"God First....Me Last"

Title: “God First....Me Last” (Consecration)

Illustration: William Booth

Not long before the death of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, J. Wilbur Chapman visited England on a preaching trip and wanted to meet him. In his report of their visit, Chapman wrote:

"When I looked into his face and saw him brush back his hair from his brow, heard him speak of the trials and the conflicts and the victories, I said: 'General Booth, tell me what has been the secret of your success.' He hesitated a second, and I saw the tears come into his eyes and steal down his cheeks, and then he said: 'I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me to have. There have been men with greater opportunities; but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart, and a vision of what Jesus Christ could do, I made up my mind that God would have all there was of William Booth. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life!' I learned from William Booth that the greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender."

William Booth was completely given to God.

Everyone of us as children of our Heavenly Father must also decide to completely surrender to God.

We must consecrate ourselves to the Lord

The word consecrate means "to set something or someone apart for a special purpose."

That is what God calls us to do with our lives- to set them apart from the world and commit them to Him.

If we are to live for the glory of God, we must yield our will to His. We must consecrate our lives to Him.

Our theme at FBC this year is “God First”

If you really want to put God First then the first thing you must do is put you last. You must surrender all of you to God.

On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallissurrendered his army of some 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown, giving up any chance of winning the Revolutionary War.

we must surrender

(Pray)

I Must Completely Surrender My Will to God.

Though the world tells us such complete submission and yielding to God is a mark of fanaticism, God calls it a "reasonable service."

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

There is no greater thing we can do with our lives than surrender to God for whatever He chooses to do with us.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:8-14)

Illustration:

Henry Varly’s challenge to D.L. Moody: "The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him."

Estimates vary, but Dwight L. Moody is thought to have led as many as a million people to confess faith in Christ.

D. L. Moody was already an effective evangelist when he went to England to hold a series of meetings. But while he was there he was challenged by a preacher named Henry Varley who said, "The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him." The next time they met, Moody told Varley, "Those were the words sent to my soul, through you, from the living God. As I crossed the wide Atlantic, the boards of the deck of the vessel were engraved with them, and when I reached Chicago, the very paving stones seemed marked with [them]. Under the power of those words I have come back to England, and I felt that I must not let more time pass until I let you know how God had used your words to my inmost soul."

For almost thirty years, Moody labored with that as his goal. It is estimated that more than one million people were saved during Moody's ministry. His ministry was profoundly more effective after Moody took up that challenge. At Moody's funeral, R. A. Torrey said, "The first thing that accounts for God's using D. L. Moody so mightily was that he was a fully surrendered man. Every ounce of that two-hundred-and-eighty-pound body of his belonged to God; everything he was and everything he had, belonged wholly to God."

Any of us can answer that same challenge. It does not take great talent, lengthy training, or special circumstances to yield to God. All it takes is willingness to do so. When we do, everything about the way we live will change.

Yielding to God Must Precede Fully Understanding His Purpose.

What we need to know from God is not the why, but the what.

Proverbs 16:3 tells us,"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established." -explain

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV - 5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

This verse emphatically states we are to trust the Lord....even though we might not understand it! We are to acknowledge him…even though we don’t know the path!

There will be things that God takes you through that you may not understand....but whatever God takes you through…you can be sure of one thing....you can trust Him!

If we wait until we understand what God is doing, we will never accomplish anything meaningful for God.

Instead we must walk by faith in obedience to what we do know and trust God with the rest.

There are many things we will never understand in this life, but that does not excuse disobedience.

Illustration: As a kid, when I was outside I was almost always armed with a sling shot or a BB gun…

Me and my friend Keith badly wanted to have to shoot skeet....you know those orange discs that fly out of a launcher and they shoot them down with a shotgun?

Well we didn’t have a skeet shooter…or a shotgun....but we did have an old plastic sled....and a BB gun

So we decided that we were going to make our own skeet shooting setup....

(talk about the process and then doing it)

My older sister saw what we were doing and she gave us a warning.... “YOU BETTER BE STOP THAT!!”....

“Whatever!” we thought! We were sharp shooters! We were mature! We knew what we were doing!

We didn’t understand WHY she was telling us and so we did not yield to her warning.

After sometime one of the BBs bounced off of the sled and hit my friend right on the top of the head!

“OUCH!”

Recognize That Choices Lead to Consequences.

We have full control over our choices.

When we were saved, Satan lost the power to compel us to sin.

We cannot use that as an excuse.

However, once we have made the choice-to sin or to surrender to God--we do not have control over the results.

There are certain actions that inevitably lead to certain results.

ILLUSTRATION: Skyscraper jump

There once was a boy named Aiden who was standing on top of the Empire State Building with his brother Alejandro.

Aiden says to Alejandro, “Did you know you can jump off of this building and you won’t be hurt.”

Alejandro, “Really? That’s an amazing fact! I think I can trust you and I am going to try it!”

So Alejandro takes a running jump off of the Empire State Building.

About a quarter of the way down he shouts back to Aiden, “I think you might be right! I jumped off of the Empire State Building and I’m not hurt!”

Then about half-way down he shouts again to Aiden, “You know the longer it’s been the more I see how right you were....I jumped off of the Empire State Building and I’m not hurt!”

Then just as he is getting very close to the ground Alejandro shouts to Aiden, “You were right! You sly dog you were right! I jumped off of the Empire State Building and I’m not”......Splat

Now we know that if you jump off the edge of the Empire State Building, you will very shortly hit the ground. It’s not the fall that kills you…it’s the sudden stop.

The consequence of your choice may be delayed for a little while....but eventually the consequence of your choice will come to pass.

The consequences of sin are sometimes delayed, but they are never dodged.

Galatians 6:7-8

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

God has given you a free will.

The choice is yours

But the result is not your choice.

The consequence of your choices are set in stone.

Transiyion

In order to be fully surrendered to God, we must understand that not only do our choices lead to consequences but....

What We Cling To Most Reveals What We Value Most.

If there is anything in our lives we are unwilling to surrender to God, that thing has taken His place.

Even if it is a good thing, it has become an idol, and it reveals that our hearts are not right.

Matthew 19:21-22 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions

God will not share His rightful place on the throne of our lives with anything or anyone. On the other hand, when we cling to the Lord and to His will for our lives, we show that we value the Lord more than anything else.

In Acts 11:23 Barnabas exhorted newly-saved Christians "that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." This should be our heart as well.

Remember That God Owns Everything Already.

We have no legitimate claim to ownership of anything- it all belongs to God.

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

When we give we are simply returning what is already His.

As the owner of our lives, God has the right to call on us and expect obedience, no matter how great a sacrifice His will requires.

We owe Him anything and everything.

For a Bible study on areas of our lives that already belong to God and that we are to consecrate to Him, consider the following passages:

I must yield my body (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

I must yield my children (Psalm 127:3).

I must yield my will (John 7:17).

I must yield my future (Philippians 1:20-26).

I must yield my rights including my time, treatment at the hands of others, and ability to take revenge (1 Corinthians 9:1-15, Romans 12:19, Ecclesiastes 10:4).

I must yield my position (Philippians 2:3-4).

I must yield my reputation (Philippians 2:7, Matthew 5:12).

I must yield my possessions (1 Corinthians 4:7).

APPLICATION

The cost of living an obedient and fruitful Christian life is high.

It requires sacrifice. We must be willing to make those sacrifices, to consecrate ourselves, no matter the cost.

The church at Corinth was a continuing burden to the apostle Paul.

People in that church mocked him and resisted his instruction.

Despite that, Paul wrote to them, "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved" (2 Corinthians 12:15).

Paul knew what it was to live a consecrated life for Christ in the service of others.

Is there an area of my life where I am refusing to let God take full control?

Do I insist on my rights, or am I willing to give them up?

Am I living in a way that demonstrates that I believe God owns everything?

Our theme at FBC this year is “God First”

If you really want to put God First then the first thing you must do is put you last. You must surrender all of you to God.