Sunday Service: 01/08/2022
Supporting Scripture: Matt. 6:33
Title of Message: Put God First
Delivered by: Pastor Mercy
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.””
As a people, we have not taken this statement to heart. We have pushed God so far back in our lives that it’s almost as if he’s not there at all. As a result, we see in our societies today that sin is running a full course. We call good bad and bad good. We have kids carrying guns to school, Parents allowing their little boys to be turned into girls and vice versa. We see fathers abusing their own children, kids killing their parents, and terrorist attacking countries. People playing God, by cloning humans to try and create a super race of people. Every diabolical thing known to man has crept into our societies and even the church. Moral standards on which Christianity was built upon has now become outdated in many places. The Lord’s prayer that at one time was recited by every child in school, has now become a punishable crime to even mention. Man has taken the law and twisted it in such a way that its now lawful to be wrong and unlawful to be right. The reason is that we have failed to Let God be First in our lives.
Putting God First is a statement that we all agree with, we say amen to it, and we advise people to that. We teach it and we preach it, but do we really understand what it means to “Putting God First.”
Although God is the creator of the universe, and all power in Heaven and Earth is in His hands, he will never forcefully take the position of being first in your life, even though he requires it. (Exodus 20:3)
“Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
His requirement is to be first, but he will not force his way in that position upon us; therefore, the ability and responsibility of God being first lies within each one of us. The problem we have in letting God be First is that we are tied up and entangled in our flesh and let it rule our every decision. (Romans 7:18)
“For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.”
Paul said, because we have not brought our flesh under God’s control, we allow the desires, the wants, and the ambitions of the flesh give its’ first allegiance to everything else but God.
Our nature and tendency is to spoil our flesh, to allow our profession, our social acceptance, our livelihood, our comforts, and our pleasures the opportunity to be satisfied. We spend so much time trying to ensure that we meet the right people, drive the right car, wear the right clothes, attend the right social functions, impress the right people, operate in the proper arenas so that the social elite of this world might take notice of us. We diligently strive for popularity and prosperity because humans believe that this is what it takes to be blessed and we confuse supply with the Supplier. We spend all our energy trying to reach high expectations that our flesh may be satisfied and after that, the little we have left we then give to God.
We must realize that the flesh will never be satisfied, and no matter what we have or achieve, no matter who knows your name, no matter how much success you get, you will never be truly blessed until you “Let God be First.” (Matthew 6:33)
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
The mentality of society is get all these things first and if you have time then seek God. We even find preachers whose basis of their ministry is prosperity. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with having material things, but the organization of it is important. God desires his people to be blessed and prosperous. (3rd John 1:2)
“Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
God is the King, and we are his children, and we should prosper, but first he wants us to put Him first, so He can direct our path to have more anointing, more wisdom, and more understanding. Once we have achieved these things then all the other stuff will be added unto you.
There are many people in our society who have achieved great prosperity & fame, they drive expensive nice cars, live in fine houses, travel to all the exotic places, but then you hear on the news that they have taken their own lives. Why would they do something like that, they had everything going for them? The answer is, they didn’t Let God be First.
When you Let God be First, he becomes your superman; He leads you through the hostile territory of the devil. He points out the land mines and the traps that the enemy has set to catch you and leads you around them to safety. (John 15:5)
“I am the vine and ye are the branches.”
Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches. You don’t have to shake the Pope’s hand in other to be blessed, all you have to do is stay connected to the vine. When you let God be first, you’ll know your deliverance is in the vine, your strength is in the vine, your joy is in the vine. Your peace and stability are in the Vine.
When you Let God be First, things that used to get on your nerves, don’t get on your nerves anymore. When you Let God be First you can hear bad news and still have joy. If you want the devil to leave you alone, Let God be First. Amen.