Acts: Battle For Your Worship

Wait to begin our palm Sunday. Amen, I'm the Holy Week.

What a great way to start if you have your

Bible's turned with me to Acts Acts chapter nineteen, Acts

Chapter nineteen. Then we're gonna begin in verse twenty one

and just a moment Acts nineteen starting verse twenty one.

Title of my sermon this morning is a battle for

your worship. You ever got called in the middle between something, right?

Maybe you or maybe it's a disagreement between two people.

Maybe it's a coworker, right, and you're kind of got

in between the two coworkers. There's kind of a disagreement

between the two and they come to you when you

hear one side of the store, and then the other

one comes to you and tells you their store, and

you kind of feel called in the middle, right, and

you feel like you don't want to take sides, but

you feel like you gotta take sides. Maybe that's a coworker,

maybe it's a family member that's happened. Maybe it's just

you've ever been to the lake. I like going to

the mall, right, and going to the mall and there's

all there's different options to eat, right, But you know

what in every mall. There's like a few places like

Chinese restaurants, and they have samples, right, and they just

stick out these samples, right, And I'm telling you, I'm

a sucker and i want to go. And then next thing,

I know, look across the cafeteria and there's another one

and they're holding out a sample too, And then you're

kind of like you're called in the middle. You can't

you can't eat at both places. You can only eat

at one, right, And so, but that's the idea. There's

this place at times where we're in a battle. Right.

You know what is a battle. A battle is when

there are two different sides that are battling for the

same thing. You think about Ukraine today, right, today's a

battle in Ukraine and it's a war. It's the war

between Ukraine and Russia. What are they battling for. They're

battling all for the same thing. Well, they're battling for land. Right.

If you go to basketball or football, there's a battle

on a football field or a basketball field, and they

all want the same thing. They want all want the

basketball and they're both fighting for that one thing. Can

I tell you this morning, according to the Word of God,

there is a battle today. You know what the battle is.

It's a battle for your soul, a battle for your soul.

One Peter says this in chapter two, verse eleven, Beloved,

I urge you, as sojournals in ex job exiles, to

stain from the passions of flesh which wage war against

your soul. Can I tell you there's a battle today?

And what we're gonna look into this pastor of scripture,

there's a battle for your soul. Do you know Jesus

wants your worship. God wants you to worship him. He

created you for worship. But so does the enemy of

this world. He also wants you, and he wants you

to worship him. He wants you to worship the things

of this world. And as we come to Acts chapter nineteen,

we see there's a battle of raging in Ephesus, and

the battle that's raging is a battle of worship. There

are those who want There's Paul who's trying to lead

people to worship the Lord, and there is another there's

an enemy who's trying to lead people not to worship

the Lord, to worship the things of this world, worship

the enemy. And so this morning I want you to

see that there is this battle for your worship. You

must recognize every individual in this room. Can I tell

you there is a battle for your soul. There's a

battle for your worship. The enemy wants you there. Listen,

the enemy does not want you to The enemy wants

you to worship. Don't be deceived to think the enemy

doesn't want me to worship. No, it wants you to worship.

It just wants you to worship the wrong thing. God

also calls you to worship. Know that there's a battle

for your soul. Just as I described in the cafeteria,

there's a I mean the mall. There's a battle for

who for me and who I'm going to buy or

what vendor I'm going to eat at. But there's only

one of me. There's only one of you. There's only

one soul. And you can't worship. Scripture says you can't

worship two things, right, can't worship God and money. You

can only worship one thing. So understand today there is

a battle. There's a battle for your worship. And Acts nineteen,

as we come to this passage, as we looked last week,

Paul is in Ephesus and he's sharing the Gospel and

people are coming to know the Lord, and people lives

are radically being transformed by the gospel, so much so

last week we saw that as they surrendered to Christ,

and as they're living for Christ, they're repenting. They're turning

away from a vital worship, They're turning away from worshiping

other things counterfeits, and they are abandoned in those, and

they've turned away from those and as a result, they

sold they burned their books, as we looked last week.

But when a life worships the Lord, as a life

surrenders to the Lord, it transforms listen to this, it

transforms the lives of that individual. But when lives are

transformed in a community and a church listen to this,

it not only transforms the individual, but it transforms the community,

it transforms the church. As we come to Acts nineteen,

what's happening is as Paul is sharing the gospel in Ephesis,

and people will come to other Lord. As people are

surrendering their lives, that people are depending of their sins.

It's transforming their lives, but it's also transforming Ephesus. And

now there's an issue. People in Ephics are saying, you

know what. There's things are changing in our community. People

are not worshiping like they once did. They're not worshiping

the things that they once did, and it's hurting the economy.

It's changing the way people are spending their money. It's

changing what they're worshiping. And now there's a battle. There's

now people who are starting to pose the Christianity because

they don't like the change that's bringing in the community.

And so now there's opposition that rises against the Christians.

And this morning, I want you to see, as we

come to this passage scripture, there's a battle for your soul.

And then that battle, the battle of the enemy opposes

what you worship, and it desires to lead you to

worship something else. So it's twofold attack from the enemy.

He wants to oppose you worshiping Christ, and he wants

to lead you to worship something else. And so this

morning I want you to see this battle for your

worship and how the enemy opposes you worshiping Jesus at

worshiping Christ, and how the enemy also wants to lead

you to worship something else. So let's stand together and

let's read God's word together as acts nineteen verse twenty

one through forty one. So let's stand and read God's

word together, and may his words speak to our hearts

as we listen to his words, the Bible says in

Acts nineteen verse twenty one. Now after these things, Paul

resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Ikea,

and going to Jerusalem, and after saying, after I've been there,

I must also see Roman. And having sent into Macedonia

two of his helpers, Timothy and arrest Us, he sent him.

He himself stayed in Asia for a while. And about

that time there rose no little disturbance among the way,

for a man named Demetrius Smith, who was who made

silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,

and he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades,

and he said, men, you know that from this business

we have our wealth. And you see and hear that

only in Ephesus, but also in all of Asia. This

Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people,

saying that the gods made of hands are not God's.

And there is danger not only that this trade of

ours may have come to disrepute, but also the temple

of our great God, as Artemis may be counted as nothing,

that she may be even disposed from her great magnificence,

in whom all Asia and the world worship. And when

they heard this, very begin to raise, and they were

crying out, greatest Artemis of the Ephesians. So the city

was filled with confusion. And he rushed together in the theater,

and dragging with them Gacious and Arcticus, the Macedonias, who

were Paul's copanions in trials. But when Paul wished to

go among the crowds, the disciples will not let him.

And even some of the art the articles I can

on to have to say that one who were friends

of his sent to him and were urging him not

to venture into the theater. And some cried out to

one thing from another, And for the assembly was in confusion,

so most of them did not know why they had

come together. And some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom

the Jews had put forward to Alexander motion with his hand,

wanted to make this defense to the crowd. But when

they recognized he was a Jew. For about two hours

they cried out with one voice, great is Artemis of

the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quiet the crowd,

he said, men of Ephesus, who who is there who

does not know that the city of Ephesians is a

temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the sacred

storng that fell from the sky. Seeing then that these

things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and

do nothing rash, for you have all these men who

are neither sacrilegious or blasphemers of our goddess. And if

they're for Demetrius and the craftsmen with him, have complaint

against anyone. The courts are open and there's per counsels.

Let them bring charges to one another. But if you

seek anything further, let it be settled in the regular assembly.

For we really are in danger of being charged with

writing today, since there's no cause that can give to

justify this commotion. And when they when he had said

these things, they were dismissed. He dismissed the assembly. Let's

pray together, Father, we know today, as your word declares, Lord,

there's a battle for our souls. At times, Lord, we're

called in between arguments in this world, vendors or businesses

vying for our business. But Lord, more importantly there is

we're in a and we live in a world, that

there's a battle for our worship. And Lord, I pray

today that we would hear your word. We'd recognize what

happened in Ephesus, and the Lord, we'd recognize it. Asto's

happening in our life today. That the enemy it seeks

to oppose our worship of Jesus and wants us to

worship something else. So Lord, may we see what happen

in Ephesus, and may we recognize it happening in our

life today. And Lord, may we worship you alone. So Lord,

I pray today that you would use this word to

speak to our hearts. Lord, you know today I'm a

weak man. I'm a sinful man. And Lord, I need

your power among me today. I need your words to

feel me today. Father, Lord, I pray they not hear

me Lord, today, they would hear you. God. So Lord

feel me today, Father, I pray and speak through me. Lord,

we need you today, and your name we pray, Amen,

you may be seated. Want you see first this morning,

the enemy opposes the worship of Christ and promotes the

worship of money. The Bible tells us in Ephesus, as

you can imagine the scenes as we looked last Sunday,

was here. These Christians have surrendered to the Christ. So

a lot of people come to know the Lord. Paul

has been preaching in this city for two years, and many, many,

many people throughout that city had come to know the Lord.

And they're coming to the knowther Lord. And we know

last week that as they saw what happened to the

high priests, and as they were trying to cast out

the demon and the demons ever threw them, and they

were fearful. So we know the Bible told us last

week they took their magic books and they went into

the city and they burned their magic books. So we

know the Christians are turning away from I to worship

magic worship and they're only worshiping Christ's changing the community

so much so they're in Ephesus. There was a temple

caught to Artemis. Artemis was a great god of Asia.

It was this place was so big. This temple was

seen as at the time one of the seven wonders

of the world. It was larger, this temple than a

football field. It would have probably been the size of

this temple would been equivalent to a size of a

pro football stadium today. That's how big this temple was.

It's believed that it had as you walked down. You've

ever been to a football stadium, have been to Panther Stadium.

If you walk into Panther Stadium, there at the front,

there's this big statue of a panther. Well there at

Ardamas was a big stature of the god. It was

seen to be sixty foot tall. It was the largest building,

this temple, largest building in the Greek world at the time,

this massive temple here in Ephesus. You've ever been to

the beach, You've been to Myrtle Beach. You know what

you find in Mittle Beach? You find about a thousand

beach shops, eagles wings, you know, I mean every corner, right.

Why is there so many of those beach shop You

ever wonder that, how in the world how do they

stay in business? Because everybody travels to Myrtle Beach, they

go to Mortle Beach, and you know what they got

to do before they leave. We got to get us

a sand dollar, right, we got to get a hermit crab, right,

So you got to go to the beach shop, because

you visit the beach, you got to get a sand dollar, right,

or you got to get a hermit crab, or you

got to get something. And so that's how they stay

in business by tourists coming in and they have got

to have that. What's the same thing. People will travel

to Ephesus to worship this great wonder of the world,

and there was this god Artemis there, and before you leave,

you better make sure you go into one of your

whatever silversmith's stores, which would have been equivalent to an

eagles and you go get your little Artemis and you

take that little idol home with you and you put

it on. You know, in the Greek Roman world, every family,

every family had an altar in their home of idols

that they worshiped, and it was the father's re some

ousibility that you would leave your family and weekly worship

to the idols. So if you went to you went

Ephesus and you went to the great Temple of Artemis,

you had to take you home one of those little

those little idols, because you want to make sure you

got one of those, and you will want to make

sure you put it in your your little altar at home. Well,

when these Christians got saved, they got got rid of

their altars at home, they got rid of their idols,

and the word begins spread. Paul sharing the gospel through

Asia that the idols were nothing. Who you should worship

was Christ and you to put away your idols. As

a result, what's happening. The eagles started going out of business.

They started seeing that these Christians in ephis and people

in Asia, when they weren't coming and buying these idols anymore.

They weren't buying these things. So the Bible tells us

that there was this there's this silversmith who made these

little idols in Ephesus. His name is Demetrius, and Demetrius man.

He says, this is a problem. You know, these Christians

are transforming our community. They're giving up their idol worship.

And if they keep spreading throughout Asia, they're gonna tell

more people to stop worshiping idols. And they're not gonna

buy our little silver, our little idols that we made

out of silver, and so we're gonna we're gonna it's

gonna lose our business. And he brings all the silversmiths together.

Scripture tells us in verse twenty three. The Bible says,

in verse twenty five, he gathered together with the workmen

the silver similar trades. And this's the way, it says. Men,

you know that from this business we have our wealth,

you know, fell us, Hey, you know that it's from

making these idols. It's how we we take in our income.

It's it's how we we have our livelihood. And if

these Christians stop worshiping the idols and they start worshiping Christ,

it's gonna hurt our bottom line. It's gonna hurt our pockets.

And therefore he opposed Christianity because of what it was

gonna what he was gonna lose financially. He even says

in the next passage, you know that in verse that

we have our wealth from this from verse twenty six.

And you see and you hear, this is what they said,

not only the Ephesis, but almost in all of Asia.

This Paul has persuaded in a turning away. Listen and

turned away great many people, saying that the gods made

with hims are not God's. And listen verse twenty seven.

And there is not there is a danger, not only

that this trade of ours may come to disrepute. The

word disrepute, there's discredit. He may realize that it's a fraud.

This credit means the idea that people are going to

realize that this is a scam, that the idol is

nothing but the worthless idol, and they're going to worship

instead the true God. And Artemis may not be worshiped

at all. God to you today, One of the biggest

oppositions that you're going to face today is the enemy

does not want you to worship Jesus. He doesn't, and

they will pose you following Christ and you're worshiping Jesus.

Not only will they pose you worshiping Jesus, but listen,

I'll promote you to worship something else. And what do

they want you to worship? They want you to worship

the almighty dollar. That's what That's where Demetrius goes, right.

He goes to these silversmiths and says, do you know

what money you're going to lose if this Jesus continues

to rise as Christians continue to convert, you know what

money you're going to lose? I tell you there's a

in our world. One of the things that is our

world seeks to lead you to worship. Above Christ is

the almighty dollar. Jesus knew that, right. Jesus taught that

you can't serve God and money. There's a but the

love of money in our world, in materials are something

that continues to what continues to entice us every day. Right.

We just see it in the last week, right in

the last two weeks, the teriffs our world's going to

end because the stock market's going on down. We're putting

our trust so much in what's happened economically in our

world that even when the stock market goes down, we

wonder that has all hope is lost? Foundationally, we've put

our hope in the economic well being of America. Our

hope should not be in the economic well being of America.

Our hope should be in our Savior Lord. But too

many times we put our hope in our money. I

heard a story. Oh, I don't know if you know.

There's an old comedian. He had a show many many

years ago. His name is Jack Benny. He did a

skip one time and there Jack was walking along and

the robber came up to him and jumped out, and

he said, the robber said, to jack your money or

your life. Silence kind of stopped there for a minute.

The robber looked at him and said, well Jack Benny,

and a little skit says, well, don't rush me. I'm thinking

about it. Right. That is coming to a place that

we've get to a place that we put so much

value in our money that sometimes, if we're not careful,

we think our money is more important than our life.

Can I tell you? Scripture tells us. And this is,

by the way, it always gets a little uncomfortable when

the preacher starts talking about money, Right, preacher, you can

preach on anything else, but you start meddling in the money.

Now will preach it? We can just need to move

on to another subject. Heard a pastor say one time

he was doing a series in for a men's Breakfast

and it was the Seven Deadly Sins. And his wife

told me, told him, said that you know, I bet

greed will be your lost attendants. And she was right.

Greed was the lowest attendance of that seven part series.

And the pastor says in his statement about this, he says,

I've had people come to confess to me they struggled

with almost every kind of sin. Right, But he says

I can never recall anyone coming to me, and says

I spend too much money on myself. I think I'm

struggling with greed. I think my love for money has

more become an issue of sin in my life. I

want you to turn with me to first Timothy. I

want you to see this in the context of acts.

But I want you to see that Paul understood this

that one of the greatest attacks against your worship, or

one of the greatest temptations that you will faced as

a believer to leave your love and your worship for

Jesus for something else, is the temptation for money. This

is what Paul says in one Timothy six. Just a

few verses, Paul would say this, but godliness with contentment

is great gain. We brought nothing into this world, and

we can't take anything out of it. But if we

have food and clothing, these, with these, we will be content.

But those who desire to be rich, listen to this

fall into temptation, into a snare, he says, and into

many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin

and destruction. This is verse ten. For the love of

money is the root of all kinds of evil. And

it is through this craving. Listen to this, some have

wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

You see, the Silversmith and Demetrius and this passage and

acts were onto something. They knew that they must oppose

the worship of Christ. But their greatest attack in getting

people not to worship of Christ is leading to worship

something else. In their greatest adversary, They've felt like, if

we can get done to worship money, maybe we can

get some of them to abandon Christ. And Paul says

the very same thing in Timothy to Timothy and this

passage we read. He uses the imagery in this passage,

but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.

And then he adds a little qualifier into what a snare?

You know what? You know what Paul is saying there

that there's a trap that the enemy's laid for you.

He knows that there's a battle for your worship, and

he knows many of you have made a commitment to Christ,

and he desires to oppose you worship in Christ. But

the greatest thing he can say, the greatest thing he

can do to get you to turn away from worshiping

Christ is to get you to worship something else. And

what does he want you to worship and worship? Money?

And so the Bible says, he lays a trap I have.

We had a mouse and the house not long ago.

I didn't tell Brandy until I put out the trap.

Put a little peanut butter on that trap, with the

idea of new humans there. But something would lure him.

I'm right, and that trap would catch him. The Bible says,

a love of money, Satan puts out for you to

trap you, to get you, to lead you away from

worshiping Christ to worship things. And listen to this. Paul

would even go so far in verse ten to say,

as a result, many because of the trap of money

and the love of money, have wandered away from what

the faith. They've turned from loving God and Christ to

loving the things of this world and money. Can I

tell your brothers and sisters this may not be comfortable

for you, But can I tell you I love you

enough to tell you beware of the trap of money.

The enemy is after your soul. It wants you to worship,

and it wants to oppose you worshiping Christ, and it

wants you to worship the things of this world and

the money of this world, resisting, resisting, resist him, worship

the Lord. Reality is, we think so many times that

money can give us happiness. I heard one say money.

Money may buy you a bad but it won't buy

you sleep. Money can buy you books, won't buy your brains.

Money could buy you food, but it won't buy you

an appetite. Money can buy your house, but it won't

buy your home. Money could buy you medicine, but it

can't buy you health. Money can buy you amusement, but

it can't buy you happiness. Money can buy you finery,

but it won't buy you beauty. And money can buy

you a crucifix, but it will not buy you a savior.

Jesus is the only one who can bring you salvation.

May you worship the God who saves you, and may

you worship him alone. I want you to see the

enemy opposed on that worship the Christ. It promotes the

worship of money, but secondly them he opposes the worship

of Christ and promotes the worship of idols. The Bible

says in verse twenty seven, he says, if we're not

in danger. He's leading people to worship this Christ, and

they're abandoning their idols. And if that happens, it says

in verse twenty seven, the great Goddess of Artemis may

be counted as nothing, that she may be even deposed

from her magnificent in whom all Asia and the world worships.

If we don't do something about this, people are not

going to worship Artemis. People are not gonna worship this idol.

So the Bible says, they start verse twenty eight, and

when they heard this, they were enraged and they begin

crying out great as Artemis of the Ephesians. The Bible

said verse twenty nine that the city was filled with confusion,

and they rushed into theaters. Theater, as I said, was

like a stadium. It was massive, and there's probably twelve

thousand people in this stadium. And the Bible says, they

begin shouting and screaming. They dragged into Christians. Scripture tells

us in verse twenty nine there were companions traveling companions

of Paul. They bring them in. Paul tries to go

in to this city where this theater, with this riot.

It's kind of happening, but they hinder him from doing that,

and verse thirty one says that I'm sorry. They start.

There's confusion. They're shouting back and forth to one another.

Verse thirty three says one of the Jews, Alexander begins

wanting to stand up and motioning to speak, and they

see that he's a Jew, and they don't even allow

him to speak. They quiet him. And then what happens

at the end of that passage of scripture, They shout.

They start for two hours shouting greatest Artemis of the

Defesian's greatest Artemis for Ephesians. For two hours. Hey, listen,

y'all are worried when I preach over a little bit.

Can you imagine saying the same thing? For two hours,

they just cry out and worship. You see, listen, these

Demetrius and all these people of Ephesus, when they saw

that there was a threat to lose the worship of

these idols, they rushed together. And as they opposed the

worship of Paul and the Christians, they promote the worship

of idols. And for two hours all they did was

sing the praises of this idol. They shouted its name

Artemis by the waves of fertility. God was the daughter

of Zeus. It was the sister of Apollo. Rome identified

her as Diana or the Temple of Diana. I believe

that she was born near the woods of Ephesus, so

that's why they said she's of the Ephesians. It was

believed that she was a fertility god. She helped virgins

and childbirth. She was bleeved to be a huntress with

the bow and air, so she was a goddess of life, fertility,

but also so the goddess of death. It's the end

of way. You can see what they're saying. She's the

giver of life and to take her away of life.

So they believe that she brought you in the world,

she actually takes you out. That temple was the greatest thing,

temple of worship in the entire Asia. At times they

had a month long games, a celebration for her that

included games and food. People from all over the world

would travel to worship with her and listen that day.

When they saw that the Christians were abandoning idle worship

and worshiping other worshiping christ they opposed it. And how

what did they oppose it with? By saying we must

not allow this to happen. They oppose it by promoting

worshiping an idol. Can I tell you there's a battle

for your worship. And the enemy wants to oppose you

worshiping Christ, and it wants you to worship money that

the enemy also wants you to worship. Not only money.

Enemy longs for you to worship the idols of this world. Now,

I know today there's probably not many of you have

a little Goddess of Artemus in your house, But doesn't

mean you're not a worshiper of idols. I don't know

what it is for you, but an idol is anything

that you love more than you love God. Anything what

we call idols of the heart. May not be a

physical statue or a civil statue, but it may be

something that you have. It can be your career, It

can be your hobby, it can be your work, it

can be whatever. It may be something that you love

more than you love God. And the enemy today listen,

wants you to worship, and it wants you to worship

something more than you worship God. It wants you to

love something more than you love God. You know, we're

getting into the time, and it's May and about pretty

soon there'll be May and then I mean, we're in April.

I'm getting real ahead. Next month will be May and

then June, and it's wedding season. All these couples, they'll

get love and they put the ring on each other

and plan out their day and you go to weddings. Right,

everybody's just in love. Everybody so happy, got all pictures

together and kissing on each other, feeding the little cake

and reaching around each other. It was just cute, right,

inviting love. They stand before each other and they're just

in love. Right, they can make their vows and everybody's

just so happy. There's love in the room, right. You know.

The scariest thing I remember as a teenager, with scariest

words that I ever remember hearing, I don't love her anymore,

is actually what my dad said to my mom after

twenty years of marriage. Parents separated after twenty years. And

what I could not fathom as a fourteen year old boy,

how or twenty years ago, when you were so in

love with everybody, and you stood before everyone and you

declared that you would never leave her nor forsake her,

how can you now turn and say I don't love

you anymore. You see, I heard a pastor say one time,

when someone says they don't love them anymore, really, what

they're usually means they've already started loving something else more

than they love their spouse. You know, we see that.

And what blows my mind is that happens. But also

what blows my mind is how people who can come

to church and they can say, oh God, I love you,

I love you God, I'll live my life for you,

I'll commit my life for you, and then suddenly they

start loving something else more than they love Jesus. And listen,

it doesn't just happen to me and you. And Exodus

is a really powerful story story in the Bible. And Exodus,

the people of God Israel comes to the mountain Sinai.

The presence of God is there, and they stand before

God all the visual and they say, God, will obey you. God,

whatever you say, will bey you. Moses next a little

bit goes up onto the mountains. That he's up on

the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And what

happens The people will start getting a little leery. Moses,

not here, I know God, we told you we do

whatever you said, But God, you're not being around and

our leader's not there. And so they get a little

gold and they make them a little idle, and they

start worshiping what they start worshiping, and they start loving

something else, and their hearts turn away from loving God

who they just declared that God, I'd never leave you,

and I obey you, and they start worshiping something else.

Can I tell you there was a battle raging in Exodus?

There is a battle raging in Acts, and there's battles

still raging today, and it's a battle for your soul.

And the enemy wants you to abandon your love for

God and your worship for God and worship money. And

the enemy wants you abandon your worship for God and

your love for God that you've pledged before this church

and before your people and pore people that you love

and says, I love the Lord, I want to live

for God. And enemy wants you abandoned that love and

that worship, and he wants you to worship something else

and make it where you worship it and you love

it more than you love the God that you commit

it to. Can I tell you there's a battle raging

for your soul. I ask you today, will you say

to the Lord, Lord, I want to leave you, and Lord,

I love that old song problem to wonder, Lord, I

feel it prom to leave the God I love God.

There's something in me that Lord, I do want to write.

After other things, I have a wayward of heart. Lord,

and Lord, I fall in intemptation and wanting to love

money more than I love you. Well, Lord, I've been

I've really been loving my career or my hobby or

whatever it may be. I've really been putting that before

you God. But today Lord, I'm coming back. I'm coming

back to my promise to you, Lord that I want

only you Jesus, only you will satisfy my soul. Lord,

I give you my heart. Today. Will you pray with me? Lord,

I thank you Lord for your word. Lord. I pray

that today we recognize the danger, We recognize the opposition

of the enemy. We know that the battle is raging

today for our worship. Lord, I pray today every person

in this room would evaluate today what they're worshiping and

whether their heart is solely committed to you or where

they're trying to worship you and worship something else. Lord,

I pray they'd be those today that say, Lord, I

want only you, Lord, nothing else. Lord, I pray at

this time of invitation, today, I pray they be those

who would come to this altar and Lord, I pray

there be those who would be honest with you, God

that God I Lord, I've abandoned my love for you,

and I've loved other things more than you, and Lord,

I want only you. Lord. I pray that there'd be

those who honest. Lord, I pray they'd be those today

maybe have never put their faith in you for salvation,

never been forgiven of sin, never been transformed, like those

believers in Ephesus. Lord, I pray they'd be those who

would admit that they're a sinner today, believe that you

came at Easter and you died on the cross that

Easter morning, and you rose again, Lord, that they might

be forgiven of sin and have everlasting life. Lord, I

pray they'd be those who would believe in what You've

done on the cross for them, and what I pray

they'd be those who would confess, Lord, they need you

as their savior today. However you lead us today where

there it's just repentance or turning back to you, or

redirecting our worship to only you, or putting our faith

in you for salvation. Today, Lord, I prayed this would

be a day that we would surrender, Lord to your eating.

We love you, we thank you all for this morning.

Your name Misus Pain and all to Him