We Need To Put God First!

Deuteronomy 6:1-23

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God , who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. 20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?”  21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.

Can I just tell ya something?  We need to put God first!  God promises that if we put Him first in our family, He will give us certain blessings.  We need to set apart Christ as Lord of all.  After all, if Christ is not Lord of all, He's not Lord at all.

Does that mean bad stuff will never happen?  Nope.  Jesus Himself said that "...in this world you will have trouble." Reality is, we’re going face sickness, loss, hardship and death in our lives.  That is a fact, in part, because we live in a fallen world.  BUT, what these promises in Deuteronomy 6 mean is this:  When bad things happen to us, God will be right there giving us the strength to face whatever this world can throw at us!  AND, if we strive to put God first in our family life, God promises these blessings:

Vs. 11 - We will eat AND be satisfied

Vs. 18 - It will go well with us

Vs. 19 - God will deal with our enemies

Vs. 24 - We will prosper

Vs. 25 - We will receive righteousness

So, how do we put God first?  

How do we structure our family life so that God comes in first in our priorities?

Take another look at Vs. 6-9.  In other words, don't make your faith a once a week event.  Our kids need to see how much we love God EVERY day.  Certainly, church is important.  Your pastor, deacons, elders, Sunday School teachers, other ministry leaders are all here to help and encourage us and to reinforce our efforts in our homes.  BUT, they can’t DO our faith for us.  

God is telling us here in Deuteronomy 6 that we cannot expect our families to catch our faith simply by osmosis.  Hey, can I just tell ya something?  We can’t expect them to just stand around us and absorb our belief just because we think Godly kinds of thoughts and wear Jesus t-shirts!

I like the way we’re told starting at Vs. 7 to share our faith with our families: 

IMPRESS your faith on your children

TALK about your faith at home, on the road, when you go to bed, and when you get up

TIE it to your hands

BIND it on your forehead

WRITE it on your door frame

By the way...those are ACTION words.  Here's what God is NOT talking about:  God is NOT calling for a mumbling, whispering faith.  He wants a SHOUTING faith!  And, can I just tell ya something?  If there's one thing I’ve learned about kids, it is this:  Don’t bother pretending if your faith is not real.  If it’s not real, your family will know it.  Kids can smell a hypocrite and a fake from a mile away!

This entry is taken from the sermon:  "Remember"  Click the link to listen to the entire sermon.  This is the third sermon in a series.  The entire sermon series audio is available here:  

BLINDERS, BLINKERS, & WINKERS SERMON SERIES

Our Children Need To Hear That God CAN BE Their Shepherd

Deuteronomy 6:1-23

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God , who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. 20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?”  21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.


I believe Satan wants to destroy the Christian home.  He wants to tear apart families and he’ll use every tool in his tool box to do it!  His game plan includes plenty of fiery darts to distract and confuse.  And we live in a world which wants to remove God from our government, from our schools, from our TV sets, and basically any part of the public arena.

Can I just tell ya something?  I believe it’s absolutely more important than ever before that we realize our children NEED to hear that God CAN BE their shepherd and ALL they will ever want or need in their lives.  They need to HEAR in their hearts that we sincerely believe that by watching us live it out.  God told Israel to teach their families that very concept.

He told them to remember some things:

"The Lord your God is One God"  

He won’t share with any other so-called "gods".

"God brought you out of slavery"

It was an actual physical slavery for the Israelites.  It is a slavery to sin for us.

"God gave you blessings you did not deserve" 

Wells they hadn’t dug, houses they hadn’t built, and fields they hadn’t planted.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength"

Obey all His commands, decrees and laws.  

Hey, can I just tell ya something?  God expects obedience!  When we don’t expect obedience from our kids, we’re just teaching them to sin!

"Never take Him lightly"

God is a merciful God and He loved His people AND us very much.  But, He expects to be put first in every area.  That’s what He was telling His people.  God was asking them to put Him first in every area:

In their public and private lives

In their school and at work

In their past, present, & future

AND the result would be, they were told, they would have advantages no other nation had.  By the way, that promise is true for us today.  

By contrast, if we don’t make God our priority, we can actually set our family up for failure.

Karl Marx, founder of the communist movement, drove this point home to the extreme.  He single handledly and significantly perverted the history of the 20th century for most of our planet.  He described his "religion" as the "opiate for the masses" and committed his followers to live their lives without God.  His new world view, conceived and designed to change the world, was hatched in part as a result of years of disappointment, bitterness and anger with his father.  His father sold out the family's Jewish heritage in order to benefit the family business leaving Marx bewildered and confused.  Those feelings festered and grew into hate.

When we sell our faith to the highest bidder, we set our families up for discouragement and failure.

This entry is taken from the sermon:  "Remember"  Click the link to listen to the entire sermon.  This is the third sermon in a series.  The entire sermon series audio is available here:  

BLINDERS, BLINKERS, & WINKERS SERMON SERIES

Dil-i-gence: Careful And Persistent Work Or Effort

Deuteronomy 6:1-23

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God , who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD'S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. 20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?”  21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.


God’s people were about to enter the promised land.  They were less than a month out from the death of Moses.  Joshua was about to lead them across the Jordan river.  There were giants and there were more than forty other people groups living in the place where God had promised His people “a land flowing with milk and honey”.

Hey, can I just tell ya something?  The immediate future certainly included many battles and plenty of reason for anxiety.  

So...  What was God’s big plan? What was the first item on the agenda to prepare His chosen people for this most difficult time?  Did He say increase defense spending?  Did He recommend they stockpile weapons? Did He order them to quickly roll over their 401K plans?  Did He suggest they take out a savings account or a CD to prepare for a possible economic depression?

Nope.  God says:  "Diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God AND teach them diligently to your kids!"

And what was His reason?  

"That it may be well with you."

"In order that you may go in and possess the good land."

"Oh, and by the way...BECAUSE THE LORD YOUR GOD SAID SO!"

Can I just tell ya something?  This promise is a promise for a nation AND it’s a CONDITIONAL promise!  It is predicated on parents diligently instructing their children in the Word of God, seeing to it that God’s Word stays at the forefront of their hearts.

Listen, it doesn’t matter what they teach in school.  It doesn't matter how corrupt the government gets.  If we aren’t fortifying our families with God’s Word AND Godly living… I can tell ya right now, we’re just trying to pass off the same snake oil this crazy world is selling!

Can I just tell ya something?  I know we have an election coming up.  And yes, it’s important.  We certainly ALL need to register to vote AND vote!  BUT, I believe the biggest problems we have in this nation Will NOT be fixed by who is living in the White House.  They must be fixed by the parents in our homes!

It's pretty simply actually.  God is telling us, if we want to protect our families from this messed up world we live in, then we need to remember and diligently keep His commands ANDaA teach our children to do the same.

This entry is taken from the sermon:  "Remember"  Click the link to listen to the entire sermon.  This is the third sermon in a series.  The entire sermon series audio is available here:  

BLINDERS, BLINKERS, & WINKERS SERMON SERIES