Seeking first the Kingdom of God

Joseph Parker, Pastor of Trinity AME Church, talks about Matthew 6:33 and seeking the Kingdom of God.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Matthew 6:33 - Seek ye first... what do you get out of this particular passage?

It's a foundational truth that's mentioned specifically in Matthew 6. But the truth is there from Genesis on.

I think of the fact that God calls all of us to follow the wisdom of that scripture. As we learn to do that, we find that God's hand of grace will help us.

The word here for "first," in this passage means "only" - seek ye only - what makes that so hard to do?

I think it helps to look at the meaning of the word, the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is the...will of God, the method of God...it's closely connected to the anointing of God.

I think it's important to know that we live in a world where warfare is going on like it or not.

The Kingdom of God is God's side. The fact is, like it or not, everyday we're in battle.

Like it or not, war has come to us...one of the needs for us as believers to think properly as we're in war.

Lots of people in life, obviously those who don't know God and even sometimes those who are saved, try to go to war with sticks and stones.

Many times you have believers who are running on empty.

John Stott said that God isn't just interested in religion, but in the whole of life. The Kingdom of God is not just you getting saved, but it's the whole of life.

I'd like to share just a brief passage from Exodus chapter 1.

It's a story about two obscure people named Shiprah and Puah.

That's a wonderful example in the Old Testament of putting the Kingdom of God first.

God's will is more critical. It's important that we put God before government.

They're wonderful examples of how we're all called to live.

What kind of inspiration should we gain from that for our lives?

I think it's important to remember that if we obey God, we're having an eternal impact.

When we choose to read and study the Word of God and obey it, that's huge.

In a very real sense, everything is spiritual. Everything is to be done to the glory of God.

Everything becomes holy in that sense.

If you were to give advice on what it means to fear God, what would you say?

To fear God is to put God's Word first and to put God's direction first in our lives.

It's the Holy Spirit who teaches us how to do that.