Good morning and welcome in. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.
What’s the very first thing that you do each and every morning? I’m guessing that most of you don’t rise out of bed and walk out to your car and put the key in the ignition and leave immediately for work. For example lots of people would still be in their pajamas. You would first need to change into your daily clothes. Even before that you might get into the bathtub, take a shower or brush your teeth. Many of you would have a good breakfast before leaving for work.
What’s the first thing that you do at school before sitting down at your desk? You would probably go to your locker first and put your jacket, boots, and mittens away. You would grab certain items that you needed for class such as a pencil, notebook or your backpack full of textbooks.
If you are going to prepare a meal for your family what is the first thing that you do? You might wash out some pans and utensils that you are going to need. You would have to find the ingredients and the instructions in the recipe and cook the meal before eventually serving it to the family.
So, each of us in our daily routines have things that we place first in order to complete the task at hand. This is very similar to the Christian Life.
Before attempting to love others, we must first love God. Just like we put things first in our normal daily routines, God must be our first and greatest love. The Commandments are in an order for a reason.
You may have a friend that you care about but if they approached you and asked you to do something that is biblically wrong placing God first in your life will prevent you from doing that. In the Christian life you can love nothing more than God because He is on the very top of the list, and ultimately we prove our love to him by becoming obedient to his will.
All over the world today there are a lot of people who profess to love one another. They sing songs about love on the radio. The concept of love is actually taught by a lot of different false religions including philosophers and doctors, but the Christian faith teaches us that love for God has to be above all others on this earth. Love for Him has to be greater than any other interpersonal relationships that you may have, including relatives, children or a wife. If you do not love God more than anything else in this world your heart can be let away from serving him and speaking the truth the others.
Matt 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
I believe that if we truly love God with all of our heart we are going to stand up for biblical truth. We do this not only to show our God how much we love Him, but for the salvation of those who need to be converted.
The world’s concept of love and the divine love that is found in the Holy scriptures are two different things. The scriptures teach us how to love God and to do those things that please him, rather than pleasing the world.
Deuteronomy 10:12 – And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
If we truly love God more than anybody else we are going to have a desire to obey and do his will. Moses wanted to obey God’s will and his life went in a completely different direction. Look at all the activities that resulted in the life of the Apostle Paul after he was converted. He placed God first and foremost in his life and look at all the things that happened because of it.
Most of you already know this but I told my wife early in our marriage that I would never be involved with teaching. At that point in my life I absolutely loathed it. There are a few things I really hated back then and teaching was on the top of a very short list.
When I took a dive underwater and got baptized into the Christian faith, my life went through a radical change. Over the next few years I realized that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ I needed to be able teach others about the faith, including my own wife and family who God had placed directly in my charge for Spiritual growth.
Love is a very powerful feeling, and before placed on anything else in our lives, it needs to be placed first on God. If God is the most important love of your life, I know that He will bless you.
We learn how to love others when we obey God and keep his commands but once again he needs to be first. True love for God results in keeping his commands.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:21-24 – He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
1 John 5:2-5 – By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
I’ve always felt that the Christian Life is like a bicycle tire with numerous different spokes. The spokes represents friends, relatives and activities. God has to remain in the center of that wheel. He must be our greatest love, because without that, everything falls apart.
Deuteronomy 4:29 – But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
1 Chronicles 16:11 – Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
Let’s think about those things for right now and Lord willing I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.💖
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