The Crisis of Kingship
The Crisis Of Kingship
by Dan Neighbors
As you look back at this last week, what did you allow to rule your life and sit on the throne of your heart? You may think that’s an odd question, but I would like you to give it some thought. Everybody is pursuing something each and every moment of their day. Sometimes all we can think about is little things like getting lunch, getting in our workout, or finally finishing all the laundry. For others it might be bigger things like putting your heart and soul into your work, your family, or your passion project and hobby. Even still, some of us may allow bigger pursuits like success, money, or the ever allusive feeling of acceptance & happiness to control what we do throughout the day. All of us are pursuing something, and that thing you are pursuing has a way of controlling and ruling the throne of your heart.
This Sunday, during the Gospel Project, we will take a look at the start of God’s mission for Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 7-12). In each and every plague that God brings upon the Egyptian people, He attacks their belief in a false god — a god that they worship other than the One, True God. The plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15) attack their belief in Heqet, the frog goddess. The death of all of the livestock (Exodus 9:1-7) attacks their belief in Apis, the bull god. Even their greatest god, Amon-Re, the sun god, is shown as a foolish belief when God turns out the lights and causes darkness across all of Egypt (Exodus 10:21-29).
Why does God do this? God caused the 10 plagues not just to set his people free, but to show the Israelites and the Egyptians that their gods were false — only trust in the One, True God of Israel is what matters. These Egyptians and many of the Israelites were blindly putting their trust and faith in worthless statues, myths, and fairytales that have no power to save; but seeing the miracles wrought by God in the 10 plagues would open their eyes to the glory of God and their need for Him. Whether we realize it or not, God is often working out difficult situations in complex ways to further give himself glory and draw us to himself!
Many of us are just like these Egyptians and Israelites. We have allowed worthless, false gods to become the worship and desire of our hearts. We may not worship Kheprer, the resurrection beetle god; but we often allow our work, our friends, our sports, our family, or our own selfish desires to sit on the throne of our heart and take control. They may be good things that we are pursuing throughout the week, but often we allow them to consume our mind, our heart, and our time to the detriment of our relationship with God. Jesus himself tells us that the only God that should consume our time and control our heart is God Himself when he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:34-40).” This commandment should be what consumes our heart, our mind, and soul! This should be the essence of all we do and why we do it! God should be first in our life and rule our hearts.
I’d encourage you to take stock of your life this next week and come up with an honest answer to this question: what false gods are you allowing to rule your heart? What have you allowed to take the place of God on the throne of your heart? Once you answer that question, you can start to go to war against that false god by removing and replacing it with time and pursuit of God. As always, if you need help with this endeavor, don’t hesitate to contact us here at Emmanuel. We’d love to help you!
As you consider the thoughts above, here are a few resources to help you better worship God this week along with our Gospel Project teachings. As always, you can see our updated resources for each week on our Resource Page. We also sell (at cost) family resources to take home and accompany our studies through the gospel project like family devotionals and worship music. If you are interested in any of these, visit our Family Resource Center on Sunday in the EKIDZ Wing.
The Exodus [Gospel Project Kids Video]
Helping Children Discover Their Heart Idols [Ask Pastor John by Desiring God]
How Does Christ Help Us In Our Suffering? [Christian Counseling & Education Foundation]
This Sunday, during the Gospel Project, we will take a look at the start of God’s mission for Moses to deliver the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 7-12). In each and every plague that God brings upon the Egyptian people, He attacks their belief in a false god — a god that they worship other than the One, True God. The plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15) attack their belief in Heqet, the frog goddess. The death of all of the livestock (Exodus 9:1-7) attacks their belief in Apis, the bull god. Even their greatest god, Amon-Re, the sun god, is shown as a foolish belief when God turns out the lights and causes darkness across all of Egypt (Exodus 10:21-29).
Why does God do this? God caused the 10 plagues not just to set his people free, but to show the Israelites and the Egyptians that their gods were false — only trust in the One, True God of Israel is what matters. These Egyptians and many of the Israelites were blindly putting their trust and faith in worthless statues, myths, and fairytales that have no power to save; but seeing the miracles wrought by God in the 10 plagues would open their eyes to the glory of God and their need for Him. Whether we realize it or not, God is often working out difficult situations in complex ways to further give himself glory and draw us to himself!
Many of us are just like these Egyptians and Israelites. We have allowed worthless, false gods to become the worship and desire of our hearts. We may not worship Kheprer, the resurrection beetle god; but we often allow our work, our friends, our sports, our family, or our own selfish desires to sit on the throne of our heart and take control. They may be good things that we are pursuing throughout the week, but often we allow them to consume our mind, our heart, and our time to the detriment of our relationship with God. Jesus himself tells us that the only God that should consume our time and control our heart is God Himself when he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:34-40).” This commandment should be what consumes our heart, our mind, and soul! This should be the essence of all we do and why we do it! God should be first in our life and rule our hearts.
I’d encourage you to take stock of your life this next week and come up with an honest answer to this question: what false gods are you allowing to rule your heart? What have you allowed to take the place of God on the throne of your heart? Once you answer that question, you can start to go to war against that false god by removing and replacing it with time and pursuit of God. As always, if you need help with this endeavor, don’t hesitate to contact us here at Emmanuel. We’d love to help you!
As you consider the thoughts above, here are a few resources to help you better worship God this week along with our Gospel Project teachings. As always, you can see our updated resources for each week on our Resource Page. We also sell (at cost) family resources to take home and accompany our studies through the gospel project like family devotionals and worship music. If you are interested in any of these, visit our Family Resource Center on Sunday in the EKIDZ Wing.
The Exodus [Gospel Project Kids Video]
Helping Children Discover Their Heart Idols [Ask Pastor John by Desiring God]
How Does Christ Help Us In Our Suffering? [Christian Counseling & Education Foundation]
Sacrifice & Atonement [The Bible Project]
The Exodus Part 1 [The Bible Project]
Our Help [Sovereign Grace Kids Worship]
The Lord Is My Salvation [Shane & Shane Worship Song]
Recent
Archive
2022
No Comments