First Things First
Rex Yancey
Matthew 6:25-34
There is an excitement about the first things in life. (The first day of school, the first day to walk or talk, the first day to receive Christ as Savior, the first baptism, the first time to pray in public, the first time to give your testimony, the first time to lead a soul to Christ, the first sermon, teaching your first class.)
But I want us to think of things that should come first by our deliberate choice. Concerning these things, God says, ''Seek ye first...''
We must learn to access value on things so we will not give first priority to secondary things. For instance, the soul is more important than the body; things of eternity are greater than things of time; life is more important than our possessions; and moral strength is more important than physical strength.
Problems occur when we reverse this order. Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that first things must be in order for us to have a peaceful life.
1.FORGIVENESS COMES BEFORE WORSHIP.
Notice, I said forgiveness and not reconciliation. It takes two parties for reconciliation to occur. The Lord's forgiveness of us is tied to our forgiveness of others.
-Matthew 5:23-24 ''Therefore if thy bring thy gift to the altar, and then remember that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.''
-Peter asked, ''How many times should we forgive, 7x7. Jesus told him 70x7. The meaning is unlimited.
-Col. 3:13 ''Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man hath a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.''
Christians are to be forbearing people. That means to hold back, put up with, to refrain, to bear with. We all have some areas in our lives that require forbearance in other people's lives.
Our nation is divided. The Obamanites hate the Trumpites. Those who stand for the flag ...
Rex Yancey
Matthew 6:25-34
There is an excitement about the first things in life. (The first day of school, the first day to walk or talk, the first day to receive Christ as Savior, the first baptism, the first time to pray in public, the first time to give your testimony, the first time to lead a soul to Christ, the first sermon, teaching your first class.)
But I want us to think of things that should come first by our deliberate choice. Concerning these things, God says, ''Seek ye first...''
We must learn to access value on things so we will not give first priority to secondary things. For instance, the soul is more important than the body; things of eternity are greater than things of time; life is more important than our possessions; and moral strength is more important than physical strength.
Problems occur when we reverse this order. Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that first things must be in order for us to have a peaceful life.
1.FORGIVENESS COMES BEFORE WORSHIP.
Notice, I said forgiveness and not reconciliation. It takes two parties for reconciliation to occur. The Lord's forgiveness of us is tied to our forgiveness of others.
-Matthew 5:23-24 ''Therefore if thy bring thy gift to the altar, and then remember that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.''
-Peter asked, ''How many times should we forgive, 7x7. Jesus told him 70x7. The meaning is unlimited.
-Col. 3:13 ''Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man hath a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.''
Christians are to be forbearing people. That means to hold back, put up with, to refrain, to bear with. We all have some areas in our lives that require forbearance in other people's lives.
Our nation is divided. The Obamanites hate the Trumpites. Those who stand for the flag ...
There are 5145 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
