Speaker: Ps. Christopher Chan
Date: January 17 2010

Laws for living

• “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” (First Things First Everyday, Stephen Covey).
• “If you want to defeat them, distract them,” ancient wise saying.
• The world, the flesh, the devil are distracting us and causing us to lose our grip on the first things we should live by.
• If we allow 2nd things to become 1st, we will lose both the 2nd and the 1st things.
• Many people do not know the main thing in life. Do you?

Living out our faith

The three great Christian duties:

• Charitable giving (Matt. 6:1-4)
  Mat 6:4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
• 2. Prayer (Matt. 6:5-15)
  Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
• 3. Fasting (Matt. 6:16-18)
  Mat 6:18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

We have the assurance that the Father who sees in secret will reward openly.

So, why do we give, pray & fast?

Because we want to make God our #1 priority!

Making Jesus #1 by Seeking First the Kingdom of God

Matt 6:33

• Set Your heart first on His Kingdom and His goodness and all these things will come to you as a matter of course. (J.B. Philips)
• You must make His kingdom and uprightness before Him your greatest care and all will be yours over and above (Godspeed).
• You must make His kingdom and uprightness before Him your greatest care and all will be yours over and above (Godspeed).

Seek First the Kingdom of God

What does it mean? It means making God……

• 1st in time and number and value;
• Most important matter in your life;
• Putting God first means removing anything that stands between you and the Lord.
• “Seek” means a persevering and strenuous effort to obtain, to be constantly seeking after that which is important.
• It means that we eagerly pursue that which God has promised us in order to fulfill our destinies and enjoy our lives.
• You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps 16:11)

Heb 11:6 “…anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
God have given us a promise, that if we seek Him earnestly, we shall be rewarded. This is an offer with a guarantee returns.
E.g. Uzziah’s life – [2 Chron. 26]

• Uzziah became one of the most successful and powerful kings in Judah’s history.
• He reigned for 52 long years, the longest of the 8 good kings in the Southern Kingdom.
• And was only 16 years old when he was made king.

Importance of seeking God

The Bible wanted to stress one point – Uzziah was successful because God helped him:

• 26:5 “God made him prosper.”
• 26:7 “God helped him.”
• 26:15 “for he was marvelously helped”

No wonder he was rich – “he had much livestock in the lowlands and in the plains” (v.10),
No wonder he was so successful – his fame traveled all the way to Egypt.
But WHY? Why did God bless him so much? Verse 5 has the answer.
The four words that come before ‘God gave him success (NIV)’ or ‘God made him prosper’ (NKJV) is the key.

• HE SOUGHT THE LORD. And the 3 words that come before this qualifies it.
• AS LONG AS. When he continues to seek God, God continues to PROSPER him. It was difficult for anyone or anything to bring him down.
• HOW DID HE SEEK THE LORD?

WAYS OF SEEKING GOD

1. He was conscious of his weakness and his inability to rule Judah rightly in his own strength.
2. He knew he needed God’s help to fight the enemies. He prayed often asking for God’s help.
3. He gave God the glory for his success in wars, projects, fame, kingdom (his reign), etc and not take any credit for himself.
4. He consulted with his spiritual advisors (the prophet Zechariah).
5. He sought to honor God in all that he did and asked God to lead him in carrying out all his projects.

Importance of seeking God

• But Uzziah became proud and stopped “seeking the Lord.” v. 16
• He tried to usurp the authority of a priest (v18). He was anointed as a king but not a priest.
• He lost sight of what had made him strong in the first place.
• He began to believe that it was HIS talent and HIS leadership that had accomplished it.
• Verse 16 says “He was unfaithful to the Lord his God (NIV)” or “Transgressed against the Lord his God.”

Uzziah’s story is a warning to us all.

• Do not allow the blessings of God color our vision and cause us to turn our eyes away from the Giver.
• Don’t be too preoccupied with the gifts – look at how successful I am; how talented, look at my grades, look at how much I’ve achieved – and be so filled with SELF that God is pushed out.
• Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness – ALL will be added to us. The “all” is guaranteed. But beware – don’t let the ALL blind us of the FIRST.

Practical applications

Seek 1st His kingdom involves three major areas of our lives:

• Our time
• Our finances
• Our affections

Let’s set our hearts to make Him #1 by seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.