“Seek ye first...” Bro Albert Burkett Crusade Night #6

Focus text: Matthew 6:24-34

The theme chosen is a most appropriate one “ Seek ye first the kingdom of God” but what does this really mean?

Seek by definition means : looking for something or looking into something

This is an action word, if we are seeking we must be moving, we cannot seek and sit and do nothing. Most of us, if we were to ask someone looking on at our lives what we appear to be seeking after would unfortunately find God at the top of the list.

We all pursue things on life and nothing is wrong with that, however some of us seek God after all the temporal things have been gained or when everything else fails, therein lies the problem.

Whatever it is that we are seeking, if we are not seeking the kingdom of God our seeking is in vain.

Many seek after fame, houses, land, cars, people/relationships and the list goes on. Some of us are even still seeking after material things when we are on our death bed. We still worry about who is going to get the house or take care of the car.

When does seeking after these things become wrong..... when they take the place of God. Many of us get an education to get a good job to earn money to be able to do the things we want to do and all that is good. However when we begin to seek these things before God it becomes wrong.

The kingdom of God like any other is ruled by a king - Almighty God. He urges us to seek after his kingdom. If we ask ourselves why seek God and his kingdom we will find answers in His word. 17

We all come to God for a reason, we come to God because we are seeking something from Him. We are seeking a treasure that will last forever, that thieves cannot steal. Nothing in this world can take away the investment we make in God.

Christ is our father, our provider, our friend, our saviour. He loves us with an everlasting love. If we understand the attributes of God we need not worry about anything.

GOD OWNS EVERYTHING! Not just some things.

God knows each of us better than we know ourselves, he knows our strengths, weaknesses, attributes, he knows what we can handle. Many of us want to be blessed with things that we cannot handle and even worry about not having those things.

We cannot expect to be able to handle much when we can barely manage the little we have. We cannot want to run the 3000m when we cannot even finish the 100m dash.

We cannot be seeking God and doing what we want to do. We have to be living the way God wants us to and in order to do this we have to be living in His word, then we will learn who God is and what he desires for us.

If you get something and it draws you further from God check the source! Re-evaluate and ask yourself if this is really a gift from God.

Think about it.... “this life vs the afterlife?”

Which holds more importance to you?

The Bible says that where your heart is there your treasure will be also. Some of us as Christians have our eyes fixed on the golden egg instead of the goose. Fix your eyes on the goose, the source! The recipe for riches of any kind is to fix your eyes on the goose, the source, JESUS CHRIST. If we focus on the goose we will have all that it lays.

Many times we have to seek God even when we don't feel like it. We have to understand that our relationship with God is not dependent on our feelings. If we are not grounded in God’s word, then we will be lost and distracted when feelings of discouragement come.

We must seek the Lord willingly before he demands our attention! If we make God have to seek us, then we may end up in trouble. All of us have to bow before God and acknowledge his lordship one day, isn't is better to choose than to be forced?

We must seek God regardless of our situation, at times we seek God but get side-tracked because of our situation or other persons’ situations, we lose sight of our focus. Many times what people see in us can even be a deterrent from coming to God because we are seeking the wrong things.

Many of us are stumbling blocks for others. Be careful what you are seeking after. Before we close the service tonight, check yourself, check your treasure, what is your heart fixed on? We may be seeking after so many other things and find Christ too late.

Seek God first while you can because you may run out of time. No matter the wealth we accumulate in this life it cannot serve us. “I for one don’t want to be rich, just the thought of all that you have that you cannot take with you to the other side would take me to glory early” Do not store up for yourselves treasure where cancer can come and take it, where they can take the car, where earthquakes can come and destroy the house, store them in heaven!

Ask yourselves... ‘When should I seek God?...... NOW!

Sometimes in order to see God effectively and in the right time we have to move some people, we have to be like Zacchaeus who pushed through the crows to see Jesus. Zacchaeus took himself away from the crowd and elevated himself to a place where he could see Jesus clearly. We need to do that; we need to elevate ourselves to a place where we can see God. We have to climb above the crowd.

No matter your situation, keep climbing above it so that you can see God because once you seek and find God you can never be the same. When we seek God, find him and know him we will no longer worry.

TMCSCOC2017