Ten Commandments Series Part 2

No other Gods Before me.

Pray

What are the Ten Commandments?

Why is it important that we know these?

Today we are going to dive into the first commandment, lets read Exodus 20:1–3 “Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides me.”

Before stating the ten commandments, why do you think God says verse 2?

God establishes two things before he gets into the commandments, what are they?

He is God

He is their savior

Why are both these things worthy of obedience?

What is the first commandment?

You shall have(yihyeh) no other gods before me.

The word “have” in hebrew (Yihyeh) means to be.

So the literal translation of this commandment is “There shall not be to you other Gods before me”

In simple words, nothing should be god to you but God, so the question is, how is God supposed to be us? Or how are we to act in relation to God?

Worship God

Rely on God

serve God

make decisions based on God

Obey God

So it is saying, there must be nothing in which we do these things toward instead of God.

Now notice how he says “before me”. Why is this significant?

(it shows that you can do these things toward God and still be guilty of breaking this commandment, if you do them towards something else ahead of him)

Matthew 6:24 ““No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Why is it impossible to serve God and something else?

Lets think of ways we can break this commandment?

Why do you think this commandment was placed first?

How does breaking this commandment affect every other commandment?

Out of all the ten commandments, 8 of them are “do nots” while only 2 of them are “dos”, so lets look at the opposite of breaking this commandment.

What does it look like to keep this commandment?

What is the incentive in serving God first and foremost?

Hit this point hard, this is your application, serving God above all else is the most joyous, abundant life you can have.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

Matthew 11:28 ““Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 16:11 “You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”

James 1:16–17 “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Switch to head heart hands or theology questions if you have time.