GUARD
YOUR GREATEST AFFECTION
BREAD
6 “I am the LORD
your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
7 You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5:6-7 (NIV)
7 You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5:6-7 (NIV)
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.”
Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’
when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me
and haven't told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day
after day until he was tired to death. 17 So
he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because
I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my
strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her
everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once
more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned
with the silver in their hands. 19 Having
put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of
his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, “Samson, the
Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as
before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him,
gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze
shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But
the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Judges 16:15-22 (NIV)
31 “So
do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What
shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 (NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings
of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and
does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but
the man who does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that
no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is
godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the
oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you
know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring
about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. Hebrews 12:15-17 (NIV)
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life for my sake will find it. Matthew
10:37-39 (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Love
God more than anyone or anything else.” Greg
Laurie
“Believers who know Christ
understand that delight and faith are so
wonderfully
united that the gates of hell cannot manage to separate them. Those who love
God with all their hearts find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
His paths are peace. The saints discover in Christ such joy, such overflowing
delight, such blessedness that far from serving Him from custom, they would
follow Him even though the whole world rejected Him. We do not fear God because
of any compulsion; our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we
are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure,
our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“True repentance
means we love God more than we love our sin. When He sees this type of
devotion, He opens up His arms and welcomes us with His unending grace.” Michael Youssef
“Every act of
disobedience flows from a desire for something or someone besides God to be our
first love, our true north, our reason for being. Each of us has his/her own
unique potential ‘mistresses’—whether money, power, cleanliness, control, a
relationship, material things, entertainment, or even a spouse or children.
Whenever anything becomes more essential to us than God Himself (by the way,
“anything” is usually a good thing), it becomes an idol. According to God, our
true and everlasting Husband, we become spiritual adulterers. An idol is any
person or idea, any created thing that captures our deepest affections and
loyalties and will—and in so doing steals our attention away from God. An idol
is anything that becomes more precious to us than Him. It’s not that we love
the thing (whatever it is) too much. Rather, it’s that we love God too little
in comparison to it.” Scott Sauls
“We can make idols out of
our work, our family, our friends, our hobbies, our adoring audiences, our
wealth, even our ‘perfect’ children or our wonderful meals or our clean and
ordered houses. Why we can make
“Delilah’s” out of most anything. Idols
are whatever we have a tendency to hold on to with a grip that we will not let
go. Most of these things are not bad in
and of themselves – it is the priority which we place on them that’s askew. If they become our ‘god’s’ it is wrong. If anything or anybody takes Christ’s
rightful position on the throne of our lives it is an idol and must be removed
for the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.
Live your life with open hands.” BHY
“Every
one of us is, from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.” John Calvin
“Ask God to help you and
show you: How to move from pleasing your
body/soul to pleasing and serving God.
How to exchange being dependent upon idols/false gods or fleshly
thoughts, feelings or desires to being dependent on His Spirit. How to be free in Christ and not captive to
anything of this world. How to let go
what is not of Him and to hold to Him.” Margaret Arant
“Because He originates He also owns. He is the Sole Proprietor of life. All rival claimants are imposters. Quite simply He is our Life.”
Ronnie Collier Stevens
“To risk reputation and affection
for the truth's sake is so demanding that to do it constantly you will need a
degree of moral principle that only the Spirit of God can work in you. Do not
turn your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow boldly in your Master's
steps, for He has made this rough journey before you. Better a brief warfare
and eternal rest than false peace and everlasting torment.” C. H. Spurgeon
revised by Alistair Begg
“Give
me a hundred men who love God with all their hearts and fear nothing but sin,
and I will move the world.” John
Wesley
“The
answer to much anxiousness is always to exalt Christ.” Ann Voskamp
HEART SAVOR
·
Christ
is to be on the throne of our lives.
·
He
is to be our Highest having no other “god’s” before Him.
·
In
placing Him first, all else is added unto us.
We are to let Him be in control of our lives.
