Signs That We Are Seeking the Kingdom of God First

We'll be...consinct. You know, outside real, as you heard earlier, I'll look for a hotel for four and a half hours. And you know, it's easy to get lost. It really is easy to get lost. Even when you know where you're going, it's easy to get lost. And you know, in this society, we see very good people, very kind, very loving, very religious, and they really are trying hard.

And sometimes we ask, but how come? What about these people? You know, they're trying hard. And it appears that they really are Christians in many ways. And so the question should come to us to say, what are the signs that we are indeed acting and behaving as Jesus Christ wants us to be?

What are the tell-signs, tell-tale signs that we're indeed living and worshipping as He wants us to be? You know, when we go into other groups, like I did, as my trip to Brazil, I found people praying very eloquently, very impressive in public, very emotional. Very impressed with and asking a lot of questions about spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues. Many questions I had about that, such as, I saw even people that they say they would praise God and sing in church and clap and dance in church.

They would, I mean, one of the groups I went, they said, they start at six in the morning and they have singing and dancing there. And when church starts at ten o'clock, they're really kind of in the mood, you know?

In the mood. Now, is this what God expects out of us? Is this what people should be doing? People are asking, when asking questions about miracles. I mean, well, I've been in this group and these miracles, people are being healed, the doctors could not do anything, and people are healed. This is definitely a sign. And it reminded me of John 6, verse 30. Let me just give you that as a start, because that's what people said. People came to Jesus and said, and therefore they said to him, what sign will you perform then?

Then we may see it and believe you. So they say, you know, you're coming out of the United Church of God, what sign are you going to do? And then we can believe that you're the one. So they're kind of looking for miracles, for signs, for great emotional things. And I went there, very subdued, very quiet, and just saying, well, this is the way, this is the truth, this is the law, and this is what you're going to do. There were no signs, no great miracles, no great shorts.

Reminds me of that story about a still, small voice that's where God was in. You know, that still, small voice. It's to the law and to the testimony, and that's what it is. It's not the sign. I mean, you look at also in Matthew 6 verse 30, the sign numbers are verses, but it's in Matthew. Matthew 6 verse 30. It's got the same sort of situation. Let's see, it says here now, starting in verse 30, it says, Now if God so close the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is round into the oven, will you not so much clothe you of little faith?

Do not worry about these things. For God knows these things, and then in verse 33 it says, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. It doesn't say, seek first for a sign, for miracles. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. You know, when you are going to a specific place and you have a place where to go, you need a GPS, you need directions to get there, and that's what you're seeking, that destination.

And it says, seek your first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What people are reading that, what people are reading that is, seek first Jesus in your life and make yourself more righteous. That's what people read in that. Seek Jesus first in your life, and that's not what it says. Now, the gospel of the kingdom of God is not the life, the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And that's what the world gets confused with. Surely, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the means of eternal life into the kingdom of God. It's the way. Because Christ says, I am the way, I'm the life, but that's not the final destination. The final destination is the kingdom of God. Christ is the way. But if we make Christ the destination, we're actually getting the wrong directions on the GPS for where to go, and we're going to miss, and we go the wrong way. And it's so easy to go the wrong way. So it is important for us, brethren, to understand what the kingdom of God is.

In other words, it's important for us to understand where we are going, the coordinates in the GPS of where we need to go. That's what it is, the kingdom of God.

What does it mean to have the kingdom of God on earth? Do you understand that?

Do you understand how it will affect us how to live? And it will affect our whole being, how we act, and how we live, and how we prepare for the kingdom of God, how we prepare to rule in the kingdom of God. If in this life, brethren, we only have the idea of Jesus, of who He is and where He is, which is what Christianity has today, and if we don't know where we are going, then we'll not aim to the right goal. Then we'll go in the wrong direction.

Acting and living, surely, sincerely, but as some people used to say, sincerely, not.

We need to act and live in a way that is pleasing to God.

So, my question is, what are the telltale signs in our lives that you and I are seeking the kingdom of God first? What are the telltale signs in our lives that we're putting the kingdom of God first in our priorities? And so what? Why do we ask the question? Because if you're not aiming to the right place, you're going to end up in the wrong way, in the wrong direction, even though you may be very sincere. Sincerity is not the question. It's actually whether you're going to the right target, or whether we are going to the right target. You see, the kingdom of God is a very family of God that one enters in as his sons and daughters when we are given eternal life.

In a body that does not die, in a body to come at our resurrection, that's the kingdom of God. It's that family of God that we can enter in, which is a ruling family. And the point here is that it's easy to get off that road. It is so easy, brethren. And what people try to do, they try to do is develop their own righteousness, their own standards of doing things, seeking their own righteousness to actually get there.

Look at the Pharisees. They try to create their own standards of righteousness, which Christ said, you hypocrites! It's useless! It says, your righteousness to far exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. And man, if somebody tried to be righteous, they did. So if you and I are going to try to be righteous, we're going to miss the mark by a mile. That's why it says, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. In other words, have God's righteousness, not our righteousness.

Just one chapter or two before in Matthew 5 verse 20.

Matthew 5 verse 20. Christ there is saying, for I say unto you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God by no means.

So we need to seek the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, not our own fabricated righteousness.

And regrettably, that's the story of mankind. They have developed their own standards of righteousness.

And we've seen it time and time again. You can see it in different ways. And that Satan uses this, uses this to deceive people. And when we have the right goal, and therefore the right priorities, that is a life-changing effect. That changes how we live.

This is Jesus Christ's goal for you and I to be in the kingdom of God. But it is so easy to get off the track. It's so easy to get carried away with events or with religious sentiments and emotions as I've seen. I mean, I saw in Brazil where I was shown that Gnosticism is a practiced religion.

Gnosticism, they have their own website that's called Gnostic Religion. It's a religion besides many others. It's unbelievable. And Satan tries to sidetrack you and I with whatever diversion. It doesn't matter whether it's to the left or to the right or up or down or versus side road or that side road. As much as you don't get to the destination, that's okay. So that's why he tries to deceive us about who we are, why we were born. He tries to deceive us with physical possessions, the importance of self. He tries to sidetrack us with temporary issues.

And if we're getting to religion, well, there's a whole menu of options. They're all wrong.

I mean, I could, for instance, group them into three, and obviously you can probably group them into many more. I just go for three. One is a typical Protestant, I mean, we're not even talking about the Catholic and others and pagan religions, but the typical Protestant, the Trinity belief.

How much about the Trinity belief? You struggle understanding who Christ is, who God is, who basically neglecting or denying who Christ is. You really are denying who Christ is.

Then you have the private crucifixion, basically denies the Messiah, the only sign they left us.

Then they hide what the millennium is all about, because you go to heaven, and even some believe the millennium is a time of checking the books for a thousand years and seeing whether God was just or not. I mean, you know that there are groups that believe in that. And obviously, the most critical of them all is they believe that this is the only day of salvation. It's so they gotta save every soul, quote-unquote. Now, otherwise, there's no hope. So this whole thing, the typical Protestant approach, is one kind of menu of variety of options in sidetracking. And then there's the typical evangelical approach. I mean, I've witnessed it with false signs, lying wonders, false spiritual gifts, speaking in strange terms. I mean, I had questions about that, and they had to answer it, because they signed. And you know what? That's what they did to Christ. And he says, what sign would he give us that you are the Messiah? And Christ said, I'll give you no sign, but one, and I'll be in the grave, the cemetery to power. That was the sign. But just today, they were asking, what sign? What work are you going to do that we're going to believe that you are the one? And other signs they're looking for, tongues and miracles and healings.

I had to do a study with him during my trip about this, and I found out something very interesting that I didn't know. Neocorrots. There was a town called Delphi. In this town called Delphi, Neocorrots, there were people there that spoke in tongues, so-called Rosolei. In other words, they had a priestess there, a priestess of Apollo in a shrine in Delphi, near Corinth.

And they had this phenomenon which was a pagan, Hellenistic religion of broken speech patterns, of people in religious ecstasy. No wonder they would have bands and music and get themselves wrapped up into a frenzy, so that they get into this wrong spirit. And this priestess of Apollo, Akochia, would work herself into a religious frenzy and then fall down to the ground in often a sort of convulsive fit and come under the possession of the God, while in this site she would babble unintelligible words that were interpreted by the priests.

And so, in Corinth, the people were being offended by this. That's why Paul in Corinth says, you know, speaking in tongues, because there was the so-called speaking in tongues in Acts 2, and people misinterpret that. So he had to lovingly direct these people from wrong practices to say, oh well, but the apostles spoke in tongues. Yes, but it was an understandable tongue, as we read in Acts 2, verses 6 to 11, was a noun tongue, so that the people would understand. In other words, God was doing wonders and signs by the apostles. Why? Because God was acting in a special way to make clear his involvement and blessing, and was done decently in order. But false and devils also do miracles and also do things, deceiving people. I mean, looking in Matthew 24, 24, you've read the scripture many times, Matthew 24, 24. That's the scripture there on the temple, and that's prophetic scripture. And it says in verse 24, it says, For false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders. There is great miracles to deceive, if possible, even the elite. Brethren, the apostles, yes, they did wonders, they did signs, and the two witnesses will do that again. But it will do with a purpose to achieve a goal for God's purpose, not for this thing, which they just do it so that to prove that this person is more spiritually inspired than the one next to the other one. That is a selfish motive, and that is not Godly. That is not Godly. So the question is, when we see these things, we see different things. We saw, what I saw in my trip to Brazil, a very strong influence of evangelical things. But another thing that I saw in Church of God, Seventh-day Day, is that then they went, and they went completely Jewish, Messianic Jewish type of approach. One of them says, yeah, but you have to go back to the proper. You've got to put the name, correct the name. So they had the New Testament, and whatever it says, Jesus, it said, Yeshua, every time. And he says, no, you've got, and this is a whole Bible they had in Portuguese, all that. And they call it a Pashiva, or whatever it was, because it's a Bible written by the Messianic Jews. So I asked him two questions. First, the New Testament was written in what language? The manuscripts. The original New Testament manuscripts are written in what language? So after you think about New Greek, that was in Greek.

Now, how is Jesus' name written in the inspired manuscripts in the inspired language? Jesus' name is the Greek word, which is Jesus. Not Yeshua. So it was translated to Greek. So if that is the inspired word, that is what we've got. You can't tell me now that you got to return to the correct words. Because now you're worshiping a word or a name, not worshiping the true God.

So that was one question asked. Then I asked another question. You said you've been with other people. Do you believe in what some of the things the Jehovah's Witnesses say? No, I don't. Well, why don't you believe? Why don't you believe in their Bible? Oh, no, because they wrote their own Bible. But they did. So why is it wrong? Oh, it's because by writing their own Bible, they could put their own meanings into the Bible. Aha! So why does the messianic Jews write their own Bible? To put their own meaning into that? Oh, okay. That ends up how it's no good now. Well, at least they had an open mind, you see. But you see, this is a problem. That if you've seen it's happening in the Church of God's sinner today, it's going to happen in the Churches of God, a push towards Judaism. Be careful! It's going to happen! It's going to happen! When I was talking to this to Randy Stiver just yesterday, he told me, because he's in the management meetings, he sees that in certain groups they've already started to drop up in the Churches of God, he understands.

So Satan's tricks, Jews got the same tricks time and time again to divert people from the truth.

Whatever it is, whether it's Protestantism with trinity, that God is the Christ not God, and whatever it is, or with evangelical emotional things, or going all the way Jewish, he will come up with any other, or Catholic, or whatever. I had even some people say the false prophet is going to be a Muslim, and it got very good logical reasons to say that.

And it's unbelievable! And so it goes on, because immediately they say that they break away with all the meaning of the Roman Empire, and all that is broken away. They're broken away with the meaning of the understanding of Israel. They're broken away with all that. So there are many things that are not the true signs of God. So what are the true signs that you are seeking the Kingdom of God first in your life? There are many scriptures that cover that, but let me just go through simple sections in the Bible that show us what are the true signs that you and I are seeking the Kingdom of God first. The first section is in Colossians chapter 3.

And if we start in verse 1, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above.

You're going to seek the Kingdom of God first. Seek what? Seek those things above where Christ is, the values of Christ, the attitude of mind of Christ, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is even with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also appear with them in glory. See, it's not wrong to seek glory. You can make another here. Romans chapter 2 verse 7, seek glory, and immortality, seek glory. But it's the right glory. It's legitimate glory. And when that glory comes, you will not seek it for yourself. You'll seek it because you want the best for other people. It's the right glory. Now then you continue on, verse 5, Therefore put to death your members which are on earth. And there's all the filth and dirt and things of the flesh, fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. So if we are putting God first, we are going to be, and if we are seeking the kingdom of God, we're going to put these things out. Put to death these things. Verse 7, In which you yourselves once walked, and St. Croesene acts in the past tense.

You once walked. That means, after baptism, you should have put these things out. Gone. Gone.

But now, you yourselves have to put off additional things. You see, those things you walked in the past. Those things of verse 5, you walk on those things before baptism. You put them off. But now that you baptized, now in God's church, now you're going to put off even additional things.

And then now, you yourselves have to put off these anger. Anger towards others. You know, allowing emotions and be angry. Anger in a family. Anger between husband and wife, and anger between with the children. And you just gotta work these things out, and make peace. Wrath.

Road rage, for instance. You know, people driving on the road and really being angry. If we have these things, it shows that we do not have the kingdom of God first in our lives. Then he goes on.

Malice. Deep rooted. Deep rooted. Malice against other people. Just don't like them.

Malice. Blasphemy. Filthy language out of your mouth. I mean, it's just disrespectful, other people. Complete outright disrespectful, either. That's not love. Verse 9, do not lie to one another. I mean, not speaking the truth. Painting the truth, painting the facts in a different light. So you cannot look better. Since you have put off the old man with these deeds. So we have to put these things off now. And then he goes on. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who's created him.

There is not a Greek, no Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised. So we've got to put on. We've got to treat each other with respect. We've got to put on a new man. We've got to be different.

We've got to put on. And it goes on with different characteristics of kindness and humility and mickness and long suffering, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. But above all these things, put on love, which is upon the perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you also are called in one body and be thankful. So the signs of seeking God's kingdom first are not these emotional things of, you know, while somebody's praying, people are praying at the same time loud and saying other words and things like that, or having great miracles and things like that. That's what a wicked and adulterous generation looks for. That's what Christ said.

We've got to learn a different, clean life in holiness, in a soft-spoken way. It's really a different mentality. It's seeking the things above. That is the truth seeking of the kingdom first and His righteousness. Also, there's another section. So that section is a nice section for you to do some study about things that are signs that we should have in our lives if we seek the kingdom of God first. Another interesting section, there are many others, but just the second section that I just want to highlight, believe me, is in Matthew 6. In Matthew 6, it starts in the first few verses about charitable deeds, from verse 1 to verse 4. And it was basically serving other people, going out of your way and serving other people in charitable ways, and doing it quietly, in secret, but just doing deeds of service. So you're not showing off. You're doing it quietly.

Verse 5 through 15, it talks about prayer, and gives you a model prayer there. But basically, again, it says you pray, pray quietly. You know, I witnessed things that people were praying very eloquently in front of others in church, lifting up their hands, and, whoa, it shows that you're very religious because you're lifting up your hands, and very eloquent. But it was a show. It was a show. So, yes, Christ sang, pray to your father, who is in a secret place, and your father who sees in secret, who rewards you openly, and not vain repetitions, and many words, and so on. Just short prayers, and to the point, and things like that. And then, a little further, in verse 16 through 18, talks about fasting. Again, in private, look at it in verse 18, so that, do not appear to man to be fasting, but to your father, who is in heaven, who is in secret place, and your father who sees in secret, who rewards you openly. So, again, it's a whole different approach. It's not an exhibitionist, a showest approach, like the evangelicals are, but it's a very quiet, humble, serving, and close to God, and having a whole different spirit.

And then, from there, it goes on to the next section, where it talks about your basic sustenance. In verse 19 onwards, your basic sustenance, don't worry about those material things. Don't be anxious about those things. And then, it concludes that section by saying, sit first, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. You see, brethren, Satan receives us in many other directions. And I've just given you some two simple sections of the Bible, where it shows some real signs of following God the right way, seeking the kingdom of God first. Some simple signs. There are many other sections that you can really elaborate on your own Bible study. And if you do a Bible study on those sections, and using some concordance, you will find other scriptures that you'll just see very uplifting and encouraging, and positive. And so, what must we seek? We must seek God's righteousness. And that is in secret. That is not a show-off. That is not with babblings. That is not with emotions in church, and all these other things. No. But Paul had a challenge. I mean, the other was in Corinth. I mean, there was a church in Corinth, where they had... they're being affected by pagan beliefs, Greek, Hellenistic pagan beliefs. They spoke in tongues. They had women speaking in church. They had a woman praying in church. They were women wearing things incorrectly to appear more religious, with things on the head, and etc. There were people getting drunk in church. You can read that in Corinth. People getting drunk in church. There were men committing adultery of the worst kind of church. They were buying interpretation of spiritual gifts. That was the challenge he had in Corinth. And he was carefully separating the right from the wrong and guiding them in the correct way. Regrettably, many churches today take these things in Corinth, the letters of Corinth, first Corinth, and misinterpret them, juggle it up all the wrong way. But if you keep in mind that Paul had a challenge. He only had people that were trying to follow God, but they were still bringing in these things where they came from. They still were being affected by this. So he went there for a while, and then he'll disappear. Like I go to Brazil, I go through a while, I show them the right way, and then it'll disappear. Then I go there again. And then, you know, you have a challenge to navigate through this maze of confusion. That's what Paul was going through. And that's what the letter of Corinth was all about. Brethren, we need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's not an exhibition, but it is something that you and I need to pray for wisdom and to understand those true signs. Because remember one thing, remember one thing. Time is short. Time is very short.

Really, time is very short. Let nobody tell you otherwise. Time is very short.

God is removing the blessings from the States. I was with one person in Brazil, they told me.

They told me, and I was amazed, and he not understanding things, he told me. He says, what is wrong with the States? Since Obama has taken rulership, what's going on with all this nonsense, all these bad weathers and all these things happening in America? Yeah, we are. We are peaceful. There's nothing happening. But it's always happening in the States. What is happening?

There was an incisive bit of wisdom from somebody out on the blue. Brethren, God is removing the blessings from this country. The train has left the station. It's just a question of time.

And I tell you, it's very little time. Very little time. So let us pray and be wise, because Satan is going to get stronger and stronger to deceive you. He will try and deceive you.

Whatever trick, he will try and get you off the track. And we got to be very close to what is the purpose of the Kingdom of God, what it is, where are we going, so that we really, with great humility, every day, starting every day with great humility before God, asking God to help us stay on the track the right way. To put on the daily bread, which is God's only Spirit, and to ask for the Kingdom to come and use that model of prayer in the right way every day. Because brethren, the time is short. Let us not forget our destination. We have a lot to prepare to be kings.

We've got a lot to prepare. Let us be prepared, because the marriage will come, and some of us will be prepared, and some will not. You don't want to be amongst those that you misuse the time, and you're not prepared, because some will not be ready.

But Christ will not delay it any longer.