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Man, the title of my sermon this morning is seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Of course, the famous verse in Matthew chapter 633 says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And all these things specifically in that passage are referring to food and drink and clothing, just the things that we need in life. The things that other people are seeking after, even if they're not even a Christian, we're as Christians to seek first the kingdom of God. Now Haggai chapter 1 really illustrates this truth well. The Bible reads in verse 2, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying, this people say, the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, is it time for you, oh ye to dwell in your sealed houses and this house lie waste. So basically, the attitude at this time, they've come back from captivity, they're dwelling back in the land of Judea and the attitude is, hey, let's put off building God's house, let's put off the work of the Lord and they were more interested in just making sure that their own house was all sealed up and nice and basically, they're not seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, they're seeking their own prosperity first. And Haggai is saying, look, if you don't think it's time to build God's house, it's amazing how you have time to build your house, okay? And so we need to put the things of God first. Now look what the Bible says in verse 5, now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your waste. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat but you have not enough. You drink but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you but there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put into a bag with holes. So because they have no regard for the house of God, the things of God and they're not seeking first the kingdom of God and they're just looking for their own prosperity and just seeking after their own desires, well, he says, actually, I'm working against you. Have you noticed? Think about your waste. Consider your waste. Have you noticed how hard you're working and how you're not getting ahead? Have you noticed how you're sowing a bunch of seeds and not a lot's growing? Have you noticed how even those who just earn wages, you know, you go to your job, you get your paycheck and you're putting it into a bag with holes, the idea is that if God is against you, if God's not blessing you, you can't get ahead because it'll just be one thing after another, one obstacle after another, just one setback after another and you're just like, well, now I got to work even more and I got to really focus on, but hold on a second. If we focus on the things of God and God blesses us, then we're not putting our money into a bag with holes, okay? Then God can actually take the little that we have and multiply it and take care of us. If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all the other things will be added unto us. That's what the Bible promises, but if you say, well, you know what, I have to put Bible reading and prayer and soul winning and church, I have to put all that aside right now and just really focus on my career. You know what? You're not going to go far because God is not going to bless that. God's going to bless you more when you take that little bit of time to put him first and look, it's not that we're not supposed to work hard in the things of this world. God commanded these people at this time to work six days a week and six days, shalt thou labor and God knows that we have need of all these things. The Bible says our heavenly father knows that we have need of all these things, but we need to put God first, okay? We need to seek first the kingdom of God. I'm not saying not to go to work and give it 100%, but I'm saying before you go to work and give it 100%, you get on your knees and pray to God. Before you go to work and give it 100%, you get out your Bible and you read it. You know what? Even to just read through the Bible cover to cover in one year only takes about 15 minutes a day. I guarantee you that we all have much more than 15 minutes a day that we waste or do things that are not necessary. We need to put God first and I say, oh, I just got so busy, I can't read my Bible. You know what? That isn't true. If it is true, it's because you're so busy putting out all the fires because God's not blessing you. If you would take the time to read your Bible, pray, go to church, go soul winning and do these things that are for furthering the kingdom of God, then God's going to bless you in the other areas of life where you'll be more effective and you'll have more time, not less. Look what the Bible says in verse 7, thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. The first thing he said in verse 5, he said, consider your ways. Then he explained to them their current situation where they're putting their money in a bag with holes. Then he says in verse 7 again, consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. You looked for much and lo, it came to little. When you brought it home, I did blow upon it. It's not just that God's not blessing them, God's literally working against them here. They go out and they gather what they think is important and they bring it home and God just goes, just blows it away. You know what? I know that we've all had times in life where God has blown upon whatever it is that we were doing, whatever it is that we were working. Now look, not always does this mean that we're not right with God, although often it is because we're not putting God first, we're not right with God. Sometimes God just has a reason why he wants to keep us humble or keep us a little bit leaner than we want to be, but when God blows upon it, there's nothing you can do to get ahead. I don't care how smart you are, I don't care how hard you work, you cannot fight against God. If God wants you to fail, you're going to fail in any pursuit in life. He can make you fail. You say, well, you don't know how good my portfolio is. My portfolio is rock solid and my assets are diversified. You know what? God can blow that thing apart just like that. The Bible says, you brought it home, verse 9, and I did blow upon it. Why? Why did you do that, God? Why would you blow upon it? Why would you work against me? Because of my house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Now obviously, this is not the Old Testament where there's a physical building, right? Where God's house is the temple, the physical building. But whenever we read the Old Testament, we always want to find the spiritual application and understand that these things are symbolic of the lives that we live in the New Testament. So when the Bible talks about the house of God lying waste, the same principle applies here of you neglecting the house of God. Not neglecting a physical building, not neglecting to build an actual structure, but actually neglecting to be a part of the local church and serve in the local church. And the house of God in the New Testament is what? It's the church. It's the people. It's the assembly. Okay? So building God's house in the New Testament is not building a building, but it's rather building a group of people. It's basically reaching people with the gospel. It's edifying one another. It's helping people grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible says in the New Testament, ye are God's building. You're God's building. You're the temple of the living God. You're God's house. So we don't want to neglect God's house. We don't want to get so busy with the cares of this world that church and soloning and Bible reading and prayer and our walk with God goes on the back burner. You will never get ahead like that. It's a recipe for moving backwards in life in all areas, not just spiritually, but even with your finances or your career or whatever, because you need God's blessing. God is the one who gives us the power to get wealth. God is the one who controls our destiny. So we need to make sure that he is pleased with us. And when God's house lies waste and you run every man unto your own house, what happens? Look at verse 10. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from a fruit. So God's causing their fields and their farms to not produce. And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the corn and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon that which the ground bringeth forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of their hands. So this is a pretty strong message that Haggai is preaching here. And if we read the book of Ezra, we understand that the work of God's house totally stopped. And then Haggai and Zechariah started doing this kind of preaching. And then it got everybody rallied and they started doing the work once again. So if you look down at your Bible there in verse 12, it says, then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel and Joshua, the son of Jozdak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. Now I love that short answer because then it moves on and says the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel. But I like the message. I like these little short messages in the Bible. It's like he gets this big long story about how, you know, I blew upon it, you're putting your money in a bag with holes, I called for the drought, I'm the reason why you're not getting ahead, my house is laying with. And then they get right with God, they fear the Lord, they start doing right, and God's answer is just simply, I'm with you. He didn't necessarily say, hey, your farm's going to do better now, or hey, your family's going to do well, things are going to get better. He doesn't have to because if God's with you, that's everything. If God says I'm with you, you know you're going to succeed. You know that everything's going to be good in the end. I'm not saying you're going to be rich, I'm not preaching a lying prosperity gospel that tells you how, hey, you know, if you just put your hand on the screen and send in $1,000 and all this stuff, you're just going to have all this wealth and abundance. But you know what? God's going to give you what you need. You're going to be fine, and you're going to have joy unspeakable, and you're going to have a successful life. I'm not saying the world's idea of success, but I'm talking about a successful life in God's eyes. You're going to have the food and the clothing and the drink that you need. You're going to be able to raise your family and live for God and be well. I'm with you. If God is for us, then who can be against us? I'm with you. Having God on your side is everything. And if you don't believe that, then you don't understand this principle of seek ye first the kingdom of God, and you don't understand what it means to live the Christian life. Having God on your side is everything. If God is on your side, nothing can fail. Nothing can end in defeat for you. You're always going to conquer. God always gives us the victory, the Bible says. But if God is not on your side, then nothing you do can prosper. Nothing you do can succeed. So we need to spend a lot more time in our lives trying to get God on our side and making sure God's pleased with us, and less time trying to figure out how to do it all ourselves while we say, hey, you know what? Down the road, I'm going to seek God down the road. So many people think, oh, well, later, I'll serve God later. First of all, this is what unsaved people think about salvation. They put off salvation. We knocked on a guy's door on Wednesday, and he said, you know, actually, I'm thinking about converting to Christianity later this year. And I'm like, well, can I just show you from the Bible? You know, it'll take me like 5, 10 minutes right now just to show you how you can be saved from the Bible. No, no, no, I don't have time right now. But later this year, you know, I'm going to be converting. I said, okay. I said, well, why don't you put this away, and then when you're ready to convert, come see us, all right? There you go, buddy. What a ridiculous answer. Oh, I'm going to convert later. And you know what? There was a young man that I was giving the Gospel to. He's from Europe, and this seems to be a European mentality amongst a lot of young people over there. I was giving the Gospel to this young guy, and he said, you know what? He said, I'm not against Christianity. I'm not against Christ. And he said, you know, eventually, I'm actually going to seek after the Lord, and I'm going to seek after the things of God and read the Bible and Christ, but he just said, I'm just too young now. And this guy's like 17, 18 years old. And he's saying, I'm too young. I'm going to live my life for a while. I want to get my career, my family, go and get all that. And then when I'm older, then I'm going to kind of settle down and seek after the Lord at that time. That's a ridiculous attitude. The Bible says, seek the Creator in your youth. Seek Him when you're young. Seek Him in your youth before the evil days come, the Bible says. Don't wait until bad things happen or bad times come. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Seek the Lord now. Okay, but obviously, I'm talking to people here today, 99% of whom are saved except the Judas among us, but anyway, the point is, you know, we're here because we're predominantly a saved crowd here this morning. But you know what? Even saved people can have the same mentality because I remember there was a guy who went to our church and he came for a little while and then he quit coming to church. And he told me, he said, well, you know what? It's just that I want to either be all the way in or out. I want to be cold or hot, he said. And he said, right now, I'm just not ready to get all the way in. You know, I'm not really ready to kind of just get into church and go to all the services and go soul winning and all that. He's like, I'm not really ready to get all the way in, so right now, I just don't even want to go. But you know, I'm going to get to a point where I come, you know how long ago that was? Over a decade ago and you're not going to believe this. He's still not all in for God. Because when you say, oh, I'm going to do that down, it just never happens, folks. You know why? Because you got the order wrong. Because you're supposed to seek first the kingdom of God, not like, well, let me get my ducks in a row. Let me get my house in order. Let me get my marriage in order. Let me get my kids dialed in. Let me get my career. No. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you. Don't say, oh, I got to get everything else in order first. Hey, no. Get your walk with God in order first and then watch everything else happen according to His plan and according to His will. It's ridiculous to have this attitude of, well, I have to get so and so straightened out in my life first. Then I'll come to the Lord or then I'll get back in church or then I'll start serving God. No. You get saved. If you're not saved, you get saved today. And if you're not living for God, now is the time to start living for God. And then you can watch some of these other problems that you have as God takes care of those things. OK. Or at least God gives you wisdom on how to go through those trials and how to get through that. So we need to seek first the kingdom of God. Go to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. If God is on your side, everything's going to work out great. You remember Joseph gets beaten and thrown in a pit and sold into slavery, right? Sold to the Ishmaelites, taken into Egypt, taken into a foreign country. I mean, how would you like to be human trafficked into another country? That's pretty much the worst possible thing that could happen to you when you're 17 years old, right? You get taken by human traffickers into a foreign country where you don't even speak the language and you're made a slave somewhere of some wealthy family. OK. That's what happened to Joseph. But you know what the Bible said? The Lord was with Joseph. That's the statement that keeps being made. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. That's why when he's a slave in Potiphar's house, he ends up rising to the top and being number one. Even when he's put into prison, he becomes the number one guy in the prison. He's running the prison. OK. Why? Because God was with him. OK. So it doesn't matter if you're in prison, if you're a slave, if you're succeeding, if you're failing, quote, unquote, in the world's eyes. If God's with you, you know that your life is a victory, OK? And things are going to work out in the end. All things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are called according to his purpose. So seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. Look at Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5. It says, And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Isn't that what we all want? He shall direct thy paths. But you have to acknowledge him first. You have to trust him first. Be not wise in thy own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance. Watch this with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So we see here, first honoring God, first seeking God, first trusting in the Lord and acknowledging him. And then come the direction and the blessing and all the things that God has for you. And look, when we talk about putting God first, it's not just your actions. It's not just financially, or you're giving your tithe, or you're putting the first thing on your calendar is going to church, and that's what you build your schedule around. You make sure I go to church. That's not the only thing. It's not just saying, hey, when I wake up, I'm going to read my Bible. First thing, read my Bible. First thing, walk with God, pray. It's not just those things that we do, but it's also our heart. It's our heart. The Bible says, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. So when the Bible talks about seeking first the kingdom of God, we need to seek first the kingdom of God in our heart, meaning that we need to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our might, with all our soul. Why? We need to put him first, not even just in our actions, but in our heart. And if he's first in our heart, he's going to be first in our actions anyway. But we need to have an attitude that actually cares about the things of God. We want to see God's will happen. We want to see God's work go forward, and that is the preeminent thing in our mind, not just ourselves. He must increase, and we must decrease. That's what the Bible teaches. Now go to 1 Kings chapter 3, 1 Kings chapter 3. And here's the thing. God loves us. It's so clear on this that God cares about us. God isn't just using us as pawns in his master plan for this world. God actually cares about us. The hairs of our head are numbered. He delights in us. He loves us. The Bible says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. It's not like somebody's martyred for him, and he's just like, well, that's just collateral damage. My will moves forward. He cares about every single one of us. So just as you care about certain issues in your life, and you care about your health or your relationships or your finances or your children, God cares about all those things too. And God loves you, and he wants to bless you. And he's not just going to leave you high and dry, okay? But you need to get the emphasis off yourself and start thinking about the things of God and putting those things first. And then, you know what? When you do that, then let God take care of you. And God will step in and take care of those things. He knows that you have need of all those things. He knows that you need to pay that bill. He knows that you need food and drink. He knows that you need your health taken care of and all these different things. But you need to spend less time thinking about your own issues and meditating on the things of God, thinking about the Lord, thinking about the word of God, thinking about his work, and then watch how God will take care of the other things in your life if you seek first the kingdom of God. Now, a great example of this is King Solomon. Look at 1 Kings 3 verse 4. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. So Solomon is really serious about seeking the Lord here. He has a lot of resources at his disposal. And so he's able to offer a thousand burnt offerings unto God. Just really trying to show God is hard and that he's serious about the things of God. Look at verse 5. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, ask what I shall give thee. I mean, look, if God comes to you and just says, hey, ask what I shall give thee. You know, this is like almost like the proverbial genie in the bottle. You have three wishes or something, right? And people say, oh, well, here's what I'd wish for. You know, I'd wish for a million dollars. I wish for my own private jet. I'd wish for this and that and all these things, a Ferrari and whatever. But that's not what Solomon asked for. Oh, God, let me live to be 120 years old. You know, or, oh, God, just help me to have perfect health. And what does the Bible say that he asked for? I mean, he's being given a carte blanche. Like what should I get? What shall I give you? What do you want? You gave me a thousand burnt offerings. What do you want? And Solomon said, thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. And now, oh Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a little child. Now, he's literally an adult here, okay, but he's humble in his own sight. And so he looks at himself as I'm a little child, you know. I'm just immature. I don't have the knowledge to lead this great people. I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this, thy so great of people. So imagine, you know, you're being given the carte blanche, you're being given the wishes, right? What do you want? You can have whatever you want. Help me to know the difference between right and wrong. I mean, that's a pretty good request, right? I want to know what's right and what's wrong. What a great answer because, you know, if you know what's right and what's wrong, everything else in life is going to work out perfectly. If you know what is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing to do and you follow that, folks, that is how to succeed in life. So I don't know how that's going to help me. I already know what's right. You know, you're a fool because there's always more to be learned. You know, God has so much wisdom in the Bible. God has so much wisdom that you haven't tapped into and you think, you know, everything, you're 15, you're 17, you're 19 years old, you're 20 years old and you've already got the whole world figured out and if I could just get some money, if I could just get this, you know, piece of software that I need or this computer or I just need a car or I just need a girlfriend or I just need a boyfriend, you know, you just, you got it all figured out what you need. No, I'll tell you what you need. You need to walk with God. You need to figure out how to discern between good and bad. You need wisdom. You need understanding. You need to seek first the kingdom of God and everything else is going to be added unto you. That's what the Bible teaches. He says, help me to discern between good and bad. Look at verse 9. For who's able to judge this, thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God liked that answer. Why? Because he cared about something spiritual, understanding, wisdom, discernment. God liked that. And he blesses him and he said unto him, verse 11, because thou hast asked this thing and has not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. What's he saying here? He's saying, look, I'm not only going to give you what you asked for, wisdom, I'm going to give you what you didn't ask for. I'm going to give you the riches that you could have asked for, the long life that you could have asked for, the lives of your enemies that you could have asked for, or length of life you could live a long time. He's saying, I'm going to give you all that stuff even though you didn't even ask for it. And this is what I'm saying. If you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all those things will be added unto you. He'll give you those other things. He knows you need those things. He'll take care of you in other ways. But if you spend your life seeking after money, seeking after the lives of your enemies, seeking after longevity and long life, and you're not seeking the kingdom of God, well, you know what? You're going to end up with neither because you're putting it in a bag with holes. So it's important that we seek first the kingdom of God. We need to focus on how to live our lives rather than just how to make a living. And today, those who are in school and maybe they're in college, they're being trained how to make a living. Right? I mean, why do people go to Arizona State University or whatever the college or whatever the school, why do they go there? Do they go there to learn how to live their lives or do they go there just to learn how to make a living? Right? They're trying to make a living. So they're learning whatever the trade, you know, so whatever the skill, whatever the trade, whatever the occupation, because you know, you got to learn how to make a living. So they're being trained in whatever the job. But those students are not being taught how to live their lives. And if they are, they're being taught the wrong way to live their lives, obviously. But typically, I don't even think that school is even claiming to tell you how to live your life. I don't think that the, you know, South Mountain Community College down here, I don't think that they're there to teach students how to live their lives. How to live. No, they're teaching them how to make a living, right? But let me explain some of you. Just because you know how to make a living doesn't mean you know how to live your life. But if you know how to live your life, you'll always be able to make a living. If you know how to live, you will be able to make a living. And so we need to teach our young people how to live. Because if they learn how to live, they'll always be able to make a living, okay? If you know how to, and where do you learn how to live, you know where you learn how to live? Church. Church is teaching you how to live your life. Say, well, this isn't what I need, I need to be, I need to be down learning skills that I can actually use. You don't get it. The things that you learn every day reading your Bible, the things that you learn every week when you attend church, those are the things that are teaching you how to live your life. And if you know how to live your life, there's nobody in this world who knows how to live the Christian life that's not making a living. Any person who understands the principles of God's word, any person who knows how to discern between good and bad and knows right from wrong, and anybody who meditates in God's word and loves His law and loves the gospel and puts Christ first, that person will have no problem making a living anywhere in any city. You could drop that person anywhere. You could drop them in prison. You could drop them as a slave in Potiphar's house. You could drop them in Nebuchadnezzar's court. You could drop them anywhere, and the Bible's filled with stories about people who get dropped in all these situations. I don't care where you live. I don't care what the job. If you know how to live your life, you're going to be able to make the living. So that's what we ought to focus on learning. And I'm not against you learning how to make a living. I'm for that, but not at the expense of skipping learning how to actually live life. Because you know what? Life is more than meat and drink. Life is more than clothing. Life is more than just going to work and clocking in and clocking out and getting paid. And folks, there's more to life than that. And God is teaching us how to live our lives the whole way through, everything about how to live our life, including how to make a living, including how to succeed in those areas that we care about so much. We just care about so much, our family, and our job, and our health, but you know what? God cares about those things too, but you better start caring about God. And you know, you're a young person sitting there today. Let's say you're 15, 16, 17, 18 years old, and you're sitting there today thinking, well, you know, church just isn't really my thing. I'm just not really that into church. I'm not really that into serving the Lord. I mean, I'm a Christian, but it's just not really my thing. I just really want to get out there and get my career and get my wife or get my husband and get my children. I'm just going to go live my life and whatever, but you know what? God holds all those things in His hand, all those things that you want. Whatever you want, God's holding it in His hand. He's got that family for you. He's got the job for you. He's got the career for you. He's got the house for you. He's got all those things right in His hand. But what you need is for Him to say those magic words to you, I'm with you. And then it's all yours, okay? But if you say, well, I'm going to go get it myself, well, you know what? Maybe you will, and maybe you won't. Maybe you'll go work your tail off somewhere and come home with nothing. Maybe you'll go work hard and spend years and years investing in something and working in something, and you'll end up all gone because God blew upon it. You wouldn't be the first person who said, oh, I wasted five years of my life on this relationship that went nowhere. I wasted five years of my life on this job, this career, this business that went nowhere. And now here I am at age 30, at age 35, at age 40, and I'm starting over. Folks, that happens all the time. And I'm not saying that whoever that happens to that they're a bad person. I'm just saying that God can do that to you. So therefore, if you're smart, you'll make sure before you do anything that you get God on your side, before you do anything that you put on the new man, before you do anything put on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says. Before you do anything, read the Bible, pray, go to church, write. And you know what? And I'm not just talking about going through the motions, I'm talking about in your heart. I'm talking about caring about the things of God and that being the main thing. Who are you? Who are you? What's the big thing about you? Is it that you're an athlete? Is it that you're this job or that job? Is it your appearance? Is it your clothing or your look? Is it your music? Right? I mean, what defines you? You know, I remember when I was in high school, everyone was defined by their music. You got the rock crowd, you got the grunge crowd, you got the rap crowd, you got the country western crowd. Why did that get the most laughs? Because it ought to. Because it's a joke, that's why. But the point is, folks, look, you know, you got young people and they're literally seeking their identity from their music, right? And I was kind of the same way. You know, I had my music that I listened to, it certainly wasn't country western. And I, you know, and I had my music that I listened to and that's how I identified. And I would seek out friends that had that same music because that was a big thing to me. Okay. But not only that, sometimes it was like the skater crowd. Or sometimes it would be something like the basketball team or the baseball team or the football team. And that was your crowd. I mean, it was just like, who is he? He's a football player. He's a basketball player. I mean, he's a skater. You know? Whatever. You know what I'm talking about? People have these identities, whether it's based on music, maybe it's based on sports, it could be based on a hobby, it could be based on a style of dress or a hairstyle or whatever that identified them as the surfer dudes or skater or whatever. And that's how, but here's the thing. We need to make sure that in our heart, whatever we are in this world, that first and foremost we're a Christian first and foremost. That should be like the main identifier of us in our heart. That should be what we think of ourself as I'm a servant of the Lord. No matter, and I'm not saying that you don't have other interests or other hobbies or other pursuits or other things that you do, but the big thing should be that you're a Christian. That should be number one. And that's why, you know, today I don't find myself when I'm looking for friends or when I'm making friends or meeting people. I don't find myself like, well, what music do you listen to? You know, well, but do you skate though? You know, what kind of sports do you play? What kind of sports do you do? But a lot of people, I mean, that's the first thing. I mean, it's like, what team do you like or what? I mean, I had this guy, I had an Uber driver pick me up and he starts asking me about some game or sports. I'm like, no, you know, I don't follow, I don't follow football, I don't know anything about it. Well, what about basketball? I'm like, no, I don't follow basketball. Well, you know, what about this, that, you know, and I'm just like, yeah, you know, I know I have no interest in professional sports at all. And he's just like, man, and I thought this was kind of a weird thing for an Uber driver to tell me just, just he was just he wanted to let me know that he was very displeased with my lifestyle. He did not approve. He did not approve of my life because I wasn't into watching sports at all. You know, I was I was being polite about it. I wasn't being like, no, I don't care about that. I was being friendly about it because I even said to the guys, I said, no, you know, I'm not I don't follow. I said, you know, my dad wasn't into it. And so, you know, if your dad's not into it, you kind of don't you don't get into it. So I've never followed sports because my dad didn't, you know, so I was just being friendly. I wasn't like, you think I'm going to watch a bunch of, you know, overgrown toddlers and tight pants, chasing a ball around and, you know, playing a children's game, much overpaid, spoiled. But I didn't go on some tirade about I didn't start preaching to him the book of Ecclesiastes about the vanity of life. But I was totally polite to him and friendly and just, no, no, I'm not sure. What about this for? What about this for? What about this, you know? And then finally, he said this way, he said to me, he said, you know what? He said, I would never allow my daughter. To to to to marry a guy like you, like if my daughter, she said, if my daughter brought home a guy like you, I'd just be like, no, because he said, my son in law is going to have to be into sports. I'm thinking, but I'm thinking to myself, like, you're my Uber driver. What are we talking about? I'm like, I'm a 38 year old man. I'm married with 11 kids. And you're you're telling me how you just like disapprove of me as a suitor or anyone like me. I'm thinking to myself, like, I don't even know who you are. I don't know who your daughter is. What are you talking about? Isn't that weird? But the point is, like this guy obviously just wanted to get that off his chest because this is what I decided, because it was so weird. I decided that there's some guy trying to date this guy's daughter who's not into sports enough. And so he just really wanted to tell that to somebody. So he just decided to just unload that on me as I'm sitting in the back of his Uber. And, you know, I still gave him five stars. You know, he got me to my destination, even though even though because, you know what, I wasn't insulted by that, even though he was trying to give me like the greatest insult he could give me. I wasn't insulted by that because I'm just thinking to myself, you know, how sad for you that your whole life is sport, your religion is literally sports. It'd be like if I said, well, I don't want my daughter to marry anyone who's not a Christian. Wouldn't that be something we would say? Hey, my daughter better marry a Baptist. My daughter better marry somebody who loves God, who cares about God. You know, you know what my dad's biggest insult was when there was any guy that was interested in one of his daughters that he didn't like? This is what my dad would be screaming. He doesn't have a spiritual bone in his body. That's what I remember my dad yelling when I was a kid about about some guy he didn't approve of. He doesn't have a spiritual bone in his body. He didn't say like, he doesn't even watch sports, he didn't even watch the Super Bowl, he didn't even watch basketball, he doesn't even care about the things that matter like sports. But, folks, that guy is just indicative of how a lot of people live their lives. And you know what? Maybe it's not sports for you. Right. It's easy for you to be like, amen, you know, but you got your thing that you're obsessed with. And look, like I said, I'm not against sports. I don't like professional sports. I love sports. I love playing basketball. I'm just not going to watch some overpaid NBA weirdo. I'm not going to watch Dennis Rodman play basketball or whatever. I'm just saying, like, I have no interest in professional sports. I think, I wish the Olympics would go back to the way it used to be where you, no professionals allowed before 1980. Did you know that? Before 1980, no professional athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics. It used to be amateurs only. You weren't even supposed to have like a professional coach or anything. You were, it was supposed to be normal people training. I'm, I'm for athletics, I'm for sports, I'm for, but you know what, I'm for putting God first, seeking first the kingdom of God and not obsessing over something, anything that's not of the Lord. You know, just, just, oh, it's just all about sports. And you know, if it's not sports for you, for some people, they have their own idols that they have, whether it's their music. Like I said, for me, when I was a young person, it was more of the music that I was obsessed with. I used to buy my records at a store that was literally called obsessed with music. That was the name of the store. And I went there. And the point is, whether it's, whether it's the sports, whether it's the music, whether it's the movies, whether it's, you know, education, whatever it is, okay, we just need to make sure that we don't just get so wrapped up that that's who we are. We need to make sure that we're a Christian first. It could be politics. I heard a Baptist preacher, an assistant pastor of a Baptist church, get up behind the pulpit and say, I'm an American first Christian second. I'm not kidding. And I was like, excuse me, like, did I just hear that right? And then he said it again. And then he dug in on that point. You know, he's like, oh, we got too many different qualifiers, African American, Muslim and Christian. No, I'm just an American. And he said, I'm American first Christian second. What kind of an idiot? Kind of a moron. This whole country is going to be gone someday. Every, every country is gone someday. The Bible says the nations before the Lord are less than nothing. But you know, and I know that there are a lot of people out there that are Republican first Christian second. You say, well, why don't you say that about the Democrats? Because they're not Christian at all. I mean, because they're not even a Christian. They're just Democrat first, worshiping Satan second. Folks, the Democrat party is like, what, just like partial birth, abortion, just sodomy. They're the party of sodomy. That's what they are. And look, we could go on and on about all the abominations. But the point is to sit there and say, well, I'm, you know, a Christian first. Really? Because what I notice, everything out of your mouth is politics, not the word of God. And when it, and when, and when the word of God disagrees with Rush Limbaugh or whoever, you seem to go with Limbaugh, seem to go with Sean Hannity. You seem to go with the Fox News talking heads. Why? Because, because you're not putting the Lord first, you know, and so we need to make sure that whatever we are in life, if you're into politics, if you're into sports, if you're into education, if you're into art, if you're into music, whatever it is, and these could be good things or bad things, but the point is you need to seek first the kingdom of God. And in your heart, you should identify that more than anything, you are a Christian. You're a child of God. You're a servant of God. You know, some of the most important things to me in life is that I'm a husband and a father. It's important to me to be a pastor, but you know what? More important than any of these is that I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian first. Pastor second, Christian first, husband second, Christian first, parent second. The Lord Jesus Christ is number one and therefore, if he's number one, then, you know, he can bless these other areas of our life if we seek him first. So we need to do some real soul searching and look in our hearts and ask ourselves, who are we? But what was the question that God kept asking in Haggai chapter one? Consider your ways, consider your ways, and we need to consider our ways and we need to look inside of our heart and ask ourselves, what is the number one most important thing to us? Oh, it's my children. Well, you know what the Bible says? He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Oh man, my number one thing is my parents. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Oh, I mean, my most important thing to me is my career. Well, you know what? Don't make God blow on that. I mean, think about it. God can end your career at any moment. I mean, especially if you're a professional athlete, all he has to do is just like, and your knee blows out or something. Your career's over. You know, and I, I knew of a guy who was a professional runner and he permanently injured his knee, can't run anymore, hanged himself. Why? Because that's all of his life. That was what it was like. That's all he cared about. Just, just sports, just running. Can't run anymore. Hung himself. You know what? That's, that's, that's tragic folks. Nothing could ever make me hang myself. Okay. Because of the fact that, and just, just on the record, I will never kill myself. If I, if it's ever reported that I hung myself, it didn't happen. I've been murdered. Okay. It was the Illuminati that got to me. Okay. Just trust me. Cause I will never kill myself. You know what? Because, because here's the thing. No one could ever do anything to me that would get me to the point where I have nothing left to live for because the main thing that I'm living for is Christ. And no one can ever take that from me. Even if they took the Bible from me, I've got enough Bible verses and chapters to keep me company. I can keep on meditating on the word of God, no matter where they put me, no matter where they stick. You know, I'm always going to be able to, to, to preach to somebody, minister to somebody, uh, love the Lord, pray, meditate on God's word. The, the, the, the thing that I would want taken away from me the least is my Bible. This is the last thing I would want. If I could just grab one thing running out of the burning building, you know, this is what, this is the one thing I want to keep. Not this particular Bible, but just, I just need the Bible, a Bible. Yeah, it better be King James. You're right. Yeah. It's like, it's just like you run out and it's the NIV. It's like, throw it back. But the point is, but the, but the point is though, you know what? If the Lord, if the Lord is number one, if he's your main thing, like he told Abraham in Genesis 15, he said, I'm your reward. Abraham, I am your exceeding great reward. Abraham said, well, what do I get for serving God? You get the Lord. I'll give him the morning star, right? You get the Lord. That's the reward. If that's your main thing, then, then like Joseph or the apostle Paul or Daniel, wherever you go, you got it. You're still rejoicing. You're still singing. You're still able to live. You have something to say, Oh, I lost my family. I have nothing left to live for. Then you were living for the wrong thing. Oh, I've, I've lost my child. I have nothing more to live for. You're living for the wrong thing. I've lost my mom and now I have nothing to live for. You're living for the wrong thing. Oh, I, I've been injured. I can't do sports anymore. Listen, my great grandfather, Gustav Anderson, okay. Shot himself because he could not lift a sack of potatoes. He was a potato farmer in Idaho and he was a workaholic and his whole life was about work. It's a very hard worker, worked hard potato farmer and he had a heart condition and the doctor told him, you got to take it easy, but you know, he doesn't know how to take it easy because his life was only built on one thing. Just work only. And so he went to lift a sack of potatoes. He couldn't lift it off the ground. He dropped it and said, you know what, I'm not worth anything. And he went upstairs and shot himself because he couldn't lift a sack of potatoes. There's a guy who's living for the wrong thing. He was not saved. You do not know Christ as savior. He was basically a Jack Mormon. He wasn't actually a Mormon. He basically used the Mormon Church to get from Sweden to the United States, but his wife was a diehard Mormon. His wife really believed in it, so all their kids ended up believing in it. So his wife's a diehard Mormon. He just didn't really believe in any of it. All he believed in was just work and just living his life. And so as soon as he couldn't lift the bag and he wasn't very old, I forget his exact age, but, you know, maybe he was like in his fifties or something. I mean, he wasn't ancient or anything. He was not very old when I don't remember his exact age. If I had to guess, I'd say he's in his fifties when he did that. I have to double check. But thankfully, you know, his son ended up coming down to Los Angeles, getting saved and, you know, becoming a Baptist deacon. And that's my grandfather and that's my dad and his dad were both saved. But you go back one more generation and you got the Jack Mormon who shot himself. Why? Because he was living for the wrong thing. And it doesn't matter what you're living for, if you're not living for God, no matter what you're living for, it could always be taken away from you. Oh, I live for work. Well, what when you can't work anymore? He was in his fifties. What when you can't do sports anymore? Well, well, I'm always going to be able to drink beer and watch TV. Nobody, you don't, you don't have to die. You're already dead. If that's your life, you're dead while you live, if that's what all your life is. And you know what? Maybe, maybe the doctor is going to come to you someday and say, Hey, you know, you've destroyed your liver. You've destroyed your stomach and no more beer for you, right? No matter what you live, I just live to drink. Well, you know what? That's going to end soon. Well, I just live to watch TV. Okay. And what happens when you go blind? God could just go like that. Now you're blind. Now what? You know what? Our lives need to be about living for God. We need to seek first the kingdom of God. Look, we all want, we all want to do well at work. Don't we? Everybody wants to do well at work. That's normal. That's not a bad desire to have. It's not like, Oh, how dare you kill me? It's not like, Oh, how dare you care about such a carnal pursuit. No, look, we all want to do well at work. Hey, we all want to have a happy home. Amen. Everybody wants to go to their home and have a happy home. Everyone wants to have a good marriage. Everyone wants to have kids who rise up and call them blessed and, and, and, and loving children who succeed in life. We all want those things. Everybody wants to have joy in their life. Everybody wants to have peace. We all basically want the same thing, but here's the, if you seek after the things of God, he'll give you what you want. Now, in some ways he'll change your desires a little bit, but at the end, you'll have what you want. Maybe it's not what you think you want, but you'll get to a point where you say, man, I have everything I want. God's so good. God has blessed me so much. Why? Because you sought first the kingdom of God. But if you go out of here and say, no, I'm going to do it my way, I'm going to live my life. I I'm, I'm in church is on the back burner. I don't have time to read my Bible. I don't have time. You know what? You're just going to fail. It's that simple. You're going to fail. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for these, these great scriptures to help teach us how to live Lord and help us to care more about how to live than just how to make a living and Lord help us to always seek you first and your kingdom and give everyone here, Lord, the wisdom to know that it's worth taking that extra time to do some Bible reading. It's worth that time spent on the knees and prayer. It's worth taking that extra time to show up to church, to go out. So when he and Lord help that to be the main thing that that makes us tick every day, help that to be the thing that gets us up every morning and help that to be the thing that we sit around and think about.