GUARD YOUR GREATEST AFFECTION
BREAD
6 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5:6-7 (NIV)
24 “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.” Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. 17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Judges 16:15-22 (NIV)
31 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 (NIV)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears. Hebrews 12:15-17 (NIV)
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Love God more than anyone or anything else.” Greg Laurie
“Believers who know Christ understand that delight and faith are so wonderfully united that the gates of hell cannot manage to separate them. Those who love God with all their hearts find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. The saints discover in Christ such joy, such overflowing delight, such blessedness that far from serving Him from custom, they would follow Him even though the whole world rejected Him. We do not fear God because of any compulsion; our faith is no shackle, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“True repentance means we love God more than we love our sin. When He sees this type of devotion, He opens up His arms and welcomes us with His unending grace.” Michael Youssef
“Every act of disobedience flows from a desire for something or someone besides God to be our first love, our true north, our reason for being. Each of us has his/her own unique potential ‘mistresses’—whether money, power, cleanliness, control, a relationship, material things, entertainment, or even a spouse or children. Whenever anything becomes more essential to us than God Himself (by the way, “anything” is usually a good thing), it becomes an idol. According to God, our true and everlasting Husband, we become spiritual adulterers. An idol is any person or idea, any created thing that captures our deepest affections and loyalties and will—and in so doing steals our attention away from God. An idol is anything that becomes more precious to us than Him. It’s not that we love the thing (whatever it is) too much. Rather, it’s that we love God too little in comparison to it.” Scott Sauls
“We can make idols out of our work, our family, our friends, our hobbies, our adoring audiences, our wealth, even our ‘perfect’ children or our wonderful meals or our clean and ordered houses. Why we can make “Delilah’s” out of most anything. Idols are whatever we have a tendency to hold on to with a grip that we will not let go. Most of these things are not bad in and of themselves – it is the priority which we place on them that’s askew. If they become our ‘god’s’ it is wrong. If anything or anybody takes Christ’s rightful position on the throne of our lives it is an idol and must be removed for the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Live your life with open hands.” BHY
“Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.” John Calvin
“When you cling tightly to bitterness, anger, resentment, and unforgiveness, elevating them above your relationship with God, they become ‘idols’ in your life. For each idol you are willing to destroy, you will gain more than you lose. Each time you surrender something to God, you will remove another hindrance to a productive life of faith and prayer. Every idol that is demolished will bring you new treasures of grace and peace.” Michael Youssef
“Ask God to help you and show you: How to move from pleasing your body/soul to pleasing and serving God. How to exchange being dependent upon idols/false gods or fleshly thoughts, feelings or desires to being dependent on His Spirit. How to be free in Christ and not captive to anything of this world. How to let go what is not of Him and to hold to Him.” Margaret Arant
“Because He originates He also owns. He is the Sole Proprietor of life. All rival claimants are imposters. Quite simply He is our Life.” Ronnie Collier Stevens
“To risk reputation and affection for the truth’s sake is so demanding that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle that only the Spirit of God can work in you. Do not turn your back like a coward, but play the man. Follow boldly in your Master’s steps, for He has made this rough journey before you. Better a brief warfare and eternal rest than false peace and everlasting torment.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“Give me a hundred men who love God with all their hearts and fear nothing but sin, and I will move the world.” John Wesley
“The answer to much anxiousness is always to exalt Christ.” Ann Voskamp
HEART SAVOR
• Christ is to be on the throne of our lives.
• He is to be our Highest having no other “god’s” before Him.
• In placing Him first, all else is added unto us. We are to let Him be in control of our lives.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 