
Proverbs 8:17 (NKJV) I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.
In the Fire Bible commentary it says this:
Those who follow Christ are urged to seek–above all else–God’s kingdom and his righteousness. The verb “seek” means being continually absorbed in a search for something, or making a long and consistent effort to obtain something (cf. 13:45).
God’s kingdom and righteousness are not passive matters; they are things we must actively pursue. Christ refers to two objects, or focuses, of our seeking:(1) “His kingdom” (i. e., his power and authority over all, his purposes and way of life both on earth and into eternity) –we must desperately desire for God’s authority and power to be evident in our lives and in our Christian gatherings. Our own desires should never get in the way of what God wants to do in our individual lives and our churches. We must pray that God’s kingdom will operate in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to save people from sin, to destroy demonic power, to heal the sick and to bring honor to the Lord Jesus in every way.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Seeking the things of the kingdom should be our life presuit. Everything in this world is going to pass away, but knowing the Father will last for eternity.
Again if we as ministers are not seeking to know Him, what are we going to give our people who are out there working 40-60 hour weeks.
No we need to seek the things of the kingdom to feed those under our care.
I want to look at 2 people in the bible that saw how important it was to know the manifest presence of God or to know Him.
The first is Moses:
Exodus 33:1-23 (NKJV) Then the Lord said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it. ’ 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff- necked people.”
4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff- necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you. ’” 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. 11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
There we see another seeker, Joshua
The Promise of God's Presence:
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people. ’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight. ’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
But now church, we as N.T. Believer, as we seek Him we can see Him, and its all because of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NKJV) Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
Look at Paul's hunger and how he desired to know Him.
Philippians 3:5-14 (AMP) Circumcised when I was eight days old, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew [and the son] of Hebrews; as to the observance of the Law I was of [the party of] the Pharisees,
6 As to my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and by the Law’s standard of righteousness (supposed justice, uprightness, and right standing with God) I was proven to be blameless and no fault was found with me.
7 But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [ one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.
8 Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),
9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self- achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.
10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [ which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]
11 That if possible I may attain to the [ spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].
12 Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.
13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]:forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
Romans 14:17 (NKJV) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Seek the things of the kingdom and then pass them to others so that they can enjoy the blessings of God also.
2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV) And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
