Hi, I wanted to start off with a question for you today, and it's just this. Do you have the devotion of a drug addict? Now, let me back up and give you a little context for this. For those of you who are Christians, it's an important question to be asking yourself, because when we look at those who are involved with a drug addiction, we have to understand that they will do just about anything that is necessary. to make sure that they obtain the object of their devotion. Do Christians do that with God? I heard a man in Bible class this past week, talk about this example and talked about a video he had seen sometime earlier that talked about this very thing, about how a drug addict, when they wake up in the morning, they have one thought and they have one purpose, and that's to make enough money. to be able to acquire their drugs so they can get their fix. And so, when it comes down to it, these drug addicts will do just about anything, whether it's moral or immoral, sometimes whether it's legal or illegal. as long as they can get this substance that they so desire. And the question for, for those of us who are Christians who claim to be followers of Christ, do we have anywhere near that type of devotion? Now, clearly I'm not talking about worshiping God in such a way that we're doing something immoral or that we're doing something illegal. That's not the point. The point is, do we have the devotion to our God? and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that a drug addict has to getting their fix. And so let's talk about that for a little bit today. There's a lot of things in life that we see that are just absolutely become a, an obsession for some people. Good, bad, or indifferent. They're just absolutely obsessed with it. The Bible talks about people who are obsessed with evil. As a matter of fact, in 2nd Kings chapter 17, God talks about the Israelites, the nation of Israel, those ten tribes who went to the northern kingdoms. kingdom and with Samaria as its capital and how they were wiped out by Assyria. And then God comes back and he explains why this happened in second Kings chapter 17, starting in verse 13, the Lord had warned Israel and Judah through all of his prophets and seers, turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees in accordance with the entire law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets. But they would not listen. They were as stiff necked as their fathers who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols. and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them, though the Lord had ordered them do not do as they do, and they did the things that the Lord had forbidden them to do. They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God, made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves and an asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts and they worshiped They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger. So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. There are times where people are so absolutely given over to evil that in the words of God, they have sold themselves to do evil. They've, they've rejected God. And they're absolutely obsessed with committing sinful acts. They're absolutely obsessed with serving idols. serving the things of the world, serving things that are in the realm of Satan rather than serving God. But they've sold themselves to doing that. In other words, they are absolutely 100 percent committed. Now they were condemned for this, but the question a legitimate question for us is, do we have the devotion that these people who have sold themselves to do evil have towards their object of devotion? Are we that devoted to God? In Psalms over and over, we have examples of the type of, of devotion that we need to be having to God and, and to God's things, the devotion we need to have to righteousness. In Psalm 63, one, it says, Oh God, thou art my God early. Well, I seek thee. Again, we can see in a drug addict how they will get up early so they can get their fix. Their flesh longs for it. As a matter of fact, it so demands it that they will do anything they need to do to get it done, to make it happen. Now, from a righteous standpoint. When we wake up in the morning, are we willing to serve God wholeheartedly? Have, have we sold ourselves to righteousness or do we have that type of fervor that sinful people often have for their sinful pleasures? Do we, do we long for the word of God? The 119th Psalm is one of the most incredible Psalms within the entire book of incredible sayings. But in the 119th Psalm, here are just a few of the passages that talk about a man who has a fervor for God's Word. In verse 10 of, all these are from the 119th Psalm, this is verse, verse 10. With my whole heart have I sought thy precepts. There's a whole heart in the eagerness to try and find out what God's laws are. In verse 40, I have longed after thy precepts. This longing that comes from within that has to be, has to be met. It has to be satisfied. In verse 60, I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments. Have we made haste to do the right things before God? Or do we delay? Do we put it off? I'll get to it tomorrow. I'll start reading the word tomorrow. I'll start praying more tomorrow. I'll worship on the first day of the week next week. I'll start doing good to my neighbor at a more convenient time. You see, very often we claim to be Christians. With our lips we profess that devotion to God and to Christ, and yet with our actions we show over and over and over. We really aren't that devoted, or at least we've misunderstood what devotion is. When you think you can put off a devotion to God, then again, I don't believe we really understand what devotion indeed is. Verse 62 at midnight, I rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. So here he is waking up in the middle of the night to thank God for his word and for the righteous things that are contained within it. In verse 72, the law of thy mouth is better unto me than a thousand of gold and silver. Which is more important to you? Jesus said you can't serve two masters. You'll either love the one and hate the other, or you'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Are we trying to do both? There's nothing wrong with using money in God's service. We all have to have money to get by. And, and we can use money for very good things for God. But the devotion has to be to God. We have to be serving God. Money's just a tool. We're not going after it like we are going after God. And yet so many people They missed the point. Do you long after God's commandments like some people long for great wealth? And then the 131st Psalm. I open my mouth and pant, longing for thy commandments. There is somebody who just absolutely has a hunger and a thirst for God's Word. They want to find out what God's Word is so that they can do it. They open their mouth and pant. You have to be pretty thirsty to open your mouth and pant. And yet, this is the way the psalmist was when he wrote of his devotion to God and to God's Word. Well, think about the different types of things that people devote themselves to. And second, kings. chapter 17 that we just read from. We read of people who had sold themselves to do evil. They had gone after idols with all of their heart, and they served those idols with great fervor. They tried to find out what these false gods wanted, or what the false priests of the false gods told them these idols wanted, and then they did it. They had sold themselves to do that. If only Christians could be as sold. on God and on his righteousness. as so many of this world are sold to do evil. So sometimes we see people who are devoted to do evil things. Are we as devoted to do righteous things? We also see people that are devoted to neutral things and, and they have an absolute passion for it. We, in, in sports, we call them fans. That's short for fans. Isn't it? They, they root for their team. They get up, they scream and they holler. They don't care who sees it. As a matter of fact, they want people to see how devoted they are to their team or to their favorite player. They are indeed fanatics. This is a neutral thing unless you go too far with it. Obviously you can go too far with anything and, and turn something that's good and proper of itself into something that becomes evil because you then put it between you and God, just like, like money is neutral. But if, but a love of money can be very evil. As a matter of fact, a love of money is very evil. And when we get to love sports or whatever it is that we're fans of, And we put it before God, then, then we've sold ourselves again to do evil, even for something that would, in and of itself, is not a sinful thing, to root for a team. I remember one young man I was studying with years ago, who when he was talking about becoming a Christian, he said he was going to hold this one reservation. He was going to reserve for himself Sundays during football teams, because Sunday was his day to watch football. He liked to watch all the programs that led up to the football games, and he liked to watch up into the late evening the programs that talked about the football games that were just played, and he said he was going to reserve for himself Sundays. Well, there's nothing wrong with watching football. There's nothing wrong with watching sports in general, but when you reserve for yourself, a day that God has set aside for himself. When you can't even break off for an hour or two from your fanaticism towards a sport to go and worship the Lord on the first day of the week, to partake of the emblems that we have within the Lord's Supper, The, the unleavened bread that symbolizes his body, the fruit of the vine that symbolizes his blood. If we can't gather together to break bread on the first day of the week, if we can't gather together to encourage our fellow brothers and sisters on the first day of the week, if we can't gather together on the first day of the week to offer songs of praise to God. And to study is word because we are so fanatic about something else, whether it's a sport or whether we just have to work. Have you ever noticed that that seems to be the one thing that's that that most people think is okay to forsake the assembling on the first day of the week? I'm not saying you can't work on the first day of the week, any more than I'm saying you can't watch a football game on the first day of the week. Nothing wrong with that. But you need to find some time during the day to be able to worship God with the church. I realize that there will be some days it's just not possible. But these should be very rare occurrences indeed. You're too sick to get up out of bed. Something happens that prevents you from going to the worship. We're not talking about accidents or things that, that you cannot have any control over. We're talking about things you have control over. Do you have the devotion to God that a drug addict has to getting his fix? So again, there are times where people are devoted to neutral things or even to good things, but they put them before God and then they become evil. And then there are things that are, are certainly entirely good. You, we see people who want to be healthy. They, they they, They, they get up and they make sure they get their hour of exercise in. They make sure that they eat just the right things. They avoid bad foods. They don't they're, they're very concerned about whether they pollute their body with different things. Nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, it's good to take care of your body. But do we have the devotion? that a, that a health fanatic has for his health. Do we have that type of devotion to God? Because there are some people who take these good things, we talked about work earlier, now talking about your health, but they turn them into something evil. because they become more devoted to them than they are to God. And so we have these questions now. Are you as devoted to God as a drug addict is to, to his drug? Are you as devoted to God as a, as a fanatic is towards his favorite team? Are you as devoted to God as the workaholic is to his work or the health nut, if you want to call it that, is to his health? You see, there's a lot of excuses that we give ourselves for not serving God in the right way, and, and we need to be very careful with that. In Luke chapter 14, In verse 16, this is, this is Jesus. He's just responding to a, to a comment somebody made about how blessed those would be who were able to gather for the great banquet day in heaven. And Jesus replied, this is Luke 14, verse 16. A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, I've just bought a field. I must go and see it. Please excuse me. Another said, I've just bought five yoke of oxen. I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. Still another said, I just got married. The servant came back and reported to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant go out quickly into the streets and the alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Sir, the servant said, what you've ordered has been done, but there's still room. Then the master told his servant, go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in so that my house will be full. I tell you that not one of those men who were invited We'll get a taste of my banquet. You think about that one, they all like began to make excuses. One said, I've just bought a field. How often do we put our property, our homes, and the things that we own in front of, of God in our service to God. Oh yeah, I just had to get the lawn mowed on Sunday. I couldn't, I would have liked to have worshiped it, but I had to fix the roof. It was leaking and that had to be taken care of. Nevermind that they had the whole weekend to do these things and they played or they rested because after all, a man needs rest. A woman needs rest and they excuse themselves from God's service. The five yoke of oxen, compare that to our work because that's certainly what they use the oxen for. And again, we have, we have many acceptable things, just like the, it was acceptable for them to, to buy a field, to have property. It was acceptable for them to, to buy these, these five yoke of oxen in order to do their work. It's acceptable for us to do our work. But don't give it more devotion than you give to God. Don't excuse yourself from reading the word of God because you're just too tired after that day of work. Don't excuse yourself from praying to God on a regular basis because, oh, you're just too busy with the things that had to be taken care of. We excuse ourselves very often for this noble, thought of work. And then this one, I just got married. I can't come. What's more noble than a family man? Somebody who wants some quality time with his wife. Someone who wants some quality time with his children. Oh yes, we would have been at worship on Sunday, but we decided we would go out on a camping trip. Fine. Did you worship on the camping trip? No, this was just, this was just our family time. We didn't want to interrupt it with that. We had other things going. It, it wouldn't have been convenient. We excuse ourselves from serving God. And it keeps coming back to this original notion. Do you have the devotion to God that a drug addict has for his drugs, that a workaholic has for his labor? that, that, that a health devotee has to his vote, to his health. Are we that devoted to God or, or do we make excuses? Now, let me say this very quickly. If you're like me, you have made a lot of excuses from your service to God. Welcome to the club. And the question is now what will we do about it? Are, are we going to be out devoted by a drug addict or are we going to get a hold of ourselves? And understand that our devotion to God is because we love him, because we need him, because we have a craving to, to serve him in his way because of that love. Or, Well, we make excuses. Do you have the devotion to God that a drug addict has to his drugs? It's a fair question. What's the answer for you? That's all for today. I do appreciate your listening today. I hope it's something that gives you something to think about when this was brought up in Bible class the other night, it sure gave me something to think about, and I have to admit some of the conclusions weren't all that complimentary the way that I have viewed things in the past, but you and I need to be determined to do better. We do need to be devoted to God. It's a good life. We don't have to do anything immoral or illegal for that devotion. As a matter of fact, that type of devotion brings incredible blessings. Are you as devoted to God as a drug addict is to his drugs? Appreciate your listening. We'll see you next time.