But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you.
Matthew 6:33
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and
said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God: for no man can do these miracles that
thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born
when he is old? can he enter the second time into his
mother’s womb, and be born?
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.
John 3:1-5
1. Seek ye first the kingdom of God: Everybody belongs
to a natural kingdom and is proud to belong to those
kingdoms such as Ghana, Nigeria, the United Kingdom
or the United States of America. But everybody also
belongs to one or the other of two spiritual kingdoms: the
kingdom of darkness or the Kingdom of Light.
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Colossians 1:13
The Ghanaian with the German passport
I once arrived at the airport in Ghana and saw a fellow
Ghanaian who had been in Germany for many years. This man
was very happy that he had come back having acquired German
citizenship. At the airport there were four lines for Ghanaians,
ECOWAS Nationals, Foreign Nationals and Diplomats. This
man happily went to the Foreign Nationals desk and displayed
his German passport.
He was so proud to belong to the German kingdom and not the
Ghanaian kingdom. One day, it will not be the natural kingdom
that will be important but the spiritual kingdom to which you
belong.
Do you belong to the right spiritual kingdom?
2. Seek ye first the kingdom of God: People seek to
become citizens of the rich kingdoms of this world.
But you must seek to belong to the Kingdom of God.
Many times I have seen Ghanaians who live in Europe return
home wielding European and American passports. They are so
proud of these passports and of the fact that they belong to another
earthly kingdom. Which spiritual kingdom do you belong to? Of
what use is it, if you belong to the American or British kingdom
and end up in hell?
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,
that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my
kingdom not from hence.
John 18:36
The Stowaway Story
I once met a Ghanaian man who had sought with all his heart
to become a European citizen. He had been a stowaway on a
number of occasions and even been thrown into the sea by a
captain of a ship. On that occasion he swam to the shore and
discovered he had only reached as far as Liberia. He made his
way back to Ghana and stowed away again. This time he hid in
the engine room of a ship and was not discovered. This attempt
at stowing away was successful, and when the ship docked, he
found out that he was in Holland. He came out of the ship and
entered the country. He proudly showed his passport to me and
said he was a Dutch citizen and had married a white lady.
Even though this man was ready to die in the ocean to become
a citizen of Holland, he was not prepared to come to church when
I invited him the very next day.
As you can see he was more concerned about belonging to
a rich natural kingdom than belonging to the Kingdom of God.
3. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God: You must seek first
to become a member of the Kingdom of God because
if you are not a member of the Kingdom of God you
will not enter Heaven. You cannot force your way into
a spiritual kingdom.
Entering the Kingdom
People are able to enter countries using false identities because
immigration officers are sometimes unable to differentiate
between persons of an ethnicity different to theirs; for example
it said that all Africans look alike or all Chinese look alike. As
a result many people are being admitted into a country using the
same passport, simply because, to the immigration officers from
another ethnic group cannot tell them apart. Such deceptions
will not work for you to get into the Kingdom of God.
4. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God: When you become
a part of the new Kingdom you receive and experience
new things. When you go into a new country you come
across new things like their shops, bridges and buildings.
When you become a member of the Kingdom of God, you
experience nice things like Love, Joy and Peace in the Holy
Ghost.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Romans 14:17
5. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God: When the Kingdom
of God comes there are miracles and there is power.
When you go to certain nations, you benefit from
amenities such as constant electric power and nuclear
power.
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And
as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 10:6-8