Priority One
Matthew 6:33
Exodus 20:106
2Samueal 11:1-5
Introduction-
This morning I want to talk to you about priorities. I realize that we are all different and have many different things that are important to us.
I am here to tell you there are some priorities that have to be first in our lives or your life is going to be in a tailspin.
Have you ever thought to yourself that your life was out of control, overwhelming, and you thought “what did I do to deserve this? Or what should I have done to prevent this from getting where it is at? Yeah, we all have.
What did you come up with for answers?
If your answer ended with- it is all about me…
If it ended that it was somebody else’s fault…
If it ended with you just need a break, waiting till you win the lottery, the chances are you are still there. Out of control, overwhelmed and still begging for answers.
Right priorities = life fulfillment (repeat)
Our perspective of life, our priorities in life, and our personal choices will determine much of your life. It will determine how we live.
We began a new study last Wednesday looking at balancing life’s demands.
Lesson one was priority. Got me thinking as we only scratched the surface and will look at it again this Wednesday.
Life is like a fountain that spills out into every area of our lives.
GOD
SPOUSE
FAMILY
WORK
MINISTRY
Everything flows from our relationship with God. When God is not first, things get messy and our priorities begin to cause us problems in our life.
God has given us some life verses. These are verses to guide us and to keep our lives balanced correctly with God being first.
Old Testament
Exodus 20- 10 Commandments
#1 Commandment-
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You should have no gods before me. You should not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”
New Testament
Matthew 6:33-
“But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Our perspective is God first
Our priority is to keep Him first in our lives.
Our personal choices are based upon Him being first
Everyone of us wants our lives to turn out good.
Everyone of us wants our life to have significance.
Everyone of us wants their life to matter to someone.
If you don’t your priorities are wrong!
Solomon spent 11 chapters rejecting everything that most people try to find fulfillment in today.
Money
Pleasure
Power
Fame
Sex
Jobs
So how do you do that? Keep God first.
Be determined and be intentional that He will be first in all you do. Good times and bad.
Everytime you realize that that He is not first- you make the necessary changes quickly.
Watch over your heart with all diligence.
You make sure that you are in daily communication with the Lord.
You never become so busy that God has to make an appointment to see you or talk with you.
Dwight Eisenhower
“The urgent is rarely important and the important is rarely urgent.”
Prioritize your life, time, money, relationships. God is first and he is allowed to help keep the rest in order.
We cannot do this without God’s help.
There is nothing we can do for God’s kingdom without the Holy Spirit working in us. (repeat)
The worship team has a saying they have used for a long time. I am not sure who started using it. I looked it up on the internet and found several ways of saying it, so I don’t know who to give credit too. It goes like this- “Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
Makes sense right? There are many people that make bad choices or make no choice and then when they are up against the wall, they present to you as an emergency as if now to be your priority.
“The urgent is rarely important and the important is rarely urgent.”
There is peace with prioritizing our lives. Amen.
There is guidance and power available when God is put first in our lives. Amen.
Can we make mistakes? Yes.
Can God help us? Yes.
Can God forgive us when we have blown it? Yes He can.
But priorities and personal choices are based upon God being first in our lives.
I want you to understand that when God is not first, we make ourselves vulnerable to things that we would think “only other people do”
No one plans to have an affair
Sits down and steals from the company
Noone comes to church and wants to destroy someone with meanest.
Turn to 2 Samuel 11:1-5
This is the account of David and Bethsheba.
This is what can happen when you take your eyes off the Lord.
This is what can happen if you think that everything is all about you.
This is what can happen when you think that no one is watching or no one will ever know.
This is the detailed account of the sin of David and the consequences of it.
Some people believe or want you to believe “it just happened.”
There are some things that don’t just happen. Some things are intentional, but we hope won’t have consequences.
What seemed innocent enough was a disaster waiting to happen.
(1) “In the spring, at a time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israel army. They destroyed the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”
Bad choice
One- David remained in Jerusalem when his army was out to battle.
Two- He let someone else do a job that he should have been doing.
Three- He abused the power that was given him.
Four- Should have been sleeping, up on the roof, looking for something to do, and trouble finds him.
Five- Sees Bethsheba- He should of turned away.
Inquired about her.
Then he sent for her.
Perfect example of temptation
Visual.
Mind.
Action.
And then the cover-up.
David could of said, “it just happened.” “We are just friends.” “I meant no harm.” But it was intentional, it was deliberate, and it become sin.
It was a slow, downward decline that leads to carrying out the act.
Complicity will get us in trouble
I’m the king
I’m the boss
No one will know
One of the signs of complicity is when you lose compassion. David was not with his men, doing what he was suppose to be doing.
He put himself in a position to fall, not because it just happened, but because he was careless.
Stagnation brings corruption! There is danger in being stagnant! Stagnant in our relationship with God can destroy us.
Carelessness will get us in trouble.
Remember when you first bought your car or truck? You washed it every chance you got. Now some of you have one year old French fries stuck between the seats. “I’ll get them.”
We cannot take God’s grace lightly.
Closing,
Now listen to me- You ask how did I get here?
You got here on your own.
You put yourself here. Wherever here is for you.
You have to stop blaming other people
It is not all about you.
You have to put God first in your life.
You have to repent. You got here on your wonm but you need God’s help to get out of it. (repeat)
David had his own Damascus road experience through the prophet Nathan.
The prophet calls him out and exposes what has happened because God had shown him and let him know that God has seen what happen.
Nathan calls David out- “You are that man.”
David repents- “I have sinned against the Lord.”
I wish I could tell you that all of our bad choices have good endings, but Icannot.
I can tell you that we need the Lord for redemption and getting our lives back on track.
Yes, there are consequences . but thank God there is grace, forgiveness, and mercy coming from God also.
It is never too late to get your life in the right order.
To put God first again or maybe for some for the first time.
Illustration-
Mrs.Baughman was my 6th grade Sunday School teacher. One morning,
she brought a pan of brownies to our class. As the goodies sat over by
her chair, she gave each child a slip of paper marked with a household
expense: house payment, utility bill, phone bill, entertainment, etc.
My slip had a car payment. Before long, Mrs. Baughman picked up the
tray of brownies and began naming the expenses written on the papers.
As we gave her our expenses, she redeemed each one for a brownie.
"Car payment" she announced. I jumped up to get my brownie from the
pan. Finally the last brownie had disappeared. But one boy named Donald
still held his unredeemed slip.
"God!" called Mrs.Baughman. Donald came forward hoping the teacher had
one more brownie hidden some where. With a knife Mrs. Baughman scraped
the crumbs from the bottom of the pan into Donald’s napkin. He got a pretty
raw deal, I thought - just crumbs.
"The brownies represent your money", the teacher explained to us. "If you
don’t give God his share right away, He probably won’t get anything except
maybe the crumbs."
I never forgot that illustration. The day my friend Donald got only the
brownie crumbs, even as a child I learned that God should have the first
right to everything I have.
God don’t eat leftovers and doesn’t want our leftovers, or our times that we live without Him.
He wants to be first, and that is the better way of life!
That is priority one!
Amen.
