WEBVTT 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:15.949 Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:19.949 or to give online, please go to hdv .church .connect 00:00:19.949 --> 00:00:24.269 or hdv .church .give. If at any point during 00:00:24.269 --> 00:00:26.769 this message you feel called to make a change 00:00:26.769 --> 00:00:31.989 in your life, text CHANGEME to 97000. Now enjoy 00:00:31.989 --> 00:00:35.719 the message. How's everybody doing? Feels good 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:38.200 to be inside, nice cool breeze, right? It's been 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:40.340 a little warm outside, but that's okay. We love 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:43.340 summer, and we love the warmth, and we're excited 00:00:43.340 --> 00:00:45.179 about what God's doing in our community of faith. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.899 Thank you for joining us from home and welcoming 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:50.500 us into your space. So we've been discussing 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:54.340 for the month of July that there are gods at 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:59.560 war within each and every one of us. They battle 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:03.119 for the primary position in our lives, and we've 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.859 learned that so much is at stake. Because whichever 00:01:05.859 --> 00:01:09.939 God is victorious gains power and control over 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:13.900 us. Ultimately, the God you choose, the God I 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:16.980 choose, determines our direction, our desires, 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:21.120 our thoughts, and our future. Yet for so many 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:26.120 of us, this entire concept of idolatry is something 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:28.500 that's been missed. Last week we even mentioned 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:31.140 that if you grew up in church, you are likely 00:01:31.140 --> 00:01:33.579 not to even hear about it. And a lot of times, 00:01:33.579 --> 00:01:36.620 growing up in church can turn that into religious 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:40.260 rules and rituals. We have discovered through 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:42.560 this series that idolatry is one of the biggest 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:45.599 problems that God addresses head on throughout 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:49.200 the Bible. Listen, more than a thousand verses 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.400 speak to this issue. More than 50 of the commandments 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:55.900 in the first five books of the Bible are directed 00:01:55.900 --> 00:01:59.030 against it. It is one of only four sins in all 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:01.010 of Judaism that could have had the death penalty 00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:04.670 attached to it. Idolatry is something God took 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:08.349 seriously. And yet, for those of us living in 00:02:08.349 --> 00:02:11.610 the United States, it's simply dismissed as irrelevant 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:14.530 and unimportant. Something that's in the Old 00:02:14.530 --> 00:02:17.550 Testament that we no longer struggle with. But 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:20.330 nothing could be further from the truth. Everything 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:24.349 rides on this issue. Everything rides on this 00:02:24.349 --> 00:02:27.889 choice. That you and I will make every single 00:02:27.889 --> 00:02:32.550 day. Will I worship God? Will I follow Jesus? 00:02:32.629 --> 00:02:37.069 Or will I worship something else? And how we 00:02:37.069 --> 00:02:39.349 answer that question makes all the difference. 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:43.129 See, there's a war for our worship. Even this 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:45.770 morning when we gathered for corporate worship 00:02:45.770 --> 00:02:48.870 to start this gathering, many of you were in 00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:51.669 such a rush just to get in here. You're late. 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:54.050 You're trying to check your kids in. You rush 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:55.849 in through the doors. By the time you get through 00:02:55.849 --> 00:02:58.210 the doors, the first song is already halfway 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:00.830 over. You're trying to find a seat. You can't 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:02.469 find a seat. There's too many people standing 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:04.409 up, too many arms in the air. It's too loud. 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:07.270 It's too dark. Now you're frustrated. The second 00:03:07.270 --> 00:03:11.009 song's starting. You can't even engage God because 00:03:11.009 --> 00:03:18.009 you're unprepared. We're unprepared. We're unprepared 00:03:18.009 --> 00:03:24.539 to meet. and engage God in worship because we're 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:28.680 distracted. We're late. Kids are running, yelling 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:30.979 at us. I'm in a fight with my spouse. Who knows 00:03:30.979 --> 00:03:34.060 what's going on? So suddenly our minds, they're 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.120 focused on everything else other than the worship 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.120 that's happening. You're looking at the people 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:39.580 around you. You're thinking about the things 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:42.979 you have to do the rest of the day. You're even 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:45.099 thinking about what happened yesterday. And all 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:48.979 of that distracts you from connecting with the 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:52.409 living God. Who or what will control our hearts? 00:03:53.370 --> 00:03:55.569 That's what this has been all about. We have 00:03:55.569 --> 00:03:57.550 seen in this series that the sins that we struggle 00:03:57.550 --> 00:04:02.270 with is not just that there is a sin in our life 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:03.870 that we need to address, but there's something 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:07.550 behind that sin. There's a root issue. And those 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:11.210 root issues are the false gods that's warring 00:04:11.210 --> 00:04:14.569 in our heart. And it explains the struggle of 00:04:14.569 --> 00:04:18.269 that particular sin. But we also learned last 00:04:18.269 --> 00:04:21.149 week that idolatry, in and of itself is a sin. 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:23.709 And this happens when many of the good things 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:26.069 in life, you know, the gifts that God gives us, 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:29.110 have become too important to us, and therefore 00:04:29.110 --> 00:04:32.610 cause us to sin because we've put them ahead 00:04:32.610 --> 00:04:36.009 of God himself. Tim Keller writes, sin isn't 00:04:36.009 --> 00:04:38.709 only doing bad things. It's more fundamentally 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:41.850 making good things into ultimate things. It is 00:04:41.850 --> 00:04:44.389 building your life and meaning on anything, even 00:04:44.389 --> 00:04:47.670 a very good thing, more than on God. Sin is primarily 00:04:47.670 --> 00:04:51.709 idolatry. And throughout this series, here's 00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:54.410 what we've been called to do. Examine your heart. 00:04:55.089 --> 00:04:58.910 Are there good things in your life that have 00:04:58.910 --> 00:05:02.750 become a God thing? Have I made that good thing 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:05.949 more important than it should be? As John Calvin 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:09.089 wrote, the evil and our desire typically does 00:05:09.089 --> 00:05:12.269 not lie in what we want, but that we want it 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:15.620 too much. We want it too much. And this certainly 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.300 is true when it comes to the final subject that 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:20.259 we're going to be studying and discussing today, 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:24.980 the gods of love. The evil is not in loving these 00:05:24.980 --> 00:05:30.139 things, it's that we love them too much. Which 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:32.160 leads us to our first thought. You see, relationships 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:36.600 have the potential to replace God. So we're going 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:38.779 to be discussing a very familiar story from the 00:05:38.779 --> 00:05:41.019 Bible. It's in the first book of the Bible in 00:05:41.019 --> 00:05:44.970 Genesis chapter... And what do I mean by gods 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:46.629 of love? Well, these are the people who we love. 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:49.589 These are the people who God has called us to 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:53.089 love, yet sometimes they can replace God in our 00:05:53.089 --> 00:05:56.529 hearts. These are the gods that Augustine would 00:05:56.529 --> 00:06:00.449 have referred to as disordered loves. In other 00:06:00.449 --> 00:06:04.550 words, they are legitimate loves that have gotten 00:06:04.550 --> 00:06:07.589 out of order in our lives. And it's because they're 00:06:07.589 --> 00:06:10.170 legitimate that they can also easily become way 00:06:10.170 --> 00:06:13.480 too important to us. And in Genesis 22, we're 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:17.759 going to look at Abraham, and Abraham is called 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:21.639 to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. But today, 00:06:21.660 --> 00:06:23.819 I want to read this story through the lens of 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:27.180 idolatry. I want us to see that God is calling 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:30.699 Abraham to lay everything down. This is what 00:06:30.699 --> 00:06:34.019 we read in Genesis 22, verse 1. Sometime later, 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:37.459 God tested Abraham's faith. Now, everyone say, 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.329 test it. See, the writer, the author of this 00:06:41.329 --> 00:06:43.829 book tips us off right here that this is a test. 00:06:44.050 --> 00:06:48.850 This is only a test. It's as if they want us 00:06:48.850 --> 00:06:52.329 to know that God is only testing Abraham. He's 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:54.149 not going to actually let him go through with 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:56.449 it. Because there's no place ever in the Bible 00:06:56.449 --> 00:06:59.509 where God allowed a human to sacrifice another 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:02.629 human. In fact, his commands are directed against 00:07:02.629 --> 00:07:05.550 it in the book of Deuteronomy. So he tests Abraham. 00:07:05.649 --> 00:07:08.360 He says, Abraham. God called, yes, he replied, 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:12.300 here I am. Take your son, your only son, yes, 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:14.100 Isaiah, whom you love so much, and go to the 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:16.759 land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:19.720 offering at one of the mountains which I will 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:23.680 show you. So what does God say? He says, I want 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.639 you to take a three -day journey into the area 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.439 called Moriah, and there's a specific mountain 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:32.060 there that I want you to sacrifice your son. 00:07:32.660 --> 00:07:35.560 So again, God is asking Abraham for everything. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:38.839 How do we know this? Remember, Abraham and Sarah, 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:41.560 they've been promised this boy decades earlier. 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:45.120 When he was 100 and she was 91, there was still 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.879 no child. Yet God kept his promise. The miraculous 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:51.360 happened. They had a little boy and they named 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:55.920 him Isaac. Isaac means laughter. An appropriate 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:59.220 name. I'm sure Isaac brought all kinds of laughter 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.730 into their home. And they were probably like 00:08:01.730 --> 00:08:04.930 any other parents who would go into the room 00:08:04.930 --> 00:08:08.990 at night just to watch them sleep. Just to make 00:08:08.990 --> 00:08:11.209 sure their child was comfortable and resting. 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:14.810 Maybe they would sit on the front porch and watch 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:17.230 him play. And as they watched him play, they 00:08:17.230 --> 00:08:19.670 became nervous. Be careful, be careful, don't 00:08:19.670 --> 00:08:22.290 hurt yourself. Because they couldn't imagine 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:25.610 if anything would happen to him. They remember 00:08:25.610 --> 00:08:29.449 when he was a little baby and they squeezed their 00:08:29.449 --> 00:08:32.070 arms around him and hugged him so tightly and 00:08:32.070 --> 00:08:36.110 said, I love you. All of us have people like 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:38.450 this in our life. People that just mean everything 00:08:38.450 --> 00:08:41.649 to us. Now, I know love is a word that has become 00:08:41.649 --> 00:08:44.690 pretty common in our culture. I mean, we can 00:08:44.690 --> 00:08:49.110 love our favorite sports teams. But who is it 00:08:49.110 --> 00:08:52.250 that you have a hard time imagining life without? 00:08:53.220 --> 00:08:55.279 Maybe for you, like Abraham and Isaac, it's a 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.299 child. They quickly become our reason for living. 00:08:59.419 --> 00:09:01.299 There's something about the way they look at 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:06.399 you, the way they smile, the way they quietly 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:09.960 talk to you. They become our reason for getting 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.700 up, our reason for working. They can become everything. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.320 Maybe for you, it's a husband or a wife. Maybe 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.379 for you, it's the pursuit of a husband or wife 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:20.779 that has become a God for you. After all, in 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:22.539 our culture, romantic love and relationships 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.220 are held up as the ultimate human experience. 00:09:26.019 --> 00:09:28.120 There's all kinds of books that have been written 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.519 with romance as the subject. In fact, romance 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.100 novels bring in over a billion dollars a year, 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:36.559 covering a third of the entire fiction market. 00:09:37.539 --> 00:09:41.320 Many movies have love or romance as the theme. 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:44.740 Romantic love has inspired works of poetry and 00:09:44.740 --> 00:09:49.029 art. And a lot of songs have been written. In 00:09:49.029 --> 00:09:51.809 the name of love. Whitney Houston sings, I Will 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:55.289 Always Love You. Ed Sheeran sings, Thinking Out 00:09:55.289 --> 00:09:59.090 Loud. Lyrics about growing old together with 00:09:59.090 --> 00:10:01.950 the person you love. John Legend declares his 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:04.889 love for a person, flaws and all, in all of me. 00:10:05.129 --> 00:10:10.049 Even Elvis sings about how he can't help falling 00:10:10.049 --> 00:10:14.889 in love. And those songs, right, they captivate 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:18.710 their audience. People sing them. But who would 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:22.909 you sing those songs to? Who is it that you would 00:10:22.909 --> 00:10:25.929 do anything for love? For Abraham and Sarah was 00:10:25.929 --> 00:10:29.590 Isaac. Isaac was God's greatest gift to them, 00:10:29.610 --> 00:10:32.169 a miracle. And it also turns out that it's his 00:10:32.169 --> 00:10:35.470 greatest test for them. And this is what can 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:38.289 happen in our life. It's our greatest blessings 00:10:38.289 --> 00:10:42.210 that can also become our greatest tests. If you're 00:10:42.210 --> 00:10:45.289 anything like me, right, I have a spouse I don't 00:10:45.289 --> 00:10:47.990 deserve. Maybe you've been blessed with children 00:10:47.990 --> 00:10:50.809 even though you were told you wouldn't have children. 00:10:51.470 --> 00:10:54.110 Do you have a job that you love? Or maybe you're 00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:56.990 financially well off and you can afford even 00:10:56.990 --> 00:10:59.269 the greatest conveniences that many people can't. 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:02.230 Maybe you have experienced a miraculous healing 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:05.950 encounter with God and gratitude has since waned 00:11:05.950 --> 00:11:09.389 into apathy. What gift from God has become too 00:11:09.389 --> 00:11:12.240 important in your life? We must remember when 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.120 it comes to our relationship, God wants them 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:18.659 to be the means of growth for us. Proverbs 27, 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:21.940 17, as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:25.700 a friend. We can't allow a relationship to become 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:27.240 an idol, which leads us to our next thought. 00:11:27.940 --> 00:11:32.419 Worship is prioritizing Jesus first. See, we 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:34.419 have a lot of definitions for worship. Many of 00:11:34.419 --> 00:11:36.019 you believe that it's when we walk in here and 00:11:36.019 --> 00:11:39.299 sing. But here's the reality, it's so much more 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:42.700 than that. Will the blessings of God become competition 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:46.259 for him? Or will the blessing draw us closer 00:11:46.259 --> 00:11:49.759 to him? See, we're ready to find out in our story. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.899 We're continuing on in Genesis 22, three through 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:56.480 10. The next morning, Abraham got up early. He 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.320 saddled his donkey and took two of his servants 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:01.000 with him along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.120 wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.679 out for the place God had told him about. Let's 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:07.460 just pause there for a second. Abraham shows 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:10.750 us something here about beating and overcoming 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:13.669 idols or gods that were within our heart. He 00:12:13.669 --> 00:12:16.549 doesn't put it off. Notice, he doesn't wait. 00:12:16.850 --> 00:12:21.429 He doesn't pray. He does it. God told him. He 00:12:21.429 --> 00:12:23.769 responded. Early the next morning, he wakes up. 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:26.610 He obeys God. And too often, when it comes to 00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:29.029 temptation, when it comes to overcoming sin, 00:12:29.110 --> 00:12:30.730 when it comes to overcoming these idols in our 00:12:30.730 --> 00:12:34.750 life, we put it off. We blame it on someone else. 00:12:35.730 --> 00:12:39.519 We wait patiently. for the Lord when he's already 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.379 spoken to us of what we're called to do. But 00:12:42.379 --> 00:12:45.440 also notice, Abraham was a very wealthy man. 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:47.740 In fact, the Bible tells us he's one of the wealthiest 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:51.019 men of his day, yet God does not say to him, 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:53.059 like last week, go sell everything you have and 00:12:53.059 --> 00:12:57.720 give it to the poor. Why? Because money for Abraham 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:02.600 was not a false god. It was Isaac that was competing 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:06.009 for the number one position in his life. And 00:13:06.009 --> 00:13:07.929 God puts himself in direct competition with his 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:10.450 son Isaac and he says, you're gonna have to choose. 00:13:10.929 --> 00:13:13.570 And he does the same to us. Let's continue on 00:13:13.570 --> 00:13:14.929 the third day of their journey. Abraham looked 00:13:14.929 --> 00:13:17.610 up and saw the place in the distance. Stay here 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:19.610 with the donkey. Abraham told the servants, the 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:21.750 boy and I will travel a little further. Notice, 00:13:21.830 --> 00:13:25.669 we will worship there and then we will come right 00:13:25.669 --> 00:13:27.529 back. And I want you to notice, pause again, 00:13:27.769 --> 00:13:32.649 the word worship. This is the first time it is 00:13:32.649 --> 00:13:35.159 used in the Bible. And there's a principle in 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:38.320 seminary called humanetics. And humanetics focuses 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.700 on the principles and methods of interpreting 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:43.320 the Bible. And we were taught when interpreting 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:45.519 scripture, you try to understand the meaning 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:49.000 of a word, you need to pay attention to the first 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.539 time this word is used. So the first time the 00:13:52.539 --> 00:13:55.220 word worship is used in the Bible is right here. 00:13:55.700 --> 00:13:58.940 And it's used to describe a man who is sacrificing 00:13:58.940 --> 00:14:03.679 something great for who? For God. It's used to 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.399 describe a man who is declaring with his life 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.480 that God is what matters most. See, worship is 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:13.100 not something that takes place here on Sunday 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:15.679 mornings alone when we gather together and we 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:20.379 sing songs. Worship takes place every single 00:14:20.379 --> 00:14:23.759 day when we make a declaration that says, God, 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:26.600 you matter more to me than this. Fill in the 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:29.419 blank, whatever this is. You matter more to me 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:31.539 than alcohol. You matter more to me than drugs. 00:14:31.620 --> 00:14:33.700 You matter more to me than sex. You matter more 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:38.220 to me than money. You matter more to me than 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:41.779 this relationship. And every day we have the 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:45.100 opportunity to worship when we say, God, you're 00:14:45.100 --> 00:14:48.460 what matters most. So let every day be a declaration 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:51.779 of worship for you in your life. Let's continue. 00:14:53.090 --> 00:14:55.309 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering 00:14:55.309 --> 00:14:57.830 on Isaac's shoulders while he himself carried 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:00.529 the fire in his knife. The two of them walked 00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:02.350 on together. Isaac turned to Abraham, there's 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:07.190 something wrong. Father, Abraham replied, we 00:15:07.190 --> 00:15:09.090 have the fire in the wood, the boy said, but 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:12.549 where is the sheep for the offering? Oh, God 00:15:12.549 --> 00:15:14.149 will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, 00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.509 my son, Abraham answered. And they both walked 00:15:16.509 --> 00:15:19.100 on together. When they arrived at the place where 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:21.320 God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.240 and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.159 son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:29.120 the wood. Abraham picked up the knife to kill 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:33.860 his son as a sacrifice. And see, we have to put 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:37.460 ourselves in that position for a moment. And 00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:39.799 we want to pause there and talk about our disordered 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:43.259 loves. How would you do with a test like this? 00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:46.980 See, this is a test. of the first two of the 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:49.179 Ten Commandments. You shall have no other gods 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:51.740 before you, and you shall not make for yourself 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:55.299 an idol in the form of anything. And an idol, 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:57.480 if we're really honest, can certainly take on 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:00.639 the form of someone we love. And quite often 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.179 in our society, that's what happens because our 00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:05.919 society puts so much attention on true love. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.960 And when we make the people that we love more 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:10.740 important than our relationship with God, that's 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:13.840 idolatry. When we look to our relationship with 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:17.139 a person to do what God wants to do for us, that's 00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:20.759 idolatry. And this really happens to many parents 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:25.580 today trying to raise the alpha generation. I 00:16:25.580 --> 00:16:29.500 am raising a member of the alpha generation. 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:36.940 And let's just say that that name alpha is legitimate. 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:43.820 See, when we give control of our life over to 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:47.700 our kids, then they have the power to determine 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:50.299 whether I have a good day or a bad day. When 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:52.960 we give the control of our life over to our kids, 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:58.360 they determine whether I'm an angry person, a 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:01.360 depressed person, an overwhelmed person that 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:04.599 is struggling with life, true or false. If you're 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:06.279 raising the alpha generation, you are saying 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:10.089 true. See, the Bible tells us that the joy of 00:17:10.089 --> 00:17:11.869 the Lord is our strength, but when we allow the 00:17:11.869 --> 00:17:15.069 joy of our children to become our strength, we're 00:17:15.069 --> 00:17:18.009 not very strong. And we all need to reflect. 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:21.130 Is there a relationship that determines whether 00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:24.529 or not you're a joyful person? Is there a relationship 00:17:24.529 --> 00:17:26.930 that determines whether or not you're a peaceful 00:17:26.930 --> 00:17:30.750 person? Is there a person or people in your life 00:17:30.750 --> 00:17:33.990 that you're living to please? Does everything 00:17:33.990 --> 00:17:35.789 in your life revolve around making your children 00:17:35.789 --> 00:17:40.119 happy? And if you answer yes or could see someone 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:43.180 in any of those, by definition, that is your 00:17:43.180 --> 00:17:47.079 God. What you live to please becomes your God. 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:49.720 It could be a child, it could be children, maybe 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:53.440 it's a spouse that has become the controller 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.119 of your life. Maybe it's friends and even parents 00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.900 that control the outcome of your day because 00:17:58.900 --> 00:18:02.099 you're depressed and full of anxiety. See, we 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:06.329 have to realize that worship is what Paul challenges 00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:09.150 us to do in Romans chapter 12. And so, dear brothers 00:18:09.150 --> 00:18:11.369 and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies 00:18:11.369 --> 00:18:15.210 to God because of all he has done for you. Let 00:18:15.210 --> 00:18:17.369 them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind 00:18:17.369 --> 00:18:20.690 you will find acceptable. This is truly the way, 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:27.269 notice, to worship him. Don't copy. the behavior 00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:28.970 and customs of this world, let God transform 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:30.589 you into a new person by the change in the way 00:18:30.589 --> 00:18:32.470 you think. Then you will learn to know God's 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:33.750 love for you, which is good and pleasing and 00:18:33.750 --> 00:18:37.029 perfect. Paul challenges us to take our different 00:18:37.029 --> 00:18:39.650 roles, our different responsibilities, our different 00:18:39.650 --> 00:18:44.509 resources that he has given to us and give them 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:47.069 back to him. He's talking about our whole self, 00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:48.970 our entire being. What does it look like for 00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:52.089 you? For me, right, what are the things that 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:55.690 identify and make me who I am? Well, I'm a husband. 00:18:55.809 --> 00:18:58.150 I'm a father. I'm a brother. I'm a son. I'm a 00:18:58.150 --> 00:19:00.009 pastor. I'm a friend. I'm a mentor. I'm a coach. 00:19:00.029 --> 00:19:03.109 I'm a crossfitter. I'm a storyteller. I'm a history 00:19:03.109 --> 00:19:06.130 maker. These are just a few of the different 00:19:06.130 --> 00:19:10.230 roles that make me, me. Then there's my personality 00:19:10.230 --> 00:19:13.470 and all the different ways it works out in all 00:19:13.470 --> 00:19:16.329 those different roles. And I've even mentioned 00:19:16.329 --> 00:19:19.609 that the resources that God has given me to supply 00:19:19.609 --> 00:19:21.769 for those different roles, that's what makes 00:19:21.769 --> 00:19:24.849 me me. And throughout my day, I'll operate within 00:19:24.849 --> 00:19:29.529 those different identities in several different 00:19:29.529 --> 00:19:34.730 time frames. Paul says this. He says in all those 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:37.490 different areas that you operate in, give them 00:19:37.490 --> 00:19:39.869 all to God as a living sacrifice. In other words, 00:19:39.869 --> 00:19:43.289 don't be in control. Why? Because it's holy, 00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:47.430 pleasing, and worship to God. In other words, 00:19:47.450 --> 00:19:49.549 everything I do in all those different capacities 00:19:49.549 --> 00:19:53.430 in my life are to be done for Jesus. And when 00:19:53.430 --> 00:19:56.730 we do that, our tendency to create idols in our 00:19:56.730 --> 00:19:58.609 life and in our relationships diminish, which 00:19:58.609 --> 00:20:00.369 leads us to our final thought. Some of you are 00:20:00.369 --> 00:20:03.509 thinking, well, am I making a relationship an 00:20:03.509 --> 00:20:06.470 idol? Well, when a relationship becomes the source 00:20:06.470 --> 00:20:10.109 of satisfaction and significance, it can be a 00:20:10.109 --> 00:20:14.069 false god. There's your answer. We learned in 00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:19.269 week one that God is a what? A jealous God. He 00:20:19.269 --> 00:20:21.930 wants to do those things for us. He wants to 00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:23.910 give us satisfaction. He wants to give us significance. 00:20:24.049 --> 00:20:29.009 He wants to give us happiness and joy. I mean, 00:20:29.029 --> 00:20:30.930 there's some very graphic language in the Old 00:20:30.930 --> 00:20:33.369 Testament book of Isaiah to help us understand 00:20:33.369 --> 00:20:37.150 how it feels to God when we are guilty of idolatry. 00:20:37.789 --> 00:20:40.950 See, this picture is painted for us. As one of 00:20:40.950 --> 00:20:43.150 us having an affair on God. That's how he feels. 00:20:43.789 --> 00:20:46.410 See, when we make something more important than 00:20:46.410 --> 00:20:49.809 him in the Old Testament, God sees it as spiritual 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:53.509 adultery and he's jealous. He's hurt and he's 00:20:53.509 --> 00:20:55.509 angry. And this is what we read in Hosea 1 -2. 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:57.869 When the Lord first began speaking to Israel 00:20:57.869 --> 00:21:00.890 through Hosea, he said to him, go and marry a 00:21:00.890 --> 00:21:03.609 prostitute so that some of her children will 00:21:03.609 --> 00:21:06.589 be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate. 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:09.799 How Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.460 against the Lord and worshiping other gods. God 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:15.380 is literally comparing the people of Israel to 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:20.059 Gomer, Hosea's wife, who was a prostitute. And 00:21:20.059 --> 00:21:22.420 just like the people of Israel, we struggle to 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:25.440 let go of our sin. We struggle to let go of our 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.279 idols throughout this life. Even when we have 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:32.890 so much love to receive. Even when we can connect 00:21:32.890 --> 00:21:35.490 with a living God, we find fulfillment elsewhere. 00:21:36.269 --> 00:21:38.650 Hosea and Gomer's relationship is a beautiful 00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:41.329 metaphor, a picture for God's relationship with 00:21:41.329 --> 00:21:44.390 his people. Although God was hurt by Israel's 00:21:44.390 --> 00:21:47.329 sin, by their choice to pursue relationship with 00:21:47.329 --> 00:21:49.809 idols, they were what? They were still his people. 00:21:50.410 --> 00:21:52.690 And I want to challenge you, when you experience 00:21:52.690 --> 00:21:56.690 feelings of guilt or shame or unworthiness, Or 00:21:56.690 --> 00:22:00.269 regret, chances are you've turned your affections 00:22:00.269 --> 00:22:02.730 onto someone or something else and God is convicting 00:22:02.730 --> 00:22:06.470 you to change. He's inviting us to change because 00:22:06.470 --> 00:22:09.970 he loves us. But you also have to understand 00:22:09.970 --> 00:22:12.869 he's not going to share us with anyone or anything. 00:22:13.369 --> 00:22:15.950 How do I know that? Well, Jesus told us this 00:22:15.950 --> 00:22:19.880 in Luke chapter 14. He has this large crowd following 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:21.839 him. And it's interesting, you notice, when you 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:23.480 read through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.220 and John, when there was a large crowd following 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:28.720 Jesus, I believe it made him a little uncomfortable. 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.960 I don't think he liked the crowds. How do I know 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.259 that? Because every time there was a large crowd, 00:22:34.700 --> 00:22:37.900 he would always tend to say something about their 00:22:37.900 --> 00:22:39.980 level of commitment, and then what would happen 00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:42.660 to the crowd? They would just slowly walk away. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.319 Well, here's what he says in Luke 14, 25 to 26. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.500 A large crowd. Here it is with following Jesus. 00:22:49.059 --> 00:22:52.039 Picture this. Remember, large crowd means thousands 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:54.559 of people. Jesus turns around and says to them, 00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:58.839 hey. And he's saying to us this morning. If you 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:00.519 want to be my disciple, if you want to follow 00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:04.460 me, you must by comparison hate. Everyone say 00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:09.700 hate. Everyone else. Hate everyone else. Your 00:23:09.700 --> 00:23:11.609 father. Your mother, your wife, your children, 00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:13.309 your brothers, your sisters. Yes, even your own 00:23:13.309 --> 00:23:18.410 life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Now, 00:23:18.430 --> 00:23:19.990 I don't know about you, but when I read that 00:23:19.990 --> 00:23:21.849 and I think hate, that's pretty strong words. 00:23:22.309 --> 00:23:24.130 How do I know that? Because I tell my little 00:23:24.130 --> 00:23:28.450 alpha child never to say hate. Ever. We don't 00:23:28.450 --> 00:23:34.349 use that word. You don't hate anything. But Jesus 00:23:34.349 --> 00:23:38.490 is telling me to hate them? Well, see, the Bible. 00:23:40.470 --> 00:23:42.950 consistently tells us to love people, right? 00:23:44.009 --> 00:23:47.589 But yet here Jesus tells us to hate people. Well, 00:23:47.630 --> 00:23:50.690 we have to understand what this word hate means. 00:23:51.529 --> 00:23:53.789 Because there's a big difference between how 00:23:53.789 --> 00:23:56.650 we understand hate and how the Jewish culture 00:23:56.650 --> 00:24:01.630 understands hate. When it's translated hate here 00:24:01.630 --> 00:24:03.990 in the Jewish culture, it was communicating a 00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:08.029 lesser love. The New Living says you must hate 00:24:08.029 --> 00:24:12.789 everyone else, notice, by comparison. It's comparison. 00:24:13.769 --> 00:24:16.109 The other thing for us is that we tend to equate 00:24:16.109 --> 00:24:18.950 words like love and hate to emotions and feelings. 00:24:19.630 --> 00:24:23.009 But that's not true for the first century. Like 00:24:23.009 --> 00:24:25.730 when we say I love you and I hate you, it's full 00:24:25.730 --> 00:24:28.529 of emotion for us. But in the first century, 00:24:28.670 --> 00:24:31.829 these words did not communicate an emotion or 00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:34.029 a feeling. It was about a level of commitment. 00:24:35.400 --> 00:24:37.539 And Jesus is saying your commitment to me, your 00:24:37.539 --> 00:24:40.480 level of commitment to me should be such that 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:43.240 there's no other commitment. Doesn't matter about 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:45.640 your mom or your dad or your children or your 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:50.400 spouse. I'm first. And you say, man, that's pretty 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.059 harsh. But here's the reality. When we get that 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:54.859 commitment right, then all of our other relationships 00:24:54.859 --> 00:24:59.420 are going to thrive. All of our other relationships 00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:01.880 are going to thrive. I mean, why do you think 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:05.059 I tell couples that are playing house? When they 00:25:05.059 --> 00:25:06.640 come to me and say, hey, we need to get marriage 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.460 counseling. We want to get married. And I learn 00:25:09.460 --> 00:25:12.940 that they're playing house. And you say, Chris, 00:25:13.019 --> 00:25:14.500 what does that mean, playing house? You're living 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:16.599 with someone you're not married to. We're all 00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:19.359 adults here, right? You're playing house. So 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:20.559 in other words, you're a five -year -old that 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:22.420 just built a house and you're living in it. You're 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:26.640 playing house. But you're an adult. I say, well, 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:31.299 move out and live separately for the next eight 00:25:31.299 --> 00:25:34.119 months before you say I do. Why would I do that? 00:25:42.579 --> 00:25:44.859 Well, do you want your relationship to thrive 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:48.460 and be blessed? Then you should follow what God 00:25:48.460 --> 00:25:53.559 tells us to do. That's why. So if you're playing 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.059 house here this morning, you might want to reevaluate 00:25:56.059 --> 00:25:58.859 your priorities because chances are your priorities 00:25:58.859 --> 00:26:02.359 are prioritizing the relationship over God. I 00:26:02.359 --> 00:26:06.720 love you though. When we put someone else in 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.400 place of God, we make that relationship a false 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.619 God. And it's the most destructive thing we could 00:26:13.619 --> 00:26:15.880 ever do to that person. How do I know that? Five 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:18.500 things that happen when a relationship becomes 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:20.339 an idol. First, there's unrealistic pressure. 00:26:21.559 --> 00:26:24.579 See, when we turn our spouse, our girlfriend, 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:28.480 our boyfriend, Into a God substitute, we're putting 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:30.279 incredible pressure on them because we're saying, 00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:32.680 I want you to do for me what God wants to do 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.940 for me. I mean, some of you are feeling in your 00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:38.539 relationship right now. You have this incredible 00:26:38.539 --> 00:26:41.680 pressure that a significant other is putting 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:44.299 on you because they're unhappy and they look 00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:46.799 to you for happiness. They're stressed out, they 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.259 look to you for peace. Their world is falling 00:26:49.259 --> 00:26:52.059 apart and broken and they look to you to fix 00:26:52.059 --> 00:26:59.609 it. And you're under all this pressure. You want 00:26:59.609 --> 00:27:01.829 to know why? It's because you're not God. And 00:27:01.829 --> 00:27:04.710 they're asking you to be God. 1 John 1 .8, if 00:27:04.710 --> 00:27:06.410 we claim to have no sin, we are only fooling 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:09.089 ourselves and not living in the truth. No one 00:27:09.089 --> 00:27:13.369 is perfect. We can't put pressure on the ones 00:27:13.369 --> 00:27:17.049 we love to make us happy. Another thing that 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:20.250 happens is we have false expectations. And it's 00:27:20.250 --> 00:27:21.750 funny, if you're in here and you're playing house, 00:27:21.829 --> 00:27:23.569 chances are all five of these, you're like, oh, 00:27:23.589 --> 00:27:30.160 crap. See, we often put false expectations on 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.019 our children because we look to them to the source 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:34.039 of our significance. Why do you think so many 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:37.079 children no longer play sports by the time they 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:39.819 get to high school? Because mom and dad lived 00:27:39.819 --> 00:27:42.420 through them to live out their own failures. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:44.740 And now by the time they're in high school, they 00:27:44.740 --> 00:27:49.259 hate it. Because everything about their life 00:27:49.259 --> 00:27:51.319 is based around their success and their failures. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.359 And then they can't get good enough grades. They 00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:57.140 can't win enough trophies. And the problem is 00:27:57.140 --> 00:27:59.420 we've exchanged our relationship with God to 00:27:59.420 --> 00:28:01.940 our relationship with our children. And instead 00:28:01.940 --> 00:28:03.920 of asking God to be our source of significance 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:06.059 as a person, we throw it on our children. We 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:10.680 want them to be our life. And that just simply 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:15.019 can't happen. Do to others as you would like 00:28:15.019 --> 00:28:18.599 them to do to you, Jesus taught. So let's do 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:21.380 the same for our children and our spouses. Another 00:28:21.380 --> 00:28:23.359 thing that happens is unreasonable disappointment. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.420 Any false God will disappoint you. It doesn't 00:28:27.420 --> 00:28:29.279 matter if it's money, physical pleasure, success. 00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:33.079 It doesn't matter if it's relationships. Any 00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:35.119 false God is going to leave you disappointed. 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:39.559 And if you're kind of the person that's generally 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:42.819 disappointed in life, chances are you're disappointed 00:28:42.819 --> 00:28:45.000 because you've made something other than God 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:48.019 a false God and it's letting you down. Of course 00:28:48.019 --> 00:28:50.319 it's letting you down. Only God can satisfy us. 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:52.920 John 16, 33, I've told you all this so you may 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:55.000 have peace in me. Where do we find our peace? 00:28:56.039 --> 00:29:00.079 In God, in Jesus. Here on earth you're going 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:01.539 to have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:04.599 I've overcome the world. When we are asking people 00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:08.440 to do what they were never created to do, when 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:10.200 we're asking someone to meet a need that they 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:14.460 were never meant to meet, we're asking them to 00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:17.680 be God. which is just setting them up for failure. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:20.559 Another thing that happens is undeserved criticism. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:24.559 Jesus says, don't judge others, and you will 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:26.680 not be judged. Do not condemn others, or we'll 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:29.200 all come back against you. Forgive others as 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:31.880 you have been forgiven. See, whenever someone 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:33.980 isn't meeting our expectations when we're in 00:29:33.980 --> 00:29:37.119 a relationship, it's like we feel like we're 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.500 being let down. And then when we're let down, 00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:42.240 what do we do? We lash out with criticism. And 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.740 let me just highlight, criticism is poison for 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:49.519 any relationship. Marriage, family, children. 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:53.839 When there's constant criticism because you want 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:55.940 the person to fulfill you, they're never going 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:59.700 to meet your needs. If you show me a person who 00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:01.839 is constantly critical and always negative and 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:06.460 always nagging, never happy, that means they 00:30:06.460 --> 00:30:09.710 don't have their delight in God. They're looking 00:30:09.710 --> 00:30:12.569 for someone, they're looking to something to 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:14.809 fulfill them and satisfy them and they complain 00:30:14.809 --> 00:30:16.769 and they whine and they're negative and they're 00:30:16.769 --> 00:30:21.950 critical. You have anybody like that in your 00:30:21.950 --> 00:30:25.670 life? Some of you can't be honest because they're 00:30:25.670 --> 00:30:32.329 sitting right beside you. So don't say anything, 00:30:32.470 --> 00:30:36.970 please, because it's my fault. Listen, it's not 00:30:36.970 --> 00:30:41.210 fair to ask a human to be divine. Only God can 00:30:41.210 --> 00:30:43.289 fulfill those things. And finally, there's unhealthy 00:30:43.289 --> 00:30:46.529 comparison. Pay careful attention to your own 00:30:46.529 --> 00:30:49.150 work, for then you will get satisfaction of job 00:30:49.150 --> 00:30:50.609 well done. You won't need to compare yourself 00:30:50.609 --> 00:30:53.309 to anyone else. Ultimately, this is what destroys 00:30:53.309 --> 00:30:56.849 all relationships. You look to someone else, 00:30:56.890 --> 00:30:59.359 your spouse. Your significant other to fulfill 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:02.039 this longing in your heart. They don't fulfill 00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:04.259 it. They don't meet the needs. And then you start 00:31:04.259 --> 00:31:07.180 to see these qualities in other people. And you 00:31:07.180 --> 00:31:11.680 begin to think, oh, if I was only with, I would 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.299 be all satisfied and happy. They would meet my 00:31:15.299 --> 00:31:25.279 needs. And see if we exchange a relationship 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:29.859 for that. it's only gonna get worse. Because 00:31:29.859 --> 00:31:31.920 what you're doing is you're unconsciously comparing 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:34.400 a person to God and that person always falls 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:37.700 short. It's not just that we look to our spouse 00:31:37.700 --> 00:31:41.759 to be God, but some of us try to be God to our 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.460 spouse. And that's just as dangerous, let me 00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:48.119 say. When we make statements like, I'm gonna 00:31:48.119 --> 00:31:50.259 be responsible for this person's happiness, I'm 00:31:50.259 --> 00:31:53.059 gonna be responsible for satisfying this person, 00:31:53.140 --> 00:31:58.019 you're setting yourself up for failure. Or if 00:31:58.019 --> 00:31:59.960 the thought even goes through my mind that I 00:31:59.960 --> 00:32:05.119 can change that person. Or you know what's even 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:09.539 worse? When you see two spouses trying to be 00:32:09.539 --> 00:32:12.559 God to one another. When the wife says, I think 00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:15.720 I can change him. When the husband says, I know 00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:19.220 I can change her. You know what that's setting 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:24.480 yourself up to here? Let's get ready to rumble. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.920 Hey, all you married couples, you're welcome 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:43.000 for the counseling you just received. Bob Russell 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:45.220 talks about what he called the top button truth. 00:32:46.140 --> 00:32:48.700 The idea that if you get the top button wrong 00:32:48.700 --> 00:32:51.259 and you're buttoning a shirt, all the other buttons 00:32:51.259 --> 00:32:55.140 won't line up. All of them are off. But if you 00:32:55.140 --> 00:32:58.220 get the top button right, the rest of the buttons 00:32:58.220 --> 00:33:02.109 do what, church? Fall into place. And see, when 00:33:02.109 --> 00:33:05.049 we get the top button right in our relationships 00:33:05.049 --> 00:33:09.450 with our kids, our spouse, our friends, the person 00:33:09.450 --> 00:33:11.670 that we're dating, whoever it is, when we get 00:33:11.670 --> 00:33:14.630 the top button right and we prioritize our relationship 00:33:14.630 --> 00:33:18.329 with Jesus, friends, everything else falls into 00:33:18.329 --> 00:33:24.549 place. And let me say this. If you're in a relationship 00:33:24.549 --> 00:33:26.269 right now that's causing you disappointment and 00:33:26.269 --> 00:33:29.160 frustration, Instead of giving more attention 00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:32.660 to that relationship, instead of turning in to 00:33:32.660 --> 00:33:34.920 Dr. Phil to see what you need to do differently, 00:33:35.180 --> 00:33:38.119 instead of buying one of the million self -help 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:41.759 books that tell you how to fix your life, instead 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:44.200 of spending hundreds and thousands of dollars 00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:47.480 on a counselor, take your focus off the relationship 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:52.160 and put it where? Now listen, I'm not saying 00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:54.220 those things are bad because they're all useful. 00:33:55.339 --> 00:33:57.900 But I'm saying quite often we run to those things 00:33:57.900 --> 00:34:01.539 for a savior and they fail and we're left miserable 00:34:01.539 --> 00:34:04.039 because we're not prioritizing the top button 00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:06.420 first, which is our relationship with Jesus. 00:34:07.220 --> 00:34:10.039 Which leads us to our one action step that we've 00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:12.300 been walking through throughout this entire series. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:16.199 This has been a great series, hasn't it? Defeating 00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:18.179 idols in our hearts. You want to defeat some 00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:20.380 idols in your hearts? Listen, just go all in 00:34:20.380 --> 00:34:25.530 with God. Sell out. You know, last week I challenged 00:34:25.530 --> 00:34:27.550 some of you to start tithing because God said, 00:34:27.750 --> 00:34:31.630 test me. Right? For others of you today, I want 00:34:31.630 --> 00:34:34.070 to challenge you, go all in with God for a month 00:34:34.070 --> 00:34:35.849 and see how your life is radically transformed. 00:34:37.489 --> 00:34:39.809 Prioritize him when you wake up. Prioritize him 00:34:39.809 --> 00:34:41.949 when you go to sleep. Prioritize him at every 00:34:41.949 --> 00:34:45.269 meal. Prioritize him in every workplace situation. 00:34:46.949 --> 00:34:50.630 And suddenly your life will be transformed. Abraham 00:34:50.630 --> 00:34:54.449 is... His son bound on the altar. He raises the 00:34:54.449 --> 00:34:57.429 knife to kill his son. And at that moment, the 00:34:57.429 --> 00:34:59.110 angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. 00:35:01.429 --> 00:35:05.570 Abraham, here I am. Don't lay a hand on the boy, 00:35:05.650 --> 00:35:07.550 the angel said. Don't hurt him in any way. For 00:35:07.550 --> 00:35:11.289 now I know that you truly fear God. Now what 00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:16.449 was this again? A test. Then Abraham looked up 00:35:16.449 --> 00:35:18.409 and saw a ram caught in the thorns with a thicket. 00:35:18.429 --> 00:35:21.400 Then he took the ram and sacrificed it. As a 00:35:21.400 --> 00:35:23.360 burnt offering in the place of his son, Abraham 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:26.920 named the place Yahweh year, which means the 00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:28.940 Lord will provide. And to this day, people still 00:35:28.940 --> 00:35:30.880 use the name as a proverb. On the mountain of 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:35.099 the Lord, it will be provided. God provided the 00:35:35.099 --> 00:35:39.400 sacrifice needed as Abraham was faithful to lay 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:43.099 down the idol that he had placed in his life. 00:35:43.719 --> 00:35:46.400 Will you go all in with God? And what does that 00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:50.420 mean? Well, Jesus summed it up pretty easy. Matthew 00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:53.099 22, and he says, you must love the Lord your 00:35:53.099 --> 00:35:57.599 God with all your heart, with all your soul, 00:35:57.659 --> 00:36:03.639 and with all your mind. Go all in. With everything. 00:36:03.739 --> 00:36:05.300 That's the first and greatest commandment. And 00:36:05.300 --> 00:36:07.320 the second is pretty simple. Just love your neighbors 00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:11.260 yourself. Jesus is reminding us that when we 00:36:11.260 --> 00:36:14.199 make the main thing the main thing, when we focus 00:36:14.199 --> 00:36:17.199 on loving God and putting him first and loving 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:19.980 our neighbors comes really easy. But quite often 00:36:19.980 --> 00:36:22.119 what happens in the church is we want to love 00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:23.480 our neighbors and love our neighbors and love 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:25.340 our neighbors and we forget about God and then 00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:28.199 we get burnt out and spent and full of religion 00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:34.500 rather than full of the Holy Spirit. You don't 00:36:34.500 --> 00:36:38.420 have to end world hunger tomorrow. You're not 00:36:38.420 --> 00:36:40.119 going to heal every broken heart in the world. 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:43.880 It's just not physically possible. Jesus is saying 00:36:43.880 --> 00:36:46.019 the most important thing you can do in your life 00:36:46.019 --> 00:36:49.429 is go to him first. And then get filled with 00:36:49.429 --> 00:36:53.670 the Spirit and love others. He makes it simple 00:36:53.670 --> 00:36:58.809 because we are elementary students. When it comes 00:36:58.809 --> 00:37:00.409 to a relationship with God, we're elementary 00:37:00.409 --> 00:37:03.670 students and we're always gonna be. But he's 00:37:03.670 --> 00:37:07.250 inviting us to go all in and put him first. That's 00:37:07.250 --> 00:37:11.579 how we make a difference. Now this week, I had 00:37:11.579 --> 00:37:14.039 the opportunity to share a devotional at the 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:16.500 Thursday night church softball games, and I was 00:37:16.500 --> 00:37:19.820 led to share Paul's challenge to press on. In 00:37:19.820 --> 00:37:22.400 Philippians chapter three, Paul says these words, 00:37:22.460 --> 00:37:27.059 I press on to possess that perfection for which 00:37:27.059 --> 00:37:29.860 Christ Jesus first possessed me. Now basically, 00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:32.000 Paul is describing his relationship with God 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.920 in three words, I press on. You guys remember 00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:39.400 the game tag or chase when you're in elementary 00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:45.469 school? Right? We all remember it, right? It's 00:37:45.469 --> 00:37:47.789 funny. In that game, no one ever wanted to be 00:37:47.789 --> 00:37:51.769 it. Right? No one ever wanted to be it. And then 00:37:51.769 --> 00:37:54.690 typically the teacher had to pick someone to 00:37:54.690 --> 00:37:56.349 be it. And then they're like, I don't want to 00:37:56.349 --> 00:38:03.849 be it. Here's the crazy thing. Paul is describing 00:38:03.849 --> 00:38:06.530 his relationship with Jesus. He says, make me 00:38:06.530 --> 00:38:11.130 it. Paul says, make me it because I'm going to 00:38:11.130 --> 00:38:13.469 pursue Jesus. That's the most important priority 00:38:13.469 --> 00:38:17.309 I could ever put in my life. Paul says, I will 00:38:17.309 --> 00:38:22.909 press on. Will you press on this morning? Will 00:38:22.909 --> 00:38:31.989 you stand with me? So listen, I was praying this 00:38:31.989 --> 00:38:34.349 week about how to conclude this series, this 00:38:34.349 --> 00:38:38.760 talk today. And I felt compelled that we as a 00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:40.820 church need to corporately repent and say, God, 00:38:40.820 --> 00:38:44.840 forgive me for putting idols ahead of you. Because 00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:47.539 I believe that if you were to examine your heart 00:38:47.539 --> 00:38:50.699 in all four of these talks, I guarantee you every 00:38:50.699 --> 00:38:52.940 single Sunday there was something that we could 00:38:52.940 --> 00:38:57.400 point to and say, yep, that's it. Yep, that's 00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:01.480 it. Yep, it's that person. Yep, it's that thing. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.739 And it doesn't matter what it is. When we lay 00:39:07.739 --> 00:39:10.039 it down at His feet and experience His grace 00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:12.139 and forgiveness and choose and declare to go 00:39:12.139 --> 00:39:14.940 all in, that's when we experience freedom. Amen? 00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:17.760 And it doesn't have to be a Sunday morning thing. 00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.960 It doesn't have to be, well, I felt it on Sunday, 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:22.960 but Chris, I'm not feeling it tomorrow. You can 00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:25.059 do the same thing we're doing right here today, 00:39:25.139 --> 00:39:28.199 tomorrow, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Friday, 00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:30.739 when all those choices are presented to you. 00:39:30.780 --> 00:39:34.539 Does that make sense? So we're going to pray 00:39:34.539 --> 00:39:36.179 a simple prayer together. I want to invite you 00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:40.460 to pray these words with me as I pray them. And 00:39:40.460 --> 00:39:41.860 we're going to lay down our idols. We're going 00:39:41.860 --> 00:39:43.340 to invite the Holy Spirit to come. And then the 00:39:43.340 --> 00:39:46.000 worship team is going to lead us to declare in 00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:49.179 our worship, in our singing, to go what? All 00:39:49.179 --> 00:39:55.179 in. All in. All in. We're going to go all in. 00:39:56.500 --> 00:39:59.639 Because when we go all in, everything else falls 00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:05.519 away. Let's pray together. Holy Spirit, come. 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:18.800 Forgive me for putting someone, something in 00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:28.400 place of you. I choose to follow you, to put 00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:35.369 you first. Empower me, Spirit. To focus on you, 00:40:35.469 --> 00:40:42.210 God, and loving my neighbors. In Jesus' name, 00:40:42.349 --> 00:40:46.050 amen. Now listen, there were several words of 00:40:46.050 --> 00:40:47.530 knowledge I want to share. The prayer team will 00:40:47.530 --> 00:40:48.929 be here on the right to pray for you. If any 00:40:48.929 --> 00:40:51.250 of these are you during the worship, please come 00:40:51.250 --> 00:40:54.710 get prayer. You have muscle issues in your hip 00:40:54.710 --> 00:40:56.849 that extend to your knee. You have pain in your 00:40:56.849 --> 00:40:59.559 right knee that's causing you to limp. You have 00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:01.820 numbness in your left leg that extends all the 00:41:01.820 --> 00:41:04.260 way to your toes. You have stomach issues in 00:41:04.260 --> 00:41:06.480 the lower part of your stomach. You have tingling 00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:09.780 in your hands that won't stop. You have a scratched 00:41:09.780 --> 00:41:12.480 cornea in your right eye. If any of those are 00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:14.960 you, we want to pray for you right here. And 00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:17.119 if you need to give your life to Jesus and the 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:19.400 Holy Spirit is convicting you, get up here and 00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:22.599 do it. They will lead you through that peril. 00:41:22.659 --> 00:41:25.300 They will change your life forever. Amen? Now 00:41:25.300 --> 00:41:28.380 I want you to stand and rejoice and sing with 00:41:28.380 --> 00:41:30.679 me and declare that you are going all in. Why 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:37.460 are there people? I love you guys. Holy Spirit, 00:41:37.539 --> 00:41:39.239 come. Let's sing.