THE MOTIVES OF A CHILD OF GOD PART 1

1 Samuel 16:7 But God told Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart." (MSG)

Introduction

This morning I’m going to begin a three week mini series of messages on “The Motives Of A Child Of God”.

Today people do the things that they do for many different reasons.  If you were to ask two thieves why they stole something, you would more than likely get two completely different reasons.

The word "motive" means, "a reason for doing something".  Webster says it means, "Something that causes a person to act, that which incites to action, an inner impulse".

When a detective is investigating a murder and he finds a suspect, one of the very a first things he does in his investigation is to find the motive behind the murder.

This morning and for the next few Sunday's I would like for us to play detective and do a personal spiritual investigation on our own lives.

When a detective begins an investigation he uses several different kinds of equipment to help him, such as:

    A. A magnifying glass.
    B. A finger print kit.
    C. And various other kinds of equipment,

In this spiritual investigation, we will only need one piece of equipment that will give us the answers we are looking for, and that is, the word of God.

Before we begin this investigation though we must have a suspect or someone to investigate.  Who is our suspect?

Unlike a detective that investigates other people, during this investigation I would like for us as individuals to investigate ourselves, not the person beside us, or the one in front or in back of us, but each individual is to investigate him or her self.

Usually an investigation begins with the detective asking the suspect several different questions.  So, this morning I would like for you to ask yourselves, "What is my motive for doing the things that I do"?  Ask yourselves, "Why do I do the things that I do"?

In this series of sermons I would like for us to look at several things that we as children of God do and look at the right and wrong kind of motives for doing them.  The first area is...