Commandment #1 - RIGHT GOD

Worshipping the Right God
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

LORDS DAY 34
Question 94 - What doth God enjoin in the 1st commandment?
Answer: that I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any other creatures; and learn rightly to know the only true God; trust in Him alone; with humility and patience submit to Him; expect all good things from Him only; love, fear, and glorify Him with my whole heart, so that I renounce and forsake all creatures, rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will.

Question 95 - What is idolatry?
Answer: idolatry is, instead of, or besides that one true God who has manifested Himself in His word, to contrive, or have any other object, in which men place their trust

Scripture passage: Psalm 115, Deut 18:9-15

> What has first place in your heart?
- Money?
- Music?
- Boyfriend/girlfriend?
> Can we honestly answer this question before the Lord
> We all know that God must come 1st and everything else is an idol
> Let us, through prayer and by God’s grace work on this in our heart.

Putting God First

1. Fleeing all idolatry
2. Devotion to the one true God

* 1 *
> Today’s society does not put this commandment on the top as the most important
> However God does place it 1st
> He wants our hearts, and He deserves 1st place He has bound Himself to a needy people
> We can look at the picture of a marriage, it would be horrible for the wife to go chase after other men. Especially in the full view of her husband.
> We do the same to the Same to the Lord when we don’t place Him first in our heart

> When you sacrifice before other gods you are not sacrificing to idols but to the devils (1 Cor 10:19)
> Temples of idol worship are the homes and dwelling places for demon’s and behind each idol stands the devil.- the Hindu temple in Toronto comes to mind
> Horoscopes, palm reading, reading the stars, Harry Potter, and Twilight have taken the place of witches and wizards and sorcery of centuries past

> Anything that keeps our mind occupied and away from God is an idol.- we can make children and other people our idols

> God has given us so much, how can we take these gifts and talents and pour them into something other than Him?
> There will be a time when God will stop giving and start taking away

> We are given so much we begin to take it all for granted, thinking we deserve it all.

What must we do then?
> Break with all these loves and go back to our first love
> We need to stop giving the Lord the leftover of our life, money and gifts.

* 2 *
He wants our:
MIND – learn rightly to know him
> Ask important question- Who am I?- Who made me?- Are things right between me and the Lord?
> Search the scriptures- don’t allow your soul to suffer because your life is so busy- take a look at Daniel, King David (if any one lived busy lives, they did but they still took time for private prayer and time to rightly know their God)

HEART – that I may love Him
> God wants the deepest part of our being.- “love the Lord thy God will all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength...” (Matthew 22:37a)

WILL – submit myself to Him in humility and patience
> Lovest thou me _________, more than all these?- let us put our name in this blank instead of Peter’s

The following is the website where you can listen to the entire sermon http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=111108236110