God As Number One First Commandment. Series

Exodus 20:1-20:6 Matthew 22:34-22:40 Mark 12:30-12:32

Exodus 20:1-20New International Version (NIV)

The Ten Commandments

20 And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

What is it that will occupy your mind and your activities?

Can I see your appointment book?

Someone who was writing biographies always examined his subjects bank accounts and their appointment books because that told them the truth about the personThis mornings bible writing starts with very brief but of world shattering importance – statements. The response to these three statements will ultimately define the future of this planet that we currently stand on called earth.

It will not be Global warming, The war in Syria or even Armageddon – It will not be the transformed pond slime or evolutionary based missing links - it will be the worlds response to these three statements.

They are. 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

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1.I am the Lord your God

2.Who bought you out of slavery

they had a problem that they were able to address it, and begin to take steps to correct it.

We are beginning a series on the ten commandments and actually the first is the key to all the rest. You know many non Christians say to me – as long as you keep the 10 commandments you will be OK.

Truth is when you explore these ten commandments you find that they are right – sort this out and you’ll be right problem is for most people they can’t get the first one right. Get this and you’ve got the rest.

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.

God must be number one in your and my lives.

I am the Lord your God. Can I say we live in a dark world. You don’t need to do too much or journey too far before you discover that.

In our world at the moment if you lived in Europe then the areas of most concern in a recent survey were:- from number 9 through to 1 Nuclear weapons, ,spread of infectious diseases,overpopulation, energy depletion, international terrorist threat, the economic situation, climate change, poverty hunger and the depletion of water.

No mention of not making God number one.