And, um, because this is what God calls us to do. You see now the last time, this is my introduction. The last time I was here and, and spoke, um, I think it was 2000, 2001, the last message that I had before the congregation. I'm not sure. And this is kind of like a continuation, but not quite a continuation of that. So this is my introduction. The last time I exhorted the congregation was in 2000. And that's fuzzy with me. I should have looked and made sure. And this was my introduction. And I decided to repeat it again. And it goes like this. We are living in a very dangerous time in the history of our country. We are divided politically, Republicans against Democrats. There also is a growing racial divide between blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Arabs, and American Indians. Furthermore, there seems to be a growing anger among all these groups. People are split into two groups, us against them, good against evil, liberals against conservatives, anti-vaccination versus vaccination, CNC versus Fox News, We're either with us or against us. There is no third option. Men are hating one another without a cause. Mass killings are happening with regularity and homicide rates are up in places all over the country. Furthermore, To go along with this us against them attitude, we are constantly being fed through television, internet, social media, cable news, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, schools and churches. And this is what I wrote as the introduction now. I wrote this introduction coming up on four years ago. Now our world and things in the country has gotten much worse. We have the attempted normalization of homosexuality throughout television and medias, facial recognition, deep fakes, AI, artificial intelligence are some recent dangers found on the internet. The Pope is blessing homosexual marriages, greed, shameless vulgarity, open sin throughout our country. Our country is now involved in the Ukraine, in the Ukraine-Russia, Russian war. the Israel-Hamas War, supplying weapons and money. Now we have come under attack by Hamas, and three American soldiers were killed. prompting our president to respond to this attack. So we see here, and this is the world that we're living in, you see. And these are things that we have to look up, look out, and face squarely. Because these are things that are happening around us. And it's affecting us. And God, he judges sin. And this is a quote by a guy named Root. At the ridge, the third, he's a minister for the reform Presbyterian church, pastor England's denomination, but it's a good quote. And it's something for us to think about. There is an absolute imperative for Christians. to call out and take action against the evil in our day, beginning, as our Lord commands, with the evil in our own hearts. As we reckon with and repent over the personal and corporate sin we have covered up, ignored, and rationalize, we will then understand more accurately the sinful realities of our present day. It is an especially critical time for those who name the name of Christ to live, act, and bear public witness in a manner worthy of his gospel. I truly thought that was well spoken. And he goes on to say, or maybe this is what I said here. I think it is what I said. When we do evil and support evil, God will send evil upon us. This is biblical, and God has done this throughout history. He has done it in our lives, and we all know that. When we do evil, God sends evil. Furthermore, We do not support evil in hopes that good is going to come out of it. God sends evil when we do evil. God sends good when we do good. Let's look at 2 Kings chapter 19. Verse 28, which reads, Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest." The Lord is going to eventually deal with us as the world, in the world, and deal with us as a country, and deal with us as individuals if we don't turn from sin. and do what he tells us to do. Now, my proposition is this. We might have heard, we might have hard times coming our way. So how do we prepare for them? How do we live in a world that is becoming more and more corrupt, evil, violent, and wicked day after day. That's the question. How do we prepare as Christians for this? Because it's coming. And we might not see it, but our children might get real bad. But then again, we might see it get real bad. I was, um, thinking about just the other day, um, all these people, um, these leaders with, um, nuclear capabilities that, um, and they're ungodly men and Anything can happen if that's all it takes is one person to go off and we can have a catastrophe, mass destruction. So how do we prepare for something that is on the horizon and something that we should be doing? And what I came up to, or what the Lord has given me, is that there's no helping man. The thing is, we have to be focused on God, especially when we profess to be Christians. That's where our focus is. That's who we keep our eyes on. That's who is the real person that's in absolute control of everything. That's where we need to keep our eyes focused. So how should we live during these times? And what I put here. And it's simple because I'm trying to stay with the basics, the simple basics of things. What we should do is by putting God first, the title of the sermon is first things of the messages. First things first, putting God first in our lives. God must come first. I have three points that I would like for you to consider. Point number one, first things first, God must come first. First, before our nearest and dearest relations. Point two. First things first, God must come first. First before our own ease and safety. Point number three, first things first, God must come first. First before our own lives. And the text that I'm taking this from is Matthew chapter 10 verses 32 through 39. Let's turn to that. Matthew chapter 10 verses 32 through 39, which reads, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father, which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be of his own household. 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. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. This is the context. This is to put it in the context. We have here in the chapter, in the beginning of the chapter, that Jesus is sending the 12 apostles out to teach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. These 12 Jesus sent for and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles or into the city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus tells them, behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Jesus also warns them of terrible persecutions. Jesus tells Them, the apostles, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Jesus goes on to tell them that God Their father is in control and sees and knows everything. And Jesus continues to encourage them saying, the very hairs of your head are numbered, all numbered, fear not. Then Jesus warns the apostles, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. So here in this whole chapter I believe that the Lord is warning us about things to come and we need to Prepare for it. Prepare for it. And let me read the text where I'm taking all these points and all this information from, developing all this information. It's in Matthew chapter 10, verses Verses 34 through 39. These are the verses where I got my points from, from verses 32 to 39, which reads, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. 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. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Okay. Looking at verse 34, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. This is something that we do have to realize. Because me and Sheila have been studying through the Old Testament. And there's been wars throughout history, one war after another. When you get into the Old Testament, you're constantly fighting wars, different kings and different things. So the wars that we see going on now, that's the way it is. And the reason it's that way is because of sin. It's because of sin. We're gonna constantly see this because this is what we're living in. We're living in a sinful world. And this is something that is important for us to understand when we Well, when we preparing for hard times, we need to understand the way that it has been and the way that it is. Sin is because of sin. First things first. God must come first. First. before our nearest and dearest relations. The Jews looked for great outward peace and prosperity in the days of the Messiah. The Jews based this belief on several prophecies of the Old Testament misunderstood by them. The Lord wanted to let them know The contrary, I came not to send peace, but a sword. By the sword may be meant the gospel, which is the means of directing and separating the people of Christ from the men of the world. Divisions, discord, and persecution happens when we bring the gospel to the people. This happens through the malice and wickedness of men. Instead of a sword, it is divisions, because the sword divides asunder, as does the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God." Now, this is John Gill. Um, a commentator that I'm taking from, this is a quote from him and he's an excellent, um, commentator. Um, John Gill. Let's look at Luke chapter 12 verses 51 to 53. Luke chapter 12, verses 51 through 53. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth. I tell you, nay, but rather divisions. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided Divided three against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father. The mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother. The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. So what this is saying, when we become Christians, there's a divide that starts instantly. And this divide is always here, always in the world against Christians. Because we're different. We're a part of a different kingdom. God has given us eternal life. He's made us special in a big way. So that's one thing we need to keep in mind. We're different. And people look at us different, even though we look like anybody else. Things but people can see Christ in us. And people treat us and look upon us differently. And we need to know that. We certainly need to know that. Now reading verse, verses 35 and 36 in Matthew chapter 10. We read, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. So. We see here the Lord is warning us about things to come. He is telling us to prepare for it. Put first things first in our lives. God must come first. God must come first before nearest and dearest relations, father and mother. son and daughter. These are relationships that we cherish most. Now, this is what we must expect when we become children of God. Divisions. People do not believe the things that we tell them about our God. Why? Because they cannot see the kingdom of God. They must be born again. And this is why we're set apart. We're different. I remember in preparing this, I remember when I was first converted, how the Lord worked in my life when we was first converted, when I was first converted, and how he separated me and divided things Um, and, and my life brought divisions among people. I remember, and let me read what I have down here. I remember right after my conversion. And it was a dramatic conversion for me. You see now it was dramatic for me. Um, my conversion. And I think it was because I had no church background. Very little church background. I knew very little about God. And this happened all of a sudden. I had no church background. I was not raised in a church. And I need to say this, it's a wonderful blessing to be raised in the church and have that foundation. in your life. And I was converted through the reading of the Bible. Now, it was a paperback version of good news to modern man. It was one of those real weird translations, but the Lord used that in my life. So while reading in the book of John, I was totally impressed with the righteousness I seen in Jesus. And I remember it's the book of John. And that's why when I recommend people, when people read the Bible, I normally recommend read the book of John. I saw Jesus and his love displayed in the book of John. And I knew right then that I needed that righteousness, that the Lord was talking about his righteousness. And I knew it because I was a terrible sinner and I knew it. And even though I did not fully understand all that and all that was happening in my life, I got up, walked away from my machine. I was a machinist even way back then. So I've been a machinist for years. I had been a machinist for years. To the loading dock. And I can remember looking up at the sky, looking up at heaven, and asked God to save me and to give me this righteousness that he has. I asked him right there. And I was changed. I was changed. And I knew I was changed. But I didn't know what was going on with me, you see. I was changed. Something had happened to me. And I did not quite know what it was then. But I know now. I was born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. I went home and prayed that night. This time, it did not feel like I was just saying words. This time, I knew I was praying to a person. I was praying to God. And from that day on, from that day to now, I have never stopped praying. And I had gotten so excited about all this that I said, let me go and tell somebody. And my brother, me and my brother, was always real close because we, well, there's six of us in the family. We're all only about two years apart, less than two years apart. My brother next to me, we used to hang out. And we lived together for quite a few years. We had bachelor's apartments together and all that. I went to tell him first. And he literally told me, I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. I went and told my mother. And my mother, well, you know how mothers are, she was saying, son, you have received your calling. And the thing is, she really didn't know a whole lot about the Bible, but she did know enough that the Lord was doing something in my life. And she said that, went to my friends and These are buddies that I've grown up with for years. They would say, I don't want to hear that. And at that point, I said, well, all right. Tried to hang out with them a little bit. I couldn't because my life was changed. And I didn't want to do that evil stuff anymore. And I had to break off with them. And then eventually, the Lord brought me out here to California. And I had to be totally separated. from my family. I think this is what the Lord brought me out here to do is to totally separate me from my family because I really love my family, all my family members. And in order for me to be somewhere and settled in his word, I need to be alone. And he, and that's what I was. I came out here and was alone and studied the word and the Lord worked in me. But this is what happens in families. This is what happens in any time somebody becomes converted. They're going to have this type of thing happen in their lives. And this is what happened in my life. And I was thinking about, and I think I was reading about Jewish families. Now Jewish families, when someone is converted to Christ and they're Jewish and their family is one of those families that are real Orthodox, that's a serious division and it's a lot of conflict involved in that. But this is, what we need to realize, and the thing is, the vast majority of the Jewish people are against Christ. So, what does the Lord mean when we read verse 37 in our text? 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. Now that's a difficult verse. Because we do love our family dearly. He that loveth father or mother more than me. We are to love our mother and father and show them the affection, respect, esteem that they truly deserve. The Lord is not saying that we're not to love them and our children. He's not saying that. And children are to love, honor, and obey parents who God used to bring them into the world. They are to love parents also. This is to show us that Christ is above all of his creation. He is to be loved above father, mother, brother, and sister, and husband, and wife, and children. These are people we cherish the most. However, God is to be loved above them all. So this is what I'm saying about Putting first things first.