Shopping For A God (Pp)

INTRODUCTION

OPENING VIDEO CLIP- THEN CLICK TO POWERPOINT

SLIDE #1

• We are a very consumer oriented society. We shop for everything. There are so many items to choose from.

• If you want a car, there are hundreds of different types, styles and brands.

• Each day we do some kind of shopping and shopping means that we must make decisions. We decide what we are going to eat what we are going to wear among many other decisions that we make each day.

• There is another area in which we have a consumer mentality. We also choose who or what our god will be. We make that decision by the way we structure our life priorities.

• Everyone has a god that runs their life. Our god can be Jesus, materialism, substances, or just good old self among many things.

• Many, as in our video clip like to order up their god to be what they want them to be.

• WE either choose a god or make a god.

• Look at Deuteronomy 5:7 with me.

• SLIDE #2

• “You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5:7 (ESV)

• After coming out of Egypt, the Israelites were going to have to shop for a God to follow.

• The Israelites who had been in bondage for over 400 years to the Egyptians needed some parameters in which to live their lives. These people did not know how to govern themselves. These people relied on the Egyptians for every thing that they had.

• God wants everyone to understand that He wants us to put Him first in our lives.

• Many times we say that Jesus is first in our lives, but in practice we have many things that we put ahead of God. What ever is first in our lives is our god.

• Since God gives the command to have no other gods before Him, there must be other gods out there for us to choose from.

• Each one of us has to decide what kind of god we are going to follow. We all will go shopping at some point in our lives.

• If we are going to be a wise shopper for our god, we will need to look at a couple things that will help us to invest ourselves in the right God.

SLIDE #3

SERMON

When you are going shopping for a god you should:

I. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SHOPPING FOR.

• This is an important part of the shopping process. Before we can shop for a god, we need to know what a god is.

• SLIDE #4

A. What is a god?

• The dictionary gives the following definition of what a god is:

• Any person or thing exalted as the chief good, or made an object of supreme devotion; anything that absorbs one’s attentions or aspirations; as money.

• A god is something that we give ourselves over to, something that we dedicate our lives, hopes and dreams into.

• A god can be many things, it can be The God of heaven, it can be money, power, prestige, or Buddha you name it. It can be a career, a person, your children, a god is what you put first in your life, what to strive for.

• Your god is what you give yourself over to.

• In the Deuteronomy passage, the first commandment tells us that The God of heaven must occupy first place in your life. Whatever you put first in your heart is your god.

• God did not want lip service when it comes to putting Him first, He states emphatically that YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME!

• Let us look at the next issue concerning our shopping trip. You need to know why you need something.

• SLIDE #5

B. Why you need a god.

• I want us to consider two reasons we need a God.

• SLIDE #6

1. A god gives you security.

• For the Israelites, their god became the very people who enslaved them. The Egyptians took care of them, they fed and clothed them, and they gave them shelter.

• We know that this is true because when the people were leaving Egypt, they wanted to go back when times seemed a little tough.

• Just as they were to head into the Promised Land and the spies gave the bad report to the people, what was their response?

• SLIDE #7

• Numbers 14:1-4 (ESV) Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”