Chapter 6, we'll read some familiar verses, but yet verses that are so vitally important in the life of believers. Let's stand for the reading of God's Word. We'll read responsibly Matthew 6, verse 25, ending together on verse 34. In Matthew 6, verse 25, the Word of God says, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, Yet feedeth them, are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. And let's pray. Lord, we need you now this morning desperately. We just have to have you. This portion of Scripture is so vital in the life of every person here, and yet it's often underutilized and even misunderstood. I pray this morning that You would shed Your light on this portion of Scripture for us and help us to understand it. And then, Lord, help us to truly seek You first and Your Kingdom first. And by faith, knowing that if we just put you first in our lives, that you'll take care of everything else. And make it so, Lord, in each life here today and under the sound of my voice, would you change us? Would you increase our faith? Would you help us to know how to practically, every day, just put you first in our lives? For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. This portion of Scripture is so important to each person, each believer. And of course, verse 33 is one that has been preached often, and if you've been saved very long, you've heard verses about it. But I want to just kind of look at that with you this morning, have us meditate on it. The Bible says, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God. That's interesting. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. You know, every person has something that is first in their lives. You have something that takes priority in your life. I don't know what it is. It might be a person. It might be a place. It might be a job. It might be a pleasure. It might be the desire for fame, it might be some other peripheral thing, but every person in this room, you have something that is first in your life. How do we know it's first? Well, based on your actions. See, whatever has first place in our lives really changes how we live. Many people say that God has first place in their lives. Many Christians will say that God is a priority, but their lives tell a different story. First John tells us that we should love not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Think about that. So many people, when they talk about loving God, they say it with their words, but their lives tell another story. And God says, I don't need to hear nice words. I want to see it in your life. That's how I know you love me. 1 John talks about chapter 2 verse 3 says, this is how we know we love Him, that we keep His commandments. And so think about it like this, if your wife said that she loved you, sir, but she never spoke to you, she didn't come home at night, you never knew where she was, she never talked to you, She took all your money and you got bills in the mail and credit card bills and the bank accounts always empty. But anytime you saw her, you know, every once in a while when she phoned home, I love you, sweetie. Those words mean nothing. Amen. Ma'am, if your husband treated you that way, it wouldn't mean anything. And oftentimes that's what happens in marriage counseling is we have to work through those details because the life doesn't match up, the actions don't match up with what we say we believe and what we say and how we say we feel. And so God says, listen, I want your words and your actions to match. If someone is putting God first, then that's borne out in their life. It's borne out in their actions. You see, whatever has priority in your life, it changes your schedule. It captures your passions. It causes you to sacrifice. And the truth is you'll defend it. You'll fight for it. You will claim it. Think about the Olympics going on right now. These people have lived, many of them, for the last four years for the moment that they are on that stage or that they are doing their event. I mean, they've lived for it. Their schedules are different than the average person. They eat differently than the average person, often getting up at crazy hours and training all day long. They'll quit school and put school on hold. They'll quit their jobs because this is the most important thing in their life right now. Oftentimes their families have to make sacrifices, and even some of the ones from the start of the Olympics until after their events are over, they often don't even get to see their families or children unless they see them in the stands because they can have no distractions. I mean, their entire focus, their priority is getting through this event and trying to win a medal. And it changes them. And then they claim it. They're happy to be an Olympian. You know, you see these people, and listen, I like to see those Americans standing on the top of the podium and having the Star Spangled Banner play, and I like that. But you see them, they hold on to that medal, and sometimes they'll take pictures and they'll kiss that medal. And for the rest of their lives, they are happy to be known as an Olympic medalist. They claim it. They defend it. They own it. They proclaim it. Because it's first. And maybe the thing that's first in your life may not have that bright spotlight. But whatever's first in your life is obvious to the people around you. And it's obvious to the Lord. See, The Bible teaches that for the Christian, God should come first. God should come first. Matter of fact, there shouldn't even be a close second. God is first. You say, well, I thought, what about my family? You'll be a much better parent when God's first. You'll be a much better spouse when God's first. What about work? You'll be a much better employee when God's first. You'll be a much better business owner when God's first. You see, what you need to understand is putting God first, there is no competition with any other area of your life. God's not in competition. This is how we see it. We say, well, I got to put God first or this first. And I got to live and I got to pay my bills and I got to your preacher just doesn't understand. No, you don't understand. You don't understand that God's not in competition with any area of your life. He is God. And he's either going to be first or he's not going to be. But he's not in competition. And see, what happens is when God is first, everything else falls into place. That's why the Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And what's the result of that? All these things shall be added unto you. What are these things? Well, we read about it. The Bible says in verse twenty five, take no thought for your life. What's going to fall into place, your life. Everything that your life is gets better when God is first. Then it goes on to give some specific examples, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. So the basic physical needs of man are food, water, clothing, and shelter. Now in some places in the world, they will spend hours today trying to take care of those four needs. Hours today will be spent trying to find good food, nutritious food to eat, clean water to drink, clothing to protect themselves from the elements, and a place to live. Not a place to live for luxury, a place to live to protect them from the elements and the animals. See, in America, we don't live that way. We're so blessed that the thoughts we take of are what quality of food are we going to eat. Most of you, you're not worried about if you're going to eat today, man. You might have to rob somebody, steal somebody, kill somebody, but you're going to eat today. We don't even think about it, but we're worried about the quality. Well, I've got to have hamburgers today, but I'd rather have a steak. Well, am I going to have this today, or am I going to have this today? See, everybody in this room has a place to live, but we're worried about the quality of where we live. I wish my house was bigger. I wish it was nicer. I wish it had more room. We're worried about our clothes. Thankfully, we've got clothes that cover us, but what labels on it? What name brand is it? You see, we're worried about all the wrong stuff. And God says, when you put me first, when you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you. Put God first, then God says, I can make sure you got something to drink. Put God first, God says, I can make sure you got food to eat. Put God first, God says, I can make sure you got clothes to wear. Put God first, God says, I can make sure you've got a place to live. How much time and energy and effort and worry goes into those four things I just mentioned? Think about your life. How much mental, emotional, and physical energy goes into those four things? And that's just four things of life. That's not talking about the emotional needs. That's not talking about the spiritual needs of life. That's not talking about maintaining relationships. Listen, folks, your life has too many moving parts and too many variables for you to manage on your own. You will fail. You must fail. It's impossible for you to succeed at managing every detail of life. And the truth is those that are well cared for financially, usually their relationships suffer or their health suffers. You might be able to focus on a small segment of your life and become successful. But the truth is it's impossible for you to manage it all. So God says you have one job, Christian, you have one overwhelming and overriding goal today in your life. August 14th, 2016. You have one main job. Put me first. So you don't know all I got to do tomorrow and I got to go to work and I got to do this. You have one main job tomorrow, Monday, August 15th, and that is you make sure God's first you put him first in the morning. You keep him first all day long. You go to bed with him first at night. Everything else will fall into place. What's life changing? If we'll capture it. If we'll grab it, that's a life changing truth. Look at verse 27, which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? Do you know your worries and your anxiety can't change a thing? And that makes you worry more. Because you know you can't change it. You know it's out of your control. And so you worry and then you worry that you can't change it. You see, you've got to take your eyes off yourself when you put God first every day. You still have the feeling that you're not in control, but you have the comfort of knowing who is. He's in control, my father's in control, God's in control, what a blessing. He gives the illustration of the lilies of the field. You think God can't provide clothing? Look, look around at creation. God enjoys providing. God enjoys. He clothes the earth. He makes the lilies of the field and those are just disposable. How much more important are you? He gave his son for you. Jesus Christ died for you and you're worried about whether or not God's going to put food in your belly and clothes on your back. See, what happens is we get such worldly thinking in our in our heads and minds. We almost it's almost like our lives are compartmentalized and we have this religious side over here where we kind of keep God first and we go to church. But then over here we have this part that's all up to us. And in this area of our lives, we act like there's no God at all. I got to do it all. I got to go to work. I got to, I've got to, I've got to. Your most important job is uncompartmentalizing your life, making sure that you understand the most important job you have today is seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. That's good stuff. If you're a preacher, what's going to happen? Look at verse 24. Take no thought therefore for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Do you know what worry is? Worry is borrowing trouble from tomorrow. You got your hands full today. You don't need to go into tomorrow and Tuesday and next week and next month and next year and five years from now and all this kind of stuff. I'm not saying that you don't plan. I'm not saying that you're not wise and you don't look ahead. I'm not saying that you don't apply biblical wisdom to your life, but I'm saying you cannot worry about it and you cannot try to manage things outside of your control. Manage yourself. How do I do that? I put God first and then I allow God to teach me and train me and guide me every single day And he adds all these things unto us. So did you know back before there was the word anxiety that was acceptable? Worry was considered a sin. Do you know that worry is a sin? I don't preach. I got a lot of anxiety. That's because you're not focusing on him. I know what it's like to have anxiety. I've been there where your breathing gets shallow and the weights too heavy and you can't manage it all. And there's so many things out of your control. You say, what do you do in those times? I take all my burdens to the cross. And I say, Lord, this is too heavy for me. And the Bible says casting all your care upon him. For he careth for you. How do you deal with anxiety? You think I don't have problems? You think I don't have struggles? You think I don't have troubles? Every one of us do. What do you do? I take them to the person I know cares for me. And has the ability to help. And every morning I said, God, I can't handle this today. Would you hold this for me? And he does. Amen. A lot more could be said about that. See, for the Christian, God should come first. God should capture your passion. Are you excited about God? Are you excited about looking forward to seeing what God's going to do? I mean, are you excited about seeing what God's going to do in your life and what God's going to do this week? Man, I'm excited. I'm excited to see what God's going to do this week, and boy, we've got the retreat, and we've got the Washington County Fair, and we've got the prison revival, we've got church services, we've got people we're following up on. We've got backsliders we're trying to reclaim. We've got lost souls we're trying to win. I mean, we've got our personal days. Sometimes I just step back and look at my life like some reality show. It is the reality show in the life of Paul Chapman. And sometimes I just sit back and say, okay, God, you're going to have to do something. I'm just waiting to see what it is. Cause I, this can't continue. Amen. You ever been like that? It's like, okay, something's got to give. Something's just got to give. And so we step back and say, OK, Lord. I'm waiting. What you got? See, when God's first, it's not all on you. It's all on him. And what a blessing. See, God should come first. God should capture our passions. Our worship of God should change our schedules. Boy, listen, he's worth changing our schedule for. He's worth coming to church for. He's worth not doing other things for. Boy, some Christians, anytime something fun comes up or they think they get a better deal than going to church, man, they're gone. They're waiting to go do it. Or, man, they don't have time to pray. I've got to do this other thing instead. Listen, the worship of God is enough to change my schedule. I have to rearrange my schedule to put God first. And I guarantee you, if God's not first in your schedule, you may not give God the biggest block of time, but you rearrange everything around His time. You're gonna work this week more than you pray. I'm talking about being alone time with God in your prayer closet. But that doesn't mean work's more important than prayer. You rearrange your schedule so you can pray before work. or take time at lunch. When I help people with their schedules, and sometimes people come to counseling, and honestly, the biggest problem in their life is they don't have a schedule and they don't have a budget. It's not that God's failing them, it's that they're failing God. They don't have a schedule, they don't have a budget. So when I help someone with their schedule, I'll give them a paper that has one hour blocks of every hour of the week, and there's parts blocked off. Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and soul winning are blocked off. Say, Pastor, I don't go to church this much. Yeah, that's part of your problem. Oh, you want me to fix this little area over here? That's not my job. My job is teach you how to put God first, then he fixes everything. See, what happens is you build your life around his schedule. Put Him first. His work should cause us to sacrifice. We should defend and proclaim Him. And we do when He is first. It's sad that most Christians give God a very small place in their lives. It's truly sad That when you look at not what they say, but how they live, when you look at most Christians lives, God has a very low priority. The truth is, and I'm not talking you're here this morning. The truth is some Christians feel like they've done God a favor to go to church for an hour. And if the preacher preaches long, good grief, boy, God, you got to really like me this week. I mean, I'm, I'm not getting up and walking out. He's gone out. What in the world? And you think God's up in heaven going, it's so awesome. Thanks for coming to church. Thank you so much. The Bible says that's our duty. Listen, he's the master. We're the servants. He gave a parable, but that we're unprofitable servants. We've done what our duty to do. We've got to get over this entitlement Christianity that listen, God is good and he gives blessings. But don't ever let that undermine his position in your life. He is Lord. And he's a gracious Lord and he's a giving Lord and he's a wonderful Lord, but don't ever let that make you lazy or give you a sense of entitlement. Because whether or not God blesses you, he's still worth serving and he's still worth following. Amen. Other Christians attend church regularly, but act very differently outside of church. Listen, I'm against that. I believe that Jesus will change your Monday. And he'll change your Tuesday, and he'll change your Wednesday, and he'll change your Thursday, and he'll change your Friday. I'm for every person that walks through the doors of Curtis Corner Baptist Church. And listen, if we're doing our job, we're going to have some people that just come in. And oftentimes, we've got people struggling with all kinds of different sins and all kinds of different craziness. Church is not a museum where we all come in and show off our spirituality. Church is a hospital where we're all coming to receive help from the great physician. And you might have victory in some area of your life that somebody walking in and they might sit right next to you. We might have people that have been saved for 50 years sitting next to drunks and they don't even know it, or sitting next to drug addicts, or sitting next to people that are fighting with things, or that are cussing, that have a bad mouth, or that lose their temper. Listen, we're supposed to have that if we're doing our job. Because there's always going to be people that are growing. There's always going to be people that are coming. And every one of us in this room is on a different step in our journey. And thank God that God's gracious and patient with us all. And we ought to be as well. But listen, we're for anybody walking in the back of this church. But if they come to church, they're going to hear the message. They're going to hear the truth that God loves you where you're at, but he loves you too much to leave you there. I'm against putting on a show, coming to church, and then having no intention to live differently during the week. God will change your Monday, and He'll change all week long. And see, when God has your heart, when you put God first, you'll fail God every day. But that's why I love this word the Bible uses here in Matthew 6, 33. Seek ye first. Listen, I may not be there yet, but I'm seeking. I'm moving that direction, I'm trying. That's why the Apostle Paul says, I have not attained, but I press toward the mark. Which direction are you headed? Which direction are you headed? There's some people that you're learning to put God first in ways that you never have before, And today you're going to take something from the message and you're going to put God first more than you ever have before. And that's a blessing. But there may be someone in the room where honestly, God used to be first in your life, but he's no longer. The Bible warns us against those people, the book of Revelation, he says, you've left your first love. On the outside, you still are doing some of the same things, but I see your heart and I'm not first anymore. What was what the Lord tell him to do? Repent. Change your mind. Listen, today's the day. Maybe God used to be first, but sin crept in or life crept in. And listen, if you don't live life, life will live you. Amen. If you don't live intentionally, you don't get up in the morning and say, here's how I'm going to live. Things will take over. Things will come in your life. You'll get swept up in the busyness of the day and the kids and the work and the dog and the all this crazy stuff going on, the phone's ringing off the hook, and you didn't get enough sleep last night, you're not feeling good, next thing you know, you're just swept up in this current of life. It happens. What do you do? You repent today, you change your mind and say, no, no, no, I've got to find a way to put God first. My job today is to make sure God's first in my life. You're going to seek first the kingdom of God. You say, how do we do this? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm going to give you a couple of things real quick. Five ways to put God first. Five ways to put God first and you know some of these things. But I think it will be important for a reminder and then for some of us it might be new. You know, honestly, some of you will know these things, but you're not doing them and it's not the knowing of truth that truly helps us. The doing of truth that's going to change your life. Let me just say number one. Give God the first hour of the day. Give God the first hour of the day. Rearrange your schedule. where you are getting up in enough time to spend time with God in the morning. Now here's the problem, and if you struggle with that, here's the reason why. If you want to make sure that you get up at a certain time, you have to make sure you go to bed at a certain time. And this is where TV kills us. You work all day long, you stay up late at night watching your programs, watching your shows, you relax, or you're on your phone in bed. Next thing you know, it's been too long. Next thing you know, you're up an extra hour, an extra two hours. Well, I gotta finish the program, so I'll stay up an extra. And then the next morning, you're dead tired, you need a few extra sleeps. And listen, you put a few days like that ahead of time, and you're just not gonna be able to get up in the morning. We have to live on purpose if we're going to give God the first hour of the day. We have to live by a schedule. Don't let the programming of some TV station decide when you go to bed. You decide. Don't let your phone decide when you go to bed. You decide. And scientists tell us, and I've seen it in my own life, if you have a screen on, It keeps you awake. The blue light is a signal to your brain. It's like the same wavelength of light in the sunrise. It tells you to wake up. You've ever been asleep and you forgot to close the blinds or something, or the sun comes in and, whoa, you're just waking up. It's because the light, even through your eyelids, it's a signal to your mind it's time to wake up. And when you have these contraptions on, it's not letting the brain shut down. So they tell us that if you want to go to bed, let's say at 10 o'clock, then you turn off the screens at 9 o'clock. Give your body an hour to shut down. You say, preacher, I'm so used to going to bed with the screen on and. You'll get used to the quiet, amen. There's these things that were created a long time ago called books. And they're really neat. It's really amazing. And so. Trust me on that. Give God the first hour of the day. Look at Psalm chapter 63. And I'll just give you a verse or two for each one and we'll move on. I'll just make a comment on each one because if you get the main principle, then you just have to learn some tools on what this looks like and we can start to implement it. Psalm chapter 63. In verse one. Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. So notice the early will I seek thee. You see this principle throughout the book of Psalms. One reason why you know David's name is because he got up early and walked with God. That's one reason why even know who he is. Now there were other nights where he stayed up late morning and he prayed late into the night, but I believe his consistent practice was to get up early. Another verse says, evening, morning and at noon will I pray. I will pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. And so there's this practice of having set times throughout the day. And let me give you a little tip. If you have a crazy busy life, if you have young kids in the house, if you're If you have a busy life and a changing schedule with with my wife's illness I never know when sometimes I will always have a schedule, but then it'll get turned on its ear So the way you do that is you set different times throughout the day different segments. So have a time in the morning Have a time in the middle. Have a time at night. That way if your morning gets blown, you wake up and the kids are sick, you've got a plan B sometime around the middle of the day. Maybe you walk with God in the morning, the middle of the day kind of gets blown, you have room at night and you can walk with God at night. But here's a mistake I see a lot of Christians make. Most Christians get up and go about their day and they plan on praying and reading their Bible at night. But listen, I've made that mistake off and on over the years. You spend all day long getting beat up. All day long you get beat up and you kind of crawl to the end of the day and you're like, oh, you're trying to get your Bible open or you're trying and listen, there's nothing left. And thank God, I'm glad that God can breathe that life into you and you can receive that rejuvenation at night. But how much better is it for you to start off your day before you grab your phone and check your social accounts before you even eat? Sometimes it's good to just stop I heard a preacher say years ago and I just think it's such a great idea before your feet hit the floor in the morning. Stop and think about God for a few minutes. And I have my personal practices that before my feet hit the floor, sometimes it's a long while. Sometimes if I'm really tired, I know I'm going to go back to sleep. It's just a couple minutes. But oftentimes I will sit up in bed and consciously before my feet hit the floor, God, I need you before my feet hit the floor today. I have no idea what this day holds. I have no idea what phone calls, what problems, what difficulties. And God, I need you. And before my feet ever touch the floor, I want to at least have started that connection. It will change your life. Give God the first hour of the day. Mark chapter one verse 35 says, and in the morning rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. It was the the practice of our Lord Jesus to wake up a great while before day. If Jesus needed to spend the first hour of the day with with his father, do you think you do? Do you think I do? We'll give God the first hour of the day. I'll turn to Revelation chapter one. And verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. And he heard and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Notice there it talks about the Lord's Day. What day of the week's the Lord's Day? Oh, it's Sunday. You see, the Jews used to have their day of rest on Saturday. That was in celebration and worship of the God who created everything and rested the seventh day. But in the New Testament, there was a shift after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we have our day of rest and worship on Sunday to celebrate. That we get to walk in newness of life in the power of the resurrection. What day of the week is Saturday? What number day of the week is Saturday? The seventh. See, the Jews ended their day with the day of rest and worship, but Sunday is the first day of the week. We start our day with God, our week with God. We give God the first day of the week. And listen, it's the Lord's day. It's not the Lord's hour. It's the Lord's day. The day belongs to Him. Let me shatter some cultural thinking. Sunday is not your personal day of rest and relaxation. Sunday is not your day to sleep in. Sunday is not your day to get extra stuff done around the house. You might do some of those things, but that's not the purpose of it. It's the Lord's day. You know, stores didn't even used to be open on Sunday. You know, back when people cooked at home, restaurants weren't open on Sunday. Do you know that they didn't used to have sports on Sunday? Do you know that up until recent years, they never allowed kids sports and school activities on Sunday? Listen to what I'm about ready to say. Every Sunday activity offered by the world is an alternative to God's house. It's an alternative to God's house. See, they don't. They don't prize God's house Sundays, not Sundays, not the Lord's Day. It's their day. This is how unbelievers think. That's my day. That's my day off as a Christian. That's God's day. And see, they can. They can play football because they don't go to God's house. They can play baseball because they don't go to God's house. They can play peewee ball because they don't go to God's house. They can go to the beach because they don't go to God's house. God's house means nothing to them. And how sad it is when God's people take on this mentality of the world that somehow Sunday is my day. There are probably people, members of this church that should be here this morning, but they're out enjoying their day today. It's my day. It's my morning. No, it's God's day. It's the Lord's day. And see what's so sad is that's shocking to some people because preachers don't even preach that anymore. It's a sad day in America. We have to remind people that Sunday is the Lord's day. Some of you look like you need to breathe. Go ahead and take a breath. You say a preacher. I'm so busy at work. Watch this. Watch this. Don't let your boss structure your life. It's not God's fault. That you work too much. It's not God's fault. That you've committed to too many bills. Where you need to work so much so that now your only day off is Sunday. It's not God's fault. You and I will never get ahead in life. By putting God on the back burner. I know that some people work so hard and honestly, Sunday comes and they're so dog tired. I feel for them. I've been there. What a wonderful opportunity to put God first. What a wonderful opportunity to say, God, I've been so busy this week. I've had so much going on. My life's so hectic. But I'm going to make sure I get to church. I'm going to crawl myself out of bed. I'm going to put on a pot of coffee, even if I have to put it intervenously, just stick it right in there. I'll stand up and read my Bible if I have to. I'll take a walk outside if I have to, so I can talk with you this morning. Nothing in my life is going to keep. Listen, it's the Lord's day. We give God the first day of the week. First Corinthians 16, two says, Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you laid by him in store as God hath prospered him. It's God's plan. I recommend you attend church at least three times a week. Three to thrive. I know that's crazy. Some of you can breathe again. Some of you keep, you keep like holding your breath and it's okay. Go ahead and breathe. Listen, we live in a day and age where the general wave of mainstream Christianity is, it's almost like seeing how little we have to do for God. How little do I have to do? We've got churches stopping Wednesday night services and getting rid of Sunday school and stopping Sunday night services. And boy, a lot of churches in our area, I think most of them only have a Sunday morning service. It's almost like it's an inconvenience to go to church. It's almost like it's an inconvenience. Do you know in the Bible they went to church on Sunday night? You say, well, they didn't go to church three times in the Bible. No, if you read the scriptures, they assembled every day. Every day. And we think it's an inconvenience to get together three times a week. And we wonder why we struggle. We wonder why there's a pile of bills. We wonder why we don't have joy. We wonder why we're so worried about the things of this life. And we look at Matthew chapter six and God says, why don't you just trust me? Look at the flowers. And that's not our reality because our lives are so different. And yet, are we truly seeking God? Are we truly finding ways? To put him first. I'll just mention these last ones. Give God the first consideration in every decision. Proverbs 3, five and six trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not under thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Think about God first. What does the Bible say? What does God want? What would Jesus do? All of those things are. So important. I say next, give God the first portion of your pay. I know we're talking about sacred ground now. Can I just tell you every pastor is not some money hungry monster trying to steal from you. I'm not a televangelist that gets up and begs for money, but I'd be lying to you if I said God doesn't expect you to give 10% of your income to God. I'd be a liar. I'd be a false prophet. If I didn't teach you the truth. The truth is the tithe belongs to the Lord. Leviticus 2730 and all the tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, it is the Lord's. It is holy unto the Lord. You say, well, preacher, I'm not a farmer. I don't have seed. I don't have land. That's just that was just how they bartered back then. That was their increase. See, Proverbs chapter three goes further and says, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase. So whatever we are increased. In our day and age, that's usually money Whatever we are increased. That is what we are to give back I know in in some countries still in America today in some country places They'll have doctors come to the house and they don't have a lot of money. So the doctor goes home with a chicken The doctor will go home with a couple dozen eggs That's all they have And back in the old days, it wasn't uncommon for people to come to church and they didn't have a lot of cash money, but they'd bring eggs, they'd bring hens, they'd bring all this crazy stuff. I'd rather have the money, amen? It's messy to have all those animals running around. A whole lot of mess. But see, We give God the first portion. I believe that the first check you write after you deposit your paycheck or you deposit your cash should be to whatever local church you are attending. First, check your right. See, the first fruits talks about that first. The first the first harvest would be the one that was given to God. The first of the livestock would be the ones that was given to God. The first of our it's symbolic, I know, but it's a powerful symbolism where God says, put me first, put me first and see God. You say, well, God doesn't need my money. Nobody wants your heart. Look back at Matthew chapter six. Let me show you this verse. Matthew chapter six. The thing that so many people miss is that giving is simply a test of where our heart is. Look at verse 21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Listen, if you've spent all your money for your house, you're worried about that house. If you've got a really nice car and you're paying a lot of money for it, you're worried about all the dents and the scratches. And if you've got a really nice camper, a really nice boat, I mean, you spend a lot of time and attention and money making sure the accessories are just right, making sure that everything's just right, and is it waxed and is it polished? Listen, if you've got an old beater, man, it doesn't matter. The layer of dirt just kind of protects the paint. Because the wax has gone a long time ago. No, don't wash my car. It'll start to rust. Amen. Need that big layer of dirt and mud on there to kind of keep it safe. It's a whole different mentality. See, the Bible says where your treasure is, there will your heart be. And watch this. God doesn't need your money, but he knows there's few things that people value more than money. And so God says, I am I am watching. Are you going to put me first? How? By giving your first portion of increase back to God. Look at verse 24 of Matthew chapter 6. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is an old word, Babylonian word. It's not even a Hebrew word, but it's a word that means money. It's a word that speaks of the God of money. And so watch this. You cannot worship God and worship money. You can't put God first and money first. It doesn't work that way. And notice the wording here, this is so telling. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Now, I don't know a Christian that's going to hate God, but I do know Christians that despise God. What does that word despise mean? It means to lower. It means to disesteem. It means to not put in its rightful place. Watch this. When I put money first in my life, I am lowering God out of first place. And can I just say, just from a financial planning standpoint, you're never going to get out of debt or be able to save money when the first thing you do each week is rob God. I mean, we'll rob God and ask God to help us pay the bills. We'll rob God and ask God to bless our finances. Listen, I'm telling you this because I love you. The truth is, folks, I had to learn this myself. And I remember being a young man. My family had to learn this. This is an unthinkable. It's not a cultural thing. And humanity itself, the flesh just rebels against this. But there's no greater way. To show myself and to show my lord that God has first, I'll tell you what, it's painful when you got a stack of bills here. And you're writing out the tithe check. Oh, but that gives me an opportunity to pray. Lord, here's I'm giving back to you what you asked with a little extra. And I got these things over here. Would you help me take care of these things? That doesn't mean you go out and buy a new Corvette and charge up the charge cards with a bunch of nice things and and then ask God to pay for your mistakes. Amen. He will because he's good. He'll help you because he's gracious. But he also wants us to learn to live with putting him first. Let me say lastly. Give God first place in your heart. Listen to this verse as we finish. Proverbs 2326 my son. Give me thine heart. and let thine eyes observe my ways." What does it mean when he says, give me thine heart? This is probably the purest measure of God's place in your life. Does God have your heart? Are you living in happy submission to the Lord today? I mean, do you see it as a privilege to come to church? Do you see it as a privilege to give? Do you see it as a privilege to spend time with God? Do you see that you are so overwhelmed with what God has done for you? That there's nothing he could ask of you. That you wouldn't do. You see, what we do is we want to give God a closet. In our lives. We might give God a really nice room off the main living room and you walk in and kind of like some of these people do in other nations, you'll walk in, they'll literally have altars. It's a special room dedicated to their deity. And boy, when they're in that room, that that room, everything in that room belongs to their God. But they walk out of that room and everything else, this is mine. And far too many Christians live that way, where we have a little space made for God. And everything in that space is His. And then there's the rest of us. And what God is saying is, my child, if you would just give me your heart, what is your heart? It's your thoughts, your will, your emotions, it's your dreams, it's your desires. It's the throne of my life. God, I'm just going to give you my heart. Then everything else we talked about. Isn't work at all. It's a happy sacrifice. God, almost gladly give you the first hour of my day. Almost gladly give you the first day of my week. Almost gladly seek you first before I make a decision. I'll very happily give back to you because without you, I wouldn't have anything to give. And Lord, matter of fact, I just give you my heart. What a blessed way to live, you say, what, why should I do all this? Oh, don't forget Matthew 633, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. You see, you put God first and everything else starts to fall into place. Father, I pray that you'd help us as we go forward this week, today, this week, may we learn to put you first. May we really just put you first, Lord. Help us to seek you, help us to seek ways to find new ways of putting you first. To find new ways of honoring you. To be creative about making sure you're first in our lives and and seeking your righteousness. Lord, thank you for this beautiful promise and forgive us where we failed you. And Lord, help us. Help us to succeed. in the most important goal today of just making sure you're first tomorrow when we wake up before our feet ever hit the floor. Can we just put you first in our day? And may we live in thy power. Heads about eyes are closed. I believe the Lord spoke to your heart today. Would you take a moment and ask the Lord what he wants you to do? You say, boy preacher, everything on that list I need help with. Ask the Lord what he wants you to do today. Ask Him what He wants you to do first. Let's live in happy submission to the Lord. Amen. Let's stand as the piano plays, the altars open. You come, the Lord spoke to your heart.