Gods place in your life

I Samuel 5:1-6

Intro: The Philistines have just come into possession of the Ark of the Covenant. To the Philistines the Ark was another religious idol to increase their power during conflicts. The Philistines were Henotheists, which means they believed that certain gods were strong in certain geographical areas and if they could capture that god, they could control that particular area. The Philistines didn’t realize it but what was actually taking place was God Himself was coming to them and He was coming in a very real way. You see, when God calls you cant mistake it or confuse it, it’s obvious. You see God was offering Himself to the Philistines, they have the opportunity to choose “Gods place in their life.” This morning I want to ask you that question; where is “Gods place in your life?”

& Gods presence came to the Philistines Vv. 1-2

(A) God and Dagon, by comparison

(B) How Dagon stacks up

& God has no competition Vv. 3-4

(A) Dagon was cast down

(B) The Philistines restore Dagon

& The limits of Gods grace Vv 5-6

(A) The door is closed to Dagon

(B) Gods judgment is handed down

Conc.: God is not going to be worshipped along side anything else; His first commandment is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This plain and simple, there can be no confusion or misunderstanding, God will not share his position with anything or anyone. Nor will God be second in anyone’s life. Actually, there are only two choices. Either you and I will accept God on His terms or we simply reject God. There is no middle ground. The Philistines felt like everything was under control, they had one religious idol in Dagon, now they felt like their collection had increased by one. Only God isn’t an idol, He wasn’t then and He isn’t today. Today we are saturated by religion, its everywhere we turn. Well folks God isn’t a religion; He is deity, our creator, our strength, our encouragement, our guidance, and most of all our salvation. Whether they realized it or not the Philistines had the opportunity to leave behind the idols of their life and worship the one true God. They choose to reject Him. This morning you have the same opportunity, if you don’t know Jesus as your personal savior, today is your opportunity to leave behind the idols of your life and worship the one true God. You may say you don’t have idols, but… Christian have you placed something along side God, are you expecting God to share a spot with something, or someone…? God can and will chastise His children. As our musicians come and get us a song of invitation I ask you this, if you need to do business with God, the alter is open, don’t put it off, just as time ran out for the Philistines, God has a time limit for us also.

8/21/2004