YEAR END MESSAGE BY PASTOR MARC E SIMEON (Monday, December 31, 2012)

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

Monday, December 31, 2012

YEAR END MESSAGE BY PASTOR MARC E SIMEON

By Pastor Marc E Simeon

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

Cherchez premièrement le royaume de Dieu.

The verse of the year 2013

Mt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

33 Cherchez premièrement le royaume et la justice de Dieu; et toutes ces choses vous seront données par-dessus.

What do people seek for?

                For survival we seek for.

PRIMARY AND UNIVERSAL LIST OF NEEDS

• Food
• Shelter
• Clothes
• Security
• Health

SECONDARY LIST OF NEEDS AND WANTS

• peace / protection, defense
• Love
• Affection  
• Acceptance, approval, friendship
• Beauty, splendor, elegance
• Happiness
• Entertainment, distraction, pleasure  
• Glory / greatness, prominence, distinction
• Respect, reverence, esteem, high opinion, admiration, importance
• Success, achievement, triumph
• Dominance, supremacy, authority, control
• Fame, reputation, celebrity, notoriety, Recognition, Honor
• Fortune $$$$$
• Knowledge / Academics
• Skills / Mastership
• Luck / favor
• Forgiveness / favor
• To be understood
• To be Ahead

The entire human race craves somewhat after  these things  in the secondary list of needs.

The hidden motives of most of our efforts are geared toward grabbing as much in the secondary list as we can.

• People spend a lot a time chasing after the things in the secondary list.
• People work three jobs to achieve them or to give a good impression as of having them.
• People spend sleepless nights to study in order to grab as much as possible in the secondary list .
• Our entire value system is based on where you are in the ladder.
• People sell their souls in exchange for those needs in the secondary list.
• People commit abominable sins to achieve some of that list.
• People compromise their faith to grab some of the secondary list of needs.
• The pressure can be extremely strong depending on where you live, what family you come from, who your friends are.
• Those needs are not those of the twenty first century fox, but of all humanity from all ages.
• Those needs and objectives are not all bad
• In themselves, they can be pure and innocent.
• We all know how hard it is to make it without an advance education in these days.

FOCUSSING ON THESE NEEDS IS PROBLEMATIC TO THE CHRISTIANS

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus dealt with the subject head-on.

Matthew 6:24-34

• 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
• 25 ¶ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
• 26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
• 27 “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
• 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
• 29 “and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
• 30 “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
• 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
• 32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
• 33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
• 34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Mathieu 6 verset 24 a 34.

• 24 Nul ne peut servir deux maîtres. Car, ou il haïra l’un, et aimera l’autre; ou il s’attachera à l’un, et méprisera l’autre. Vous ne pouvez servir Dieu et Mamon.
• 25 ¶ C’est pourquoi je vous dis: Ne vous inquiétez pas pour votre vie de ce que vous mangerez, ni pour votre corps, de quoi vous serez vêtus. La vie n’est-elle pas plus que la nourriture, et le corps plus que le vêtement?
• 26 Regardez les oiseaux du ciel: ils ne sèment ni ne moissonnent, et ils n’amassent rien dans des greniers; et votre Père céleste les nourrit. Ne valez-vous pas beaucoup plus qu’eux?
• 27 Qui de vous, par ses inquiétudes, peut ajouter une coudée à la durée de sa vie?
• 28 Et pourquoi vous inquiéter au sujet du vêtement? Considérez comment croissent les lis des champs: ils ne travaillent ni ne filent;
• 29 cependant je vous dis que Salomon même, dans toute sa gloire, n’a pas été vêtu comme l’un d’eux.
• 30 Si Dieu revêt ainsi l’herbe des champs, qui existe aujourd’hui et qui demain sera jetée au four, ne vous vêtira-t-il pas à plus forte raison, gens de peu de foi?
• 31 Ne vous inquiétez donc point, et ne dites pas: Que mangerons-nous? que boirons-nous? de quoi serons-nous vêtus?
• 32 Car toutes ces choses, ce sont les païens qui les recherchent. Votre Père céleste sait que vous en avez besoin.
• 33 Cherchez premièrement le royaume et la justice de Dieu; et toutes ces choses vous seront données par-dessus.
• 34 Ne vous inquiétez donc pas du lendemain; car le lendemain aura soin de lui-même. A chaque jour suffit sa peine.

THE NATURAL MAN AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN OPERATE IN TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF VALUE SYSTEM

• The natural man has no concept of the spiritual life
• He is his own god
• The world revolves around him
• Life is a game he plays to come out in top regardless how.
• The ends justify the means
• He has no concept of God
• It’s “me and I, and myself” that’s all.
• He is boastful and arrogant
• He takes credit for all his accomplishments
• He feels like they use to say: “He who dies with the most toys win.”
• He lives just for the now.

THE SPIRITUAL PERSON PUTS GOD AND GOD’ INTERESTS AHEAD OF HIS OWN

• He gives credit to God for everything
• He relies on the providence of God for his tomorrow
• He is crucified with Christ, and the life he now lives, he lives it for the glory of God.
• He seeks the will of God and not his own in all his decisions
• His sole desire is to bring glory to God
• Seeing that the kingdom of God is well advanced on earth is his highest objective in life.
• He is not as concerned about the vicissitudes of this life as his counterparts
• He is not as afraid of a cliff as his fellow human beings
• He is at peace when the rest of the world is in panic
• He already knows how it’s all going to end.
•  He has supernatural joy
• He has peace that surpasses all understanding

JESUS PROMISES ALL OF THESE THINGS TO THE CHRISTIANS

Mt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

33 Cherchez premièrement le royaume et la justice de Dieu; et toutes ces choses vous seront données par-dessus.

• The Christian is promised forgiveness, reconciliation with God, peace with God, a new birth in Christ, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, fellowship with God.
• He is promised eternal life; he is promised to be spared from the judgment of God; he is promised to spend eternity with Christ.
• If he does it well and seeks the kingdom of God now, he is promised to have all of these things that the world yearns for as a bonus.
• It will be added in top of the spiritual blessings that are already part of the package.

NEW YEAR WISHES

• That God would help you to differentiate the eternal from the temporal.
• That God would give you a fresh perspective in life
• That God would grant you the favor to know him in a more intimate way
• That God would be first in all that you do
• That your priorities in life will heavenly bound instead of earthly.
• That your reliance on God’s provision may grow more and more.
• That you can let go and let God

Mt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

33 Cherchez premièrement le royaume et la justice de Dieu; et toutes ces choses vous seront données par-dessus.

AMEN !