CD 1675 “First Things First - Serving Self or Serving the Savior"
Manage episode 448852501 series 3556494
CD 1675 “First Things First - Serving Self or Serving the Savior”
(November 3, 2024 A.M. Service)
*Proverbs 24:27 (KJV) Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
The field is the world and Jesus has called His church into the field to reach the lost. What is “first” in our daily lives? The word “first” is listed 435 times in 406 verses in the KJV Bible! They asked: D.L. Moody, a famous American evangelist from the late 19th century. What he would do if he knew he only had one day left on Earth, he replied, "I would do just as I've been doing: preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ." His response highlights the importance of living each day with a sense of purpose and dedication to God's will.
Solomon started out well, he built God’s house first like the verse we just read in Proverbs. It took him 7 years to build God’s house (1 Kings 6:38) but he spent 14 years building his own house (1 Kings 7:1)! We need to live like each day is our last and put “First Things First - not just Serving Self BUT fully Serving the Savior”!
*TEXT Matthew 22:34-40 (KJV) But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Notice the very “first” thing in our lives must be “our love” for the Lord with our entire being and then we will be able to “love” others. The truth is “we will serve who or what” we “love“ the most! In the Bible, we see examples of people who “serve” what they love the most, both positively and negatively. For example, David “served” God with all his heart, while Saul “served” his own ambition and pride. Similarly, the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22 chose to “serve” his wealth and possessions rather than following Jesus.
In Matthew 21:43, Jesus says that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jewish leaders and given to a nation that produces the fruits of the kingdom. And in Romans 11:11-24, Paul writes about how the rejection of Jesus by many Jews opened the door for the Gentiles to be grafted into the olive tree of Israel and to share in the promises of God. How silly would we be to think that if we do the very sames things the Jews did in rejecting the Lord that we would NOT bring the same judgment upon ourselves?
*Read Matthew 22:1-2 (KJV) And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
*Read Matthew 22:3-6 (KJV) And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
*Read Matthew 22:7 (KJV) But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
*Read Matthew 22:8-10 (KJV) Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready
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