Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If we are honest with ourselves, there are times when we worry.
[00:00:06] We worry about things that are outside of our control.
[00:00:10] We worry about futures that we can't see, circumstances that we literally cannot control.
[00:00:20] We also worry about opportunities that may, that may be passing us by.
[00:00:26] There's a lot to worry about.
[00:00:29] But on the other hand, is there a lot to look forward to?
[00:00:38] God doesn't design us to fit. He designs us to be.
[00:00:46] This time of the year and actually this time in history, we are probably in some of our most worrisome times. It's hard to get money. It's hard to get what you need because eggs cost a thousand dollars. Not really, but they cost a lot.
[00:01:03] People's budgets are being broken because of some of tariffs and businesses have to find other ways to compensate for the additional charges that they got to make up. I mean, there's a lot of things and connections that are being challenged at this time.
[00:01:26] And I was looking to the Word of God for some direction, some guidance, because not only are there things that are affecting me and my household individually or there are things that are affecting us communally.
[00:01:48] Your mom, your dad, your cousin, your brother, your sister may be going through some challenges as well.
[00:01:56] And when I cannot find answers in the world, my first, honestly, my first one should actually be the Bible. But let's be, let's keep it 100. We don't always go to the Word of God because we are looking for someone out there to give us some kind of comfort, especially during tough times when things are all good, we got it. We don't tell anybody anything.
[00:02:24] We don't need to research or consult anyone on anything. But when we are in turbulent times, we look for answers. And in fact, during some of our toughest times, the Bible actually ends up being one of the most purchased books during seasons of trial and tribulation.
[00:02:51] But it's not usually our first go to.
[00:02:55] But I'm going to actually unpack something in this Word that will help us.
[00:03:00] And honestly, it'll help me. And I want to at least provide some context for this scripture. Not in the sense of the biblical context, because we can get to that. I can provide that.
[00:03:13] But why this book, this particular scripture is something I look, I look to a lot of times, at least in my life. I've had challenges trusting God in certain areas.
[00:03:29] There's a portion in the Bible where there's this man who is wanting his daughter to be healed. He says he only needs faith in the room. Jesus only needs faith in the room. He says, lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. He said, I know you can do everything, but I don't know how you're going to do this one.
[00:03:50] And he asked for help in this area.
[00:03:53] And this is an area I've actually asked God to help me.
[00:04:01] It is challenging when you are a person who, in lack of a better word or phrase, take a lot of pride, which is not good in taking care of oneself, not externally, but being your own source of provision. That your hard work is what got you to point A, to point B. That you are the individual who is being centered around all the circumstances because you caused them to happen.
[00:04:33] Because of you.
[00:04:34] You think that everything rises and falls on your word and effort. And honestly, that's, that's your boy sometimes.
[00:04:48] That, that's, that's me from time to time it's, it may be you from time to time.
[00:04:53] Because what we do is we almost elevate our own effort and think that our works are so good that God's going to bless them because we're working hard.
[00:05:06] And there's nothing in here that does say, I mean, hard work does bring profit, Bible does say that, but it doesn't always bring happiness.
[00:05:18] Ecclesiastes, chapter 3.
[00:05:21] Even Solomon, the wisest wealthiest man to have ever lived, said that even his hard work, throwing himself into his, into whatever craft he was doing and learning and growing, that wasn't enough. It was like chasing the wind. It was vanity.
[00:05:39] It didn't even fulfill him. So what do and who do we go to in order to get what we really need?
[00:05:49] And honestly, knowing that you, you're being taken care of better than you think you can do for yourself is, is a hard one, but it requires some submission and most of all it requires trust.
[00:06:09] So we end up having these two perspectives. One is a worry perspective where everything.
[00:06:15] You're looking at the negative side of it, so you're looking at the scarcity side of it, but then there's the other side that you're looking at, the abundant side of it, that there are principles and things that no matter what are going to be is going to turn out better. You choose to look at one side or the other is the same coin, but you choose to focus on the thing that you really want. And naturally we go negative pretty quickly. It doesn't take much look at the news.
[00:06:45] You can get negative really quick and it takes a long hard look to find positivity somewhere.
[00:06:53] There's definitely more negative news than there is positive news. Those are easy to find.
[00:06:59] But what Would you do if you found positive news, if you found good news?
[00:07:05] And I'm gonna read the scriptures, Matthew, chapter 30. Sorry, Matthew, chapter six.
[00:07:12] And this is part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. It's. If you read, it is broken up into subsections. But honestly, it's just one long teaching preaching.
[00:07:24] And I'm gonna read, actually, I'm gonna read.
[00:07:29] Well, I'm dropping notes.
[00:07:32] I'm gonna start at 25, and then we'll kind of go through it a little bit, and then we'll move on. But Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 25, says this. Therefore I say to you, take no thought about your life.
[00:07:48] That's a hard one. Think what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is life. Is not life more, More than food in the body than clothing?
[00:08:04] Look at the birds of the air, for they do not sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more than they?
[00:08:18] Who among you, by taking thought, can add a cubit to his stature?
[00:08:25] Why take thought of clothing?
[00:08:29] Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither work nor do they spin. Yet I say to you, even Solomon in all of his glory, was not dressed like one of these.
[00:08:41] Therefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is today, which today is here, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
[00:08:54] Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?
[00:09:00] For the Gentiles seek after all these things. For your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all of these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be given to you. Therefore, take no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought about the things of itself sufficient to the day. Is. Is the trouble thereof.
[00:09:29] Okay, it's a long one.
[00:09:32] But cares and anxiety causes to worry about some of the things that are outside of our control sometimes.
[00:09:42] And one of the things here that I.
[00:09:46] That Jesus really does bring into is like the main things we talk about is, what are we going to eat, what are we going to drink, what we're going to wear. Those are our basic necessities, right?
[00:09:54] And some of the things that we spend time on, and again earlier in this chapter. So I encourage you to read Matthew chapter six in its halt, in its totality, because he brings up this thing too. To not store up treasure in the earth, because it's here today and it gets rust. It gets.
[00:10:13] There's moths that eat on stuff. Like, if it's in the material world, it's going to start dying.
[00:10:22] Keep. Try and keep food out all day.
[00:10:27] Don't refrigerate it. See what happens to your food. It's going to naturally decompose. It's going to smell. It's going to do what it does.
[00:10:36] But it requires something outside of itself to take care of it. Right?
[00:10:41] It requires you taking care of what you purchased. Right?
[00:10:46] But God's saying, listen, don't even. I got you on that. He said, I will make sure that all the things you need are going to be ready.
[00:10:58] And he gives these really easy, beautiful examples of birds, of Solomon, of lilies, excuse me, of lilies. And comparing those lilies to the wealthiest, richest man, wisest man to have ever lived on this earth, that even lilies were more beautiful than Solomon.
[00:11:21] And in fact, they go here, they die.
[00:11:25] Like that yellow frost, they die.
[00:11:31] And he puts this in perspective so quickly that sometimes what we have done is we have put value on the temporal things and have not put value on eternal things. Because this is the thing and this is the part that I would say is anchored.
[00:11:52] The scripture is. Verse 33 says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. The kingdom of God is not heaven we're talking about here. There are principles. It is kingdom principles that God is talking about. If you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these things that we talk about above will be added unto you. So what he's saying is, you need to put him first.
[00:12:21] What is important to God that His kingdom come?
[00:12:24] Do you know what's a part of the kingdom?
[00:12:30] Have you put God in His proper place?
[00:12:34] Because I guarantee if you haven't put God in the proper place, you're probably not having everything in the right place.
[00:12:44] This is the part, y' all.
[00:12:46] God has given us good things just by being alive. You have great food, you have great jobs. There's money, there's clothes, there's God, family, wife, kids, all of those things.
[00:12:59] There's great things in the world that for us to enjoy ain't all bad.
[00:13:05] But what makes it bad is when we put it above God.
[00:13:09] I'm going to say that again.
[00:13:11] We have a lot of good things in the world, but it's bad when you put that thing above God.
[00:13:17] You put your children above God, you put your job above God, you put your family Above God. You put your wife above God, you put your husband above God, you put fill in the blank above God. We got a problem.
[00:13:29] Because the Bible says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you. That's the cheat code.
[00:13:38] It's because we don't have God first.
[00:13:41] Everything else when we put God first, that's the only order.
[00:13:45] God will put everything in order as long as he's first.
[00:13:50] And I guarantee you, if you haven't sought him out first and you're having struggles and challenges in certain areas of your life and you're trying to control it, you can't control it because there's somebody or something sitting in the first chair.
[00:14:05] So you got to do some hard work.
[00:14:08] Not just hard work, heart work.
[00:14:11] And I'll tell you, this is how you know you have a challenge. This is one of the things I've recognized.
[00:14:18] If you happen to take that thing away from you, it could be your job. It could be fill in the blank.
[00:14:29] If it brings a level of anxiety to you, it might be something that is ahead of God.
[00:14:40] I'm going to just put a pause there.
[00:14:43] It might be something that is ahead of God.
[00:14:50] I wasn't going to do this, but I'm going to go to it in the same chapter.
[00:14:59] Chapter six.
[00:15:03] Let's go to verse 24.
[00:15:07] Here we go. This is actually the verse before this. The scripture I read says, no one 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.
[00:15:28] You cannot serve God and money. And in some translations, translations it says mammon.
[00:15:35] You can't serve mammon.
[00:15:43] I hate to admit it, but sometimes the pursuit of money gets in first chair.
[00:15:53] Because we like the things that money can get. It's the gateway to us. But it's interesting that it says you can't serve God in money. It doesn't say God and the devil doesn't say God and evil. It says God and money.
[00:16:08] Why? Because money tends to bring us the things in hope that we think it can bring.
[00:16:19] But get this in verse 25, what I just read to you about not worrying about what you're going to drink, what you're going to eat.
[00:16:27] Those are bought with money, but God already provides it.
[00:16:34] So are you choosing to provide for yourself or are you going to trust God to provide for you?
[00:16:41] Foreign I'm not saying this or teaching this because I've mastered this.
[00:16:50] Not saying, you know I'm not saying money ain't bad. Money's good, but it's good in the right order.
[00:16:58] God does not want me broke.
[00:17:01] God does not want you broke. Let's keep it a hundred.
[00:17:05] God doesn't want any of us broke because he can do a lot of great things with finances. We could bless people's families. You could pay somebody's debt, debt off. You can buy somebody a car if they need it. You can do so. You can help a ministry grow. You can contribute financially to missions. There's so many great things that money can buy. But this is the thing.
[00:17:28] If we don't put money in its. In its correct place, we don't put anything in its proper place which is behind God.
[00:17:43] You're going to start serving it.
[00:17:45] And when that thing, that idol is knocked down, what are you going to do next?
[00:17:52] God will always find ways to knock down the idols in your life to prove to you that you can't do it without him.
[00:18:03] You can't keep your family together, you can't keep your job together. You can't keep your mind together. You can't keep your health together.
[00:18:11] Put God in his perfect place. That's it.
[00:18:16] First things first. God, everything else falls in line.
[00:18:22] Don't know why I had to say this one today, but I believe that many of us or any of you listening today may be struggling with the fact that things aren't turning out right, but perhaps they're not turning out right because we have not sought the kingdom of God first and his righteousness in all things.
[00:18:46] And then God said, I'll take care of everything else.
[00:18:50] Just make sure you put me first.
[00:18:52] Honor me in everything you do.
[00:18:55] And in this Bible, there are ways. In this book, there are clues and principles that can help you keep God first.
[00:19:10] If you're tired of having to work, work, work.
[00:19:16] Not like the Rihanna song, but y' all hear what I'm saying?
[00:19:19] If you're tired of trying to make provisions for yourself, God is willing and able to guide and direct you if you keep him first.
[00:19:33] Keep it locked on the podcast. If you love it, enjoy it, share it with somebody, especially someone you know, that needs it.
[00:19:40] They may be struggling to with care and anxiety and not knowing what the next thing's gonna look like and how am I gonna, you know, take care of my bills and all this kind of stuff that are just real, real issues right now.
[00:19:57] But I'll tell you what, more so than ever, I'm going to my Bible, not going to the news, not looking for the New York Times bestseller book.
[00:20:11] I'm going to the Bible to learn what the Rabbi, Jesus Christ himself says about it.
[00:20:19] All right, like I said, share this on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.
[00:20:26] Let somebody know. Help them make this shift to become an individual who seeks him first.
[00:20:36] I guarantee you won't regret it.
[00:20:39] Until next time, peace.
