1. The Father’s kingdom is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today, the reality of the church life today, and will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age—Matt. 5:3; 13:43:
1. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth…But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven”—Matt. 6:19a, 20a:
1. The basic attitude of every believer should be to not love money—Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:10; 2 Tim. 3:2.
2. If we store up for ourselves treasures on the earth, we will always be serving mammon and not God—Matt. 6:19a, 24.
3. The governing principle is that to store up treasures on the earth is against God’s economy and expresses a kind of unbelief in His mercy and care—Matt. 6:32b-33.
2. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”—Matt. 6:21:
1. Our heart always follows its treasure.
2. No matter what we may say, our heart will always be where our treasure is.
3. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon”—Matt. 6:24:
1. Our heart must be single in order to serve God; we cannot serve God and mammon (riches) at the same time—Luke 16:13.
2. The unrighteousness of mammon is related to its nature; as something invented by Satan, the nature of mammon before God is completely incompatible with every aspect of God, so in God’s eyes its nature is unrighteous—Luke 16:9,11.
3. The controversy of the universe is whether man will worship God or mammon—Matt. 4:9-10; 6:24.
4. Deliverance from mammon is the first and foremost condition for one to serve God—Matt. 6:21, 24; Luke 16:13; Heb. 13:5.
4. “Do not be anxious for your life…For all these things the Gentiles are anxiously seeking…Do not be anxious for tomorrow”—Matt. 6:25a, 32a, 34a:
1. Our human life is a life of anxiety and is constituted with anxiety—Matt. 6:32a.
2. There is no anxiety in the divine life and the divine nature; God’s life is a life of enjoyment, rest, comfort, and satisfaction—Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 5:7.
3. As we are fulfilling our human duty to work to sustain our living, we should not do anything for the sake of our anxiety, because we have a divine life that knows no anxiety—Luke 12:25.
4. The kingdom people should never live in tomorrow but always in today—Matt. 6:34.
5. Concerning our living, we have the heavenly Father Himself to take care of us; as He takes care of our material needs, He dispenses His element into us, and we experience the divine dispensing through the Father’s care for our physical necessities—Matt. 6:32-33; John 16:27a; Eph. 1:3.

Hymns: 947

Message 8: Seeking First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

2025 ITERO-F 8c

2. The Father’s righteousness is the righteousness expressed by the keeping of the new law of the kingdom; this righteousness is Christ, who is lived out by the kingdom people—Matt. 5:20:
1. According to the New Testament, righteousness has four main aspects:
1. Righteousness is being right with persons, things, and matters according to God’s righteous and strict requirements—Matt. 5:20.
2. Righteousness is the outward expression of the Christ who lives in us as the life-giving Spirit—2 Cor. 3:9, 18; 1 Cor. 15:45b:
1. The Spirit is the essence of God living, moving, and acting within us, and righteousness is the essence of God manifested outwardly as God’s image to express Him—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
2. The divine essence that has been inscribed into us will have a particular expression, and this expression is righteousness—2 Cor. 3:3, 9; Matt. 5:20.
1. Righteousness is a matter of God’s kingdom—Matt. 6:33:
1. God’s throne is established with righteousness as the foundation—Psa. 89:14; 97:2.
2. Righteousness issues from God for His administration and thus is related to God’s rule and government—Isa. 32:1.
3. Righteousness first issues in the image of God and then establishes the kingdom of God—Rom. 8:4, 29; 14:17.
1. Righteousness is a matter of being right with God in our being—1 Cor. 15:34; 2 Cor. 5:21:
1. To be right with God in our being is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear—an inner being in the mind and will of God—Rev. 21:11, 18b, 21b; 22:1.
2. To be righteous in this way is to become the righteousness of God in Christ—2 Cor. 5:21.
2. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers:
1. Christ is the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ—Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
2. Christ is the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively—Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8.
3. These two aspects are typified by the best robe and the fattened calf in Luke 15:22-23:
1. The best robe typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers to cover them outwardly as their objective righteousness before God.
2. The fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers as their life supply for them to live out God in Christ as their subjective righteousness.
3. “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day”—2 Tim. 4:8a:
1. The crown, a symbol of glory, is given as a prize, in addition to the Lord’s salvation, to the triumphant runner of the race—1 Cor. 9:25.
2. In contrast to salvation, which is of grace and by faith, this prize is not of grace nor by faith, but is of righteousness through works—Eph. 2:5, 8-9; Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12; 2 Cor. 5:10.
3. The believers will be recompensed with such a reward, not according to the Lord’s grace but according to His righteousness; hence, it is the crown of righteousness—2 Tim. 4:8a.

Message 8 (Cont.)

2025 ITERO-F 8c

1. The Father’s kingdom is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today, the reality of the church life today, and will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the coming age
1. We should not store up for ourselves treasures on the earth…But store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. The governing principle for every believer is not to love money nor to store up treasures on the earth, otherwise, we will be against God’s economy and express a kind of unbelief in His mercy and care by serving mammon and not God. Instead, we should store up s treasures in heaven for our heart will always be where our treasure is. No one can serve two masters for he will hold to one and despise the other. Our heart must be single in order to serve God; we cannot serve God and mammon (riches) at the same time because the unrighteousness of mammon is related to its nature and as something invented by Satan, its unrighteousness before God is completely incompatible with every aspect of God. The controversy of the universe is whether man will worship God or mammon. Deliverance from mammon is the first and foremost condition for one to serve God. [Matt 6:21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [Matt. 6:19-20] Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves dig through and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not dig through nor steal. [Matt. 6:24] No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
2. Our human life is a life of anxiety and is constituted with anxiety. Yet with the divine life and divine nature, there is no anxiety; God’s life is a life of enjoyment, rest, comfort, and satisfaction. As we are fulfilling our human duty to work to sustain our living, we the kingdom people should not do anything for the sake of our anxiety nor be anxious for tomorrow because we have a divine life that knows no anxiety. We have the heavenly Father Himself to take care of our living; He takes care of our material needs, He dispenses His element into us, and we experience the divine dispensing through the Father’s care for our physical necessities. [Matt. 6:34] herefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself; sufficient for the day is its own evil. [Matt. 6:25-26] Because of this, I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink; nor for your body, what you should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of heaven. They do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are you not of more value than they? [Matt. 6:32] For all these things the Gentiles are anxiously seeking. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
2. The Father’s righteousness is the righteousness expressed by the keeping of the new law of the kingdom; this righteousness is Christ, who is lived out by the kingdom people
1. According to the New Testament, righteousness has four main aspects, it is: ①being right with persons, things, and matters according to God’s righteous and strict requirements; ②God’s divine essence that has been inscribed into us by the life-giving Spirit, the essence of God living, moving, and acting within us, that God is manifested and expressed outwardly as God’s image, and this expression is righteousness; ③a matter of God’s kingdom where Hs throne is established with righteousness as the foundation, it issues from God for His administration to rule and govern. Righteousness first issues in the image of God and then establishes the kingdom of God; ④a matter of being right with God in our being, have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear, and is in the mind and will of God. This is to become the righteousness of God in Christ. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers. Firstly, it is the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ. Secondly, it is the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively. Luke 15:22-23 typifies these two aspects of righteousness by first, the best robe who is Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers to cover them outwardly as their objective righteousness before God; and second, the fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers as their life supply for them to live out God in Christ as their subjective righteousness. Unlike the salvation through Christ being righteousness to the believers, which is of grace and by faith, the second one is through works of the triumphant runner of the race who live out Christ as God’s righteousness, so in addition to the Lord’s salvation, they will be recompensed in that day by the Lord, the righteous Judge, with a reward, not according to the Lord’s grace but according to His righteousness, hence, it is a reward of a crown of righteousness, a symbol of glory. [2 Cor. 5:21] Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [Phil. 3:9] And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith. [1 Cor. 1:30] But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption. [2 Tim. 4:8a] There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also all those who have loved His appearing. [1 Cor. 9:25] And everyone who contends exercises self-control in all things; they then, that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible.

Bird’s-eye View for Prophesying, a Sample

Message 8: Seeking First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

2025 ITERO-F 8c Musing Abstract

Message 8: Appendix

Likewise, we must do our duty today, but do it without being anxious about our living. The reason you are so reluctant to give to others is your anxiety. Because of anxiety, you love the material things. If you had no anxiety, you would not care for the material things. Rather, you would let others have them. It is anxiety that causes us trouble.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of Matthew”, Message 22, “The Decree Of The Kingdom’s Constitution (10)”>

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No one who is idle, who does not fulfill his duty, will ever grow in life. Everyone who grows in life is diligent and industrious. Of course, this diligence and industriousness will yield a reward, and some material riches will come to you. All these riches must be used, not for your anxiety, but for your giving. Anxiety must go. Do not allow anxiety to occupy your daily living. Because the life of the Father within you knows no anxiety, you should not have any anxiety. Any surplus you have should not be used for the sake of your anxiety. Use it to build up savings in the heavenly bank. I assure you that if you do this, you will grow in life. The only kind of person who grows in life is one who is diligent, yet who does not use his surplus for his anxiety. We labor and fulfill our duty, but we have no anxiety. This is the proper way to grow in the Father’s life.

<Excerpts from “Life-study of Matthew”, Message 22, “The Decree Of The Kingdom’s Constitution (10)”>

2025 ITERO-F 8c