There Is No Replacement For God

kingdom purpose. I'm going to go to Exodus chapter 20, read a very familiar passage of scripture today. I would ask this for those who have the gift of intercessory prayer. Fight with me in the service. fight with me in this service. Exodus 20 verse number four says, "Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of bird or an animal or a fish. You must never worship or bow down to them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other God. I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. But I lavish my love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations. There is no replacement for God. I dare say there probably will not be another church in our city that will preach about idols today. It's not a topic that gets covered very much anymore. What is an idol? Archaeologists have found evidence of idols in every culture throughout history. Statues of gods and goddesses. Man has a misguided desire to turn things or people or ideas into objects of our worship. But God said, "Don't do that." He had delivered the children of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage. proved that he was God to them and he had the ability to take care of them. Once he had marched them out of their captivity onto the other side, they watched their enemy drowned in the river. It was only then at that point that he said to them, "My desire is to be your God and for you to be my people. in order for this to work the way it needs to, I need to establish a few things about a relationship. So, he gave Moses on the mountain the Ten Commandments. There's a lot of other things that came about from that, but these Ten Commandments was the foundational principle that he established for a relationship. The first four of those commandments have to do with how we interact with him. And the last six of those commandments have to do with how we interact with each other. It was there that I read to you this passage in our opening scripture where God specifically with commandment number two said, "I don't want you to make me an image. I don't want you to carve anything out. I don't want you to have an idol in your life because it can be destructive. It can be misleading. It can be something that's destroying." From the very beginning of the relationship there, God knew that you and I would have something inside of us that would have a desire to create something that we could worship, something that we could cast our affections on. Out of the 613 laws recorded in the Torah, more than 50 of them prohibit against idolatry. The very word idol in the Hebrew graven image means something carved or fashioned with the hands. But bowing down in front of a statue is only one expression of idolatry. There are many types. An idol, ladies and gentlemen, is anything that takes the focus of God and puts it on something else. When anything besides God is first in my life, it's an idol. Even if that something is good, it can still become an idol. God does not want us to value anything more than we value him in our country, in our culture, in our life. The worship of carved images are rare. Although they do happen, there's some of this in our world today that still goes on. It's more common to find the worship of ideologies that are against God and against the Bible. This is just as much idolatry as statue worship in our day. If you've ever studied this sub subject matter out in scripture, you'll find that there were three main idols in scripture. There was the god of Baal, the god of mammon, the god of molec. Baal, the god of sex or sexuality. Mammon, the god of money. Molech, the god of violence. The immoral human desire for unrestricted sexuality, selfishness, and violence are reflected in these ancient idols. I want you to know, ladies and gentlemen, they are still alive and well in our culture today. They're still alive and well in our culture today. There's still a fight that goes on in our world today. We don't worship objects as much as we worship ideas and images and all the images of sensuality and greed and violence are reflected in the media that we consume into our lives every day. And I wish this was just a worldly problem, but I know all too well the reality and the state of affairs inside the apostolic church. We have reached a point of having an unhealthy tolerance of these things in our everyday life. We have to be careful what we allow to influence our way of thinking and shape what it is that we spend our time doing. The task of teaching our children what values are important has made it much more difficult because of these idols that are bombarded them every day of our life. We're in a fight, ladies and gentlemen. We're in a fight. What I'm talking about is idolatry in its purest form. When a person chooses a lifestyle that violates the moral will of God, they are erecting an idol fashioned by their own hands and making God over their image that they created. The second commandment is simply reiteration of the directive of God that gave Adam and Eve in the garden when he said to this in Genesis 2 verse number 16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." God was prohibiting man in that moment, from the very beginning and the onset of all that was going on. He was preventing man from meddling with morality. They were not going to change in any way what God had declared to be right and wrong. It wasn't that he didn't want them to know right from wrong, but he wanted to teach them himself through the relationship so that they could better understand. Think about it for a minute. Everything else they had access to. Everything else they had the ability to partake. Everything else, it was an option for them except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he knew if I don't walk with you through this process, you will try to shape and mold and fashion it into something it was never intended to be. It's off limits for you. James 1:17, "Every good gift and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning." We live in a world where alternative lifestyle mindset is the order of the day. Anything that goes against and seemingly restricts is a is something that is fought against so hard in our culture, in our society. The Bible is no longer treated as something that is holy and belongs to God, but it's put on the same level playing field with man's intellect. Got to be careful. Anything that seems to cause restriction is automatically rejected as if God is trying to keep us from knowing ourselves better. The restrictions that are there sometimes are viewed as the restrictions of all pleasure. Well, that's just not the case. Song of Solomon celebrates sexual pleasure, but only inside the moral parameters that God designed in marriage. Eve was tempted to become like God because if she could be a god, she could make her own rules. That was what the enemy tried to do was to sew a seed of doubt that God was trying to keep you from ultimately knowing everything you needed to know. If he could convince her somehow that God couldn't be trusted, he knew he could alter what God had put in place. That tactic is still what our enemy uses today in our world is to try to get us to think that God doesn't know best, that he's trying to keep us from something, that he's holding back, he's restricting us in some way. when the enemy is saying there's still more there for you to have, more for you to enjoy. The second commandment says that God is jealous. He will allow no replacement for himself. Not because he's insecure or insane or possessive, but because he is intensely devoted to you and I. If God allowed us to engage in idol worship, he would be willfully abandoning us to harmful counterfeits that inflict cruel disappointment and disillusionment on humanity. We see it in our world every day. Our God is not a cruel God. I've heard so many people say that they struggle in even believing that there is a God or trying to develop a relationship with him because they ask the question, if God really loved us, why is there so much hurt and pain in our world? The simple answer to that question is humanity. Humanity is the reason. When God created us, the only way that he could express fully what love really is love as a choice. So in creating mankind, he gave us the freedom to choose. But that also means we have the freedom to not choose him. Therein lies the issue of the day. It's not that God doesn't love, it's that we don't love God. Therein is the problem with humanity. Therein is the trouble with the world today. It's a simple threeletter word called sin. That sounds kind of oldfashioned, Pastor Kevin. Well, you know, it's because it's been around since the beginning of time. You can say it's oldfashioned, but it doesn't negate the truth of what is really going on. Humanity is broken. Humanity is broken because of sin. Because of the freedom to choose. We chose poorly. We chose self. We chose to be influenced by the enemy when he snuck into the garden and said, "Did God say sewing a seed of doubt that God could not be trusted?" And the reality is we still struggle with that in 2026. At times we ask ourselves, can God really be trusted? Deuteronomy 4:15 says, "But be very careful. You did not see the Lord's form on the day he spoke to you from the heart of the fire on Mount Si. So do not corrupt yourselves by making idols in any form whether a man or a woman. Do you know why? Because there is no replacement for God. There is no replacement for God. So, I want to bring to you today a few things that I feel like we struggle with in idolatry in 2026. What does an idol do to you and I? It does some things. First of all, an idol will disappoint you. The prophet Jeremiah said in chapter 10 verse number 14, "Everyone is dull-hearted without knowledge. Every metal smith is put to shame by an image. For his molden image is falsehood and there is no breath in them. They always promise more than they can deliver. Anytime you expect anyone to solve your problems or guarantee all your happiness, you're going to be disappointed. We got to be careful how much emphasis we place on our relationships. I thank God for my family. I thank God for my wife and my children and my brother and my and my mom and my in-laws and my brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws that I have in my life. I thank God for the family that I have here in this church. What I mean by that is the family of God. We're a family. I thankful for every relationship that I have. But here's something that is a real reality. There hasn't been a one of those people that I named at one point that haven't disappointed me over time. Every one of them, even my sweet wife has disappointed me, at least on that many occasions. The reality is every human being will disappoint you at one at one chance or another. Everyone will. At some point there will be disappointment that enters into our life. That's why I cannot base relationships as the sole reason for my existence. There has to be something bigger than my relationship with humanity. There has to be something better that I can count on because they will fail me eventually. They will let me down. They will be disappointed. they will do something that will frustrate me or make me mad. I got to be careful because I live in a world today, especially in the North American culture, that celebrates the family so much. And I'm so thankful that in some ways it does celebrate family. But we got to be careful that we don't allow family to become an idol. Again, I told you at the beginning of this message that even good things can become an idol. Even good things can become an idol. What are you saying, Pastor Kevin, that I can't have a good relationship? No, you can have a good relationship with your family. Just make sure you keep it in the proper perspective that God is the most important thing in your life. There is no replacement for God. There is no replacement for God. We deal with so much dysfunction in our society because there are moms and dads who have found their identity in their kids. They take them to things and promote them. And I'm not against sports. I'm not against extracurricular activities. I think it's good as long as you keep it in a proper perspective of where it belongs. But don't find yourself living through your children's lives. Don't pour yourself so much into your kids that you have a broken marriage relationship and the moment the kids leave the house, there's two strangers left looking at each other. This happens in our world where we make idols out of our kids, out of our family, out of our children. You got to be careful that you walk that line in an appropriate way. And never forget there is no replacement for God. Nothing has the ability to take his place. Everything else will disappoint you. We must not put our hope in humanity. The second thing I know about idols is this. They will dominate your life. 1 Corinthians 12:2. You know that you were Gentiles carried away these dumb idols. I like how the KJV just put that there. these dumb idols even as you were led. There are two unavoidable effects when you love something more than you love God. When you love something more than you love God, first of all, whatever that is begins to control you. Our modern world word that I would use for idol in our day and age is addiction. Eventually, an idol will ruin your life. If you you can say to yourself, "Well, I can give it up anytime I want to." You're merely lying to yourself. If that was a reality, you would have given it up already. But you haven't, which means it's controlling you. The idol is dominating and distracting your life. It causes you to be led astray. Idols always make you lose perspective. They always make you come to a conclusion or come to a crossroads where it causes you to set aside your values or compromise your convictions. If you let another person control your life by their approval or disapproval, psychologists call it codependency. The Bible calls it idolatry. You can break codependency by restoring God to the first place in your life because those idols are trying to control you. You cannot allow that to continue to dictate everything you do. If you have something that's controlling you, ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that there are powerful testimonies in this room today of people who have broken those addictions that will tell you that if you'll put God in his rightful place in your life first and foremost, if you will worship him, if you will align yourself with his word and his truths, if you'll be obedient to his commands, you can break the cycle of addiction inside of you. You can do that. You can do that. You can do that. There is no replacement for God. But if you will put God first and foremost, those other things will come into into a right and proper perspective. Another thing idols will do, idols will deform you. Psalms 115 and 8, the psalmist says, "And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them." Idols change and warp you, causing you to lose the uniqueness that God gave you as you become like what you value most. We shape an idol, but it ends up shaping us. Since we end up becoming whatever is first in our lives, we better reserve that spot for God. There's a there's an instance in the scripture in Matthew chapter 19 where the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks, "What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus gives him a list of things that every good Jewish young man should be doing. To which he responds, "Every one of those things I have done." Then Jesus says,"Well, there's still one thing that you lack. Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor." Why did Jesus do that? He never gave that command to anybody else in scripture. We have no other example where he said he needed to go and sell everything you have and give it away. What was it about this young man that caused Jesus to say these words? Well, there's two realities. Both of them are true. Both of them are factual. Both of them are correct. Reality number one, the lesser important of the two was that in just a few years Rome was going to come in and wipe out everything anyway and he wasn't going to have anything left. So he might as well give it away. That's a fact. You go study history, you'll see that was a fact. Jesus already knew this. But the second the most powerful truth of that equation was Jesus looked at him and realized he had made an idol out of his money. And he knew as long as he had the money, the money was going to control him. Money controls people. Money has a way of getting down. Money. Money is something that is talked about in scripture as much as anything is talked about in scripture. Powerful. One out of every six verses in scriptures talks about money. God understood the emotional attachment that money has. So, he gave some very specific instructions when it comes to regarding money. Now, I'm not up here preaching because I need you to give a dime. I'm up here to tell you what the word of God has to say. That money will control you. It will control you. You know, it's amazing to me how that $100 at the grocery store doesn't really go very far, but $100 in the house of God. Yeah. How you feel about things is a great indicator of how much control it has over you. If somebody brings up the subject of money, it involves God. If you automatically find yourself resisting and finding every way to justify why you don't have to, I'm going to tell you right now, that's a great indicator that that money is controlling you. And one of the best things you can do in your life if you want to be truly successful is you better learn to break that cycle and that control it has over you because it will dominate your life to the point that's all you can think about. And if this is your thought, well, Pastor Kevin, I don't I really don't have $20 to my name, so for me, what little bit I could give is not going to make a difference. It's not about the amount. It never was about the amount. When Jesus stood at the temple door watching all that was put in, he only commented on the widow who gave the two mites. Why? What was the answer there? She gave all. It's not about the dollar amount. It's about not having that money control you. Some of you, for whatever reason, this is what I've just talked about last few minutes is barely in my notes, but I can't get past it. Some of you are being controlled by money. I'm telling you, it will take you down. It will destroy you. It will deform you. It will cause you to be less than what you are supposed to be. Don't allow money to control you. It's not worth it. Ladies and gentlemen, whatever we put first in our life ends up shaping us. So, if it's your if it's your family, it'll shape you. If it is your money, it will shape you. If it is your career, it will shape you. If it is your talent and ability, it will shape you. If God's word tells you to give up something, you need to learn how to let it go. Because if you can't, you don't own it. It owns you. We live in a world today, and this is where I'm going to get maybe a little bit controversial, but I prayed about it. I do feel good to move forward in this, but in the spirit of the day and age in which we live in, there's another idol that has crept in. It's nothing new. It's just a new way. This idol has a way of establishing itself in our lives. Human feelings are one of the biggest idols today. Psychology gives feelings a respect and significance way beyond their due. Your feelings can be irrational, changeable, unpredictable, and even in incomprehensible. They can confuse with moods which are sometimes merely the product of something else or can be the byproduct of other things that need to be worked on. When major decisions and actions are based primarily on feelings, the potential for wrong answers is extremely high. In the world in which we live in where so much emphasis, and again, this is I know controversial. So, I've asked God to make sure that my heart comes across when I talk about these things today. But in the world and culture which we live in today where so much pride comes by being a victim. There is no justification for people being mistreated at all. There never is. There never is. Humanity is broken and we need a savior. Thank God Jesus went to Calvary and died for us. Thank God his blood that is shed has covered sins. Thank God that we have access to a savior who cannot who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. I'm so thankful for what Jesus has done. So there is never ever ever ever ever a justification for hurting someone. Never a justification for it. But at the same time, those who have been hurt, go to God. Run to him. Allow him to work with you. Allow him to work through the pain. Allow him to work through the hurts and that are there. Allow you to get to the realization that you are not what has been done to you. You are a child of the king. Hallelujah. If you're going to find your identity and find your identity in the Savior, find your identity in Jesus, that takes time. It takes time to work through these processes. It takes time to work through that. But our world embraces a victim mindset and mentality and has been set up as an idol in our day that is worshiped. the feelings how I feel more than what the word of God says more than what I should be doing in the obedience I need to walk on my feelings that are there idolatry of feelings has become evident when we bow down to them as facts as though feelings something actually made it so there's been a lot of things that I've felt in my life that ended up not being true I've said this many times if we're all honest there's been at least one or two moments points in our life when our feelings have misled us. I can't base it off of well, I just I feel it in my heart. Your heart is something that you can't really know. The word of God says that there are times when my feelings are so strong one way, but it goes contrary to the word of God. I have to bring my thoughts back to captivity into obedience to what the word says is true. So when our world says that everything in here is negotiable and then I lean into my feelings, I find myself drifting away into how I think it ought to be. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how I think it ought to be. It matters what is thus sayaeth the word of the Lord. This again has stood the test of time. This will be around long after I'm long and gone. I don't have to defend it. It's done real good all by itself. So there are times I'm telling you that you got to be careful that you don't make an idol out of your feelings. You don't make an idol of what has been done to you. At some point you have to come back to the truth that is in the word of God and remind yourself what this truth says about you. what this truth says about what you're supposed to do. When anything but God becomes the end point of your attention and activities, it's idolatry. People who marinate in their feelings are idol worshippers. As our bishop has said many times, you can never start with I and end up where where God wants you to be. I feel. I'm glad you have feelings, but what does the word say? I think. I'm glad you think, but what does the word say? I The moment you start with you, you're never going to get to where you need to be. You need to start here. The word says, God says, the book says, his commands say if you'll start that way, I promise you, you'll get to where you need to be. If long as you start with you, you're starting in the wrong spot. Many marriages are broken up today simply because one partner has decided that they're not happy and they're not fulfilled. As if these things and these feelings negate their wedding vows. And then what they don't realize as they set in motion generational things that are at play. The children involved in are exposed to hyperotic dating patterns of their parents which statistically puts them at risk to be sexually active at an early age. Like every sin of idolatry, this sin visits the iniquity of the parents upon the children. I know that's not a popular verse, right? You know, I read it to you in Exodus and a lot of you are like, "Well, that's just the Old Testament." I tell you what, the Old Testament, New Testament only took out the law, the consequences of the law. It abolished things. It didn't take away. God said, "I came not to abolish, but to fulfill the law that is there." So many people are living in such a way that they say that the things in the Old Testament no longer apply. But I'm here to tell you that there's such a things as generational curses that set down because there's cycle patterns of habits and environments that children are raised in. There's multiple generations of abuse and alcoholism and sexual promiscuity that have happened in generations and kids have been there. It's the only life they've ever known. It's the only experience and exposure they've ever had. God is always reaching. God is always desiring to bring them back into a right relationship. But there's a reason why there's multigenerational spiraling down where where kids have been exposed to this. They didn't have another option. It's all they've ever known. It's all they've ever seen. Thank God that that that there have been many in this room today that have broken those things out of their life because at some point they realized that there was a God that loved them and that there was a better way and there was a better choice that they didn't got to hung up on those things. Some of your stories in this room are heartbreaking. What God has brought you through and the and the ability for him to come in to a terrible situation and for you to remember, look, I don't have to be the sum total of those things. I can be a new creature in Christ. I don't have to find my identity in what the family has always done. I don't have to find my identity in being an alcoholic. I don't have to find my identity in being a sexual promiscuity person. I don't have to do the I can I can find my identity in him. I can bring myself into alignment with what his word says about me. I can be obedient. And in time, God will resurrect a new family tradition, a new family line. There are families in this room today that broke those things out. They didn't have they didn't at some point they stood up and say, "I don't have to be that. I don't have to be those things." The enemy is going to always tell you, "You're not worthy." The truth of the matter is, you're not worthy, nor am I. But he was worthy and he died so that you and I have the ability to live an overcoming life. I don't have to be stuck in those chains, bound by that stuff. I don't have to live that way. I have the right to choose. If I put him first and foremost in my life, the other things will come into align. It's an impossible thing to do the right thing and get the wrong results over time. Over time. And many of you know what I'm talking about. Many of you here today and you sit around your families in this house of God worshiping. But if you went to the generations before you, it's a broken mess. It is it is it is it is a terrible story there. But you you stood up. you had enough of an understanding of God's principles in your life to say it stops with me. It stops with me. Thank God that you had enough tenacity to say it stops with me. Thank God that you got a hold of his principles in his word and said I'm not going to be this way. I'm not going to allow these things. I'm not going to allow there to be another generation in my last name to fall prey to and victim to all that stuff there. It stops with me. Thank God for you. Thank God for you. Thank God that you did that. Thank God that you grabbed a hold of something that doesn't change and things are different and your children will never have an idea what it is to not be loved or to be they don't have a concept about being abused. They don't understand. THANK GOD THAT YOU STOP THAT CYCLE. Once we seek stimulation as an end point in life, when it fails, we can medicate ourselves to achieve greater stimulation or to survive our disappointment or feelings of meaninglessness. That's where addictions happen. Ladies and gentlemen, addictions are short-term answers to our problems. They never last. They never last. Why do we worship idols? Because worshiping idols, I'm attempting to limit God's location. If I can put God in a statue or in a church building, then I can just leave him behind when I don't want him to be around. Most every one of us in this room know this tra know this truth. Know this to be a fact that there's nowhere I go that God's not there. But we don't always live that way. We don't always live like the way. We don't ever we don't always act like that. That's a true statement in our life. God is everywhere. By worshiping idols, we are attempting to reduce God's power. If I can put him in a statue or a church building, he's less imposing and threatening and more convenient and more manageable. In Genesis 1:27, God talking to himself said, "Let us make man in our image." We got to be careful that we don't read that and decide that it says, "Let us make God in our image." People say, "My idea of God is my idea of God is." When I think about God, this is what I think. I just want to know who made you the authority. Who gave you permission to define God? I feel like he did a really good job defining himself in his word. It's a whole lot easier for me to just change my image of God than to let God change me into his image. A lot of people change their theology because they can't justify their lifestyle any other way. We want to make God like us. We want God in our lives in small pre-measured doses. I want God to bless me, but I don't want him to run my life. God calls that idolatry. There is no replacement for God. By worshiping idols, we are attempting to control God. If I can put God in a statue or a church building, then I can manipulate him. With an idol, the worshipper has more control than the thing being worshiped. Reminds me of the story of the little boy who's desiring a new bike. He was told no by his parents and he's trying to think every way that he can come up with getting this new bike. And he's walking home from school and he passes by the Catholic church that was there on the corner. And there on the little bench beside the bench was a little statue of the Mary, the mother of Jesus. and he comes up to this idea. He steals that statue, takes it home, puts it in his closet, writes a letter to God, says, "God, if you ever want to see your mom again, it's a funny story, but I think speaks to the heart of humanity. Often times, we want to control God. We somehow want to manipulate him. Somehow if we can convince him somehow that if I can do this or do that or if I can do enough good things, if I can justify that he should have to do this because haven't I been good enough? Haven't I haven't I've proven myself to you. We got to be very very careful with our language and our thought process because in doing so we can unknowingly make an idol out of our good works. We can unknowingly make an idol out of our ministries. God, I don't understand why I'm struggling. I don't understand why I'm facing all this. I mean, I've been committed to you. I've done everything you've asked me to do. I've given up my life. I moved here. I did this. I went to the mission field. I went and started I planted a church. I went and started and created a ministry. I went went and fed the homeless. I went and did all these things. God, surely surely that's enough. Surely you have seen. Before long, we end up worshiping the ministry instead of God. You can make an idol out of good things. I've seen many people in my life who had powerful ministries and all of a sudden they just fell off because they got wrapped up in the identity of the ministry instead of being identified by God. Their identity was in their ministry was in their talent was in their ability and all the things that they were doing for the kingdom of God. But somewhere along the way they misplaced God in the process. And guess who gets happy about that? our enemy. You deserve the worship. You deserve the accolades. They should tell you how good you are. They should know the sacrifices you make. You shouldn't be held accountable to those things. After all, look at all that you've given. Look at all that you've done. Whispering in your ear. You're never ever ever ever more like the devil than when you think you deserve some praise. There is no replacement for God in our lives. How do we take care of this? What do I do? What do I do, Pastor Kevin? If I if I feel like maybe you've identified some stuff, if I felt a little conviction today through your message, if I feel like maybe there's an idol in my life I didn't know was there, but after listening to you talk and thinking about this that maybe this maybe there might be an idol in my life, what do I do? I will tell you that Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart." The benefits of a relationship with God come through the joy of worshiping him. It's impossible. It's impossible to think about you and worship God. It's impossible. I'll take this a step further. It's impossible for you to be depressed and worship. You cannot truly worship God and be depressed. And I talked about that because I hang this up because so many people are dealing with dealing with anxiety and depression in our world. And it's a real thing. It's a it's it is real. This is real. I thank God that we have counselors that are full of the Holy Ghost and therapists full of the Holy Ghost that are helping work with people through this. And they are they are a gift to the church. But I'll tell you a secret. This doesn't take care of the sum total of everything, but I will tell you in the moment when you're at your darkest and lowest moment, if you can just start to worship, if you genuinely can turn your mind over to God and his goodness and mercy and love, I promise you, if just for a moment, it will go away because you cannot be depressed and worship God. Worship brings about something special. So, if you're working through these idols in your life, bring back some joy through worship. When I put God first, I experience the fulfillment of my life that I look for in so many other places. When I begin to worship God, it takes care of all the counterfeits I've allowed in my life. Don't settle for an image of God. That's just a shadow of the real thing. I want the real God in my life. I don't, you know, when I remember, and this is crazy because talking about idols, but I remember having when I was a kid, somebody give me an Easter bunny, chocolate Easter bunny. Do you know how monumentally disappointed a hollow chocolate Easter bunny is? I mean, monumentally disappointed. You go to bite that ear and the whole thing collapses. Yeah. I mean, that's what idols are. They're just hollow. There's nothing inside. There's nothing that's there. We often times fill ourselves we fill our lives up with these with these hollow things. They look good until you get close, until you really dig in, investigate, and find out they're just full of air. Worshiping God will bring deliverance into your life. John 8:36, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." The Bible promises that you will experience freedom like you've never felt if you will put God first in your life. Here's the deal. This is Bishop's quote. I say it all the time. It's impossible to do the right thing and get the wrong results over time. It's impossible to do the right thing and get the wrong results over time. The problem is we are impatient people. I've seen people come in and they'll be on fire for God. God will do a work in their life. They'll have an altar experience and God will deliver them from some things just like that. It'll take it away. Addictions are gone. Chains are broke. I've seen it happen. God God is a miracle working God. He still works miracles in our day. But more often than not, what God does is he starts the process here. And over time, through you making good choices and decisions, through you being obedient to his word and you applying his teaching and his preaching, over time, your life will change. There are some things that happen instantaneously, but by far and large, most things happen by you making good choices over time. Over time, you transform into who God wanted you to be. desired for you to be. It takes time. Stop being impatient. God has not forgotten you. He has never forgotten you. As I come to an end of this message today, and I still feel like God is desiring to do a work in this place, I want you to know that worshiping God will develop you. It'll develop you and I both into what he has designed us to be. 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all with unfailed vase, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord." When I put God first, I become the unique person that God meant for me to be in the first place. Because you will become what you love. You will become what you love. So, where is God at in your life? Is he truly the most important thing you have? Here's the reality. And this is Bishop and I were talking about this in the office before service. I came to this conclusion. You may think, well, Pastor Kevin, everybody knows that. Oh, maybe I'm a little slower than you. Give me a break. You're going to make my feelings well up and I'll get an idol there, and I have to pray about that. I just had this little moment. I hesitate to word use the word epiphany, but I it was close. Maybe it was just a piff. This hit me really, really, really strong. All the relationships in my life, every one of them, from friends like you guys here, you're my friends, to family, I have family here, to my immediate family, my children and my wife. Every one of those relationships, every one of them are expendable. I don't want it. I don't want to lose my wife. I don't want to lose my kids. I don't want to lose my family. I don't want to lose I don't lose relationship I have with you. But this is a true statement. They're all expendable. There's only one relationship that's not expendable. There's only one. There's only one I have to have. There's a lot that I want. There's a lot that I want. You know, I love this one. I'm crazy about her, but I can't put this above my relationship with him. So, there's only one relationship that I don't have a choice. Only one. Only one that I cannot absolutely do without. That's him. Anything else, anything else, if I put it ahead of him, it's an idol. Last scripture, 1 John 5:21, little children, keep yourself from idols. The title of my message is there's no replacement for God. So, as I close today, I want to ask you, what are you beholding? What are you beholdening to? Because whatever has your focus will eventually have your future. Whatever has your focus will eventually have your future. There's been so many things in my life that I've found myself being fixated on, thinking about it, processing it, and given enough time and scrambling together enough money, I was able to get it. It's a true statement. Whatever you are focused on will become your future. If your gaze is fixed on success, you'll become driven. But I promise you, in the end, you'll be empty. If you're fixed on culture, you'll eventually become trendy, but ultimately you're unstable. But if you're fixed on Jesus, you will become transformed. When we come into this place and we worship, and we're getting ready, they're going to sing a song in just a minute. I'm going to end this service. Worship isn't just the songs we sing. But ladies and gentlemen, this is the truth. Worship is the surrender that shapes us. Every time you lift your eyes towards him, you're being changed from one glory to the next. So I'm here to tell you today, you got to tear down every false image. Lay aside every substitute. There is no replacement for God, no imitation that can save, no idol that can satisfy. He alone is worthy and he alone is enough. He alone is worthy and he alone is enough. Put him first. Love him the most. Watch how your life and your family and your future will begin to take shape in his image. And if you're ready, stop chasing counterfeits. Start reflecting on him and the love that he has for you. Today is the day of salvation. So, as you stand with me today, I wonder if we can lift our hands and lift our voice. I wonder if we could start today becoming what we were designed to be worshippers in spirit and in truth. Jesus, I love you. I am so thankful, God, that you have already walked into this room and established your authority and dominion and power. God, I pray today that we would be aware of the things that have potentially become idols inside our life. God, they're not bad inside themselves. They're not gross negligence or sins that are there, but simply things that maybe we have misplaced or put in a inappropriate arrangement. Oh God, you must be Lord of all or you're not Lord at all. And I pray today that we would search our hearts and our minds. That we would we would confirm that we have kept you in your right and proper place as first and foremost. For God, we know whatever we focus focus on will become our future. I pray today, Lord, as we feel your presence move that your conviction power would draw us to a place where we can do evaluations and make sure that we're on the right path with you, oh Jesus. Oh Jesus, have your way in this place. Church, it's prayer time. This altar is open. They're going to sing a song. I think it's be good for us to evaluate our lives to find a place to prayer, to reflect, to make sure that we have kept him in a position that he belongs on the throne of our life. So it's prayer time, church. You come pray. They're going to sing worship God today. Let worship take us back to where we need to be in healings.