82 The 1st Commandment: God First & God Only

Anything that leads us away from God becomes an idol in our life.

Dennis Sousa

WHO IS DENNIS SOUSA?Dennis Sousa

Mr. Dennis Sousa is the Director of Faith Formation at Saint Philip Church in Greenville, RI. He earned his M.A. in Theology from Providence College. Dennis has served on various oversight committees and advisory boards within the Diocese of Providence and is a widely sought-after speaker. He currently lives in Scituate, RI, with his wife Jennifer and their daughter Grace.

What is the 1st Commandment?PQF · The 1st Commandment: God First & God Only

In this episode, Mr. Dennis Sousa talks about the first commandment. He explains:
-What is the first Commandment? Does God lay these down Himself or is it an invention by people as some claim?
-How do we practice the first commandment and put God first?
-How do we sin against this commandment?
-What happens when we don’t follow the first commandment?
-What are some of the uncommon idols in our life and when we identify them what do we do?

Our Hearts Were Made for Him

It’s amazing how God works. In December 2021, I sat down after many days of Christmas prep to plot this years direction for the podcast. Personally, there were so many things happening and my own faith journey had been revived but I was tired in ministry. I was asking for direction from the Lord. And one of the things I heard was the commandments. I have learned now to just best get on with the instructions when He gives them.

So I started planning the 1st commandment. I turned everywhere online. And couldn’t find someone who knew this well enough to teach others. I looked on YouTube and lo and behold Dennis did an entire YT video on the subject. That was a year ago. As I was listening to him explain how he did the videos, I went “God is so fantastic.” He ordered our steps knowing fully well down the line what was needed for the year to come. And so if you’re wondering if you’re sowing and there’s no fruit, don’t fret. God is in control and He’s bringing it altogether in due time.

Our hearts are like idol making factories.

Dennis Sousa

The first commandment is simple. “I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.” Sounds simple too. But it is far more than that.

I love how Dennis used the Baltimore Catechism to teach this. Like I said during the podcast, it’s my first time actually seeing it taught this way. Dennis talks about how we sin against God and His 1st commandment by sinning against faith, hope and charity. There’s so much to unpack here that you have to listen to what he says. In the end, it just shows that our hearts were made for God.

The Baltimore CatechismWhy the 1st commandment is so important?

Dennis talks extensively what happens when we don’t order our lives around God. We know this ourselves. Our lives fall apart but I love how he uses the example of his daughter and himself. And how God lays down not just the 1st commandment but all ten simply out of love. Like a child is asked to hold onto their father. Yet, we choose to hold onto our idols and let go of God. Do you have any idols that are holding you back? How did you smash them?

I’m super happy about doing the the commandments this year. It has put a new spark into my ministry as I take on the new year.

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