Hit Counter



                            

                             

 

 


No Other gods Before Me
Extracted from a Sermon given
by Carl A Davenport
Inspired by God

Exodus 20

1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

 


MATTHEW 3

1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.



Father God, make way a clear path in the hearts of those here today. Open their hearts to hear Your Word and let it be accepted fully and lived by them in these last days. Bless us Lord, with your lovekindness, mercy, grace, patience and understanding. Give us the wisdom to live your will for today, in Jesus name I pray. Amen

Talking truthfully about how we really are just isn’t politically correct these days in most churches. But then again, either is politically correct for a preacher to let his church know they are sinners, or they’re worshipping false gods.  In today's society, nobody wants to hear the truth. They don’t want to hear anything that may be in the least bit offensive to them. They all think they are much better than they are in God's eyes, they compare themselves to another sinner and say, "I aint as bad as he is." They want the praise of man. They want the priase of the pulpit, and they think they have the praise of God. They don't want to be like God but they want to have His praise. They are just like the Archangel Lucifer, and believe they sit on a seat high above God. They all want to be worshipped and telling them the truth isn’t worshipping them. It just doesn’t fit into their sinful and self-deceptive life style.

Most church’s biggest problem today is the fact that they want heaven to come easy, and they don’t want to have to do any work for it. They have this, ”I’ll come as I am attitude about getting to heaven. They think they just deserve whatever they want, and they have decided they want heaven.  I have come here to tell you that you will not get there with a “I’ll come as I am attitude,” or just by thinking you deserve it. Cause you don't. You deserve the Lake of Fire, which you will get if you don't repent and turn to God. You have to believe in him to receive salvation from Him and give your life's control to Him. If you don’t do this, you won’t be in heaven, you’ll be burning in hell. I do not want to see that, or even know you’re in hell. I want you in heaven, all of you, But as you are, many of you won't make it.

Today's bankers are stealing legally with fees from those who hold accounts with them. Insiders at the stock market are buying and selling on classified information they are receiving. Wall street is making perks their legal way of stealing. Policemen are shaking down drug dealers. It seems like the whole world is corrupt.  But you can’t mention it. It offends and if you offend in this politically correct, or do you prefer incorrect world, you will be punished.

The common dishonest man of today will take whatever he wants, as his, or whatever he thinks he can get away with, whether it harms another or not. Today's thieves seem to have lost the honor among thieves that used to exist in their world, and we are now living in a dog eat dog world where only the biggest and meanest dogs can survive. The false religion of satanism is based on the theory, "Only the strong survive."

When you are offended, that tells me you are hearing a truth you don’t want to hear. If you are living in today’s earthly fashion, you will be offended easily because today’s earthly society does not like the truth. It cuts too deep for their soft world. If you study today’s high society people, you'll find they are highly offended by the truth. When the truth is told, it makes those who are not living the truth very angry at those who told it.

So, if you are offended from this mornings service, you can blame it on the truth. You don’t like the truth, and don't want to hear it because it shines the light on your lifestyle. Please don't blame it on me. The words I will use today will not be based on whether or not they offend you. They will be based on what the Bible says. If that offends you, I didn’t write the Bible. God wrote it. You can take it up with Him. I'm sure He’s waiting to hear from your version of the truth. Maybe He’ll change his ways for you, like many others have, if it offends you.  

If you are one of those who has taken the time out from your busy day of some type of stealing, hustling, cheating and conniving others to come here and hear the Word, don’t get angry if you don’t agree or don’t like it. It’s from God and He is Love, He is the truth, the perfection, the source of mercy and grace, and He is in charge, and you’re not, whether you like that truth or not. And…If you think you’re some kind of god, and the truth should be told your way,  you are play acting a role you couldn’t possibly fill no matter how good you think you are.

The real God is in heaven, and you’re not. You don’t even know where heaven is. When you think you are in some kind of control, you may be of those you have manipulated, but in reality, you are not only falsely worshipping and idolizing yourself as a god of your own making, you are also deceiving yourself.

God says that you should not worship any other gods before him, but you do. You have worshiped false gods every hour of the day all your life. You have made many other ‘things’ first, before everything, even before God, throughout your entire life. Do you claim you don't worship any other gods just because of the fact you believe a God exists? Satan also believes God exists.

Let me ask you this, have you ever wanted 'something' so bad that you just claimed it as yours? Even when it clearly belonged to someone else? Remember that burning desire, that desire that made you want that
'something'  bad enough to do the mind and legwork and just take it from someone else? What do you call that combination of desire and mind and legwork? Some call it coveting. Some call it worship. You spent all your time gazing at it and figuring out how you could get it, and then you just took it. You worshipped it until you coveted it and then you got it. How long did you have it?

Then,
another 'thing,' something else, completely different, caught your eye. You had that burning desire again until you got it again. Then another 'thing, then another, then another, and again, and so on. After a few times, whether or not you admit it,  you were in bondage to that desire, telling your mind, to force the legwork, to take those 'things' you so strongly coveted. That desire was nothing other than worship of that 'thing' until you coveted it and took it as you own. You were, and may still be, in bondage to your desires of wanting 'things.'  Since you worship them until you covet them and then take them, they are certainly more important to you than God. You don’t go after God like that until you have Him. You only go after those 'things' like you do because they give you the praise of man when you show them off. They make you feel like you are a 'somebody' in the eyes of the earthly.

Only when you go after God, as hard as you go after those
'things,'  will you status with God.  Only then are you are right in what you seek. But I know it, and you know it, you don’t go after God like that. But, when God is ready, He will make you come crawling after Him with more vigor than you ever had when you went after those things of your 'desires.' 

Up to now, the only time you call on God is when you’re in a foxhole and the dirt is starting to bury you. Even then, you aren’t calling on Him to seek Him, you calling on Him to use His power to fix the mess you got yourself into. That’s a foxhole prayer. First, they start out as little deals with God. God, I’ll do this if you get me out of this one. He does. But you don’t. Its back to business as usual as soon as you’re out of your foxhole. Then later, you get in another foxhole. This one’s a little deeper. You cry to God again. He takes care of you again. You do the same as you did the last time he got you out of the foxhole.

It isn't too long before the foxholes start appearing at closer time intervals. It seems like you really have God working for you. He’s getting you out of one foxhole after another. Those foxhole prayers are the best thing you know.  However, each foxhole gets deeper. In next to no time, you are in a foxhole that's so deep you can see the sky. You are buried in your foxhole this time.

You cry out your loudest foxhole prayer, but God does not answer this time. He waits. Your
foxhole is filling up while you wait on God. It seems like He is not going to help this time. You begin to worry. You think God has turned on you. Your hope is sinking into the dirt that is burying you. It seems like there is no way out. You are almost in a panic, and then an opening to get out appears, but,  you just can’t climb out. You fall back to the bottom of the foxhole and the dirt continues to bury you. The foxhole is deeper than it was before you fell, and you are more buried. You wait more, becoming very angry, because God is not jumping when you say jump. You begin to dislike Him more than before you introduced yourself to foxholes. Soon you loose what little 'like' you had in God because He was not at your beckon and call.

After all He’s not the one who put you in your foxhole. You put yourself there. You made a decision based on self, or greed, or something ungodly and its result put you in the foxhole as a consequence of your own decision, and your own action that followed your decision. But you believe its God's responsibility to get you out. After all, He's your God. Or Let me rephrase that. He's your God when your in your foxhole. When you're not, you don't know Him.

You now think you have decided that you've had enough time in your foxhole, so you call on God again. This time you came up with a better deal to offer Him if He gets you out, even though you have no intention of keeping your end. He helps you out of your foxhole again.  You like Him again are are thankful He helped you, even though, for now, He is your God and should help when you need it.

You do not want to re-visit that foxhole again. So you try to do what you think He wants you to do for a while. Then Satan brings one of those 'things' you cannot be without to you and it catches your eye and heart again.

You grab for that
'thing' that will bring the praise of man, again. When you did you grabbed the serpent by the tail. When the serpent bites you, and it will, you will be calling on God again. This time He lets you sit longer. No foxhole, just the poison from the serpent strangling the life out of you. After a while, God fixes your serpent bite and you are on your way again with some belief again. But, only until the next time you are tempted by another of your lusts. Then you grab again and fall back into your deepest foxhole, or get bit by the serpent again.

This time you are left to sit in your foxhole, or fend for your serpent bite yourself, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. God does not answer. You think it will be like this forever. You become desperate and scream out His name in desperation. You beg and call Him and ask Him to help you again. He lets you sit helplessly. You become more desperate and call again. Same result, no answer. You call again, and again, each time becoming more desperate until you realize you are hopeless. You can do nothing about your situation. It is all up to God. You now know for sure that your fate is in God’s hands. But God is not answering. He is ignoring you. You think over your past broken promises to Him and how you did not fulfill any of them. You realize God is not mocked and you are deceived if you think you can mock Him like you thought you did.

Now you are in fear. You are in panic. Where is God now that you really need Him? You desperately call Him. He hears you but He makes sure, only as God can, that you know He is not ready to help you. Could it be because you are not ready to be honest with Him? So, you sit in your foxhole, or with your serpent bite, or whatever it was this time,  for some more time and think about what you need to do to get God to help you.

Even in your dilemma, it’s still all about you, but there is only a little part for God in there.  It’s all about you getting out of the mess you got yourself in, and God’s part in this is getting you out of it. This is still not good enough. God does not answer and you stay in your foxhole or tending your serpent bite.

If your sin has put you again in a foxhole, instead of you getting a serpent bite, there are bugs and worms who smell you and are now are coming your way you investigate the stintch. There is a bug and worm for each act of selfishness you have committed. A bug and worm for each act of evil you committed. A bug and worm for every ungodly thought you've had. Those bugs and worms are quickly coming your way. They have travelled a great distance to visit you, and they will be awful hungry when they get there. The closer they get to you the better your stintch smells to them.
 
Now, the bugs and worms that represent each of those acts and thoughts that you believed you had gotten away with are looking you right in the eye. They have big sharp teeth with wide opened mouths. You are in your most desperate condition now. You are helpless. You are almost ready to do anything for God if He will get you out of your bug and worm infested foxhole. But the fact is, you have to pay for your actions and evil thoughts of the past, and time for payment in full is very close to being collected.

God can get you out whenever He wants, if He wants. But, right now, He doesn’t want. He will let you sit in your own stintch, in your own bug infested foxhole until you do something to make Him have a desire to get you out. Your time clock is running out. You are going to be the best supper these bugs and worms have had in a while because they love stintch.  There is only one thing you can do to make Him have a desire facing the direction of getting you out of your foxhole before you are eaten alive.

John the Baptist told you what you need to do. It was the purpose of his ministry. He called it repentance. Now, that’s another subject that isn’t politically correct these days. I guess there has to be sinners to have repentance. Where have all the sinners gone? You just can’t find them when repentance is mentioned. But anyway, If you want out of your foxhole, you have to ask God to forgive you for not believing in Him, and you have to turn away from the wicked thought patterns that keep turning you away from Him and guiding you to these foxholes. Another words, a one-hundred and eighty-degree turn with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind yo put Him first, before anything.

Only after you humbly turn back to Him will you receive His forgiveness, and God will take you out of your foxhole. And…after you’re out, if you turn back to your old sinful ways, and return to the path you were on, there will be a deeper foxhole filled with much bigger bugs and worms with bigger and sharper teeth just waiting for you. So, your best option is to repent and become a new creature and stay that way. You better do it now, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Your time for being what you were is up. Hell will be calling its people home, soon.

Narrow is the path to heaven. Walk the narrow path and do not stray left or right or you will be off path,  Repent NOW!!! It may be your last chance before hell's hearse comes and gets you. Heaven is at hand and hell is right outside your doors. If you walk through the doors you will be walking right into hell.

So, mister Big Shot, what are you going to do? You have to make a choice. You can go to hell, or you can repent?  Your time to repent has come and will pass if you don't, and  the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Make yourself ready for the way of the Lord, Make your paths straight.  Stop worshiping your idols and start worshipping the Almighty God who created you…or you are surely going to destroy yourself.

If you want to get holy, you have to go where it’s holy. The Alter of God is as holy as it gets. Bring yourself to His alter, believe in Him with your heart soul and mind and you will have repented. Repent and you will be on your way to heaven. You don’t want the alternative. The alternative is the never ending fire and the gnashing of teeth, and screams, worse than the bug infested foxhole.. The fire is never extinguished. It’s forever.  Come to Jesus and let Him save you from the fire. If you don't let Jesus save you now , He will judge you on the last day.

Lord, I pray you give all the sinners in this service the courage and strength to come before you in repentance, and I ask you to forgive them and restore their righteousness when they do. In Jesus' name I pray.

 


 

 

Brimstone Files

SPIRITUAL FORCES MINISTRY GOLD AWARD
Add a link to Spiritual Forces Ministry on your website and get a Gold Award from
Spiritual Forces Ministry for helping to spread the Word of God. To get your Gold Award,
copy the code below and paste it into the html code on your page:


<center><a href="http://spiritualforcesministry.org/index.htm">
<img border="0" src="http://spiritualforcesministry.org/images/gold_awardb.gif" width="80" height="75" align="left"></a></center>

Your award will look like this

 

We provide referrals to and links to other World Wide Web sites from our site. Such a link should not be seen as an endorsement, approval or agreement with any information or resources offered at sites you can access through our site. If in doubt, always check the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address provided in your WWW browser to see if you are still on the Spiritual Forces Ministry website or have moved to another site. Spiritual Forces Ministry is not responsible for the content or practices of third party sites that may be linked to our site. When Spiritual Forces Ministry provides links or references to other Web sites, no inference or assumption should be made and no representation should be inferred that Spiritual Forces Ministry is connected with, supports, endorses, operates or controls these Web sites. Any approved link from the Spiritual Forces Ministry website to any website, or any link from any site to the Spiritual Forces Ministry website must not represent in any way, either explicitly or by implication, that the site has received the endorsement, sponsorship or support of the Spiritual Forces Ministry website or endorsement, sponsorship or support of the ministry of Spiritual Forces Ministry, including its respective agents or directors.