Where is your heart?
Deuteronomy 5:1. And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5. (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
6. I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
Matt 6 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The Jews recite the 10 commandments a little different than the Christians, that difference is simply the first two commandments. Many Christian churches teach …"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…
ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--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'
'However the Jews teach it differently.
1.) I am the Lord your God. (He commands that he is our God! The Lord is our God! Period! We do not need another. )
They then merge what we generally teach as #1 and #2 into one commandment.
2.) You shall not have any other Gods before me; then what we teach as the 2nd commandment, the Jews teach simply clarifies the 2nd commandment. You shall not make one, serve another one, or bow down to them. No matter what it is, where it is, or how it is, you shall not have another God. If you will then notice the rest of the commandments, the following 8.
Each hinge upon the first two.
If God is first in your life, if he is truly your God, you will
- NOT Take his name in Vain
- You will keep the Sabbath, you will find time to worship him
- You will honor your mother and your father
- You will not murder
- You will not commit Adultery
- You will not steal
- You will not lie
- You will not covet
If you can do the first two commandments, the rest are easy.
Breaking those First two commandments, demonstrate that Something else is more important to you than God.
James 1: 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Drawn away of his own lust? If you are drawn of your own lust, that means you allowed something to become more important than God.
To have the Victory, Jesus must be your Lord and God. You cannot have any other God … Big G or little g.We all have things that we value, but we cannot make it our God. It cannot become so important that we lose sight of our walk with the Lord.
Recently: Tony Oliva (The former Minnesota Twin's baseball player) gave me an autographed baseball. Not only that but he put it in a Plastic Glass Box to protect it. I think it is cool and I must admit that I bragged about it around the office. I mean how often is it that a Famous Athlete autographs a ball, puts it in a protective case and hand delivers it to you?
To me this is valuable, but it cannot become so valuable that it interferes with my relationship with God.It is ok to value something, but we cannot make gods out of them.
I love my trumpets, but it cannot become more important than God. My father in law loves his truck, but he cannot allow it to become more important than God.
Hobbies are fun, but if we are not careful, they can become so important that it interferes with everything else.
Look at the Beanie baby craze a few years ago, people would stand in line for days on end just to be among the first to get into the toy store when the new bean filled doll went on sale.
A few years ago a new Star Wars movie was released. The first one in years, people stood in line for days on end to see it first. There was even a web site you could visit; it was a Star Wars Web Cam. Some movie theatre set up a Web Cam and you could watch the weirdo's dressed in Star Wars outfits waiting in line for days and days and days to get into the movie.
People flock to baseball parks and wait in line for 24 to 36 hours to be one of the first to get a Bobble Head doll of a baseball player. They'll pitch tents; take grills, coolers and just hangout there, waiting for a plastic Toy!
We have something better than a Plastic Toy, better than a science fiction movie, better than a stuffed animal, better than a musical instrument, better than a truck and better than a baseball.
We have the opportunity to make it to heaven.
We have the opportunity to live eternally with Jesus.
But he (The Lord Jesus Christ) must be first in our lives. If our heart, our love is in Jesus, that will be our treasure. We need to be in love with Jesus, make him the most important thing in our life and the rest will come with it.
If he is first in our life, when temptation comes along, we will find it easier to resist.
If Jesus is first in our life, if he is truly important to us, we will have no problem making sure that we obey his word.
- If we have never repented of our sins, we will do so
- If we have never been baptized by Immersion in Jesus name, we will do so
- If we have never received the Holy Ghost just like they did in the book of Acts, we will do so
Why?
Because we love Jesus and he is our treasure. It is God's will and desire for all of us to be saved. His word tells us how to be saved, we cannot pick and choose what we do. Either we love him enough to obey his commandments or we do not.
- Tradition does not save us, Jesus does.
- The church does not save us, Jesus does.
- An excellent orator does not save us, JESUS Does!
JESUS needs to be important to us. We cannot allow fun, careers or the problems of life to become more important.
I have a friend who has gone through some difficult times over the past few years. He has had to learn some valuable lessons, mainly from his own stupidity. You see he had a desire to be rich.
He wanted to have a lot of money. And while having money is not wrong, nor is it wrong to try to improve your financial situation, you need to be careful to not be consumed with it to the point that your heart/love is in it.
He wanted to have a lot of money. And while having money is not wrong, nor is it wrong to try to improve your financial situation, you need to be careful to not be consumed with it to the point that your heart/love is in it.
You see; he always had a plan… and he wanted me to go along with it…
1.) He wanted us to move to Texas to work in the Oil Fields…. (Hard times hit Texas around that time)
2.) He wanted us to learn to Scuba Dive, buy a boat and dive for sunken treasure in the Gulf of Mexico. I veto' d that Idea.
3.) He then had a plan in which we…(always WE) would search through the jungles of Mexico for Lost Mayan Gold. He studied and studied and read and talked it up. I veto' d that idea.
(I threatened to take away his Doc Savage Books)
4.) Another Bright Idea was Pro Wrestling… a plan in which WE (always WE) would go to Texas (Again with Texas) and join the Texas Wresting Association, train as Pro Wrestlers and then work our way up to the WWF. I don't remember much about his plan, except that it involved wearing a mask and acting stupid…. AGAIN. I veto'd that idea…
5.) Another time, someone convinced him that he could box. So he trained for several months and climbed into the ring with a pro boxer. My friend's eyes were swollen shut for a week. He lasted 3 rounds as a human punching bag. (This time it wasn't WE, THANK GOD!)
When your heart is on the wrong thing, you will do strange things, you will do things you never thought you would do.
Today, right now: if there is something, anything that you esteem so highly, that you value so highly, that you love so much, that it interferes with your walk with God; you need to take care of it. You need to put Jesus first in your life.
If your church is going to have revival, you must put Jesus first in your life.
Today ask yourself: Just where is my heart?
