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In Which Direction Is Your Affection Pointed?
Col 3:2
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
KJV
Opening remarks: Last week we preached the message entitled “In Which Direction is Your House Pointed?” I preached to us as families and individuals…
Today I want to preach part two of this little mini-series on the direction of our lives…
Illustration: (Bro. Gamblin)
He was a born in Rural Mississippi, 92 years ago next month.
He wasn’t raised Pentecostal but as a young teenager he heard about a tent revival in town and decided to go check it out.
As the Lord would have it, he was miraculously filled with God’s Spirit – and not only that but God put a special anointing on his life – and not long after that, at the young age of 16 he began preaching this glorious Gospel…
He left the farm and never held a secular job…preaching his entire life…revivals… camp meetings…conferences… started churches…
He is now confined to a bed, the sun is settling on the horizon of his life, but even now, as much as it was 76 years ago when he started, my wife’s grandfather – William Earl Gamblin’s – affection is toward God.
II. David
I am reminded of another man whose affection was toward God… he was Israel’s second and greatest king – David was his name.
He too was called by God as a young man.
He was born the eighth and youngest son of Jesse… he is commonly known as the “shepherd boy”.
One day while keeping the sheep on the backside of a meadow…
He sees a figure in the distance running toward him.
Finally his brother reaches him and cries, “run home quickly! I’ll watch the sheep hurry!”
“Why?” David asks.
“The Prophet is there, he wants to meet all the sons of Jesse and you’re the only one left.”
“But why?”
“Just go!”
David ran.
He reaches his father’s house and stops just long enough to catch his breath.
With sweat running down his young face, the Prophet approaches him…
Somehow, he saw what God saw.
God had taken a house-to-house survey of the whole kingdom in search of someone whose affection was whole-heartedly toward him…
What He found was this singer, songwriter, slingshot using shepherd boy named David whose affection was in the right direction!
The Prophet Samuel anointed him as the next king of Israel…and he later became Israel’s greatest and most loved king.
He fought wars… wrote songs… led a nation… and after many victories… some defeats and even some failures….
…In the sunset days of his life he declared to those in his presence and to Solomon his son, “…I have set my affection toward…God”.
In almost every way, David was just as normal as you and I…
He was not unlike us.
He was not unusual…
Accept that his affection was toward God!
What made David one of the greatest men in history…was not his stature – he was not taller than usual…
…It was not his wisdom…
…It was not because he killed a giant named Goliath…
What made David one of the greatest men in history was that his affection was toward God!
And I’ve come this morning with another question…
Last week… “In which direction is your house pointed?”
Today I’m asking each of us…
“In Which Direction Is Your Affection Pointed?”
III. Our Nation
Ours is a world where affection toward God is not the most popular or the most “hip” thing to do…
Ours is a world that is unwittingly fulfilling 2,000 year old prophecies…
America has set it’s affection on pleasure…
What pleases me is what matters most!
Self-gratification is the order of the heart.
Obsessions, lusts, pornography, and sexual promiscuity are the object of affection among adults and youth!
As of this month, in America (thanks to a company in Nevada) you can receive streaming video of hard-core pornography onto your cell phone.
The mention of internet pornography now, brings yawns rather than raised eye-brows…
Why? Because we’re becoming indifferent to it…
But we better be careful…!
In which direction is your affection pointed?
****
The phone call was one of sobs and discouragement…
A mother just found out that her teenage daughter has been sexually active and has contracted genital herpes…
From the lengthy conversation, it was immediately clear to me that her home was pointed in the wrong direction…
…her affection…her husband’s affection… and subsequently, their daughter’s affection was pointed in the wrong direction…
And the unintended consequences are disastrous!
****
Homosexuality among teens has risen in unbelievable numbers.
Heterosexual promiscuity among teens is accepted as being as normal as acne!
Sadly, that’s not just the “unchurched” teens.
Recently, a few Apostolic Pentecostal college students across the nation were asked to comment on what they consider to be the primary core issues that teens face today…
Listen to some of their comments…
Ryan in Indianapolis said, “I don’t think it would be unreasonable to say that 50 percent of [Pentecostal] youth have experienced with some kind of sexual activity other than kissing. The numbers could even be higher.”
Here’s the problem, “At some level, he said, all teens, [Pentecostal] or not, have been exposed to pornography in their lives, whether a billboard, a movie, or a hard-core internet site…” That they may have come across.
Jonathon in Arkansas said, “Sexual activity in the church is just as active as in the world… 50 percent of teens in a [Pentecostal] youth group have tried alcohol… They’re watching any movie they can get their hands on…”
There’s more… some along the same lines… some equally disturbing but…
The point is…our Post-Modern world has turned its affection toward everything that is not God and affects you and me!
And when the home is not pointed in the right direction…
Then your affection is not pointed in the right direction…
And when your affection is not pointed in the right direction…
Then your home cannot be pointed in the right direction!
And when your home is not pointed in the right direction…
The results are disastrous!
It is imperative that our affection be on things above and not on things below!
What does that mean?
It’s difficult in our society, to love what is Supernatural rather than what is superficial…
When that which surrounds us is superficial and that which we don’t naturally see is Supernatural…
In other words, it’s easier to evolve digressively with society and love those things which affect our senses and gives us pleasure and instant gratification…
Than it is to love what we cannot see… even though that One that we cannot see is the One who is The Source of our existence… The Source of our life… The Source of our breath… The Source of our blessings…
He is our Maker and our Savior… He is the God of all creation…
He is the Judge of all the earth… He is the ruler of the universe…
He woke us up this morning… He clothed us… He fed us…
He knows us better than we know ourselves and He loves us more than we love ourselves…
It’s easier to love the world…but it’s better to love God!
And He said you can’t do both!
IT’S TIME WE SET OUR AFFECTION IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!
****
I realize that we are all at different levels…
Some of us have not known God for very long… and I take that into consideration this morning.
We’re all traveling a road…our affection…our love…determines the direction we’re traveling.
****
What is it that you love?
(Some love themselves…some love pleasure… some love money…)
Do you love God?
How much?
The answer can be found in our everyday lives…
Is God first in everything?
The most important thing you can do in life is to love God with everything that’s in you.
Jesus said it like this in Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Nothing is more important.
If you learn to love God and you let God love you, your life has fulfilled its meaning, its purpose.
If you miss this part of your life, your life is a failure.
Because you’ve missed the very reason that God created you and put you on earth – to love Him and to be loved by Him.
I’ll admit to you this morning – it’s not easy to turn your affection toward God after years of loving the world…things…more than God.
…Society has done this to us.
But when you begin to realize how much He loves you…
And how Good and how Great He is…
And when you begin to know Him…
And when He has washed away your sins…filled you with His Spirit,
You’ll realize that loving God is the greatest thing you could ever do.
There’s joy that the world cannot counterfeit.
There’s peace that nothing the world offers can counterfeit.
When you love God with all your heart – depression has no place there!
When you love God with all your heart – loneliness has no place there!
When you love God with all your heart – worry has no place there!
…Anxiety has no place there!
…addictions have no place there!
The bottom line is this…
When you love God with all your heart – it’s a better life!
Listen to what God said in Psalm 91…
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
NKJV
Why? Because he set his affection… his love, upon God.
In which direction is your affection pointed?
What road are you traveling?
Closing:
Rich young ruler
