Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your
host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing
to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford.
I am the pastor of the Potter's House. For those of you who are new to joining, I basically
take the sermons that I have preached in the past few months and I upload them as a podcast
and I will be getting them eventually sorted out to be videos on YouTube. Right now they
are available on audio on YouTube as well. We are going to continue to work that out
and get broader and broader reach so we can get the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ
out to as many people as possible.
Today's message that I put together is called toxic ideas that are polluting your mind.
The one that we are going to really focus in on today is idolatry because it is so prevalent
in our society and we all come in contact with it daily. The text we are going to be
working off of is going to be Genesis 3 verses 1 through 7. Basically as I am putting this
message together, some ideas and ideologies came to mind that are powerfully at work in
our world and I wanted to kind of look at some of those and the first one I was going
to take a crack at here is idolatry. So as individuals we are impacted, shaped and motivated
in accord with weather and how we embrace these ideas. We want to examine these in light
of the Bible and make sure we get some sort of scriptural context so that we can combat
them in our lives.
So let's go ahead and jump in. The first of these ideas we are looking at as I mentioned
is idolatry or the worship of idols. An idol can be an image, it can be any material object
that represents a person's placement of worship. Idolatry can be anything that we place above
our God. Anything that absorbs your heart or imagination more than God. We need to guard
our hearts against these human tendencies and this is something that is warned about
throughout both the Old and the New Testament.
So let's take a look at our text in Genesis chapter 3 verses 1 through 7. Now the serpent
was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said
to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the
woman said to the serpent, we may eat of any fruit of the trees in the garden, but God
said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither
shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die,
for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God
knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it
was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took
of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate.
And then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked. It's a troubling
piece of scripture and a lot of people have a hard time dealing with this reality because
one of the things that this piece of scripture shows us is that even from the beginning man
was marked by sin. This very act spreads down into all of our lives with the reality that
we were born into sin. So in 2022 season of the TV show, America's Got Talent, we see
many highlighted moments but one of the not the least of these moments is something that
we notice with the performance of the 11 year old Madison Taylor Baez of Yorba Linda, California.
And so I like to watch some of these golden buzzer moments and different things that come
from some of these shows on YouTube because I just I find it really interesting to hear
you know, tremendous talent, whether it's singing or whatever else, right. But rather
than having a regularly scheduled audition, Madison had been invited by the producers
to sing for the audience during one of the breaks from the scheduled audition. Only then
was she invited up on the stage to perform. She absolutely stunned the audience and the
judges alike with her extremely emotional rendition of the Christian song Amazing Grace.
Madison sang it with authority, passion, and she believed in every word that she was celebrating
and that she was celebrating the truth that it's conveyed in those lyrics. So moving
was the performance that the judge and former Deal No Deal host, Howie Mandel, reflexively
reached the golden buzzer, assuring the young Madison a place in the live show competitions
where they have a chance to win a million dollars. So here she is. She's just a member
of the crowd. She gets ushered on stage. She sings in this amazing thing happens to her.
The accolades come running in from all sides, from the hosts, from the judges about how
amazing this performance was. Terry Crews is quoted as saying incredible. And then you
know, Simon Callas is, you know, he's also quoted that he mused sarcastically, I normally
leave during the break because people do sing. So this is actually the opposite. He says
that the singing drew him back into the room. And so Mandel then proclaimed, everybody is
going to know your name, young lady. What I find interesting about this, the strong
reactions that the judges had to this performance is their tone deafness to the reality of the
lyrics. So Crews found their performance incredible. Cal was drawn back into the room by the power
of it. Mandel exclaimed that he had wanted to be sure everybody would come to know her
name. One critical component of the performance was left utterly ignored. The very subject
of the song was not dealt with. Young Madison had a, you know, it was has a talented voice.
She was extolling the virtues of the God that created her, the God that created all of us.
And his amazing grace and how, you know, he, you know, he came to the earth to set us free
from the bondage of sin. As the words say, he saved a wretch like me. This, of course,
was not something that, you know, Simon Cowell was going to get involved with, right? It's
a talent competition. It's not a church service. But what, you know, like I mentioned, what
a picture of tone deafness and how this, this amazing song that cuts through and it's, it's
so widely known, but people will so easily ignore the power of those lyrics. How lost
is humanity to ignore the power of God's amazing grace. The fact that we're fallen creatures
living in a fallen world, the audience, the judges should have jumped to their feet first
and foremost to celebrate and laud and praise God's amazing grace and extol our Lord and
savior. That's what Terry Crews should have done when he said that he found it incredible.
He should have praised God. It would have been a message that, that, that it should
have been the message that drew Simon Cowell back into the room. Should have been the name
of the most high God that Howie Mandel would want everybody to know and recognize. So while
human talent is no left to God, a gift from our God, its purpose, like any of his other
gifts is to bring, is to draw people and focus them in on the Lord who bestowed it. They,
they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. That comes from Romans chapter one, verse
25 and James one 17. It says every good and perfect gift gift is from above coming down
from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows.
So as we think about this amazing illustration, let's dive in with my first point, which is
ideas are powerful things. Ideas have consequences. Hitler's Germany is, is a picture of one worldview.
And then you have Roosevelt or Truman's America, which is a very different worldview. Who can
lead you know, the society to wonderful development. Democracy can cure, you know, cancer and can
put man on the moon. Whereas communism, fascism, you know, these are theories of social organization
based on the holding of all property with the with communism, it's holding it all in
common with the actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or the state.
But another definition of communism could be that this is a system of social organization,
which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated
by a single and self perpetuating political party. Fascism is only slightly different
about that. But let's think about some other ideas of radical ideologies before we really
dive into the difference between Germany and the US during the period of World War Two.
So these ideas of communism, the isms, stuff like that have caused the death of millions
and in many, many people in many countries. But if you think of idea of just deism itself,
where people think God doesn't intervene, the beliefs and the existence of God on the
evidence of reason and nature only with the rejection of supernatural revelation, revelation,
this kind of idea doesn't give any morality to a Godhead because God does not intervene.
And if he's not willing to intervene and apply justice and judgment, well, then he's not
going to reward someone who lives a pure life. It's a very interesting idea that the idea
of deism as I touched on with communism, it's got its little brother, socialism, which is
a redistribution of wealth. We can look to examples of socialism with the Occupy movements.
These are ideas that are really just Trojan horses to communism and eventually totalitarianism.
So when you think of even other faiths to a certain extent, there's a certain faith,
Mormonism, that believes that as man is, God once was and as God is, man may become. That's
one of the big tenants that separates Christianity from Mormonism is the fact that there's this
belief that you can ascend to Godhood yourself. In Islam, you have a very, very strong sense
of fatalism, which is not not rooted in Christianity. They say in Shala, which is as God wills,
which we do believe God's will be done, but we do not believe that we are without free
will. In fascism and Nazism, you can refer to these systems of government, these political
movements because they're led by a dictator. But typically what ends up happening with
these two, these ideas is you have forceful and violent suppression of dissidents, the
promotion of nationalism and often racism. Nazis more specifically refer to the principle
method of the Nazis, Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany. The thing that people miss
with fascism is that they don't understand that fascism and communism are so closely
aligned. In fascism, you have a government that is controlled by businesses fundamentally.
There's still a leader of the fascist government that basically controls the businesses, but
he manipulates the government. He organizes the government through monopolistic businesses.
And then they control everything there, but it's still a totalitarian government style.
These ideas all have something very similar in common too. They all place a man in the
place of the Godhead. They place the power of the creation above the power of God. So
when we look at the root of these worldviews, the world is attempting to provide a comprehensive
understanding of reality. It's trying to find a bias or like a mindset that's going to be
biased towards tendencies that they approve of. That's going to be using those biases
to determine how we interpret life. And don't get me wrong, within Christianity, you have
the simple understanding that you have to accept that God is a father. Jesus is the
son of God. He came to earth. He died for our sins and he rose from the grave. Those
are the tenets of Christianity and they lead to freedom in Christ. So let's take a look
real quickly at the background of Hitler because we want to understand how an ideology like
his could grab ahold of a nation and lead to the death of millions. He was born in 1889
and he was born on a land that was then known as Austria-Hungary. As a young man, he fought
in World War I and was decorated for his valor and service to his country. But after the
war, he entered politics and launched a failed coup against the leadership in Germany. For
this transgression, he was imprisoned and after his release, he wrote a book bearing
the title Mein Kampf. That man, of course, being Hitler in his book was full of these
dreadful ideas that ended up altering the course of the entire 20th century, leading
to the millions of deaths of Jewish people and on many others as well. The power of ideology
is seen in the story of Adolf Hitler. It doesn't start or stop with Hitler, though. Through
history, we see the rise of ungodly ideologies that have ravaged the world. Whether those
stories or those tales are about Lenin, Stalin, Mao's communism, destroying tens of millions
of people, even now we are seeing millions suffer because of the new secular humanist
pagan religions that cloak themselves in the pseudoscience of neo-Darwinism. They start
from a premise that's unprovable, to drag people away from a godly creator so that they
can live a life full of sin and free of judgment. We look for our answers from the atheistic
scientists, the scholars, the politicians. These are the robed men. They quite literally
wear white lab coats. They're robed men. They're the clerics of these new ideologies. Our politicians
are the bishops and the leaders. Is there any doubt that we are worshiping ideologies
that run contrary to God's word? So much of what is posited or placed in society by politicians
is really just stuff that comes from the inside of these men that we give our lives over to.
I'm not leaning to any political party. I believe that there's a party that you can
reside in, and that's God's party. I believe that if you're a Christian, you vote according
to your conscience, and your conscience is based off the word of God and not man. Everything
comes up to you to follow through on God's word and to follow through with how you live
your life. But how do these ideas lead to idolatry? How can they lead you to idolatry?
The consequences of the fallen man can be seen by their actions. When we look back in
the garden, we see Eve deceived by the serpent, the lure of knowledge and power to become
like God, knowing good and evil. This temptation won over Adam and Eve and led them to the
sin and led to sin entering into the world and affecting all of us. In Genesis 3 verses
3 through 5, it said, But God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in
the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said
to the woman, You shall will surely not die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your
eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. The idea led to a thought
life that was unbridled and eventually idolatrous and full of sin. We have to be governed in
our own minds. We have to govern our lives and our mind and our thought life, or else
will allow our hearts to deceive us and lead us in the trap of rebellion. How often do
you sit there and think about something that you know is wrong and eventually convince
yourself into doing it? I'll use a simple, simple example. Let's say you're on a diet,
you're trying to eat healthier, you're trying to change your diet. You don't want to be
on a diet, but you want to eat better. But then you sit there and think, man, a Dairy
Queen Blizzard sounds really good right now. Man, does a Dairy Queen Blizzard seem really
good. I really like that Dairy Queen Blizzard, you know, the one with like the score Blizzard
with the Reese's added to it. It's just, you know, oh, it's such a good ice cream. It's
so tasty. And then you keep saying that stuff into your head and before long you find yourself
driving down to Dairy Queen and getting the ice cream and paying over, you know, like
almost eight bucks for the darn thing for like a small. And then after you eat it, you
feel horrible because you allowed your thought life to build and build and build and build
and leading you into sin. I'm not saying ice cream sin. Don't get me wrong. I've just,
it's just an example of how your thought life can betray you. In first Samuel 15, 23, it
says for rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption is as an equity and idolatry
because you have rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected you from being
king. So the God players in the, in the center of every human heart is a throne. It is always
occupied. Not a person in the world is without a throne and someone occupying that throne
at all times. The throne can only be occupied by God, the self or the prideful self, the
self centered ego. If God is in throw, the prideful egos dethrone and the human spirit
is correctly positioned under God and with the, and with people. But when the ego is
self enthroned, God is ignored while man who is now out of position in his world plays
God. How much of what is going on in society today is man playing God? Everything that
the government says they're going to do to save you. It's amazing how they use those
words. We're going to help people do this. We're going to help you live a life that's
full and we're going to help you to do this and help you do that. Yet when a Christian
comes and offers you freedom in Christ, you say, I don't believe in that stuff. Why would
I want to follow some rules that God has? Then as soon as you're done blowing that guy
off, you go and you say, Oh, I really like this politician. Of course I'm going to follow
their rules and wear a mask and stay however many feet away from it because they've got
my best interest at heart and they only want to do what's right for society and the greater
good. So you're so willing to accept the, the tenants of faith demanded by a political
party or by an organization that she, that allows you to live your life in sin. As long
as they're not touching your sacred cow, you're along the allowed to, you're, you're more
than happy to go along. But how wicked of an idea is that when you, when you tell the,
the one true living God, I don't have time for you and your rules, but I will gladly
put myself under the bondage of that man, that creations rules. So ideas that are contrary
to a God centered view rooted in the power in a powerful spiritual. So we can begin to
make ourselves the idol, right? Our identity might be one of the biggest idols worship
today. We have largely abandoned who we are in Christ and placed our identity in other
things, whether it be our social media following or our position at work, our abilities, our
skills, the achievements we are after many have their identity wrapped up in the wrong
thing. I've fallen victim to this where I, for you know, for a long time chased, you
have certain positions of work, certain positions of work that would have taken me away from
my family and would have taken me away from my church and my responsibilities at the time,
all for thinking that I was doing, you know, what God might want me to do, which is move
up, but in reality always led me away from his will and his purpose for my life. And
Ephesians two, two, it says in which you once walked following the course of this world,
following the Prince of the power of air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons
of disobedience for some, their identity has become an idol. It may not be a physical object.
We tend to associate with idol worship, but this subtle form of idolatry is often worshiped.
Many have placed more value on who they are rather than in God, who they are meant to
be in Christ. We see that today, you know, God's not trying to take away your, you know,
your individuality, but yet we are all supposed to move closer to be more like Christ according
to the word of God. So if we're supposed to be continually moving closer to Christ through
the Holy spirit in the, in, in the divine nature of our Lord, then that means that on
the edges you're becoming more and more like Christ. And yes, you are changing as a person.
It's called sanctification. You become more and more Christlike. You're more concerned
with the loss. You're more concerned, concerned with helping the hungry. You're more concerned
with seeing people get her, sorry, seeing people get saved and turning from a life of
sin. People tend to twist, distort, seduce, and deceive themselves when they're dealing
with idolatry with the advent of social media. Almost anyone has the opportunity to become
a famous or gain influence, even if it's only like 300 followers or less or something like
that. All it takes is one viral video or one hot take. And suddenly you can have thousands
and thousands of followers. Past generations tend to idolize their jobs and their social
status. Younger generations are more drawn towards fame and influence. This has led to
many endless chases, thus creating another modern day idol. Rather than pursuing God
and Christ, we are wrapped up in a pursuit of fame, status, power, identity. These are
tools that the devil can use to twist, distort, seduce, and deceive you into a life away from
God and one headed directly towards God's judgment. John 8.44 says, you are of your
father the devil and you will do as your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning
and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in them. When he lies, he speaks
out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. Genesis 3.1 says,
now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
And he said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the
garden? Second Corinthians 11.3 says, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve
by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to
Christ. And finally, in second Corinthians 4.4 it says, in their case, the God of this
world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God. We have to be able to identify
that the devil will use these tactics. The devil will use whatever is distracting you
to take you away from God, hopefully to take you away from God up to the point where you
can't come back. We also know that he is shrewd, cunning and manipulative. Satan masquerades
as an angel of light. This reminds me of the allure of the shining city lights, the lights
that block out the majesty of the heavens and trap many to only look at the glitz and
glamour of man's creation. So we just recently all got to enjoy, if you live in the Northern
hemisphere, we got to enjoy a tremendous aurora borealis event. There was a solar event that
was quite amazing. Many people got to see the Northern lights in areas where they typically
don't get to see the Northern lights. And I remember looking at it and I only got to
barely see it because I go to bed early and I wasn't going to stay up late enough to
see it apparently. But what I saw was fairly limited, veiled lights. Really kind of looked
like slightly green, misty smoke. And I remember thinking about, man, if I would have gone
to a darker area, if I would have gotten away from the city, we call them dark sky areas
because we've polluted our cities with light all through the night. And that light just
takes away the majesty of the sky. But we're so happy to live in these self-contained little
bubbles away from the presence of God and the stars, just the majesty of the stars.
I just think it's a very interesting thing how we hide ourselves in the glitz and glamour
of our own creation. In 2 Corinthians 11, 14 it says, and no wonder for even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light, because reality is the battlefield is in our mind. In Ephesians
2, 3 it says, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out
the desires of the body, the mind, we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind. We want to hide ourselves from the light of God. We want to allow ourselves
to live according to our own will. In Ephesians 4, 17 it says, now this I say and testify
in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
And then in 2 Timothy 2, 26 it says, and then they may come to their senses and escape from
the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. We need to escape the
world and the world's idolatry, whether that be your social media, whether that be your
job, whether that be your hobbies that take you away from church or take you away from
what you know to be right. We have to look at our attitude, our morals, our addictions
that are enslaving us to the God of this world, to the devil. But we also have to remember,
especially us as Christians, the whole point of everything is the redemption of God. And
Jesus Christ can deliver anybody who comes to him, just like he delivered us as we gave
our lives to him. This is a legal and comprehensive action, the deliverance that comes from Christ.
And Hebrews 2, 14-15 it says, Since therefore the children share in the flesh and the blood,
he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one
who has power over death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who were through fear
of death were subject to his lifelong slavery. There's no fear in death because in Christ
death has been beaten. In Colossians 1, 12-14 it says, Giving thanks to the Father who
has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and the light, he has delivered
us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom
we have redemption in the forgiveness of sin. The sin has been covered. When you come to
Christ all your transgressions are covered, just like the song Amazing Grace. You're washed
clean by the blood of the Lamb and you can have forgiveness of your sins. In Romans 4,
25, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justifications? Jesus was
lifted up on the cross. He was the perfect sacrifice as sinless man, the Son of God who
died so that we might be able to in him be set free from the bondage of sin and accept
that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. In Romans 12, 2 it says, Do not be conformed to this
world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, by the testing that you may discern
what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Now you must, you
might think, wow, there's been a lot of Bible verses in this message and that's true. There's
been a ton because the reality is, how are you ever going to discern if you don't read
the word of God? And I challenge you, if you're unsaved, give first, give your life to Christ.
If this isn't convincing enough to you, though, read the Bible, read the word of God and let
the Holy Spirit convict your heart and lead you to Christ. We must claim this by faith
though. Faith is taking God at his word. In Ephesians 4, 17, Now this I say and testify
the Lord, you must no longer walk in the Gentiles as the Gentiles do in the futility of their
minds. I already read that. And the reality of it is, is that when you come to Christ,
you can't just think the way the world thinks. You can't just think this politician is going
to save the day. This leader is going to save the day. That singer has really got it all
figured out. That movie star really knows what's going on. You need to look to God for
your answers, not to men, not to pastors, not to preachers, to the word of God and allow
the Holy Spirit to deal with you. And then, you know, the whole purpose of the church
is to allow the fellowship, the brethren to sharp, you know, iron sharpening iron. We
all come together in the word to challenge each other so that we can grow towards God
in our grow in Christ likeness and sanctification. In Second Corinthians 10, five, it says we
destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every
thought captive to obey Christ. And First Corinthians 2 16, it says, for who has understood
the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So as we come
to an end, we want to remember to get that it's important that we work towards deliverance
in our mind. And we only get that through the remission of sin. We get that through
repentance, accepting Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and praying that God will continue
to help us in our mind and that battle of our mind. We have to stand against false teaching
in Second Timothy three eight. It says, just as jam, James and Jambres opposed Moses. So
these men also oppose the truth. Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
You can see those who are corrupted by the fruit that their life is creating. First Timothy
six five, it says in the constant friction among the people who are depraved in mind and deprived
of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. There will be people who are
striving to use the gospel message just simply for gain. There are people who will dabble
on the edges. They're rock stars who will get saved. And then you'll start seeing that.
Are they really saved? Are they really living for Christ? So we have to avail ourselves
to God's truth in Colossians one twenty one through twenty two. It says, and you who were
once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds has now reconciled in his body of flesh
by his death in order to present you wholly and blameless above reproach before him. And
Ephesians four twenty three and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. So in the end,
we have satanic programs that are striving to cause mankind to embrace his worldview.
And these present us a problem. For the people who live in Western society primarily, because
we are we were founded on godly foundations and so much of the world is trying to push
against those. Here's a quick excerpt that I found from John M. Perkins from a from a
book called Dream With Me, and it's entitled Bail in Canada. I know most Canadians today
do not worship bail, but when I look at the church in Canada, I fear that we have our
own bales that demand our worship. I see so many people bowing down before prosperity
theology and the idea that God wants to make us wealthy and happy. I see people entrapped
by this by the isms, racism, sexism, ageism, classism and so many others that divide our
church, choosing first to obey and revere these divisive systems rather than the God
who has called us all to be reconciled to one another and to be one in Christ Jesus.
We surround ourselves with people who are like us and value like mindedness over genuine
love and care for our neighbor. So as we close, if I could have every head bowed, every eye
closed, if you're driving, keep your eyes on the road. It's a stupid joke. I say every
week. The reality is, is that we need to fight against the idolatry that's within our hearts.
We're constantly looking for something to fill our hearts, to give us understanding
that allows us to live a life away from God, away from the judgment of God. And it's so
interesting that in that fight, we're so willing to put our faith into men, into women who
are just creations like we are, but we'll put our faith in them, expecting them to save
us. And then when they fail us, we become depressed. We become isolated. Turn to Christ,
turn to Jesus, submit to the will of the Father. Give your life over to him. If God is dealing
with you right now and you know you're not saved, you're not right with God, I want to
lead you in a quick sinner's prayer. And it's just something like that. I've had to you
if you've risen your hand, then you want to signify that wherever you are, I can't see
it. God can see it. But if you want to raise your hand and signify that you want to change
in your life, God sees that hand. And I want you to repeat this prayer with me. Dear Lord
God, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and
that he died for me on the cross. I repent of my sin. I accept him as my Lord and Savior.
I thank you for God's grace in Jesus name. Amen. That simple prayer is all it takes.
Now, of course, there's always the next step. It's a journey. It's a path. It's the less
traveled path. It says in the Bible, you need to find a church to lock into the purpose
of the church is so you can hear preaching. It's so you can have fellowship with other
brethren so that you can grow together and grow towards sanctification and Christ likeness
and so that you can have impact in your town for Jesus. If you're in Sam and are please
reach out. We have service 1030 on Sundays. We have Bible study on Wednesdays, and I'd
love to have you join us. All the contact information is in the show notes. If not,
we have 3500 plus churches globally, and I'd love for you to go to one of our fellowship
churches and just really serve God. Let him change your life. Let him change your heart.
With that, the last thing I want to ask is that if this message has impacted you, if
you've seen value in it, I'd appreciate if you'd share the this podcast or this video.
I asked that you'd like it. Subscribe. It really does help us to get the word out. We
pay for this as a church so that we can get the gospel message out to as many people as
possible. It's just part of our outreaching tools to just to get the gospel message out
to anyone who who hasn't heard it yet. So send it. Send it out. Don't be afraid. The
Bible tells us that God's word will not go and return void. And so I just pray that God
will help you this week. And I'm just going to close in prayer real quick. Dear Lord,
I thank you for everything that you do. Even with this little podcast Lord God, I pray
that you would work in people's hearts and lives this week. Bless them in Jesus name.
Amen. Thank you for joining me this week. Can't wait for you to come back next time.
God bless.