======================================================================== ENOUGH! I'M PUTTING THE LORD FIRST by Tim Conway ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of having specific moments in our lives where we make a conscious decision to align ourselves with God's will and prioritize His kingdom. It encourages self-reflection, repentance, and a genuine commitment to living out the teachings of Jesus, even if it means making significant changes in our behavior and priorities. The message underscores the need for personal accountability, honesty, and a deep desire to follow Christ wholeheartedly. Topics: "Aligning with God's Will", "Commitment to Christ" Scripture References: Matthew 6:33, Luke 14:33, James 1:22, Romans 12:2, 1 John 1:9, Proverbs 28:13, Philippians 3:13, Hebrews 12:1, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of having specific moments in our lives where we make a conscious decision to align ourselves with God's will and prioritize His kingdom. It encourages self-reflection, repentance, and a genuine commitment to living out the teachings of Jesus, even if it means making significant changes in our behavior and priorities. The message underscores the need for personal accountability, honesty, and a deep desire to follow Christ wholeheartedly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Brethren, what I ask you is this, do any of you, can any of you say 23rd day of September, 2018? I determined before the Lord to stop doing that and start doing this. Do you have that kind of day, those kinds of seasons in your life? And I mean specific day, even right down to perhaps the hour, do you have dates like that? When you heard God's word, you considered your ways, God's word preached, you came across it when you're doing your devotions, it struck home and you said, that's it, no more, no more. I'm not doing that anymore. I mean, sometimes it's a way you talk to your wife or sometimes you do this or you do that and you say, no more, or you've let family devotions get away. Your kids are little and they're growing up and you're not opening up the word of God. You say, that's it, no more. Or you say, the church gathers together on Wednesday nights to pray and I make it like one or two times out of every, but that's it, no more. This has to be a priority in my life. I gotta get my priorities right. Or you can fill in the church is going downtown and they're taking the gospel out on the streets or they're doing this. And I recognize, and even though that may not be the thing for you to do, it's not like any, brethren, the thing is, none of us should make one another guilty for not doing exactly the same thing we do. We've all got different gifts. But the fact is, it might've been bugging you. You might've felt this little tinge on your conscience that you needed to reach out to your uncle or you needed to take the gospel up and down your street or you needed to talk to that guy at work and you've just avoided it. Not convenient time to do that. Or you say, just enough. Or maybe it's a guy that you just, you recognize you've gotten sloppy with your eyes. You're looking at women when you ought not to be in a way you ought not to be. And you just get to a place, enough. Christ said to gouge out the eye and I'm gonna do it. Enough of that. You draw the line in the sand. Whatever it is, you say, I've been loose with my mouth. I've maybe gossiped too much. I talk about other people too much. I use my voice. I use my tongue to rail on and tear down my husband. Enough, I'm done with that. I'm not doing it. And you don't do it in your own strength, but you look to the Lord and you say, Lord, give me the ability. And that's it, that's it. I'm talking about days in your life when you just suddenly, suddenly the truth of God just breaks in upon your heart, upon your mind, upon your soul, and you determine to get your priorities straight. And I'm not talking lip service where you just say something and two weeks later it's not that way. Like the vast majority of the world make New Year's resolutions and by the 28th day of January, the thing is all gone. I'm talking you actually do what these folks did. And these folks went to building on that temple for four years. This wasn't just some fly-by-night thing where they kind of got their act together for a month or six weeks. This is the kind of thing where you determine, I'm gonna get my act together. I'm a Christian. I walk in the power of the cross. I can do this. I'm talking about that. Where you're not like these, you were making excuses before just like these people, but you say enough, enough. Folks, people that are gonna really be victorious in this life are people that talk like this and act like this and think like this. And all of us should be having these kinds of days where there's breakthroughs, where we talk to ourselves. Oh, I love that about Lloyd-Jones. He always talked in spiritual depression. He said, one of the big things we have to do is talk to ourselves. And that's one of the things you need to do. Talk to yourself. You need to have times when you say, hey, self, you know what? You actually have not been lining up with what Christ said in his word. You know what Christ said? Christ said, when you have a meal, don't invite your family and friends. You ought to invite people that are blind, that are lame, that are crippled, that are this or that. I would ask you this, have you ever done that? Christ said, you ought to sell your possessions and give to the poor. Have you ever done that? I mean, there comes a place where you draw the line in the sand and you say, I'm gonna start doing that. And the truth is that you start to look at Christ and his example, his teachings, he calls us to live a certain way. I mean, you have to say to yourself, how does Jesus tell me to live? You know what, self? If you really lived all out like Jesus told you to live, then you'd probably be doing a lot more of that thing and a whole lot less of that thing. And you gotta talk to yourself. There's gotta be, I mean, there's gotta be honesty with yourself. You gotta come to that position where you just say enough. Enough. And that's what they did. It's like they heard the word of God and they realized, hey, you know what? God wants me to do this. And let me tell you, Jesus is speaking to you out of scripture, telling you that there's a way he wants Christians to live. Let it be just as fresh to you as if Haggai spoke to these people back in that day. That would ring just as loud in your ear where you just say, I'm gonna put God and his work first. I'm gonna seek first the kingdom of God because I haven't been seeking first the kingdom. I've been seeking my business or I've been seeking that or this or the other thing, my family, my holiday, my this, my that. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/fsqMlepxEiU.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/tim-conway/enough-im-putting-the-lord-first/ ========================================================================