NJ - Putting God First - Giving Him your Best
God First • Sermon • Submitted
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By putting God first - Give Him your best
Good morning and welcome to Oasis. It is great to have you join with us today. If you are visiting, we would love to catch you after our service for morning tea and get to know you. Also welcome to those joining us online.
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OPEN IN PRAYER
By putting God first:
We Honour God and He is worthy of honour
It demonstraights faith
It unlocks His promises in our lives
God wants to be first, He is a jealous God
Lets open our bibles to the book Genesis 4. We are going to read about the first mention of an offering given to God, this is the scripture of Cain and Abel bring their offering to God. Lets read it.
3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
We know Cain was a worker/tiller of the soil and Abel was a keeper of the flocks, and as we have just read The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
I have heard some people say that God did not accept Cains offering because it was not an animal sacrifice. The bible does not say this and it would be an assumption to think this.
There are many times that we read in the scriptures of people that made their living from growing wheat, grain, grapes etc, would bring the firstfruits of that to God as an offering and this was accepted by God.
Cains offering: When Cains offering was given there is no discription of it, it just says: (some of his crops)
Abels offering: But when Abels offering was given, it says, he gave the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.
Abel brought his first and his best to God while Cain brought something that did not cost him, (leftovers). God respected Abels offering but did not respect Cains offering.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
We have to make the choice to put God first, our relationship with Him helps us do this.
We can see with the offerings given by Cain and Abel how their relationship with God was reflected.
Cain gave his leftovers, while Abel gave his first and his best.
I would like to ask you:
Is God your first and your best?
How is your relationship with Him?
Is He getting your best or the leftovers/dregs?
4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
Abel brought his first and best to God because God was first in his life, on the other hand, Cain brought leftovers to God because God was somewhere down the list in Cains lifes.
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
Wherever your treasure is, the desires of your heart will also be.
If we don’t give God our first and our best, He is not first in our lives.
We personally know in ourselves where God fits oin our lives
Point 1
We Honour God and He is worthy of honour
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Point 2
It demonstraights faith
without faith it is impossible to please God
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
Point 3
It unlocks His promises in our lives
God deserves our first and best not just the leftovers
6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Family
As for me and my house we will serve the Lord
I have chosen him because he teach his children the right way
12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord’s help but turned only to his physicians. 13 So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
