Gods At War Part 4 | Intimate With idols with Chris Schlotterbeck

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Thank you for joining us from home and welcoming

us into your space. So we've been discussing

for the month of July that there are gods at

war within each and every one of us. They battle

for the primary position in our lives, and we've

learned that so much is at stake. Because whichever

God is victorious gains power and control over

us. Ultimately, the God you choose, the God I

choose, determines our direction, our desires,

our thoughts, and our future. Yet for so many

of us, this entire concept of idolatry is something

that's been missed. Last week we even mentioned

that if you grew up in church, you are likely

not to even hear about it. And a lot of times,

growing up in church can turn that into religious

rules and rituals. We have discovered through

this series that idolatry is one of the biggest

problems that God addresses head on throughout

the Bible. Listen, more than a thousand verses

speak to this issue. More than 50 of the commandments

in the first five books of the Bible are directed

against it. It is one of only four sins in all

of Judaism that could have had the death penalty

attached to it. Idolatry is something God took

seriously. And yet, for those of us living in

the United States, it's simply dismissed as irrelevant

and unimportant. Something that's in the Old

Testament that we no longer struggle with. But

nothing could be further from the truth. Everything

rides on this issue. Everything rides on this

choice. That you and I will make every single

day. Will I worship God? Will I follow Jesus?

Or will I worship something else? And how we

answer that question makes all the difference.

See, there's a war for our worship. Even this

morning when we gathered for corporate worship

to start this gathering, many of you were in

such a rush just to get in here. You're late.

You're trying to check your kids in. You rush

in through the doors. By the time you get through

the doors, the first song is already halfway

over. You're trying to find a seat. You can't

find a seat. There's too many people standing

up, too many arms in the air. It's too loud.

It's too dark. Now you're frustrated. The second

song's starting. You can't even engage God because

you're unprepared. We're unprepared. We're unprepared

to meet. and engage God in worship because we're

distracted. We're late. Kids are running, yelling

at us. I'm in a fight with my spouse. Who knows

what's going on? So suddenly our minds, they're

focused on everything else other than the worship

that's happening. You're looking at the people

around you. You're thinking about the things

you have to do the rest of the day. You're even

thinking about what happened yesterday. And all

of that distracts you from connecting with the

living God. Who or what will control our hearts?

That's what this has been all about. We have

seen in this series that the sins that we struggle

with is not just that there is a sin in our life

that we need to address, but there's something

behind that sin. There's a root issue. And those

root issues are the false gods that's warring

in our heart. And it explains the struggle of

that particular sin. But we also learned last

week that idolatry, in and of itself is a sin.

And this happens when many of the good things

in life, you know, the gifts that God gives us,

have become too important to us, and therefore

cause us to sin because we've put them ahead

of God himself. Tim Keller writes, sin isn't

only doing bad things. It's more fundamentally

making good things into ultimate things. It is

building your life and meaning on anything, even

a very good thing, more than on God. Sin is primarily

idolatry. And throughout this series, here's

what we've been called to do. Examine your heart.

Are there good things in your life that have

become a God thing? Have I made that good thing

more important than it should be? As John Calvin

wrote, the evil and our desire typically does

not lie in what we want, but that we want it

too much. We want it too much. And this certainly

is true when it comes to the final subject that

we're going to be studying and discussing today,

the gods of love. The evil is not in loving these

things, it's that we love them too much. Which

leads us to our first thought. You see, relationships

have the potential to replace God. So we're going

to be discussing a very familiar story from the

Bible. It's in the first book of the Bible in

Genesis chapter... And what do I mean by gods

of love? Well, these are the people who we love.

These are the people who God has called us to

love, yet sometimes they can replace God in our

hearts. These are the gods that Augustine would

have referred to as disordered loves. In other

words, they are legitimate loves that have gotten

out of order in our lives. And it's because they're

legitimate that they can also easily become way

too important to us. And in Genesis 22, we're

going to look at Abraham, and Abraham is called

to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. But today,

I want to read this story through the lens of

idolatry. I want us to see that God is calling

Abraham to lay everything down. This is what

we read in Genesis 22, verse 1. Sometime later,

Genesis 22:1

God tested Abraham's faith. Now, everyone say,

test it. See, the writer, the author of this

book tips us off right here that this is a test.

This is only a test. It's as if they want us

to know that God is only testing Abraham. He's

not going to actually let him go through with

it. Because there's no place ever in the Bible

where God allowed a human to sacrifice another

human. In fact, his commands are directed against

it in the book of Deuteronomy. So he tests Abraham.

He says, Abraham. God called, yes, he replied,

here I am. Take your son, your only son, yes,

Isaiah, whom you love so much, and go to the

land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt

offering at one of the mountains which I will

show you. So what does God say? He says, I want

you to take a three -day journey into the area

called Moriah, and there's a specific mountain

there that I want you to sacrifice your son.

So again, God is asking Abraham for everything.

How do we know this? Remember, Abraham and Sarah,

they've been promised this boy decades earlier.

When he was 100 and she was 91, there was still

no child. Yet God kept his promise. The miraculous

happened. They had a little boy and they named

him Isaac. Isaac means laughter. An appropriate

name. I'm sure Isaac brought all kinds of laughter

into their home. And they were probably like

any other parents who would go into the room

at night just to watch them sleep. Just to make

sure their child was comfortable and resting.

Maybe they would sit on the front porch and watch

him play. And as they watched him play, they

became nervous. Be careful, be careful, don't

hurt yourself. Because they couldn't imagine

if anything would happen to him. They remember

when he was a little baby and they squeezed their

arms around him and hugged him so tightly and

said, I love you. All of us have people like

this in our life. People that just mean everything

to us. Now, I know love is a word that has become

pretty common in our culture. I mean, we can

love our favorite sports teams. But who is it

that you have a hard time imagining life without?

Maybe for you, like Abraham and Isaac, it's a

child. They quickly become our reason for living.

There's something about the way they look at

you, the way they smile, the way they quietly

talk to you. They become our reason for getting

up, our reason for working. They can become everything.

Maybe for you, it's a husband or a wife. Maybe

for you, it's the pursuit of a husband or wife

that has become a God for you. After all, in

our culture, romantic love and relationships

are held up as the ultimate human experience.

There's all kinds of books that have been written

with romance as the subject. In fact, romance

novels bring in over a billion dollars a year,

covering a third of the entire fiction market.

Many movies have love or romance as the theme.

Romantic love has inspired works of poetry and

art. And a lot of songs have been written. In

the name of love. Whitney Houston sings, I Will

Always Love You. Ed Sheeran sings, Thinking Out

Loud. Lyrics about growing old together with

the person you love. John Legend declares his

love for a person, flaws and all, in all of me.

Even Elvis sings about how he can't help falling

in love. And those songs, right, they captivate

their audience. People sing them. But who would

you sing those songs to? Who is it that you would

do anything for love? For Abraham and Sarah was

Isaac. Isaac was God's greatest gift to them,

a miracle. And it also turns out that it's his

greatest test for them. And this is what can

happen in our life. It's our greatest blessings

that can also become our greatest tests. If you're

anything like me, right, I have a spouse I don't

deserve. Maybe you've been blessed with children

even though you were told you wouldn't have children.

Do you have a job that you love? Or maybe you're

financially well off and you can afford even

the greatest conveniences that many people can't.

Maybe you have experienced a miraculous healing

encounter with God and gratitude has since waned

into apathy. What gift from God has become too

important in your life? We must remember when

it comes to our relationship, God wants them

to be the means of growth for us. Proverbs 27,

17, as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens

a friend. We can't allow a relationship to become

an idol, which leads us to our next thought.

Worship is prioritizing Jesus first. See, we

have a lot of definitions for worship. Many of

you believe that it's when we walk in here and

sing. But here's the reality, it's so much more

than that. Will the blessings of God become competition

for him? Or will the blessing draw us closer

to him? See, we're ready to find out in our story.

We're continuing on in Genesis 22, three through

10. The next morning, Abraham got up early. He

saddled his donkey and took two of his servants

with him along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped

wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set

out for the place God had told him about. Let's

just pause there for a second. Abraham shows

us something here about beating and overcoming

idols or gods that were within our heart. He

doesn't put it off. Notice, he doesn't wait.

He doesn't pray. He does it. God told him. He

responded. Early the next morning, he wakes up.

He obeys God. And too often, when it comes to

temptation, when it comes to overcoming sin,

when it comes to overcoming these idols in our

life, we put it off. We blame it on someone else.

We wait patiently. for the Lord when he's already

spoken to us of what we're called to do. But

also notice, Abraham was a very wealthy man.

In fact, the Bible tells us he's one of the wealthiest

men of his day, yet God does not say to him,

like last week, go sell everything you have and

give it to the poor. Why? Because money for Abraham

was not a false god. It was Isaac that was competing

for the number one position in his life. And

God puts himself in direct competition with his

son Isaac and he says, you're gonna have to choose.

And he does the same to us. Let's continue on

the third day of their journey. Abraham looked

up and saw the place in the distance. Stay here

with the donkey. Abraham told the servants, the

boy and I will travel a little further. Notice,

we will worship there and then we will come right

back. And I want you to notice, pause again,

the word worship. This is the first time it is

used in the Bible. And there's a principle in

seminary called humanetics. And humanetics focuses

on the principles and methods of interpreting

the Bible. And we were taught when interpreting

scripture, you try to understand the meaning

of a word, you need to pay attention to the first

time this word is used. So the first time the

word worship is used in the Bible is right here.

And it's used to describe a man who is sacrificing

something great for who? For God. It's used to

describe a man who is declaring with his life

that God is what matters most. See, worship is

not something that takes place here on Sunday

mornings alone when we gather together and we

sing songs. Worship takes place every single

day when we make a declaration that says, God,

you matter more to me than this. Fill in the

blank, whatever this is. You matter more to me

than alcohol. You matter more to me than drugs.

You matter more to me than sex. You matter more

to me than money. You matter more to me than

this relationship. And every day we have the

opportunity to worship when we say, God, you're

what matters most. So let every day be a declaration

of worship for you in your life. Let's continue.

So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering

on Isaac's shoulders while he himself carried

the fire in his knife. The two of them walked

on together. Isaac turned to Abraham, there's

something wrong. Father, Abraham replied, we

have the fire in the wood, the boy said, but

where is the sheep for the offering? Oh, God

will provide a sheep for the burnt offering,

my son, Abraham answered. And they both walked

on together. When they arrived at the place where

God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar

and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his

son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of

the wood. Abraham picked up the knife to kill

his son as a sacrifice. And see, we have to put

ourselves in that position for a moment. And

we want to pause there and talk about our disordered

loves. How would you do with a test like this?

See, this is a test. of the first two of the

Ten Commandments. You shall have no other gods

before you, and you shall not make for yourself

an idol in the form of anything. And an idol,

if we're really honest, can certainly take on

the form of someone we love. And quite often

in our society, that's what happens because our

society puts so much attention on true love.

And when we make the people that we love more

important than our relationship with God, that's

idolatry. When we look to our relationship with

a person to do what God wants to do for us, that's

idolatry. And this really happens to many parents

today trying to raise the alpha generation. I

am raising a member of the alpha generation.

And let's just say that that name alpha is legitimate.

See, when we give control of our life over to

our kids, then they have the power to determine

whether I have a good day or a bad day. When

we give the control of our life over to our kids,

they determine whether I'm an angry person, a

depressed person, an overwhelmed person that

is struggling with life, true or false. If you're

raising the alpha generation, you are saying

true. See, the Bible tells us that the joy of

the Lord is our strength, but when we allow the

joy of our children to become our strength, we're

not very strong. And we all need to reflect.

Is there a relationship that determines whether

or not you're a joyful person? Is there a relationship

that determines whether or not you're a peaceful

person? Is there a person or people in your life

that you're living to please? Does everything

in your life revolve around making your children

happy? And if you answer yes or could see someone

in any of those, by definition, that is your

God. What you live to please becomes your God.

It could be a child, it could be children, maybe

it's a spouse that has become the controller

of your life. Maybe it's friends and even parents

that control the outcome of your day because

you're depressed and full of anxiety. See, we

have to realize that worship is what Paul challenges

us to do in Romans chapter 12. And so, dear brothers

Romans 12 · chapter mention

and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies

to God because of all he has done for you. Let

them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind

you will find acceptable. This is truly the way,

notice, to worship him. Don't copy. the behavior

and customs of this world, let God transform

you into a new person by the change in the way

you think. Then you will learn to know God's

love for you, which is good and pleasing and

perfect. Paul challenges us to take our different

roles, our different responsibilities, our different

resources that he has given to us and give them

back to him. He's talking about our whole self,

our entire being. What does it look like for

you? For me, right, what are the things that

identify and make me who I am? Well, I'm a husband.

I'm a father. I'm a brother. I'm a son. I'm a

pastor. I'm a friend. I'm a mentor. I'm a coach.

I'm a crossfitter. I'm a storyteller. I'm a history

maker. These are just a few of the different

roles that make me, me. Then there's my personality

and all the different ways it works out in all

those different roles. And I've even mentioned

that the resources that God has given me to supply

for those different roles, that's what makes

me me. And throughout my day, I'll operate within

those different identities in several different

time frames. Paul says this. He says in all those

different areas that you operate in, give them

all to God as a living sacrifice. In other words,

don't be in control. Why? Because it's holy,

pleasing, and worship to God. In other words,

everything I do in all those different capacities

in my life are to be done for Jesus. And when

we do that, our tendency to create idols in our

life and in our relationships diminish, which

leads us to our final thought. Some of you are

thinking, well, am I making a relationship an

idol? Well, when a relationship becomes the source

of satisfaction and significance, it can be a

false god. There's your answer. We learned in

week one that God is a what? A jealous God. He

wants to do those things for us. He wants to

give us satisfaction. He wants to give us significance.

He wants to give us happiness and joy. I mean,

there's some very graphic language in the Old

Testament book of Isaiah to help us understand

how it feels to God when we are guilty of idolatry.

See, this picture is painted for us. As one of

us having an affair on God. That's how he feels.

See, when we make something more important than

him in the Old Testament, God sees it as spiritual

adultery and he's jealous. He's hurt and he's

angry. And this is what we read in Hosea 1 -2.

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel

through Hosea, he said to him, go and marry a

prostitute so that some of her children will

be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate.

How Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning

against the Lord and worshiping other gods. God

is literally comparing the people of Israel to

Gomer, Hosea's wife, who was a prostitute. And

just like the people of Israel, we struggle to

let go of our sin. We struggle to let go of our

idols throughout this life. Even when we have

so much love to receive. Even when we can connect

with a living God, we find fulfillment elsewhere.

Hosea and Gomer's relationship is a beautiful

metaphor, a picture for God's relationship with

his people. Although God was hurt by Israel's

sin, by their choice to pursue relationship with

idols, they were what? They were still his people.

And I want to challenge you, when you experience

feelings of guilt or shame or unworthiness, Or

regret, chances are you've turned your affections

onto someone or something else and God is convicting

you to change. He's inviting us to change because

he loves us. But you also have to understand

he's not going to share us with anyone or anything.

How do I know that? Well, Jesus told us this

in Luke chapter 14. He has this large crowd following

Luke 14 · chapter mention

him. And it's interesting, you notice, when you

read through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John, when there was a large crowd following

Jesus, I believe it made him a little uncomfortable.

I don't think he liked the crowds. How do I know

that? Because every time there was a large crowd,

he would always tend to say something about their

level of commitment, and then what would happen

to the crowd? They would just slowly walk away.

Well, here's what he says in Luke 14, 25 to 26.

A large crowd. Here it is with following Jesus.

Picture this. Remember, large crowd means thousands

of people. Jesus turns around and says to them,

hey. And he's saying to us this morning. If you

want to be my disciple, if you want to follow

me, you must by comparison hate. Everyone say

hate. Everyone else. Hate everyone else. Your

father. Your mother, your wife, your children,

your brothers, your sisters. Yes, even your own

life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Now,

I don't know about you, but when I read that

and I think hate, that's pretty strong words.

How do I know that? Because I tell my little

alpha child never to say hate. Ever. We don't

use that word. You don't hate anything. But Jesus

is telling me to hate them? Well, see, the Bible.

consistently tells us to love people, right?

But yet here Jesus tells us to hate people. Well,

we have to understand what this word hate means.

Because there's a big difference between how

we understand hate and how the Jewish culture

understands hate. When it's translated hate here

in the Jewish culture, it was communicating a

lesser love. The New Living says you must hate

everyone else, notice, by comparison. It's comparison.

The other thing for us is that we tend to equate

words like love and hate to emotions and feelings.

But that's not true for the first century. Like

when we say I love you and I hate you, it's full

of emotion for us. But in the first century,

these words did not communicate an emotion or

a feeling. It was about a level of commitment.

And Jesus is saying your commitment to me, your

level of commitment to me should be such that

there's no other commitment. Doesn't matter about

your mom or your dad or your children or your

spouse. I'm first. And you say, man, that's pretty

harsh. But here's the reality. When we get that

commitment right, then all of our other relationships

are going to thrive. All of our other relationships

are going to thrive. I mean, why do you think

I tell couples that are playing house? When they

come to me and say, hey, we need to get marriage

counseling. We want to get married. And I learn

that they're playing house. And you say, Chris,

what does that mean, playing house? You're living

with someone you're not married to. We're all

adults here, right? You're playing house. So

in other words, you're a five -year -old that

just built a house and you're living in it. You're

playing house. But you're an adult. I say, well,

move out and live separately for the next eight

months before you say I do. Why would I do that?

Well, do you want your relationship to thrive

and be blessed? Then you should follow what God

tells us to do. That's why. So if you're playing

house here this morning, you might want to reevaluate

your priorities because chances are your priorities

are prioritizing the relationship over God. I

love you though. When we put someone else in

place of God, we make that relationship a false

God. And it's the most destructive thing we could

ever do to that person. How do I know that? Five

things that happen when a relationship becomes

an idol. First, there's unrealistic pressure.

See, when we turn our spouse, our girlfriend,

our boyfriend, Into a God substitute, we're putting

incredible pressure on them because we're saying,

I want you to do for me what God wants to do

for me. I mean, some of you are feeling in your

relationship right now. You have this incredible

pressure that a significant other is putting

on you because they're unhappy and they look

to you for happiness. They're stressed out, they

look to you for peace. Their world is falling

apart and broken and they look to you to fix

it. And you're under all this pressure. You want

to know why? It's because you're not God. And

they're asking you to be God. 1 John 1 .8, if

we claim to have no sin, we are only fooling

ourselves and not living in the truth. No one

is perfect. We can't put pressure on the ones

we love to make us happy. Another thing that

happens is we have false expectations. And it's

funny, if you're in here and you're playing house,

chances are all five of these, you're like, oh,

crap. See, we often put false expectations on

our children because we look to them to the source

of our significance. Why do you think so many

children no longer play sports by the time they

get to high school? Because mom and dad lived

through them to live out their own failures.

And now by the time they're in high school, they

hate it. Because everything about their life

is based around their success and their failures.

And then they can't get good enough grades. They

can't win enough trophies. And the problem is

we've exchanged our relationship with God to

our relationship with our children. And instead

of asking God to be our source of significance

as a person, we throw it on our children. We

want them to be our life. And that just simply

can't happen. Do to others as you would like

them to do to you, Jesus taught. So let's do

the same for our children and our spouses. Another

thing that happens is unreasonable disappointment.

Any false God will disappoint you. It doesn't

matter if it's money, physical pleasure, success.

It doesn't matter if it's relationships. Any

false God is going to leave you disappointed.

And if you're kind of the person that's generally

disappointed in life, chances are you're disappointed

because you've made something other than God

a false God and it's letting you down. Of course

it's letting you down. Only God can satisfy us.

John 16, 33, I've told you all this so you may

have peace in me. Where do we find our peace?

In God, in Jesus. Here on earth you're going

to have many trials and sorrows, but take heart,

I've overcome the world. When we are asking people

to do what they were never created to do, when

we're asking someone to meet a need that they

were never meant to meet, we're asking them to

be God. which is just setting them up for failure.

Another thing that happens is undeserved criticism.

Jesus says, don't judge others, and you will

not be judged. Do not condemn others, or we'll

all come back against you. Forgive others as

you have been forgiven. See, whenever someone

isn't meeting our expectations when we're in

a relationship, it's like we feel like we're

being let down. And then when we're let down,

what do we do? We lash out with criticism. And

let me just highlight, criticism is poison for

any relationship. Marriage, family, children.

When there's constant criticism because you want

the person to fulfill you, they're never going

to meet your needs. If you show me a person who

is constantly critical and always negative and

always nagging, never happy, that means they

don't have their delight in God. They're looking

for someone, they're looking to something to

fulfill them and satisfy them and they complain

and they whine and they're negative and they're

critical. You have anybody like that in your

life? Some of you can't be honest because they're

sitting right beside you. So don't say anything,

please, because it's my fault. Listen, it's not

fair to ask a human to be divine. Only God can

fulfill those things. And finally, there's unhealthy

comparison. Pay careful attention to your own

work, for then you will get satisfaction of job

well done. You won't need to compare yourself

to anyone else. Ultimately, this is what destroys

all relationships. You look to someone else,

your spouse. Your significant other to fulfill

this longing in your heart. They don't fulfill

it. They don't meet the needs. And then you start

to see these qualities in other people. And you

begin to think, oh, if I was only with, I would

be all satisfied and happy. They would meet my

needs. And see if we exchange a relationship

for that. it's only gonna get worse. Because

what you're doing is you're unconsciously comparing

a person to God and that person always falls

short. It's not just that we look to our spouse

to be God, but some of us try to be God to our

spouse. And that's just as dangerous, let me

say. When we make statements like, I'm gonna

be responsible for this person's happiness, I'm

gonna be responsible for satisfying this person,

you're setting yourself up for failure. Or if

the thought even goes through my mind that I

can change that person. Or you know what's even

worse? When you see two spouses trying to be

God to one another. When the wife says, I think

I can change him. When the husband says, I know

I can change her. You know what that's setting

yourself up to here? Let's get ready to rumble.

Hey, all you married couples, you're welcome

for the counseling you just received. Bob Russell

talks about what he called the top button truth.

The idea that if you get the top button wrong

and you're buttoning a shirt, all the other buttons

won't line up. All of them are off. But if you

get the top button right, the rest of the buttons

do what, church? Fall into place. And see, when

we get the top button right in our relationships

with our kids, our spouse, our friends, the person

that we're dating, whoever it is, when we get

the top button right and we prioritize our relationship

with Jesus, friends, everything else falls into

place. And let me say this. If you're in a relationship

right now that's causing you disappointment and

frustration, Instead of giving more attention

to that relationship, instead of turning in to

Dr. Phil to see what you need to do differently,

instead of buying one of the million self -help

books that tell you how to fix your life, instead

of spending hundreds and thousands of dollars

on a counselor, take your focus off the relationship

and put it where? Now listen, I'm not saying

those things are bad because they're all useful.

But I'm saying quite often we run to those things

for a savior and they fail and we're left miserable

because we're not prioritizing the top button

first, which is our relationship with Jesus.

Which leads us to our one action step that we've

been walking through throughout this entire series.

This has been a great series, hasn't it? Defeating

idols in our hearts. You want to defeat some

idols in your hearts? Listen, just go all in

with God. Sell out. You know, last week I challenged

some of you to start tithing because God said,

test me. Right? For others of you today, I want

to challenge you, go all in with God for a month

and see how your life is radically transformed.

Prioritize him when you wake up. Prioritize him

when you go to sleep. Prioritize him at every

meal. Prioritize him in every workplace situation.

And suddenly your life will be transformed. Abraham

is... His son bound on the altar. He raises the

knife to kill his son. And at that moment, the

angel of the Lord called to him from heaven.

Abraham, here I am. Don't lay a hand on the boy,

the angel said. Don't hurt him in any way. For

now I know that you truly fear God. Now what

was this again? A test. Then Abraham looked up

and saw a ram caught in the thorns with a thicket.

Then he took the ram and sacrificed it. As a

burnt offering in the place of his son, Abraham

named the place Yahweh year, which means the

Lord will provide. And to this day, people still

use the name as a proverb. On the mountain of

the Lord, it will be provided. God provided the

sacrifice needed as Abraham was faithful to lay

down the idol that he had placed in his life.

Will you go all in with God? And what does that

mean? Well, Jesus summed it up pretty easy. Matthew

22, and he says, you must love the Lord your

God with all your heart, with all your soul,

and with all your mind. Go all in. With everything.

That's the first and greatest commandment. And

the second is pretty simple. Just love your neighbors

yourself. Jesus is reminding us that when we

make the main thing the main thing, when we focus

on loving God and putting him first and loving

our neighbors comes really easy. But quite often

what happens in the church is we want to love

our neighbors and love our neighbors and love

our neighbors and we forget about God and then

we get burnt out and spent and full of religion

rather than full of the Holy Spirit. You don't

have to end world hunger tomorrow. You're not

going to heal every broken heart in the world.

It's just not physically possible. Jesus is saying

the most important thing you can do in your life

is go to him first. And then get filled with

the Spirit and love others. He makes it simple

because we are elementary students. When it comes

to a relationship with God, we're elementary

students and we're always gonna be. But he's

inviting us to go all in and put him first. That's

how we make a difference. Now this week, I had

the opportunity to share a devotional at the

Thursday night church softball games, and I was

led to share Paul's challenge to press on. In

Philippians chapter three, Paul says these words,

I press on to possess that perfection for which

Christ Jesus first possessed me. Now basically,

Paul is describing his relationship with God

in three words, I press on. You guys remember

the game tag or chase when you're in elementary

school? Right? We all remember it, right? It's

funny. In that game, no one ever wanted to be

it. Right? No one ever wanted to be it. And then

typically the teacher had to pick someone to

be it. And then they're like, I don't want to

be it. Here's the crazy thing. Paul is describing

his relationship with Jesus. He says, make me

it. Paul says, make me it because I'm going to

pursue Jesus. That's the most important priority

I could ever put in my life. Paul says, I will

press on. Will you press on this morning? Will

you stand with me? So listen, I was praying this

week about how to conclude this series, this

talk today. And I felt compelled that we as a

church need to corporately repent and say, God,

forgive me for putting idols ahead of you. Because

I believe that if you were to examine your heart

in all four of these talks, I guarantee you every

single Sunday there was something that we could

point to and say, yep, that's it. Yep, that's

it. Yep, it's that person. Yep, it's that thing.

And it doesn't matter what it is. When we lay

it down at His feet and experience His grace

and forgiveness and choose and declare to go

all in, that's when we experience freedom. Amen?

And it doesn't have to be a Sunday morning thing.

It doesn't have to be, well, I felt it on Sunday,

but Chris, I'm not feeling it tomorrow. You can

do the same thing we're doing right here today,

tomorrow, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Friday,

when all those choices are presented to you.

Does that make sense? So we're going to pray

a simple prayer together. I want to invite you

to pray these words with me as I pray them. And

we're going to lay down our idols. We're going

to invite the Holy Spirit to come. And then the

worship team is going to lead us to declare in

our worship, in our singing, to go what? All

in. All in. All in. We're going to go all in.

Because when we go all in, everything else falls

away. Let's pray together. Holy Spirit, come.

Forgive me for putting someone, something in

place of you. I choose to follow you, to put

you first. Empower me, Spirit. To focus on you,

God, and loving my neighbors. In Jesus' name,

amen. Now listen, there were several words of

knowledge I want to share. The prayer team will

be here on the right to pray for you. If any

of these are you during the worship, please come

get prayer. You have muscle issues in your hip

that extend to your knee. You have pain in your

right knee that's causing you to limp. You have

numbness in your left leg that extends all the

way to your toes. You have stomach issues in

the lower part of your stomach. You have tingling

in your hands that won't stop. You have a scratched

cornea in your right eye. If any of those are

you, we want to pray for you right here. And

if you need to give your life to Jesus and the

Holy Spirit is convicting you, get up here and

do it. They will lead you through that peril.

They will change your life forever. Amen? Now

I want you to stand and rejoice and sing with

me and declare that you are going all in. Why

are there people? I love you guys. Holy Spirit,

come. Let's sing.