Idols: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 We’re going to talk about idols this morning and how it applies to us last week we mentioned this scripture says the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God and he lists who he’s talking about in first Corinthians 6 verse 9 says neither fornicators nor idolaters adulterers. Effeminate sodomites thieves covetous drunkards revilers extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God that’s important to remember because like we talked about last week you’ve got to make it when you make a commitment to Jesus Christ there is a transformation like Paul Paul’s testimony was that he turned from being the chiefest sinner he was the chief sinner he was the worst in our history of the world Paul was the worst and God turned him around God turned that man around and he repented Paul repented from his sin and he didn’t do those things again and that is the testimony of Jesus Christ that he can take your sin nail it to the cross I.

▶ 1:15 Like that if you [unclear] nail it to the cross kill it bury it like what he did he died and he was buried and then he can come out of that grave with power give you power to live for Jesus Christ give you power to do what is right give you power to be a better father a better husband a better person. That’s what Jesus does and that transformation is that what we need to continue heading toward too. So we’re going to talk about idolatry this morning we’re going to look at idols in the Old Testament the New Testament and idols today. As you know a lot you know you don’t a lot of people don’t have you know the idol of gold in their house that they bow to or uh well.

▶ 2:14 Depends. Exodus 20 verse 3 it starts God is laying out the law talking to Moses and the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt he just delivered them from Egypt that had them enslaved and in bondage and he starts giving them laws he says one of his laws is you shall have no other gods before me I just paid a big price getting you out of Egypt I I brought you out I delivered you you guys were praying to me and I came through so this is what I want you to do I want you to serve me. You shall have no other gods before me you shall not make unto me any graven image or any likeness of anything that is heaven above an earth beneath or the water under the earth and thou shalt not bow thyself to them or serve them and there’s our first offense in Israel they had a golden calf I mean this is before he got even said don’t serve other gods you know God brought them out and then they make a calf in an image of an image of gold and they started.

▶ 3:32 To worship that idol and here we have an Asherah pole which they served later on and all throughout Israel history for many years they would serve idols even though God brought them out even though God delivered them from a lot of things and he brought had kings but all through that you had people in Israel who were bowing down and serving idols and God says isles are no good Psalms 135:15 the idols of the heathen are silver and gold the work of men’s hands they have mouths but they do not speak eyes they have but they don’t see they have ears but they don’t hear neither there’s any breath in their mouths and they that make them are like them so everyone who trusts in there you know basically saying this I mean we agreed with the atheists on this yeah atheists [unclear] they would say you know what are you guys thinking there’s no logic and what you’re doing that thing is a piece of wood it’s a piece of metal it can’t breathe it doesn’t have eyes you can’t see it can’t hear and that’s the truth it’s not a God I mean you take a piece of metal like that and then they would forge it into something like this and all of a sudden it’s a guy it doesn’t make sense and same thing with that cow I don’t know why you want to serve a cow I don’t get it a calf doesn’t make sense.

▶ 4:58 First Kings 18:17 this is the Old Testament Ahab greets Elijah this is a story about. Serving other gods Ahab greets Elijah is that you you troubler of Israel and here we have again we’ve been talking about this we the people the the prophets hear Elijah is he is a servant of God he’s a prophet of God he is he’s done many signs and many miracles and here he comes and he’s there and they say he is the troubler they point at him they say he’s the problem and you see that’s what they’re doing today they’re pointing at people that are trying to do what is right there pointing at you and they’re pointing at me and they’re saying that you are the trouble and I [unclear] because he is the trouble I’m just kidding.

▶ 5:55 Elijah replies I have not troubled Israel but you have and that is the truth Elijah response he says I’m not the troubler you’re the troubler Ahab you forsake the commandments of the Lord by following the Baals and the Baals are in another God they weren’t supposed to serve other gods they weren’t supposed to bow down to idols only God only Jesus Christ only the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that’s who they were supposed to serve and here they’re accusing Elijah they’re accusing God’s prophet. And he’s saying you’re forsaking the commandments of the Lord and that’s what we’re doing in America we forsake the commandments of the Lord and we blame God’s people and the church. For the trouble.

▶ 6:50 So Elijah invited the 450 prophets of Baal so bring them up here okay we’re gonna we’re going to work this out we’re going to solve this today 450 prophets of Baal 400 prophets of Asherah and they would eat at queen Jezebel’s table and if you know Jezebel she wasn’t a good lady she was evil she was bad she did what was wrong and you know they’re eating at her table what does that tell you oh they’re on her bill she’s got control they’re eating with her she’s got control man and that’s what she wanted she wanted control of the message she wanted control has nothing to do with whether she was a woman or a man has to do with she was trying to go against God’s word doesn’t matter who you are when you forsake the commandments when you live an evil like that is going to hurt you 1st Kings 1823 let two bulls this is this challenge that two bulls be given to us we will call on our gods and the one who answers by fire let him be God you guys a lot of you know the story already and the prophets accepted the challenge I mean can you imagine being a prophet of Baal and you’re like oh yeah this is going to work I mean they’ve never experienced something like this before and they think that Baal is going to come through and answer by fire I thought to myself man what were they thinking they should have like

▶ 8:20 made some excuse or backed out of it but they thought that their God actually would come through and I would just I was floored they called on Baal for hours and there was no answer they leaped over the altar they were doing all this show. Baal leaping up can you imagine mr. Barnes jumping over the the pew jumping over everywhere screaming I mean some sure just do that. Trying to get Baal’s attention and understand trying to get God’s attention you want to do whatever it takes God if you want to let me lift my hands if you want me to bow on the ground I’ll do it if you want me to shout I’ll do it God whatever you want me to do I just want to reach you I want to touch you but you got to do that to the right God the one who will answer and Elijah mock them here we go and he said maybe he’s in a he’s talking maybe he’s having a conversation maybe he’s on a journey maybe he’s sleeping and needs to be awakened and then after that they started to cry out and cut themselves until the blood gushed out upon them and here is a big stark difference you don’t do that for Jesus Christ you don’t cut yourself God is not out to harm you God’s not out to harm you he doesn’t want you hurting yourself he doesn’t want you hurting your family sacrificing your children you know the satanic worshippers they

▶ 9:51 want you to kill a baby they’re idiots come on God isn’t looking for that God has equipped you you come in that door you are equipped to praise him to honor him you can use your mouth you can use your hands you can use your posture as a way of respect and God you are equipped. You don’t have to go and buy something for fifty thousand dollars to worship God or a special tool you don’t have to go to this special church to get and praise you can do it at your house you can do it at the church with what you have on you and then you will never ask you to hurt yourself. God’s never asked me to cut myself. They continue to go calling their God until the evening now this is going on from eight in the morning you know the morning till the evening can you imagine being in the crowd I mean a lot of us we we are very impatient I’m very impatient you know if I got to sit through something watching guys jump over altars and cut themselves and can you imagine being you know CNN watching this all right they’re doing this now everything well something’s going to happen nothing happened oh something’s going to happen oh they’re cutting themselves now.

▶ 11:16 Nothing happened no one was paying attention. So Elijah gets on the scene it’s his turn he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken I guess there was an altar there of gods and he repaired it and he placed 12 stones on it and he said okay dig a large trench around this and you guys know the story they laid out the sacrifice on the wood and they poured 12 jars of water he said bring the jars come on pour and pour them on the sacrifice get it wet. I’m not looking for a little spark here you know I don’t want God to come and put a little fire I’ll start it burn it a trickle trickle I want to wet this down so it’s got to be huge. The water that ran down filled the trench and as you know Elijah calls on God I have done all these things at your word you see Elijah wasn’t doing this on his own he was sent by God he was doing what God asked him to do he said I have done all these things at your word.

▶ 12:30 1st Kings 1838 then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench so God delivers with a huge fire was able to consume all the water in the trench the sacrifice even though it was soaked with water God. It was a big fire. Big fire man I’d be awesome first next verse it says now when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and you see that’s what we need we want God to come and they said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God and that is what God is after he wants people to respond he wants people to turn he wants people to surrender so that they will stop doing living their lives harming others and turn and live their lives being an asset doing what is right to other people if you’re a mom doing what’s right to your kids if you’re a husband spouse wife whoever you are he wants to change us from what we are to a new creation.

▶ 13:58 And also. And that’s what we want in America and you have Elijah he is going out and he is challenging and he is speaking Paul and he came in his day he went out and preached the gospel and then God would do something and as long as we stay in here and do nothing nothing’s going to happen God will work with the word when we get out there like Elijah he put himself on the line you know he knew God was going to do it but still come on we’re talking about fire from nothing he had have some trust that God would come through. Acts 14 verse 1 in Iconium a great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed here you have Paul and Barnabas they’re preaching the gospel and this is after Jesus has been dead and rose again and went up to heaven these guys were preaching the gospel in Iconium and a great multitude Jews and Greeks believed and the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poison their minds against the brethren I don’t know what they said but they convinced people that.

▶ 15:26 The church was evil and see that is what’s happening it’s been going on for years it’s been going on for thousands of years and that’s the kingdom of darkness the kingdom of darkness is involved here. They stirred up the Gentiles and poison their minds against the brethren so they fled to Lystra and preach the gospel there you see Paul. It didn’t he didn’t have a big miracle there he didn’t have fire from heaven he didn’t have a great miraculous sign in Iconium and he had to flee. And he’s preaching the gospel and we’re talking about Paul and Barnabas Paul and Barnabas they are apostles they are the ones that had [unclear] they could preach with a witness the witness I mean me God would come through God would would would heal God would do great and wonderful signs and they fled.

▶ 16:38 And what am I saying that God is not always gonna [unclear] sometimes we have to see what God is going to do but we still preach the gospel Paul still preach the gospel and if God is not going to do something miraculous. Just preach it somewhere else. That’s exactly what he did he went to the next city and so at this next city Paul said to the man who was crippled from his mother’s womb he said stand upright on your feet and the man leaped he got up and he leaped and walk and everybody knew about this guy because they knew that he was crippled from his birth and so when the people saw that they lifted up their voices and they said the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men and these are the Greeks and they’re greek gods they’re thinking about they call Barnabas Zeus or Jupiter the translations say they called Paul Hermes the messenger of God because he was the he was preaching the message and they they thought that he was Hermes and they called barnameh Zeus so here these men are you know they got their idols and they think that this is Zeus they think that Barnabas and Paul are the Greek gods.

▶ 18:10 And then we have something again happening the people like from Iconium followed Paul to the city and in Lystra and they again they poison the minds of the people in Lystra and this time they stoned Paul. After he did first they call him Hermes and then they stone him they dragged him out of the town thinking he was dead and the disciples formed a circle around him and he got up. There thought he was dead because he had been beaten so bad I mean Paul went through the wringer and that’s what he says I’ve I’ve had I’ve had a lot and I’ve had little I’ve been hurt the disciples formed a circle around him and he got up you know that’s what we’re good for sometimes hey if you can’t preach the word get around the guys man that preach the word help him out be there for him work with him the disciples were there they were helping Paul whatever he needed to get down whatever they needed who knows if they just walked around and started maybe they had to get organizing and find a place and and do all the coordination and they needed people but that’s what we got to do.

▶ 19:39 The next day they went on to Derbe the next day think about that Paul has just been beaten to death and the next day no hospital stay no check me out no put the iv in me you know my son gets sick we go down to the er for hours and we may and they make sure okay he’s better now after seven hours oh my goodness gracious [unclear] stay in the bed sit there now we can’t do this can’t do that but here’s Paul he’s been beaten to death and the next day he’s in the next city preaching the gospel I mean think about talk about a desire for Jesus Christ a desire to do what Jesus says it’s powerful this guy had a zeal. Acts 17 verse 22 Paul said to he was in another city he came into a place and he said to these people you are very religious superstitious.

▶ 20:41 Religious. That’s what they call us they think that were superstitious that we’re serving a God that we can’t see that we’re weren’t you know when we get up here and worship we’re singing our songs or singing to nobody. They believe the Bible is a book of baloney not even faith they call us but here’s Paul and he is serving Christ it’s real to him and he’s calling another group superstitious and religious because it’s the truth no Paul he’s experienced Jesus he knows that God has given power to heal you know it’s not even a question in Paul’s mind he is living in a real relationship with Christ and some of us don’t think or maybe have doubts he had no doubt.

▶ 21:36 He had no doubt who he was he was a servant of God I found on an altar with this inscription to the unknown God you see these people were serving a God I didn’t know doing things they didn’t know who they were serving and Paul comes and he says him I declare unto you. Acts chapter 17 verse 30 it says in the past God overlooked such ignorance but now he commands all people everywhere to. Repent and that is the message for our day all people everywhere he commands to repent doesn’t matter who you are doesn’t matter if what race you are doesn’t matter what belief system you are doesn’t matter if you’re a hindu doesn’t matter if you’re a buddhist doesn’t matter if you’re an atheist doesn’t matter [unclear] doesn’t matter he calls all people everywhere to repent it doesn’t matter if you’re a bad person he’s calling you to repent.

▶ 22:43 And so we go to today I. Want to bring up the story of an event in 2016 there was an award ceremony for it’s called the our NASA awards gala and there they give out an award for. People in the space the space people space industry the ones that are sending rockets and they’re really doing great stuff you know science is awesome technology is awesome technological advancement is awesome and I work in the tech industry a middle tier engineer and a lot of you guys don’t know what that means I used to be in configuration management a lot of people don’t know what that is every time they ask me I gotta explain it and still they’ll get my wife doesn’t even know what it is that’s okay so I just tell everybody I’m a systems administrator and that they get that I administrate the systems I deal with computers all the time not people.

▶ 23:46 They just go down they never talk back I’m. We always say you know there’s just hardware [unclear] you know they work around the clock they’re hard workers right now they’re working and then they call me when they’re not working and then I [unclear] can’t start they had an invocation they call it the invocation where a man a preacher a pastor came up and he prayed and his prayer was a minute and 15 seconds I just wanted to get that and this event was two hours they spent the rest that time honoring all of these people that they were giving awards to and you know the Bible says give honor to whom honor is due but and he ended the prayer I thought was interesting in Jesus name you know you could tell when he was praying up there that you know he did a good job and he was quoting scripture and he ended it that you know thank you Jesus and I was like but this is a NASA event they don’t believe in Jesus so I was trying to look up to see if there was some kind of controversy but it was good he prayed a minute 15 seconds but the rest was dedicated to people.

▶ 25:00 Awards the space communicator award one of the big speakers that night was Bill Nye we know him Bill Nye the science guy and his speech was ten minutes and he was up there talking about all the science and the advancement that that’s their making and that in Mars they’re finding places where there’s water and maybe that they can discover there’s life on Mars maybe bacteria and maybe there is we don’t know and one of his funny statements was no why do you want to go up to Mars and he answers he said we don’t know what we’re going to find we’re going because we don’t know we’re going to find and it was interesting speech. But it was two hours long and I looked up Bill Nye quotes somewhere else and he quoted in another video he said denial of evolution holds everybody back.

▶ 26:03 He says to the grown-ups if you want to deny evolution that’s fine but don’t make your kids do it. Don’t teach your kids that God created everything that means me and you are we can’t teach Brooklyn [unclear] that God created everything. You know it’s an undeniable fact it’s holding us back you see we’re exploring because we want answers you Christians you don’t want answers you don’t want to explore you think you already have the answers that’s not true. And we think cuz I’m a Christian we don’t want to explore that’s stupid. We want technological advancement. Lawrence Krauss I don’t know his last name and he says in the same video stream there he’ll say that teaching creation is creationism is child abuse.

▶ 27:09 And I’m bringing these guys up because the guy received an award. The world revere’s these NASA people and we worship them like they know everything and it’s not true. Whether maybe you’re young and you have an athlete that you think is really awesome and you just will listen to anything you know when I was growing up Michael Jordan was awesome I just like you know the way you look is the way he would dunk I would watch games with my dad I just love Michael Jordan it was awesome watching him it was exciting but he may not be living right he may not be the one I should follow or idolize.

▶ 27:55 You know if there’s a singer maybe you’re young and there’s a singing that you idolize and wanna be like we can’t we got to get away from that we want to be like Jesus Christ we want to be partakers in the divine nature and the world and the influential people in the world are trying to put these smart people on such a pedestal that they are better than everybody and to idolize them and to follow their ideals because they’re the great you know I mean when you hear them talk it’s really like we’re stupid normal people in their speeches they say fifty percent of people are not intelligent and that’s why we have what we have in America today.

▶ 28:47 So. Their claims or what they claim is that we won’t explore because we believe you already know the answer that’s just not true. And you also have to remember that God is the one who gives wisdom God is up there in heaven and he is holding back the amount of wisdom he wants to give the world he’s holding back he’s the one feeding these guys the wisdom and the knowledge the the understanding the breakthroughs that we’ve had God is the one giving that the internal combustion engine all these things we want to say oh it was man and we want to idolize man and we want to idolize all these people that invented or created all these theories and all this it’s not man second Timothy chapter 3 verse 2 people will be lovers of themselves and this really is a great scripture.

▶ 29:51 Describing America today lovers of themselves and that is true we love that those guys they just love their group they love themselves they think they’re awesome and some of us we think we’re awesome we think we’re it’s two steps away from Jesus. They’re lovers of money you know they’re talking about their programs and how their budgets are one point one and a half billion dollars that’s nothing yeah what can we do with one and a half billion dollars mr. Barnes now we could have a place for children here we can it be great and they are exploring they’re doing they’re getting technical that’s true but they want money they want money their boastful, proud. Abusive disobedient to parents ungrateful and wholly without love unforgiving slanderous without self-control.

▶ 30:50 Americans today if you could say one thing that describes us is without self-control and all of the movements all the protests we don’t want self-control not lovers of good treacherous rash conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And. My question to these people the people like Bill Nye and these great thinkers that think they’re awesome you know even if we had the technological advancement to go live on Mars even if we discovered bacteria on whatever we think advancement we get how does that help the family how does that help children with.

▶ 31:48 Parents that are hurting them how does that help one in five children being aborted every year how does that help one in ten children being sexually abused by their 18th birthday how does that help. Technological advancement is great but it does not solve the moral issues that families are facing. Knowledge and science what they call science. Computers and all that are great but it doesn’t solve we all throughout the generations have a problem what do we do with loving people and loving our children. Is. It solved by tech no it’s not we all have a responsibility they just had a more difficult responsibility they didn’t have the washer and dryer in the oven and a nice home you know they had it harder but they still had a responsibility just like we do today.

▶ 32:58 We have a decision. Acts 17 verse 30 in the past God overlooked such ignorance but now he commands all people everywhere to repent and that is the key Americans we need to repent and repent means to turn from sin it means to stop the way you’re going and repent and all the messages that Paul preached that Jesus preach you’ll hear this message repent. Even if you’re a Christian and maybe you’re veering off on some tangent repent adjust if you’re not a repent if you’re hurting somebody if you’re hurting your children you’ve got to turn repent from that maybe you’re a believer you still have to repent from those things.

▶ 33:51 1st Kings 1836 I have done all these things at your word Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations we have a responsibility we all know that. We’ve got to get the word out and the word out needs to challenge people it’s a word that will call it out and say this is sin you need to turn from sin if you don’t want to listen that’s your problem. I have done all these things at your word Elijah is following God’s word and we need to follow God’s word no matter who you are whether you’re a Christian whether you’re not Christian and if you’re non-Christian an unbeliever you’ve got to be you’ve got to respond to that word whether it’s rejection or acceptance if you’re a Christian you’ve got to respond to the next word. Which is love your neighbor love your children love your family.