A Seduced Soul (Soul Detox - Week 3)

We are not a body with a soul; we are (first) a soul with a body.

 

Exodus 20:3–5 (NIV84)  3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything . . . 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. . . 

 

Our souls are created to worship the One true living God.

 

Deuteronomy 4:16-19 So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form...whether a man or a woman, an animal on the ground, a bird in the sky, a small animal that scurries along the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea. And when you look up in the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars-all the forces of heaven...don't be seduced into worshiping them.

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What if my soul has been seduced? What if I have been seduced into elevating what might be a good thing and making it a supreme thing?

 

Identify the idols of our souls.

 

Psalm 24:3–4 (NIV84) 3Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol.

 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

I've been doing this a soul detox idea, and the soul detox idea comes from this verse, at least it's the one we've been using from the book of Genesis and it goes like this. It says this, the Lord God formed you, formed the man from the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and that man became a living ne fish, which is the word soul as a pretty powerful statement, at least for me if you think about it because it doesn't say it became a living body, although we know God made the body, but what it says, when he breathed, breathed life into us, we actually became this living soul and this verse and others. We've looked at a sort of led to a. This massive implications for us and how we see life. It's almost like we've been looking at life through the wrong lens and the way we've summarized that perspective change is, is this you? You're not a body with a soul, but the way you were created was your first, his soul. That happens to have a body and that's a totally different way of seeing life because much of what we focus on in this life, at least when it comes to ourselves and to others is the body stuff or the external stuff. That's what we look at to get our value in life and our positions. So we look at age and weight and fashion and heightened hair and wealth and brands and cars and rich and poor, white and black and male and female. We look at all these external things and nothing's wrong with any of those things, but the Christian world view teaches and none of those things make me more or less valuable because I was created as a soul. I was treated as a soul to the part of me that isn't external. It's internal. And so when we die, our bodies die. In fact, your body is on the way there now, aren't you glad you came to church? You know, we're all, we're all kinda got that moment and if you don't know that it's dying, I guarantee if you're over 40, you know that is dying. All right? There's this change that happens, everything starts changing and so your body's, your body dies, but here's the thing, you don't die. You actually continued to live according to what scripture teaches is a thomas. Sounds weird. Don't give you that. That does sound weird. But that's kind of what scripture teaches. And so think about it this way. Think about the body as being a house. And so some of you have a tiny house, some of you are working on a mansion and adding on. I mean, I get all that kind of thing. We're all and some of us are living in a dilapidated house. You can point if you want to do. Some of us are looking at a freshly remodeled house. You know, maybe that's Kinda what we did. Some of us are trying to flip our house. We're trying to find something else. But whatever house you have, that's just a body. That's just the body, but you're actually a soul. That's really who you are. You're a soul who happens to be living in that certain kind of house you got right now. So this morning what I want to do is I want to look at our souls, but I want to look at it through this strange lynch have a characteristic related to who god is. And when you first hear this characteristic about who god is, it might be a little off putting to you. It might be like, Oh, I'm not sure I like that, and you would be well within your rights to kind of come to that assumption. Here's the verse, it's the first commandment in the 10 commandments, the very first one right out of the gate, and this is what it says. You shall have no other gods before me. You should not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything. And then it lists some things out and you shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I the Lord, your God am a Oh naughty God. I mean he didn't get to, didn't get it like a jealous God. I mean, that's something that we did say, kid, you're not supposed to be jealous. Don't be jealous kids, but God apparently he's jealous. He's a jealous God. And that's sort of hard to put together in my mind. And this first commandment, this is the first one right out of the gates, like this is the one who wants everybody to pay attention to right away. I mean the other ones like don't murder and stuff. That's important. But this is what I really want you to pay attention to. I'm a jealous God. Don't have any other gods before me. You know? So this isn't God's making a clear. It's like he's not one choice of a whole lot when it comes to God's. He's God and he doesn't play Nice with other people. Apparently he doesn't play nice with other gods. This God, he doesn't tolerate me. Are you worshiping other gods? So here's, here's my question. Why? Why? I mean, is God insecure? Is that what this is? You know God or you feel a little threatened that if I go here and bet on a piece of wood that it's going to make you feel insecure about your godhood. Is that what's happening? Why would you be a jealous God? Are you feeling threatened? If we worship something else, like if I convinced this room to worship a table here, would you feel threatened by that God? Does that make you? Why does it bother God if we start worshiping something other than him and the answer to those questions is actually a big deal because it's a reality that we aren't going to hear outside of a Christian worldview. If you believe we are souls with the body than what our souls do takes priority over anything else. If you believe you are actually a soul with a body, then what our souls do take priority over anything else and I don't want to draw too hard line between soul and body, but allow me to say this. If all of this is true, then soul care becomes more important than body care. In the Christian worldview, what it looks like in my soul is more important than what it looks like in this house and how I'm taking care of the soul piece of who I am has more value and significance and purpose than what I do with this house. And here. Here's why our souls, everybody's soul believer or nonbeliever are actually created to worship. Every soul is created to worship even if you don't believe. Now, I added for those of us that do believe our souls are created to worship the one true living God. That's what we. That's what we were credited, but every person on the planet was actually created with this compulsion to worship. That's why humans are worshipers. That's what we do. You know, American idol is a significant kind of glimpse into who we are. We love that idea. Worship isn't something we do. It's something that we were created for and whether we believe in one God or not, we all worship something. Everybody worships something and this is why we are constantly looking for people that we can place on a pedestal even if we know they're not qualified because we want to worship them. Everything from entertainers to athletes and even politicians just give us something. We can worship something that we can get behind and go with you. We're all looking for that. We have to have something to worship because that's how we were created. It's what we were made to do, all of us, and so if you start looking at the world you function in and look at the lives you interact with you, we'll see everybody's worshiping something. Sometimes it's a possession or a goal. I can remember stage in my life when it was a car, not a very good one at that, but it was a car. Maybe it's sports or being successful in sports, or maybe you're. You're worshiping acceptance and your desire to be accepted above all else or maybe you're trying to accomplish so you're pushing and pushing and climbing and climbing. Maybe it's money, maybe it's popularity and anytime our souls worship anything but God, our souls are drawn to those things. We are worshiping those idols and here's why. Ready? We ultimately desire what it is we worship. Ultimately, the thing you're worshiping will become what you desire, and if that's true, then what we worship is a big deal. What we worshiped determines who we are. If I ultimately be desire, what I worship, what I worship determines what we do and why we do what we do. What we worship determines how we see ourselves and ultimately how we see each other and what we worshiped determines why we live, what our purpose and our desire is all determined, but what we worship because we desire what we worship. Now you know what? We can have our lives so full everything

Speaker 2: 8:56

and yet feels so empty and all of the things of this world won't satisfy that soul that was created to ultimately worship the one true living God, but will continue to feed it and find something to worship. This is why God said right out of the gate, don't have any other gods. Nothing besides me, just me. The first commandment. God has actually explained to us how life works the best for us and here's the stunner. All that could be true or not true. You decide I think it's true, but here's the stunner that sort of got my attention this week as I've been prepping. Apparently there is something or even someone who is trying to get me to worship something other than God and it can happen in such a way that I don't even notice. Let me share it to you in scripture. This is deuteronomy four. I'm going to read the dot, dot, dot, and my passion so you're not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any forum. And then it says whether a man or a woman, an animal on the ground, a burden, the sky, a small animal that screws along the ground, which I'm assuming is like a rat or something or a fish in the deepest sea. And when you look up the sky and you see the sun, the moon and the stars and all the forces of heaven, look at this. Don't be. Come on, read again. Don't be into worshiping them. Isn't that a weird word to put there? So what that's saying to me is I could actually be lured into worshiping something than what I was created to worship. So when I look at all the idolatry stuff in the Old Testament, and I think, well honestly it looks kind of silly to me. I mean, how dumb do I have to be the worship a golden cow. I mean, let me put it together here and we're all going to come and sing songs about a cow. You know, we'd all think, well, that'd be silly, Tom. That'd be silly in some kind of poll and put something on top of a pole and that's all worship that some little figurine or the stars just irrelevant in our world today. But here's the question I've been asking myself. What if I'm actually being seduced by something? What if my soul has been seduced and respectfully? What if all y'all same place, what of all of us that's happened? In other words, it's not something that we would say, oh, this, but what if we've been seduced and our souls are actually worshiping something maybe we'd not even aware of? While

Speaker 1: 11:54

I may not be tempted to worship a block of wood? What if I've been seduced into elevating what might be a good thing and I've now made it a supreme thing? Because now you're starting to know on the edges of Tom's life, what if we've all been seduced to taking good things and making them supreme things? Because here's the reality to me, without even knowing it, I can lift things above God in my heart and when that happens, I've got this seduced soul, so let me, let me say, anybody else in the room could say, you know, I've put some body or some person higher than God.

Speaker 3: 12:39

I've done that one.

Speaker 1: 12:41

In fact, to save myself some exercise, I've done all of them. Okay? Just assume that Tom's done. That one. Okay, here's one. Anybody put something? They're afraid of higher than God. How about this? Anybody put a job or something that you've accomplished or desire to accomplish higher than God? That whole thing of I'm going to get this come. What may or whatever takes anybody putting some need for affirmation. Anybody's got some sick idea of perfection, but you're putting higher than God.

Speaker 3: 13:16

Take a moment.

Speaker 1: 13:18

If I forced you to answer the question, which I can't do, so I'm respectfully asking you just to engage with me. If I asked you, do you have anything higher than God right now? What would it be like? What could you say? You know, Tom, if I really processed with you, this might be the seductress, this might be the one that could maybe get my attention, maybe not now, but man, there's something there that sort of drawn me. What is it for you? What is it that's being higher than God? Well, for some of us in the room, that's an easy thing. Our answer is boom,

Speaker 3: 13:58

that one.

Speaker 1: 14:00

That's what I'm tempted to. I want to be accepted by member of the opposite sex. That's my thing. I want to be wealthy.

Speaker 3: 14:09

That's my thing.

Speaker 1: 14:13

I want to be angry and remain bitter for my hurt. That's my thing, but for some of us it's harder to discover it because we've been seduced, but maybe it's time for a little soul detox just to kind of purge the system, if you will. So how do we make a seducer soul

Speaker 3: 14:39

unproduced?

Speaker 1: 14:40

How do we make this reduced soul and seduced? Let me share some ideas for you to consider. Here's the first one. Let's start by identifying the idols in our souls. Let's start by saying, you know what? That's a potential game changer. That's an idol in my soul, them liking me. He's an idol in my soul. Me Projecting something. I'm not idle in my soul. My family is an idol in my soul. Me being seen as intelligent, as an idol in my soul, me being seen as the source of all moral authority and passing judgment on everybody around me is an idol in my soul. Identify it. The psalmist says this, who can ascend the hill of the Lord and go to go to the sanctuary being the presence of God, stand in his holy place. He who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to an idol. What is it that we have elevated to a supreme place and something that really marks ranks higher than even the one true living God in our lives? What is it that we're sort of hanging and identity on and we're looking on to for confidence, for acceptance or purpose, and here's what I've learned is I've scored process through this from my own life. Man, I'm good at justifying why I do what I do. I got a gift of rationalization. I think I can, I can figure out how to make myself look good no matter what it is. I can bring all sorts of excuses as to why some things are an idle aren't idols and the reality is we can have some interest in some hobbies that aren't idols, but I'm guessing almost all of our lives there are these things that have become so important. They're actually dangerous to our souls and we don't even realize it because we've been seduced, so what I want to do is give you three kinds of things to think about when you just say, is there any items in my life and identify what they are here. Here's the first question I'd ask. How do you spend your time? Just think about how you spend your time. Don't put any spin on it. Don't try to make yourself look better than you are. Just think about how you spend your time. How about this one? How do you spend your money? All your medland. Now, Tom, it's going to get worse. I mean, I'm just going to tell you right up front how we spend our money. How about this, what do you spend your time talking about? Are you a constant self promoter? There's your idol. Are you currently putting other people down? There's your idol. Did you find the vast majority of your time is always kind of focused on the same thing or maybe you find your bank account and you realize, man, I spent a lot of money in a certain direction, or maybe you find yourself in conversations with people. That's normal cognitive. Do you do the same thing over and over? Now? I don't want to. Don't want on what it might be for you, but I made a list from someone I know really well that it might be true for them. I think some people worship the homes they live in. Not any of us, but people we know.

Speaker 3: 17:41

Okay,

Speaker 1: 17:43

true man. Where's the house we live in? How about this one? For some of us, it's our image, both the real image and the one we put online. I got the best life ever. I got hit. I hit a deer, but I got to eat it. You know, whatever we put online, you know, I don't know, but it's image. It's all about the image. We just want people to see us a certain way. I'm smart or I'm dumb, or I'm rich, or I'm poor, I need help or I don't need help. Whatever. We had some image could be hobbies for some of us. I'm not going to talk about that because it's too personal. How about this one? You ready for this? This is gonna. Get an email for some of us. It's our children. Yeah. You're trying to raise a little perfect. Johnny and Sally and you're the only one that thinks they're perfect and that's so important to you. Oh, look at what my child did. They pooped a unicorn. I mean, whatever it is, I don't know, but like everybody thinks their passion has said that, but I just

Speaker 2: 18:41

man. But if we're not careful, then those kids, man is what a gift we can get reduced to the point where they become the idle. If anything happens to them or they get any. Anybody speaks against them and when you come out swinging,

Speaker 1: 19:03

some people worshiped the hurt from their past. I'll talk to people, maybe know them. Maybe this is you. You're still mostly motivated by hurt that took place 20 years ago.

Speaker 2: 19:16

It's what you're worshiping. You been seduced. That's who I am. No, it's not. No, it's not. Yes, that happened and that stinks. That was a bad thing. But it's not. It doesn't define you. It doesn't have to. Unless you decide to worship that. Some of us worship an ideal of themselves, which is hard to live on, hard to live under or their families. Some of us worship a mistake. Uh, Tom and my first marriage, I made this mistake and that's why I can never be any good. No, that's, that's dummy. You're worshiping that you don't need to. You don't need to worship that. Here's one. I wonder if today we might be worshiping technology. All the old people like me, man, we probably are. And the reason I wrote that one down, it isn't because the young people in my home, it's because of me. I think sometimes technology seducing us. It's taken us away from the people we love. I find out that, you know, you took

Speaker 1: 20:30

kids to chuck e cheese, but I don't know what's happening with my son across the room.

Speaker 2: 20:37

I think I'm sometimes guilty of using technology as a way to check out of the room or check out of the family or check out of the relationships I'm surrounded. That can

Speaker 1: 20:48

be an idol. I wonder if it could be the pursuit of success in a career for some of us or maybe the pursuit of wealth or you know, it could go on and on. So enough games. Let me just be transparent with you to idols that I have had to work at in my life. And I'm not saying I've graduated from this school but I'm pretty close, but not really. A couple of things. I've idolized too much of my life. See if you can relate. I found that I idolized the opinions of other people, which is like a detriment to my job. So. So let me, I want, I, I discovered early in ministry that I wanted everybody to like me and then I couldn't understand how anybody could not like me. You folks laugh at the wrong time, so you don't know that that's very hurtful, very hurtful man. One of the most broken times in my life was when I had to actually do some homework to dethrone. This idol of my life, maybe 10, 12 years ago, had to come to a point of discovery that I realized I couldn't be the pastor that I needed to be if I was trying to be liked by everybody all the time. None of us are called to live for the approval of people were actually called to live for the approval of God. Now, that doesn't mean we've got to be a jerk or jerk yet, however you say that, it doesn't mean we have to beat that, but instead I had to dethrone that idol in order to do what God called me to do because I realized I could never be the pastor you need. If all I was trying to do was make you happy, is that okay for me to tell you that?

Speaker 3: 22:30

Hmm,

Speaker 1: 22:30

here's another idol that I, I still wrestle with. To be honest with you. It's not in charge right now, but it's always hanging around and it's this. It's my need for control. Now. I'm not talking about like trying to control all the people and everything happening in my life. You folks really need help. I'm not talking about that. I'm, I'm, I'm actually talking about control and situations that I'm afraid of hear me out on this. So, so I wouldn't say that people that I work with would say Tom's controlling and, or, um, you know, I'm not, I'm not even talking about things that at work or home, I'm talking about the things I'm afraid of that I want to control but can't, not just in my life but in the lives of people I love. So like my friend gets cancer. Unacceptable. I will control that. Let me fix that right now. Right? Here's another one for me. Hospitals, not of God, those are not of God. Those are like sick people there. And like, like body parts are taken off there. There's fluids and rooms and machines that I don't know. I feel totally out of control at hospital and which is weird that Lisa, I'm married, but I still, I feel totally out of control in that setting. No kidding. If I go to a hospital, Lisa knows she better go me Tom, you're sixth street. I know I'm A. I'm scared to death. Anything that is an environment that I don't control, it makes me uncomfortable. Now, how does that play out in as far as idol, Tom? Well, as longer in therapy with Tom, let me tell you how that plays out. Trust is not something I default to. So in our relationship I don't always trust you and fact, if it comes down to me trusting you or me trusting me, I'm going to trust me and that's fine because some of y'all are really nice to people, but it also goes over to my relationship with God. Here's what I've learned. Sometimes I don't even trust God and when it comes down to whether I'm going to trust God or trust me, I'm going to trust me. Does that make sense? Because I've been seduced into thinking that God won't take care of you. God won't help you, and so I find myself being something else, and as soon as I think I got that sucker torn down, it shows up again, something God's helping me with. So let me ask you what is seducing you at this stage of your life? Because once we're able to identify what the idol is or at least the potential to scripture is laser focused, crystal clear on what it is we're to do. Rip The sucker down says, tear it down over and over and over again. In scripture it says, tear them down. This is from the book of judges. It's a great story about Gideon and God speaks to Gideon about the people of Israel in his own family had invited idols. Look what God says to Gideon, tear down your father's idol to be altered, to bail. Cut down the Asherah Poles and other idol beside it. Now, this is, this is stunning to me because this is exactly what Gideon does. In fact, when he does it, it's like he's opened a righteous can on the idols. I mean, he's. He's almost got this. He's almost reckless. Recklessly rips these things down unapologetically. I'm not gonna. Let anything stand between us and God bails coming down the Asherah poles coming down and there's this real sense of divine passion. I'm not going to tolerate it anymore. Rip It down, rip it out, throw it away, burn it up. It's not going to be here anymore. Get radical. I wonder if the local church might actually experience revival if we finally got radical about ripping idols down. If we actually got, we earned our our reputation of being weird. Wouldn't that be awesome? Maybe not. This will be the last Sunday for some of you. I know, but wouldn't it be awesome if we just kind of got serious? Here's the thing, God never asked us to manage our idols because you can't do it. Neither can I. He says, tear them down everywhere. He never says, just put the idol to the side and let me be there. He never says that. He always gets finality to it, cut it down. He never says tolerate them, but worship me. He never says, dial them back. Worship me. He says, obliterate them, get rid of anything that's more important to you than the one true God, and we have to get that stance because we just try to manage it. It continues to seduce us. I was running this week which means I was barely breathing and so I was thinking weird thoughts and Unicorns, a weird thought, but I got to thinking, what if our idol was a rattle like for you snake lovers of Amine rattlesnake? Okay, love is like a bad rattlesnake. Voldemort rattlesnake. What if is that kind of rattle snake and and, and, and it became what we centered our lives around. And so I said this rattlesnake, exactly what? I'm worshiping the idol and I sit down in my living room and I put that rattle snake right there on my lap with my children right here in my wife across there and my dogs. And you all would say, Tom, you had dummy. There's a rattlesnake in your lap. Why do you let that thing hanging around? Oh, sorry, I just. You what? I'll just sit the route snake over here in a coffee table for a moment, which leave it there. And then we all start doing life walking around the coffee table all the time. He passed the popcorn. You say, Tom, you're stupid. What are you doing? I said, okay. Okay. I'll tell you what. I'll take this idol. I'll put it in leases closet, you know. So that's what I'm going to put it in his closet right there. And that way it's in a closet. You never gotten to know what's there. It's all okay. It's hidden out of the way you say, Tom, you still say it right. What's wrong with you man? It's a snake. It's a rattlesnake. Who in a very bad attitude right now? And if he, if he lights into you, he'll destroy you.

Speaker 3: 29:08

Fair.

Speaker 1: 29:11

So I realized the reason I let the idols hang around, he's, I don't believe that will destroy me. Tom, worshiping accomplishment. It's not a rattle snake.

Speaker 3: 29:32

Really.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Maybe you and I should have conversations about the families that had been lost

Speaker 3: 29:38

because of that.

Speaker 2: 29:43

See, I don't think it's going to destroy me just like the ultra bail and just like the Asherah Poles. We let them hang around and all of us do this. That's my first inclination. When something is identified as an idol, I rationalize it or downplay the impact on me. I know some families in our body, our church who realized as a family there in front of their televisions all the time and so they didn't get rid of cable and they didn't get rid of satellite. They got rid of their televisions, Weirdos. Tom, how do they live? Not knowing what happened to the bachelor? Well, I have no idea. Real missionaries suffering for Jesus. They said, man, Tom, we're not going to get consumed by this box anymore. I know a family get this. That's in our body who sold their home and downsized so they could honor God with our finances. Tom, that's weird. I know, and you're sitting beside them. I know people who realized their electronic devices were feeding their idol. Everything from distraction to porn, and so they got rid of them. They don't have a phone. There used to be a day when none of us did dark day, horrible day, and we were all so much happier not knowing everybody else's political opinions where we Tom. That's silly, isn't it? Really? If it's a rattlesnake, you wouldn't say it was. I remember a time early on in ministry, I told the Church I was leading. I'll give you three nights a week, but the other four for my family, because I wanted to give the church seven nights a week. It was a rattlesnake, so I don't know what it would mean for you, but if there's something that is more important than your soul than the one true living, God, rip the sucker down. No Games. Don't keep it in the closet. Rip It down so you can't go back and when you tear down that space, here's the final suggestion. Fill your soul with God. Fill your soul with the one true living God. Once you rip down bail or Asher or technology or porn or relationships or whatever's ill inside, what did you rip all that down? Fill it with God. I am so challenged. I think by these verbs yearns my soul yearns. Look at this one. Even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. What would it be like to live like that? What would that be like? Beginning of the year, I usually write like a column or I get a reward, a bunch of books and the books are, here's what I want to do. Professional. Here's what I want to do. Personal and personal is normally what I do to fill my soul with God. I read, um, that's kind of what does it for me. And maybe it's worship for you or painting or whatever. I don't know, but for me it's reading. And so that's what I choose to do this. And I'll give you an example of that here at the end. Max Lucado wrote this story a while back and he's a pretty good writer, but it kind of boring to preach from, so I dialed it up a little bit for you, but he basically says this, he tells a story about one time there was a fish in the ocean and the fish was caught and so the fit people that caught the fish at all, this is such a beautiful fish. It'd be awesome to put this fish on the beach so the fish can live.

Speaker 1: 34:02

So are Alabama fans way. They've take the fish so they take the fish and they put it on the sand, but when you put the fish on the sand, if you've ever seen this before, the fish doesn't look too happy. And so the people thought, well, you know what we need to do. We need to. We need to give the fish a nice little house. And so they bought this nice little house and they put the fish inside the nice little house on the sand. They lay the fish in the middle of inefficiency.

Speaker 2: 34:29

Gil, you know Gil

Speaker 1: 34:34

fish don't look at it, look very happy. And so they was, the fish must need money. I'll tell you what, let's give the fish a water cash in a bank card, credit card. Let's give him a credit card. Name your fish, you know. So they gave it to the fish and official in there with all the money and the credit card in their house and all. He can get a little gill. What's what's going on to fish. The people start thinking about what's wrong with the fish. And they started, oh my goodness, you know what, to know what the fish doesn't have what we have. What's that? That fish needs a girl fish because it was a male fish. I mean, what are your story? Do whatever you want. So they're going to get a Mrs. Fish. And they put Mrs. Fish in there and lay down beside the Mr. Fish and water cash in. How many of y'all are truly engaged right now? The fish story. And it's kind of weird that we're having this moment, but in a way you've got this kind of house in his water cash and his credit card, Mr and Mrs. Fish laying beside each other. Now both of them are Kinda just to Gill, not happy. Let's get the fish and stuff to play with

Speaker 2: 35:37

a skim, a playstation, no funds, but when I give him a playstation and let's give them a social media account so we log them on. You can follow him on fish and so that there's Bhagavan and are posting about their lives and the fishes not make them happy. Maybe they could have a baby fish. Here's my point. You give the fish anything and everything and the fish is going to be happy. You know why? Fish was never created for the beach is greater for the ocean. Fish has created for the water. I fear we could all be seduced into thinking that all the meaning and purpose in life is going to come while we're fish on the beach, worshiping something and all the while we were meant for the ocean, the Kingdom of God. So we spend our lives on the beach gathering this house and this water cash and this relationship, this status. We're just dying because we were never made for that. God is a jealous God. We were made to worship the one true living God and that's where we'll find life, so this week and that little pile of books that I told you I'm reading for myself, feel myself with God. I ran across a phrase that I've been using it to kind of identify some of the idols in my life or at least the potential ones coming down. The Way and the phrase that I've been using all week is basically this is that I want to see Earth through Heavens Lens. I want to see Earth through Heavens Lens. All my stuff. See it through having Glen's my position in my life. See it through his lens, our relationship with lease. Three Children See it through Heavens Lens. My relationship with you as pastor see it through heavens lens and it's really been kind of freeing to me because I've had some interactions with you folks this week where your life has really hit a wall. You've had something significant happen and there is no reason for me to give you of why this happened, why you deserved or why it was uninvited and into your life. But I've been challenged to see ha, see Earth to heaven's Lens, and as I've been doing that, God has been showing more and more times in my life, more and more areas where there could be an idol. Listen, there was a time, Lisa and I are standing in our driveway and there was some idols creeping in and that day we quit our jobs and we moved. We tore it down. No going back, no going back because we weren't made for this, for the shore, made for the Kingdom of God. Jesus, thank you for these good folks. Look at him, Lord. We just had this intense conversation about idolatry and they'd been so gracious. Lord, I wonder what's going on in the room. I'm sure some of us are ready to get to lunch, but I also wonder if there aren't a couple of folks that maybe you've identified the idol. Maybe it's something that happens in a computer. Maybe it's something that happens in home. Maybe it's something that's driving us at work. Maybe it's something that happened at the hospital, but it's become the idol. We were seduced into it. Maybe it's afraid of failure has become an idol. Maybe it's being afraid of being seen as a failure. Maybe some folks can relate to that hurt that they've been carrying around for years. It's become the idol. I pray by the power of your spirit. You would make that crystal clear to everyone in the room and you would say, this is the place, this is the one, and then you would give us all the courage to rip it down, rip it down, and then to rebuild, filling it with your presence, seeing earth through heaven's Lens. Oh, how freeing. That would be. Thank you for being a jealous God. Thank you that we were made to do life with you in the deep waters of the Kingdom of God. Forgive us for settling for anything else in your name. Amen.