Seek First the Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God, the first priority of life. Jesus Christ said, Matthew 6, 33, "...seek you first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." The context of this is within Jesus saying that he cared for all things, the lilies of the field, everything that is in nature. Why should we be filled with anxious care and concern? Anxious care and concern is one of the four great enemies of faith. The four great enemies of faith are anxious care in Matthew 6, fear, which is in Matthew 8, doubt in Matthew 14, and human reasoning apart from the word of God in Matthew 16. The first priority in life, Jesus Christ says, "...seek you first, the kingdom of God." Jesus himself, when praying, when the disciples asked him about teaching them to pray, in the model prayer, one of the things that he prayed was, "...your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And of course, we see in today's world that things are not being done on this earth according to the will of God. It is so far from it that it's just unbelievable. There is a chasm that cannot be filled by human hands or the human mind.

The peoples of this world desperately need the kingdom of God. We're living in the most critical, crucial times in human history. Tough, transitional times. There's never been a time like this. Every facet of the world's structure is in trouble. And the peoples of the world are filled with fear and anxiety, wondering where the next shoe will drop. And increasingly, we have people like this fellow you see here, the elderly. I was reading recently where China is now facing a tremendous problem with the elderly because they now have millions of elderly that have flooded into the city in this great economic boom that they've experienced during the last two decades.

And they don't know what they're going to do with them. Because the average living space in China, even for people that have families, is probably half as big as this stage. Of course, another thing that's happened in China is that they limit families to one child, and they want that child to be a male. So now they have a tremendous surplus of male children. They have a standing army. Some say that North Korea has a world's largest standing army. Everybody else is starving. But China has a large standing army. And there's no nation on earth today that does not be set with tremendous problems. World's woes.

Trust in general has been destroyed. Virtually no one trusts anyone else. And as the more we try to plug all the holes of the chasm that exists in trust, it seems the worse trust gets. So we see corruption in government at every level, from the local level to national and international. Economic woes all over the world. There are two great meetings taking place in the United States today.

You've probably heard very little about those two meetings. If you have heard about the meetings, probably one in Chicago more because there are hundreds, yeah, even thousands of demonstrators have shown up. But first of all, the big meeting today, the G8, the G8 consists of the principal economic powers on the face of the earth today, like Germany and France.

Italy is in there, though Italy is surely not a great economic power. And England and Spain and Russia and Japan and the United States and Canada. The G8, meeting at Camp David this very day, Camp David is in Maryland, established some 30-40 years ago as a presidential retreat, four occasions where international dignitaries and so on would come and be in somewhat isolation to discuss the great problems that the world faces. So that meeting is going on today at Camp David, and tomorrow begins a NATO summit in Chicago, Illinois.

And the protesters and the demonstrators are out there already today demonstrating and protesting en masse. NATO consists of 27 nations. Basically, if you draw a line from Eastern Europe down to the Mediterranean, everything west of that line is in NATO. Of course, Turkey is trying to get into NATO, and that's basically where the dividing line is. Russia is not in NATO, but the rest of the Western world basically is in NATO. And generally, NATO is the western bloc that goes to when there is war. The NATO nations join together, and supposedly they are to view an attack on one as an attack on all kind of thing.

But basically, the main power, of course, in NATO consists of the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and then there are lesser nations with regard to military power. Famine and disease, more and more, there are over 40 million Americans on food stamps. I think it's closer to 50 million than 40. There's been a tremendous increase in the number of Americans on food stamps in the past three to four years. Morals in a state of decay and disarray.

A new survey released recently states one in five Americans are mentally ill. And a lot of it has to do with the tremendous stress and distress that we find upon people today, and so much of it is economic, financial, and we have more and more placing our peoples into a state of dependence, dependence on central powers to take care of them. War and rumors of war. Every day you hear more and more about wars and rumors of war around the world. All the world's major religions are looking for Messiah to come on the scene and to relieve the world of its great problems. The Buddhists are looking for the fifth Buddha. Hindus are looking for Krishna. The Islamic world is looking for the Grand Mahdi.

Of these groups, they're looking for the return of Jesus Christ. Among the top two would be the Islamic world. And basically the Islamic world is divided into two major sects, S-E-C-T-S.

One is the Sunni. The Sunni sect comprises about 75 to 80 percent of Islam. And basically the Sunnis are from west of Iran. And of course there are some Sunnis in Iraq and in Syria. And scattered throughout the Middle East. But the main Shiite stronghold is Iran. In fact, they call themselves a Shiite republic. And they think that they, through creating chaos and confusion in the world, will hasten the return of the Mahdi. They call him the 12th Imam. And of course they're really not that concerned. They play the pretend role of making peace. And there's another nuclear summit discussing nuclear weapons going to come up in a couple of weeks with Iran and some of the other major powers. The New Agers are looking for Maitreya. The Jews are looking for a Messiah. They're not looking for the Son of God from heaven. They're looking for a human being. And we'll see that in the second part of our presentation here today. And the Christians are looking for the Second Coming of Christ. And the Christians and the Islamic world are really the two major ones with regard to really trumpeting what their cause is. The themes of the Bible. The great theme of the Bible centers on God's great plan of salvation. It centers on bringing us into a family relationship with God and with Christ and into the kingdom of God. In Hebrews 2.6, but one in a certain place testified, what is man that you're mindful of him or the Son of man that you visit him? Paul here in Hebrews 2.6 is quoting from Hebrews chapter 8 where David looked up into the starry skies in Palestine, a shepherd boy. He saw all the beauty of God's handiwork in the heavens, especially at night. And he asked that question, what is man that you're mindful of him? And then Paul shows us, for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. The theme continued, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. There is one divine essence, the Holy Spirit. The same spirit that is in God is in Christ, in each one of us. It says in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for by one spirit we all baptize into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, bond or free. So one spirit, the same spirit that is in God, is in Christ, is in us. And by the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, he will raise us from the dead, the spirit that dwells in us.

They are all of one, for which cause? He is not ashamed to call them brethren. So there is this, that's the way there is this family relationship. Because, yes, in the human family, in the same way that the offspring of parents share the same DNA, the genes and chromosomes, so we have that divine essence of God in us. Thus, we are in a family relationship. Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren in the midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto you?

And we will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. May and female have the same great transcendental purpose and potential in the family of God. Regardless of your gender, regardless of your socioeconomic status, God is not a respecter of persons. Every person who has every drawn breath or ever will has the same God-given potential, that is, to be in the family of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So the great theme of the Gospel. After the John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Remember the first priority, Matthew 6.33, seek you first the kingdom of God. And saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom is at hand, repent you and believe the Gospel. We'll talk more about repentance a little later on. The English word Gospel in the Greek is euangelion, meaning good news. And the United Church of God publishes a publication called The Good News magazine, The Good News of the Coming Kingdom of God. The Gospel is an all-inclusive message of good news that tells us how we may live forever in the kingdom of God. The Gospel message contains the very keys to the kingdom of God. It is a message of liberty. It's a message of hope. It is indeed good news. It is the best news that anyone could ever receive.

Creation cries out for the manifestation of the sons of God. Just as we read the woes of the world earlier on, how the world is desperately looking for a Messiah to come on the scene and the great woes of the world to be solved. The Bible prophesies this yearning way back in the days of Paul, and Paul wrote this, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestations of the sons of God, the showing of the sons of God. Of course, that will be after the resurrection for the creature, or creation was made subject to vanity. Vanity in this case means temporality, temporal, lasting a short time, and apart from God, we're going to die. Not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope, because the creation itself also should be delivered from the bondage of corruption and to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Even the earth itself cries out, but the earth is not a living thing, as the greenies would have you believe. Mother earth, where Mother earth is made in a really exalted above, God as being the mother of all living things.

But at the same time, one of the things it says in Revelation 18 is that Jesus, and I mean Revelation 11, I think it's verse 18, that one of the reasons Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth is to relieve the creation itself of the corruption and pollution that it has experienced at the hands of men. Remember, when God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He told them to dress the garden and to keep it. And of course, the earth is a beautiful place, but on the other hand, we have not really dressed it and kept it. Because God is love, He created humankind. The greatest motivating force in the universe is love, and we exist because God is love, outgoing concern for others. And because love is outgoing concern for others, it must be shared in order to be realized. Otherwise, it is contained within, and it's like self-love. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. 1 John 4.8. God is love is repeated twice in John, John 4. 1 John 4.16.

And we know and believe the love that God has toward us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in Him. So we exist. We draw breath because God is love. That's why you were created. That's why you were born, because God is love, and He wants to share His being with us. Because God is love, He wants to share who He is and what He is in a family setting in the kingdom of God. You can become a son or daughter of God, become a member of His family, and rule and reign with God and Christ and the saints in the kingdom of God forever and ever. That is the potential of every human being who has ever lived or ever will live, regardless of socioeconomic status, regardless of race, creed, color, any ethnic origin, any of that kind of thing. God is not a respecter of persons. I hope we understand that the reason that we exist is because God is love and He wants to share His being with us in the kingdom of God.

So understanding your great transcendental purpose, and every person sitting here today has a great transcendental purpose. Transcendental means above and beyond this human sphere of existence. If you can come to really comprehend why you were born, your life will take on a whole new meaning. It was somewhere in the early 1960s that I received a booklet titled, Why Were You Born?

I had already been convicted of the truth to a large degree, but once I read that booklet and understood to the depth of my being why I was born, why I draw breath, made all the difference in the world. Jesus states in John 8, 32, the truth will set you free. He says, you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You know, man can put you in servitude, man can put you in prison, man can torture you, man can do all kinds of things to you, but man cannot capture your mind and your spirit unless you permit it. Because if you are in God and in Christ, you have a shield before you, and regardless of the situation or circumstance, you can overcome. You can be freed from fear, ignorance, superstition, and the dogmas of man through the truth of God. You shall know the truth. The truth shall make you free. The greatest questions of life. Here's what I believe are the greatest questions of life. Of course, there are many others, but here are seven of the greatest questions of life. Does God exist? Who is God? What is God? What is His purpose? Of course, we just talked about His purpose. Who is man? What is man? And what is man's purpose? So let's look at each one of these briefly and give the Bible answer to each one quickly. There have been four great systems that have attempted to answer the great questions of life. Today, basically, number three here, science has taken over, and basically people are worshiping at the altar of science, trusting science to answer the great questions of life, looking to science for immortality. The first great system that, apart from the truth of God that tried to answer the great questions of life, was false religion. Beginning with Satan's encounter with Eve in the Garden of Eden, attempts to answer the great questions of life, the principal methodology of false religion is deceit and lies with an appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of light. Satan is the great deceiver. If you remember the scripture of Revelation 12.9, that old serpent, Satan the devil, that old dragon, who is deceiving the whole world. Another system that's tried to answer the great questions of life is philosophy.

Philosophy technically means love of wisdom. The principal methodology of philosophy is human reasoning, apart from the word of God. Philosophy asks more questions than it can answer.

Science, the principal methodology of science, is the so-called scientific method. Basically, what science says, if you cannot discern it through the four and five senses, then we cannot count it as being truth.

They appeal to the scientific method, and the principal methodology is, once again, human reasoning based on the data that is present.

Then the truth of God. The principal methodology of God is revelation. The spirit world is an unseen world. It is not discerned through the five senses. It is a spiritual matter, and we must look to the source of revelation if we're going to understand the great questions of life. Here's what the apostle Paul writes about revelation and coming to understand the things of God. But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man say the Spirit of man, which is in him, even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God. And it is through revelation. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. And through the Spirit of God and the Word of God, God reveals to us who he is, what he is, what is his purpose, who is man, what is man, and what is his purpose.

Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, and no matter how much research they do, scientists still cannot account for the order and design of the universe. They cannot explain the origin of life. You know, if I had no other proof with regard to the existence of God than this one, I would believe that there must be something greater in the universe, a greater intelligence, because nothing else makes sense.

The Faith Element. The first article of faith There is a faith element to the existence of God.

You cannot prove it in the physical sense. Science cannot account for the origin and design of the universe and the various life forms. God is invisible and is not comprehended by the five senses. We've already noted that spiritual knowledge must be revealed, and the Bible is God's revelation to humankind. So what is the first article of faith? If you're going to do anything spiritual, you have to believe that God exists. That's where it begins.

There is a scripture that says this very clearly, Hebrews 11.6, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that comes to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So all things spiritual spring from spiritual faith.

Types of faith. And we have faith in various physical laws, such as the law of gravity. We know if we get on the house and jump off, we're going to fall. We have faith in some people in place in our lives.

Sometimes we place our lives in their hands.

Every time we get in a car and drive down the road, especially these two-lane roads, you have faith that the other person is going to remain in his lane. And we come to believe certain things that we have been taught with all our heart.

But spiritual faith comes by hearing through the convicting power of the Spirit and Word of God. So if you're really going to be convicted of spiritual things, you'll have to pick up the Bible and begin to study and prove these things for yourself.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth that it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter—and the comforter is identified in John 14, 26, as the Holy Spirit—the comforter or the Holy Spirit will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove. That's what the King James translates the word Elancho as. The Greek word is Elancho, and it means to convict. Conviction has to do with laying a weight or a knowing within yourself that this thing is true. And it has somewhat of a motivating force. Say, I really need to act on this. This is true.

So the Holy Spirit will convict you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And then the Holy Spirit works in conjunction with the Word of God. As I said, you have to pick up the Bible and begin to read and study for yourself. So many people today, they just have a peace-beal kind of idea of God based on, well, I heard somebody say this, I heard this preacher say that, and I heard my neighbor say this and that and the other.

They really never open the pages of the Bible themselves and see for themselves what it really says. So that is one of the great challenges. If you would know God, you have to go to the source and the source of revelation that we have today, the Spirit and Word of God. How then shall they call on Him, and whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in Him, of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? So one of the reasons that God raised up a church through Jesus Christ was to take the gospel message, the good news of the coming kingdom of God, to the world.

So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God and the Spirit of God are equated in John 6, 63. It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. See, the Bible is called the book of life. It contains the words of life. It is a spiritual matter. We call it the holy book. Holy things have God's active presence within them. The Bible was revealed to human beings, and these men wrote these things down as they were inspired and moved by the Spirit of God, and they have been preserved for us today.

The second great question is, who is God? God is our Creator, our Father. So God created man in his own image, and the image of God created him. Male and female created him. So God is the great Creator, and he is our Father. But now, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are Potter, and we are all the work of your hand. So God is our Creator, he is our Father.

God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth. And, as we have noted, the Word of God reveals God's mind, his will, his way, his plan, his purpose to us. Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son a man that he should repent, but he said, and shall he not do it, or as he spoke, and shall he not make it good?

God is promised God who cannot lie, and he will keep his word. Every man at one time or another will lie, but God never lies. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which rewards not persons nor takes rewards. It cannot buy God off. A lot of corruption today in the political arena in government, in other facets of our society, but not with God.

What is God's purpose? For it became him for whom all things and by whom are all things, and bring him many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. See, the great spiritual purpose of God is to share his being with us in a family setting. So therefore he created human beings, and it made it possible that we could enter into a relationship with God and Christ and be partakers of his divine nature and eventually be resurrected and born into the kingdom of God, who is man.

God said, let us make man in our image. So as we've already read part of this, God created man in his own image. He created humankind with certain mental faculties that are akin to God. Man can reason. He can think. He can think about life after death.

He can think in many dimensions. He has the ability to create beautiful harmonious music. Of course, he also has the ability to create discordant, very upsetting, mind-bending music. It depends on who inspires it. So God created us in the image of God. By image, and shape here, it says God created man in his own image, and the image of God created him male and female created he them. But they were not created of the same essence as God.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust to the ground. See, God is spirit, and we are made of 16 chemical elements found in the dust to the ground. And breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and man became a living soul. The Hebrew word for soul is nefesh, it is used for human life and animal life. It means life potential.

We have great life potential. Human kind was created neutral and thus morally illiterate. In the moral sense, he was created neutral, not having sinned, but of course he was created subject to sin and death. In other words, he could choose which way he would go.

But God, the great teacher, instructed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, instructed the first humans to look to him for the knowledge of good and evil.

Of course, when it really got down to it, Eve went out into the garden for a walk. The great seducer deceived the devil that, O serpent, more settled than any beast of the field came, and he deceived Eve.

But God promised a Redeemer that would buy them back from sin and death, so their sins could be blotted out and they could receive the Holy Spirit, the very divine essence of God. The wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So what is man's purpose? The great purpose of humankind is to be born into the kingdom of God, the family of God, as glorious radiant spirit beings. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for we have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear.

We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Sorry.

And if children then heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Oftentimes, we overread something here, and if children then heirs of God.

What does that mean? See, what God is, God is Spirit, and He gives us His divine essence, and at the resurrection we become heirs of God, the children of His, and the kingdom of God. And we are joint heirs with Christ. I mean, if you mind can wrap around what the Scripture is saying there and realize the awesome potential that every human being has. How do you enter the kingdom of God? As we have noted, you have to come to understand God's great purpose and plan for your life and surrender, submit, and serve Him.

How do you come to that point? Let's see what Jesus said you must do.

We read this right at the beginning.

Now, after the John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent you and believe the gospel. So one of the great requirements for entering the kingdom of God is to repent.

Repent of sin. You might ask the question, well, what is sin? It seems that people today don't talk much about sin. You don't hear much about sin today. But sin is a reality, and if sin doesn't exist, why does the Scripture say that Christ died for our sins? I mean, it would be a farcical tragedy for Jesus Christ to come and die if there was not a debt to be paid, if sin had not incurred the death penalty. The wages of sin is death straight out of the Bible. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So what is sin?

In 1 John 3, 4, the Scriptures clearly say that sin is the transgression of the law. So breaking God's immutable spiritual law is sin.

The doctrine of Christ. The elementary things, the basic foundational things that a person must do to enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, leaving the principles of doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. Perfection begins with repentance, and it cuts across all of these.

Let us go on to perfection, not laying in the foundation of repentance from dead words. Remember Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. So it begins with repentance, repentance of your sins, to turn around and go the other way, to stop breaking God's immutable spiritual law.

So repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. In order to have your sins remitted, you must believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins. So faith in the sacrifice of Christ. That he came and paid the penalty for you, as we shall see. By the doctrine of baptisms, so after that you have repented and exercised faith in Jesus Christ for admission of sins, then you are baptized and receive the laying on of hands. Straight out of the Bible, Acts 8, and other places, after people in New Testament times, New Covenant times, New Covenant church were baptized, and then they received the laying on of hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit. And of resurrection of the dead, to understand the plan and purpose of God, and you come up out of those baptismal waters to live the new life, the resurrected life, the one directed by the Spirit and Word of God, and of eternal judgment. Of course, God is going to judge every human being who's ever lived. And it says in the scripture that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.

It would be better to do it now than later.

So you have to repent of your sins, exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ for admission sins that are passed, and be baptized and receive the laying on of hands. These are the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, as noted by the Apostle Paul. Christ, our perpetuation. That perpetuation means to go in the place of. For all have sinned, come short of the glory of God, everyone of us, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption. Redemption means the buying back power that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a perpetuation. He went in our stead. Instead of us having to die, Jesus Christ died for our sins, to be a perpetuation through faith in His blood.

Life is in the blood, to declare His righteousness for remission of sins that are passed, and so the slate can be wiped clean, and sins removed as far as the east is from the west, to be remembered no more. We might remember them, and other people might remember them, but the Bible says that God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west, and that's infinity.

For their mission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. God is long-suffering, merciful, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But there is a time in which judgment does come. Verse is out of place there, but we have already talked about the Bible definition of sin.

So let's summarize what we have said here in this first session. We're about to take a 10-minute break if you need to go to the restroom or whatever. We have a table set back there where you can get a drink of water. We'll come back in 10 minutes. We've explained what is meant by a kingdom. We've explained that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom. We've explained why you were born. We've explained what you must do to enter the kingdom of God. We've explained what you will be in the kingdom of God. Glorious, radiant, spirit beings, heirs of God, and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. In the second session, we will explore and explain the great sign that marks the countdown to the end of this age. There is a scripture that says, after this sign, you begin a countdown, and blessed are they that come to this point.