THE MAIN IDEA
The best life possible comes from giving Jesus all your heart. 

WE CHASE AFTER USELESS IDOLS
That is the human condition, and that is the source  of all the suffering in this world and in our lives. Idolatry is “treating anything as more important  than Jesus Christ for your meaning in life, for your happiness, for your security and hope, or for  your self-regard” (Tim Keller). We chase after all kinds of idols, and the Israelites were chasing  after the idol of a king, like the kings of all the other nations. They wanted the blessings of  having relationship with God without actually having a relationship with God. We all have a  tendency to idolize people in the same kind of way, and we have to fight that tendency because  Christ alone is King. And that is why Samuel told the Israelites that all idols are useless and even  evil. It is because idolatry in every way, shape, and form leads us away from the only thing that  can save us—and not just in the afterlife, but in this world too—a relationship with Jesus Christ  and Jesus Christ alone. 

JESUS CHASES AFTER US
We see throughout Scripture how God comes chasing after us,  even when we wander from His loving care again and again. We see this in Jesus’s parable of the  lost sheep. When one sheep out of one hundred wanders from the fold, the good shepherd will  leave the ninety-nine in good hands and then go chasing down the one sheep that strays. We see  throughout the OT too how the LORD chased after Israel whenever they wandered away from  Him, including our passage today. And He chases after us because He loves every single one of  us and knows what is best for us. Because of His great love for us, the Lord will never reject His  people. The LORD is pleased to make us His own. The Lord chases after us with signs to get our  attention. He chases after us with His word that guides our lives. Most importantly, Jesus has  personally chased after each and every one of us by going to the cross to take upon Himself the  full wrath of God for all the sins of all of humanity across all time, so that if we receive Jesus  into our lives and follow Him as Lord of our lives, all of our sins are forgiven—past, present, and  future. When we recognize our sin and confess our sin, our gracious and merciful God has an  unlimited storehouse of grace and mercy available to us. Because Jesus Himself chases after us. 

LET US CHASE AFTER JESUS
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son  that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. But to experience the fullness  of that eternal life right here and right now, we must fear the LORD with all our hearts; we must  serve Him faithfully with all our hearts. And that is not as impossible as it may seem when we consider what great things He has done for you and me. Every good thing we experience in this  life comes from God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every bad thing that we experience comes  from sin—that is, turning the blessings of God into idols. God has given us a vision for house  church ministry as a gift, because we were ready for the challenge. Since implementing house  church ministry, we have grown about 50%, prayers have been answered, lives have been  transformed, the unchurched have become churched, and the lost have been saved. That is ALL  God’s doing, but God has done all that because we have been serving Him faithfully with all our  hearts. God desires our faithfulness, and God will continue to reward our faithfulness. 

DISCUSSION QUESTION
Besides family, what is the one thing in your life that you are most faithful to?  And why do you think you are so faithful to that thing?