KINGDOM FIRST BUT NOT ONLY
(week 35/14)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Romans 14:17 KJV: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy IN THE HOLY GHOST.
Acts 14:22 KJV: Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
1Thessalonians 5:23 KJV: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These scriptures show us that the Kingdom of God is the TOTAL dominion of righteousness, peace and joy by the power of the Holy Spirit in our souls: wills, minds and emotions and physical bodies. Furthermore, this can only be experienced by overcoming much tribulation: satanic afflictions on our souls, bodies and circumstances that are intended to stop us from entering this experience of the Kingdom.
Mark 4:17 KJV: And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
Being born-again is ONLY the BEGINNING or ‘SEED’ (1 Pet. 1.23) of this experience; we need to grow spiritually into the fulness or ‘full corn in the ear’ of this experience.
Mark 4:26-28 KJV: And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; (27) And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. (28) For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
It is necessary to obtain this experience in order to enjoy the FULNESS of the blessings of God in your life: having ALL things added unto us.
Matthew 6:33 KJV: But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and ALL these things shall be added unto you.
We should make having the TOTAL dominion of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit the FIRST priority of our spiritual lives on a DAILY basis.
Observe that we are to seek the Kingdom FIRST but not only: in other words, we seek the kingdom of God first DAILY BEFORE we seek other things.
How do we do this?
By DOING OUR FIRST LOVE AND WORKS:
Revelation 2:4-5 KJV: Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE. (5) Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and DO THE FIRST WORKS; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
What then are our FIRST LOVE AND WORKS?
Mark 12:29-31 KJV: And Jesus answered him, The FIRST of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the FIRST commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
1John 3:22-24 KJV: And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (23) And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. (24) And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit, which he hath given us.
So we seek the Kingdom DAILY by loving God with ALL of our hearts, souls, minds and strength by:
1. Labouring for life using the name of Jesus and promises in the Word
John 20:31 KJV: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
Proverbs 10:16 KJV: The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
2Peter 1:4 KJV: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2. Labouring in prayer in the Spirit with travail DAILY to crucify the lusts of the flesh
Colossians 4:12 KJV: Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always LABOURING FERVENTLY FOR YOU IN PRAYERS, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
Luke 9:23 KJV: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, and follow me.
Hebrews 5:7-8 KJV: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; (8) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
3. Labouring in the Word
1Timothy 5:17 KJV: Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
As you do this diligently by tithing yourself and your time by the mercy and grace of God with a humble heart, you will enter the Kingdom in its fulness and have ALL other things added unto you!
