The Sin Of Idolatry

A serious note, I was awakened this morning a little after three, and uh, I've almost been in a constant state of prayer since then. The first part was for me. God was talking to me about my life and some things, and it was a good conversation. It was mostly one way, it was him talking and me listening. But I felt like he was preparing me for this message today. I needed to be sure that I was where I needed to be before I could preach what I need to preach today. And then once I got to the church around five o'clock this morning, um, and then my prayer time here in the office, I felt like I changed gears, and God began to, to work what I had already laid out, but it was a confirmation that what I'm going to preach about today needed to be preached about. So there's no doubt in me at all, at all, that this subject matter is for today, but it's a deep subject. I'm going to preach on the sin of idolatry.

In Paul's letter to the church at Rome, we find that he is giving a diagnosis of the human condition. Now Paul talked about the severity of our condition, and I used that word on purpose, your condition and mine. He was, he was talking about the nature of the problem, and he was pointing towards a solution, and it's in this language that I'm going to read to you today that we don't often hear in our world. So it's going to require me to do a little unpacking before we get to what you may have expected in my preaching today. So this is going to be more trichy than preachy, but I'm going to pray before we go into the word, that God will allow all of us to receive.

The Bible talks about the parable of the sower, and in that parable it's all about the sower, but he also lists the type of ground where seed was being sown. And I'm praying today that we have fallow ground, okay, fallow ground, to receive this, for this is very important word today. It comes with a, with a, with a warning in, in, in my spirit, and with humility I preached this today. So will you help me pray? Will you, will you pray for you? Will you do that? Will you pray specifically for you, and, and pray along these lines? I'm not going to give you the words, but just pray along this way: God, please let me receive today what I need to receive from this. Will you pray with me?

Jesus, you've been talking to me all day. I'm here, I'll be submitted, I'll speak your word, but God, I pray that the ground would receive it today. Lord, you know who is here. It's not an accident that they are here, they are here for a purpose, and I pray that they receive this word today. I give you praise, and it's in your name that I pray, and amen.

Now there's going to be a temptation for you to resist. Someone ask us all to put that resistance aside for a minute. Don't be surprised, okay, please listen to me, don't be surprised when you feel the temptation to resist this. Instead, allow God to do this. Romans chapter 1, verse number 18, says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against us, all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of an uncorruptable God into an image made like corruptable man, into birds and a four-footed beast and the creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who was blessed forever, amen.

Now Paul starts this to me with a very jarring statement about the severity of our problems, there in verse 18, when he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and unrighteousness of men, ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In this last part here, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, something more than just having truth, there's understanding truth in living truth. Does anybody know where the phrase, the wrath of God, you know what it means in the Greek? It means wrath of God. That's why I was translated that way. It's denote the severity that God is upset, God is angry at what godliness and wickedness are doing, and godlessness and wickedness are doing, humanity in his creation. He's not happy about this. Paul writing a very stern warning to the church. Did I tell you that he was writing to the church at Rome? This is not the unchurched people. This was a warning to the church about a problem that they were dealing with. He doesn't have a, a difficulty in naming who it's to. It's to.

The church. Now here we are, we see that God's talking about wrath. This is, this is the words that Paul's writing as he's moved on by God's Spirit, and he's saying God is angry. Now I want you to understand that God doesn't have an anger problem. You need to know this. He doesn't need to go to anger management classes. He's upset. He doesn't just blow up. He does not lose control. But God does hate, okay, he does, he's specific with it. He's very pointed in his, in his scripture. God hates lies that betray people. God, he, he, he hates meanness that degrades people. God hates unfairness that, that victimizes people, and, and, and God hates gossip, and he hates backbiting, and he hates manipulating that can destroy family, and, and, and even the church. God hates cruelty. He hates envy. He hates arrogance. He hates racism and sexual immorality, because it demeans the bodies and souls of the created thing he made. God hates those things, but he doesn't have an anger problem. We have to remember that God's judgment is coming, and he will reveal his wrath on all that is wicked.

This is a real deal, ladies and gentlemen. This is something that doesn't get preached about on a regular basis on Sunday sermons, and, and even in camp meeting messages, even though the camp meeting messages this year were phenomenal. But you don't hear the wrath of God coming down, because it's a subject matter that makes us uncomfortable in our seats, but it does not take away from the reality of its truthfulness. God hates sin. God hates sin. And you and I have to reach a point in our lives where we hate sin like God hates sin. And therein lies the struggle today, is because the world we're living in right now does not hate sin, it glorifies it. And Paul was writing that this was on the horizon, that this was coming, that there would be people who were living a godly life, but yet it was a fool's errand, for they had glorified the very thing that God had spelled out in his word that he hates.

We must be careful in the world we're living in today, ladies and gentlemen, because so many things are accepted as normal, even inside the church, and God has expressly said, I'm against it. And we must never confuse God's silence with consent. So if you can, if you can't imagine any reason why a just and holy and righteous and perfect God might be mad at you, it will be good to think again, because we all find ways to let ourselves off the hook. We, every one of us, have a way of thinking to ourselves that, that doesn't apply to me, I've been good this week.

Paul, the master psychologist, does something brilliant when he is writing this letter to the church here at Rome, and it's in this first chapter. You notice the grammar of it: he puts everything in the third person vernacular, everything that, that they are to suppress the truth, that they do really bad things, and, and everybody who's listening to this letter, all of a sudden they're like, yeah, those people out there, they're in trouble. But then we get to chapter two, and the rubber hits the road, for he says in chapter 2, verse 1, therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judges another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judges does the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to the truth against them which commits such things. And thou thinketh this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and does the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

We must be very careful that we don't compare ourselves among ourselves, for the Word of God says that's a fool's errand, to simply look around and say, I'm not as bad as them. The standard is not looking at your neighbor and saying, I'm doing better than my neighbor is doing. The standard is to go to the Word of God and say, what thus saith the Word of God, that's what I'm supposed to do, because I'm not going to be judged by what my neighbor did worse than I did. But one day I will stand and give an account, and the record will go against this right here, the forever settled Word of God. You can argue with it, you can debate it, you can pretend it doesn't exist, but there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord, and you will give an account of a judgment according to this.

So you better be ready. As I look through this, here's the diagnosis from Paul, it's a single word: it's idolatry, worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator. Idolatry was the most serious charge that could be leveled against anybody in Hebrew scriptures. Does anybody remember God's Ten Commandments? The first one was in Exodus 23, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Right off the bat, he starts off and says, I'm not going to play games. Nothing else will compete with me in your life, nothing else will compete. You shall have nothing else that comes close to where I am, or my hands off. Number one, no other gods, the fundamental text in Israel's world, and, and that every devout Israelite will say, was Deuteronomy 6 and 4. Hero is where the Lord our God is one Lord. And when somebody come to Jesus and ask him what the greatest commandment was, his response was simply that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And ladies and gentlemen, idolatry is one of our biggest problems, because any time I sin, I'm allowing something to, to compete with a desire and have a higher priority than God's will for my life, and I'm breaking the first command. That means in the moment, I have put something on a pedestal higher than God in my life, and that something, whatever that something is, is my idol, and almost all of sin involves idolatry to one degree or another.

Idolatry is sneaking, and often goes undetected for far too long. And then we have another problem, and that is, we don't know what our real idols are, because that's the nature of idolatry, as it blinds us. The apostle Paul said these things: who changed the truth of God into a lie, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, who hold the truth and unrighteousness. To me, as I read these words, it's also crystal clear that Paul was talking about the human heart, and that includes your heart and mind, that they are little idol factories. Whether you're consciously doing it or not, even in the background of your life, if you're not preparing yourself, idols will be made. We have to come to grips with the idols that are in our life, and how to deal with them.

In today's world, idolatry is not about a stick of wood or a block of stone or something. Paul says this when he writes in Colossians chapter three, verse number five: so put to death is sinful, earthly things lurking around you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person as idolater, worshiping the things of this world. If ever there was a verse of scripture that applied to the day's world, it's that verse of scripture right there. That is where we are. We can set up little idols in our life, idols like reputation, security, power, success. Something that is really good can become an idol in your life, and if it's good, if it's really good, oh, the harder it is to recognize that idol that is there. But when work defines your identity, when it makes or breaks your sense of esteem, when it causes you to neglect your family, does that ever happen, then it's become your idol.

Listen to me, family is a good thing. When having a successful family has become more important than God, then your family has become an idol. Being a Christian is a really good thing, but when being a Christian causes you to trust in your own spiritual superiority, rather than adjusting the grace that God gives you to live every day, then Christianity has become an idol in your life. You must be careful. So the only way I know to handle this today is, we have to do a little evaluating. We have to do a little examining of our hearts and our lives today. So I hope you have pen and paper. If you have it, I encourage you, I'm giving you permission right now to rifle around in your purse, get a gum wrapper, whatever you need to do. Pull your shoe off and right on the bottom of it, get something out to take some notes today, because we're going to do a survey. We're going to do a little IQ test, a little idolatry quotient test. You may or may not have answers to any individual questions, but we won't, we're not going to score this, this isn't true or false. This is meant for you to think, to really think about what I'm going to ask you, because I believe it's helpful to have a little bit of clarity, and to write a few things down, to be sure I'm where I need to be.

I'd hate to know that I spent so much time in the presence of God that I missed out on his power to take care of these idols in my life. I'm going to say that again, because it was pretty good, I wasn't even in my notes. I'd hate to know that I spent so much time in the presence of God, that I missed out on allowing the power of God to handle the idols in my life. So the goal of all this is just between you and God. You're not going to turn this in, you're not going to show your neighbor this list. This is for you and God, for you to come clean in a deeper way than you ever have, to identify what the idol is that is there, that keeps ensnaring you, and keeps you from becoming all that God wants you to be in your life. Is everybody on board?

Number one, do I feel like I have enough money and possessions right now, or do I feel I need more? Do I feel like I have enough money in possessions right now, or do I feel I need more? Because part of what an idol always does is always tells you, you need more, you need more, you need more. Now I need you to understand that I am not against you having things. I've said that, I don't know how many times from this pulpit, have your things, have your.

Nice things. I have my things, not a lot, but I have my things. They're my things, I try to take care of my things. I'm not against that, unless those things become your god. Unless you identify yourself with your things, we're never to be identified with our things. We're to be identified with him. And how are you known in this world? Are you known for your things, or are you known for him? That in itself should be a test of whether or not this idol lives there. If you are more known for what you can accomplish on your own, how you can do these things, what you have acquired, what you have stockpiled up, you have an idle problem in your life. If you are known for that, over being known as a child of God, you have an idol problem in your life, because idolatry will always lead you down the path of more. And if you've ever been caught up in that hamster wheel of more, you know that there is no end in that race. There is no end, for you will never be satisfied with always desiring more.

I'm not against you having things. Have things. I believe that God blesses his children, I do, I believe in that wholeheartedly. I do not believe in that prosperity doctrine that is a lie from hell, but I do believe that God takes care of his kids. I do believe God knows the desires of your heart. I do believe this wholeheartedly, that if you're being obedient to his commands and following his scripture in your life, he will give you the desires of your heart, because your desires will not be missed. They will be, they will not be off base. They will be according to what you desire to have in your life, and God will give you those things. I am living proof, and I have not enough time in this message today to talk about all the examples in mind and my wife's life, how we have seen God's hand working in the background in unexplainable ways, because we have tried our best to be obedient to God's word, and God always comes alongside us. But I don't want to be known for my stuff. I want to be known as a child of God.

In idolatry, you always start by thinking, I'm free to go after this, but you always end up being enslaved. And is it not amazing how we justify the craziest things as needs in our life? Oh, I need this. Oh, you need it? To need it means you can't live without it. Oh, I can't. Oh, you can't live without that? So if that is taken away from you, you no longer exist? Oh, be very careful what becomes a need in your life, because oftentimes the things that are not needs, but they're labeled as a need, often being the very thing that entrap you.

Again, I'm not against things. I have things. But don't let your things have you. Have things, but don't let your things have you.

Question number two, do I have enough power and control in my life, or do I feel my life requires more? Do you have to always be in control? Do you have to always be in control? Do you find that you use your position, on your finances or your talent, to control situations that you feel are not going the way you feel they should go? And if something doesn't go your way, do you act out, speak out, or take your stuff and go home? Do you use your influence to manipulate? Do you? Because if you do those things, you have an idol in your life. And you may think you're controlling this situation, but the situation is controlling you, and you're speaking with your actions much louder than your words, who your god really is.

I know it's quiet preaching, it's okay, I'm comfortable. I knew this coming in, this was going to be this kind of message, but I feel strongly that we got to deal with these idols. We have to deal with these idols in our life, for God is calling us up higher as a church. He's calling us up higher, but if we don't get rid of these idols, he will not allow us to go where he wants us to go. So do you feel like you need more control in your life? Do you use what position, power, and situations, to your ability, to control everything? You may have an idol, if you feel like you have to have more power.

Number three, is there a relationship in my life to which I am so attached, that I have to have it in my life to be truly meaningful? I'm going to say that again. Is there a relationship in my life to which I am so attached, that I have to have it for my life to be truly meaningful? For those that are unmarried in this room, please listen to Pastor. If you're unmarried in this room, listen to me. You are to find your identity in Jesus Christ, not in who you may or may not marry in life, who may or may not become your spouse. Don't you dare, well, if I could just get a husband, if I could just get a wife, and then things are going on. Listen to me, that's the fool's errand. If you're looking for your validation in that, trust me, I spend too much time working through couples who thought that.

That was going to fix the problem in their life, by just getting married, instead of keeping their identity in Jesus Christ, and allowing God to open the door and provide the right person to partner with. God will open the door for marriage when the time is right. But if you find yourself compromising what you know to be the values that God has put in place, if you find yourself going against his commands, no relationship is worth misplacing God over. No relationship is worth misplacing God over. And if you feel you have to have that for life to be truly meaningful, you have an idol problem.

I know far too many who have dropped God's values over a relationship that became an idol in their lives, and it always comes back to bite them. God will allow you to hit rock bottom, if that's what it takes to get your attention. He loves you enough for you to hit rock bottom, if that's what it takes, for you to suddenly turn back and say, God, I have to have you in my life. I sought for validation and all these relationships, and all those relationships they ever left me with was a broken heart, and misplaced trust, and abuse, and scars. All those things are there in my life, because I sought for validation everywhere else. If you're going to seek for it, seek for it in a relationship with him.

So, well, it's easier for you to say, Pastor Kevin, you've been married a long time, you and your wife have a great relationship. You're right, I have been married 22 years in a couple of weeks, and she is amazing. I can't believe she married me. Most days I still can't believe she married me. But that is not my identity. As much as we value our relationships, Jesus Christ has to be paramount in our individual lives, because when he's not, guess what, this relationship is broke. Do you, do you understand that? And I'm going to speak to some married people right now, all right. If, if you're, if you're hanging on in, in, in this relationship, and you're thinking that my identity's wrapped up in that stuff, and you don't allow God to, to be who he is supposed to be in your life. I love this woman, I can't even put into words. It is, it is, it is, there's no way for me to describe the love I have for her, but she doesn't come before God. She doesn't come before God, because if that is the case, then I have made her an idol, and she's pretty, she deserves to be on the shelf, but I can't do that, because the moment I do that, God pushes back. She says, I will have nothing, nothing between me and you. And there are so many marriages right now that are dysfunctional, because you have turned to each other instead of turning to him. But if you'll keep him where he's supposed to be, it strengthens the union between the two of you. He has to be center of your life, before he can be the center of your marriage.

Parents, there are some of you in this room that have allowed your relationship with your kids to become idols in your life. You are allowing what is supposed to be a season of guidance and care to turn into something it was never intended to be. Do not misunderstand me, it was with tears I typed these words this morning. You take care of them, you love them, you provide for them, but be very careful of what place you give them, when it comes to God and his desire for your personal life. I have seen parents, and what started out as innocence, turned parenting into idol worship. Love them, I love them, they're beautiful. Center Point has the prettiest kids, we got the best, they're everywhere too. Keep having them, keep, keep having them, have a bunch, have as many as you want. But be careful, be careful how you have that relationship with them.

For those with younger children, allow God to guide you in how much. There is a time when even the youngest need to start understanding our lifestyle convictions. Please listen to me, they're watching, they're watching, they're always watching. I'm not expecting there to, you know, them to be birthed the next day, they come in little suits and, you know, little, little, little skirts, and I'm like, look, there's a time for that, but listen, it comes quicker than you think, for what you allow them to get away with at certain ages will come back and haunt you a few years down the road. You allow them to have a little, little things that we don't embrace in our lifestyle. Can you, okay, okay with this, you, you allow them to have a little, little things that the, that we, we don't, we know we don't do those things, we don't go. Why don't we do those things? Because we have to draw lines, we have to draw lines, because God drew lines, and we draw lines. And as pastors, sometimes I have to come in and draw some lines, because my job is not for you to like me. I need you to know that. I want you to like me, my flesh wants you to like me. I, I want you to like me, but more than I want you to like me, I want to get you to heaven. I need you to know this, more than.

I want you to like me, I gotta go every evening and turn my hands up and say, God, I can't have that blood on my hands. And I know I didn't always want to say it, I don't always want to preach it, but God, I can't, I can't, because I got to get to heaven too, and I'm held to a higher standard. I'm held to a higher standard. And I love you enough to tell you that some of you are walking a very dangerous line with your kids. Be careful, be careful.

For those with older kids, some of you need to stop being enablers. You need to quit, and you need to remember that he loves them more than you. God is desiring to do a work, which may well require them to hit rock bottom to get their attention, and you are preventing that from happening, because you keep stepping in and rescuing what he is trying to unfold. Your desire for them to be normal has become an idol. Be careful, for you very well may prevent God's will from being done, because you keep trying to be the rescuer. And then rescue, and you are enabling them to continue down a path that God's trying to veer them off of.

Number four, what am I willing to betray my values to obtain, if I think I won't get caught? What am I willing to betray my values to obtain, if I think I won't get caught? Idols are rarely clearly evil to you. Usually the way it works is, the evil one will take something that's actually connected with your own strength and giftedness and calling and passion, and then try to twist it just five or ten degrees, just enough to pull you away from letting God be God in your life. What am I willing to betray my value to obtain, if I think I won't get caught? Where are you allowing yourself to turn a blind eye? Where are you justifying something that you would point out in someone else, but for some reason you won't identify it in you? Where, where are you willing to compromise? Where are you willing to go out, when you know, when you know, when you know it goes against God's will? Where, wherever that is, wherever you're turning a blind eye, there's an idol. There's an idol, it's sitting there, and it's controlling you. It's controlling you.

Number five, what desire is so strong that it can warp my thinking, and make me engage in defensiveness, self-justification, denial, and secrecy? I'll say it again, because I know you're trying to feverishly write notes. What desire is so strong that it can warp my thinking, and make me engage in defensiveness, self-justification, denial, and secrecy? Ladies and gentlemen, look at me, please. Look, anywhere you have secrecy in your life, in all likelihood you're hiding an idol. Anywhere, anywhere there's a secret, secret part of your life, there's an idol there. It's the way the enemy works. What are you hiding? Husbands, look at me. Everybody is married, every man in this room, you're married, you look at me right now. Look down, your eyes up here. There are to be no secrets with her. There are to be no passwords on anything that she cannot get into. There had to be no hidden accounts that she's not aware of, because if that is in your life right now, you have an idol. You have an idol. You listen to me, I'm preaching with authority right now, there's an idol there. My wife has every password I have back. My mom, all my kids, and half the staff here can get anything I got, because I'm not going to hide anything. I, I, I'm not afforded the luxury of that, and guess what, neither are you. Neither are you. If you have to hide it, it's destroying you. Do you hear me? If you have to hide it, it's controlling you. If you're hiding it, no, no secrets, there's no secrets.

I, I can't tell you the number of times that I deal with couples, and to come to find out that, that they, they can't get into each other's things. Why is that? Goes for you too, there's no secrets. Why would you have that? The just admitting you have those things, uh, how to grieve you in here, let you know something's controlling you, and it's not God. Students, the same applies for you. The fact that you desire secrecy is a sign that you are erecting an idol in your life. Do you hear me, guys? Do you hear me? If you desire to be secret about it, you're building an idol with every little password there. You're building idols in your life, and in some cases those things will control you the rest of your days.

Paul comes back to this over and over, by idolatry, he says, because we do this, we distort our thinking, and we end up suppressing the truth in our life. Our thinking becomes cloudy, and our foolish hearts get darkened, and we say we're wise, but we have become fools, because we exchange the truth for a lie. And Paul understood how human thinking is not just fallible, but it's distorted by sin and wickedness, because we have allowed it to take place. Does anybody here have memory problems, ever? Every hand ought to go up, you do. A bunch of misrememberers, as the old saying goes, the older I get, the better I was. And some of you laugh, because you know.

It's true. Yeah, you tell those stories from back in your glory days. Oh yeah, I don't know what, liar, liar, pants on fire. It's fascinating, the thing of our memory problems, we all have one. That was the elderly couple lady, she decides she wants a sandwich. She tells her husband, don't you go make me a sandwich. I want a ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato and mayonnaise on toast. He gets up, she's like, you need to write it down, you ain't gonna remember. I remember, that's a ham sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, I gotta, you should write it down, you're gonna forget. I'm not gonna forget. It goes out, comes back like a half hour later with a hot fudge sundae with nuts on top, hands it to her. She said, I told you, you forget, I wanted whipped cream.

We have memory problems, but our memory mistakes are not random. Your memories are distorted in a self-enhancing direction, in all kinds of ways. If I could just put it in a good southern vernacular, we distort our memories into what we really wanted the truth to be, rather than what the real truth is. It's the how big was the fish really syndrome. Ever watched fishermen take pictures now, because we take a picture of everything, they'll have that fish all the way out. You know why? Because it looks bigger. Why? Because they got it away from their belly. That's what we do in life, it's the bigger fish syndrome. We remember what we want. Turns out people remember voting in elections that they were not even alive for, giving more money to the church and actually gave, remember saying brave things they never did remember, and winning arguments never actually won. People remember their children walking and talking at early ages than they ever walked or talked. Be careful, be careful, because what happens is we distort the truth, and turn it into what we wish it really was, and in doing so there's an idol.

Number six, what desire do I have that sometimes gets in the way of my paying attention to God? What desire do I have that sometimes gets in the way of me paying attention to God? What am I doing that gets in the way of what God's called me to do? I want to invite you, name your idol. You need to know what it is. Write it down. Was it work? Is it family? Is, is it success, achievement? Is it, is it love? Is it money, approval, power, reputation, security, sex, your body, anger? Whatever it is, you need to write it down. You need to know what you're fighting. This is for you, this isn't for me. You're not going to turn this in, but be honest with yourself. What is your idol? We're all idolaters. What's yours?

God's people are not just to avoid idolatry, but Moses says this in Deuteronomy 7 and 5: the graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire. Thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be ensnared therein, for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. First John 5 21, John's very last words in his first letter to that little bitty church, he says, little children, keep yourself from idols, amen. Close the book before he finished it, he said, you're going to be tempted to do this, but don't, don't, don't. And our problem is, we will not work to give up an idol by sheer willpower, because idols, in one way, they enormously weak, they can't help you at all. But in other ways, they are tremendously strong, they will ensnare you. And there are many dynamics of idolatry that are very similar to addiction. In fact, in many ways, many, many ways, the Bible calls, what the Bible calls a dollar tree in our world, we call addictions.

When that came out on the, the iPhone a couple years ago, where it started tracking your screen time, boy, was that a wake-up call. Now some of you handled that, because you just turned it off, done, I don't think about it. It convicted me, and I don't even consider myself to be a, a big media user, but it convicted me, but I kept it up even to this day. This morning, Sunday's when I get my notification. I want to be able to get someone, I got my notification today. I said, you spent, you averaged this week an hour and 47 minutes of screen time. Now for some of you already like, oh man, Pastor's never on his phone, because you know what yours says. I'm letting that hang there for just a minute. But every time I see that, I ask myself, that I spend an hour and 47 minutes with God every day? Because even this can become an idol.

I won't even pretend to try to bring out the points that Mark Brown brought up and can't meet him message. But how many of us, everything that we do through this, how we view ourselves always through this, is so skewed from reality, because that's what happens when an idol is present. It takes us out of the moment, and helps us be something we're not. See, you and I, we cannot replace an idol by turning away from it. I have to turn towards something. You hear me? You need to write that down for taking notes. You cannot replace an idol by turning away from it. You have to.

Turn towards something. In the book of Genesis, a young man named Jacob meets a young woman named Rachel, and tells the father he wants to marry her, and offers to work for Laban. And we know how this story goes, right? Genesis 29 and then, and 20, and Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days, for the love that he had for. Now you think about this, seven years he worked for her, every single day for seven years he shows up. He got a little song in his heart, I got sunshine on a cloudy day, he's singing My Girl every time he goes in there. Would anybody here work seven years for a woman? Guys, I just threw you a softball. Maybe you didn't hear me. Is there anybody in here that would work seven years for a woman? Yeah, there you go. They have some slow learners here. Come home, guys, you better put your hand up. It's gonna be a long ride home, and that ain't my fault. Why did seven years seem like a few days? Because he had an overwhelming positive passion for what he was doing.

Zacchaeus had an overwhelming positive passion for money, but when he was confronted with Jesus, he gave up everything: reputation, community, friendship. He gave all those things up, and he says, look, everybody that I've cheated, I'll pay it back four times. Because he took his focus off of money, and shifted it to Jesus.

Let's get ready to end this. Musicians, come on. Second Kings 17, we have to figure out what we do, okay. We, we've identified with some questions, we've took the IQ test. I, I'm believing that you have written something on that piece of paper, you've identified something that is there. But now, what I do with it, Pastor? I have to turn your attention from that to something else. And the only way I can do this is, I have to get you to understand the importance of worship. You guys have seven minutes. I said seven, because that's the Lord's number, and it works real good. You got seven minutes? Yeah, I hope you do. I'm gonna do, I'm gonna take seven anyway. But just give me up, let's, let's listen to me, okay.

I have to get you from where you are. You've identified it's there. It's on your paper. Don't be, don't, don't, don't let be overwhelmed with shamer now. We all have something that should be on that piece of paper. I'm telling you, the Lord woke me up at three something, little like 3:10 this morning. I got out of my bed, and I went to my front living room, and he just, he just wrecked me, just, just, just wrecked me, because I couldn't come in here and talk to you about your idol, if I wasn't willing to talk about mine. I said, God, I, I don't know what to do. I know, I know how to identify. What am I gonna do? What am I supposed to tell them? And he said, you have to let them know why it's so important that they focus their worship on me.

2 Kings 17-15, they rejected his decrees in the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so that they became worthless themselves. They follow the example of nations around, and disobey the Lord's command not to imitate him. Because he knew, he knew, he knew, if you get your focus off of me on something else, you'll worship that, and it becomes worthless, and you become worthless.

True worship makes you and I vulnerable. True worship opens us up to the most extreme influence, dominating control, and overpowering effect that can possibly be exerted on you. Jesus himself said this in John 4 24: God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. In spirit and truth. In spirit and truth. Spiritual transformations happen, ladies and gentlemen, in worship. Something very powerful happens, something transformational happens. A seismic effect impacts your heart and mind and body and soul. If you worship the devil or flesh, you open yourself up for evil influences. But if you worship the one true God, you open yourself up to his power and his influence in your life.

Acts 4 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men. They marveled, and they looked, and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Oh, Brother Spann, that, that could be said of me one day. They didn't notice my suit, they noticed my car, they noticed the house I lived in. But they took notice, said, that man has been with Jesus.

To get our hearts and our minds wrapped around the fact that everything's vying for us, and if I'm not careful, I will worship something. You will worship something. You know why? Because you were created to worship. It's in you. It's your default mechanism. You're hardwired that way. You can't get around it. You will worship something. But what are you going to choose to worship? You'll worship, you can't get around it, you will work. You worship yourself, you worship, you worship your job, you worship your kids, you worship your finances, your worship, your, your status, your worship, your education. I could go on. You know, you worship something. It's there, it's in all of us. And God knew this. That's.

Why he said to me, you have to tell them, they must choose to worship me. It's that choice, it's that refocusing. You know why? I'll tell you why. It goes back to something we know. We know this to be true. It said, if a husband and wife live long enough together, they begin to look like each other. Now for each one in the room right now, that's getting a little bit nerve-wracking. I know which way I'm leaning to go. You cannot live in a close association with someone without taking on their traits. Two persons experiencing all the same things draws them closer together. And if we, you and I, as the Psalmist says, dwell in the house of the Lord forever, surely we will start looking like him.

Worship causes something of God to rub off on you and I. He communicates to you his value, his worth. Worship opens the gate into our soul, and when we worship Jesus, we begin to take on his attributes, his attitudes, his preferences, his sounds, and his looks. Apostolics have strong, unflinching beliefs. We call them convictions. It has to do with the dynamic worship, and the reason people say, there's something different about that church, it's because in our lifestyle convictions, God is drawn to what the Word of God says is the beauty of holiness. But that beauty is not something that's legalistic, because there are some who live a holy lifestyle, and it is very ugly. It is very ugly. But when it is done right, we are worshiping him with all that we are. It's not just my voice, it's not just my thoughts, but it's in my actions and my deeds. It's in my appearance, it's in everything I have, because I know if he doesn't maintain being center, that means there's an idol somewhere in my life.

Last scripture, Psalms 29 1-2: give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory do his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Never, ever discount the act and the practice of worship. It's not to be taken lightly, but understanding that when I come in here, look, I just, I'm feeling comfortable, that could be dangerous. I love, love when we start our worship service here, that immediately this area fills up, but people wanting to worship, because this shows me there are individuals who come in and say, look, I've been outside these walls, and there's stuff that's trying to start establish idle in my life. I don't want that, I'm coming in here, and I'm going to worship, because when I worship God, when I think of where he brought me from to where I am, there's something inside of me that can't set steel.

Now look, I'm not asking everybody to come and do cartwheels and flips, and bite the sheetrock, and kick the chandeliers. I get it, I get it, sometimes your body won't allow you to do these things. Wayne Allen, I'll remember your mom's last time in this service. She sat right back over there in that wheelchair, right back there, right behind Fred, and with everything she had, it was just her arms that were working. But guess what, because she knew, if I ever stop, if I ever stop worshiping, there will be an idol in my life. I would never embarrass our bishop, ever, but he physically can't do what he used to do. But it wrecks me inside when we're worshiping, and I see him put that hand up over there, because I know inside he's worshiping. But there are some you should be ashamed, because you refuse, and that refusal shows me you have an idol, and you need to deal with it, because it won't save you, it won't provide for you, it won't take care of you, it'll only control you.

This altar is open. I wouldn't take a chance. Look, your pastor's telling you, at three o'clock this morning, he all but yank me out of the bed, because I had to deal with some stuff in my life. I'd find a place, I'd make sure, I'd make sure that everything in my life was who it's supposed to be, that there were no idols hiding in corners. It's time to pray. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I got to have you. Guys, search my heart, search my heart, search my heart. Lord, find the secret places. Jesus, don't let me be blinded by any area in my life.