Key points
1In our most intimate relationships we already know instinctively that someone can't be a distant second — and God refuses that status too.
Pastor Linn opens with a survey, imagining a fiancé or fiancée who admits up front that someone else is the real love of their life. No one would accept that arrangement, which shows we already understand that real relationship requires being first, not second.
God says to you and me, I will never be number two
2God's very first command is that He alone holds first place, because anything else in that spot will always disappoint.
Turning to Exodus 20, Pastor Linn notes the Ten Commandments are the basics of following God, and commandment one is 'you shall have no other gods before me.' God doesn't ask this from insecurity but from love, knowing any substitute for first place will fail us.
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
3Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac reveals whether anything — even the thing we love most — has quietly taken God's place.
Pastor Linn walks through Genesis 22, reminding listeners God had already given Abraham his long-awaited son and now tests whether Isaac has displaced God on the throne of Abraham's heart. Abraham's obedience up to the altar shows genuine surrender, and Pastor Linn presses listeners to ask what they would say no to if God asked for it — that withheld thing has become an idol.
What is it that God could ask you for? That your answer would be no
that's the thing you've put in God's place. That has become your idol
4The widow of Zarephath's willingness to give God her last flour and oil before feeding herself becomes the doorway to God's provision.
In 1 Kings 17, Elijah asks a starving widow to make him bread first, out of the little she has left. Pastor Linn draws out how absurd and illogical this feels to someone already living in lack, paralleling it to people who feel they have no more time, money, or relational options to give God.
5Trusting God's promise more than our fear is the crisis of faith every believer eventually faces.
Pastor Linn tells the personal story of his young son Joshua frozen on a low rooftop, unable to jump into his father's outstretched arms even though the fall was only inches. He applies this directly to the moment God asks us to release the thing we're gripping, saying that's the same leap of trusting the promise over the fear.
A story from life
Story of the preacher's son Joshua being afraid to jump off a low roof into his father's arms
6When the widow obeyed despite not understanding, God not only sustained her for a year but later raised her dead son back to life.
Pastor Linn finishes the 1 Kings account, showing the flour and oil lasted about a year, and later, when her son died, Elijah's prayer brought the boy back to life. He argues obedience in the hardest moments is the purest form of worship, and that saying no to God would have left her with nothing but the lack she feared.
when you and I choose to obey in the hardest moments to obey, that is the purest form of worship
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
7Because Jesus already gave everything for us, giving Him first place in return is simply the reasonable response.
From Romans 12, Pastor Linn recounts the brutal details of Jesus' scourging and crucifixion, repeating the refrain 'because I love you' at each blow, to show the scale of God's mercy. He then tells the story of a boy with nothing to give who stepped into the offering plate himself, illustrating that offering our whole selves is the only fitting response.
Illustration
Story of a nine-year-old boy who stepped into the offering plate during a 1970s church service
Application
Pastor Linn's charge is that God being number one ought to be automatic for a Christian, not up for discussion.
Name the thing you'd tell God no to
Identify whatever you would withhold if God asked for it — that relationship, that habit, that money — because that withheld thing has quietly become your idol.
Put God first even when it feels illogical
Like the widow giving Elijah bread before feeding herself, give God what He asks for first, even when your lack or fear says you can't afford it.
Fill out the take-home survey honestly
Use the five-question card on time, obedience, finances, decision-making, and family to examine at home whether God actually holds first place in each area.
Offer your whole self as a living sacrifice
In light of what Jesus suffered for you, step into the posture of the boy who stepped into the offering plate — give God your dreams, plans, and life fully, not just a portion.
Take the first step of belief and obedience
If you've been running from God, come forward at the close of the service to meet with counselors and begin trusting and obeying Jesus Christ.
Take it into your week
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