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Man can not live by bread alone...

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

1/24/2018

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Joshua 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

All throughout scripture, we see the people of God turning aside to false gods and idols as soon as things weren't going perfectly for them. It's so easy to look at these people from the pages of scripture and see the deep fault in them and want to yell at the pages, "What were you thinking!" 
We see time after time, a gracious God delivering His people and yet they turn aside to fables and idols. While it is so easy to see the fault in their hearts, it seems more of a challenge to acknowledge the idolatry and lack of faith and gratitude within our own hearts. It's a challenge to ask ourselves, what notion, fear, addiction, emotion, hobby, attitude, or desire of the flesh have I set up as an idol in the seat of my own heart? Who am I serving when I ____________? 
In these days, where the big clock is ticking closer and closer to midnight, it is so imperative that we are willing to examine the condition of our own minds and hearts in all that we are choosing to do, think, and say. This thing that you are doing, thinking, or saying, is it loving Adonai with ALL your heart, soul, and mind and loving others as yourself? Or is it serving another god, idol, desire, notion, or fear? Oh Lord, we repent! Oh Lord, we surrender! We extol Your name forever!
The Ten Commandments, and the law was built upon the first commandment: “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7). Here we see not only God’s prohibition against idolatry, but His reasons for that prohibition. It was the Lord God who had the power to bring His people out of bondage in Egypt. He alone cared enough for them to choose them to be His own, and He alone delivered and protected them. For all this, He declares that He alone deserves to be worshipped and reverenced. No idol made of wood or stone is God. Idols are deaf, dumb, blind, and powerless.
Paul’s letter to the Romans indicates the worship of things in creation themselves—not just their images—is wrong in the eyes of God (Romans 1:25). Paul also warns the Colossians against worshipping other supernatural beings: “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize” (Colossians 2:18a). Yeshua (Jesus) expanded the definition of “other gods” to include concepts in addition to images, living things and other supernatural beings. In Matthew 6:24, He warns against the worship of material things. “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”. The Greek word mammonas, translated here as “money,” does not mean the money in one’s pockets. It is the personification of wealth or money (especially wealth gained through greediness), the love of which, in modern terminology, is “materialism.” The dangers of worshipping material things are clearly outlined in the story of the rich young ruler Matthew 19 who turned away from Christ because he could not part with his wealth. 
In the Hebrew word study, the commandment Have NO other gods translates to, Don't put another face on God. WOW! How often do we do this? We change Him in our minds to suit our situation, and in turn we create false god worship. We must know the God we serve by praying and reading our Word so that it is harder for the enemy to deceive us into putting another face on Yahweh. 
David describes what awaits the person who puts God ahead of all else: “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods” (Psalm40:4).
As for ME and MY HOUSE, we will Serve Yahweh. 
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  • Home
  • About
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