Love is Loyal...

In 1993, I heard an audio series taught by John MacArthur on “Walking in Love”, a study he taught his church regarding the Ten Commandments. It grounded me as a baby Christian and has stabilized me throughout my walk with God. He called them “The Love Commands”. That has been almost 19 years ago, but to this day I still teach the principles I learned from that series.

For the next ten weeks I am going to cover one of the commandments per week on this blog. Please join me on the journey that we may all have the common ground of Jesus as we proceed along the way. For some of you this will be nothing new, but for some of you I promise you that you haven’t considered these truths in this fashion.

Let’s begin by clarifying that the 10 Commandments ARE NOT just Old Testament teachings. In fact, let’s look at what the New Testament has to say about the 10 Commandments.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20:

 
17. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We also see Jesus address the 10 Commandments in Mark 12:28-31 from the following passage:

28. And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important is, 29. ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

So, let’s get started. Today we are looking at the first commandment.

You shall have no other gods before me. Deut. 5:7 (ESV)

That is how we read that verse from the point of the ‘law’, but now let’s add grace (Jesus) to that truth and we get our first ‘love command’: Love is loyal.

Loyalty is defined as unswerving allegiance. Today, ask yourself if your love toward God is an unswerving allegiance, or ask yourself if you have misplaced that loyalty.

Has a person, money, position, materialism, etc. become the thing you are giving allegiance to instead of God alone? Ask God this week to show you the other gods you are putting before Him. Is He alone on the throne? Are you sitting on the throne? Are you putting others on the throne, etc.? God alone should sit on the throne of our hearts! Some of us need to clear the throne room of ourselves, people and stuff.

Warning:

Beware of persons and/or things that demand your loyalty instead of pointing you to God!

Dominican Republic News…

We had our first team meeting through Skype this past week since the team members are scattered to and fro. It was really fun and we got a lot accomplished. God is up to some fun things for Dominican so keep praying for all the messages, worship, fun time, relaxation times, the team as we prepare, and resources to come in for sponsorship.

Several team members from Antioch in Conway, AR had a bake sale to raise money for their team member expenses for the trip. It was a sweet time, and they raised a good amount of resources for their expenses.

Women from local churches in OK, TX, and AR are getting on board with some great surprises for the missionaries come May.

Keep wrapping this trip in prayer daily!!!!

Love you all!

His,

Vickie