The Seat of Jealousy

Uh if you were not here at the Sunday school hour, I highly recommend you go back and listen uh to podcast this week on the message. Uh I do feel like it was more than just curriculum from headquarters and our Sunday school lesson. Uh I will teach this is not necessarily part two but I will be coming from the book of Ezekiel. But to better understand where I will come from today uh a good listen to that podcast will make this whole story come uh into completeness. But if you do have your Bibles turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 8. Ezekiel chapter 8 verse three. And I I want you to get the visual of of what God is doing in the life of Ezekiel and his people. God is about to show Ezekiel a vision. But listen at the words as they were pinned. I I do still believe all scripture is given by inspiration. Nothing's in this book by accident. Nothing is in this Bible that we can say, "Uh-uh, no, no, no." But I still believe line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there it's in here for a purpose. And so, look with me in Ezekiel 8. And he put forth the form of a hand. And he took me by a lock of my head. Has anybody in here ever been took by the lock of your head? Come on now. Y I was raised in Mississippi and my dad got a hold of my head a time or two. He said, "Get in here, boy. I'm f to show you something." Well, God just took Ezekiel by the lock of his head. And the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem. They're in exile. You're going to hear that several times today. They're in exile. God meets Ezekiel in exile by a vision. And God took him to Jerusalem to the door of the inner gate that looked toward the north. There was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy. I know that scripture right there doesn't make sense right now. Pastor, what are you going to preach? Well, just hang with me a little bit.

because I believe without a shadow of a doubt God dealt with me in my office this week. And I'm going to preach to you something that I have never delved into before, but I do feel like it's a revelation that God has given me for this hour as we conclude our 21-day fast. There is a call from God to this great church. And I'm going to teach and I'm going to preach to you today on the seat of jealousy. the seat of jealousy. If you would one more time, would you stretch forth your hands and pray and ask God to help you to comprehend and to hear the word of the Lord as it goes forth? It's in the name of Jesus, God, anoint your servant. I stand before you as just mere clay in the hands of the potter. Use me for your glory. God, help me to convey in just a short period of time. Help me to convey your heart today and may it have a lasting impact upon your people in Jesus' name. Amen.

To those of you that are watching online, we welcome you to the sanctuary today. Ezekiel in the portion that I just read is not in Jerusalem physically. Ezekiel is in exile with the rest of Judah. Yet God in his providence and in his wisdom and in his uh judgment lifts Ezekiel by the spirit and shows him what is happening at the very heart of worship. What God reveals is not Babylonian idolatry. It's not happening in the streets. But what God shows Ezekiel is compromise in the sanctuary. The most dangerous threat, hear me sec. The most dangerous threats to devotions, devotions unto God, commitments unto God, consecrations unto God are not always obvious sins. They are subtle rivals seated where only God belongs. That's right. It's a place reserved for God. But something else is seated there. God calls it by name to Ezekiel when he brings him in a vision and shows him Jerusalem. God names it the image of jealousy. Commentators note that this image was likely associated with Asher or Baal worship placed shockingly close to the temple. But beyond the physical idol, the deeper offense was this. Here's where I want to get in the Holy Ghost today. Something was allowed to sit in God's reserved place. The image did not replace God outright. It provoked him because they still went to the temple, but yet there was another God present. There were they they still recognized the traditions uh but yet something else occupied the seat. It existed alongside him. Yes. So what the spirit began to deal with me about is our God who we serve is not only angered by open rebellion and open sin. How many will agree that our God hates sin? But here's where I believe that God really dealt with me about this. He is provoked by divided affection. Right. All right. Jesus would echo this truth. No man can serve two masters. Hallelujah.

Do I need to remind us today that God is a jealous God and jealous is his name? Many believers struggle with the idea of a jealous God because if we're not careful, we associate jealousy with insecurity. But God's jealousy uh is covenantal. It's it's covenant, not emotional. It's not just on the surface. Uh it's with the matters of the heart. For scripture declares in Exodus 34:14, "For the Lord whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." That's right. James 4 and5, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy or yearns intensely for full devotion. According to the Old Testament scholars, God's jealousy is rooted in this, his holiness, his ownership, and his redeeming love. Yes, he rescued Israel. He made a covenant with them. He dwelt among them. And yet, in spite of all that God had done for them, another image was seated in his house.

Let me just present it like I feel today. The seat matters. Where you place the seat matters. Ezekiel doesn't just see an image. He sees its seat. He sees where it abides. He sees uh what's been reserved and placed in its pot. Uh that's where the seed or the image of jealousy was. The seed of jealousy. When I begin to look at this, what does a seat mean? If it's your seat, what does it mean? Well, if you come into my into my house, I have a chair. Yeah, ain't that right? I have a chair. Everybody knows that's pastor's chair. That's where I sit. And believe it or not, my wife has a chair. That's where she sits. Now, it gets occupied by others more frequently than mine does. But for the sake of my message today, a seat represents authority. Yeah, a seat represents permanence. A seat represents influence. But my question to this great church at the end and conclusion of this 21-day fast uh in January 2026, uh it's not do we believe in God, right? But my question to us is uh what else is seated in the inner gate of our hearts? uh what else is seated in our life that God over the last 21 days uh has tried to unseat because uh we may not can see that see it right now but there are modern images of jealousy do I need to help us today there are modern images of jealousy that if we're not careful God we get God in competition come on can I get can I get a plane with us today Modern images of jealousy.

Career without consecration. All right. Ministry without intimacy. Success without submission. Comfort without obedience. Identity without surrender. But you hear pastor today, anything that competes for your affection, anything that dulls your obedience, anything that reduces your dependence on God has become an image of jealousy. It's become of it becomes an image of jealousy. But when I read the commentaries and I began to look at the tragedy of Ezekiel, it's not just a sudden apostasy. It's not just something, brother Adam Maddox, that was sudden. It was a gradual tolerance. It was the gradual tolerance. It was the the gradual grind of life. and grab. It began with just a symbol, just the house of God, just culture, just convenience, just something helpful until the unthinkable would take place. An idol sat at the gate of God's presence. That's why could it be when I read 1 John 5:21 that Paul would warn little children keep yourselves from idols and what John do? He writes amen and puts the pen down. It's just simple. There's just some things you just keep yourself away from. There's just some things you don't entertain. There's just some places you don't go. There's just some things you don't listen to. Why? Because when you do uh you open the doorway uh for an idol of jealousy uh to take root uh right in the presence of God. God is not going to compete with our little idols. God is not going to compete with our affection. It's the idol that I'm preaching to today. The idol in the seat of jealousy. I I I I know I preached just a couple weeks ago on First Family Wednesday, but

I've come to help some parents today. You better get rid of those idols now in your home. You better get ready. You better take inventory of idols. What do you mean, pastor? What do you mean by by idols? We think when they when our kids get grown, we'll smash the idols in. All right. We'll start discipling and we'll start telling our children why we believe what we believe and do what we do when they get older. No, no, no, no, no. You better not smash idols when they become teenagers. You better go in. It's time we go in our homes and say, "You know what? I'm not going to tolerate that in this house any longer." Because if we're not careful, we'll end up feeding these idols. We'll keep feeding these things until they grow to become a monster. And we wonder why. Why did this happen? Why did that h I can tell you why? You can't wait for a later moment. Uh you can't wait for a better time. Uh there is a seed of jealousy that God is saying, "I want all of you. I want you without any without any competition." Oh God, don't smash the idols later. Keep yourselves from them now. Know what your kids are watching. Know what their internet search history is. Know who their friends are. Know who they're going to. Go the friends in the neighborhood. Know who their influences are. Be a watchman on the wall. Who do they spend a night with? Who do they communicate with on social media? What chat rooms are they in? Why? Why? I'm going to tell you why. Cuz if we're not careful, there can be a seat that is placed in their minds and in your minds that's in competition with God. Little voice is competing. Do I really have to? Do I really need to? But the call for me to get as your pastor in this hour is that the seat of jealousy. Uh the only way that that seed of jealousy is handled uh is if men and women, families, boys and girls uh say to themselves, "I am going all in in my relationship with God. There's nothing that you can ask of me that I won't do. There is nothing." As I entered into this new seat, we're on day 21. Uh the spirit said to me, "Remove the images. Remove the idols. vacate the seat. Restore the throne to the one and tr one and only true God. God is not act asking you for partial loyalty. He's not asking you for weekend visitation. What God is saying to this great church as we exit this 21-day fast, who is seated on the throne of your life? He's not negotiating with shared authority. No. Could that be why? Could that be why the struggle to live for God has become so evident? Could it be why that the discouragement has settled in on you and you're getting a little weary, but the Bible says don't be weary and welloing. You will reap if you you just got to evaluate the seat. You got to evaluate who's sitting in the seat of authority in your life. Is there a seat of jealousy uh that the gods of this world are sitting upon uh or is that seat reserved for the jealous God? Uh for here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. That seat cannot be occupied by two, but it is reserved for one. The seat of jealousy. Oh God, help me to convey God sent me to this pull pit this morning to challenge you. God wants undivided hearts. You cannot go through the rest of this year with divided hearts. That's right. You got to make up in your mind, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. As for me and my house, this is how we're going to live. This is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to lead our house. Why? Because God is seeking exclusive allegiance. Exclusive allegiance. He does not share well. Anybody got any kids in here that don't share? Well, my m my That's my toy. That's my That's my What if you could hear the spirit today? Jesus is trying to put something in you by his spirit that says, "Son, you're mine. Quit trying to play in the world. Quit trying to live in both worlds and try to be fulfilled out there. No, no, no, no. The spirit is saying, "You're mine. You're mine. My blood redeemed you. You don't even own your own body. It's mine. I want exclusive allegiance from you. I want everything. I want the mind, the body, the soul, the spirit." And when you start living like that, when you start agreeing like that, when you come in agreement with the word, Ezekiel was in exile.

He wasn't behind a pull pit. Ezekiel was in bondage with the rest of them. But what I saw in the spirit this morning as I preached in our Sunday school lesson that it does not matter where you are in exile, in prison, in adverse situations, right? that God, brother, God can meet you right where you are. God can raise up a prophet in the middle of exile and everything else going all around that's pointing to the abominations of the people, the disobedience of the law, the wayward transgressions of everyone around. But God can raise up a little prophet that says, "I've got a plan. I'm going to put a new heart in them. I'm going to take out that stony heart and I'm going to put something new in them. But for in order for me to do that, they've got to dis they've got to destroy the seat of jealousy. That image of jealousy has got to be dealt with. Why? Because he's looking for total dependence. He's looking for total dependence. Every step I take, I'm dependent on him. Anybody ever been dependent on somebody else? Anybody have had surgery before? Can I get away? Anybody say if you've had surgery, say yes. Anybody ever had to be dependent on somebody? Yes. You don't realize how much you appreciate somebody until you're dependent on them. Can't go to the bathroom without somebody. Can't get in the shower without somebody. Can't get to the kitchen table without somebody. Can't get out of a chair with for somebody. What if we start living our lives like this? Brother Zack, I can't even walk without you. I can't even talk without you. I can't even live without you. I can't even make this decision without I'm dependent on you, God. When we get so dependent upon God, that seed of jealousy, uh that idol that we have replaced God with will begin to be destroyed. And we let God know I'm dependent on you, oh God. I can't do these surgeries without you, God. I can't lay these blocks without you, God. I can't build these houses. I wish I had a little help in here. I can't work on these computers without you, God. I can't do what I'm trying to do without you, God. I can't build a rocket or a missile without you, God. I can't wire a house without you, God. I can't put a security. I can't make a hamburger without you, God. I can't run a restaurant without you, God. I'm just looking and picking people out. I know what you I can't run a warehouse without you, God. I can't sell a firecracker without you, God. I can't sell a strawberry without you, God. Why? Because I'm dependent on him. And the moment I become undependent on him and dependent upon myself, there's an idol of jealousy that's erected in his seat. There's a seat of jealousy that will erect. And if we're not careful, we think we did it. We think we can get ourselves out of it. We think we can we get that contract. Oh, I did. No, no, no, you didn't. He did it. There was 10 other people that turned in the same paperwork that you did. But God said, "I'm closing the eyes of those." And I'm pointing my finger of favor towards you. I'm putting you I'm setting you before men. I'm bringing you before women. I'm bringing you before audiences. Why? Because you're dependent upon me. Amen. I get concerned when when ministries and when careers and when we think we're all that in a bag of chips. I get concerned when we start me me. Well, you better. No, it's not my ministry. It's his. It's not my calling. It's his. A sacrifice. Hear me. What what would Paul write to the church at Rome?

Present your bodies a living sacrifice. A sacrifice that still controls the seed is not surrendered. When you present your bodies a living sacrifice, he orders your steps. He's the one who consumes you. He's the one who does what he wills. Say, I want to control the seat, God. God don't need you controlling the seat of your life. He does. He controls that seat. God would show Ezekiel the image. Why would God show Ezekiel the image to a people that were in exile? Because God always meets you at your point of what seems to be destruction, abandonment, forgotten. God, you've forgotten. Oh, God hadn't forgot about you. God meets you in places to reveal to you what the issues are so that they can be dealt with and removed. God dealt with his people through the prophet Ezekiel. Yes, through judgment, but judgment that was connected to redemption. Good have mercy. If you only knew that it seems like God is judging and God is kind of rebuking and God's, you know, he's he's working on me. God is maybe switching your legs a little bit trying, but You know what God's trying to really do? He's trying to bring you back into covenant with him. He's trying to get that image of jealousy dealt with that that seat and that throne for the jealous God that sits high and looks go. He looks low. He's trying to let you see. Son, daughter, you've got something else sitting there. You've let something else exalt itself above me. God would show Ezekiel the image because he wanted it removed. God creates and lets services like this happen to show you right where you are. Wow. He's so mindful of us that he says, "I know it looks like things are working against you, but it ain't. All things are working together for the good. You mean you allowed this and you mean this transpired and you mean, oh yeah, it's for your good? You can't see it right now, but I've allowed some of this to go on. Because I want some things in your life dealt with because you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. You've been bought. You You don't even You don't even have the deed to your own heart. I bought that with my own blood.

So this morning, the spirit is asking of us, who sits in the seat of influence in your life? We better be careful when the most carnal people in the church and outside the church have the seat of influence in our life. I'm trying to help some. We better be careful what voices we listen to that influence us. Because if we're not careful, we'll listen to the wrong voice. And that seed of influences by someone that hadn't been praying, that hadn't been fasting. They're telling you to leave church and they're telling you to go here and do that. Uh-uh. You better listen to this pastor this morning. I'm telling you, who sits in the seat of influence in your life? You ought to thank God for a brother and a sister that's been praying, that's been fasting, that'll say, "Hey, yeah, yeah, you better not do that. You better think long and hard because there's a seat of jealousy." There's a seat that you don't see right now. Oh, Jesus.

The spirit asked me this morning, what's taking the place of trust? We trust Benjamin more than we do Jesus. I heard I heard it said recently, money does it answer all things. But I'm just telling you, when times get tough, the struggle gets real. I just want to know I've got my trust in a place in the seat that's been reserved for the jealous God of the universe, Jesus Christ. Not some idol, not some idol of bail, not some idol of success, not some idol of entitlement and wealth. No, it's in a place of trust where Joel, Job, I'm sorry, would say, "Though he slay me, still I'll trust." How does a man with 10 funerals in one day look at a jealous God and say, "I don't understand what you're doing, God, but my there's a seat reserved in my heart for you. I'll not go to idol worshiping. I'll not turn my back on you. I'll not curse you and die. But I've got a place in my heart. It's a place of trust that's reserved for you." The spirit asked me this morning, Aresh, and I'm going to bring it to you again. Where has your devotion been divided? What's divided your devotion to him? What's divided the influence, the seed of influence? What what's in there? What's playing around? What's trying to occupy space in your mind, in your heart, in your what's trying to inhabit, have a dwelling place in you that would cause your allegiance to be divided? God is such a jealous God. And you may say, why, pastor? Because he loves you too much to share you with lesser gods. If you didn't matter and if you didn't mean anything, he would say, "All right, go do what you want to do. You don't love me, so what? Go. I'll find somebody that would No, with love and with compassion and with mercy, he'll say, "Oh, I love them. I love them too much to see them walk past my hand of mercy. I love them." So, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll send them into exile for a little bit and I I'll I'll raise up a prophet in the midst of them and I I I I'll speak to them a prophetic word and I I'll show them where my place should be. How long has it been since you've allowed the seat the seat to be filled with him? The jealous God, the righteous one, the one who loves us so much that he will not share us with anything less.

As I come to a close this morning, I'm giving you what God gave me for this hour. I prayed this morning. I prayed last night. God, there would be those in this house today that would walk into this service and they have been struggling trying to find their place and trying to find where they belong, trying to find God, what's my next step? What's my And I'm going to tell you what you're going to do in this altar service. Quit trying to find your place. And you need to find where his place is in your heart. Well, I want to fit here. I want to do No, no, no, no. Where's he at in the equation? Where's he at in your life? Where does he sit? Where is his seat in your life? Because if he's not in the seat that's reserved for him and him alone, you'll always compete with other gods. You'll there will always be a competition. There will always be an an unsettlement. And there will be an always a conflict and a war. But if you'll just lay aside the divided allegiance, lay aside the thoughts and the the the division in the heart. Say, you know what, God? I'm not going to serve you just out of convenience. I'm I I'm not serving you. No, I'm doing this because I love you. You love me so much that you bled and died for me while I was yet a sinner. You died for me. You bled and you purchased me. You redeemed my flawed flesh. You redeemed me when I was unworthy. You redeemed me when I had nothing. You redeemed me when I was I was at the bottom of the You saw me when I was in my mother's womb. You knew who I would be and who I would be. You purchased me in spite of my flaws. And so today, God is asking of you, will you look and examine the seat in your life? The seat of jealousy. Deceit. God's not in a competi. There is no rival to our God. There is no competition to our God. His name is jealous. He is the consuming fire in jealous God. And he has put a spirit inside of us, the Holy Spirit that would pull us in and lead us into the truth of a relationship with him.

as you stand all over this house. Oh God, I don't want another image seated in the house. I don't want another image sitting on the altar of my heart. If today you are standing now, but if you've been seated in this audience today and maybe God's dealt with you that I haven't done and I I haven't allowed him to become lord of all. I don't want him to just be lord of part of my world and part of my No, no, no. He's wanting to be lord of all. King of Kings and Lord of all. 2026 must be a a year of allin. All in. All in. I'm all in, pastor. I'm all in. God. I'm all in, church. If you would just eliminate plan B right now, you would fall in love with plan A. But as long as you keep an escape route, well, if this don't add up and this don't work, I uh you got to clear the stage. Got to get rid of them idols. You got to get rid of those mind. No, no, no. This is where I belong. God, I'm going to make you the ruler and the reigner of the heart. I'm going to allow you to sit on the throne of my life, the throne of my heart. There will not be another God beside you. There will not be another God beside that. Just come to me, brother. He's here, but there's another God beside. He said, "I'll have no other God beside me." Think about that. God's here and God said, "I'll not have another God beside me." Could that be our problem? Could that be why we're frustrated with God and what he's doing? We've got another God beside him. But what if we today destroy the image? We take him off the seat of jealousy and say, "I'm gonna fall in love all over again with you, Lord. I'm gonna fall. You are everything. I wouldn't be here if it had not been for you. I would not be in existence today if it had not been for you." The day you fall in love with him will be the day there will be no God beside him. The day you surrender your heart and say, "God, I give you my heart. You occupy the seat of jealousy in my heart." He's a jealous God and he wants his seat, but he will not have another god beside him. I want to open this altar today for those that would say to God, not to me. God, I've let some other things come and sit on the seat that's provoked you to jealousy. It's provoked God to jealousy because he loves us so much. Do you realize, you know, I've got a little jealousy for my wife? I'm not insecure in our relationship, but let some dude try to be a little more friendly than he needs to be. I got claws you not know of. I got a belt. I got a man, I got a bunch of guns. I know I put that in a human connotation, but sometimes I feel like that's the way God looks at us. Yeah. My God, I love them and they're divided. I love them and they're getting a little too friendly over here. I love them, but they're they're flirting with this over here. And I'm like, you better watch it. God's sitting there said, you better watch out. I've got my spiritual arm ready. He don't even need his. He just needs his finger. God's so jealous of us. And if we under It's a jealous love. a jealous love that wants to protect you from all harm. It's a jealous love that he puts upon his people that says, "You are mine, not reserved for anybody else. You are mine, and I want to sit in the seat that's reserved for me." So today, we're going to handle some images. We're going to handle some gods that sit beside him because nobody in this room today would say, "I don't love God. I love God. Nobody's going to say there may be. Let me say that. There could be I don't love God. But most of us in this room would say I love him. But does our love does our love send a message to him of our loyalty and our dependence on him? We love him, but we love him with strings attached. We love him, but we love him with partial commitment. We love him, but as long as I get to do my own thing. God, I want you to use me, but I want to call the shots, and I want to do it my way. A love for a jealous God says, God, if there's anything in my life that needs to be corrected, show me. Send a man of God. Send a word from God. Let him speak. That's what God did to the children of Israel in exile. He raised up Ezekiel. He raised up a prophet. And he said to them, "I'm going to take out that old stony heart. I'm going to put my spirit inside of you." That would be fulfilled at Pentecost. And today, the stony hearts of of our souls are still being dealt with by the same spirit that God showed Ezekiel. As you lift your hands and you lift your heart, I wish you'd just say today, I give myself away. I give myself back to you, oh God. I come in relationship. I believed upon your name. I was buried in that