JESUS SAID - Seek First His Kingdom... // One Church Podcast, 16th March 2026

We are one church. We love God, love people, love

His mission, and love His church.

Welcome to the One Church podcast.

So we're nearing the end of a brilliant series.

Jesus said we're looking at the life changing words of Jesus,

which I hope you'll agree are both very simple and very deep.

And each week there's been something that has really like

impacted my life personally. And today we're going to focus

on one verse. And I think we could say that it

sums up all the verses that have gone before really.

So Are you ready? Jesus said get your priorities

right and before you start rifling into Bibles and

thinking, well where is that verse?

I don't think that's in my Bible.

He did say this, but he used slightly different words.

This is what he says. But seek first his Kingdom and

His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as

well. So last week we heard how we're

to choose between treasure on earth and all treasure in

heaven, between material stuff or a personal living God.

Do you know material stuff doesn't care about you if you

put that first, but God does. A small life or the life that

Jesus calls them more than life because he says at the end of

the passage from last week, isn't life more than these?

Life is more than and life can be more than.

So if you're looking for a life today that is more than what

you've known so far, this is where you find it.

And here are a few verses Later in the same Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus continues and drives this point home.

So let's just read this passage, Matthew 631 to 34.

Jesus said, so do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or

what shall we drink or what shall we wear?

For the pagans, run after these things, and your heavenly Father

knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and

his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as

well. Therefore do not worry about

tomorrow, for tomorrow we'll worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So do I hear you say in your heart.

Oh thank goodness for that. I really, you know Susan, you

really read my mind. I really need a message today on

do not worry and don't be anxious about tomorrow.

Great. Well Jesus does have a worry

free life for us to live, but how do we access it?

He says get your priorities right.

We will not be anxious if we surrender control to the one who

holds us and who holds all things because then we're going

to live really free. And today's verse is sandwich

between if you like, it's like a big fat challenge, like the meat

in between two slices of bread that are the comfort.

If you like anybody here like bread.

Yeah. So we love the do not worry

about your life. We love the do not worry about

tomorrow. But in the middle is this Mety

verse that says, but seek first His Kingdom and His

righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as

well. If we obey this command, if we

get our priorities right, then if we put Jesus first in

everything, then we possess the key.

Actually, looking back over the whole of this series to all the

things that we've looked at, I was just thinking of some of

them. Do you remember some of these?

If we seek Him first, we can ask and receive, we can seek and we

can find. We can knock and the door will

be opened. If we seek Him first, we can

know His light shining on our lives and we can be the light in

the places where we are. If we seek Him first, we can

know peace not as the world gives.

Remember some of these weeks. If we seek Him first, we can

bear much fruit. If we seek Him first, we can

have life to the full, etcetera, etcetera.

So do you want to live a life under blessing?

Do you want to live a life that counts?

Do you want to live a life that's free from worry?

Well, it all follows because we get our priorities sorted first.

We seek Him first. So let's just repeat.

And I make no apology for repeating.

Jesus loved repetition. And it's a bit like when you

wash your hair, you know, lather, rinse, repeat.

We're going to lather ourselves, rinse and repeat the word.

And we're going to unpack each part of this one verse and end

with a deep challenge to all of us.

But seek first his Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these

things will be given to you as well.

We're thinking today about the Kingdom search, the Kingdom

rule, the Kingdom life and the Kingdom consequences to reorder

and reaffirm our priorities. So firstly, the Kingdom search.

And Lord, we just open our hearts to hear what you're

saying to us this morning. But seek first, seek first.

Anybody here love hide and seek treasure hunts?

I did numerous treasure hunts for our children when they were

younger, played numerous games of hide and seek.

Children never get fed up with it and it's always one of my

favourite games as a child. In the days where parents would

literally let their children wander everywhere in my

childhood, you know, I would go down to the beach on my own.

Then you know, we would make treasure hunts around our local

area and it would just last for hours.

But Jesus starts this life changing phrase with the idea of

seeking. Now here's a picture of a piece

of plankton. Now plankton are organisms that

drift in water or air, but are unable to actively propel

themselves anywhere against the currents or against wind.

Now you and I, men and women, we're created in God's image.

We're designed for more. It's not natural for people to

drift through life just without a purpose, without a point.

We need something to live for, we need to give ourselves for

something or someone. We need a reason to get up every

morning and live with a focus. This is to do with our goals,

our motivation and the ambition for our life, if you like.

And Jesus contrasts 2 motivations here.

He talks about running after all these things that other people

run after. Food, drink, clothing, being

focused on our own security or risking it all, taking up our

cross, seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness.

And Jesus is saying, is this all your life is?

He's not saying that to look after our bodies or to prepare

for the future or to enjoy his good gifts or to plan wisely is

wrong. These things are not wrong.

But he says don't seek for yourself first.

Get your priorities right because this just leads to a

smaller and smaller life. Seek Him and His Kingdom and His

righteousness, and this is what you were made for.

Proverbs 11 in the message paraphrase puts it like this.

The world of the generous gets larger and larger.

The world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump.

A God shaped life is a flourishing tree.

Don't you want to live a God shaped life?

Do you want to live an enlarging life, a flourishing life that

gets bigger and bigger? We're not plankton.

Maybe just say to your neighbour, I'm not plankton.

I'm not drifting through life. I'm going to seek.

I'm going to seek 1st. I'm going to seek his Kingdom.

We're made in God's image. We're made for more.

God made us to seek. So here's our first question

today after each little section, I'm just going to bring us a

question. Am I seeking?

Am I living with purpose or am I drifting?

So what does that actually mean? To seek first his Kingdom,

Kingdom rule, but seek first His Kingdom.

Every Kingdom has a king, His Kingdom.

Who is this king? Maybe you're in here today and

they think, well, who is this king that we've been singing

about? This isn't just any king, this

is Jesus. Now, Doctor SM Lockridge

Shadrach Meshach was his name. Believe it or not, SM.

He was a Pentecostal church leader from San Diego.

He was a compatriot of Martin Luther King.

And in 1976, he preached a famous message where he got

really carried away about Jesus being the king.

Here's a little excerpt in my voice.

The Bible says my king is the king of righteousness.

He's the king of the ages. He's the king of heaven.

He's the king of glory. He's the king of kings.

He's the Lord of Lords. Now that's my king.

I wonder if you know him. There's no means of measure can

define his limitless love. He's eternally steadfast,

immortally graceful, imperially powerful, impartially merciful.

That's my king. He supplies strength to the weak

sympathisers and he saves. He guards and he guides.

Do you know him well? My king is the key of knowledge.

He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance.

He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of

righteousness. He's the governor of governors,

He's the Prince of Princess, He's the King of kings, and he's

the Lord of Lords. That's my King.

Well, I wish I could describe him to you, but he's

indescribable. He's incomprehensible.

He's invincible. He's irresistible.

You can't get him out your mind. You can't get him off your hand.

You can't outlive him. And you can't live without him.

Death couldn't handle him, and the grave couldn't hold him.

That's my king. There was nobody before him and

there'll be nobody after him, because his is the Kingdom and

the power and the glory, forever and ever and ever and ever.

How long is that? Forever and ever and ever and

ever. Amen.

So that's my king. Is he your king?

And if he's our king, then we ask for his Kingdom rule to come

first of all in me, because to seek first his Kingdom, the rule

of the King Jesus begins in our hearts when we turn away from

our old lives and choose to follow him.

My Lord and my Saviour. We say when we bring people to

give their lives to Jesus, we're not just saying, oh, he's going

to be my saviour. We're saying he's going to be my

Lord, but he needs to be our saviour.

And then we get propelled outwards because now spreading

his Kingdom becomes the prime purpose of my life.

You say I have purpose now. I remember just waking up after

just becoming a Christian and thinking, wow, I feel like I

have purpose in my life. I know where my life is going,

my priority, what is it? And I'm speaking to myself here.

Do we sense the urgency of this? You know, war is all over the

World News, isn't it? At the moment, millions of

people living in fear of bombs and guns and what's going to

happen next. Do we feel as well like we're in

a war, fighting for the spreading of the good news of

Jesus, not with guns or bombs, but with words and deeds?

Or do we actually live like it's peacetime because the time is

short and the war is raging for people's souls?

Simon Gillibod in his book, A little book called Sacrifice,

tells of a day when he was preaching in a crowded meeting

in Burundi on the Congolese border.

And he preached a simple message from Jesus.

Story of the wise and the foolish virgins where five were

ready and five ran out of oil. And when they returned, the

wedding celebrations were going on and the door was firmly shut,

and they were too late. And his points were simple.

One, Jesus is coming. 2, Nobody knows when.

Three, Are you ready? And a number of people responded

to that message and gave their lives to Jesus, but many did

not. And he says this, he says maybe

they thought they'd respond in a week or a year.

But two days later, he was riding his motorbike near that

very village and was turned back because rebels were in there

attacking the people. Many people were killed.

And he says I was struck as never before.

Just how urgent a message we have been given.

We've been entrusted with this message.

And how many of those who died had accepted or declined the

invitation just 48 hours before their time had come to meet

Jesus? Were they ready now?

We don't actually live in a physical war zone here in

Leicester at the moment, so it's easy to fall for the lies that

the enemy will sow in our minds. Oh, don't tread on their toes,

don't risk getting rejected. Don't worry about it, Leave it

for now. There's always time.

Well, there is not always time. We're not all called to Burundi,

but we are all called and we don't always use that language

these days. But we are all called.

As Christians. We have a call on our lives, to

our neighbours, to our places of work, our gym, our college, our

school, our university. Are we prepared for the deeper

'cause as well, even for change? Maybe to even go to another one

church site to help with the mission there.

Maybe to help pioneer the next site when we planned again soon.

Maybe to sacrificially give more as real resources to reach more

people, to go to a different part of the world, To volunteer

in open hands, To be more bold in speaking out, offering

prayer, taking a new step outwards.

I wonder who we're going to invite to Easter?

Because it isn't just a nice invitation.

This is to do with life and death, isn't it?

And the purpose of all of this is for his glory.

So Jesus is seen to be king, so the Kingdom comes on the earth

until he returns, and every knee bows and every tongue will

acknowledge that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father,

whether they're ready or not. So here's the question with this

section. Is he my King?

And am I living to make him known?

So his Kingdom search, his Kingdom rule, and thirdly, his

Kingdom life, but seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness

and His righteousness. This takes it wider.

Jesus Lordship needs to spread and will it spread into every

part of my life. So I embrace His righteousness

firstly in my own life, which means I'll seek character more

than outward appearance. Mary and I were talking about

Proverbs 31, which is a passage on Friday.

We were talking about this in the office.

It was a passage that talks about this woman who is pretty

amazing. Let's face it, She does all

these things. You know, she makes bedspreads

for a family. She looks after her husband.

He praises her at the city gate. She's got, you know, she does

all these things for her children.

She has a business, she buys a field and all sorts of things.

And then in that passage, it says charm is deceptive and

beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be

praised. And what we were noticing was I

think we'd both listen to a little message somewhere that

nowhere did it mention what she looked like.

Nowhere does it mention what her age is or her clothes or

anything like that. Just all the wonderful things

she did for the Kingdom. Because the heart is God's

priority. He looks at our hearts.

So in our hearts, are they the right priorities?

That's what I'm saying. What does it mean to get my

priorities right as a young person here?

Are we asking Him first what He wants for our lives, or are we

chasing other things for this? As someone establishing a family

or a career, will I settle and get cosy and comfortable?

Or will I see myself as called to bring him and his rule into

my workplace, into my career, into my family, into my home in

midlife? Will I give each day to him, be

on the lookout for new adventures or will I just settle

in retirement when I'm no longer paid to do a job?

Will I drift or will I plan and live with purpose and zeal for

Jesus? And can I say if you're

approaching that time of life, be prepared for it, be thinking

about it. How am I going to order my week

in order to best serve God when I'm no longer paid to do a job

practically and as a senior St Are we saying as is day, so

shall my strength be and every day I'm going to listen for his

voice and obey even if I cannot physically do everything I used

to be able to do. I can still live a big life

whatever my stage in life. Have I got my priorities right?

Is prayer first is the word 1st is my money surrendered to him

first? You know, yesterday I received a

gift which I'd forgotten was coming to me and the first thing

on our priority is well, we'll give 10% of that to God.

And then on top of that an offering because that's just our

way of doing things. And it, you know, if all of us

merely obeyed Jesus and tithe even in the church here gave 10%

to God, the giving of our church would be massively increased and

the expansion of all we could do for the Kingdom in this city and

beyond would be massively expanded.

So do I put his way first? Do I put eternity first?

Garden people, if I live like this, I'll see His Kingdom rule

coming through my life as well. So both in my life and through

my life, what does it look like to live the King's life?

Well, it looks like being a pioneer and not a settler.

It looks like embracing sacrifice, not a comfortable

cross that we craft for ourselves.

It means embracing discomfort because it is always unsettling.

It's always unsettling when we step out.

But this is how His righteousness, his rule

increases in US and we never achieve anything or get to any

enlargement or increase in our life without us feeling a little

bit. Oh, you know that feeling that

we get in our summit? Oh, do I really want to do this?

Well, yes, God's calling us like he called Peter.

He said step out of the boat. Come and step out the boat.

You can walk on the water. It's always uncomfortable when

we get to another level of surrender.

So here's the question for us here.

Am I seeing change for good and for God in myself and in others?

Is he first? Am I putting him first?

And fourthly, Kingdom consequences, and all these

things will be given to you as well.

If this is how we live. There are consequences and the

consequences are good. I slightly objected to a song

that I've been listening to recently.

I think it's called For His Glory and My good, something

like that. And I was thinking, well, surely

it's just all for His glory. I don't think about it being for

my good, but actually God is so good that when our lives are

dedicated to Him and given over to Him and ordered around his

priorities, He can't help but bless us.

So if this is how we prioritise, Jesus has an amazing promise for

us and all these things will be given to you as well.

So we don't seek after the all these things first, we seek

after His Kingdom 1st. And as we do that, this is the

result and it's a wonderful result.

If you look at people, you think why are they so blessed?

Well, just think about this, think back to the context of

this verse again. What are the things that Jesus

is talking about? Freedom from worry.

So do not worry. He says freedom from running

around after stuff, for the pagans run around after those

things, freedom in their Father's arms of love, and your

heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Freedom from worry about tomorrow.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.

Each day has enough trouble of its own and a big life as well.

That matters for eternity, because this is the amazing

benefit of seeking first His Kingdom.

Who are the happiest people in the world?

Or who should be the happiest people in the world?

Or those who have laid their lives down for Jesus?

If our lives are in His hands, then we are safe and He will be

with us, as He said, to the end of the age.

As a famous missionary once said, God's giants have been

weak people who did great things for God because they reckoned on

His being with them. If we seek first His Kingdom and

His righteousness, not only do we receive all these things as

well, but we get a gift of a wonderful life, a big life that

matters for eternity, and an eternal reward.

The world of the generous, remember, gets bigger and bigger

and bigger. So here's the question here Am I

living this life of Kingdom, blessing and purpose?

Let's all say this together, shall we?

This verse? But seek first his Kingdom and

his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as

well. Maybe make it personal.

I will seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all

these things will be given to me as well.

That's my king. That's my king.

We do it for the King Jesus, King Jesus, the King of Kings,

the Lord of Lords. Would you not want to give your

life to serve Him? He is worthy.

Have you got your priorities straight?

Is there something needs adjusting now?

God is going to be speaking to each of us.

The Holy Spirit's going to be highlighting different areas for

each one of us, areas maybe where we haven't fully

surrendered. It might be our pockets.

It might be we're just scared of what it might mean if we step

out into what we think he's calling us to do.

You will know it might be for some of us, it's simply he's

challenging us to keep going in a place that's really difficult

and we'd rather actually step out into something else.

But he's saying stay there. But either way, we're going to

respond to say I'm serious about seeking first your Kingdom.

I want my life to get bigger and bigger.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards

you and give you peace.