Sermon Central
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"Make The World Go Away!"
Contributed by Tony Searles on Jul 25, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: We live in a very busy day and age. The down-fall is that we can sometimes get to busy to spend time with God. We must press through that temptation, and still spend time with Jesus. You will discover how.
Begin by singing??Open Our Eyes?
?Open our eyes Lord?
We want to see Jesus?
To reach out and touch Him?
And say that we love Him?
Open our ears Lord?
And help us to listen?
Open our eyes Lord?
We want to see Jesus.?
PRAYER?
Isn?t getting a hold of Jesus the most important thing anymore?
-Does He really matter to us?
-Are we really as desperate for Him as we sing about?
Just share from your heart about being busy?
-Have you ever had one of ?those? days? Weeks?
It is so easy to be consumed with the things of this life?and forget what is really the most important thing?
We are so busy with kids activities?our jobs?doing the shopping?having our ?personal time? that we forget just whose we are?
Maybe we are busy having fun?and making the best of this life??if you are only going around once; then you might as well make the best of it??and you ignore what the real priority is in the first place?
-And obviously?it is God who is the priority?or at least, He should be!
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Exodus 20:3 confirms this very fact to us. Written on the tablets of stone as the Lord had given them to Moses?and beginning with the most important one?
"You shall have no other gods before Me.?
There is no doubt?we would all agree that God should be and is first in our lives?
-However, we are told that we are able to judge a tree by its fruits?
-Could we consider the ?fruit? of our lives for a moment?would they tell of a life that is consumed by God or one that is consumed by everything BUT God?
A revealing question?one that shows the quality of the depth of our hearts?and reveals the truth of our relationship with Him!
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??for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God??
In a time that God was giving warning to the Israelites about the people they would encounter throughout their Exodus?He was advising them to not allow for their hearts to wander off ?in love? with another God?a false God?
He tells them that He is a Jealous God?a God that will not permit any cheating on Him?
-In the same way a wife is a jealous wife?not sharing her husband with another woman?or visa versa.
-We are not only made a ?one woman man?, gentlemen?but we were also made a ?One God, people?!
But?life is consuming!
We must admit that we get too busy most of the time.
-But we have got to ask if it is a business that God has required of us, or a business that we have established and made happen?
-For I would never believe that God would make us soooo busy that we would never have the time for Him.
It would be contradictory to Him and His nature!
I think this is why we have heard this warning come from the Word of God?
Surely, God knew just how crazy this life could and would get?so He gave us a warning and admonishment that we should heed?
"Cease striving and know that I am God??
-Cease, or ?Be still? as we often hear it?
-In other words??Let it go?Relax?Take a Chill Pill?Chill Out?Get A Grip!?
-Stop being so consumed?and discontinue allowing yourself to be consumed?and remember that He is God?
When we remember that He is God?we remember what He then requires of us and deserves.
We will no longer hold onto the things that keep us from exalting God and giving Him His proper place in our lives?
After all?this life is all about Jesus?is it not?
And if that is so?then what is hindering us?is our own desires, sin, and the pursuit of things that will one day fade away!
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There is a song that I remember as a kid?
One that we even hear a lot on TV advertisements?
It is a song that simply says?
-MAKE THE WORLD GO AWAY!
This is the only lyric that I remember from the song?but it is one that I think most of us agree upon the sentiment of it?
-LORD! Please make this world GO AWAY!
?Make The World Go Away!?
This is a desire of all who live in this society; at least at one time or another?
We would agree that we are all to busy?to burdened?and responsible for too many things.
The TV advertisers play into this as well with their clever ads?
Vying for us to buy their products because they will take us into another world of pleasure and peace?making us a new and improved person?refreshing us and helping us carry on with our ?consumed? life?
Remember??Calgon?take me away!?
