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Music Music Music Music Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find a seat, go ahead and grab a song book. Turn to song number 147. Song number 147, leaning on the everlasting arms. Let's all stand together for this first song if you are able. Song number 147, leaning on the everlasting arms. All together nice and strong on that first verse. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace of mind. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for giving us another day. That we can come unto your house, Lord, and to hear the preaching of your word. And I thank you for everyone who's here this morning, Lord. And I ask that you please just bless our service. Please bless every aspect of the service, Lord. Please bless the singing, Lord, that it would prepare our hearts for the message. Please also fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us. And give us your spirit also in the congregation, Lord, that we may leave here changed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Please turn to song number 148, just one page over. Song number 148, Jesus Only Jesus. Song number 148, all together on that first verse. I walk the path of pleasure. I toil for earthly treasure. But peace beyond all measure. I found in only Jesus. My sins are all forgiven. The chains of sin are riven. And all my heart is given. To Jesus, only Jesus. My boast and goodness failed me. No cure for sin that ailed me. God's Spirit then prevailed me. To leave my sins on Jesus. My sins are all forgiven. The chains of sin are riven. And all my heart is given. To Jesus, only Jesus. God's Word I long resisted. His Spirit called, insisted. Repenting, I enlisted. With Jesus, only Jesus. My sins are all forgiven. The chains of sin are riven. And all my heart is given. To Jesus, only Jesus. O Christ, for love unceasing. For blessings e'er increasing. For all my fears releasing. I praise and love my Jesus. My sins are all forgiven. The chains of sin are riven. And all my heart is given. To Jesus, only Jesus. All right, great singing. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 244 Amazing Grace, if you want to get that ready in your song books. Song number 244. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we are currently going through the book of Matthew. You see there that we are a family integrated church and so infants and children are always welcome in the service for your convenience though. The mother baby rooms are located in the back of the building should your child need some diversion. Changing tables, speakers and screens are available in there as well. So you can still tune into the preaching. And then you see the so many times and teams, the list of expecting mothers and the important reminders there at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events tomorrow morning, we start the T.J. zoning. We'll meet here at the building at 9 a.m. and then we'll head out to Tijuana. And so we'll pretty much be there all day. We'll have dinner out there as well. And so if you'd like to participate, you can see brother Ulysses. You do need a passport to get back into the states and so make sure you bring your passport and keep that in mind. If you have any other questions about that, you can see me at the service. And then this coming Saturday is the Fontana zoning marathon of course in light of our six year anniversary. That's on Saturday, September 16th at 930 a.m. Meet at Veterans Park. You see the address there. And pray that we see a great harvest of souls this coming Saturday. And so all these zoning areas, the different zoning locations, we want to encourage everyone to meet there in Fontana this Saturday for the anniversary. And then of course the anniversary service is on the 17th next Sunday. We will have lunch and cake after the service in light of the anniversary there. And so we're looking forward to a great service and just praising God for a great six years and looking forward to many more years to come. And then Friday, September 29th is the homeschool field trip. That'll be at KidSpace Children's Museum. Meeting there at 945 a.m. Of course the activity is free. And so if you have any questions about that, you can see my wife Sarah. For more details, you have the address there at the bottom as well. And then of course just a regular reminder, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Please make sure you're not loitering in the Foyer Fellowship Hall during the preaching service. And then quiet time is this afternoon from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Throughout the whole building, the lights will be turned off. So take advantage of that. Get a nice little power nap in before the evening service. And then lastly, please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And that is it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 244, Amazing Grace. Song number 244, Amazing Grace. All together on that first verse. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieve? How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and stairs, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me home and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time, the ushers will come forward to receive the offering. You can turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter number 20. Exodus chapter 20. Thank you. Exodus chapter number 20. The Bible reads, And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I shall have no other gods before me. I shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. I shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children out of the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. I shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's. And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings, the noise of the trumpet and the mountains smoking, and when the people saw it they were moved and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near under the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall you make unto you gods of gold. In the altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen. In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be now discovered thereon. Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you for this opportunity to assemble in your house this morning. Besides for you to meet with us here now, please fill a pass from me here with the Holy Spirit. And please bless the preaching and adduce them and pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Exodus chapter 20 this morning. And the title of my sermon this morning is No Other Gods Before Me. No Other Gods Before Me. Look at verse number 1 of chapter 20. It says, And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and thou shalt have no other gods before me. And of course, this is very familiar to us due to the fact that it's the first of the Ten Commandments that most people are familiar with. And this commandment was important because of the fact that Israel, if you think about it, was just delivered out of Egypt. And Egypt was essentially a place where they practiced polytheism. There was a myriad of different gods that they would worship and serve and believe in. And so it was important for God to establish dominance, right? As soon as he delivered his people out of the land of Egypt, he would first and foremost before anything else tell them, Hey, don't have any other gods before me. Because obviously he knows that they have the propensity to start worshipping other gods because of the fact that they picked that up in the Egyptian culture. And you say, is that really true though? Did they really have that temptation to worship false gods? Well, you know, if you actually read the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy and Numbers, you see that they would constantly go back to worshipping false gods. I mean, right off the bat, when they're in the wilderness of sin, when Moses is in Mount Sinai, receiving the two tablets of stone from God, I mean, they couldn't help but just start worshipping false gods. I mean, they essentially made a golden calf. And of course, Aaron was there. And they make this golden calf. They start worshipping a false god. And they want to go back to Egypt in their hearts. They're complaining about God's provision. And then Moses comes down, he melts the golden calf, and he makes everyone drink of it, right? And I always find it funny that when he confronts Aaron about the golden calf, Aaron says, oh yeah, we just put the gold in the fire and this came out. Like, I don't know what happened. He just kind of fell and stumbled and threw the gold in the fire and then this golden calf came out. Obviously, he's trying not to be responsible for the abominations of the land. But obviously, this is a major temptation for the children of Israel. They've been in Egypt for over 400 years. So obviously, they're picking up some bad habits, some bad ideologies, and they are aware of the false gods of the land. And so he's telling them right off the bat, you can't have any other god before me. You can't add me to your collection of false gods. You can't just adopt me as being one of many gods. He is the one true god, is what he's saying there. In fact, look at verse number four. He's saying here, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. So he's given the practicality of what it is to have another god. The way he views it is if you have some sort of graven image of a false god, he says, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. So I want you to notice that this is God's definition of idolatry. This is God's definition of idolatry. Now you can call it veneration. You can call it, well, we just respect this particular god. God sees it as worship. He sees it as idolatry. So it doesn't matter what the Catholic church says, or your Catholic family members say about how they worship their false god. If they're saying, no, we don't worship, we just venerate the Virgin Mary. No, according to biblical standards, you're worshiping a false god. That's what the Bible says, because you're bowing down yourself to it. You have these graven images. You have the likeness of things that are in heaven above, and that is in the earth beneath. That's a false god, and you're committing the sin of idolatry. Verse number five says, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God, listen to this, am a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. So according to the Bible, committing the sin of idolatry is in the same ballpark as hating the Lord, because you are rejecting his deity, you're rejecting his preeminence, you're rejecting him as being the one true god, and you're placing your reliance and dependence upon a false god. And he says there that this is not something that he's just going to wink at or overlook, and in fact he says that he's going to visit the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation, meaning if you produce children, the generations after you that pick up after your abominable acts of idolatry, he's going to judge them in like manner as he's judging you, as he's judged a great-grandfather. He's not going to leave them guiltless because of it. It's something that he takes very serious, to the point that he says, I am a jealous god, meaning he's not going to have any other gods, he's not going to be placed on the same pedestal as any other god, he should be the only one. Verse 6 says, And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. You say, is that right though? To judge another generation for the sins of their father? Well, if they embrace the sins of their father, if they love the sins of their father, then they receive the just consequences of their actions. But here's the thing, folks, is that we have a room filled with people here of individuals that rejected the gods of their fathers, rejected the religions of their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers, and so you know what you got? You got mercy! You received the mercy, you are the thousands that received mercy. Why? Because you loved the Lord. You wanted to keep his commandments, you believed on his son, so obviously you broke that generational curse of serving false gods or not having another religion, not having the God of the Bible as your Lord. Go to Exodus chapter 34, if you would. Exodus chapter 34, the title is No Other Gods Before Me. And this passage, like others, is pretty common in the Old Testament, and you'll see this commandment over and over again, and it would almost seem redundant if it wasn't for the fact that we see that this is a temptation of Israel to worship false deities, but he even tells them, hey, he even goes to the extent to say, don't marry into other heathen nations, okay? Don't marry the heathens, don't marry the pagans, not because God's like a racist or something like that, as people would want to make him out to be. He's saying, I don't want you to marry the heathen because the heathen worship false gods, and if you marry the heathen, you're going to end up worshipping those same false gods. Your children are going to end up worshipping those false gods. Those people, the heathen, the pagans, who are not believers of the true God, they're going to steal your heart away from me, is what he's saying. And in fact, let me read you from Deuteronomy 7, verse number 3, it says, Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for they will turn away thy son from following me. You know, God sounds pretty jealous. That they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. So God is saying here, if you decide to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever, a person who worships a false deity, and you cast a stumbling block before your children to worship those false gods as well, you're going to suffer the consequences because of that. God does not take that lightly. God's anger will be kindled against you. In other portions, in Deuteronomy 13, you don't have to turn there, this is so severe, and such a grievous sin, that the death penalty was instituted against the person who would entice God's people to worship false gods. So within the children of Israel, if someone came to one of the children of Israel and said, hey, don't say anything, you know, but I got this grove over here, you know, I made this really nice sculpture of the Virgin Mary, you know, come worship her with me, we don't have to say anything. God actually instituted the death penalty on that person. And even if it was, for example, let's say a person in Israel, let's say that was his brother. Let's say that was near of kin unto him. According to the Bible, the person who was enticed to worship that false god, his hand should be laid upon that person first. That's what God said. He's like, you should be the one who puts that person to death first. Your hand should be upon that individual first, and in fact, thine eyes shall not pity. That's what God said in Deuteronomy chapter 13. I mean, it sounds like God takes this pretty serious. You know, even to the point where it's almost as if God expects like 100% loyalty to him, which is true. He does. Deuteronomy 13 says, If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or of a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. So according to the Bible, even if a prophet were to dream a dream, okay, but that dream or that prophecy is contrary to God's word, but it actually comes to pass, God says, Don't follow them. Even if there's like substance to that dream. That's what he's saying. Why? Because he's proving you. He's trying to make sure that, you know, you're not swayed by some vision or some dream. And I know I keep bringing up the Catholic Church, but it's just a really good example of a bad example, right? You know, if some, if some Virgin Mary statue is bleeding, if they find the face of Caesar Borgia on a piece of bread, and it's just really defined and distinct, that's not your sign to worship the God of the Catholics. Okay, and so it doesn't matter how convincing the vision or the dream is, according to the Bible, if it contradicts the Bible, God says, I don't accept it, don't worship it, and obviously we don't live in Israel today, but if we did, you would be put to death for that. The death penalty would be instituted unto you, your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, you guys would suffer the consequences of those actions. Okay, look at Exodus 34 verse 13. And so when the children of Israel went into the Promised Land, known as Canaan Land, this is a land filled with idolatry, right? There's a lot of idolatry taking place, a lot of paganism, polytheistic ideologies, and along with that, there's just a lot of groves and altars of false gods, and so they're supposed to inherit this land, so God didn't just say, hey, when you go in there, just use that altar and just kind of rename it for me or something like that. In fact, look what he says in verse 13. But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. So he says when you go there, clean house, get rid of all the idolatry, that would mean that if you're a Catholic who gets saved, you go home and you trash all your idols. Hey, if you are a former Orthodox, you were formerly a part of the Orthodox Church, you go home after you get saved and you burn all your icons. This is true. You destroy the altars, you destroy the idols. It doesn't matter if it has any sentimental significance to you either. It's like, well, my grandma gave me this idol, my grandma gave me this false god, and it holds sentimental value to me. Well, remember what it said in Exodus? That God shall visit your iniquity upon the third and fourth generation? And so if you choose as a safe person to retain those idolatrous icons and items, God's going to punish you for that. Don't take it lightly. God's not taking it lightly. He's saying destroy that stuff. And when we first started the church, we had a lot of idolaters in our church, former Catholics and Orthodox. So we had something called Idol Burning Sunday. We had it for like two years because there were so many idolaters in our church. And so for October, we were like, we're going to do Idol Burning Sunday. So I told everyone, everyone bring their idols to church. Your false gods, bring them to church and we're going to burn it. And so we were at another building and the building was a lot smaller and the outside patio was a lot smaller too. So we had a little bonfire there and we burned all the idols. And I don't know if it was the second, I think it was the second. Yeah, it was the second year because that was the last year we did it. You know, someone, I'm not going to say who, but you know, I'll just call his name Jay Sieber. OK, maybe that's too obvious. Let's call his name John S. How about that? That's too, you know, you know, he's a former Orthodox. He brought all his, I mean, this guy had, he outdid everyone in icons in our church. And all these icons were like of wood. And then like, so I made the mistake to, I deputized another church member to just throw the idols in there, but he wasn't doing it sparingly. And so he kind of just threw all of them like almost at once. And the fire just like, it was a massive fire. And then, you know, neighbors are calling the fire department. The police are being called. They're coming to the building. And, you know, it's this huge fire. And I was just like, all right, idol burning Sunday is over with, you know. And then there's other people in our church, they just wanted to burn stuff. They're like, they pull out like a little doll. It's like, is this an idol? Can't this be considered an idol or something? It's like a bunch of pyromaniacs, OK, in our church or something. Only real legitimate idols, OK. Fire department came, neighbors are outside. And I just, I tried to play it cool, you know, and I went out there and I was just like, how's it going? And they're like, we heard there's a fire. Like, no, I mean, we're just burning idols over here, you know, and that's it. That's kind of extreme. Well, I mean, that's what God told the children of Israel to do to their idols. Told them to burn them, crush them, stamp them to powder. And in fact, we not only had a little section to burn idols, you know, we let the kids participate in it as well. And we got a baseball bat and all of the idols, they were able to just like go to town on those idols and just beat the living devil out of those idols. Because we want to teach our kids to hate idols. And in fact, the Bible says, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Look at verse 14, for thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord, listen to this, whose name is jealous. So first he said he's a jealous God. But now he's telling you, my name is jealous. So it's actually appropriate to address the Lord as jealous. Lord jealous, you know, that's actually appropriate. So he embraces the concept of jealousy so strongly that he even identifies as being named jealous, is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go whoring after their gods and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice, so on and so forth. So we see here that obviously God takes this sin very serious. Go to Colossians chapter one, if you would, Colossians chapter one. Idolatry is a major sin. And you say, well, that's Old Testament, you know, a lot of that stuff took place in the Old Testament. And you can point to the Old Testament. Yeah, but you know what, even if it was only in the Old Testament, that should be enough for us, right? You know, I get really upset with people who are like, well, that doesn't say anything about that in the New Testament. It's like, yeah, but he spent an entire Old Testament talking about it. Why is he going to be repeated again in the New Testament? He just expects for you to know it because he spent so much time talking about it in the Old Testament. There's enough said in the Old Testament about it that he doesn't have to repeat himself again in the New. However, when it comes to idolatry, that is actually talked about in the New Testament. And in fact, listen to this. In 1 Corinthians 5, when dealing with church discipline, and when we talk about church discipline, some people refer to it as excommunication. Here's a very simple way of explaining it, just throwing someone out of the church. That is an actual practice in the Bible that God expects for local New Testament churches to partake of when there's sin, unrepentant sin in the church. God expects church leadership to excommunicate a person out of a church for those reasons. And in 1 Corinthians 5, it gives us a list of sins that we should not tolerate. It talks about fornication, for example. It talks about drunkenness. It talks about railing. But it also talks about idolatry. So if there's an unrepentant idolater in the church who's just holding on to their idol, their Catholic idol, their Orthodox idol, their, you know, whatever it may be, just some sort of icon. According to the Bible, that person can't be a part of that local New Testament church. They should be thrown out according to the Bible. Now obviously, in the first century AD, that was still a thing, right? Because you're dealing with Greek paganism, Roman paganism. They worship false gods, they're very polytheistic in their religion. And so if you're getting people saved in these Greek regions, they're bringing that baggage into Christianity, you understand? And then of course, the Romans ended up amalgamating with Christianity and creating what? The Roman Catholic Church. Because a lot of what the Roman Catholics believe is simply a bastardization of Roman polytheism. And so that is very much a real thing. And he says, of course, keep yourselves from idols. And at the end of the day, we just need to recognize this. You know, the Bible tells us thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. And so there is no love designated for any false god, any image. God says all that love is designated to the God of the Bible only, okay? And so this means, folks, listen to this. Then when you get saved, you can't be a worshiper of other gods. That means you have to accept the one true God of the Bible as the only true God. And of course, in the New Testament, we know that God is who? Jesus Christ. That means you accept Jesus Christ as being the one true God of the universe, the creator, and that there is no other God before him. There's no other savior besides him. He is the one true God, okay? So getting saved requires for you to believe that. You can't just adopt him and just make him a part of your collection as like, well, you know, Buddhism has some right stuff, and Hinduism has some right things, Roman Catholicism, they're okay, and Mormons, I know they're a little weird, but they kind of worship the same God. It doesn't work that way. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ requires being exclusive to Jesus Christ. It's saying, I exclusively believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, in recognition that he is the one true God and all other gods. Not only do they pale in comparison, they're just false. They're devils according to the Bible. You can't add them to your collection of deities. He's not like a lucky charm. It's like, you know, I really like what Christianity teaches, and it's just to be good to your fellow man, and it has all these good principles and philosophies, and it teaches a lot about love, so I'm just going to add him to my collection of ideologies, of Buddhism and Hinduism, because all religions lead to the same God. No, they don't. All religions of the world except Christianity lead to Satan, but they don't all lead to the God of the Bible. And so it's important that we recognize as God's people that the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, requires loyalty. It requires a recognition that he is the one true God, and it requires for you to reject all the other false gods, and not have this philosophy of, well, you know, the Catholics, they kind of believe in the God of the Bible. No, they don't. The Jesus Christ of the Catholics is a false god, and just because they call him Jesus doesn't make them the Jesus of the Bible. You know, the painting of Jesus is not Jesus Christ. The Jesus of the Orthodox Church is not the true Jesus. The Jesus of the Mormons is not the true Jesus. And Christians need to stop compromising and making excuses because they just want to pow-wow with everyone and get along with every other religion, and then you recognize that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And he's referring to himself, the Jesus Christ of the Bible, which is very much distinctly different from all other religions, even if they use the name Jesus. Because the Mormons, the Mormon Jesus is like brothers with Satan. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. So it's important that we recognize that, you know, to get saved, you have to believe in the one true God, which is Jesus Christ. Okay, you can't add him to your collection of deities. Look at Colossians 1 and verse 16, it says, For by him are all things created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. This is referring to Jesus, the fact that he is the creator, and everything's for him. He says in verse 18, And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, listen to this, that in all things he might have the preeminence. So what does that mean? He comes first. So when the Bible says, that's why I don't know the gods before me, obviously we understand that at its most rudimentary level, it's referring to the fact that we can't have any other gods. But a good secondary application is that he's the preeminent one, he's first in our life. He's the most important person in our life. Beyond any relationship, earthly relationship that you have in this world, beyond the relationship that you experience with your spouse, with your children, with your best friend, with church members, he is the preeminent one above all that. And so obviously, in 2023 America, Christians don't really struggle with idolatry per se. We don't have people in our church like, man, I really just secretly want to worship Mary. This is like, I struggle with like, I just want to worship the gods of the Hindus. I go to Alcoholics Anonymous for that, and I try to get help for that, you know, because I worship all these false gods. I really just, I really want to bow down to St. Peter in my room. I just, I struggle with that. People don't really struggle with stuff like that. Okay? But you know what? The Bible tells us that idolatry could just be anything that you put before God though. So we can boast and mock, you know, other nations, because other nations, such as Southeast Asia, they definitely have a problem with idolatry. But at the end of the day, you know, we're not exempt from participating in a form of idolatry in the sense that you're putting other things before God. Okay? Go to Matthew chapter 10, if you would, Matthew chapter 10. And that's what I want to talk about this morning, is putting God first in everything. Okay? And obviously, in this most rudimentary level, you have to make sure at base level, you just have God of the Bible as your God. Okay? Jesus Christ as your God. Not on the same shelf with the collection of other gods. Not as just like, as a lucky charm or something like that. Recognizing that He is Lord. Okay? He is Lord, He's God, He's the Savior. There's none besides Him. But as Christians, now we need to make sure that we don't put anything before Him as well. Okay? Now, what am I talking about here? Well, I'm going to talk about five specific categories that Christians can possibly put before God. And that is, number one, people. People just in general, right? And in its most extreme case, there are people in this world that are referred to as what? Idols. Like famous people, right? They're literally called idols. Like, oh man, I idolized this singer or something like that. I idolized this person. They're like an idol. And in fact, they used to have a show called American Idol, where all these people who really sucked at singing would go, just to be mocked by these judges, right? Obviously it would have people who actually knew how to sing there. But they would also allow these people to advance in that competition, only to be mocked and ridiculed and made fun of. And they all wanted to be the American Idol. Why? Because they want the adoration of the nation. They want people to adore them and worship them. Obviously, no Christian should participate in that form of idolatry, where you're just worshipping the most wicked individuals on the face of the planet, which are the Hollywood stars. The wandering stars, right? You know, it's just like, you love this one, and it blows my mind. It always blows my mind when, let's say, for example, some Hollywood star dies, or some athlete dies, and Christians just lose their minds. Or people just in general, but especially Christians. People just lose their minds, and they make a tribute to them, and they're sad about it. But here's the thing is that that person doesn't even know you. That person doesn't even know you. The person never paid your bills. The person never gave you work. They don't know you from Adam. And yet people talk about them as though they're just like, I just feel like I know them so well or something. And I'm not mocking deaths or anything like that. I'm just saying, sometimes people pass away, and it's just like people on social media just talk about them as if they grew up with them, like they know them personally or something. They don't even care about you. And so we need to make sure that as Christians, we don't have the Hollywood stars as our idols or something like that. Look at Matthew 10 and verse 37. Here's a practical way for this commandment to be carried out. He says, 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. What is the basic teaching here? Don't put your family before God. Don't put your spouse before God. Don't put your children before God. Make sure that you keep your priorities in its rightful place. Now obviously, you know, in other portions, it says like if you don't hate father or mother, you're not worthy of me. And what I believe this is referring to when it states that is that your love for the Lord should almost seem as a hatred for everyone else. I mean, I know that for a fact in my personal life. You know, people have told me in times past, it's like, you know, it's like you hate us or something because I'm spending so much time at church or because I'm serving God. You know, that's biblical. Okay. But you know, this is a temptation for Christians where they make compromising decisions. They are, they become a respecter of people and they place their spouse or they place their children before the Lord. And how does that look in a practical way? Well, how about the fact that, you know, you just stop serving God because of your spouse. You just don't come to church because of your spouse. You just, you know, you miss church on Sundays because you got your kids' soccer game or something like that. You know, that's a form of putting your children and your family before God. And yeah, you may not be worshipping the gods of the Hindus and you may not be worshipping the gods of the Buddhists. You may not be worshipping the gods of the Egyptians or of the Romans and participating in those abominable acts. But hold on, you're still putting things before God though. And Jesus Christ is saying here, don't love your spouse more than me. Now he's not saying don't love your spouse though. Right? Because we're to love our wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for us. You know, wives are supposed to love their husbands. You know, this, love is obviously an intricate virtue of the Christian life that God expects us to exercise upon our spouses and our children. And it's not hard to love our children. Obviously, we love our children. But we need to make sure that our love for our children doesn't come before our love for God. Okay? That we somehow think our relationship with our children is more important than our relationship with the Lord. Okay? You say, man, that seems kind of extreme. Yeah, it's like, it's almost as if the Lord jealous wants 100% loyalty, right? And again, he's not saying don't love your children. He's not saying don't love your spouse. He's just saying don't love them more than me. He's saying, you know, if, and by the way, you can insert for father and mother, you can insert aunt, uncle, brother, sister, anybody who you're close to in a family relationship, you can insert that as well. Well, I love the Lord. Okay, then, you know what the Lord says? If you love me, keep my commandments. So in other words, if your family is causing you to disobey the commandments of the Lord, God views that as you loving them more than him. Right? If your family, your brother, your spouse, your wife, your husband, your children, are causing you to compromise the commandments of God, then God translates that as you love them more than you love me then. Why? Because we ought to keep God's commandments above all else and make no exceptions for that rule. Right? No exceptions to the rule, no matter how close of a relationship we have in this world. Now, here's the thing, folks, is that if our relationship with God is on point, then our relationship with our spouse is going to be on point. If we love the Lord correctly, guess what, we're going to love our parents correctly as well. If we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we're going to have an abundance of love for our children, for our wives, for our husbands, for our brothers and sisters. But you know when conflict begins to arise in relationships is when that's turned around. When your love for others begins to exceed your love for the Lord. Why? Because eventually you'll end up compromising the commandments of God just to please your family. It's not right to do. And sometimes we've got to talk about this kind of stuff. Because of the fact that we need to make sure that we recognize that we're a local New Testament church that worships the God of the Bible. It's not a fantasy world. This is legitimately a New Testament church that worships the Lord Jesus Christ and he expects and demands loyalty. He expects 100% loyalty and worship. So that means you can't be missing church for your family. What should I do then? Bring your family to church, how about that? Catch me at church, how about that? Right? Well what if my family doesn't want to come to church? Well then you come to church. Because he that loveth father or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. So you come to church. Yeah but I'm going to hear it when I get home. Well come here first here. Put God first, amen? Come here from God first and then you can hear it at home. But here's the thing folks, what I've learned in my experience as a Christian is that, listen to this, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Because you know a lot of people are like, oh great, you know, now I'm going to have all these problems at home and all these problems with my marriage and all these problems with my, but here's the thing, a lot of those things just kind of dissolve when you actually please God first. So it requires for you to please the Lord first and then those things just kind of dissolve and they end up, you know, basically going into their place. And here's, a lot of times in marriage counseling, this is what I explain. Marriage is like a triangle. You and your wife, husband at the bottom, God's at the top, the closer you get to God the closer you get to each other. Don't make exceptions for God's commandments. No other God's before him. And sometimes Christians just need to be resolved in that area to say, nothing's going to keep me out of church. Nothing's going to keep me from walking with God and serving the Lord if it's as for me in my house or it might just be as for me. I shall serve the Lord. Go to Luke chapter 9, if you would, Luke chapter 9. Let me give you an extreme case of this in the Bible, okay? Extreme case of this in the Bible. But I like it because obviously it's in the Bible and Jesus did it. You know, people talk about cold statements today. They're like, man, that was cold. These are some cold statements right here. But it drives the point home. But it drives the point home. Look at Luke 9 57, it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee where the server thou goest. Oh man, I'll do anything for the Lord. I'll follow you to the ends of the world. I'll go anywhere. I will serve you unto death. And Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. What is he saying? He's like, I don't even have a place to stay. You still want to follow me? I don't even have a place to lay my head. You sure you want to be my follower? Verse 59, now it doesn't say what happened to that guy, but I'm just assuming he probably didn't follow after that. And he said unto another, follow me. And he said, Lord, suffer me first to go bury my father. So this seems like a pretty legitimate request, right? Jesus said unto him, you know, this is a good verse for Hobby Lobby to, you know, Jesus said it. It says, let the dead bury their dead, but go down and preach the kingdom of God. Talk about a cold statement, right? Man, why did he say that? It almost sounds like he just wants 100% loyalty. He's like, oh, I can't accept that. I know it's kind of hard to accept certain things. You know, there's a lot of hard sayings of the Lord, but when he says it, you know he means business. When he makes statements like this, it helps you to realize, oh man, he's actually really serious about me following him. Even to the point where he's like, let the dead bury their dead, follow me. That means he expects 100% loyalty, 100% worship, 100% following. Verse 61, another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. He's like, I'll follow you, but just let me make, let me just go ahead and say my goodbyes and just say, you know, just bid farewell to everyone at my house. And the Lord sees it as, oh, you mean you're looking back? Or if you're looking back, then don't even follow me because you're not fit for the kingdom of God. Why don't we find these verses at Hobby Lobby? Why aren't these verses being used at Sunday school classes? I'll tell you why, because it doesn't fit the narrative that people want to portray of Jesus Christ as only being loving. No, you know what, yes, he's loving, but he's also a man of loyalty. And he's saying there, you know, if you have to look back, then you're not fit to serve me then. And so, you know, we need to recognize as God's people that people can often become, we can often idolize people, not in the sense of like Hollywood idols, but even other people where we put them before God. You know, get your priorities straight. Get your priorities straight in your family. Get your priorities straight with your children. Get your priorities straight with, you know, your cousins and your brothers. And stop putting people before God. And you know what, don't let, you know, when your spouse pulls out, oh, it's like you love the church more than me. Just say this, I love the Lord more than I love you. And in fact, if you want me to love you the way you want me to love you, I need to love the Lord more. Because if I don't love the Lord, I'm just going to be a selfish husband, cold-hearted, selfish husband with no love for you. So therefore, if I got to keep this love hot for you, I got to keep my love hot for the Lord. So if you want me to be romantic and keep loving you, as the Lord intends for me to love you, I need to go serve God. Because serving God tenderizes my heart. It helps me to love beyond my capacity. And so that's why I need to be in church. That's why I need to keep serving God. That's why I need to read the Bible. That's why I need to be here. And you know what, if you have a spouse who just never changes about that, then you know what, sorry, but God still expects loyalty from you. There's no exception. God's like, hey, I understand. You do what you got to do. I said I'm jealous, but I know I don't want anyone, I know I've said I don't want anyone before me, but I'll make an exception for you or something like that. It doesn't work like that, my friends. This is a reality check here. Go to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3. No other gods before the Lord. No people before the Lord. Now here's the great thing about loving the Lord is that He gives us people to love. And some of the greatest relationships that you will ever develop in the Christian life is in the Christian life. In church, your family. I mean, God has blessed me with a wonderful wife. He's blessed me with wonderful children. And man, they just, they bring a lot of joy to my life. Like exceeding joy that I've never experienced before growing up. I've just never had that before. You know what I mean? So it's like, but I believe it's a result of loving the Lord though. I think it's a blessing from God for loving the Lord. You see what I'm saying? What I have to be careful with is making sure that I keep loving the Lord as I have in times past before my family. Right? So I keep pleasing God and He keeps blessing me with children. He keeps blessing me with just a happy marriage and not get so caught up in the blessing that I forget the Lord. But here's another idol, okay? You think of people. How about prosperity? Prosperity can often be an idol of Christians. What am I talking about? Money! All these are alliterated by the way. You'll see. I'm going Pastor Jimenez this Sunday morning. Look at Colossians 3 verse number 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, listen to this, which is idolatry. I don't worship like the Virgin Mary. Yeah but are you a covetous person though? Are you the type of person who just loves money and you just think about money and it's all about money with you? Then you're a covetous person and you're committed to idolatry. Go to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter number 6. Why? Because you're worshipping money. You're putting money before God. Look at Matthew 6 and verse 24. Jesus Christ speaking here in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24 says, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So what is he saying? I'm to be your master. But if you're serving money, money's going to end up being your master. And God's like, you have to choose. It's either me or money. Now he's saying, well does this mean we can't have any money at all? No, it means when you're putting money before God. How does that work? Well how about working on Sundays instead of going to church? I mean obviously six days thou shalt labor. And obviously if you don't provide for your house you're worse than an infidel. That's what the Bible says. But you know sometimes people use those verses and take it to an extreme as an excuse to work on Sundays instead of coming to church. Why? Because they want a little extra money. You know duties never conflict in the Christian life my friends. Commandments never conflict. So if God commands you to do one thing here, it's not going to conflict with the other commandment that he's given you here. If he's commanding you to provide for your family here, it's not going to conflict with the commandment to be in church here. The commandment to read the word of God. The commandment to spend time with your family. All of these duties should work in tandem one with another if you're doing it right. And sometimes people say, you know I don't want to be worse than an infidel so that's why I work so much. Yeah but you know it's not like you guys are starving though. Right? It's like you have price sufficient. You should make time for the things of God. And obviously there's going to be instances at your job where they make you work on a Sunday or something like that and you just miss church. We're not talking about that. We're not talking about instances where you're called in and you just have this one Sunday where you have to go in or whatever. That happens. I'm talking about when you just choose to work a lot of Sundays. When you have the choice. And you choose and you're like, church, work. Well I don't want to be worse than an infidel. I'll choose work. At that point you've made the commandments of God null and void. Because obviously the Bible says not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Don't serve two masters. Nothing is wrong with having money. I've always said this. It just becomes a problem when what? When money has you. When money begins to determine your spiritual direction when all you can think about is money even when you're reading your Bible even when you're in church all you're thinking about is how to make more money at that point money has become your master. It's become an idol. Look at verse 31. Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what withal shall we be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So you see how the duties should in conflict? Because he's saying look obviously the Lord knows that we have need of things right? He knows that we need to eat. He knows that we need to be clothed. If we have children that we need to provide for them. If we're trying to follow his biblical mandate for the woman to stay home and be a keeper at the house and for us to be the breadwinner. He needs to provide for us in order for us to do that. But what he doesn't want us to do is worry about it. Because when you worry about finances if you're not careful and don't pray for finances you know what happens? You end up compromising to get those finances. For for a piece of bread that man will transgress the Bible says. And God's saying look here's how you get the clothing. Here's how you get the food. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. What does that mean? Put God first. Say Lord in the morning when you wake up Lord I worship you. I love you. Fill me with your spirit today. You open up the Bible. You read it. You're putting God first. You're putting God first with your family. You give the first day of the week to the Lord. Amen? You teach your children and your family the first day of the week belongs unto the Lord. We're going to go to church and hear the word of God because we esteem the house of God. And we always want to put God first. We want to seek the kingdom of God first. You're like yeah but I have all these bills that are racking up. You know God in just one swipe can just make them go away. Happens all the time. Maybe he's just trying to test you a little bit to see if you're willing to put in first. Don't get this idea too by the way that I'm saying that just be broke. I'm to be broke but you don't have to be broke. I'm just kidding I'm not broke. You know I'm to live a modest life because I'm a pastor but you know what? God has given the liberty to people who are not in the pastorate who are not deacons to be wealthy. To make money. To make lots of money. But let's just be honest can everyone really handle that though? Can people really handle, can Christians really handle a large sum of money and still be a good Christian? I mean it's possible but you know it doesn't happen a whole lot. Because money has a tendency because it's connected to our hearts to take our hearts away from the Lord. And then we become dependent upon money. Your mind becomes skewed and it begins to think, it begins to make excuses as to why you don't have to serve God. Why I can just give more to the church and not go to church and not serve God. You begin to substitute things into Christian life because you got money. But here's the thing, if you're wealthy you better be a disciplined Christian. If you are a wealthy Christian, praise God for that and I know some wealthy Christians. I know Christians who are like millionaires. But you better be a disciplined Christian to know to still put God first. And no that's not just something you put on your bio on your social media thing and that just automatically happens. I'm talking about an airy area of life. You're putting God first. Why? Because at the end of the day God has given us all things richly to enjoy. If he's blessed you with finances, praise God for that. If he's given you a mind who's capable of just handling that amount of money and you're just good with money. Good, perfect, that's great. But hold on a second, don't put it before God though. He says there, verse 34, take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the days the evil thereof. And you're like yeah but I just have so many bills. Well here's a remedy when you're worried about things that you can't change and you're just going to church. But you're working and you just seem as though the bills are racking up. Here's the remedy, pray. No, no, no, I want something like what can I do though? Pray. Yeah I get that. But what can I do? Pray! Stop viewing prayer as just like something you just do that just doesn't work. Prayer works my friends. The Bible says be careful for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and minds to Jesus Christ our Lord. Because you know sometimes what you need is not your bills to be paid, you just need peace of mind. You just need a little more faith. Because you know what I realize is that when God even provides for certain things that we need, we just find something else to worry about. It's like God pays the bills and he's just like yeah but what about this though? Because you know it's just never enough. So you know we don't necessarily need more money sometimes, sometimes we just need more faith. We need more peace of mind. We just need to say Lord help me just not to worry. That's what this verse is teaching us. Take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow should take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is just the evil thereof. How are we going to make it tomorrow? I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Lord provide for us tomorrow. Provide for us this week. Provide for us next week. Pay these bills Lord. I'm serving you. I'm putting you first based upon the commandments of God. You promised to provide for me when I put you first. And it always happens. And so don't allow and he said what's a good way to start putting God first? Well how about tithing? Now let me just park it here for just a minute because I don't typically teach on tithing. Because sometimes we just expect for people to just know what tithing is. But we've got a lot of new Christians in our church and they need to learn what tithing is. Tithing is just another way of saying a tenth of your gross income. Not net income, gross income. Meaning what you actually labored for. Because you know obviously Uncle Sam comes and just takes a massive chunk out of your paycheck. Not asking you for it. That was your money type of a thing. But God expects us to actually tithe off of the gross income. You're like man so after taxes? Yeah for sure. A tenth from your gross income God expects for you to tithe off of that. Well how am I supposed to make it? Well it's actually harder to make it keeping that 10%. From a Christian's perspective. It's actually more difficult to actually make it keeping that 10%. Than actually giving it unto the Lord. You actually multiply your efforts and your ability and your resources by giving the tithe. That's actually how it works. Go to Malachi if you would. Malachi chapter 3. Let me read to you from Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 5. You're going to Malachi chapter 3. And so hey when you get paid. Now you say oh man I thought I knew churches always talk about money. You know every once in a while we do have to talk about money. And just explain like how to approach money from a Christian perspective. But we're not a church that even keeps track of who tithes. Because those churches do exist. I've been in churches where they're just like they will literally confront people and be like hey you haven't tithed in like three months. Is there a reason for that? They keep track. Like the pastor has the names of the people who tithe. I don't know that information whatsoever. I don't know if Mark's tithing because he said amen right now. I have no idea. You say well why don't you keep track of those things because I don't think it's necessary to keep track of those things. Because at the end of the day God provides for everything that we need here. And you know pastors do that and I feel like sometimes they do that and then they end up having like a mind ill-affected towards their church members if they don't tithe or something like that. We don't want to have that. But you know it's important to talk about it because sometimes Christians don't even know that they're supposed to be tithing. And it's actually a command of God to tithe in order to provide for the resources of the local New Testament church. Well that's Old Testament. It's a New Testament practice as well. The Old Testament tithe was giving so that the priest can operate without distraction in the temple of God. And the Bible says in the New Testament that the church is the temple right. It is the house of God. The pillar and ground of truth that also has employees that need to be taken care of. It also has bills and resources that need to be taken care of. So that same practice and operation carried over to the New Testament because it is just a practical thing to do. Now obviously there's pastors out there that go overboard on it. And they not only collect tithes but they, I mean you got pastors out there with beamers and Bentleys and a helipad and a yacht and all those things. That's obviously wicked and no pastor should have those things. Not that you can't have those things but a pastor isn't supposed to have those things. Because then at that point he's just fleecing the flock. He's making merchandise off of the flock of God. But let me read to you from Proverbs chapter 3 because people might think to themselves that doesn't make sense you know. So like 10% like that's, I mean I can understand if I make like $100 but what if I make like $10,000? That's a large chunk. What if I make like $100,000? That's like a large chunk. God expects me to tithe off of that? Yes. And here's a good verse for you. Look at Proverbs 3 or you're not going to have to turn it actually. You're in Malachi 3. Let me read to you from Proverbs 3. Verse 5 says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. You know, stop reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. Stop getting your financial philosophy from Dave Ramsey or whoever on how to be rich. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord, depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, marrow to thy bones. Listen to this. Honor the Lord with thy substance. You can replace their resources, money. And listen to this. With the first fruits of thine increase. So this is why we believe in tithing because the Bible talks about the first fruits. That means when you first gather in, no one's a farmer here, okay? We operate with monetary, you know, I mean, we don't even do that anymore, huh? We're going cashless now. You know, tithe with your hand, you know, the mark of the beast or whatever. But the first, what you first get should go to the Lord. So as soon as payday comes in, Christians need to have the discipline to say, all right, tithe first. And let me explain why it's very wise to do that. Because when we get paid, it's just like the very first thing is to do before any bill gets paid, before any debt gets paid, is you tithe. You say, why? Well, number one, it's a command of God as we're going to look at in Malachi chapter three just a bit. But number two, here is the natural tendency for people. They're like, well, let me just pay off these bills first because I got debt, I got bills and then I'll tithe. But you know what happens? Your money just goes away, right? It just flies away and then you don't have anything else to give to the Lord. So that means God gets like leftovers and it's never right to give God leftovers. That's why he says, give me the first fruits of that increase. Like, does God really need my tithe? He doesn't need your tithe. But you know what? The Bible says, the Bible teaches us that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And whatever you put first is what's important to you. So whatever you tithe to first shows God what's important to you. He says, with the first fruits of that increase, listen to this, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So according to the Bible, when you put God first in your tithe, which is that 10% of your gross income, God actually begins to multiply your resources. Because you know what's more necessary than getting a paycheck? Is getting God's blessing on your paycheck. You know what's far more necessary than all the money and your bills and your debts to be paid? Is God's hand on you is what you need more than anything else. Look at Malachi chapter 3, verse number 3. So, well, you know, I see that, but I don't, I'm not gonna tithe. I don't think it's necessary. Look at verse 8. Will a man rob God? So God actually views it as like robbing him. Now stealing and robbing are actually two different things. They're the same as in you're taking something that doesn't belong to you, but they're actually two different actions. When you steal something, you kind of do it behind someone's back. When you rob someone, you're doing it to their face. So how does God view you not tithing? Like you're robbing him to his face, because he sees everything, obviously. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have ye robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with the curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So here's the thing. God says you need to tithe, but if you don't tithe, you'll be cursed. But if you do tithe, you'll be blessed. I'll open the windows of heaven, and I'll pour my blessing upon your resources. I'll pour my blessing upon your family. I mean, that's more valuable than any amount of money that you can earn at your job. And you know what I discovered over the years? People, when they start tithing, I've heard of stories of people tithing, and then they get promotions at their job. They get a raise at their job. And it's just like, man, I should have been tithing like a long time ago, because it just opened new doors of opportunity for me, and it obviously confirms that God has blessed me because I decided to tithe. Now, by the way, it says there, tithes and offerings. Now, what is an offering? An offering is something that you give because your heart is stirred. It's not something that's commanded for you to give. It's just something that happens when you're like, you know what, I'm stirred to give to this particular ministry. I'm stirred to give to a person in our church. You hear of a specific need in the church, and you're like, you know what, I'm stirred in my heart to give above my tithe. Not your tithe, but above your tithe to someone. You hear about someone having a need or something like that, you give an offering. You hear about a missions trip that is being taken place, you're stirred in your heart. You're like, you know, I want to give to that missions trip. You hear about a particular project that's being working on. Your heart is stirred, you give to that. That's an offering. That's not commanded, it's something that's called a free will offering. Something that you choose to do. And, of course, you'll be blessed because of that as well. But the commandment is to tithe, though. Now, look at verse 11. He says, And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast your fruit before the time in the field, save the Lord of hosts. So, based upon this passage of scripture, the curse is there is a devourer designated to consume your resources if you don't tithe. What does that mean? In other words, when you choose not to put God first in your resources, God almost puts these like invisible. Testing. All right, there we go. There's holes in your pocket and it just begins to just disappear. And I've had instances even in my Christian life where it's just like I've had some sort of like financial need rise, like the car messes up or something like that. And the first thing I think is, did we forget to tithe? Because here's the thing, God will get that tithe one way or another. He will. Because he's trying to teach you, put me first. And I promise you, I've had instances where we've had some financial thing come up and obviously sometimes it just comes up because it's just life. But sometimes it comes up and the first thing that comes to my mind is, Sarah, did we tithe? Did we tithe? Did we forget to tithe? Got to make sure we tithe. Why? Because we don't want the devourer messing up our resources. And you know what? I'd rather willingly give my tithe unto the Lord than have him force him to take it from me. And I've learned that a lot of financial troubles and a lot of financial ways of thinking are resolved once you begin to put God first in your resources. Starting with the tithe. You know, and if you're like, well, you know, I just sometimes forget. You know, it just kind of slips my mind. Then do like the auto pay. That's what I did when I was young. I wasn't disciplined to keep track of my calendar and so I just like take it straight out of the account. Soon as it comes in, it goes out. What if I need it? Why would you need it for if it's the Lord's? Why are you afraid of the bank giving it straight to God if that's what you planned to do in the first place, right? It just kind of secured me to make sure that it gets out before anything else gets paid. Because far more important than my bills getting paid is making sure that I'm pleasing God and that his hand of blessing is still in my life. Because money just vanishes. You know, God's blessing does not vanish. And so put God first with your tithes. If you're a new Christian and you're working, first thing you need to do when you get paid, and I say this unashamedly because I did it when I first became a Christian, when that check comes in, 10% straight to your tithes. That's it. You know, don't put it last. Don't wait until everything else gets paid to see how much you have left. Don't give God your leftovers. Always give him the first fruits. Why? No other God's before me, he said. Don't put anything before the Lord. Go to Colossians chapter 3, and I'm going to breeze through these last points real quick. Here's the third idol that sometimes Christians can have, and that is their job. Obviously that goes along with finances, but sometimes work can get in the way. Now work is good, and I think sometimes men need to work more. Sometimes it's just hard to get these young guys a job to just stick with the job. They just don't like to work. We have a generation of young people who just hate working. And so get a job, labor, learn how to work. But then there's another extreme where you have workaholics, where their identity is literally in their job, which obviously there's nothing wrong with a man loving to work and being a workaholic. It just becomes a problem if you're putting your job before the Lord and the things of God before your family, before your children, before church, before your spiritual responsibilities. You need to make sure that you're balanced in these areas. Look at what it says in Colossians 3, verse 22, So here it says that even when you're at your job, you're actually serving God. When you're at your job laboring, you're actually serving the Lord. But here's the thing, I believe that laboring stops once it begins to conflict with other spiritual responsibilities. So don't make your job your idol. Make sure that you are taking care of your family spiritually. Make sure that you are spending time with your wife. Don't stay extra hours at the office because you don't want to come home. Spend time with your spouse. That's your job. That is your responsibility is to be home with your wife and your kids. They need you. And so make sure those responsibilities do not conflict. Go to Deuteronomy 8 and that'll be the last verse, passage that we go to. Not verse because it's a couple of verses we're going to read. Deuteronomy chapter 8. These last two points, I think I just put them in there because they're alliterated, but it does work. Pleasure and possessions. These can become idols to people. We live in a society where it's just all about pleasure. It's all about vacation. It's just living for that weekend. It's like, oh, I can't wait till the weekend where I can just relax and have fun and just do what I want to do. But we shouldn't live for vacations though. Nothing wrong with vacation, but when it becomes like the end, it's just like the one thing you look forward to is just to relax. You know, the one thing we should look forward to, obviously, is spending time with your family, being in church, serving the Lord. And if all you want is that high of going on vacation, then you're obviously dissatisfied and discontent with the day-to-day, mundane things of life, which, you know what, that's what life is. You know, we shouldn't live for fun. Every day can't be a party. Every weekend can't be a party. Right? Sometimes it's just mundane, boring work. But you know what, I prefer that, to be honest with you. You know, I actually love Monday mornings and Monday is just boring work that you just have to do. The average mundane stuff, just mental work or whatever it may be. It doesn't have to be an exciting day every single day. Because when you're constantly living on this vacation mode, then nothing impresses you anymore. Right? Number one, nothing impresses you, but then also you just become immune to fun. So then when you get something, you're just like, eh. And of course, possessions. Now look at Deuteronomy 8, this is the last passage, and I'll leave you alone. Look at verse number 7. Look what it says here, it says, For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land. A good land can be symbolic of the Christian life. The Christian life is a good land. A land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates. A land of oil, olive and honey. So what do we see in the Christian life? Just a lot of blessings. A lot of stuff to enjoy. Things that fill. Things to explore. Exciting things. Verse number 9. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness. In other words, God will provide for you. Thou shalt not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. There's resources that can be found, there's stability in the Christian life. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. So he's saying, once God has begun to bless you, make sure you thank him. Okay? Hey, let me say this. Learn to say thank you. For every little thing. Right? Don't take things for granted. Hey, husbands, every once in a while, not every once in a while, more than once in a while, tell your wife just thank you. Show gratitude, right? And that's what God's saying. When you get these things, he says, bless the Lord thy God. Lord, thank you so much for everything that I have. Verse 11. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day. Lest when thou art eaten and are full and has built goodly houses and dwelt therein and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. He says, make sure you're constantly thanking God for what you have. And, you know, when you're full, when the bills are paid, when you got that raise, you got the promotion, everything is just going hunky-dory and fine and dandy in your life. Don't forget to keep the commandments of the Lord. Don't forget to go soul winning. Don't forget to read your Bible. Don't forget to come to church. Because, you know, those things were important to you when you had nothing. Right? When you have nothing, it's easy to come to church because you got nothing. What else you gonna do? You got nothing else to do? You know, when someone treats you, you know, now like you have all kinds of food you could feed yourself, but maybe when you had nothing, maybe someone had to feed you. Right? But now you're full, now you're blessed, now you're stable. He says, make sure you continue to keep God's commandments even after I have blessed you. Which means there's a temptation that when God has blessed you, you begin to rear back a little bit on the commandments of the Lord. Because now you're successful. Now you're taking care of yourself. Now you got a good job. Now you're going to school. Now you're getting your life together. But remember when you didn't have those things? And how important the things of God were to you? And how much you needed the things of God? How much you adored and loved the commandments of God? God's saying, make sure you keep loving those commandments after I have blessed you. He says, who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of the flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end, and thou saying thy heart, my power and the might of mine hand, hath gotten me this wealth. He's like, I'm the reason why I've succeeded. I'm smart. I got the job. I'm a hard worker. It's because of me. God's saying, you're already forgetting. He says, but thou shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swears to thy fathers, as it is this day. Here's the last thing I'm going to say, and that's this. Serve God when you're broke, but you've got to discipline yourself to serve God when you're making it. You know what? You might be in here, and you started coming to our church, and you're spiritually broke, you're financially broke, emotionally broke, you're just kind of, you know, you're in debt or whatever it may have been, but now you're here, and the principles of God have taught you to be a productive, functioning member of society. You're successful. You're smart now. You have a job. Let me say this. You better keep keeping God's commandments, and don't let God be an afterthought now that you're successful. Now that you're succeeding at what you're doing, do not let those things come before God, because putting God first is what got you there in the first place. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your Word. Help us to continuously remember this, Lord, and we're so thankful for the blessings of God upon our church, upon our families, upon our marriages, Lord, and yeah, even our resources, and I pray that when we are lacking and are in want, that you would bless us, Lord, but when we have those blessings, help us to discipline ourselves to remain faithful in keeping your commandments and stay zealous for the things of God and not allow the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of other things entering in to choke the Word, and then we become unfruitful. Lord, help us to recognize that you are our God and our Savior, and beside you, there is none other, and obviously, we never want to... There's not necessarily a temptation for us to worship other gods, but there can be a temptation for us to commit idolatry in other forms, putting others before you, putting resources before you, putting possessions before you. Help us to keep these things in mind and not to forget them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please turn your songbooks to song number 377. Song number 377, Rescue the Perishing. Song number 377, all together nice and strong on that first verse. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. We, for the erring ones, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus the Mighty to save. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Though they are sliding him still, he is waiting, waiting the penitent child to receive. Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently, he will forgive if they only believe. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, boards that are broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Rescue the perishing, duty demands it, strength for thy labor the Lord will provide. Back to the narrow way, patiently win them, tell the poor one where a Savior has died. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Amen. Wonderful singing, you are dismissed. Copyright © 2017 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.