Understanding Modern Day Idolatry - Sunday Service

you know right now would be a good time for you to hit that share button because uh you are not listen i i am you know i tell you all the time that this is the most important message that i've ever preached in my life and i believe it i believe this is the most important message i've ever preached before in my life and i am so excited about this and i want to make sure that i don't get too excited that i fail to hear from the holy spirit in making things very plain to you so father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you lord that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanical demonic force and lord i ask that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me all of you it's in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen if you have your bibles go with me to the book of acts the book of acts chapter 17. now one of the things that we're going to look at here today is it's going to show us just where we are in time and it's going to show us a lot of things about what's going on it may give some answers to some questions that you've had about you know why are people carrying on the way that they're carrying on and so we're going to begin this today we're going to talk about understanding modern day idolatry idolatry and so i want to just kind of in just look at some scriptures so you can check the attitude out and then i'll begin to explain to you what idolatry is and it's vital that you understand this because i'm gonna i'm gonna need you to to preach it i'm gonna need you to explain it in the book of acts chapter 17 and verse 16. verse 16 verse 16 says this he says now while paul waited for them at athens his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry oh he says that the city was full of idols full of idolatry now don't misunderstand what he's saying in this verse of scripture his spirit was stirred it didn't didn't mean that he was excited that that word translation is is troubled he was troubled because he looked at the whole city and saw that the whole city was in in idolatry think of that the whole city was in idolatry the city was full of idolatry and so now what is it about idolatry that caused paul to be troubled he was troubled in his heart because he he was in athens and he saw that all of athens was full of idolatry and it troubled him now one of the things i want us to get a hold of is that you know first of all is it possible that we can look at our city and see that the whole city is full of idolatry i'll answer that and say yeah is it possible for us to look at our state and to look at our nation and to look at the world and i'll go as far as to say and the whole world is full of idolatry and yet not many are troubled because we just don't know what it is why was he troubled when he saw that the whole city was full of idolatry so that's one point let's look at the second point here first corinthians chapter 10 and verse 14. first corinthians chapter 10 and and and verse 14. this is going to be groundbreaking in your thinking and your christian life first corinthians 10 and verse 14 he says this wherefore my dearly beloved watch this flee from idolatry flee from it so here's paul he looked at it he saw it it troubled him then we go to this scripture he says when you see idolatry flee from it get away from it so what is it about idolatry where this recommendation says to flee from idolatry get away from it and then look at this third point here that we see this is just this is our opening our introduction here first john 5 21 i want to look at it in two versions first john 5 21 the king james and then first john 5 21 the new living translation let's look at the king james first the king james first john 5 21 he says he says little children keep yourselves from idols amen keep yourselves from idols amen now for most people you think well keep yourself from the little statues and keep yourself no no he says keep yourselves from idol so paul was troubled by idolatry then he said flee from idolatry then he said keep yourself from it i mean we have to know what this is if it's that vital that his response is this now now the next the next translation is going to give us a little insight on what idols and idolatry is about look at the new living translation the new living translation first john 5 21. all right he says uh dear children keep away from anything that might take god's place in your heart keep away from anything that might take god's place in your heart stay away from anything so that's what an idol is it's anything that will try to get you to replace god in your heart the scripture says anything that might take god's place can you recall or can you put your finger on anything in this life that has taken god's place anything or anyone that has taken god's place he said stay away from anything or anyone that has taken god's place so that's a little that's a little key to it now i must now go to this next point let's now spend the next several minutes on what is idolatry i'm so excited about this i'm i'm ready to preach right now but i gotta realize i gotta i gotta i gotta bring you along with me man i can't be hollering and screaming and shouting and doing jane brown split and don't nobody know what i'm shouting about all right so notice what it says let's let's talk about what is idolatry let's let's let's let's start off with what we just saw in uh in first john 5 21. what is idolatry all right so i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna give layers of definitions so that you can begin to see the layers that are involved in in idolatry so here's the first layer idolatry is replacing god as priority in your life with anything or anyone idolatry is replacing god replacing god in other words god at one time was your major priority so it's replacing god as priority so if god was at one time the first priority in your life and now he's he's at number five idolatry is whatever you replace god with a person or a thing he says whatever you replace god with the something or the someone that's when it's idolatry you see you must understand that there's nothing greater than god and how is it that we can take something or someone else and put them in god's place and he says what paul was saying was is he looked at the whole city and he and he discovered that the whole city has replaced god with someone or something else and he said you need to run away from anything that has the potential of replacing god from someone replacing god with something or or someone he says stay away from that flee from that run from that now let's go to colossians chapter three when we're nailing in we're zeroing in on the root meaning of idolatry the root meaning of idolatry let's look at colossians chapter 3 and 5. colossians chapter 3 and 5. now let's take it from another perspective he says here mortify that word mortified means to put to death or to separate yourself from mortified therefore your members which are upon the earth put to death and mortify fornication put together death and mortify uncleanness inordinate affections evil concupiscence and covetous covetousness put that to death but notice what it says here covetousness comma which is idolatry so we've got to take some time to look at covetousness because the bible says here that is idolatry covetousness which is idolatry now i don't want everybody to get caught up on all these religious terms and just not know what it means because how are you going to talk to christians and talk to people you know we got to we got to meet people where they are and we can't you can't go talking to people you know you know the anointing they said man ain't even safe you know what our anointing is we got to get down on people level you know people that the greatest number of people who've decided not to believe in god is in this time there are more people that don't believe in god today than ever before why because there's been a whole lot of ministry malpractice in the pulpit oh my god i felt that thing ministry malpractice in the pulpit and and the things that are going on when you look at a christian you don't want to be like them because we've deceived the world into thinking that christianity is perfection and so when they don't see perfection because you you put that up there christianity's perfection when they don't see it they think something wrong with your thing but you got to start telling the truth christianity is not perfection christianity is a person who sees god as my source for everything and even when i'm messed up he's still my source christianity has not beaten somebody down because they fail to reach perfection you god didn't make you perfect now adam and eve were but they messed it up for everybody so everybody at that particular point was born into sin shaped into iniquity and we need to quit playing that little game you you put it out there i'm flawless so when you fail people like there must not be anything to your thing that's not the truth if we were flawless we wouldn't need god if we were perfect we wouldn't need jesus i don't know about you but i need a savior praise the lord and what happens is he gets me better and better and better so when i finally reach that goal i have no choice but to give god the honor the glory and the praise and i have no choice but to say look at what god has done this is the lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes somebody knew you 30 years ago and they look at you now then you can just when they see you right now they think you ain't like what you used to be you say this is the lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes amen all right now so so covetousness is idolatry so let's let's let me back up just for a moment before i make this statement i begin to look at god's design for us listen to this god designed us to have needs and wants think of that god designed us to have needs and wants god designed us and i you know i don't i don't want people to ever get into deception like you're not supposed to have anything that you need and you're not supposed to have anything that you want that's not how you would design you were designed with needs and wants so if you go around talking about i don't have any needs and i don't have any wants i mean everything can be cool right now but you live a whole life you're gonna need something all right you live a whole life you're gonna want something so when that time comes god is god is saying i am the one that will meet your needs and your wants he designed us with needs and wants so that we might know him and delight in him as our provider and our sustainer god wants to be your provider and god wants to be your sustainer god wants to sustain you god wants to provide for you do you understand how powerful that is god wants to be the one god i like to say it like that god is my supply house god is my supply house please understand that god is my supply house before i go on let's look at a couple of scriptures first let's look at colossians chapter 2 and 10. colossians chapter 2 and 10. oh hallelujah i pray that i pray that people will just run to god today and say lord please forgive me for thinking that i was more than what i really was look at this in verse 10 he says and i just i love this he says and you are complete in him you are complete in him i am complete in him i think about that i'm complete in jesus glory to god i am complete in jesus hallelujah i am complete watch this in jesus now i can remember a time and you can remember a time where you were not complete because i believe you can only be complete in him and i see people trying to be complete in everything else but in jesus i see people trying to be complete in their jobs they try to be complete in relationships they try to be complete and the amount of money they have the only way you're ever going to be complete is in jesus you don't believe me try it let me tell you something i have learned something about life and here's what i've learned that either you're going to let god teach you or life will teach you i said either you're going to let god teach you or life will teach you and life will teach you in a ways that whether you like it or not life will teach you god would rather you receive his instructions but sometimes people don't do it i am complete in jesus release your faith for that i am complete in jesus i'm completing jesus right now now look at matthew 6 32 33. now this is this point we were created with needs we were created with desires only we so that god can meet those desires god wants to be provider god wants to be sustainer god wants to build your supply house look at this next two verses he says for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that you have what need of all these things we're going to look at it in a moment we're gonna see what those needs were they were physical needs god god knows you have need of all these things you know i'm grateful that some people are gonna be getting stimulus checks but i really want you to learn how to seek god because the government ain't gonna keep sending you checks all your life and you please understand ain't nothing free but you understand government ain't gonna send you checks all your life but i tell you what god says i know you have need see god knows your need before you knew you needed it he says but here's what i want you to do seek first the kingdom i want to meet your needs i i i want to i want to sustain you i take great joy in meeting your needs and sustaining you everything you need i want to be your supply everything you want i want to be your supply when i laid down last night i said god i just i thank you for deep sleep i'm trusting you for deep sleep in the name of jesus glory be to god and then when i get up after a deep sleep i'm like look at the sustainer look at the provider glory be to god he says i'll meet your need i'll and i'll add things to your life i'll meet your needs i'll add things to your life now now that i know that let me shift back to what we were saying coveting is uh idolatry so let's look at coveting to see what it is why would he say coveting is idolatry well coveting when you covet something it turns our attention from god when you covet something you turn your attention from god and you place it on something of lesser value when i covet something i take my attention off god and i put it on something that has lesser value than god coveting coveting will it leads us to believing that we can be satisfied in this life apart from god coveting wants to get you to believe you can be okay and satisfied in his life apart from god coveting is not just wanting something it's not just craving something coveting is well i'm i'm turning away from god because i believe that there is something better and greater that's where we are that's where we're in this world i'm turning from god because i believe there's something greater of greater value i'm turning from god and i'm going to turn to education education is good but we now put value on education greater than what it really is listen to me carefully now so let me take what coveting is let me take how god designed us and let me give you i believe a really root definition of idolatry and here it is idolatry is the value that you give to a thing more than god idolatry is the value that you give to a thing more than god see the thing may not be wrong until you give it greater value than god it may not be wrong for you to play golf unless you give golf greater value than god so the question i want you to consider is have you given any person or anything greater value than god that's idolatry it's the value that you give to the thing look at your life look at look at your life right now have i given anything or anyone greater value than god because whatever thing in your life or whatever person in your life that you value more than god then that thing or that person has become your idol and your value that you placed on it has entered you have entered into idolatry i'm trying to show you that god is the number one he is the one that we should be looking at and again in colossians 3 5 idolatry which is covetousness is a foolish here's what it is idolatry is a foolish endeavor that takes a christian and sends him grasping for satisfaction in all the wrong places idolatry takes a christian and sends him grasping or trying to get satisfaction in all the wrong places so idolatry sends you away from god and now you're going down the path trying to get satisfaction but it's in the wrong place you're not gonna get satisfaction uh you know in a job you're not gonna get satisfaction in in the millions you're not gonna get satisfaction in the validation that other people give you you're going you're gonna you're trying to grasp for satisfaction in all the wrong places that's what it is and i see that everywhere today it's not god god is like a second thought it's not god it's like no i'm not i don't see god as the greatest but i'm going to do even you know you you may think well i'm going to go into self-preservation mode and through self-preservation mode you're trying to grasp at satisfaction that's the wrong that's the wrong way that's a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is destruction and we continue to go down the path that seems right uh but the end of it is destruction and that's what idolatry does and that's why it says to flee from it that's why it says to to have don't be a part of it because it will lead you down the path trying to get satisfaction in all the wrong places every one of us we know somebody who fits this model of what we just shared with and what we're talking about now before i look at the modern day idolatry there there's modern-day idolatry you know social media helps to promote modern-day idolatry not wrong but if you give it greater value than god it is sex not wrong in the place of marriage but if you give it greater value than god uh there's just so many things uh image if you if you give it more value than god what are you giving more value to god you know what you have to do to do that you have to completely say god i no longer believe that the path that you provided or you are are my way out i'm going to go and do other things that i see other people do see the problem is is you're you're thinking that you know what other people have gone through but you're not there to see the whole life you're not there to see the whole how the whole thing turns out people can show you whatever they want to show you and they can make things look as successful as they want to make things look that's why you got to be careful and then uh what you don't know is they can't sleep at night what you don't know is their family is all broken up they ain't got nobody to love them what you don't know is how sad they are and what you don't know is how often they have to fight chronic depression and how often they have a gun pointed to their brains because they want to kill themselves you don't know that because you don't live there and you're not there and so people can make things look like it's perfect without god but i can promise you i'll show you a scripture in a moment i can promise you it ain't never going to be right with something or someone in god's place because you would desire for god to take care of you what you were designed for for god to take care of you now let's look at some old testament views of idolatry and what it says there in the old testament let's look at jeremiah 16 verse 20 and then i will look at jeremiah 16 uh 19-21 in the nlt so let's look at king james first jeremiah 16 and 20. he says shall a man make gods unto himself and there are no gods in that interesting the number of people who have made gods unto themselves but they're not gods at all even in some of the support groups that i used to run one of the first things was you got to pick something out to be your higher power your higher power there there's only one i know about the highest power and then people do stuff like that chair is my higher power and you're just and this scripture's just telling man make gods unto himself and they are no gods the things that you make are not gods look at this in the new living translation jeremiah 16 19 through 21 jeremiah 16 9 through thing 2 21. and look at the warning where god gives us to just stay away from this he says lord you are my strength and fortress you're my refuge in the day of trouble nations from around the world will come to you and say our ancestors left us a foolish heritage for they worshipped worthless idols i've never seen any nation like our nation where we worship hollywood like people in this nation do i mean actors can hardly do no wrong and if they do just make a good movie and it's all over he says can people make their own gods these are not real gods at all wow the lord says now i will show you them i will show them my power now i will show them my might at last they will know and understand that i am the lord you got to understand god's a jealous god when you when you proceed to try to crown something else as god god is determined to let you know he's the only one god is determined to let you know oh you think that's your god oh i'm going to show you that i am the lord and that's what a lot of people are looking at they look at things that happen in their life because they've some people have crowned themselves as god i'm my own god god said oh you really believe that i'm going to show you who the lord that boy be knocked down so deep in a ditch he'll have no choice but to scream my god help me god help me that's where we are today that's what we see throughout the entire nation today an entire world look at exodus chapter 34 14-17 in the nlt exodus chapter 34 14-17 in the new living translation check this out the lord says the lord's yeah yeah 14. you must worship no other gods for the lord whose very name is jealous there's a god who is jealous about his relationship with you lord have mercy god is jealous about his relationship with you don't you know god is concerned when you start getting something and giving it greater value and he know that that thing didn't make you that thing didn't wake you up this morning that thing didn't start you on your way that thing didn't heal you that thing didn't take your care of your provision and you're trying to make it gone he says i'm a jealous god i did all of that and i need to hear you give me the glory and the praise for what i did he said you must not make a treaty of any kind with the people living in the land they lust after their gods offering sacrifices to them they will invite you to join them in their sacrificial meals and you will go with them next verse he says then you will accept their daughters who sacrifice to other gods as wise for your sons and they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods you hear god's warning he says watch out how you relate with people who who say something is god and it's not me he says you're going to get in a relationship with them you're going to marry them you're going to have sons with them and what's happening you're going to begin to build up a group of people who no longer receive me as god you must not make any gods of molten metal for yourselves this is the same attitude in the old testament do not replace me with anything or anyone don't do it don't get involved with people who have already replaced me don't marry people who already have replaced me see we just threw that out at one time we knew that we should not be unequally yoked there's so many things that the world who has made their own god has now have influence on the church and now you're doing the same thing you're born again and marrying somebody that don't know god and wondering why it ain't working because your marriage relationship one of y'all value something else more than you value god and then you value god more you value anything else but when it comes together it ain't working it's not working it's amazing to me how much idolatry the church has allowed to infiltrate its thinking by looking at tell a vision and it told you the wrong vision by by looking at social media and taking it you know as if it's the most important thing in in the whole world do you you don't even realize that man the num the slander and the lies and the stuff that that it does there and and and and that's become some people idle you got listen you remember oh but 80s i don't know and and in the bathroom we used to have a magazine rack and you would just go down you know and do your business and you know read it in magazines or read your bible my grandma you say read your bible it'll come out right read the bible you know uh but now just notice and everybody get caught up with this now you wake up the first thing you do is grab your phone wonder if that's one of those modern day idols look at this man this is this is serious stuff come on jeremiah chapter 51 17-19 in the new living translation jeremiah 51 17-19 in the new living translation he says the whole human human race is foolish and has no knowledge he says uh the craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make for their carefully shaped works are a fraud 18. these idols have no breath or power they have no breath or power idols are worthless they are ridiculous lies that's true today when you replace god you replace them with a lie because there's a lie to think that you can replace him it's a lie to think that you can put whatever you put in god's place that's a lie you put a lie in god's place it's full of lies on the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed but the god of israel is no idol he is the creator of everything that exists including his people his own special possession the lord of heaven's armies is his name look at the attitude even in the old covenant which again gives us insight on a world that's filled with idolatry and then deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 19. in deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 19. and here's what i was saying to you earlier when you look at your life has money replaced god i mean sometimes for some people money motivates you to do god's will quicker than god it's definitely an idol people don't believe in servanthood like they used to servanthood with selfish ending is hypocrisy but people people don't believe in service no more they've turned everything about church and servanthood into mammon driven ministry and that's not how it's supposed to be we've replaced god with something else and look what it says here deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 19 and it shall be if thou do at all forget the lord thy god and if you walk after other gods and you serve them and you worship them i testify again against you this day that you shall surely perish now when i read that scripture here's what the lord said to me you perish without god isn't that the truth you perish without god you lose without god your your life is is is is in the midst of destruction without god and maybe life has to teach some people this because they don't believe it right now i think about the amount of years that a person wastes by not listening to god life just kind of goes by because you spend all this time trying to prove to yourself that something's greater than god i don't want that to be you world changers i want you to just wake up and shake your head and say there's nothing greater than god because without him you perish well well such such and so here christian they didn't perish you don't know you don't live with them that's the thing you got to understand you don't know you don't live with them you don't know when you don't know where you don't know you don't live with them they could be miserable i have met some of the phoniest people ever that can get in the pulpit and make everything look like it's flawless and they got they're miserable miserable miserable miserable and it shocks me sometimes because they get in the pulpit and i know they don't like each other and they get up good morning sweetheart how are you well praise the lord and and i'm like what the world me taff and i we need bill like that we can't we can't do phony we we if listen if tapping mad at me you gonna know it i get up there hey ted how you doing wow the church has perfected phoniness to preserve the image that has taken god's out of first place and now their image is more important than their god now their image is what they seek after and i'm telling you if you've ever looked at the world lately and asked what's going on this is what's happening right now god is being replaced with someone or something he's being replaced and it must not be so with us who are the people of god and we got to be like the apostle john we got to scream it out loud every time something good happens we got to say that's my god until everybody at work know oh they they know god back up a little bit well how you doing today well this is the day the lord hath made i thought you knew but we have got to listen i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ for it's the power of god i will not diminish my call for the sake of my image y'all don't understand what i'm just saying i'm not i'm not listen i've been called to be a preacher but i know people who have been called to do something they diminished their call because they didn't see it as important enough they diminished their call for the sake of their image and instead of saying they're a preacher or a pastor they say i'm a motivational speaker because it sounds better don't diminish your anointing for your image because one day people are going to look at you and they're going to wish they had your anointing they're going to wish they had your god don't replace god with something or someone else flee from idolatry amen now let's let's get in this with with the time we have left uh let's look at some modern day idols some modern day idols the first one i want to look at is what we just mentioned i want to look at how people have turned their identity into an idol your identity or image have they turned it into an idol now having good identity and having good self-image there's nothing wrong with that until you put more value on it than god you see when you don't trust god to be your provider you will steal when you don't trust god with your with who god made you you'll go and try to get remade with some kind of surgery or something you follow this you you when when you don't trust what god said about two coming together and be being one you're going to look for somebody else we place more value in who we are rather than placing value in god and in in in who he has said we are so i place more value in my identity and trying to get it where other people will accept it we place more value in who we are and there's nothing wrong with that until you place more value in who you are and no little to no value in who god says we are so i'm not looking at who i am or who people think i am or what folks say about me i'm looking at what god has said about me god said i'm the righteousness of god somebody else might say that any growing righteousness at all excuse me i place value in what god says god says i'm righteous god says i'm redeemed see you got to be careful not to allow the shame of other people to cause you to look at yourself based on how they look at you this entire nation is filled with shaming you hear the phrase you should be ashamed of yourself and it becomes very difficult for you to to stay focused on the identity that that god has given you versus the identity that somebody else is trying to give you you know the church is still trying to give us the identity that we're sinners i'm born again i am no longer a sinner i am not going to take the identity because bishop or archbishop such and so said that i am the righteousness of god the day i got born again the day i made jesus the lord in my life i am righteous well if you was righteous you wouldn't did that i am righteous anyway now that was a stupid thing but because i believe i'm righteous eventually my behavior is gonna line up with who i am but if it's life i start being believe if i start believing who you say i am then i'm actually start acting like that so i value the identity that god has given me and i will not be uh pressured into accepting an identity that didn't come from god i'm not going to be shamed into accepting an identity that doesn't come from god i'm not going to be condemned into accepting an identity that come from god and then i replace my righteous identity with this shameful identity i'm not gonna do it and you know what you'll take it take a a mature christian to do this taff and i were talking about this yesterday maturity is based solely on who you've decided will be your source that's what maturity is maturity says no matter what's going on in my life i reach for jesus every time immaturity is is when you're you've made something else your source or yourself your source when something happens you don't go for jesus for something happens you don't reach for him he's my source that's a mature christian you're not mature because you've been saved a long time you're not mature because you can pretend to be spiritually mature because every time you get around somebody you you you act you know kind of a fake fake spiritual you know hey brother how are you oh hallelujah that don't do nothing to me i don't care how you act at church and i don't care all that little jerking around you do they ain't done that do nothing for me i want to know when hell breaks out in your life who do you reach for hallelujah during the pandemic who did you reach for i'm reaching for jesus you wouldn't believe the number of people that got divorced in the pandemic the name of the people who have got molested in the pandemic the number of people who got beat up in the pandemic because god wasn't their source and the distractions that they had from their reality showed up because god wasn't their source but when god's your source and you reach for him when you reach for him when you're broke blessed and disgusted you reach for him when they diagnose you with a disease you reach for him when you've been hurt when you've been broken you reach that's the sign of a mature christian not this little religious pray church stuff we get around and you know i can't i'm getting to the point where i can't stand that so i tell you what happened to me in the middle of the pandemic i can't i can't stand a bunch of phony the kind of situ now ask the holy ghost what i said with your deep self no no no not that you don't have problems not that you don't have issues now don't you not not that you don't stand in bad circumstances but when you do you reach for him as your source you reach for him as you saw lord i shouldn't have said what i said i help me lord you reach for him lord i don't know where the money coming from but i trust you lord i ain't got but two pennies but i'm gonna show i'm gonna show sow these two pennies i reach for you god i reach for you lord my marriage is a wreck but i gotta go to you show me myself i reach for you jesus lord i'm depressed but i don't want to tell no christians because you tell christians that you're struggling with depression then they're going to condemn you if you tell christians that you're having a rough time mentally they're going to condemn you but i'm telling you it's all right that you go through what you go through because you have a god that sits high and looks low and he's ready to bring you up out of your situation who do you go to that determines your maturity that determines your maturity now how much of the bible you know well i know all 66 books ma'am hush i know all 66 books praise the lord hallelujah i thank you lord i operate in nine spiritual gifts see i can see stuff right now i'm a dirt ain't nobody i don't want all see you you are spooking something matter with you you you actually probably have replaced god with yourself caleb who yamada do uh-uh no no no that's the sign of maturity that we go to god god help me not to hurt myself lord help me to refrain my tongue from from speaking gal and slander and and make sure that i i don't speak evil against somebody you know that's serious right here say the bible says if you want to see good days and live a long life refrain your tongue from speaking evil and for speaking deceit and lies i want to see good days i'm off the subject a little bit but i want to see good days and i want to live a long time which means i am not going to be opening my mouth and speaking stuff don't never need to come in my mouth somebody told me about what somebody was going through the other day and i said oh god bless them in the name of jesus bless him well what did he do well how did he do it lord bless them because i want to see good days and i want to i want to i want to i want to live a long time see good days glory be to god glory be to god at home wherever you are right now lift your hands up just give god some praise right now lord i give you praise just just praise him right now just praise and say lord you're going to always be my number one i just praise you right now lord i just praise you right now you're going to always be my my number one praise the lord you see the search for meaning the search for value and the search for validation from others makes you if you get it but it breaks you if you don't yeah when somebody validates you and values you and and you and it shows you mean oh it makes you but it breaks you when you don't see disappointment comes when you expect something and you don't get it then you're disappointed and there's too many people that are putting their identity on the line are you serious you're trusting the comment section of social media are you kidding me you don't even know these people you can get 20 good comments in just that one i mess with you the whole time you're ready to fight for that one meet me down the street i bet you won't meet me down the street you yeah you bad behind that comment section but come on down the street you take a picture of yourself thinking you look good and somebody says something nasty about you how you looking at everything you it start messing with you why would you do that why would you let that why would you let it mess with you well pastor you again so i'm not against social media i ain't got it on my my phone so i i i don't have it on my phone because i don't want to know what somebody's saying about me why would i want to sit there and look on my phone to see what people said about me and then i carry it all day that's so dumb i ain't doing that and i don't want nobody else coming to me telling you know what i saw on social media about you i don't care i ain't got on my phone i hire you to give me no report keep it to yourself cause i've already decided that i value my identity in god more than anything else are you listening to me and then what happens you are willing to serve anything but god for reputation's sake willing to serve and do anything but god won't serve him because your reputation and and and uh the series i just finished on servanthood jesus was of no reputation he took on the form of a servant and he was of no reputation you can't take on the form of a servant and be concerned about your reputation you can't you can't god is the one that i trust look at this scripture here ii peter chapter 2 18-19 in the new living translation i've never met so many people that are so concerned about what people think about them so concerned about your image i know leaders who are more concerned about their image than they are the people they serve what's what is that your image well i'll tell you what i don't know why i passed a dollar wood at turtleneck this morning i don't care i ain't asked you i didn't did i send you a text this morning asked you it would it be all right if i wore a turtleneck this morning ain't stunning you i don't care if it's 100 degrees outside i wear what i want to wear and see that's it see there's nothing more peaceful than being free and delivered from people nothing more peaceful than being free and delivered from people the worst mindset you can have is the mindset always worrying about what somebody think about you and my mom used to have them wouldn't put them jeans i used to hang a hammer hang on and pop jeans mom pop jeans i i don't know what they call them but i woke mine and the only reason i talk about now here's the thing my wife said i'm throwing them away they were comfortable at least i had room to walk in these new genes right here they had you just kind of tip-toed around you know glory to god look at this ii peter 2 18-19 says they brag about themselves with empty foolish boasting with an appeal to twist sexual desires they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception 19 they promised freedom but they themselves are slaves of sin and corrupt for you are a slave to whatever controls you you know they got a big debate today about smoking weed that uh you know ain't nothing wrong with smoking weed god created weed if his creation ain't nothing wrong with weed and see you're missing the whole point the issue with weed is not the issue weed ain't the issue the issue with smoking weed is the value you put on it if we control you more than god can control you that's the problem it ain't whether weed is legal or illegal because a whole lot of y'all were smoking weed before they made it legal that is not the issue the issue is is is god doesn't want anything to control you whether it's weed or oatmeal cookie if the oatmeal cookie has caused you to be a slave to it if an oatmeal cookie controls you that's the problem that's the problem is you are allowing other things to control you and won't even yield yourself to god are you serious that that weed can get you to do more than what god can for real that's the issue that you're willing to discipline to discipline yourself in smoking weed but you won't discipline yourself in fellowshipping with god seriously seriously you know you can show up every day to smoke some weed but god ain't seeing you in a month what's wrong with that you follow what i'm saying that's what's wrong with that we still we still see we we're trying to we missing the whole mark you know oh i saw i saw her drink a little wine last night what wine well i i smell weed on them see you that's that that's that church folk kind of law based condemning shame in religion because you don't understand the whole point is i want to do things that will glorify god and i'm not going to let nothing control me or replace him so what substance has replaced god in your life what substance do you give worship to because every time you get in that weed and you start worshiping the weed and the jerk the jaw comes from the weed the joy of the weed come not the joy of the lord but the joy of the week what's funny ain't nobody saying that god can't do nothing to you god has given you joy you can't get none from you and we don't realize that's idolatry replaced by something he created replaced by someone he created he's no longer number one no longer first love look at first john chapter 2 16 oh hallelujah oh hallelujah thank you lord god's number one god's number one i don't care what they say i don't care where i am guy asked me the other day he said would you mind if i ask you what you do for a living i said i'm a pastor oh because in his mind he might have thought oh just a pastor i'm not gonna let him diminish who i am with god for lack of a better word i'm proud of the fact that that that god is first in my life amen i'm not looking for somebody to call me and you won the award and and you're being honored by the no no no i get all that from my god god says i'll honor you who honor me and sometimes people can't take the honor that god gives to his people god will start honoring you and then they'll start accusing you of stealing or doing something illegal to get it but it's just honor it's the blessings of the lord that shows up that's they don't understand that see they only know that you can only get this by doing that because they don't understand our god who is first first john 2 16 for all that is in the world now now this is going to show you what's worldly christian people listen you always talk about that's worldly worldly music well what the heck is worldly music that's a whirly shoe you got on what somewhere or you know these little things that uh women wear now and and and come here and then it opens right here and they show a little shoulder and they come down right there oh that's a whirly shirt you're showing skin it's too worldly that's this world what's worldly see the church we're always behind on stuff and and the church got to catch up with what the bible say i'm not talking about catching up with the times of the world if you just catch up with the bible you can handle whatever time change is in the world we just keep misinterpreting it we have this flesh this flesh faith instead of this grace faith yeah leave that alone law based living yeah that's another thing you know what really makes you a child when you're still living by the law after jesus came to give you this wonderful grace anybody that lives by the law is a child because he doesn't know how to operate skillfully in the righteousness of god and he's the bible says he's still a babe and owned milk i don't know about y'all but boy i'm so tired of doing church playing church during the time of bad pandemic that we learned that there's a difference between the church and the building the building at the church we're the church we're the church we're world changers church international wherever you are world changes church international at home with the stream and your world change we've been to church throughout the entire pandemic we have been the church we never stopped being world changers church the building is the building but the building is not what carries the power the power moved off mount sinai and moved on the inside of you and i and we are the church but the scriptures here tells us what's worldly so take the scripture and now you'll be able to determine what's worldly he says for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh that's you wanting what you want the lust of the eyes that you want and what you see and the pride of life that's what i want to talk about he says it's not of the father but it is of god the pride of life is simply let me say working to appear important in the eyes of others working to try to appear important in the eyes of others when you're working so hard to appear important in the eyes of others and you put value on that you appearing important in front of people if you put value on that more than god then the pride of life has replaced god and i i know so many people it it hit all of us our desire to want to be important in front of somebody's eyes and finally realize wow that may be the game changer right there because imagine what god can do with someone who is of no reputation and who no longer considers it a very valuable thing to try to be important in somebody's eyes everything you do you do it better because it's no longer important for you to be seen as important oh that blesses me so much that no matter where i go in the world it's not valuable for me to try to impress you it's not valuable for me to try to seem as if i'm important in your eyes what's valuable to me is to know that i'm important in his eyes and he's already declared that i've been accepted as a beloved and that i am important in his eyes and and if god's proud of me if god's impressed and then i can hear him say my good and faithful servant servant servant every minister is a servant every church member is a servant i don't know what it is let's graduate from being a servant but my good and faithful servant well done enter into the joy of the lord that that's what that's what i'm that's what i'm going for and i have found a great joy and not working in not working to appear important in the eyes of other people what freedom throughout this pandemic there are some things that the lord has taught me and i'll pick up with this later number one don't dwell in the past some of us we visit the past too much sometimes when we wake up and just land in the bed we're visiting the past the regrets the brokenness the shame the things that we've done stay away from the brokenness of the past now there may be some things in the past that were good that encourage you that's cool but even then don't live by past victories there are new victories that god wants to give you okay secondly that it is important to me not to appear important in front of other people it's important to me not to appear important to other people and then number three don't rehearse your brokenness don't rehearse your brokenness and roll it over in your mind over and over and over and over again i'm not doing that i'm not going to get caught up in regrets and brokenness and running over and over my mind you got to go forward you got to go from that brokenness there's no greater deliver deliverance that i have ever experienced than the deliverance of not having to work hard to try to appear important and so you lose a lot of stuff name dropping where you being where you got you lose a lot of stuff and now there's more time to give the glory and the honor where it should be i am i'm amazed at how much god has done i'm amazed at how much he loves me i'm amazed at the number of times i have to pull myself back i think my wife might have got concerned one time because i told her i said i'm pretty excited about dying she was like whoa because i don't see death as a lot of people see it i see it as i'm about to i'm about to learn about things that i had never had a thought about i'm about to see my jesus and when you're delivered from the fear of death you become so powerful in the earth let's be free let's keep god at the center of our lives and let's keep him at the head of our lives and let's not fall victim to modern day idolatry we'll pick up with this on next sunday let's pray wherever you are pray if you got a teenager next to you pray i believe you're being delivered today father i thank you for this word i thank you that by the power of the holy spirit what i failed to say and what i failed to make clear i am so grateful that the holy spirit is taking care of that that even as i was preaching words coming out of my mouth i thank you that words were being ministered into their ears from you i think the enlightenment showed up they understood and now holy spirit only you can do the increase only you can bring the increase i i'm a sore and and i water but you bring the increase i pray that this word will become perpetual that supernaturally it ends up in the ears of millions and and it ends up in every nation around this world and and it causes men and women to think reconsider wait a minute what am i doing he is my supply house oh god oh wonderful jesus we give you praise may the power of the holy spirit envelop us thank you for walking with us thank you for not leaving us thank you for being a very present help in a time of trouble we do give you praise oh god it's you it's you that we want it's you that we seek it's you deliver us from ourselves deliver us from the idolatry of this world it's you we're in it for the relationship with you we give you praise jesus name now if you're here today and you're joining our services today and you've never been born again you've never made jesus the lord of your life and right now you're thinking wow i want jesus in my life i want him to be number one in my life i've tried the rest and now i'm ready to try the best and jesus is the best if that's you if you would just pray this prayer after me i'll lead you to the lord father i believe that jesus is the son of god and that he died he went to hell paid the price for all my sins was the ransom that was paid that i might be free from the consequences of not being able to keep the law lord jesus come into my heart save me be my lord and my savior and right now by faith i receive you as my savior and by faith i declare that i am born again thank you lord for saving me in jesus name amen now if you just prayed that prayer of salvation with me today text the key word i'm saved that's one word to 51 555. provide your name and email address and we'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today and welcome welcome to the family of god go to the comment section and and let us know i just got born again and world changers nation you go right in there and congratulate them receive them welcome them pray with them in jesus name praise god well let's conclude our worship today and you know we have a worship service we prayed and we ministered songs unto the lord we expressed our thanksgiving to him we got in the word we allowed our ears to be open to hear from the holy spirit and now to complete that worship we give giving is what completes that worship the bible says not to give for an asset out of necessity for god loves a cheerful giver whose heart is in his giving that we give because of what god has already given to us with it's just a revelation to me that i am not giving to try to get god to do something i am giving because of what i realize he's already done and i am giving in thanksgiving and gratitude to god because of what he's already done and so we want you to participate in this and i want you to give graciously and gratefully but with excitement not grudgingly you know just in your heart you're like man i am so thankful for what god has done and that that's your motivation for giving not for you know try to move him like a gina in a lamp he's already moved everything we'll ever need for life has already been made available you know when abraham gave uh in genesis chapter 15 it wasn't to give to get the victory the victory he had already gotten the victory and then after the victory he was moved to give to the lord god's already blessed you god's already given you the victory god's already given you everything you'll ever need so my giving is is worship and thanksgiving for what he's already done so this morning if you're giving through the text platform you can text world changers space and the amount you can text to 74483 if you're giving by telephone you can call 1-866-477-7683 if you want to mail mail it in you can mail it in the address is on your screen 2500 road college park georgia and then finally if you want to give on the website you can go to world changers.org or you can go to creflo.ministries.org and you can give online and if you have a paypal if you're giving internationally or wherever you are and you have a paypal there is a place where you can use it we are rejoicing with you today we are thankful that i know i am as a christian i don't have any pressure in my giving and you know consequently we give and i mean we give but it's easy because i don't have this pressure of oh my god i got to get god do something i just look in the word and see all the stuff he's already done and i and i i move into thanksgiving and 10 to me is just not enough because of all the things that he's done and you know the bible says don't give grudgingly that means don't want to but you do it anyway he wants us to give cheerfully wanting to knowing that we get to and what a powerful blessing of the lord well we're grateful for that that information is on the screen you can continue to give but at this time let's go check out these announcements and govern yourself about uh with those announcement and i'll be back for our benediction what an awesome worship and a great word now just what we all need to start our week off right now thank you for being a part of our online community and sharing your testimonies on social media now god is still in the blessing and healing business so stay tuned for the latest happenings and announcements world changers youth experience is happy to introduce small group sundays now every fourth sunday we break into small groups with our teens to discuss that month's teachings now our january small group was amazing so watch us live on youtube at world changers youth experience every sunday at 10 o'clock am and be sure to have your team connect with us for small group sunday on march 28th every wednesday and friday at 10 a.m we're still serving through our weekly community food giveaway at our college park campus so make plans to stop by we look forward to serving you and your family while supplies last remember our world changers junior high team has recently launched a new live service for our world changers in the sixth through eighth grade now they have games prizes live performances powerful messages and so much more and to make sure you know when they go live make sure you follow them on youtube at wcye junior.hi studios and on instagram at world changers y e now i promise you you won't regret it easter is near world changers nation so plan to worship with us online as we commemorate the life death and resurrection of jesus during this year's special easter service on sunday april 4th so gather your family and prepare your hearts for a powerful message starting promptly at 10 o'clock am as we stream on facebook youtube our websites and the creflo dollar ministries app now you don't want to miss this marriage should be fulfilling exciting and deeply passionate it's time to no longer just dream of having a happy marriage it's time to actually have one god's way so join creflo and taffy dollar on april 16th at 7 00 pm for this informative one day marriage event you can register today by texting wcci marriage to 51 555 calling all young adults are you looking to connect with other young adults just like you well look no further join shift the college and young adult community of world changers church international every tuesday night at eight o'clock pm eastern live on youtube.com backslash shift young adult now don't just know about god no god for yourself it's time to shift so for more information you can email shift worldchanges.org and also be sure to follow a shift on instagram at shift atl remember someone else's breakthrough may be counting on you so don't be shy leave your comments and testimonies on facebook instagram or twitter you can also call us at 770-210-5700 with any immediate concerns so be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel and hit the notification bell to stay in the know so have a great week world changers and we'll see you soon well praise god we we uh thank god for you guys uh being here with us today and uh logging on here with us and we love you we appreciate you so so very much have an amazing day today this coming wednesday i'm going to be talking about i'm going to be teaching 12 practical lessons it's going to be a part of an understanding series where we talk about baptism what happens when someone dies before you say i do you know just practical things that you need to know as christians and um uh taff and i are going to really really talk about some stuff people can make marriage complicated it's not complicated just got to make sure you you love through uh well you don't understand what's going on my marriage is this happening and that's happening that happens what that sound like marriage you know so you gotta gotta make sure you don't read in the stuff and don't make it so complicated um and so we love you yes we appreciate you and we believe that the best is yet to come amen so now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen amen god bless those of you who joined us today bye-bye [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 73,600

Rating: 4.8929696 out of 5

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: Tz2wRtH7mkU

Length: 76min 37sec (4597 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 21 2021