Put God First
Bible Matters 570: Put God First
When you are walking in the flesh, you feel as though you
are the master of destiny. You worship and enjoy the things of the flesh that
shows no love to God. You show more love
of earthly treasures, money, alcohol, sex, curse and cuss, than you show for
God. All you do is based on your
decisions. You have lived your life up
to this point by leading yourself.
Unbeknownst to you the devil is leading you down the wrong path and the
outcome of your decisions are not always sweet.
You sin continually and you may experience hardship, pain, suffering,
loss of family and financial hardship.
The devil is working overtime in your life and you just think that you
make bad decisions. You may have been
exposed to the bible, know of Jesus, go to church and may have even been
baptized in water. Done some sacraments
or works required of you by the church.
Man may have even told you that you have everlasting life with
Jesus. At this point, most people
stop. You did not Put God First in your
life. Your walk with God had ceased or
may have never begun. You were at front door of God’s earthly kingdom, but you
didn’t go in. You started your turn to
God, but you didn’t take God’s hand and let him lead you. Your other hand was still gripping that of
the devil and your life of sin.
The devil will
tell you:
1) God loves you
and you can now live your life as before.
He wants you to be happy!
2) You were
baptized in water and saved!
3) Jesus died for your sins and you have everlasting
life. God is all forgiving. He will forgive you for living in sin.
Living in sin is not rewarding. You struggle.
Your family and loved one’s struggle.
Your coworkers struggle when you don’t show up for work. Remember the #1 thing the devil wants. He wants you to be miserable, while he is
telling you living in sin will make you happy.
You may even have experienced financial success. God’s word tells you how to serve him, with
the gifts he has given us. Walking with
God is a choice you make. But you must
choose. You either walk with God or you
walk with the devil. If God doesn’t
recognize your walk with him, then you are still walking with the devil. Jesus tells you that you cannot serve two
masters.
Luke 16:13-15 – No
servant 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.
When you Put God First, you decide to walk with God The love of Jesus is in you. No longer walking with the devil You fear God. When you do not fear God, then you will still
walk with the devil The fear of God is
not in you
Romans 3:18 – There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Finally, you realize that you are walking with the devil
and you’ve had enough. When you finally
accept your walk with God, you want to understand the directions that Jesus
gave you in the New Testament on how to live a righteous life. You recognize the sins of the flesh that
Jesus told you about in the New Testament.
Jesus tells you that you are his sheep.
You know his voice and you follow him.
He knows you, because he dwells in your heart and all you do is for
him.
John 10:27-28 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me:
Most people heard his voice, but do not follow him. Jesus does not know them. How do you know him and follow him? You use the knowledge and instruction he gave
you in the New Testament. You thank him
daily for the peace and gifts he has brought into your life. You pray before
meals. You enjoy being with brothers and
sisters of Christ. You give God the
glory, every single day. You love God
and your neighbor.
Jesus told the rich man how to earn everlasting life by
loving his neighbor and not serving the things of flesh in his life. That was too much for the rich man to part
with. He was at the front door of God’s earthly kingdom, but he didn’t want to
go in. God gives you a choice. You must choose God or the devil. The rich man loved his earthly stuff and
would not accept God’s hand and be led by Jesus. Salvation is not about following earthly,
religious or man-made laws.
Luke 18:18-23- And
a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said unto him,
Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit
adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy
father and thy mother. And he said, All
these have I kept from my youth up. Now
when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing:
sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
God does not want you to sell everything you have. God wants you to use the gifts he has given
you to promote his kingdom here on earth.
When you Put God First, you walk with Jesus through the
front door of God’s earthly kingdom. You
repent of your sins and turn from your sinful habits to God. You humble
yourself and you tell Jesus that you are a dirty rotten sinner. By faith, you put your trust in Jesus Christ
as the son of God who shed his blood for the forgiveness of your sins, repent
of your sins and ask God of forgiveness.
You turn to God and ask him to take control of your life for peace on
earth and you ask him for everlasting life in heaven when you leave this
world. God will exalt you, when you turn
to him. He knows what is in your
heart. The Publican had a heavy sinful
heart. He humbled himself, repented of
his sins and was exalted!
Luke 18:9 -And he spake this parable unto certain which
trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men
went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am
not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted.
When you Put God First and accept Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Savior, you feel different.
You’ve already decided to walk through the front door of God’s earthly
kingdom. You are born again as a new
creature when the Holy Ghost comes into your heart. You feel the Spirit of God filling your
heart! You know your sinful habits and
you stay away from them. God wants you
are to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ through the study of Bible
doctrine, praying and glorifying God.
You Put God First in all you do.
This is a big change in your life and is not always convenient. Growing in the glory of Jesus Christ is not
easy. When you Put God First in all that
you do, you will then feel the glory of God in your life. The angels in heaven are celebrating in
heaven! You are putting God first. No more walking with the devil! There is joy in heaven. What a glorious day it is. You rejoice and thank God for his power and
mercy.
Luke 15:10 KJV – Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy
in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
When you Put God First, your life will change. You
continue in his word. Your grow in the
knowledge of truth. You know the truth
and the truth shall make you free!
John 8:31-32 – Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
You may not be on this walk with God. You have never had a chance to Put God First
in your life or direct the decisions you made in your life. You want a change in your life and you want
to Put God First, but you don’t know where to start. When you Put God First and study his word, he
will direct you. Follow these steps.
First: Recognize
Jesus as a prophet from God. When you
Put God First, your walk has begun. When
you put the doctrine that Jesus delivered first, then you put God’s will first.
John 1:1-4 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was
made. In him was life; and the life was
the light of men.
Second: You must
recognize the power of God as the creator of heaven and earth. Fear him as all
powerful. He is too be feared above all
gods. God hates the sins of the flesh presented in the New Testament. When you Put God First, you turn from these
sinful habits to show your love for God because you know sin offends him.
Psalm 96:4 – For
the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all
gods.
Psalm 66:5-6,16 – Come and see the works of God: he is
terrible in his doing toward the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land : they went
through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I
will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Galatians 5:19-21 -Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, Envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which
I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Third: All things
are possible with God when you finally Put God First. What you couldn’t do on your own, is now
possible with God.
Luke 18:27 – And he said, The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God.
Fourth: You Put
God First and fear God. You study God’s
word. You are perfect in holiness Kingdom of God is within you! You repent of your sins to be cleansed, ask
God for forgiveness and turn to the truth in God’s word.
Proverbs 2:5 – Then shalt thou understand the fear of the
Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1 – Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Fifth: You ask to
be with God in paradise. You seek God’s
Kingdom. Jesus gave the criminal on the cross salvation without any of the
works of man’s religious practices.
Luke 23:40-43 – But the other answering rebuked him,
saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath
done nothing amiss. The criminal said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Six: The bible
tells you to Put God First into your heart.
When you feel God in your heart, you are now a member of God’s heavenly
home on earth. You must believe in God
and endure to the end for the gift of everlasting life in heaven.
Luke 17:20-21 – And when he was demanded of the
Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here!
or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Seventh: Put God
First in all you do! Do not turn back
to your old life.
Luke 17:30-31 – Even thus shall it be in the day when the
Son of man is revealed. In that day, he
which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come
down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return
back.
If God healed you today, then you only turn to give glory
to God.
Luke 17:12-15 – And as he entered into a certain village,
there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted
up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go
shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they
were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back,
and with a loud voice glorified God,
As you study the Bible and grow in faith of God, you will
then recognize that you are different.
The old man that walked with devil has passed away. You are a new man. You are a new creature. The kingdom of God is
within you.
When you Put God First, you live a righteous life for
God. By how you walk, people will see
the righteousness of God in you. You
don’t have to shout that you are a believer of God. They can see it. They know it.
Romans 1:17 – For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
When you Put God First, God wants us to be his
servant. To be his witness. To tell others about the good things God has
done in your life.
Colossians 3:22 –
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with
eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
Decide today that this will be your first day for the
rest of your life and you will start by putting God first. Above and beyond these steps, God wants you
to study his word. Man has imposed
misconceptions on you, as a new believer in Christ, to perform in order to join
the earthly church. These works
required by man are not required to be part of God’s kingdom.
Put God First in all that you do. You will study God’s Word. Your walk with God has begun new or anew. You
will live a righteous life for God! You
will love God with your heart, mind and soul.
Love your neighbor. Be a fervent
servant of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To God be the glory, in all you do. Amen.