This Is Why You’re Falling Back (EP 217)

What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Carver Podcasts out Bryce. And today we are going to be talking about something extremely important. We're going to be talking about what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will follow." What exactly did he mean by that? How do we interpret that? What is Jesus talking about? We're going to get into it right now. But I think it's very important for us to understand that when we're reading this passage, we have to understand the setup of what's going on. You see you and I that are watching or listening or reading the scriptures right now, wherever you are right now. If you have your Bible open, look at your Bible. You got verse numbers. You got chapter markers. And if your Bible is like mine, it even has like little chapter titles or little section titles, you know? Like from verse 25 to 34 in chapter 6 of Matthew, it says, "Do not be anxious in my Bible." And then before then there's a section that has a subtitle called "Late Up Treasures in Heaven." Like our Bibles, we get such an honor and privilege of having these titles and verse numbers and chapters because it helps us navigate the text. So it can be wrong. Like chapter numbers are great. That's not what I'm getting at. But when we understand that the gospel of Matthew was written as one letter and it's going to help us better understand Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. So anytime you hear us in an episode, hyperfixate on a verse or a chunk of verses and or even if you're at your inn at home reading. If you're someone that reads your Bible and you pull a verse or a few verses out and you just wrestle with it for days, something practical that will help you understand those passages is if you just read the verses before and afterwards, whether it's a few, whether it's 20 verses, 30 verses or read the entire chapter, it will often times make sense. But this verse, chapter 6, verse 33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Can appear confusing. So let's understand exactly what's happening. In Matthew chapters 5 through 7 combined, we have what's called the sermon on the mount. Jesus is given this sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5. I mean, obviously you guys know we reference it a lot. We have the be attitudes and then Christ come into fill the law and then Jesus addresses anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, loving your enemies, giving to the needy, the Lord's prayer, then he goes on and talk about fasting, laying up treasures in heaven. And now we get into the passage that contains this verse and Jesus says, "Hey, don't be anxious about anything." Now let's take a time out right now. I understand why Jesus says that. From a practical sense, like me, I'm super hardwired logically. So oftentimes I look at faith like this logical, crabby patty formula that I'm just like, "Oh, if I do this that in the other X, Y and Z." And I cross this off my to-do list and this, then I'm being a Christian. And I can understand why someone could read the sermon on the mount and go, "Wait, I have to do the be attitudes and then this is how I have to fast." And then the oaths and loving your enemies and then lusts, I got to cut my arm off. And then this is how I pray. And then I'm so stressed out. And now I got a secret. And it's like, "Oh, my gosh, what am I doing?" So I understand why Jesus is setting the scene here. And actually, you'll see kind of a theme in verse 33 as you will another very popular passage. But let's read the passage, Chuck versus leading up to this. Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing." Jesus is setting the scene right now. "Hey, don't be anxious, right? Easier said than done, Jesus." Now we didn't need to clarify this. When Jesus says, "Do not be anxious," He's not scolding you for being anxious. Right now, He's telling you and I, you don't have to be anxious. So I want to pause for a moment. If you're someone right now in whatever situation circumstance, life's beating you down, you're losing friends, you keep picking up the blade and hurting yourself, you keep falling to watching pornography and you're stressed out with life in the only way that you can find relief is in sin. Let me tell you something right now. Do not be anxious about your life. Do not turn to those things. Don't be anxious. Don't sweat. Jesus isn't scolding you for being anxious. He's saying, "You don't have to be anxious." You see, my roommate, actually, my old roommate, before I got married, gave me this analogy that if you're pumping 1,000 pounds of pressure into a pipe that was only built to handle 200 pounds of pressure, you have to pop a relief valve in there somewhere or else the pipe is going to burst. And so many times we put the pressures of life trying to earn God's love, trying to think we can build our way to heaven, trying to do all these things, busyness of life, we're putting so much pressure on ourselves that the only way to find relief is to fall into sin, is to go back to that sin habit that feels familiar. And so that's why I think this verse that we're about to read up to is so important. But my brother and sister watching and listening to this, those of you that are so anxious about the things of this world, Jesus isn't mad at you for being anxious. You just don't have to be. He sees your birth and your death at the same time. He sees the things that you're dealing with. He's experienced, the suffering. He has the whole world in his hands, our sovereign, beautiful father knows what you're dealing with. You don't have to be anxious. Now, as we continue to read, he says, look at the birds of the air. They neither so nor read nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? So Jesus says, hey, look, as human beings, we're of greater moral value than everything else created because we're actually made in God's image. The birds aren't made in his image. The bears aren't made in his image. The deer aren't made. The flowers aren't made in his image now. That doesn't mean that those things don't matter, but we have a greater moral value because we're made in his image. We have the imprint of God on our life. To be made in the image of God means that we have his imprint on our life. We are our sub-creators to the creator himself. We are made in his image. Intelligent intelligence and intelligent design is a sign of being made in his image in you and I. We have intelligence. It's very important. Now, then he goes, which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why are you anxious about clothing? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God cloves the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown away into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you have a little thing. If God gives beauty to grass that grows and dies in an instant, if God cares so much about the color of the sky, the food that the birds eat, the way that a sunflower rises and shines in the sun and dies and willows away when the sun goes away. If he cares about those things, how much more will he take care of you? We get so hung up on the practicality and the things of like, I get it. Yes. Like, yeah, you need to work a nine to five because you got to pay the bills. Maybe maybe you've got to get a job and go to college and get an education because you have to pay the bills. And yeah, it matters to pay your taxes because taxes happen in America. Like these things matter. But we get so hung up on the practicality of life that these things stress us out. The practical things, the spiritual things, the spiritual habits. Jesus says, therefore in verse 31, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentile seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them, setting us up for the verse we're here to learn about. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to. What is Jesus saying? The same thing he says about the greatest commandment. Yes. Does making money to provide for your family and keeping the lights on matter? Yes. Absolutely. Does getting an education as a doctor so you can perform brain surgery matters so you can do it properly? Yes. Absolutely. Those things matter. We need to put time in those areas. But Jesus is saying, when you begin to let those things take over the throne of your heart, they become your God, whether you know it or not and they begin to stress you out, the pressures of work, the pressures of life, the pressures of spiritual habits, the pressures of, oh, I got to be a good person. I got to do this. It's pressing on you. Jesus says, hold on, hold on. Let's take a time out. If you seek me first, my righteousness, His kingdom has to be the cornerstone of your life and then everything else will follow. That goes for both spiritual practices and practical things. Now, let's clarify something that doesn't mean that if you seek Jesus first, that God's going to make you a billionaire, that does not mean that if you seek Jesus first and you don't work a job, that your house payment is going to get paid for the next third years. So what that means, Jesus says that His kingdom has to be the cornerstone of your faith. My life, your life, whether you're a boy or girl, you're 10 years old or eight years old, whether you, you're a doctor, you're a teacher, you're a lawyer, you're a pastor, you're stay at home mom, you're a father, whatever you may be. His kingdom has to be the cornerstone of your life. When we seek Jesus first, because the reality is it's like you and I will get so burnt out by looking at the Christian life as if it is a target and we're shooting at it like a bow and arrow. Oh, today I got to love my enemy. Oh, and I got to make sure I got to cut my hand off from us and oh, I got to make sure I don't retaliate. Oh, I got to make sure this and you're going to get burnt out by conceptualizing God into a cry of me having formula. He is not that. As a matter of fact, the reason why You wait till Mars, the reason why you stop watching porn, the reason why you stop cutting yourself, the reason why you do these things is because you love him. You're seeking him everywhere else you're looking but in him, everything you're searching for everywhere else can be found in him. So when we seek him first and his righteousness, everything else will follow. Hey, real quick, before we keep going, I have an announcement I've been really excited to make. I'm officially announcing our ministry's biggest live event ever, open heaven. It's happening Sunday, November 8th, 2026 at 7.30 p.m. at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas. This is going to be a night centered around worship, faith, and genuine community. All of us together in one room encountering God in person. There's going to be live worship and really special moments throughout the night. Take us our on sale right now, head to briskrawfer.org/tour or click the link in the description below to grab yours. And please only buy through my official site or that link to not buy from random resellers online. A lot of them are scams. You and I believe this is going to be a night people carry with them for a long time. I would love to see you there. All right, back to the episode. This thing right here that we're reading that we're trying so hard to understand when we seek him in here, this thing, the scriptures, the 66 books in this leather bound Bible with our verse chapters and the notes and the headers like this thing has new mercies for us every single day. I mean, the Father has written us a love letter to know what it looks like to love your enemies to be a good husband, to be a good father. And when you're so hung up on the logical practical and you miss him, you've lost the point. You're going to burn out. You're putting a God's high pressure and you're going to have to put a relief valve in your life. And who knows how that'll manifest that could manifest in more busyness that can manifest in more sin issues. And we don't want that. And then how's Jesus finished that first out? Therefore, don't be anxious about your life. So time and time again in that passage above, he's like, hey, don't be anxious. Are you really going to add a single hour to your life by being anxious? And it's like, okay, Jesus gets to the point and he goes, yeah, here's the point. Seek me first. And by doing that, are you really going to be anxious? I get it, we're human. Like we have human moments. It happens. I understand. But when Jesus is the prize 24/7, when he is the pinnacle, everything else will follow practically and spiritually. You know, maybe one of the reasons why you're struggling in your marriage and in your friendships is because you think that by being a better husband or a better wife or a better friend is something that you can white knuckle on your own. You can't. I'm sorry. I don't know if anyone's told you before. You can't shake yourself free. You can't build your way up. There's no mathematical formula that you can plug and play in your life that's going to solve everything the way that you want. We need to seek him first. Everything that we do as a believer comes from the overflow of him. He has to be the corner shot. What does he say? A chapter later, Jesus doubles down on the same ideas. On chapter seven, what does he say after he tells people that on judgment day, many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in your name? Did I not cast out demons in your name? Did I not do mine? He works in your name. He's going to say depart from me. I never knew you. And then what does it say? He says, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. You got to build your life on the rock. You got to seek him first. He has to be the prize. And like, let me just be clear about something. I have fallen short so many times by trying to fit Jesus in a busy schedule. And then I find myself stressing out, burning out, and then substituting God unconsciously and even sometimes consciously trying to find him in other areas and other things. And it's like, no, we can't keep doing that. Like, as a matter of fact, Jesus comes first and then let me put my schedule around Jesus. And in mundane moments, driving to school, driving somewhere, dropping something off. Like, let me bring Jesus into those moments. Let me be careful what I listen to. Let me know that when I'm like working, whatever's playing in the background or what I'm watching in the movie theater or what I'm consuming in my private time is going to subconsciously feed my spirit, whether I'm aware or not, because he matters and I have to seek him first because my life's dependent on it. Let me ask you this really quick as we close. Does your life depend on Jesus? Does it really depend on Jesus? Like, we need to take analysis on our life right now on mental, heart diagnosis and you know, price someone 30 and I got searched my heart, whatever it may be. Does Jesus matter most in your life? Are you truly seeking Jesus first? Are you madly in love with Jesus? I'm not talking about a Uigui feeling. Look at the fruit of your life. Because if you're not seeking him first, then you're going to fail and you're going to crumble and you're going to do that. And yeah, it's like failure part of the human life, absolutely. But the days that I try hard, not to sin, the days that I try hard out of my own willpower to be a better husband, to be a better friend, to be a better leader, the days that I try hard to do things, I fall more on my face than then I do when I seek him first. And he is the fuel. He is the source. He is the life. What does Jesus say? Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Where are you looking for Jesus? Are you looking for it in Doom Scrollern? Are you looking for it in your job or are you looking for him in your friendships? Are you looking for him in your marriage? Because not only are you going to fall flat on your face, but you're going to put God-sized expectations on finite things and people that can't handle it. God can handle your struggles. God can handle your anxiety. God can handle your highs. God can handle your lows. As a matter of fact, he wants to be with you when you're anxious. He wants to be with you in the highs of your life. He wants to be with you in the lows of your lows. He wants to celebrate you when you get into your dream college. He wants to celebrate you when you get accepted into law school. You know what? He wants to weep with you when you lost a friend. He wants to comfort you when you're going through a hard time. As a matter of fact, he wants to come alongside you in your bedroom at night when you keep picking up the blade. He wants to be in every aspect of your life. And oftentimes we blame God. We think God's the one that walks away when really we're the one that walks away. And so let me ask for the 500 millionth time to hammer it in you the same way he's doubled down so many times in the gospels. Do you seek him first? Is he the priority in your life? Is he the prize in your life? Because he is the prize. We don't seek him because we want things from him. We want him and with him we get him and the blessings of following him. God doesn't always get you what you want, but he gives you what you need because he's looking out for your heart. And so I want to pray for you if you're watching or listening to this, that your whole prize, very simple prayer, that your life today, every moment, every breath from now on, you will seek him first. Lord Jesus, we thank you for everyone watching and listening. Jesus our heart, Christ, simple. May we seek you first. Would we not get distracted by the shiny things of life or the busyness of jobs and career and schedule and sports or the shame we feel if we've fallen in the sand? God, but we want you first. May we seek you first, Lord, because you are the prize. Give us that. And Jesus name, amen.