{"id":12038,"date":"2024-01-14T08:37:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T13:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?post_type=message&p=12038"},"modified":"2024-01-28T19:46:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T00:46:33","slug":"first-things-first-4","status":"publish","type":"message","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/message\/first-things-first-4","title":{"rendered":"First Things First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is an automated transcript of this message<\/h3>\n\n\n\nGood morning, church! It is good <\/i><\/span> to see all of you this morning. We’re continuing our series entitled, \u201cSIMPLE LIFE: How Simple Commitments Create Great Life Change.\u201d

Last week, we talked about the topic of \u201cLess is More;\u201d when you actually evaluate your life and dial back the \u201cbusy\u201d in your life, by doing less. When you make more room for life, for the better things in life. That was our conversation last week. We summarized it by saying, \u201cLess of me and more of Jesus.\u201d We talked about this simple, singular invitation from Jesus to \u201ccome follow Me,\u201d as Jesus said. Jesus is not calling us to a philosophy, but to a person. He is not calling us to a religion, but a relationship \u2013 \u201ccome follow Me,\u201d He said. \u201cLess of me, more of Jesus.\u201d That’s a summary of last week.

What does that look like? What does it <\/i><\/span> look like to have \u201cless of me and more of Jesus?\u201d What’s the first step? That’s what we’ll be talking about today, \u201cFirst Things First.\u201d

What are the first steps? What does it look like, in a practical sense, to follow Jesus? Now, of course, we’re going to have to get off the \u201chamster wheel\u201d of life. We live such harried, hurried, hectic lives. We’re so busy. That’s really the mark of this culture more than any other. We can’t stand to be still. We can’t stand to have quiet. We grab that smartphone constantly. We don’t know what it means to \u201cmake room;\u201d that’s the first step that we talked about last week. You must make room and then you will start putting \u201cfirst things\u201d back in your life, asking yourself, Is this what I want <\/i><\/span> in my life? You put first things first.

First, you have to make room in your hurried life. John Ortberg says this, \u201cHurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.\u201d

I was looking at the booklet, \u201c31 Days of Unhurried Living.\u201d I’ve been reading it for a couple of months. I I hope it’s helping me. Here’s some criteria that they offer:

Which of these may cause you to hurry? \t(From 31 Days of Unhurried Living)\nHABIT – Rushing is your MO\nWORTH – When you are in a constant state of urgency, you feel valuable.\nGUILT – You feel bad when you slow down or if you are not doing something.\nFEAR – You are afraid of being still and facing your disappointments.\nPRESSURE – You feel the need to perform to be loved and prove yourself.\nCOMPETITION – You sense if you slow down, others will move ahead of you.\nCONTROL – You think that you have to do everything or life will fall apart.\nFOMO – You fear you will miss opportunities by slowing down.\nAre you struggling with \u201cbusyness?\u201d Are you struggling with a \u201churried heart?\u201d Are you in the habit of hurrying? Is hurrying your way of life? Everybody knows that’s me. I <\/i><\/span> have that habit. What about the word, \u201cworth?\u201d The way I experience my own value is by staying busy. It’s about my self worth. What about guilt? Do you feel guilty if you slow down? If you take a day that you don’t accomplish something, do you feel guilt? What about the word, \u201cfear?\u201d You fear being alone with something slowing down and not being active because it’ll allow you to have room to think about those things. You don’t want to face those disappointments that you’ve been shoving down. How about the word, \u201cpressure?\u201d Do you put pressure on yourself to perform? Do you feel that when you’re not performing you don’t have value? Here’s another one: competition. If I slow down, others will get ahead of me. Do you struggle with being in control? By staying busy, I feel like I’m controlling my life. If I don’t stay busy, my life will get out of control.

One more: maybe you’ve heard of this acronym, FOMO. A lot of young people throw around this<\/i><\/span> acronym. FOMO is \u201cfear of missing out.\u201d I stay busy because I’m afraid I’ll miss out. It. It also causes people to be frozen in their decision making because they are afraid that if they choose this, if they commit to this, they will miss out on that. We see young people today often having trouble committing to a major if they’re going to college. We see a resistance to commit to marriage because what if there’s a better one out there somewhere? There is a fear of \u201cmissing out.\u201d I’m afraid to do this because I’ll miss out on that. It creates this harried, hurried, hectic life.

But what if we put \u201cfirst things first?\u201d That’s what we’re going to be talking about today. Are you struggling with a disordered heart, a hurried heart? Is this radiating out into your life? Did you know God cares about that? He cares about your heart and, indeed, He cares about what and who you love.

The amazing thing to me is that <\/i><\/span> the God of the universe deeply cares about whether or not you love Him. Indeed, when Jesus had John write a letter to the believers at the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation, He said this, \u201cYet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.\u201d (Revelation 2:4)\n\u2018You don’t love me like you used to.\u2019 He cares about that; isn’t that something?

\u201cFirst love\u201d and \u201cfirst things\u201d are what we want to talk about today. We’re just beginning this year of 2024. We’re just starting to \u201cget our feet wet\u201d in this new year. Why not slow down for a minute and put first things first?

In the gospel according to Mark, Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment. In a sense he was asked to simplify all of the writings of Scripture down to one simple statement. Jesus didn\u2019t pause. He gave them a simple command to put loving God first in their lives. We can put our love of God first in our life.

I believethat <\/i><\/span>we can follow this instruction from Jesus. We can follow Him and we can love the way He calls us to love.

As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see four ways that we can put our love of God first in our life. We can put \u201cfirst things first.\u201d Let’s dig in:

Mark 12:28-31 (ESV) 28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, \u201cWhich commandment is the most important of all?\u201d 29 Jesus answered, \u201cThe most important is, \u2018Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.\u2019 31 The second is this: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 There is no other commandment greater than these.\u201d\nThis is God’s word. Amen.

We’re going to <\/i><\/span> really drill down on verse 30 of this scripture passage because that’s the first commandment that He gives us as a summary to their answer.

How to put your love of God first in your life:

1. Give God the first part of your week through passionate worship.

I want us to look at the four aspects of that verse, verse 30, to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. Let’s start with that first one: Heart. Give God the first part of your week through passionate worship. I’m trying to put it in practical language, so that it’s actually something you could see how to put in your life.

Give God the first part of your week, which is Sunday, right? That’s the first day of the week. Give Him the first part of that, as a representation of the whole week. Say, \u2018God, I’m going to give You every day of this week. I’m going to start it right through passionate worship.

Let me \u201cunpack\u201d some of the words here, that bring us to this <\/i><\/span> first step. I want you to take notice of the word, \u201clove, that we’re to love. This word, \u201clove,\u201d is not like the word, \u201clove,\u201d that we see in the English language. We use this word interchangeably \u2013 I love chocolate, I love my dog, I love my wife\u2026 There has to be a better way of communicating, but our English language is not very specific with this word.

The Greek language was very specific here. We have the word, \u201cagape\u201d for love. The Greeks had four words for love:\n \u201cPhileo\u201d is where we get the name of the city, Philadelphia. It’s the idea of \u201cbrotherly love.\n \u201cEros\u201d is where we get the word, \u201cerotic.\u201d This is sensual. \n \u201cStorge\u201d is more the familial kind of love.\n \u201cAgape\u201d is sacrificial love. \u201cAgape\u201d the Lord your God . <\/i><\/span> This is sacrificial love. This is God’s kind of love. This is love as that which is poured out in our hearts from the Lord that flows back to the Lord. It’s God’s kind of love, \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart.\u201d\n\n\nNow, what do we mean by the word, \u201cheart?\u201d When we say \u201cheart\u201d here, we’re not talking about the heart beating in your chest. We’re talking about the seat of the will of the emotion of the intellect, all of whatever you are. Your heart is the center of your being. This is what the Jews meant when they used the word, heart. This is what Jesus meant when He used the word, heart. \u201cLove God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength.\u201d The other three, soul, mind and strength, really flow out of the heart. If you love God with all your heart, these other three will follow.

We see that word, \u201clove,\u201d mentioned first. It was a practice in the <\/i><\/span> scripture of whatever word comes first is all encompassing of those that follow. I’ll give you another example: Galatians 5: 22 \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.\u201d

Here, the heart is like the driver’s seat of your life; love God with all of your heart. What does he mean by \u201call?\u201d Does He mean that you can’t make room for anybody or anything else? You can only love God, you can’t love anyone else? I think that would be troublesome because the next verse, verse 31, says this, \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\nYou’re supposed to have love for yourself and you’re supposed to have love for others. So, that can’t be it <\/i><\/span>. The word, \u201call,\u201d can’t mean that you’re not to make room for loving anyone else.

So, what does it mean to love Him with all? I think it means to love Him with priority, with your first fruits, so that everyone else and everything else you love flows out of your priority, your love for Jesus. Jesus said this, in the book of Revelation, \u201cYet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.\u201d Jesus doesn’t say that you stopped loving Him. It’s more like you stopped loving me like you once did, by the way you’re making room in your heart for things that aren’t in alignment with following Him. You’re loving things of the world and you’re loving things that actually are leading you away from Me.

I think that this word, \u201call,\u201d has the sense of first or priority. Let me give you some examples from scripture to help you understand the context of what I’m thinking. Proverbs talks about this; it says in Proverbs 3:9-10 (ESV) \u201cHonor the Lord with your wealth and with thefirstfruits<\/i><\/span> of all your produce.\u201d All your produce of the first fruits means to give him a first portion and in giving him the first portion, you’re saying it actually all belongs to Him. \u2018Lord, it all belongs to You; You gave it to me so I can live. So I’m giving You the first portion to thank You and to show my love and worship of You. But, I’m also saying this, it actually all belongs to You.\u2019

If we love Him with all of our heart, then, our love for our wives\/husbands, our love for our children, our love for our grandchildren, our love for our brothers and sisters in Jesus flows out of our priority. Our love for Jesus actually makes our hearts bigger and bigger and bigger. We can love more and better because we love Jesus first.

The love of Jesus flows to me and through me to others so that I even have this \u201cagape\u201d love which comes from God. It doesn’t say this for \u201deros,\u201d <\/i><\/span> \u201cphileo\u201d and \u201cstorge\u201d love; these kinds of words are conditional. I love you because you’re beautiful. I love you because\u2026fill in the blank. \u201cAgape\u201d love says, \u2018I love you no matter what. I love you in spite of. I love you because the love of God is poured out in me to you.\u2019

Love God with all your heart; we need a new heart. You can’t do this with the old heart that you have received at birth. You need a new heart, a new birth. Ezekiel talks about it in Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) \u201cI will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.\u201d I’m going to give you a tender heart, a soft heart. I’m going to take that old stony heart out and give you a heart that loves.

Peter says this in 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV84) \u201cBut in your hearts set apart Christ as as <\/i><\/span> Lord\u2026\u201d Put Him in the driver’s seat of your heart; say \u2018Here are the keys; You drive.\u2019 Put Him first; set Him apart.

You see, worship is kind of like romance. Worship can go wrong just like romance can go wrong. If you’ve been married for a while, romance can land in a ditch or it can become too ritualistic or too dry, whether you’re just going through the motions. Sometimes. it just disappears and you don’t do anything. Worship can go like that because worship is expressing your love for God.

Just imagine a husband doing this, where he gets too ritualized. Valentine’s Day is February 14th. It is coming up this year on a Wednesday, so get ready guys. The husband comes to his wife and he says to her, \u2018Wife, I have three reasons that I’m giving you <\/i><\/span> these flowers. Reason number one is, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m supposed to. Reason number two is because if I don’t give you these flowers (fill in the blank of that; you know what the rest of that is.) Reason number three is because it’s expected of your husband to give you flowers, so here they are. I’m doing my duty, so here, please take these flowers. Then the wife says, \u2018thank you my husband.\u2019 She’s completely thrilled with his romantic thoughts towards her.

There has to be some creativity. There has to be some spice of life. There has to be some passion. What if he forgets? He just forgets. She says to him, \u2018You know that it’s Valentine’s Day, right?\u2019 Here is his response, \u2018You know that I love you, right?\u2019

Do you remember Peter? He denied <\/i><\/span> Jesus three times. Do you remember the story? Jesus brings Peter to a place of repentance, bringing him back to a place of where he’s ready to follow Him again because he’s broken up about it. Jesus says, \u2018Peter, do you love Me?\u201d Why does Jesus care about this? Why? It\u2019s because He loves us so much. \u2018Peter, fo you love Me?\u2019 Peter replies, \u2018Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.\u2019 Jesus asked Peter three times, \u2018 Peter, do you love me?\u2019 If you \u201cunpack\u201d it in the Greek, it’s of interest. \u2018Peter, do you \u201cagape\u201d me?\u2019 \u2018Lord, you know all things you know, I \u201cphileo\u201d you.\u2019 \u2018Peter, do you \u201cagape\u201d me? \u2018Lord, uou know these things, you know, I \u201cphileo\u201d you.\u2019 \u2018Peter, do you love me with a sacrificial love?\u2019 \u2018Lord, you know I love you with a conditional love.\u2019 \u2018Do you love me with a sacrificial love?\u2019 Lord, you know I love you with a conditional love.\u2019 The <\/i><\/span>third time, Jesus says to Peter, \u2018Do you \u201cphileo\u201d me? Peter replies, \u2018Yes, Lord. I \u201cphileo\u201d you.\u2019

Some of us really need God’s help to get to a place where we can \u201cagape\u201d the Lord. We need a new heart. Love the Lord your God with all your heart; give Him first things first. Give Him first place in your heart. Begin your week with passionate worship by giving Him the first part of the first day of the week. You’re saying that the whole week belongs to Him. I’m getting it started by telling Him that the whole week belongs to Him.

Worship is more than singing, as the worship team leads us is worship, but that’s not all. Worship is everything you do, everything you think, everything that emerges out of your heart towards the Lord, if you’re putting the Lord first.

Jesus says to the hearers, \u201cHe that has ears to hear, let him hear. So, if you have ears to hear, if it’s going <\/i><\/span> in your ears and straight to your heart as I preach God’s word, you’re worshiping because you love to hear God’s word and you’re expressing your love. Sitting under the word being preached and taught is worship. Bringing in your offerings at the end of the service is worship, being careful that you are not doing it out of ritual, but doing it out of love. Just getting up this morning, taking a shower and coming to church is worship. Some of us got up early this morning and we had to scrape our car windows. It was cold outside; that was worship. If you were doing it out of all the love in your heart, going towards Jesus, that’s worship. Worship is serving, giving, singing, doing all things unto the Lord.

How to put your love of God first in your life:

2. Give God the first conversation of your day through focused prayer.

We continue in today\u2019s scripture to \u201clove the Lord, your God with all your soul .\u201d <\/i><\/span> Give God the first conversation of your day through focused prayer. Give God the first conversation. We’re still working out that word, \u201call;\u201d it actually has to do with the first part, because if you give Him the first part, you’ve actually \u201cprimed the pump\u201d and said, \u2018It actually all belongs to You; I’m giving You the first part. Now I’m going to give you the first conversation of every day in focused prayer.\u2019

What is talking to God? It’s called prayer. I’m going to give you my first words of the day. Some of us need not speak when we get up in the morning until we talk to God first. Can I get a witness? Now, some of us wake up like my beautiful wife. She has the perfect name. Her name is Robin. She wakes up sweet, but I’m a \u201cgrizzly bear.\u201d I’ve always been a \u201cgrizzly bear.\u201d My mom used to say <\/i><\/span> when I was a little boy, \u201cBoy, you need to go back to bed. You got up on the wrong side of the bed today.\u201d I have learned, though, that I don’t have to be a \u201cgrizzly bear.\u201d I was born a \u201cgrizzly bear,\u201d but the Lord’s given me a new heart. What I’ve learned is I need to talk to Jesus first before I talk to anybody. It helps if I have a cup of coffee in my hands, too. I need to give that first conversation of the day to Jesus.

We’re on the word \u201csoul;\u201d \u201clove the Lord, your God with all your soul\u2026\u201d The soul is the unseen self; scientists can’t find it and materialists deny it, but we believe that we have a self that is apart from the body. It’s whoever you’re talking to when you’re talking to yourself. The soul is the seed of the will. The soul is the seat of the feelings, desires, affections and aversions. The soul has an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death. The soul is the unseen self and was made <\/i><\/span> for communion with the Father. Being apart from God gives you a break in that spiritual life and you’re dead in your spirit. You are born dead in your spirit, apart from God, until you’re born again in Jesus. Then that born again person, that new self wants to talk to the Lord. That’s called prayer.

Notice how Jesus began in this scripture today. He was asked what was the greatest commandment. Jesus begins with the most important of all: \u2018Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.\u2019 This is called the \u201cShema.\u201d They prayed the Shema three times a day. You can find it in Deuteronomy 6. Jesus is quoting what every little Jewish kid knew \u2013 the Shema. They would sing it; children could sing it. They all knew the Shema (Pastor Gary sings the Shema) They would pray to <\/i><\/span> the Father.

To really activate your soul and have your soul flourish. David says this, Psalm 42:1, \u201cAs a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.\u201d To feed your soul, to nourish your soul, you need time talking to the Father.

Last week, we said that Jesus invites us to follow Him. He says, \u201ccome follow me.\u201d What does that look like? What does Jesus do? How does He start His days? Let’s look at the book of Luke, Luke 5:16 (CEV) \u201cBut Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray.\u201d The book of Mark says, in Mark 1:35 (CEV) \u201cVery early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray.\u201d

Jesus had a good habit. He started every day talking to his Father. Jesus would get alone to pray. That’s harder for some of us. It’s hard to carve out time, but it’s worth it. \u201cLess is more; first things.\u201d First, carve out <\/i><\/span> space to do this. I just don’t have time. Remember, a hurried heart is a disordered heart. Why don’t you have time? It’s because you’re putting other things ahead of Jesus. It’s because I’m the reason. I don’t have time because something else deserves my time, my thinking more than Him. I hate to admit it, but that’s sometimes me. Would you admit that too that you don’t always love him with all your soul? You don’t always start every day talking to him before you talk to even yourself. By the way, talking to yourself is probably the last person you ought to start the day talking to.

I think it was Dr. Charles Stanley that I first heard talk about this and I’ve used this imagery from time to time. Sometimes it helps to inform your body of what you’re praying because it solidifies it so that your mind doesn’t wander. Dr. Stanley would <\/i><\/span> say that before he even got out of the bed, he would turn his hands over like two cups, place them down on the bed and say, \u201cLord, I now empty myself of myself. I confess my sins to You. Is there anything in me that’s dishonoring to You today that you want to bring to my attention?\u201d He would just be quiet and turn his hands upward. Then he would say, \u201cNow spirit, fill me afresh with Your power and your wisdom for this day. Give me direction for this day. Give me strength for this day.\u201d Then, he would climb out of his bed and go about his day.

What do you do to get alone with God? What do you need to do to get alone and talk to God?

When Jesus, in Mark chapter one, had just healed a bunch of people outside of Peter’s mother-in-law’s house and He had also healed his mother- in-law, all<\/i><\/span> of these people showed up in a line and He healed people until it became dark. Then, He got up before the sun came up and went off by Himself to pray because He had discharged so much of His vigor, strength and spiritual essence that He needed the Father to \u201crecharge His batteries.\u201d He probably needed to sleep too, but He knew that He needed time to feed His soul more than He needed sleep for His body. He got up early and He started talking to the Father. Then, He hears people saying, \u2018Jesus, Jesus\u2019 and it’s Peter leading the way. \u2018Lord, why have You been hiding? We’ve been looking for You everywhere. There’s a long line of people. They’ve already shown up.\u2019 Peter has plans \u2013 I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to plant the church right at my mother-in-law’s house. That’ll make her happy. If she’s happy, my wife’s happy. Peter has his own plan, but Jesus says to <\/i><\/span> him, \u2018My Father has sent me to other towns. I’ve got other places to go. We’re not even heading back to your mother-in-law’s house.\u2019 Peter is now thinking that he shouldn’t have made the plans that he made, but Jesus not only got nourishment, He got direction for His day. He knew how to say \u201cyes\u201d to the right things and \u201cno\u201d to the wrong things. Sure, there was a need. Sure, people were pressing in and voices were calling to Him. He knows which voices to say \u201cyes\u201d to and which voices to say \u201cno\u201d to.

If Jesus needed that nourishment of being with His Father, then what about me and what about you? Our first conversation should be through focused prayer. First things first. give God first place in your soul. When you \u201cdial Him up\u201d in the mornings, just leave your \u201cphone\u201d on all day; don’t hang up. Then you can fulfill 1 Thessalonians 5:17, \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d all day long. You can talk to Him all day. Lord , <\/i><\/span> did You see that? Did you hear that? You just keep talking to Him all day long.

How to put your love of God first in your life:

3. Give God the first thought of your day through biblical meditation.

\u201cLove the Lord your God with all your mind.\u201d That’s the seat of understanding, of desiring, of imagination, of intellect and of the mind. Loving God with all your mind. Christianity is not ignorance as the materialist would say or the atheist would say. In fact, you’re invited, in Christianity, to a transformation of the mind and to actually gain knowledge and wisdom from the Lord. It’s actually a pursuit of the mind to love the Lord with all your mind. It means to say, \u2018I want to know You better. I want to study Your word. I want to get it in me because the word is what God uses, by the Spirit, to transform your mind, so you get rid of your \u201cstinking thinking\u201d and you <\/i><\/span> get a transformed way of thinking, a new way of thinking.

In the book of Psalms, David writes this in Psalm 1:2 (NLT) \u201cBut they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.\u201d Now, for the eastern religions, meditation is about emptying yourself, but for Christianity, meditation is about filling yourself with God’s word.

The Hebrew word for meditation is literally, \u201cto chew on and gain all the nourishment out of it, so that you have to take it in, so that you have to take God’s word in and meditate on it, to chew on it all during the day.\u201d One of the things that you’ll find is that if you begin every day in focused prayer and every day in biblical meditation, reading a little bit of God’s word or however much you have time to read, but read until God speaks to you, those words will come back to you during the day. They’ll be encouraging and helpful; the word might not have been for you. You might be <\/i><\/span> talking to someone that has a need in their life and the Holy Spirit will bring God\u2019s word back to you and the scripture will com out of your mouth. That person will say, \u2018How did you know?\u2019 and you’ll reply, \u2018Wow, I really didn’t. The Lord gave me that word this morning and I guess it was for you.\u2019 You wouldn’t have had that word for that friend or that loved one if you hadn’t put it in, meditated on it and \u201cchewed\u201d on it first. Now, it’s in you. Now, the Holy Spirit can \n\u201cflip through the index cards\u201d in your head and say, \u2018Here, say that to him. That will help Him. Your advice won’t help him, but this will help him.\u2019

We’ve led trips to Israel through the years. The last time we went, we weren’t able to do this because there was construction work going on at <\/i><\/span> the Temple Mount. On the southern side of the Temple Mount, leading up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, there are fifteen sets of steps that lead up to the Temple Gate. Some people call it the \u201cGolden Gate. \u201d (Picture on screen) Going up those fifteen steps, pilgrims will often read aloud the Psalms of Ascent. There’s 150 Psalms, but fifteen of them, Psalm 120- 134 are titled, \u201cThe Psalms of Ascent.\u201d Psalms are meant to be sung or read while you’re going up the steps to Mount Zion. They’ll stand on the first step and read Psalm 120. Then they’ll stand on the next step and read Psalm 121. This is a creative way to read God\u2019s Word.

You can be creative too. You don’t live in Jerusalem; you live in Wilson, but you could put some ear pods in and you can listen to God’s word being read to you. There’s all of these apps <\/i><\/span> you can get for your phone, you can get the YouVersion app if you want to get the one year Bible plan. It will read to you aloud and you can listen to it. Some of us say, \u201cI don’t like to read.\u201d There’s no excuse, you can still get it in. You can get in some exercise at the same time. That wouldn’t hurt anybody, would it?

Be creative; meditate on God’s word. First things first; give God first place in your mind. Love Him with your thinking. He wants you to grow in wisdom and knowledge. Memorize, journal, read and listen.

How to put your love of God first in your life:

4. Give God the first part of your substance through joyful offering.

We have studied \u201cwith all your heart, all your soul, all your mind.\u201d There’s one left \u2013 \u201call your strength.\u201d 30) Finally Jesus said: \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your \u2026 strength.\u201d\nGive God the first part of your substance through joyful offering. What is strength? What is that? It’s effort. What’s the evidence of <\/i><\/span> your effort? It’s whatever you produce. Do you produce artwork? Do you produce music? Do you build stuff? What do you do? Are you an administrator? What do you do with your effort and your strength and how can you give Him the first part of it?

Now, back in the day, you would have given Him your first born lamb or your first cattle or the first of your produce, but today it would be the first of your income. That’s how we make a living today, but not just that. Don’t limit it to just that, but it starts there.

To say, \u2018I love God with all my strength means that the product of my effort, that which I exert, I give Him the first part of it. In doing that, I’m basically saying that all that I have, even my physical ability to be a teacher, to be an administrator, to be an electrician <\/i><\/span>, to be a banker, to be a mama, to be a daddy, whatever I do, He gave me the ability to do it. So, I’m going to give Him the first portion back. That says to Him, It’s all Yours. I love You with all my strength,but You know, Lord, that I have to eat. I have to sleep. I have to have a roof over my head. I have to take care of my kids. The Lord knows that, but when you give Him the first part, you’re saying, \u2018It’s all Yours, Lord\u2019 and you do it with joy.

It says in Proverbs 3:9 (Msg) \u201cHonor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.\u201d That’s how you honor Him, by giving Him the first, by putting Him first.

Paul gives us some instruction in both letters to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NLT) \u201cYou must each make up yourown <\/i><\/span> own mind as to how much you should give. Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.\u201d He says to give, not under pressure, but to give cheerfully.

Then in 1 Corinthians, he says, 1 Corinthians 16:2 (Msg) \u201cEvery Sunday each of you make an offering and put it in safekeeping. Be as generous as you can. When I get there you’ll have it ready, and I won’t have to make a special appeal.\u201d I pulled four thoughts out of those two verses: \u201cGive thoughtfully, give cheerfully, give generously and give regularly. Not just financially, but in everything that your strength represents. That word, \u201ccheerfully,\u201d is a great word. God loves a cheerful giver. The word in the Greek is ( ). It’s where we get the root word for \u201chilarious.\u201d You should <\/i><\/span> give until it cracks you up. I really like that; that’s the kind of joy you should have.

When we think about giving, it’s not just our money; it’s our time, talent and treasure. It’s our calendar. It’s giving Him a certain amount of time, of your life, your talent and what God has given you. It’s not just serving in the church. I heard brother Mike, earlier in the greeting, talk about that at our church. One of the reasons we have two services is so that you can serve one and attend one or attend one and serve one. We actually have four services because we have one next door happening at the same time. There’s four opportunities to attend, but we want you to, also, serve. We are looking for people to serve on our greeter team, our usher team, our tech team, our worship team, our children’s <\/i><\/span> teaching team and our nursery team. These are all things that are necessary in order to have God’s worship every Sunday. We’re looking for people that are willing to serve one and attend one. We don’t want you to miss church; that’s why we have more than one service. It’s a \u201cone stop shop;\u201d you can go to church on Sunday and do both. You can get all of your worship in and all your worship out. It’s, also, worshiping God with your strength when you teach kids at school if you do it as unto the Lord. When you administer at the bank, when you work as a construction person or an electrician.

Colossians says this, Colossians 3:23-24 NKJV, \u201cAnd whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men\u2026\u201d It’s not just church work; it’s anything you do with your strength, to love God with all your strength so that people know you’re giving glory to God. First things first Give <\/i><\/span> God the first part of your strength. This is what we’re talking about today. What’s it look like, practically, to follow Jesus? It’s to put Him first, to love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, not just theoretically, but practically.

Let’s pray. Lord, I first pray for the person that’s never said \u201cyes\u201d to Your invitation. There are people here this morning and they’ve never said \u201cyes\u201d to Your invitation to follow You. Is that you, my friend? Right where you are, right in your seat, would you say \u201cyes\u201d to following Jesus? You can do that right now. Just pray along with me. Let this be your heart’s prayer if it’s your desire, \u2018Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’m tired of being on my own and living my life on my own. I need a new heart. I need forgiveness. I have a hurried heart and an anxious heart. I need a new way of being. Lord Jesus, I believe You <\/i><\/span> died on the cross, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Give me a new heart, forgive me of my sin, adopt me into Your family and make me a child of God. I want to follow You as my Lord and Savior.\u2019 If you’re praying that prayer of faith, believing, He will save you. He will adopt you into the family. He will give you a new heart. Others are here and you’ve received Jesus. You’re a Christ follower, but you’ve gotten some stuff out of order. Would you repent right now? Pray, \u2018Lord, I’m sorry, I’m not loving You first in this area. Name it to Him. There’s an area where I’m loving something of the world or something of my own plans. I’m not making room for You. Forgive me. I know that You have already forgiven me in Jesus\u2019 name. Just wash me afresh. Renew my heart and help me to follow You with all my heart, all my soul, all my <\/i><\/span> mind and all my strength.\u2019 In Jesus\u2019 name. Amen.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you have a hurried life? Hurriedness is more than a bad habit, it reveals a condition of the heart. Did you know that God cares about your heart? That He cares about your love? What you put first?<\/p>\n

In the gospel according to Mark, Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment. In a sense he was asked to simplify all of the writings of Scripture down to one simple statement. Jesus didn\u2019t pause. He gave them a simple command to put loving God first in their lives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12039,"template":"","tags":[],"series":[2945],"scripture-book":[1308],"scripture-chapter":[1345],"speaker":[2007],"class_list":["post-12038","message","type-message","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","series-simple-life","scripture-book-mark","scripture-chapter-1345","speaker-gary-combs"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/12038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/message"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/12038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-book?post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-chapter?post=12038"},{"taxonomy":"speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker?post=12038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}