Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000518A
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00:01 BREATH OF LIFE MININSTRIES PRESENTS: B518 Put God First
00:09 [music] BREATH OF LIFE THEME MUSIC 00:20 PB: The first love letter tonight, Exodus chapter 20, verses 1, 2 and 3. 00:29 If you have it, let me hear you say amen. Aud.: Amen. 00:32 PB: The Word of God says, "And God spake all these," what? 00:35 Aud.: Words. PB: Come on, God spake all these what? 00:38 Aud.: Words. 00:39 PB: "Saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought 00:43 thee out of the land of," where, everybody? Aud.: Egypt. 00:46 PB: "Out of the house of" what? Aud.: Bondage. 00:48 PB: And "Thou shalt have no other" what? Aud.: Gods. 00:52 PB: "Gods before me." God spake all these words, saying, 00:55 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the 00:58 land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 01:01 Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 01:08 Tonight, God is number one. I said, tonight God is number one. 01:14 Aud.: Yes. PB: And we're going to put God first. 01:15 What do you say, everybody? [Aud. reaction] 01:17 PB: Lord God, right now speak through me to speak to 01:19 Your people. We put You first tonight. May Your Holy Spirit, 01:24 Lord, remain with us, Thy witnesses who go, Lord, 01:29 to study Your Word. We give you praise in advance 01:32 for what You're going to do for us, to us, 01:35 and through us tonight. It's in Jesus' name we pray. 01:39 Let all those who believe say amen. Aud.: Amen. 01:42 PB: And amen. You may be seated. God is number one 01:46 because we're putting God first. Now you've seen 01:50 the advertisement, you've seen all the brochures where 01:53 we're talking about God's 10 Love Letters. 01:57 We're talking about these love letters, 02:00 and tonight I want to begin by reading a love letter 02:04 that was written from a wife to her husband. 02:10 Can I read it to you tonight? Dear Honey, 02:13 writing this now makes tears come to my eyes. 02:19 I have such a strong love for you that I could 02:22 cry all day long just because I love you. Sure, 02:27 I tell you that I love you and how much, 02:29 and I try to show you, but no matter what 02:31 I do for the rest of our lives you will never 02:35 know just what I feel inside. How you make me 02:39 feel is something that can only be felt, never explained. 02:42 You take my breath away with some of the things 02:47 that you say. Just the way I feel when I lay with you, 02:50 your arms wrapped around me, holding me like I'm your baby. 02:53 I am surprised sometimes of how much emotion comes 02:57 out when I cry over you. My love for you is so strong 03:01 that even I don't always realize how much I love you 03:05 and cherish you. You say I'm perfect and that you're 03:08 the luckiest guy in the world, but you don't see what 03:10 I see when I look at you. To me, you make me so, so, 03:15 so lucky--lucky to have you, lucky to even have you 03:20 touch me with your hands or even to glance my way. 03:23 I don't know what I did to deserve you in my life, 03:26 but I thank God for letting me do it. I love the 03:30 way you hold me, touch me, look at me, laugh at me, 03:37 take care of me and our children. You're my life 03:42 and you have my whole heart. Wherever you go, 03:45 I'm always right there with you, because you have 03:48 my heart and my soul. I adore you. I adore every 03:52 part of you. Your eyes, your lips, your face, 03:58 your muscular six-pack body. Baby, I love you. 04:05 You are my sweetheart, the key to my heart, 04:09 my other half, my soulmate. I just want you to 04:12 know that I love you, and don't you ever forget that. 04:16 I love you. Your loving wife. 04:21 Lord have mercy. All I need right now, 04:26 if I weren't in the church, is some Luther Vandross. 04:28 Come on, say amen. [Aud. reaction] 04:31 PB: What do we know from this letter? 04:38 This wife loves her husband. Do I have a witness 04:42 in this place? But not only that, this letter is 04:44 clear that she loves her husband because her husband 04:47 loves her in the way she wants to be loved. You see, 04:51 anyone who's ever been loved, wants to be loved the 04:55 way they want to be loved. And in my 19 years of 04:59 marriage to that beautiful young lady right there, 05:02 I have learned with my wife that you have to love 05:06 your wife the way she wants to be loved. 05:10 Not the way I think I should love her. 05:13 Are you hearing what I'm saying? But the way 05:15 she wants to be loved. You see, I can give my 05:19 wife chocolate, but she may not like chocolate. 05:23 That's what I want, but that may not be what she wants. 05:27 Are you hearing what I'm saying? On her birthday, 05:30 I can take her to see a basketball game. But that's 05:33 what I want, not what she wants, and I've got to 05:38 love her the way she wants to be loved. Do I have a 05:41 witness in this place? Quit loving people the way you 05:44 want to love them, and love them the way they want 05:48 to be loved. I'm trying to help a brother out tonight. 05:50 It's the same, my friends, with God. You've got to 05:55 love God in the way that God wants to be loved. 06:00 Not the way you want to love Him, but the way 06:03 He wants to be loved. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 06:06 And when you learn how God wants to be loved by 06:10 reading His Word, and in His Word, He gives us 06:13 10 love letters. Known to us as His Ten Commandments. 06:18 They're not letters of rules or restrictions, 06:22 but they're 10 ways to express our love to God. 06:25 Which is why Jesus said, in John 14:15, 06:28 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." 06:31 It's about love and not a law. Before God gave 06:35 the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, 06:37 God said, "I am the Lord your God." I brought you 06:41 out of the land of Egypt. I brought you out of bondage. 06:45 I brought you out where you were a slave. God then, 06:48 is reminding Israel that not only did He create them, 06:52 but He redeemed them. He gave them life, 06:55 He gave them freedom. Why? Because He loved them. 07:00 Are you hearing what I'm saying? And so the same 07:03 relationship that God had with Israel is the same 07:06 relationship God wants with us. We are His. Why? 07:11 He created us. We are His. Why? Because He brought 07:15 us out of slavery from sin. We are His because 07:19 He created us and He redeemed us. And God wants 07:24 us to love Him the way He wants to be loved, 07:28 so He gave us these love letters. 07:30 So love letter number one. Thou shalt have 07:33 no other gods before Me. If you're going to 07:38 love Me the way I want to be loved, you have 07:41 to understand you can't have any other gods 07:42 before Me. Now, God is serious about this command, 07:45 which is why He made it His first command. 07:47 Because when you put other things or other 07:50 people first in your life, we reduce God to 07:53 second place. Third place. Fourth place. 07:56 Fifth place. But God says, I'm not supposed 08:00 to be reduced to any place below first place. 08:03 God says, I am God. I'm the head and not the tail. 08:08 I'm above, and I'm not beneath. I made you. 08:12 I raised you. I fed you. I kept you. I saved you. 08:18 I redeemed you. I died for you, and I'm coming 08:22 back to get you because I am God. And because 08:26 of who I am, I have a right to issue this command. 08:31 You see, there was a time, God says, when was was not. 08:35 And out of nothing, God says, I spoke my Word. 08:38 Out of nothing, I spoke something. I am the Lord. 08:42 I am God, and thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 08:48 Which means, then, God is commander in chief. 08:51 The buck stops with Him. He's CEO of the universe. 08:57 The president of all galaxies. He's the King of kings 09:01 and He's the Lord of lords. Everything falls 09:04 under his auspices. There is nothing beyond His reach. 09:08 He is God, and beside Him there is no other. 09:12 Yes, He's my friend, but He's also my father. 09:15 Yes, He's my Savior, but He's also my strength. 09:19 Yes, He's my brother, but He's also my boss. 09:22 You didn't vote Him in, and you can't vote Him out. 09:25 [Aud. reaction] PB: He's God all by Himself. 09:28 God can do what He wants, when He wants, 09:31 where He wants, how He wants, and He doesn't 09:35 have to ask permission to do as He wants because 09:38 He's God. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 09:42 And when we lose sight of this first commandment, 09:45 we lose sight of God. You see, friends of mine, 09:48 let me remind you tonight there can be nothing 09:50 that comes before God. Because if it does, 09:53 we have violated commandment number one and 09:56 we can't go any further. We can't talk about 09:59 killing if we don't first talk about God. 10:02 We can't talk about lying until we first talk 10:05 about God. We can't talk about adultery and 10:08 stealing until we first talk about God. 10:11 Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 10:14 with all thy heart, with all they soul, 10:16 with all thy mind, and you ought to love your 10:18 neighbor as yourself. Which means then, 10:21 the first four commandments deal with our 10:23 love for God; the final six deal with our 10:25 love for each other. But when you love God, 10:27 you can't put anything before God, 10:29 because says thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 10:33 But number two, I want to tell you tonight, 10:36 not only that but in the letter, 10:38 God is not saying--listen to me good-- 10:42 you can have other gods and you can worship 10:44 all the gods you want, but I just want to 10:47 be your favorite. At the marriage altar, 10:54 a groom is not going to tell his bride, 10:57 I'm going to marry you because you will 11:01 be my favorite wife. Your marital vows say 11:05 "forsaking all others." And if your spouse does 11:10 not forsake all others, it means you're going to 11:13 have some trouble on your hands. Are you hearing 11:16 what I'm saying? God is saying, I'm to be your only God. 11:21 Not your favorite God but your only God, 11:25 because favorite and only are not the same. 11:28 Favorite and only are not synonymous. 11:32 Favorite means that one is preferred 11:34 above all other kinds. Only means nobody else. 11:38 No one else. Nothing more. Solely, exclusively. 11:42 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 11:45 Now, somebody's saying, Pastor, you're 11:47 preaching to the choir. This isn't hard, 11:49 this is easy. You're preaching, we believe this 11:51 and we know this. We're used to thinking in terms 11:52 of there only being one God. But let's our minds 11:57 a little bit more. YO use now, in the world 12:00 there are three major religions. 12:02 How many major religions, everybody? Aud.: Three. 12:04 PB: Yes, Christianity. Everybody say Christianity. 12:07 Aud.: Christianity. PB: Islam. Aud.: Islam. 12:09 PB: And Judaism. Aud.: Judaism. 12:11 PB: Now, all three of these major religions 12:14 are believers in monotheism, which is the worship 12:17 of only one god. Not two gods, not three gods, 12:22 but one god. Now, pantheism is the belief that 12:26 there are many gods. Then we have hedonism, 12:29 which means there are gods in every religion 12:32 and we are to respect the gods of other religions. 12:35 But monotheism means there is one god. How many gods, everybody? 12:40 Aud.: One. PB: Now, remember, when the book of 12:42 Exodus was written, Christianity and Islam were not around. 12:46 Jesus had not come yet, and Mohammed was not heard of. 12:51 Christianity and Islam were thousands of years in the future. 12:56 So then in the book of Exodus, in the time of exodus, 12:59 Judaism was in its infancy. There was no such thing as monotheism, 13:05 the worship of one god, because nobody had just one god. 13:09 You see, all of Israel's neighbors were pagans, 13:13 and the pagans worshipped a lot of different gods. 13:16 Pagans believed that certain gods ruled certain 13:20 geographic areas or certain natural phenomenon. 13:24 There were then national gods. 13:26 The Philistines had a god; the Moabites had a god; 13:31 the Ammonites had a god; but they didn't just worship 13:35 their national god, they also had fertility gods, 13:38 storm gods, sun gods, star gods, sea gods, 13:43 the grass was a god, the tree was a god, 13:47 the brick was a god, the straw was a god, 13:50 the water was a god, the frog was a god, 13:53 the snake was a god. You name it, it was a god. 13:58 So while a person or a nation had a favorite god, 14:01 they didn't think of narrowing their worship to just one god; 14:04 they worshipped many gods. But I came to let 14:07 somebody know tonight: there is but one God. 14:13 The one God who woke you up this morning. 14:17 The one God who started you on your way. 14:20 The one God who put food on your table and clothing 14:23 on your back. The one God who heals somebody of cancer. 14:27 The one God who miraculously paid your bills when 14:30 you didn't have any money. There is but one God. 14:35 God says, there is no other god besides me. None. 14:39 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 14:42 But then what does God mean when he says "before me"? 14:47 Now, the Hebrew interpretation of the words "before me" 14:51 really means "before my face." So then, 14:56 what God is saying is, there is no competition. 14:59 I am God, and I am God alone. And besides me 15:08 there is no other. You shalt have no gods, 15:14 no other gods before My face. None above Me. 15:20 None beneath Me. None beside Me. None behind Me. 15:26 None in front of Me. None means none. 15:32 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me; 15:36 before My face; because I am God. I'm omnipotent, 15:41 which means I'm all powerful. I'm omnipresent, 15:44 which means I'm everywhere at the same time. 15:46 I'm omniscient, which means I know everything. 15:49 I am God, and beside me there is none other. 15:53 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 15:56 That's instead of Me, in addition to Me, 16:00 or in opposition to Me. Thou shalt have no 16:04 other gods before Me. But in the world in which we live, 16:07 in this post-modern society, there are too many things, 16:11 too many little gods that rival our God. 16:16 What am I talking about? What about the god of pleasure? 16:19 Pleasure is like a drug. It often requires more to get 16:24 the same effect. I like TV. I like social media. 16:29 I like traveling. I like vacationing. But anything 16:33 that becomes more important than our responsibilities 16:35 toward God becomes a god to us. God is above that 16:40 football game; God is above that party; God is 16:44 above that cookout. God is above everything and everybody, 16:47 because God is God. But not only the god of pleasure, 16:51 what about the god of possessions? Always needing to 16:54 have the right clothes. The right shoes. The right house. 16:59 The right car. Being possessed by things. Proverbs 27:27: 17:05 "The eyes of man are never satisfied." But not just the god 17:10 of pleasure; not just the god of possessions, 17:12 but what about the god of money. Money. Gotta have it; 17:17 can't live without it. If it means I must work overtime; 17:21 if it means I must lie and cheat and steal; 17:24 if it means that I must be ungodly, I've got to have it. 17:27 But the love of money is the root of all evil. Well, 17:31 what about the god of diet? We love to eat. Come on, 17:40 tell the truth, shame the devil. We love to eat. 17:43 Collard greens, cornbread, fried chicken, fried fish. 17:52 Folk from the islands, ahi and salt fish. Rice and peas, 17:56 peas and rice. Macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie. 17:59 We love to eat. Somebody can't wait for me to finish 18:03 preaching so they can go home and eat. Come on, say amen. 18:06 [Aud. reaction] PB: Food is somebody's god. 18:11 But what about the god of work? I love to work. 18:17 I love my job. I love my pay. I love the power. 18:25 I love the prestige. I love the popularity. 18:30 I love the exposure that I have with my job. 18:33 I love my job. But I can hear the Word of God saying, 18:36 "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world 18:39 to lose his own soul." But what about the god of self? 18:44 When a person feels that the world revolves around them. 18:48 And that they must always come out on top. When they have 18:54 an elitist--get this right--when they have an elitist 18:56 air about themselves, this is the god of self. 19:03 But let me tell you something. You'd better remember 19:06 that conceit is the only disease that a person has that 19:10 makes everyone around them sick. Thou shalt have no 19:19 other gods before Me. There is only one God, 19:24 and we are commanded to serve and love this one God. 19:29 And whatever you have your attention on this evening 19:33 other than God, there are two things stamped on it: 19:38 Transitory and temporary. Everybody say transitory. 19:44 Aud.: Transitory. PB: And temporary. Aud.: Temporary. 19:47 PB: Understand, people come and people go. Fashions 19:53 and fads come and they go. Heaven and earth shall pass away. 19:58 But the Word of God shall remain the same; that only 20:03 what you do for Christ is going to last. And here, folk, 20:08 are falling-in-love-with materials. Falling in love with stuff. 20:13 Falling in love with things. Falling in love with cars 20:17 and clothes and homes, but one day they're just going 20:21 to burn away because you can't take any of it with you 20:24 to heaven. But if you really want to have life; if you 20:28 really want to have eternal life; if you really want to 20:31 make heaven your home, come meet a God who says I am. 20:36 I am that I am. I am the Lily of the Valley. 20:42 I am the Bright and the Morning Star. I am the 20:47 Fairest of Ten Thousand. I am the Rose of Sharon. 20:51 I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the First and the Last. 20:56 I am the Beginning and the End, because I am that I am. 21:01 I am bread when you're hungry; water when you're thirsty; 21:04 rest when you're sleepy. I am your shelter. I am your shield. 21:10 I am your buckle. I am Adonai, which means I'm Lord 21:15 over every lord. I am El Shaddai, which means I am God Almighty. 21:21 I am Elohim, which means I'm the plurality of My own divinity. 21:26 I am El Elyon, the God of the mountain. But if that's 21:30 too far for you, God says I'll come down to where you are. 21:34 Because He says I am Jehovah Jireh. When you need a sacrifice, 21:38 I'll provide. I am Jehovah Shalom. When you can't sleep at night, 21:43 I'll be your peace. I am Jehovah Rapha. When your body is 21:47 racking with pain, I'll be your healer. I am Jehovah Nissi. 21:52 When you're fighting life's battles, I'll hold up the banner. 21:55 We've already won! Don't wait till the battle is over; shout now. 22:00 He's an awesome God. He's a prayer-answering God. He's an on-time God. 22:04 He's a miracle-working-God. He's a way-making God. 22:08 He's a heart-fixing God. He's a pain-relieving God. 22:11 He's a sickness-curing God. He's a cancer-killing God; 22:15 a marriage-fixing God; a child-raising God; a problem-soling God; 22:20 a bill-paying God. An attitude-changing God; an ever-present God. 22:26 He's my God. He's your God. He's our God. And thou shalt have 22:32 no other gods before Me. Someone to wait until I preach, 22:45 Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not steal. 22:51 They want me to preach thou shall not commit adultery; 22:54 thou shall not covet. But the reality, friends, is this. 22:57 The next nine commandments don't mean a thing if I 23:00 don't get commandment number one straight. 23:02 If I've got another god, who cares if I commit adultery? 23:09 Who cares if I kill? Who cares if I steal? If I don't 23:14 have commandment one right, I can do whatever I want to do. 23:18 But if I get commandment number one right, I don't have 23:23 to hear the rest of it, because if I get God right, 23:27 there's some stuff I'm just not going to do. 23:31 Because the God is me dwells inside. Oh, 23:35 I wish I had a witness in this place. 23:36 You get commandment one right, and all the rest 23:40 will fall in place. Put God first. Oh, you didn't hear me. 23:47 Put God first! Put God first! Thou shalt have no other 23:57 gods before Me. God says, love Me and only Me. 24:02 Love Me with every fiber of your being. 24:04 And I just want to tell the Lord tonight, 24:07 Lord, I love you. I said, I just want to tell the Lord, 24:10 Lord, I love you. Does anybody else love the Lord tonight? 24:14 Let me close this way. I can't give God a house. 24:17 I can't give God cars. I can't give God clothes. 24:23 I can't give God money, because all the money already 24:26 belongs to Him. But tonight I can give God some praise. 24:30 I can give God some worship. And when I come into the 24:34 presence of God and I know that He's the only true 24:38 and living God, I don't need anybody to shake me up. 24:41 I don't need anybody to stir me up. I don't need 24:45 the praise team to pump me up. I don't need the preacher 24:48 to make me praise the Lord. Because when I think of 24:51 the goodness of Jesus and all He's done for me, 24:54 my soul cries out Hallelujah! Thank God for saving me! 25:03 All I need to know is that God is here, and I give God 25:07 the praise. I give God the honor. I give God the glory 25:10 and the praise. Hallelujah. I said hallelujah! Hallelujah! 25:14 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 25:20 Thou shalt not worship any other gods, 25:23 but thou shalt worship the Lord thy God 25:25 and Him only shalt thou serve. Thou shalt 25:28 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 25:30 with all thy soul and with all thy might. 25:32 Take ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 25:36 and all these things shall be added unto you. 25:39 Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 25:41 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and 25:43 lean not unto thine own understanding. 25:45 In all thy ways acknowledge Him. He shall direct thy paths. 25:55 I worship Him because He's God. He's God. He's God. 26:07 Some worship Buddha; some worship Mohammed; 26:13 some worship Confucius. But tonight I'm so glad 26:18 I can worship God. The God of heaven and earth. 26:23 Whatever He wants me to do, I've got to do. 26:26 Wherever He wants me to go, I've got to go. 26:28 It's my desire to be just as He would have me to be, 26:30 because He's God. And so because He's God, 26:35 He's the joy and He's the strength of my life. 26:39 He moves all pain, misery and strife. 26:43 He promised to keep me, never to leave me, 26:45 He's never come short of His Word. 26:54 but I want to go with Him when He comes back. 26:58 I've come too far, and I will never turn back. 27:09 Because my God, my God, my God is. 27:18 If you believe that, sing that with us. 27:21 [song God is the joy and the strength of my life, 27:24 He moves all pain, misery, and strife. 27:33 He promised to keep me, never to leave me. 27:40 He's never ever come short of His word. 27:45 All I've got to do is fast and pray. 27:48 Stay in the narrow way. Keep my life clean each 27:54 And keep my life clean every day; 27:57 I want to go with Him when He comes back, 28:03 I've come too far and I'll never turn back. 28:12 >: Thank you for joining us for another exciting 28:15 Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:17 Tune in next week at the same time, 28:19 as Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic 28:21 message from the Lord, just for you. 28:24 Until next time, may God bless you. |
Revised 2016-06-02