First Things First

First Things First, But Don’t Neglect The Others


1. "God never tires of forgiving us." Gospel truth.

"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him." Luke 15:20

"If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared." Psalms 130:3-4

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Heb 8:12-13

"My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world."  1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)

2. Jesus went about doing good.

a)What Jesus didn’t do. His public ministry only lasted three years, and in those years his sweep of ministry was incredibly narrow. He is God. Think about all the things Jesus didn’t do.

• He didn’t reform the government

• He didn’t solve orphan care

• He didn’t wipe out poverty

• He didn’t improve medical care

b) Jesus taught principles that applied to all of these situations. Though Jesus had the opportunity, resources and ability to address many needs He limited himself to a very narrow mission; "to seek and save the lost".    Everything He did pointed to that one task. He knew that in this fallen world there will always be hundreds of desperate needs screaming for attention, but only one can be the most important.


"For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always." Matt 26:11

3. Jesus did good and set people free

"The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all--that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." Acts 10:36-38

Although He healed people, fed crowds and occasionally raised the dead, Jesus didn’t make any of those the focal point of His time on earth. He knew the more time He spent focusing on secondary issues, no matter how desperate or urgent, the less time He had for the main thing.

a) Be ye warmed and filled.

"If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" James 2:15-16

As church leaders we believe our ministry or our church should be effective in a dozen or more areas. We feel obligated to meet as many needs, to fill as many gaps, to respond to as many crises as possible. How can we say we love God and not feed the hungry, care for the sick, educate the children, fight for the underdog, shelter the homeless, provide for the handicapped and adopt the orphans? All of this while we promote small groups, conduct church services, perform weddings and funerals, host VBS, send kids to camp, and counsel people in crisis.

b) Yet reaching out with Christ is still first priority.

"Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." Acts 8:4-6

"Blessed are You, Lord our God: in Your love You create all things out of nothing through Your eternal Word. In Your love You redeemed the world through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Your love You empower Your people through the gift of Your Holy Spirit. For these and all Your mercies, we praise You: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Blessed be God forever!" [Old Prayer]