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* We all have Priorities! * Work * Home * Play * What we eat * Sports – first place * The Lord also has Priorities: * Whose do we honor the most? * Do we put the Lord’s priorities first or ours? 2

* But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 3

* “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” 4

* “being before all others with respect to time, order, rank, importance, etc., used as the ordinal number of one: the first edition; the first vice president.” * Dictionary.com 5

* We must love God first because He loved us first! * If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. * John 14:

* When we obey Him we love Him! * “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” * John 14:15 * If we do not keep His commandments, we don’t love him! 7

* We must love Him before family! * “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” * Matthew 10:37 * “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” * Luke 14:26 Love Less 8

Adam Clarke's Commentary Verse 15 - “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” “Do not be afflicted at the thought of my being separated from you: the most solid proof ye can give of your attachment to and affection for me is to keep my commandments. This I shall receive as a greater proof of your affection than your tears.” 9

* Obey His Word! * John 12:48 – “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” * Must do the Father’s will! * Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” 10

* Obey the will of the Father as did Jesus! * John 4:34 – “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” * John 6:38 – “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” * John 6:40 – “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Are You Doing His Will? 11

* Do you faithfully keep these commandments? * Study – 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Thess. 4:10-11 * Give as prospered – 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 9:6-9 * Pray – 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Tim. 2:8 * Sing – 1 Cor. 14:15; Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19 * Not forsake the assembly – Heb. 10:25 * Kind to others – Eph. 4:32; 1 Cor. 13:4 * Love one another – Jn. 15:12, 17; 1 Pet. 1:22 * Seek the lost – Luke 10:2; Jn. 4:35 * Help the needy - Luke 12:16-21 * Suffer for righteousness – Matt. 5:10 * Edify others – 1 Thess. 5:11; Rom. 14:19 12

* Let us have our priorities in a Godly order! * Put Christ and His will FIRST! * Remember Johns admonition to the church in Ephesus: * “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Rev. 2:4). “Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God” 13