Is God Still Your First Love? | Cornerstone Church | Pastor Linn Winters

Today, we're going to start by taking a survey. So, I'm going to start with the men first. Okay, men, here's what I want you to do. I want you to imagine for a moment, we go back and you're single again

and you've been dating this little gal, it's been a pretty good relationship, you come to the point you just go, you know, I think the next step is we should probably get married

and so, you go out, you buy the ring, you plan the romantic moment when you're going to ask, you get done on your knee and you ask her, hey, would you marry me? And she says, yes, and there's hugging and tears and all of that, and then when the cameras go away,

she says, well, know, I probably should say some things in disclosure to you. Here's the deal, you're always gonna be number two in my life because the last guy that I dated was actually the love of my life and he refused to marry me, he wasn't willing to have children, so I'm settling for you.

But what you need to know is, is that if he ever offered, if he ever changed my mind, I don't I am gone. I am back with him because he is my number one love. Man, how many men go, man, I'm in. I am so in for that relation. Just sign me up. No, if you've got one

ounce of dignity and you're saying, girl, give me back the ring. Ladies,

you're single again. He asks, he asks, and you're so thrilled that he picked you. And then he says, Hey, I should probably tell you some things in full disclosure. There's this other girl, and I'm just telling you, she has first place in my heart, and I'm willing to be with you, I'm willing to kind of endure that,

but you need to know and I just want to be frank, if she'll spend any time with me, I'm I'm gonna go spend time with her And if she were ever to change her mind and say that she would be with, I don't care if we've already got kids, I don't care, I'll out of there instantly that day.

How many of you ladies said, that's what I dreamed of when I was a little girl. That was the kind of relationship I hope I could have. Isn't it interesting, think about this, that you and I intuitively know that in our most intimate relationships it requires that you and I let that person be number one, which is why

God says to you and me, I will never be number two. I refuse to have that status in your life. And in following me, the fundamental decision you have to make is, am your number one. I'm your number one with no rivals and no mistresses, which means there is not an accomplishment. There is not a possession. There is not a person

who comes before me because I am number one in your life. Matter of fact, God's been saying this to us from the beginning. So grab your Bibles real quick. Go with me to the book of Exodus. If you're not familiar, if you go to the front of your bible, begin to work, to the right, you're gonna find this book of Exodus.

Exodus chapter 20. Anybody know what's in Exodus chapter 20? 10 commandments, which you think about it, the 10 commandments are kind of like the ABCs of being a Christian. In other words, they're the basics that everybody ought to know because this stuff like, hey, you shouldn't lie,

you shouldn't steal, you probably shouldn't murder, right? Don't commit adultery. It's just, it's like the basics of being a God follower. Guess what number one is?

Here we go. Exodus chapter 20 starting in verse three, you shall have no other gods before me. There can't be any part of your life, any person in your life, any hope or dream that you have that comes above me. I have to be number one

in our relationship. Here's what you need to know. God doesn't say this because he's insecure. God says this to us because here's what he knows, that anything else, any other person that you place as number one will always leave you with disappointment

and in absolute love, he says, look, the only way for us to have a healthy, thriving relationship is you have got to come to the, in which you just say, you're number one and nothing else is in my life. We're gonna unpack two stories in the Bible in which God just so clearly says, Hey, I just won't settle for less.

Number one is where I have to be within our relationship. So here we go. Story

number one.

Grab your bibles and go with me to first Kings. Oh, I'm so I'm sorry. Wait. Wait. Wait. Go with me, to Exodus chapter 20. Oh, we've already been there. Wow. This shirt is really confusing me. Genesis, go to Genesis chapter 22. Here we go. Genesis chapter 22. I was doing so well before that. Genesis chapter 22.

Let let me give you just a little bit of background what's happening in this moment. So God has previous to this said to Abraham, hey, I want you to pack your bags. I want you to leave your family. I want you to leave your friends. I have a new place, for you to go and live, and when you're there, I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna give you the land, and literally, your descendants are gonna be like the sand on the seashore, you're gonna have so many children.

This is an incredible promise because at this point, as he receives the promise, Abraham is 90 years old. And you know that at 90 years old, there's certain parts of the equipment that don't work like they did when you were 20 years old. But God says, hey, I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna bless you with a son.

God then waits ten years to fulfill his promise. And Abraham starts getting a little worried, a little bit freaked out, and so he tries to help God out with his promise, and he ends up sleeping with his wife's handmaid so that she can give him a child, and God goes, what are you doing? I can keep my own promises.

And so finally, when Abraham is 100 years old, a son is born to him through his wife, Sarah, by the name of Isaac, okay? This moment, Isaac is probably a teenager or a young adult, and then here's what happens. So it's Genesis chapter 22, starting in verse one, and it says, sometime later, God tested Abraham.

He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Isn't it interesting that God felt the need to test Abraham? He already asked Abraham to make a big commitment and move from family and move from friends and Abraham was willing to do why does God feel the necessity to test Abraham in this moment? Because he just gave to Abraham

the desire of his heart, which was to have a son. And what God needs to ask Abraham now is, hey, I gave you what you always longed for, I gave you the thing which was most important to you, is there a chance that your son has now become number one and he has displaced me from the throne? And God says,

I need to know that answer.

Jump down, oh wait, stay there in verse two, then God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you.

And Abraham packs up, the Bible says he travels for about three days, he begins to see Mount Moriah, he says to the servants, stay here, the boy and I will go on before, And now we jump down to verse seven. Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham, father, the fire and the wood are here, Isaac said,

but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son, and the two of them went on together, and when they reached the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Think about that moment, that Isaac would have so much respect for his father, and realizing there was about to be a sacrifice that he would allow his father to bind him up and lay him on the altar.

Then he, Abraham, reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son but the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said, do not do anything to him, now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son,

your one and only son. And listen beyond that, this is a radical story that God would say, hey, I just need to know that there is no love in your life that rivals me, so I'm gonna ask you to be willing to give to me your son and Abraham. Abraham,

in a gesture of saying, no God, you're number one and so whatever you would whatever you would ask, even if I don't like it, even if I hate it, I would do that. Which then brings you and me to a question. What is it that God could ask you for? That your answer would be no. No, God, you went too far, you asked too much, that's

my favorite sin. No, God, you don't understand, I need that relationship. No, God, God, God, can touch whatever, just don't touch my money. What is it that God would ask you for that your answer would be no? And here's what you need to know, that whatever that thing is that you would withhold,

that's the thing you've put in God's place. That has become your idol. The thing that you have higher regard for than you do for God himself. It's in your first place.

Second story, go with me to one Kings, and one Kings is gonna be to the right in your Bible. So again, in the front, keep going to the right, you're gonna get to one Kings, you get to one and two Samuel, then one Kings is going to show up. If you get to Chronicles, you've gone too far. One Kings chapter 17,

and this story is not only going to talk about, hey, you and I are going be asked of a God in his rightful place, but it's just teach us that when we do, then God does this incredible thing that he puts us in a place of blessing that is actually beyond anything we could have even expected God to do in our lives.

Here we go. It's first Kings chapter 17 and again, let me give you a little bit of background. So Israel has been turning away from God to go to other gods and so God just says, here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna withhold the rain.

Gotta remember, it's a farming culture and you need rain, and God says, I'm gonna withhold the rain till you decide to repent and come back to me. And so there's been this ongoing drought and his prophet Elijah is the one who made the proclamation, hey, until surrender, the drought's gonna keep going. But now,

supplies are running out and God says to Elijah, hey, I'm gonna send you to this town, there's a widow there who's gonna take care of you. So here we go, it's one Kings chapter 17, starting in verse seven, here's what it says, sometime later, the brook dried up and because there was no rain in the land,

then the word of the Lord came to him, came to Elijah, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. So he went to Zarepath and when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and he asked,

would you bring me a little water in a jar so that I may have a drink? And as she was going to get it, he called and bring me please a piece of bread. And then here's her response, as surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread.

I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and to make a meal for myself and for my son that we may eat it and die. Now you understand this woman is living in lack. She's already lost her husband,

and now she's kind of come to the end of her life where she goes, I just have zero resources. I I've got I've got a little handful of flour and I've got this jug that has a tiny bit of oil in it and

I'm gonna make a couple little loaves of bread, I'm gonna we're gonna take our last meal together and then me and my son are gonna sit in a room, stare at each other until we die. I am literally done.

Back to the passage, verse 13, Elijah said to her, don't be afraid, go home and do as you've said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me and from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and for your son. You get what you said? No, no, no. I Go first, make something for me, the man of God.

In essence, what he's saying is, hey, put God first. I know in the midst of your lack, the midst of you not, but put God first, make a loaf for me and then make something for yourself. And I don't know about you, but if I'm the widow lady, I just wanna go, were you listening? I already told you, I don't have enough

and now you're asking me to give you out of what I don't have. You even understand. I need more, not less.

Isn't it true that you and I've had that conversation with God? God, wait, wait, wait, you're asking me? I don't have enough as it is. If I had more, I would freely give it to you, but I don't have enough. This is the single girl who's dating the guy she knows she shouldn't be dating,

but he's the only guy who's asked her out in the last three years. He doesn't like her God, he mocks her for going to church, but what's she gonna do? And now she feels in her heart that God is saying, you need to break up with him. And she just wants to say, God, you don't understand my lack.

Three years, I didn't have a date. It's not like I have five really godly guys standing in line to date me and now you're saying to take the one guy who showed me any attention and break up with him. I don't have any more prospects.

This is you. When you hear the pastor say, Hey, you should join the kingdom. You should give some of your time to serve in the church. And you go, you don't get my life, you don't understand my world, I get to the end of every single week and I have a list of everything I should have done

and did not get to and then you want to say, hey, and then give time to you don't understand my lack, I need more time, not less time.

Back to the passage, Elijah said to her, don't be afraid, go home and do as you have said, but first make a small cake of bread for me and from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourselves. Verse 14, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says,

the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain in the land. He says, hey, woah, woah, woah, I'm just telling you, if in this moment you'll put God first

and any and even though it sounds completely illogical, it makes it makes no human sense and your heart is saying, I need I need what I have.

Put God first and the promise of God is, he'll take care of you and you realize this is a moment of crisis of faith. Do I believe the one who is promising me will do what he has promised to do?

I can just imagine her going home and looking in that little jar of oil and trying to see if maybe there was more than she thought and and looking in that little canister of flour and here's what she had to decide, Do I promise? Do I believe the one who promised me more than I believe my fears?

Joshua was about five years old. We were over at his grandmother's house playing Frisbee,

kind of an older part of Tempe, and if you're familiar at all, the, the rooms inside the houses didn't go as high as they do in most of our houses today, the roof lines come down pretty low. The roofs come down like to eight feet off the ground.

So we're playing Frisbee, one of us, I don't remember who, threw the Frisbee up on the roof and so I said to Joshua, here, I'll hoist you up on the roof and get the Frisbee and he did and tossed the Frisbee down, but now came the moment that he has to get off the roof.

So he gets up to the little edge and scoots up there and I stand under the roof and you gotta know, I'm like six'three, you know, I put my arms up, that's probably, you know, seven'three. The roof's only eight feet, that's like nine inches difference. And I say to Joshua, jump.

And he goes, no, no. And I'm like, Joshua, what do you think I'm gonna do? Like when you jump, I'm gonna.

To Josh, you're forty pounds. It's nine inches. I could catch you. And I watched tears coming down his eyes. I can't.

That's exactly what we've done. In the moment when God comes and says, Hey, here's the thing that you've put in front of me and I'm gonna ask you to give me that thing. The thing that your heart says, I can't. And I'm gonna ask you to trust the one who made the promise more than you trust your fear. Jump into my arms.

It's a crisis of belief and how you answer that moment will change everything.

Back to the passage, verse 15. She went away and she did as Elijah had told her. She obeys,

She obeys. In that moment, she just says, I I've got to make a decision here and my decision here, this is what God has asked me to do. It makes no sense. I don't understand it. The truth is I'm frustrated that God asked me to do this, but she obeys. Here's what you need to know.

When you and I obey God and it's easy, who cares? When God touches your heart and he says, hey, give some of your old clothes to goodwill and you do it and okay. But the moment when God asks you to do something that you do not want to do,

that the moment that God says, hey, I want you to sacrifice that thing that you've been holding in your heart higher than me, I want you to give that sin that you thought you would never give me back. And when you and I choose to obey in the hardest moments to obey, that is the purest form of worship.

Because you have said to God, God you are more important to me than my fear and my hesitation and I choose you first. It is the most God honoring thing you will ever do in your life.

Watch what happens next. Verse 16, for the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry. In keeping with the word, the Lord had spoken to Elijah. Most bible scholars believe it was about a year that God literally think about this, it would have been a miracle

if God would have given her one day of supply. I mean, if she would have gone, made a cake for Elijah, and then there still would have been enough left for her, that would have been a miracle, right? But instead, God literally day after day after day for a year

blesses her because she chose in that moment to put God as number one. It's the same thing that God does to you and me. And if that's not enough, watch what happens next. Verse 17, sometime later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah,

what do you have against me man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?

Give me your son, Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to an upper room where he was staying and laid him on the bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, Lord, my God, you have brought tragedy even on this widow that I'm staying with by causing her son to die.

Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and he cried out to the Lord, Lord, my God, let this boy's life return to him.

The lord heard Elijah's cry and the boy's life returned to him and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down to the room into the house and he gave him to his mother and said, look, your son is alive.

And then the woman said to Elijah, now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is true. Think about this, God, because she placed him in first, not only provided for her for a whole year miraculously,

but now an event has happened that she would have had no idea about, she would have had no way to foretell and God has now raised her son from the dead because she chose to live with God as number one.

What would have happened if on that day, when Elijah came and said, Hey, make a cake for me first and then, you know, make one for your neck. And she would have said, that's ridiculous. That's gotta be the most absurd thing I've ever heard. I'm just gonna take care of me and mine. What if she'd said no? I've got a feeling

that exactly what she had predicted would come true. She would have made a cake for her son and made a cake for herself and then they'd have gone off in a room and sat there and stared at each other till they died. Her son would have never been resurrected.

When you say, no, no, God, when you say, God, you cannot have that habit, you cannot have that person in my life, you cannot have that dream that I No, no. You realize you settle for a handful of flour and a small vial of oil. And it is so much less than what God was trying to do for you.

I put together a card, it's in the seat backs for you, you can take one out right now and it's a survey for you to take when you get home and look, don't look at it right now.

I've got the best part of the sermon still coming, okay? So don't look at it, but it's just gonna ask you five questions. Is God number one in your time? Is God number one in your obedience? Is God number one in your finances? Is God number one in your decision making? Is God number one in your family? And so, just find a quiet moment, you can

fill it out, you know, when you're Stop looking at it. Okay.

God being number one, God being number one ought to be the most reasonable thing for anyone who claims to be a Christian. It ought to be, you ready? It ought to be automatic. It should not even be up for discussion. If you are a Christian,

God should obviously be number one. Matter of fact, grab your bibles real quick. Go with me to the book of Romans and if if you're not familiar, go to the very back of your bible, start working to the left.

Romans chapter 12,

Starting in verse one, this is Paul talking to you and me. Here's what he says, Therefore, I urge you, I beg you, brothers and sister, in view of God's mercy, what is God's mercy? That when you and I were away from God, while you and I were sinners, he sent his son to die on a cross, not for His sake, for our sake.

He gave His son. My guys, here's what you need to hear me say. If you came to me and said, Hey, you know, my son's got a heart condition, and so Lynn, I was hoping that you would give your son and that he would go and voluntarily give his heart. And I go, well, wait a minute, if my son gave his heart,

doesn't that mean my son would die? And you go, yeah, but it would be cool. And I'm just saying, you know what my answer is? No, no. Now you're all going, you're such a lousy pastor, won't even give your son.

But the truth is you wouldn't either, right? If I came to you and said, guys, I've got heart disease, you've got three kids, so no big deal. If you just give one of them and let me have their heart, I guarantee you'd say, Lynn, you know, like you, but no. What does it mean to you

that God was willing to do for you what you would not do for someone else? Matter of fact, he asked Abraham and then he stopped and said, Abraham, no, no, you don't have to do that. What does it mean to you that God willingly did for you what you would never consider doing for someone else.

And if that's not enough, not only did he send his son to die for us, he allowed his son to be tortured. See, this wasn't lethal injection and he goes to sleep, he was tortured to death.

The bible says that the Roman soldiers that day took a cat of nine tails, that's a whip that has nine thongs coming off, and the soldiers would attach pieces of metal and pieces of glass, and rather than striking top to bottom like we would think, they went side to side,

and the thongs would wrap around the body, the pieces of glass and metal would embed in the flesh and then as they ripped it away, it would tear through the flesh and through the muscle. They would do that 39 times because they believed the fortieth blow would kill a man.

So as they swing the whip the first time and the bits of metal go into the body of Jesus and they rip through his flesh, Jesus says, because I love you. And the second time they swing the whip and Jesus says, because I love you. And when they got to the thirty ninth time, because I love you.

And then the Bible says they took a crown of thorns, and if you've ever been to Israel, there are these crazy bushes that have thorns, they're like two and a half, three inch, and they're hard as nails,

and they made that into a crown of thorns, placed it on his head, and it says, then they took reeds and they beat that thing down into his skull, and with each time the reed made contact, Jesus said, because I love you. And then they led him off to Golgotha to a cross and

they put nails in him. And guys, we're not talking little pinion, we're talking spikes. And each time the hammer hit the spike, Jesus said, Because I love you. It's why Paul says, It's only reasonable. And then he goes on, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in light of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies a living that you would say to God, God, look, here's all my dreams, here's all my aspirations, here's all my plans, here's all my and God, I'm just I they're yours. Because of what you've done, they're yours.

Have you ever had someone do something for you that was so amazing and big, you couldn't repay it? You have. It's what Jesus did for you that day. And so it's only reasonable that you and I would just say, God, here's my life. There is no thing you could ask me for that I would say no, because you're my number one.

He goes on, Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your body as a living sacrifice and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. It's the only answer to what he did for us. There's a story

about a church that was doing offering back in the '70s, and most of you wouldn't know this, but back in the seventies when they did offering, the plates for the offering would sit at the front of the church all during the service.

And then when offering time came, the ushers would come to the front, they'd pray, they'd take the plates and pass them, but then they brought them back to the front and set them on top of the communion table again. On this particular day, there was a nine year old boy in the audience and when the plate came to him,

he didn't have anything to give. And he felt bad, he watched the other people in the room drop dollar bill after dollar bill in the plate. The ushers got to the front, they were putting the plates back on the table and one of the ushers felt a little tug on his coat, it was the boy,

who then whispered in his ear and said put the plate on the ground. Normally the usher would have never done it, but something told him this was important. So he placed the plate on the ground and when he did, the boy stepped into the plate. I'm giving myself to God, which is what Paul just said to us.

In light of what Jesus did for you, the only reasonable thing is to step in the plate and just say, God, here are my dreams, here are my aspirations, here's everything I held dear and it all pales in comparison. You are my number one and every one of my answers is yes. There is nothing you could ask me for

that I wouldn't give because I've already given my entire self. It's the only reasonable thing to do if you're a Christian.

There are some of us in this room and maybe you're not, maybe you've just been running from God your entire life and all of a sudden it hits you. There's a God who loves me more than I ever ever imagined. And so when we leave in just a moment, I'm gonna invite you instead of going out the doors to come forward. We got

counselors who will meet here with you, and you can take that first step of believing and obeying Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

Hey, dear Lord Jesus, every one of us in this room has felt like that widow. There's been the moment when you came and said, Hey, put me first, and our hearts said, You don't understand. I lack. I don't have enough. Then you said,

put me first. Give me what I've asked and I promise. I promise I'll take care of you.

And it's time. It's time for us to jump off that roof into your arms. It's time for us to step into that offering plate and just say, God, you have every bit of me. You are my first. In this we pray, in this we promise. In Jesus' name, amen.