Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at a passage of scripture from Matthew chapter 6, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago back in January of 1848 they discovered gold out in Northern California. It was discovered at a location known as Sutter’s Mill on the American River. After they found gold nuggets they attempted to keep the discovery a secret, but one year later thousands of prospectors, known today as the 49ers, left their homes and their families hoping to strike it rich out in California. By the mid-1850s there were so many people that were looking for gold in California that more than a quarter of a million people migrated to the West Coast.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Whenever you seek something, it means that you’re trying to attempt to find it. As we learned today, there were lots of people who were seeking to find gold. There are people today out in the world who seek after food. There are people who seek after shelter. There are also people who are seeking the TRUTH.
Matt 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
What do you go looking for in your life? When you get hungry what do you do? Maybe you run downstairs to the kitchen and open up the refrigerator door. The Bible teaches us that we are supposed to hunger after truth. We are supposed to hunger for the Word of God.
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
A person can run down to a fast food restaurant and order a burger and fries, but that only will fill your stomach. There were many people who were following Jesus Christ just to get free bread 2000 years ago. The Lord Jesus teaches us here, that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are going to be filled.
Where do we find righteousness?
What you have to do iS open up the Bible. The teachings found in the Holy scriptures are God holy Word and God is perfectly holy just and righteous. If we want to grow in righteousness we have to seek him. We have to seek the truth. When you have that mindset, Jesus says you are blessed.
When you’re blessed, you are enjoying the bliss of heaven. When you are blessed you enjoy happiness and satisfaction. God wants to bless us but we must hunger and thirst after righteousness.
What is something that you go looking for during your day? What is it that you are personally attempting to find each day? Seek means to go in search of something. It also means to try to discover.
Again…
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Each of us can seek God early in our morning and spend some time with the Lord first thing when we wake up, or you could pray the last thing of your day when you go to sleep at night.
The Bible teaches us to seek ye first the kingdom of God. God needs to be first in everything. He needs to be the first thing that we think about when we wake up. He needs to be first in all of our decision-making. He needs to be first before any other personal relationships whether it’s a wife, family members, or with neighbors.
Jesus needs to be first in everything. He needs to be our greatest friend. The word first means coming before all others in time or order. It means the earliest.
Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Proverbs 8:17
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
1st Chronicles 16:11
Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.
What is the first thing that you do during your day? Some people will get up and take a shower. Some people will go fry up a few eggs on the stove.
Psalm 149:5
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Obviously people pray to God and praise Him during worship somewhere, but how many people sing praises to Him upon their beds?
Psalm 100:1-2
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Singing and praising the Lord is something that our God truly appreciates.
Ephesians 5:19
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
God really enjoys when he hears our praises. After all, look at everything that he has done for us!
When you were born into this world what did you have to do to inherit the earth? It was all freely given to us! Each of us enjoy the water that he gives for us to drink. Each of us enjoy the food that grows up out of the ground, like a miracle. God gives us even the animals to watch and enjoy! You didn’t do anything to receive this free inheritance, He freely gave it to us!
He deserves as much praise as we can possibly give Him! Sing sing sing and let our praises ring.
When you wake up in the morning, do you think about the Lord and all of these things? Is he first in your thoughts?
Colossians 3:1
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Seeking the Lord Jesus first in our day and all of our decisions, shows Him how much that we love them. Abraham was called the friend of God.
We want to put Jesus first and show him how good of friends we can be towards him in obeying him and what he taught.
John 15:14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Matthew 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
During all the years I’ve been married to my beloved wife, I’ve always told her that I care about her and love her. But I’ve always told her that I love somebody else more then her. That will never change. God is supposed to be our first and greatest love.
Our love for him has to be greater than any of our personal relationships here upon this Earth. That includes a relationship with your wife, relatives, family, or neighbors.
Our Lord created everything that we have here upon this Earth. He even died on the cross so that we could have forgiveness with God. His kindness and love shown towards this world demands our friendship and loyalty to him forever.
Although were commanded to love others in this world, Jesus has to be the greatest love over everything else. If he isn’t, you can make poor decisions. You can make mistakes. You can fall into sin. When we put Christ first, above all others, God is going to bless us. To put Christ first in your life is to have a desire to obey the things that he taught in His Word.
Psalms 9:10
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.❌
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
To draw nigh unto God requires a seeking heart on our part. Once again I ask you, what are you searching for each day ?
Are you like one of the gold mining 49ers who are trying to find treasure?
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in God the father and Christ Jesus. (Col 2:2)
Moses could have had all the treasures and riches of Egypt, but the treasures that Moses truly wanted in his heart was to know God. These are treasures that nobody can take away from you. To find these treasures requires a seeking heart. You need to seek these spiritual riches just like a gold miner who starts digging into the side of that mountain to find some precious nuggets.
Each of us need to seek after Christ and His Word in the same manner. There is no other greater treasure that you will ever find on this Earth than the teachings found in the scriptures.
If you really want to do some gold mining with me today then let’s open up the Bible together, and let’s see what riches we can find! It’s a spiritual….
……..Gold Rush
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching tlkjbc, or by going to hipcast, buzzsprout or amazon, or by getting our entire podcast feeds directly at tlkjbc.com, or I suppose, you can find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 