October 25
Sunday AM
Exodus 20:1-6 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visitingthe iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
God was doing everything He could to get them in the position that He could come to them like He wanted to. When Adam fell, man lost the Glory of God. They were spiritually dead. But God chose Israel so He could show Himself and His love to the world through those people.
God wants us for Himself. He doesn’t want to share us with anything/anyone else. Just as easy as it is for our sins to be forgiven, it is just as easy to be healed. Why? Because Jesus bore sickness AND sin on the cross. He paid the price for it. If a sinner can walk down the aisle and be forgiven, the same can happen to a sick person. They can be healed.
1. God will not share His worship with anyone or anything.
a. God is the only one worthy of worship. If you truly worship Him, it is Him alone.
b. Man is made to worship. Man is going to worship; the only choice is who or what he is going to worship.
2. Bowing down is always an indication of worship.
a. This is a sign of reverence and surrender.
3. What you bow down to, you will serve.
a. The evil consequences of misdirected worship extend to your decedents. God says He will punish the children for the sin of the fathers to the 3rdand 4thgeneration. This type of consequence does not result from other sins that men commit. This particular sin is so unique and so grievous. Worshiping any other image than the true God, it will be carried on in the consequences of the third and fourth generation of those that practice it.
b. The reason God’s people struggle and never break free is because they will not bow down and worship God in their own home privately, every day.
You can read about God in the Bible. You can learn about Him in church. But you’re not going to know Him for yourself until you bow down and worship Him in private. Worship is a weapon! Whatever you give your time and resources to, is what you are worshiping.
Sickness and disease can get in a family line just like any other iniquity. But, that is part of the curse that we’ve been delivered from. When you worship the one true God, that will get in the family line. When God comes in, sickness and disease CANNOT live there. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever get a cold or sick. It means that when sickness does come, God meets it at the door, and it is not allowed to stay.
Exodus 23:20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
Genesis 12:6-7 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
There was an enemy in the land. That enemy is always going to contest what God is trying to get you to do. The place is already prepared. Healing has already been given. Prosperity has already been given. But you’re going to have enemies and things that come against you on the way.
Exodus 23:21-25 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. “So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
These iniquities get in a family line over worship. When you decide to worship Him, He will put His favor on you. Anything that tries to come in your family, God will drive it out! It is not the will of God for sin to have any dominion over you. Nor is it His will that sickness have any dominion over you. If you’re afraid to live your life because you might get sick and die, you’re already dead.
When you are feeling depression and you dwell on that feeling, you are bowing down to it. It will take over your mind and your feelings even further than before. If you will worship God, the same thing will happen. He will take over your mind and feelings and give you security. Bow down to God every single day! Invite Him into your life! When His presence comes, life will get sweeter. You cannot worship and it not have a positive effect on you. If you’ll bow down to Him, He will remove sickness and disease from your family! He will bless what you drink and eat. He will be your mask! He will be your protection!
Exodus 15:24-26 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
God does not put diseases on people. But will allow it to because of choices they have made. This whole passage is about worship and who you will worship.
Righteousness exalts a nation. If we will turn back to Him, our whole nation will turn back around. If we will bring the righteousness of God back to our nation, His favor will return with it.