How to put God’s kingdom first!  By James Lantz

       The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news! While God does not force anyone to receive his Son, he places great emphasis on putting his kingdom first. As we put the kingdom of God and his righteousness first place in our lives, we come into agreement with God on his highest priority of love ruling and reigning.  Mt. 6:32&33  For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  Those who don’t know God are pursuing the necessities and comforts of this life. First, they don’t know that God wants to take care of them, and second they don’t know that God has a high calling for their life which, when submitted to and completed, brings eternal reward. God’s kingdom is eternal, God’s kingdom will always be increasing, and God the Father is above all.  Eph. 4:6  One God and Father of all (all christians), who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (see also John 10:29 & 1 Cor. 15:27)  Isaiah 9:7  Of the increase of his (Jesus) government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.   God has offered a place in his kingdom to everyone who will submit to the Lordship of his Son, Jesus.  Rev. 21:7  He that over cometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.  God’s will is always accomplished in heaven because the evil one and his followers have been expelled. We are to pray that God’s will be done in this earth and we are to resist the evil one. God does not have one will for heaven and another will for the earth. God’s will for you here in the earth, is the same as his will for you in heaven. I am referring to you and me walking free from sickness and poverty on this earth just like we will be free from the curse in heaven. 

     Some people have goofy theology concerning the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. They think that we enter the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven when we die and leave this earth. My friend, if you are not born into the kingdom of God during your earth tour, you are not going to heaven. The very moment we make Jesus the Lord of our life we are born into the kingdom of God. John 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The Father had Jesus continually teaching and preaching about His kingdom! Jesus taught his disciples to pray that the kingdom of God would come, because at that time, no one was born again. Jesus was the first born from the dead. I believe the disciples were born again when Jesus said, as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you and breathed on them saying, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Jesus referred to the well of water as the new birth (for yourself) and the river of water as being baptized with the Holy Spirit (for others). Remember, no one can be filled with the Holy Spirit until after they are born of the Spirit. Jesus talked so much about the kingdom of God that the pharisees demanded that Jesus tell them when the kingdom of God would come.  Luke 17:20&21  .   .   .  The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  The new birth is a spiritual birth in which we are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. When we are a child of God we have the witness of the Holy Spirit in our spirit.  1 John 5:10&13  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself  .   .   .   that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. We have been made alive together with Christ, and raised up with Christ and made to sit with him in heaven. This is not something that is going to happen when we die and leave this earth. This has already taken place for those of us who have died to self and have been born into the kingdom of God. This may be different than what you have thought, but don’t throw it away, because the word says we have been seated together in Christ. The kingdom of God is a place, it’s a method, it’s a government where God is in control and Jesus is Lord. We (christians) are to function according to the laws of the kingdom of God even while we are here in the earth. The things that we are commanded to do are impossible without him (Jesus), but we are not without him. He’s in us and we are in him. We now have the ability to love like Jesus loves and to forgive like Jesus forgives. God’s ways are so much higher than sinful man’s ways, just like the heavens are higher than the earth. Under the law man had sinned if he committed adultery, under grace it is a sin to desire (not the tempting but the choosing) to commit adultery even before it is acted upon. You might be thinking that doesn’t seem like grace to me, but it is, because our hearts have been circumcised, and we have been empowered to walk as he walked.  Rom. 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  Under grace we can receive forgiveness immediately without the blood of a calf or a goat. Under grace we can enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus with a  true heart, and by faith, boldly lay claim to the promises of God. We put the kingdom of God first, by putting God’s written word and his rhema word to us, first place in our life. We make God’s priorities our priorities! Pro. 4:20  My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  Mt. 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:   Jesus tells about the two sons that were instructed to go to work for their father. The first son said he will not go to work but later repented (changed) and went to work. The second son said, I will go, but he did not go. The first son did the will of the father. We put the Kingdom of God first by obeying the Lord. God looks on our heart but he also looks on our actions, because our faith is revealed and activated (made alive) by our actions. The word says the work of God is to believe! God wants us believing and doing what he said we are to do. Our faith is made alive by our actions. Are you believing that you are one of Christ ambassador’s? What are you doing about Christ commission to go into all the world and make disciples? The scriptures teach that we are to pray for others before we pray for ourselves. Prayer meeting should not be a meeting that we are missing, nor should we forsake other gatherings of God’s people. We are commanded to bring (not send) the tithe. Living under grace means that we are under a higher standard. It is not good enough to just show up at the meeting, we need to want to be at the meeting and be a willing participant. It is not good enough to just to bring our tithe, we must bring our tithe with glad expectation of God’s continuing protection and provision, as he said he would.  Heb. 7:8  And here men that die receive tithes; but there (heaven) he, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.  We know that faith is the currency of heaven. We also realize that men (ushers or ministers) receive the natural part of our tithe, but Jesus, our high Priest, receives our faith. You might say that the actual dollars are the husks that wrap around our faith (the real tithe). The tithe is the first tenth (the first ten cents of every dollar we have increased). Offerings come after the tithe and we are to give in light of what we have. The scripture says that we are to choose whether we sow sparingly or bountifully and that we will reap according to how much we have sown. Don’t get caught believing the devils revised version, which says, there is no use in you sowing because God is not going to bless you anyway. No where in the scripture are we taught that God is okay with us sowing nothing. The scripture teaches we are not to come empty. Faith gets ready, faith works, faith has a plan, faith knows the outcome before it is seen! Even under the law the poor were to bring pigeons if they could not afford a lamb. You might say, I don’t want to give anything. If it is a good work we need to adjust our want to, because God does not receive gifts unless they come from a joyful giver. Where we sow, spend, or give, of our time and resources reveals what is of highest priority in our lives. If we are putting the kingdom of God first place then our tithes and offerings will be going into building God’s kingdom.  Luke 12:34  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  God is building strong believers and strong local churches today. The Lord spoke through Haggai, a minister of God, and said that his people needed to begin building his house (the temple). They were experiencing very little from their harvest, they did not have enough to eat and drink nor enough warm clothes. Every time they thought they had a little extra money, something would break or they would get unexpected bills. God told them they needed to build his house right away and when they responded in faith, God blessed them. Putting our family first is not putting the kingdom of God first (Some  preachers say, put your family first but they do not have one scripture that says to put your family first). It didn’t work out to well for Adam to put his wife ahead of what God said. It didn’t work out well for Eli to put his boys ahead of what God said. Don’t put making money ahead of obeying the great commission. Get excited about serving God with your talents and with your money in the place that God sets you!