Sunday Mornings February 21st 2010
Last Monday I began the assent to the top of a small mountain located behind a church in Phoenix. It’s a little over 2100 to the top and there are no landscaped trails so you have to make your way up over craggy and loose shale rock. The mountain has been dubbed prayer mountain because people from around the world climb it to spend time in prayer. I climbed the mountain a year earlier when I was in the area but decided to take a different route to the top because it looked less steep, let me tell you looks can be deceiving. I started about noon and soon found that the route I had chosen was very precarious and I could just imagine myself stuck half way up and no one around to help so I started my praying earlier then I expected. I finally arrived at the top about 30 minutes later having stopped at least a dozen times to catch my breath and determine where I should place my feet. Settling down on a large bolder on the top, the view was spectacular. I could see for miles in every direction, my vision only limited by the surrounding much higher mountain ranges. For the next couple of hours I read from my Bible and wrote down notes of my time with God. God was in that place. What place does God hold in your life?
I believe that we will be blessed and find good success when we give God first place in our lives…. Let’s Pray together.
The Secrets to success
Deuteronomy 28 1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 3You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
13The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
# 1 The Secret of Putting God in His Place
Giving God first place in our lives means He is our # 1 Priority = arraigned by order of importance
We each only have 24 hours in a day. Only 7 days in a week. So how do we use them? Whether we will admit it to ourselves or not, we each do what we want to do. We find the time to do the things that are the most important to us. AND in so doing we prioritize our lives.
We all want what is best for us and so does Go
Paul said, “God will meet all your needs” Philippians 4:19
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;” Matthew 16:19
Did God say in Duet. 28 3 “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 13The LORD will make you the head, not the tail.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Do you want to be blessed by God?
Are God’s promises of abundance and blessing automatic and without condition?
Deuteronomy 28 1If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
Matthew 6:33 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Now let me ask you again.
Are God’s promises of abundance and blessing automatic and without condition? Yes No
Before you can receive God’s blessing you must be on Blessing Ground.
First we need to define reality. What are my Priorities?
What gets my first time, my energy, and my recourses?
On a scale of 1-5 with 1= most important & 5 the least important rate what gets your time, energy, and recourses.
_ Family
_ God
_ Job/Career
_ Pleasure
_ Self
All of these things are important, but to receive God’s blessing God must be the most important. Let me ask you again.
Do you want to be blessed by God? Yes No circle one
Then who must be first place in your life?
Why have we moved away from blessing ground? Option oriented
We don’t want to commit. We have a shot gun approach to life.
We need to nail it down. Drive in the stake and commit ourselves.
Paul said, “This one thing I do”, not these many things I dabble in.
How do we seek first the Kingdom of God?
3 factors in our Blessing
1. What we do
2. Blessing Ground
3. God’s supernatural involvement
Our part is to maneuver ourselves toward blessing ground and let God do the rest.
Start at the beginning Have you been born again? John 3:3 “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
I’ve heard all this before. But are you doing it? Hearers and doers
Rate yourself circle one
I have asked for forgiveness of my sins and accepted Christ as Savior.
Going to Church My best needs improvement
Studying the Bible My best needs improvement
Praying My best needs improvement
Giving Tithes and Offerings to God My best needs improvement
What are you going to do?
