Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [ is] the evil thereof.

Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Introduction

There are only twenty four hours in a day. That is true for us all, and for most of us, eight of those twenty four hours are spent asleep in bed, and another eight of those twenty four hours, are spent at an eight- hour job. That leaves us with only eight remaining hours in which we are caused to make decisions which demonstrate for ourselves and our God where our hearts really are. What we do with our time demonstrates where our hearts really are.
Not everyone lives a life that is structured around eight hours of sleep and eight hours of work. But the principle is the same. Whether we work an eight hour day, are self employed, or are retired, what we do with our time reflects where our heart is. If our hearts are set on the things of this world, then the things of this world will dominate our minds. “Redeeming the time” is simply an admonition to “seek first the kingdom of God.”
But what does “seek ye first the kingdom of God” mean for a young man and woman, rearing children and providing for the needs of those children? How do a retired couple with grandchildren “seek first the kingdom of God?” How do we “redeem the time because the days are evil?” How can we “understand what the will of the Lord is” in all of the various stages of life?

What does “come out of her my people”mean?

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

God, at our appointed time, gives us all a desire to serve Him with our whole heart. We then want to “come out of her” as we understand those words. But God also sends a false and lying spirit along with that desire which will at first lie to us and tell us to serve God in ways that are contrary to His word. Here is what we are told God is working in our lives.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

We all experience “the day of evil” which dominates our lives as “the wicked” until Christ’s words come into our life and destroys “that wicked one.”

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The spirit that brings us that “experience of evil” is “an evil spirit from the Lord,” and that spirit wants to destroy and chance of Christ becoming our king. That spirit wants to kill us before we are ever given the throne with Christ.

1Sa 19:9 And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with [ his] hand.
1Sa 19:10 And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

Of late that very same spirit is telling some people that we all need to leave our wives, forsake our children, and go serve the Lord in fasting and prayer and in the study of God’s Word. I personally, have never done that, but I have struggled with the scriptures which seem to say that, and Sandi and I met in a church organization which periodically sent out solicitations to its members for financial support. At one point a letter was sent to all the faithful which urged us all to sell anything we could to support the work of that church. We were even urged to mortgage our homes if necessary, to contribute to “the work of God.” After all, it was pointed out, this is what the scriptures teach:

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

There it is, that is scripture, and we can put many others with those verses which instruct us that ‘if we want to gain our life we must lose it’ and ‘if we love anyone or anything more than Christ we are not worthy of Him.’ So how can we know that we love God more than this world, and how do we go about losing our life to gain it? What does “sell whatsoever you have” mean? How do we redeem the time, and how do we seek first the kingdom of God?
The answer is, as is always the case, we must become familiar with “the sum” of God’s Word. “Whatsoever thou hast” is contrasted with what God has for us. We have no truth; He is The Truth. We have nothing to offer Him, and He offers us Himself, the Truth. So we cannot know His doctrine or ever even know what is the Truth if we do not become familiar with “the sum of God’s Word.” Here is why.

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

We are freed from all the bondage of all the lies of the Adversary and the flesh, when we “know the Truth.” So it now becomes imperative that we know what the Truth is. Here is what the scriptures consistently teach us is the Truth:

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

We must become familiar with Christ, who is the sum of Thy Word, if we are to know the Truth.

What happens when we think we know the Truth?

I have related the story of my own father who, one year before he would have retired from the company for which he worked; one year before he would have gotten a pension, he was “told by the Lord Himself,” to leave it all behind, and to go and live with a group of people in eastern Tennessee who were living in a “blessed area” which would be spared the ravages of an impending drought which was prophesied to afflict this entire nation back in the late 70’s. Of course, that did not happen, and the people who had believed that prophet lost all they had invested in going to that “blessed area,” and my poor father lost the pension he would have gotten, as well as any and all of the money he had spent while he was in Tennessee. But “the Lord Himself” had told Daddy to go to Tennessee, and who was I to argue with “the Lord Himself.”
This is a very sad story, but it is really no different than believing that you will die if your leave your house, when there is no logical reason to be that fearful. It is no different because both are the result of believing a lie. We all believe lies that rob us of knowing who God and Christ are, and until that lying spirit is removed, Christ is “withheld” from our lives.

2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [ Greek, restrains, same Greek word translated ‘withhold in verse 6] will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

“The mystery of iniquity was already working.” Does that sound like something peculiar to the very last generation of humans on earth before the millennium begins? How absolutely absurd. John said the antichrist was already here in his day.

1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

You and I are blessed to know that as far as it concerns us, “the kingdom of God is within you.”

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

How can we possibly “seek first the kingdom of God,” when we don’t even know what is “the kingdom of God… within you.” The past few weeks have shown me that this same story is being repeated in the lives of several of the people who come to the website, and the spirit which leads these sincere brothers and sisters to follow such teachings is the same spirit we dealt with in our past. It is the same lying spirit that tells us that we could start choking, or being smothered, or have a wreck, or die some terrible death if we so much as leave the house. It is the same lying spirit, that tells us that financial success is what is important to God. Any lie will suffice so long as we believe it, and it will rob us of the Truth we need to truly “come out of this world… redeem the time, and seek first the kingdom of God.” These lies are no different than believing in voodoo or black cats bringing bad luck or any other of the thousands of superstitions which are out there grievously afflicting mankind.

How can we “know the Truth?” and know how to properly “seek first the Kingdom of God?”

As we have seen already, Christ tells us how we are freed from all these false doctrines and all these lies. Anything less than this is not freedom. Christ has promised us:

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

So long as we believe the lies, we have reason to fear, because we are actually living under the wrath of God.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

“The Son” is “the way the truth and the life.” Therefore He is also “the sum of thy word. So it is entirely possible to conquer panic attacks, overcome all the vices of the flesh, and still not “know the truth,” and still have ‘the wrath of God abiding on us.’

Mat 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Isa 42:24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid [ it] not to heart.

That is us while yet believing the lies of the Adversary. Until we come to know Christ, we do not know the Truth, and we cannot know the peace that He is. Conversely we can also endure many trials, go through the fiery furnace, and still have peace, if we know who is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and we know that all things He is working, are for our good.

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [ his] purpose.

“We know” these truths, and when we know that all things are working together for good, then we know that much about who is our Lord. The Adversary is always striving to make us believe his lies and to doubt that it is even possible to “know the Truth.” But until we do know the Truth we do not know Christ, because He is the Truth, and He is life. If we do not know Him then we do not have or know what is life. You and I have been given the authority to know life:

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power [ exousia, authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Christ is, of course, that Truth, and when we ‘know the Truth,’ what we know is Christ. That is how “the kingdom of God is within you.” If “Christ is in you” then “the kingdom of God is within you.” But wasn’t it Christ who told that rich young ruler to “sell all you own, and take up your cross and follow me?” That sure sounds like very plain English. Does it not mean what it says?
The answer to that question is an unequivocal, no, it does not! “Sell all you have and take up your cross and come and follow me,” obviously does not mean what it says. Like the book of Revelation, it means what it means, not what it says. Where, pray tell, do we see any of Christ’s apostles carrying a literal cross around with them as they followed Christ? The disciples obviously realized that Christ was not making a literal statement because not one of them had sold their homes or forsaken their wives and children, to carry around a literal cross and follow Christ. The argument is often made that the cross is figurative, but the rest of the verse is not. That is the same argument that dominates the dispensational approach of those who attempt to explain the message of the book of Revelation. The seven headed beast, it is conceded, may indeed be figurative, but the seven kingdoms and ten kings upon that beast are literal kingdoms and literal kings. What total inconsistency! Why is the single beast figurative of a man but the heads and horns upon that single beast are all literal kings and kingdoms, instead of being part of that one beast?

Rev 17:9 And here [ is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [ and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

The four horsemen may be figures of religion, wars, famine and death, but those four things are literal. Why are the horses figures but the things they figure are real? Why are the seals, trumpets, and vials, conceded to be figures, but none of the within those figures are figurative? Why especially is this the case, when we are told from the beginning that the whole book is a book of signs and symbols?

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

If this book is literal, then how do we “keep the things written therein?” How is “the time at hand” if this is a dispensational book about events at the very end of this age? Those are very simple and legitimate questions which are shouting out to those with eyes to see the words of these verses. These questions deserve honest answers, but these questions will never even be posed to the multitudes of Babylon in this age.
The whole point is that we cannot “seek first the kingdom of God when we do not know that that kingdom is actually within that beast which must go into perdition and die daily so that that beast can be “destroyed with the brightness of His coming and a new man can be formed in that beast, which new man will be conformed to the image of God’s Son. We cannot “seek first the kingdom of God” when we are either seeking material wealth and placing the deceitfulness of riches above the kingdom of God, or by forsaking all contact with the physical world. We can only “seek first the kingdom of God” by knowing the sum of God’s Word, for that is Truth, and Truth is who Christ is. We can only seek first the kingdom, by seeking first the king. That king “is the Truth and the life,” and “the Words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” Eternal life and the kingdom of God are one and the same. They are Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is His Word. Get to know God’s Word and you will get to know God and Christ and if you know Christ and His Words, you have eternal life, and you have found the kingdom of God within you.

Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Not only can you “know the Truth,” but we must know the Truth because Christ is that Truth, and He is Life, and the king of “the kingdom of God within you.”