Priorities is a sermon teaching us that if we follow the priorities God wants in our lives, then He will fill all our need.

Key verses:
Matthew 6:25-34

Jesus’ First Public Sermon

I’ll ask you to take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter six this evening. We were in chapter seven this morning, so I guess it is a little backwards. As we said this morning, chapters five, six, and seven are the sermon on the mount, the first public sermon that Jesus gave that we have recorded in the scriptures.

Many years ago, when we were in Israel, they took us to a spot that they said was about where Jesus gave this sermon. I don’t know how they would know exactly where it was; it was the general area. There’s a hill there. They said that He probably stood at the foot of the hill and let the people sit up along the side of the hill because that would create the effect of an amphitheater. The sound would carry upwards, and people would be able to hear it better that way. Is that how it happened? I don’t know. That is the theory and that is the structure the Romans used for amphitheaters. I suppose it is possible that it’s true.

Jesus begins in the fifth chapter as we said and continues through the sixth chapter and concludes in the seventh chapter. But I want us to look at verse 25 down to 34, chapter 6:25-34. For a lot of you, this is familiar territory.

How many of you have a favorite verse? I do, anybody else here? Okay, a lot of you do, all of you should have a favorite verse. “I like all of them.” Good, I’m glad you like all of them. How do you get a favorite verse? One that means something to you, one that the Lord has used in your life that you can come back to over and over. Some people call it a life text. But it’s something you can come back to over and over and have it as an anchor for your own life.

For a lot of people, it’s the 33rd verse, one that you will recognize when you read it. But let’s start at verse 25.

Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Matthew 6:26: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

Matthew 6:28: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:”

Matthew 6:29: “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Matthew 6:30: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Matthew 6:31: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

Matthew 6:32: “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matthew 6:34: “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.”

I want to talk to you this evening on the subject of priorities. What things are most important in life and how do we take care of them? What order do we place them in? If we were to survey the room and ask what your priorities are, we’re going to find they are different. Yours will be different than mine, mine will be different than yours and that’s normal, it’s natural.

But there are some things all of us should have as priorities. We’re not going to talk about everybody’s priorities, all of them. Priorities are the most important things in life. Not necessarily things that you like, things that you are interested in, unless that’s the most important thing in your life. So, I want you to just follow with me here. But as we go through this passage, I want to stress a couple of things.

Our Loving Lord

Number one, our Lord is a loving lord. Some people think God is angry and is out to get you and just can’t wait for you to do something wrong so He can burn you up. That’s not the God of the Bible, it isn’t. That’s Zeus of Greek mythology and some other gods. That’s not the God of the Bible.

Our Lord is a loving Lord. While He is loving, he is also holy and righteous and just. Yet, while He is holy, righteous, and just, He is always compassionate, caring, and merciful. He has promised to supply our needs, meet our needs. His promises are true and faithful. God never says anything, never promises anything and then changes His mind and doesn’t do it. What He promises, what He says He’ll do, He’ll do it.

There are many things God wants from man. What does He want from us? He wants our love. He wants our respect. He wants our fellowship. Did you know that God wants to spend time with you? And He wants our honor. He wants glory from us, and you know what? He deserves all of that – worthy of that. Revelation 5, read the things that the Lord is worthy of and why He’s worthy.

The one thing God really requires of man, the one thing He must have from man if there is going to be any common communion between God and man is trust. If we can’t trust God, then we just don’t have any relationship with Him at all. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8, and you know it, most of you:

Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

Ephesians 2:9: “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

He is not looking for performance so much as He is faith, looking for trust.

The Content of our Lives

So, in this text, the Lord is going to talk to us about priorities. Take a look at it verse 25:

Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Now, “raiment,” if you are not familiar with that word, is your clothing. Think of it that way. What the Lord is saying here is don’t worry about your daily needs. When He says, “Take no thought for your life,” why? It’s a gift from God.

The Lord gave you your very life and one day, He’ll require it of you. But don’t worry about that. The wise person will trust his life to the God who gave it. God alone can give life and don’t worry about the length of it, be more concerned with the content of it. There are people who don’t live long lives who accomplish many times more than people who do live long lives. Be thankful to those who live a long time.

I’m going to interject something here that’s not in my notes but is food for thought. We mentioned this morning, Thomas Edison. We didn’t say a lot about him, just mentioned him. Thomas Edison was a great inventor. He developed many things that we use today, or we used variations of the things he invented. For example, sound recording, he developed that. The way we record sound now is not the same way he did it, but it is on a similar principle, the method is very different. But Thomas Edison, if I’m not mistaken, lived to be about 85 years old. I think that’s right, somewhere around there.

People before the flood in Genesis chapter six, you read about people living hundreds of years, not scores of years, hundreds of years at six, seven, eight, nine hundred years. Nobody lived 1,000 years, but you read about people living hundreds of years. After the flood you don’t read about that anymore. People didn’t live as long. The theory is that after the flood, the planet had so changed atmospherically and in other ways by the flood itself, it caused mankind to have shorter lifespans.

So, Thomas Edison, the great inventor, in his 85 years or whatever, around 85 years, he came up with many, many inventions. What if he had lived ten times as long? What if he had lived 850 years? What might he have come up with? Do you understand what I’m saying?

People who lived before the flood probably were very advanced in their civilization, advanced in their technology for many reasons. For one, they were closer to the Creator in a sense. But two, they lived ten times as long as people do today. They had the opportunity to live longer and accomplish more. Again, it’s not in my notes, but I put it in there because I’m saying don’t worry about the length of your life, be more concerned about the content of your life.

God Meets Our Needs

One day, you and I are going to stand before God and I’m sure He won’t use these words exactly but in essence He’s going to look at us and say, “I gave you your life, what did you do with it?” That’s a very valid question. So, Jesus says here to take no thought of food or drink. He does not mean that you should make no effort to feed yourself.

“Don’t worry. It will be like manna. It will come down from Heaven.” You know, God gave manna to the people of Israel while in the wilderness and it came to a point where He took it away. You don’t need it anymore. You’re not traveling. During the days of the wilderness, a lot of times they did not stay long enough to grow a crop. But now you’re in your own land, you can grow your own crops and get your own food.

God is not concerned or interested in us becoming lazy, but He is interested in having our needs met. When they needed the manna, He gave them the manna. But it came to a point where they didn’t need it anymore and it ceased. So, the Lord does not mean that we should make no effort to feed ourselves and He does not mean that we should have no will in the matter.

I guess I’ve got to eat whatever. I can’t make any decision about what I want to eat, what I like. It doesn’t mean that. What He says is don’t worry about it. Do what is right and trust the Lord for your supply. Trust the Lord for your food and drink. I’ll give you some scripture references. We’re not going to turn there; you might want to jot them down.

1 Thessalonians 2:10: “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:”

1 Thessalonians 2:11: “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,”

1 Thessalonians 2:12: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”

1 Timothy 6:6: “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

1 Timothy 6:7: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”

1 Timothy 6:8: “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

1 Timothy 6:9: “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

1Timothy 5:8: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

Those are some other references that deal with the idea that God is going to help you. You trust Him, do what you know is right, do things the best of your ability, and trust Him for the rest of it.

And then He says don’t worry about your raiment, what you are going to wear. Here’s what that doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that you don’t pay any attention to what you wear. It doesn’t mean you have no interest in what you wear. And it doesn’t mean it’s wrong to try and dress nicely. It doesn’t mean that either.

Now, what if you can’t dress nicely? Then you take what you have, and you do the best you can with it. But some people pay too much attention to style and clothes. It becomes a priority in their life. A big priority. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m going to repeat what I said a moment ago so that you don’t misunderstand me.

It’s not wrong to try and dress nicely. It’s not wrong to look the best you can. But don’t live for that. Don’t let your life be wrapped up in what you wear. No pun intended there. But the problem is that some people just pay too much attention to clothing style.

The Lord doesn’t mean don’t worry about having enough clothing to stay alive. He’s promised you that. Don’t worry about having enough food to stay alive, He’s promised you that. Trust Him, serve Him and He’ll provide you. What He’s saying here is that your life consists of more than food and clothing. Look at verse 26:

Matthew 6:26: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

Birds eat seed, I don’t know if they plant seed. Some of them may transfer one to another. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,” – have you ever seen a barn built by a bird? I don’t think you have. They bring food to their young, but they don’t build a barn. You know, winter’s coming on. We better build a barn. Put some food in there. Do birds do that? No, they are smarter than that. They fly south, don’t they? Every year, twice a year migration.

Ducks are migrating. We’ve got ducks out here in our pool. When they are going south, and when they go north, they stop here for a few days every year. I just think it’s interesting. Probably, evidently, I think it is more interesting than you do, but anyway.

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.” – They don’t starve. They got to eat. They find food. “Are ye not much better than they?” – Do you think you’re worth more to God than the birds? You are. “How can you say that? Birds are beautiful. Birds don’t cause some of the problems that people cause.” Birds can cause problems.

Brother Chris had a problem with a bird the other day. We won’t go into it, but he did. No, it didn’t attack him in case you’re thinking that. It wasn’t like that. But I’ll give you a clue. It had to do with where he parked his car.

But the fact of the matter is, the Lord cares more about you than He does the birds, but He takes care of the birds. That’s what the Lord is saying.

Don’t Worry, Trust God

And then verse 27. I like this one:

Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

I was about 8-years old when my grandmother gave me my first Bible. At some point, I’m ashamed to say I didn’t start reading it right away, but at some point, I picked it up and started reading the Bible. I started reading in the Gospel of Matthew and I got to this verse, “add on cubit unto his stature.” I knew what stature meant and I understood what the Lord was saying by thinking about it, by worrying about it, you could not make yourself one cubit taller. But I did not know what a cubit was.

Don’t be ashamed, does anybody here not know what a cubit is? I think most of you would. Alright, from here (elbow) to there (tip of middle finger), that’s a cubit. I thought a cubit was about like that (3 inches). I thought it was something little like that. No, this if from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger, that’s a cubit. That is the measurement, approximately 18 inches. Check that out for yourself. It’s going to vary from person to person, but approximately 18 inches is a cubit.

Jesus wasn’t saying that if you worry about it you can’t add this much (3 inches) to your height which is what I thought when I was a kid. No, He meant you can’t add this much (18 inches) by worrying about it. That’s quite a bit. I know what some people are thinking, “Well, I can put on platform shoes, etc.” People have even had surgery to make themselves taller. Did you know that? I’m not making that up. That’s happened, they have surgery to make themselves taller. I’m not sure how well that works out but I’m sure that it has been done.”

Here’s what the Lord’s saying. Worrying about it isn’t going to make you any taller. It isn’t. I’ve told you this before, but it’s been a long time, you might not remember, and you might need a reminder. But I’m telling you that none of you are too short. You aren’t, I can tell you that. How do I know? You may say you have trouble reaching. Well, find someone who’s taller and have them reach it for you. Or what do you do? You stand up on a stool or a ladder or whatever, and you get taller. But none of you are too short.

I’m not going to have you do it but try this simple test to see if you are too short. When you stand up, don’t stand up now, but when you stand up look down and if both your legs reach the ground you are not too short.

The fact of the matter is don’t worry about it. Don’t be concerned about it. Don’t let it bother you. If you are able to get up in the morning and go, thank God for that. Worrying about it is not going to make you any taller. Worrying about it is not going to give any food, not going to give you clothing.

Matthew 6:28: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:”

Matthew 6:29: “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Look at beautiful flowers. The Lord chose the lilies of the field, but you choose any flower, any beautiful flower and you look at them. I don’t think anybody has clothing as beautiful as the flowers of nature that God gives us.

Matthew 6:29: “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Matthew 6:30: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Little faith? That’s kind of an insult. What He’s saying is trust me, I’m going to supply your daily needs.

Matthew 6:31: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

Matthew 6:32: “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

“For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” Now, if you’re not of the house of Israel, you’re not of the family of Israel, you’re a Gentile. That’s going to be most of the people here. It’s not an insult to those of us who are not of the house of Israel, but what He’s in essence saying is this is what unbelievers look for, they worry about these things. You don’t worry about them. You trust God.

“For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” He didn’t need a reminder. You don’t need to send a note, “Did you forget, I need to eat today.” You don’t need to do that.

Seek the Kingdom of God

Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God”- Food, drink, and clothing are necessities of life. We need all of these things. God knows that you need them. You do what’s right and you trust Him, He’ll see that you have food, clothing, and drink that you need to survive.

What’s to be your priority? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” – put Him first. Put Him first above everything else. Make the Lord first in your life.

We talked about that in the Sunday School hour this morning. We looked at other chapters in Matthew. We looked at four things that are priorities. God said these things should be first. Not one of them was food or clothing, or drink. Not one of them was our basic necessities. Again, the Lord is not saying you make no effort to take care of these things. He’s not saying it’s wrong to have what you can have with these things. He’s saying don’t stress over food, trust Him.

What do you need to do? You need to first seek the kingdom of God. Now, let’s first take a quick look at that, and then we’ll finish here. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” “Seek first” – above all and what does that mean? God’s kingdom. That’s going to refer to the kingdom of God or entering the kingdom of God, which can only be done by faith.

Let me help you with something. This is Matthew’s Gospel. I hope you are aware of that. There is a phrase in the Gospel of Matthew that only appears in the Gospel of Matthew. There are 65 other books of the Bible. You will not find this phrase in any other book other than Matthew. That phrase is “kingdom of heaven.” You’ll find “heaven,” and you’ll find “kingdom” in other books, but you will not find “kingdom of heaven” in any other book of the Bible. Are you with me?

Why is that? Matthew is the Gospel written particularly to the people of Israel and it is telling them that Jesus is their Messiah who is going to bring in the kingdom to Jerusalem. That is what Matthew is writing about, that Jesus is the Messiah who will bring in the kingdom. So, we would say that it is the millennial kingdom, the 1,000-year earthly reign of Christ. That’s what the phrase “kingdom of heaven” refers to.

Notice here that He did not say, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.” He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Isn’t that the same thing? It is very similar, to be sure, but it is not the same thing. “Kingdom of heaven” refers to the earthly kingdom that the Messiah, the Christ, will set up when He returns.

What’s the kingdom of God? Go in your thinking. Go to the Gospel of John. You don’t have to turn there but go in your thinking the Gospel of John chapter three. When you get there, you’re going to find that the chapter opens this way: There was a man of the Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, “Rabbi, we know thou are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.”

Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus did not understand that, and in verse five, Jesus said to him, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” You’ve got to be born again to be able to enter the kingdom of God. Do you see that? Does that make sense to you? Okay.

Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Seek ye first not the kingdom of Heaven but the kingdom of God. I know some people, and you probably do too, they are sincere, well-meaning people, and they have the best motives. I am sure and am convinced of that, but they’ll tell me, and they’ll tell you if you give them the chance, “I’m working hard to build the kingdom.” Can I tell you something? I’m not working hard to build the kingdom. You’re not? No. Why? Listen to me. This is important. What they are talking about is that they are working hard to build the kingdom of Heaven. I can’t build the kingdom of Heaven. I can’t. We are in the kingdom of God if we’re born again. If you are not born again, you are not part of the kingdom of God.

I asked a person one time and said, “Do you know for sure that you’re going to Heaven? They said, “No, I don’t have that assurance.” I said, “Shall I help you with that?” They said, “Well, I’m going to be in the kingdom. I’m not going to Heaven. Only some people are going to Heaven, I’m not one of them. I’m going to the kingdom.” I said, “No, you’re not.” They said, “How do you know.” I said, “Are you born again?” They said, “No, I haven’t been born again.” Then I said, “Jesus said except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom. You’re not going to the kingdom.” You can’t be.

So, what are we working to do? Well, we live in the church age. The kingdom age is coming, it’s future. We need to be working to build the church. Oh, but Jesus said that He’ll build His church, and He will. We can’t do it without Him. We can’t. That’s our job right now to bring people to the Savior or to the kingdom of God, but not to the kingdom of Heaven. That will come. I hope that didn’t confuse you. If it did talk to me later, come, and I’ll probably confuse you some more.

But the thing I’m trying to get you to understand here is this. When the Lord says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” He’s not talking about the earthly kingdom. If anybody was recording the Lord’s words and they meant the earthly kingdom, it would have been Matthew, and he would have used the term “kingdom of heaven.” Does that make sense? Okay.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” – so the primary thing we need to do is be sure that we are saved. And then, we should try to help other people to be saved. That should be the number one priority. Because without salvation, we are going to be lost, separated from God forever. Without salvation, other people we know and care about and people we don’t know are going to be lost and separated from God forever. We talked about that this morning.

Seek His Righteousness

And then it says to seek His righteousness. Why seek His righteousness? Because we don’t have any. You know, when the Lord saves us, He gives us His righteousness. I want you to listen to a couple of verses. You can write this down though many of you could quote them.

Romans 10:9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Romans 10:10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,” – did you hear that? We don’t have any. When we believe in Him, the Lord gives us His righteousness.

I thought about this before and didn’t do it. I thought about getting one of our baptismal robes back there because it is all beautiful and white and thought about doing this. I thought about getting one of you to get up here and have you stand here with whatever you were wearing, you know, that part that you’re not worried about. Because we trust the Lord, right? Okay, some of you are paying attention.

Okay, now, I’ll get you up here and take that beautiful white baptismal robe and just wrap you in it. Because that’s what the Lord does. When you trust Him to save you, He wraps you in a robe of His own righteousness. So, when God looks at you, He no longer sees your sin. He sees the righteousness of His own son. That’s what Romans 10:10 is saying.

Romans 10:10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Place God First

So, when Jesus said, “seek you first the kingdom of God,” – to be in the kingdom of God, to be born again, being part of God’s kingdom – “and his righteousness,” which we don’t have. Notice, if we put God first and if our top priority is seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, look what happens, “and all these things shall be added unto you.” What are all these things? Food, drink, and clothing. That’s what the Lord said. Make the Lord your priority, make His work your priority, make living for Him your priority, and He’ll take care of you. That’s what the Lord is saying. Put Him first in all of it.

“Oh, preacher, you don’t understand. There are so many things that come into life that capture my time and my thinking.” I do understand that. Do you know why? Because that happens to me too. It does. It happens to all of us. But we still need to put Him first. God’s provisions are promised to His people who are willing to trust Him above all else and to give Him the throne in their lives.

I was in the house of a friend of mine. I might have mentioned this before. I visited a friend of mine at his house, and I’ve actually never been to that house before. I’ve known this person for many years and have never been in that house before. He invited me inside, and I walked inside, and I saw in their living room something I never saw in a living room before. What was it? A throne. I mean an actual throne. A real throne in this person’s living room. I looked at it and asked, “Where did you get that?” They bought it from somewhere in eastern Europe. I’m not making this up. They actually have a throne in their living room. I asked, “Do you ever sit on it?” He said, “Of course.” Do any of you have that? No. I haven’t seen anyone else have that, either. It’s pretty interesting if you ever get to see anything like that.

But why I mentioned that is to say this, give God the throne in your life. Don’t try to take it. Don’t try to sit on it yourself. I’m not criticizing my friend. Don’t get the wrong idea. Give God the throne in your life. You do that, and He’ll take care of you. He’ll see that you have what you need. You’ll have the food you need, and you’ll have the drink you need, and you’ll have the clothes you need. You may not have everything people could want in this life.

I’m going to tell you something you might not believe. Part of it you will. Housing prices in this area have gone out of sight. You do believe that part. I saw a sign recently, and this was quite a while ago, I saw a sign off of Lyons Road, south of it at Atlantic. It had a sign up “New homes in the low $4 millions.” You know what I thought when I saw that sign, “How do you put low in front of $4 million?” There is nothing low about $4 million, folks, nothing.

But if I had $4 million, I don’t and probably never will, but if I had $4 million to buy a home, you wouldn’t believe this, I wouldn’t do it. You wouldn’t? No. Because I can get a home that I’m perfectly happy with for much less than that. Many times less than that, I’d be very happy with it.

If that’s your priority, you need a $4 million home, okay, you can afford that; I’m not saying it’s wrong. If you have $100 million and you want to spend $4 million of it on a house, go ahead. Why not? But most of us are not in that situation. So, what we need to do is trust God, and we are going to have what we need. Maybe not a $4 million home, but you are going to have what you need.

Trust God Every Day

Matthew 6:34: “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.”

What the Lord is saying is don’t worry about tomorrow. Don’t worry about it. There’s enough to deal with today. You have enough with what’s going on today. Don’t worry about tomorrow. He’s not saying not to be prepared for things. For example, if a hurricane is coming this way, He didn’t say don’t get ready for it. That’s not what He means. He means don’t worry. Do the things that you need to do, accomplish what you need to accomplish but trust Him for all of it. Make Him number one in your life.

Just as we leave off works and self-effort for salvation, and we need to trust the Lord to save us only by faith, in the same sense, we need to do that with everything else. We need to trust the Lord to do things. Now, think about that for a minute.

You are saved through faith by grace. The Lord paid for your sins on the cross. They are all paid for. And when you trust Him to forgive your sins, He forgives all of them. Are you with me so far? So, you do not have to work to atone for your sin. It’s already been done. But, because your sins are all forgiven, by the way, not only your past sins are forgiven, your present sins are forgiven, and your future sins are forgiven. All paid here at the cross. Does that mean you go out here and just live wickedly, and God’s okay with it? Certainly not.

What about your daily needs? Trust God. Does that mean you don’t do anything? You’re not going to live wickedly once you’re saved because you are saved by grace. You’re going to try to live a godly life because you are putting God first. Do the same things with your needs. I’m not saying you don’t work.

Do you know what one of those passages I gave you says? It says that if any man will not work, neither should he eat. Did you know that? Here’s what it didn’t say. It didn’t say if any man cannot work. There are people who cannot work. Physically, they cannot work. For various reasons, they cannot do it. I’m not talking about those people, not talking about them. It says if they will not work. He has a conscious choice. He has a conscious choice to make. He can work but just decides not to, not going to do it. Neither should he eat.

“I thought God was going to feed us.” He will, and you trust Him to feed you. That does not mean you sit at home, as we said earlier, and just wait for the manna to fall. The people of Israel didn’t do that once they got into the land. Trust God. Do what you know is right. Do the things you know are necessary, and trust God. Put Him first in all you do, and He’ll take care of you. You’ll see things that you didn’t expect.

When I was a college student, I gave testimony from time to time, not every day but quite often. That testimony went something like this. We were coming up on midterm exams. My bill had to be current for the midterm exams. Maybe it was final exams, but for both, you had to have your school bill current. My bill wasn’t paid. I didn’t have the money. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I prayed about it, but I had no way that I was going to get the money, and I needed to pay my school bill so I could take my exams.

I went to my mailbox, and I opened my mailbox, and there it was. Just the right amount of money to pay my school bill so I could take my exam. I heard many testimonies like that. I would go to my mailbox, and you know what was in my mailbox? An echo. That was about it. No magic money in the mail, no miraculous money in the mail. One time. One time I remember opening my mailbox, and there was a check in there for $15.00. I was glad to get it. But that didn’t pay my school bill.

“Do you think God cared about you as much as He did other students?” No, I don’t think that at all. You know, the Lord did? He always allowed me to have a job. I always had a job, and the Lord met my needs. He did. So, did I worry about paying the school bill? I didn’t. I was able to pay for it. Why? Because I had a job. I’m not saying those other students didn’t work. I don’t mean that. They had their needs, and I had mine.

Can I give you something else? Since I’ve been here all these years, this doesn’t happen every day, every year, every week, or every month. There have been times we go to the mailbox, and that miracle money has been there. It has. Just the right amount that you needed. That has happened. So, folks put God first. Put the Lord first in everything you do. He’s going to take care of you. He’s promised.

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Father, thank you for each and every soul here this evening. Help us in these next few days as we come to this series of meetings to depend upon you. Help us to do our part. Help us to depend upon you so that we may see your blessings. And then help us each day of our life to put you first and make you our priority and to be the people you’d have us to be. Trust in you each day and each step of the way. Forgive us, for our faith has been small. Strengthen our faith, we pray.

Our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed. These promises of God are to all those who believe Him. Believing Him, as we’ve said, begins with trusting Him in salvation. But then it continues in trusting Him each and every day.

We are going to sing a hymn of invitation as we generally do on Sundays. God’s spoken to your heart; you need to come and pray. You need somebody to pray with you. Come on. Father, bless this invitation time we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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