WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:02.830 Acts chapter 19 is where we're going to be together today. 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:05.220 Acts chapter 19. 00:00:05.220 --> 00:00:12.300 And as we've looked at this particular section of Scripture, I want to remind you, if you've not been here, if you have just refreshing where we 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:12.800 are. 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:20.540 As we looked at the book of Acts, especially lately, we've been studying the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, and we're on the last missionary journey that's 00:00:20.540 --> 00:00:22.800 recorded of Paul in the book of Acts. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:28.250 Even though it's believed after the book of Acts ends, the Apostle Paul continued on missionary journeys. 00:00:28.840 --> 00:00:34.450 Acts chapter 18, verse 23 is where the beginning of his third missionary journey starts. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:42.100 And as we looked at this together, we recognize that when Paul goes on his third missionary journey, he actually doesn't go to any really new cities everywhere 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:42.900 he goes on. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:48.920 The third missionary journey is made up of cities he visited on the first and second missionary journey where churches were established. 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:55.080 And so the Apostle Paul is now traveling and encouraging those churches and seeing them strengthened in the Lord. 00:00:55.180 --> 00:01:01.190 And as he started this journey, if you remember, he left from Antioch of Syria, which is just north of Jerusalem. 00:01:01.820 --> 00:01:09.580 And he and he goes northwest into the to the area that he first visited on his first missionary journey, the region of Phrygia and Galatia, 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:13.900 which the cities of Iconium, Lystra, Derbe are found there. 00:01:13.940 --> 00:01:19.230 And after he visits from this area, he travels southwest to the city of Ephesus. 00:01:19.800 --> 00:01:27.150 And one of the things we talked about in the city of Ephesus is just how influential Ephesus was, especially in the first city, or, excuse me, the first century. 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:34.570 As we looked at Acts chapter 18 into chapter 19, we're introduced to two prominent figures that minister in Ephesus. 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.460 One was the Apostle Paul, and the other was a man named Apollos. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:43.220 And we discovered with Paul and Apollos they were also from prominent cities. 00:01:43.220 --> 00:01:50.380 Apollos was from Alexandria, a very prominent city in the Roman Empire, especially as you get into the third, fourth, and fifth centuries of 00:01:50.380 --> 00:01:51.030 Christianity. 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:55.840 Alexandria is one of the top four largest in population in the Roman Empire. 00:01:55.940 --> 00:01:58.270 So was Antioch of Syria, where Paul was from. 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.740 And both of those guys are now ministering in Ephesus. 00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:06.170 And Ephesus is the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. 00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:13.360 Now, one of the things that's interesting about Ephesus is that this city was well known because it had one of the Seven Wonders of the world, which was 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:17.230 a temple dedicated to the goddess goddess Artemis. 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:25.120 In fact we studied at the end of Acts chapter 18 a temple called the Parthenon in 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:27.990 Athens, dedicated to the goddess Athena. 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:34.820 And it was on top of the Acropolis, a very prominent place in history, a very prominent temple. 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:42.980 But the temple dedicated to Athena in the city of Athens, paled in comparison to 00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:44.860 the temple that was dedicated to Artemis. 00:02:44.920 --> 00:02:49.810 In fact, that temple was seen as four times the size of the temple dedicated Artemis. 00:02:50.040 --> 00:02:50.140 So. 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:51.540 Or excuse me to Athena. 00:02:52.020 --> 00:02:59.100 So this temple to Artemis in Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the world, people traveling all over the world to see it. 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:05.620 And one of the activities that took place in this temple was prostitution and dedication to this goddess. 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:13.020 And because it was such an influential temple, and Ephesus was such an influential city, that practice permeated 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:14.380 the city of Ephesus. 00:03:15.140 --> 00:03:22.240 And but what you discover is that when the gospel reaches Ephesus, the city is transformed to the point that 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.210 it influenced all, all of Asia. 00:03:24.420 --> 00:03:26.460 And at this point, Asia is not a continent. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.420 Asia is represented in a providence or just a region. 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:39.800 But nonetheless, the gospel goes forth out of out of the church that's birthed in Ephesus, and the city begins to 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:41.040 radically transform. 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:46.560 And you're seeing the tension of that as it builds as the gospel's first pronounced. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.140 And in the book of Acts, chapter 19. 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:55.570 And so we see this radical transformation, and from this we begin to learn in our own life. 00:03:55.660 --> 00:04:03.000 Okay, what can we take from the city of Ephesus that helps us learn about our own faith journey as Ephesus discovers this 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:03.900 victory? 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:08.050 How do how do we as people discover victory today? 00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:16.019 And we're really recognizing in terms of defeating, defeating the adversary in, particularly in idolatry, 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:23.800 how the enemy likes to use idolatry to corrupt who we are as people so that rather than discover identity 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:30.980 in the Lord, the reason for which we were created, we try to look for it in other things in this life, which leads to us being 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:32.900 bankrupt as people. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:35.560 You know, when we think about how do we find victory? 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:41.000 We're looking to how to move from what holds us down, to discover who we truly are. 00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:42.960 And for all of us. 00:04:43.020 --> 00:04:48.960 I think it's important to realize, like idolatry brings destruction to the soul. 00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:51.740 Has a tendency to over overpromise. 00:04:51.780 --> 00:04:53.640 Or it doesn't just have the tendency, it always does. 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.620 It overpromises and under-delivers. 00:04:56.880 --> 00:05:01.500 We as human beings, we look for something to help us have worth, value and meaning. 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:06.380 And idolatry becomes that temptation of saying, look, I want to feel important. 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:11.240 What's something in life that can make me feel special, appreciated, or important? 00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:15.070 And so whatever that becomes apart from the Lord, that's where idolatry is discovered. 00:05:15.760 --> 00:05:22.840 But what we find out is when we put our hope in an idols in that moment, it might temporarily satisfy, it might even bring us a 00:05:22.840 --> 00:05:30.040 source of happiness, but ultimately it will eventually land with us being bankrupt, whether it's financially 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:31.630 or just spiritually. 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:39.280 And so when we talk about finding victory, one of the things I want to be careful with is just helping us recognize as people, even in terms of 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:45.950 our own spiritual pursuits, we can create idolatry in our own spiritual pursuits. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:54.180 And the reason I say that is sometimes we don't even realize how much the culture in which we're raised in gets extrapolated 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:58.240 into our faith journey without even us recognizing it. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:06.740 Even in terms of what it means to seek Jesus, we can conclude the purpose for which we were made in Christ into 00:06:06.740 --> 00:06:10.340 something different than what God intends for us to be. 00:06:10.520 --> 00:06:12.220 In fact, I could say it like this. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.960 Like maybe, maybe this morning, this could be you. 00:06:15.960 --> 00:06:21.360 Or at some point in your life, maybe it was you where you realized there was something wrong. 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:24.660 There's something broken, and you need to make some change. 00:06:24.880 --> 00:06:25.920 There needs to be something different. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:32.450 And so you walk into a gathering, a place of worship, and you're looking for that solution. 00:06:32.700 --> 00:06:33.560 Like what I had. 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:34.400 There's something wrong. 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:42.540 I need to figure out how to how to make this different or improve this so I can become a better version of me and 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:49.660 the focus of that type of worship get this is still Problematic because the center of it is 00:06:49.660 --> 00:06:50.320 still you. 00:06:51.820 --> 00:06:58.900 Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with just recognizing putting your finger on here's a problem, but 00:06:58.900 --> 00:07:03.830 I want you to know that the solution is different than just becoming a better version of yourself. 00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:12.340 And I think America, the way that we're taught in our culture, has the tendency of seeing our spirituality that way, 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:19.480 that it's very much this autonomous way of thinking where God just simply becomes a leverage point for me to learn a better version of 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:20.030 myself. 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:23.460 And can I just tell you, that's not biblical Christianity. 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:29.760 Biblical Christianity is not about figuring out, how do I go from being bad to good or good to better? 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:35.880 Biblical Christianity is offering you something altogether different. 00:07:37.080 --> 00:07:43.630 It's about learning to lay aside everything else in this world, to discover new life and identity in Jesus. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:51.020 I mean, that's why Jesus said to us in places like Matthew chapter 16, anyone who wishes to follow after me must deny himself, take up his 00:07:51.020 --> 00:07:52.640 cross and follow me. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:58.150 So it's about relinquishing everything that you are to find who you are and who he is. 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:00.600 And I could even say it like this. 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:07.760 Sometimes I give it this comparison that, we might think this is a silly illustration, but if you take a monkey 00:08:07.760 --> 00:08:11.140 and you pull it off a tree and you decide, you know what monkey, you need a different experience. 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:15.730 Let's let's see if you can find a better version of yourself and you throw it in the ocean. 00:08:15.900 --> 00:08:16.380 Don't do that. 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:18.460 But if you did that right, you would. 00:08:18.460 --> 00:08:20.980 We could look at that monkey and be like, what is that person doing? 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:23.140 Of course, a monkey's not free in the sea. 00:08:23.140 --> 00:08:24.220 It wasn't made for the sea. 00:08:24.220 --> 00:08:25.330 It was made for the tree. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.260 Or if you see a fish jumping out of the water onto land, like a part of my life. 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:37.780 In high school, I lived in mobile, Alabama, where they have something called a jubilee, where all of a sudden the oxygen just vacates the water. 00:08:37.780 --> 00:08:44.720 The fish panic, and they all just jump out and you get to walk around spearing fish and but fish jump out of the water. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.000 And if we looked at fish like that, we would think, how silly. 00:08:48.580 --> 00:08:49.560 Why would you want to do that? 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:50.020 Fish? 00:08:50.280 --> 00:08:53.350 You're not free until you're living in the environment for which you were created. 00:08:54.140 --> 00:08:55.180 You belong in the water. 00:08:56.140 --> 00:08:58.200 And it's the same for you and for me. 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:06.600 You're not free until your life is given over to the purpose for which it was created, and the purpose for which God has created you 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.720 get this is not based on your performance, but based on a relationship with him. 00:09:11.900 --> 00:09:19.120 It's not until your life is given over to him that you surrender all that you are to the goodness of who he is, that you discover the freedom 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.220 for which you were created only in Christ. 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:25.540 You're not truly free until your life is given to Jesus. 00:09:26.660 --> 00:09:29.540 And so how do we find that victory? 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:36.610 Well, I'm going to give you three points this morning, and I want you to know we're going to work through these points in a linear way. 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:44.780 But I really want you to understand that all these points at one time can be experienced, and it's important to just kind of see these, 00:09:45.020 --> 00:09:47.360 holistically in my life. 00:09:47.400 --> 00:09:49.380 So how do I find victory number one? 00:09:49.380 --> 00:09:50.180 Is this in your notes? 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:53.000 Identify my idols. 00:09:54.760 --> 00:09:56.260 Identify my idols. 00:09:56.260 --> 00:09:57.660 We all have them. 00:09:57.660 --> 00:10:00.240 And like I said, they overpromise and under-deliver. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:01.720 What are they? 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.620 You cannot change what you do not call out. 00:10:05.660 --> 00:10:09.760 And sometimes, if we're not careful, even our idols can put us to sleep. 00:10:09.820 --> 00:10:13.920 Meaning we don't even realize that some things in our life have become idols. 00:10:14.760 --> 00:10:21.960 And the way that this happens is God has certainly given you in your life a lot of good things, but our tendency is to take those 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:26.700 good things and turn them into God things, things that we worship. 00:10:26.760 --> 00:10:33.880 And that's where they become dangerous, that we see them as an end and of themselves, rather than as a source from the giver 00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:35.290 of all good things. 00:10:35.540 --> 00:10:42.460 And we need to, rather than let those things master us, learn how to align them with the one who is the true Lord over us. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:45.920 God, how do I see this in light of who you are? 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:47.340 So? 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:49.700 So I'm identifying my idols. 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:56.390 And this is exactly what happens in Ephesus is the idols and the strictest sense begin to be identified. 00:10:56.400 --> 00:11:03.460 And in verse 23 it says, about that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way Christianity during this time period 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:05.440 wasn't really referred to as Christianity. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:07.830 That was a term that was coined later. 00:11:08.060 --> 00:11:11.680 Just a couple of times in your Bible, people that follow Jesus were referred to as Christians. 00:11:11.760 --> 00:11:18.930 Not not very often, but what they referred to as followers of the way, because it was this relational journey they were on with the Lord. 00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:25.800 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 00:11:26.300 --> 00:11:33.600 These he gathered together with the workmen or the workmen in similar trades, and said, men, you know that from this business 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.800 we have our wealth. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:39.640 And you see in here that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia. 00:11:39.640 --> 00:11:46.790 This Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:48.400 That is true. 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:49.000 Right. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.060 Like putting your trust in the things of this world will not lead to where you hope it will. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.280 Verse 27 and there is danger. 00:11:56.280 --> 00:12:03.350 Not only that, this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the Great Goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:10.450 and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worships. 00:12:12.020 --> 00:12:19.220 And so you're starting to see, as the Gospels made known, it's bringing to light the conflict we have as human beings 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:26.260 with these lesser gods, we pick that we call idols now, in the strictest sense, to us, the idea of 00:12:26.260 --> 00:12:28.720 idolatry here might look silly, I don't know. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:34.360 In my life and personal relationships, I have very many people that bow down to images in their home. 00:12:34.800 --> 00:12:36.480 I know that happens around the world. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:41.540 It's just not not necessarily often that I encounter people in America that way. 00:12:41.540 --> 00:12:43.940 And certainly there are people that tend to do that. 00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:50.980 But for some of us, this might be a little bit foreign, because in America we would say, well, the problem, in Rome is different 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:51.660 than us today. 00:12:51.660 --> 00:12:54.240 Like in Rome, they bow down to all sorts of gods. 00:12:54.880 --> 00:12:58.680 In America, we barely have a god if one at all. 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:05.720 And if we're being truly honest most of the time that God is just simply ourselves, we surrender and worship to ourselves. 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:07.100 What makes us most happy? 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:10.340 We think we're the most important thing. 00:13:10.340 --> 00:13:15.700 And so we look to ourselves for all the answers of life because it's that's what's most critical. 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:22.870 But either way, whether you're bowing down to a statue, you're bowing down to a self or some sort of idol you've created, 00:13:23.260 --> 00:13:27.090 there's different ways idolatry can be experienced. 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:29.680 So what is an idol? 00:13:31.160 --> 00:13:34.880 If we just gave gave us a concise definition of what an idol is. 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:42.500 I would say it like this an idol is anything we trust, love, or fear more 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:44.220 than God. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:48.540 An idol is anything we trust or love or fear more than God. 00:13:48.540 --> 00:13:51.190 And if we put it in a question, we could ask it like this. 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:51.760 What? 00:13:51.920 --> 00:13:52.820 What is it? 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:55.530 What is it that I run to for security? 00:13:58.100 --> 00:14:00.680 What is it I turn to for meaning? 00:14:02.580 --> 00:14:06.800 What is it I seek for identity instead of the Lord? 00:14:08.900 --> 00:14:12.200 You know, at first an idol can look like a good thing. 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:18.120 But what we discover is in the end, it destroys the soul. 00:14:20.040 --> 00:14:26.400 Idols are dangerous, and learning to identify them are important to our lives. 00:14:26.400 --> 00:14:31.020 And any moment in our lives, we can begin to give ourselves over to it. 00:14:31.100 --> 00:14:34.700 In fact, And in first John chapter five it says it like this. 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:38.200 Verse 21 John writes to us who lived in Ephesus. 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:42.580 He says, little children, keep yourself from idols. 00:14:43.040 --> 00:14:48.920 Now, if you're wondering who little children is in this part of the story, John lives to be, old. 00:14:48.920 --> 00:14:50.220 And so to him, everyone's a kid. 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:54.080 And so he's encouraging us in this. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.820 There's what will destroy your soul and there's what Jesus offers you. 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:01.420 In fact, it reminds me of an old legend. 00:15:01.760 --> 00:15:04.140 Some some argue that this is true. 00:15:04.300 --> 00:15:04.760 I don't know. 00:15:04.760 --> 00:15:05.380 It might be true. 00:15:05.380 --> 00:15:07.320 It may not be true, but it's a great story. 00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:08.120 Someone to share it anyway. 00:15:09.060 --> 00:15:10.450 In the Arctic, there was this. 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:14.760 This form of hunting that some speculate could be legend or actually happened. 00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:21.760 But what would happen in the Arctic is that hunters would sharpen the blade of a knife to the point that it would become like a razor, and then they would 00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:26.040 dip that knife in blood, let it freeze, dip it in blood, let it freeze over and over. 00:15:26.040 --> 00:15:33.100 They would practice this, and then they would take the blade of that knife and they would stick the handle in the snow, leaving the blade 00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:33.750 exposed. 00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:38.760 And a wolf would smell the blood, and then they would show up and began to lick the blade. 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:47.780 And over time, at first they enjoy the taste of the blood, but before long, without realizing it, they don't recognize that 00:15:47.780 --> 00:15:52.120 the blood they begin to taste as their own, as their tongue has been sliced on the knife. 00:15:52.180 --> 00:15:58.140 And this begins to weaken the wolf to the point that the hunter is able to capture it. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.560 Because it's the same for idolatry in our lives. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:10.660 We don't realize often, as we begin that journey, the expense it brings to our soul, and ultimately without 00:16:10.660 --> 00:16:13.530 identifying it, can lead to our destruction. 00:16:15.520 --> 00:16:16.740 Your idols. 00:16:18.260 --> 00:16:24.320 While we think serve us, in the end, we end up serving them and they will devour us. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:33.420 And so James is encouraging us to think in terms of this, helping us discover, where 00:16:33.420 --> 00:16:35.960 is where are our idols. 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:43.180 And if we're not careful in our own lives, we kind of get lulled to sleep in the appreciation of them, that we fail to recognize the destruction that 00:16:43.180 --> 00:16:43.760 they bring. 00:16:43.880 --> 00:16:49.750 So if you got your notes this morning, you'll see under point number one, I've given you six, six tests. 00:16:50.300 --> 00:16:57.420 I want to just share with you real quickly here, six tests that we can just think through to determine, do I have some idols in my life, some areas 00:16:57.420 --> 00:17:01.020 that I'm not even considering where something might have crept in, and. 00:17:01.380 --> 00:17:03.700 And it doesn't mean that these things are bad things. 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:10.700 And by the way, as we just go through the list, some of the things that are identified here doesn't mean it's necessarily has become an idol in our life, 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:13.160 but it does help us to become aware because God has. 00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:19.670 God has blessed us with things in this world that are intended to really point to the greatness of who he is. 00:17:20.180 --> 00:17:23.170 And the question is, do they control us or are we given over to the Lord? 00:17:23.280 --> 00:17:26.339 So what are those tests for our soul that we can begin to ask? 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:28.060 Like, do I have any idols? 00:17:28.060 --> 00:17:32.500 Well, number one is this there is the if only test. 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:34.920 The if only test. 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:37.710 And I know you already know what this is, but it works like this. 00:17:38.120 --> 00:17:45.200 If only I had blank then I would feel secure. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:50.190 Then I would feel happy or then I would feel significant. 00:17:50.320 --> 00:17:53.760 And your answers reveal the idolatry of the heart. 00:17:53.760 --> 00:17:59.180 They could be things like approval, success, control possessions. 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:02.110 They could be comfort if I then I felt that comfort. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:02.300 Right. 00:18:02.360 --> 00:18:09.430 Or if then I had this relationship or if then I had this sort of reputation or this sort of financial security, 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:10.540 then. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.960 Then I would finally have arrived. 00:18:15.180 --> 00:18:19.360 This statement, what it points out to us, is something that referred to as functional saviors. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.980 I mean, we buy into the lie that salvation is finally achieved through this thing and what it would deliver to me. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.000 Idolatry says if I had this, then my life would be complete. 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:34.240 But faith says Christ is my completeness, not my circumstance. 00:18:35.900 --> 00:18:39.660 Test number two would be this the emotional indicator test? 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:42.460 Tim Keller, he wrote this. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:48.900 He said, your idols are often hiding behind your strongest emotions. 00:18:49.580 --> 00:18:52.280 Strong emotions tend to expose our idols. 00:18:52.280 --> 00:18:56.860 And so in that scenario, we should ask this question, what makes me most anxious? 00:18:58.260 --> 00:19:00.500 Or what makes me most angry? 00:19:01.340 --> 00:19:07.480 Or what makes me most worried or disappointed so deeply that my joy is gone? 00:19:07.620 --> 00:19:12.740 Idolatry says it this way if this is threatened, everything falls apart. 00:19:12.800 --> 00:19:19.880 But faith says this my joy and stability come from Christ, not my circumstances or the third test. 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:21.320 Is this the fear test? 00:19:22.340 --> 00:19:26.820 And we asked this question what do I fear losing the most? 00:19:27.760 --> 00:19:28.330 Is it my reputation? 00:19:29.100 --> 00:19:29.610 Is it my finances? 00:19:30.260 --> 00:19:34.080 Is my control, my influence, my family approval? 00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:36.420 Relationships, comfort? 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:42.820 Whatever we fear, losing most often functions as an idol because it controls what we do rather than Christ. 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:50.360 Idol says you must protect this at all costs. 00:19:51.780 --> 00:19:53.620 But faith says God is my refuge. 00:19:53.640 --> 00:20:00.160 And security test for is the resource test, the test of time and finances and energy. 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:02.080 It's what consumes. 00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:03.740 We ask the question, what consumes my time? 00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:05.280 What consumes my finances? 00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:08.800 What consumes my mental energy? 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:12.550 The idolatry says, give your life to what benefits you the most. 00:20:13.300 --> 00:20:16.880 But faith says, my life, my time and resources belong to the Lord. 00:20:17.860 --> 00:20:20.660 I love the way Jesus says at the sermon on the Mount. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:23.360 He says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be. 00:20:24.520 --> 00:20:32.680 It's often why periodically throughout the Gospels, you'll find Jesus talking about our wealth as people financially because 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:37.630 he wants you to know it's a great indicator of what you truly love and what you ultimately worship. 00:20:39.320 --> 00:20:42.700 A couple years ago, we had someone speaking at our men's retreat that put it like this. 00:20:42.700 --> 00:20:49.880 I really appreciated the way they said it, but they said, you know what would happen in your life if all of a sudden you got that promotion 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:57.180 that came with a pay raise where you just decided the finances you were living on before that pay raise, that was enough, 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:04.260 that your quality of life, where it was that you could just be content that just because you had a pay raise doesn't didn't mean you needed 00:21:04.260 --> 00:21:11.100 to also improve your status of life, because it doesn't add to the value of who you are and purchasing those things. 00:21:11.140 --> 00:21:17.780 You discover that while you think you own them, rather they own you and you end up serving them rather than them serving you. 00:21:17.780 --> 00:21:20.520 And so he encouraged us like to think about what? 00:21:20.740 --> 00:21:27.840 At what point of your life, do you just feel content with the things that you have, and why is it that you think that you need more in order to be satisfied? 00:21:29.740 --> 00:21:34.900 What if, rather, what if rather than continuing to use those things on you, what? 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:37.690 What if you used your resources to bless others? 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:46.320 And I appreciated that there was like this place of just putting a cap on just my demands as a human being and just 00:21:46.320 --> 00:21:47.460 looking beyond me. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:55.340 But I would argue even further than that and saying what the people in Ephesus are actually doing is not saying, when I get to this point, that's where I'm going to 00:21:55.340 --> 00:21:55.690 be content. 00:21:56.860 --> 00:21:58.750 But what they're actually doing is surrendering. 00:22:00.080 --> 00:22:05.480 They're taking away from the things that they've given over to, and they're actually turning it to the Lord. 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:12.860 And maybe we could ask that with our own resources that we have as human beings, our time, our energy, or our wealth. 00:22:14.340 --> 00:22:21.930 Like, not only am I willing just to be content where I'm at, but would I actually surrender those things to the greatness of who God is? 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.800 There's the resource test. 00:22:25.800 --> 00:22:28.160 There's the number five, the identity test. 00:22:29.280 --> 00:22:31.860 What makes me feel valuable as a person? 00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:40.150 Common idols of identity include your career, your success, your intelligence, maybe even your parental success. 00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:44.900 Or possibly, possibly your spiritual performance. 00:22:45.800 --> 00:22:52.640 And if you answer anything other than Christ and being loved by the Lord, you may be given your life over to a functioning idol. 00:22:54.380 --> 00:22:57.010 He says your worth comes from what you achieve. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.720 But faith says my identity is secure because I belong to Christ. 00:23:03.600 --> 00:23:05.520 And the last is this will be done. 00:23:05.540 --> 00:23:07.080 The suffering test. 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:11.420 One of the clearest ways idols appear is when they feel threatened. 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:13.770 And this is where we ask the question. 00:23:14.560 --> 00:23:14.820 When? 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:19.980 This is taken away, do I lose my ability to trust in God? 00:23:22.100 --> 00:23:25.100 Idolatry says if I lose, this, life is over. 00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:26.700 But. 00:23:26.800 --> 00:23:31.120 But faith says, even if I lose, this, Christ is enough. 00:23:32.760 --> 00:23:33.880 Idolatry is. 00:23:34.060 --> 00:23:40.520 It begins by believing your idol will satisfy, but only really, in the end, discovering it actually devours the soul. 00:23:42.220 --> 00:23:44.180 So you can't change what you don't call out. 00:23:45.260 --> 00:23:47.100 But identifying idols are important. 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:52.960 And then in recognition of that point number two in your notes, identifying is not just enough. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:55.920 We have to do point number two and that is surrender my idols. 00:23:57.840 --> 00:23:59.700 Surrender them. 00:23:59.780 --> 00:24:04.180 And I want you to know, when this happens in our life, there's a there's sometimes a tension that builds. 00:24:04.940 --> 00:24:10.140 Because, well, we don't want to because sometimes we get so wrapped up in them. 00:24:10.140 --> 00:24:11.700 The thought of losing them. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.700 It also includes losing ourselves. 00:24:15.520 --> 00:24:20.840 And so we'd rather continue to go down a path of destruction, holding on to these things than letting go of them. 00:24:21.280 --> 00:24:26.460 And when you read about the church in Ephesus, this is the battle that you see taking place between two different groups of people. 00:24:27.280 --> 00:24:34.320 And in the next verses you read in verse 28, when they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out, Great is Artemis 00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:35.070 of the Ephesians. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.860 So you're seeing one of the emotional responses we tend to have when someone steps on our idol. 00:24:41.540 --> 00:24:43.400 And sometimes we despair in losing it. 00:24:43.980 --> 00:24:46.960 Other times we get defensive in it and we attack. 00:24:47.840 --> 00:24:53.380 And this is exactly what's happening in the among the Ephesians, verse 29. 00:24:53.380 --> 00:25:00.700 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:01.700 in travel. 00:25:01.840 --> 00:25:08.900 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him, and even some of the Asiatics who 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:15.060 were friends friends of his sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 00:25:15.840 --> 00:25:22.900 Now some cried out one one thing, some some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why 00:25:22.900 --> 00:25:23.830 they had come together. 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:26.340 This sounds like protests in America, doesn't it? 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:27.020 We don't even know. 00:25:27.080 --> 00:25:28.290 We just want to be angry about something. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:36.220 In verse 33, some some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward, and Alexander, motioning with his hands, 00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:37.920 wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 00:25:38.580 --> 00:25:46.220 But when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:54.060 It's interesting when you go back and just historically look at these places in which are shared with us in the book of Acts, 00:25:54.200 --> 00:26:01.560 you can go back to the city of Ephesus today and see its ruins, and you can see this particular theater where this riot was taking place. 00:26:01.560 --> 00:26:06.480 It's an enormous theater that was thought to seat around 25,000 people. 00:26:06.520 --> 00:26:13.600 So you can think, this is not a small disturbance within the city and it's all over our 00:26:13.600 --> 00:26:14.780 love for idols. 00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:22.420 In fact, when we look at this particular passage as it relates to idolatry, one of the things that I want you to keep in mind 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:29.660 is let's think about ourselves this morning rather than others, because sometimes we can load up passages like 00:26:29.660 --> 00:26:30.760 this and we're like, you know what? 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:37.550 I know someone right now that needs to hear this, and we think it's our job to go tell them that they really need to let down these idols. 00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:40.980 And, look, I'm not telling you that's not your job. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:48.680 What I'm telling you is sometimes when you approach these conversations with people, they don't always go the way that you might build them up in your 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:49.180 mind. 00:26:50.580 --> 00:26:56.100 And so just coming to someone and saying you've got an idol is not, not, not simply enough. 00:26:56.180 --> 00:27:03.220 Like, I want you to hear the entirety of what we're going to share this morning before you figure out how you might engage people in this 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:03.460 world. 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:06.620 Because the way we're going to end is the most important component. 00:27:08.280 --> 00:27:15.320 But I think it is critical for us to begin in this place that we war in our own relationship with the Lord, trusting that he's 00:27:15.320 --> 00:27:19.150 enough and we're reluctant to want to surrender. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:24.660 And one of the ways we discover that is recognizing what's welling up within us. 00:27:25.800 --> 00:27:31.480 And this is happening with the people in Ephesus as they're battling against the Lord. 00:27:31.660 --> 00:27:36.040 But on the other side of the city, there are some others who have begun to surrender to the Lord. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:44.280 And the way that story unfolds is in verse 11 it says, And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:51.740 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left 00:27:51.740 --> 00:27:54.620 them, and the evil spirits came out of them. 00:27:54.780 --> 00:28:02.200 Then some of the itinerant Jews, Jewish exorcists, undertook the invoking of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, 00:28:02.360 --> 00:28:05.720 saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims, let somebody. 00:28:05.840 --> 00:28:12.170 I'm going to read the rest of this in just a minute, but let me just stop there because I will tell you, in my life, I had something interesting happen to me when I was in high school. 00:28:12.340 --> 00:28:15.260 I a couple of times in high school, I broke my leg both times. 00:28:15.260 --> 00:28:16.070 It was my right leg. 00:28:16.520 --> 00:28:20.590 One time it was so bad that the doctor looked at me and said, I don't know if you're even going to be able to walk on this leg again. 00:28:21.060 --> 00:28:22.960 And he was wrong, so I appreciate that. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.530 But it was a pretty significant break. 00:28:24.980 --> 00:28:28.280 And I just I don't want to embarrass the person that did this. 00:28:28.280 --> 00:28:34.800 So I'll just say a person in my life before, right before I went into surgery, they were adamant that they would see me. 00:28:35.860 --> 00:28:42.900 And the reason they wanted to see me is because earlier in the week, there had appeared on television someone that said, if 00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:49.320 you send me your money, I'll send you a magic handkerchief, and if you put this on something, then it will heal it. 00:28:50.020 --> 00:28:57.160 And so this person had spent their money on this magic hankie that they wanted me to have, that they thought would heal me. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:04.360 Now, I want you to know, in that moment I just took it as this person loves me and cares enough to take these steps, even though I'm not going to accept like 00:29:04.360 --> 00:29:05.480 believe this, right? 00:29:05.500 --> 00:29:07.220 So I didn't like malign them. 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:20.020 And so what I what I want you to know though, is when you read this particular verse, God's 00:29:20.020 --> 00:29:20.180 intentions for you is to not take verse 12. 00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:20.180 Extrapolate from that. 00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:20.360 Now, this is how you need to practice in your life. 00:29:20.360 --> 00:29:21.020 This is something unique. 00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:21.610 And I'll tell you why. 00:29:21.760 --> 00:29:23.190 It's I think it's unique in a moment. 00:29:23.800 --> 00:29:30.980 But if God intended for you to take this verse and then create a business of magic hankies and sell that, 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:35.900 Paul would say that many times throughout the New Testament for you. 00:29:36.020 --> 00:29:36.560 Okay. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:37.900 And not even sell it. 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:43.820 Like if this was intended to be a practice of Christianity, you would find this repeated throughout the New Testament. 00:29:43.820 --> 00:29:44.440 You don't. 00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:45.430 It happens here. 00:29:45.460 --> 00:29:46.290 And this is the spot. 00:29:46.320 --> 00:29:46.840 The only spot. 00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:47.600 It happens. 00:29:47.600 --> 00:29:50.230 And the reason is because I think the uniqueness of the situation. 00:29:50.380 --> 00:29:52.420 So what is the uniqueness of the situation? 00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:00.840 Well, we're reading about individuals who have given themselves over to sorcery and magic, and they believe in these things, amulets, 00:30:00.840 --> 00:30:01.420 whatever. 00:30:01.420 --> 00:30:05.760 They believe in these trinkets that give them a value that have power. 00:30:06.580 --> 00:30:13.270 And now they're discovering these moments through this particular example that there's something far greater in his name is Jesus. 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:16.070 Now, this is a narrative in the Bible. 00:30:16.080 --> 00:30:18.140 And so when you read narratives, it's not always telling. 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:21.510 You take this narrative and then make that apply to your life in every situation. 00:30:22.080 --> 00:30:29.340 It's just telling you this is something that happened and oftentimes in a unique way that's not to be repeated, but rather 00:30:29.340 --> 00:30:30.120 it's helping. 00:30:30.260 --> 00:30:33.530 Helping the people in Ephesus understand the greatness of who Christ is. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:41.280 And now all of a sudden, rather than just acknowledge that greatness, you see in verse 13 what people attempt to do, they attempt to just manipulate it for 00:30:41.280 --> 00:30:41.960 their own purposes. 00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:50.100 And this is what I warned us of at the very beginning, that we have this tendency in pursuing God to really not make 00:30:50.100 --> 00:30:54.440 it about the Lord, but make it about ourselves, that Jesus helps me go from bad to better. 00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:56.590 And that's not the point of Christianity. 00:30:57.380 --> 00:31:00.340 It's not about manipulating Jesus to get what you want. 00:31:00.340 --> 00:31:04.340 It's about seeing the greatness of who Jesus is and entrusting your life to him. 00:31:04.620 --> 00:31:06.560 But here they continue with the idea of manipulating. 00:31:07.180 --> 00:31:12.320 And in verse 14, seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Siva were doing this. 00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:16.970 So here they are coming in, provoking the name of Jesus to get evil spirits out of somebody. 00:31:17.220 --> 00:31:22.420 And then it says, verse 15, but the evil spirits answered them, Jesus, I know, and Paul I recognize. 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:23.300 But who are you? 00:31:23.540 --> 00:31:29.040 And the men in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them. 00:31:29.060 --> 00:31:31.840 So they fled out of the house, naked and wounded. 00:31:32.120 --> 00:31:35.940 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. 00:31:36.940 --> 00:31:40.660 So they're having laid out for them the significance of really who the Lord is. 00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:47.800 I mean, this is the reason why, as Christians, we don't practice sorcery or witchcraft because one, we're not just about 00:31:47.800 --> 00:31:51.050 manipulating spirits, and two, Jesus is more powerful. 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.340 Why would you want those things when you have Christ, right? 00:31:54.340 --> 00:31:57.320 So they're seeing this laid out in front of them. 00:31:57.320 --> 00:32:00.560 And I want you to see what their idolatry led to. 00:32:00.560 --> 00:32:06.300 You get it in a very amplified way in verse 16, that the idea of idolatry is really about destruction. 00:32:06.660 --> 00:32:11.740 And it's a tool that the enemy uses demonic forces used to bring about your destruction. 00:32:11.860 --> 00:32:16.060 And the way it's amplified here is when they try to provoke and control these spirits. 00:32:16.520 --> 00:32:23.160 These spirits turn on them and it starts to attack them, even to the point that it rips off their clothes and they're running away naked. 00:32:23.660 --> 00:32:31.100 I mean, when you read about demonic activity throughout the New Testament, one of the things that you discover is it's quickly linked to physical 00:32:31.100 --> 00:32:32.920 harm and sexual harm. 00:32:33.860 --> 00:32:39.040 Now, that's unfortunate because God created your body for a purpose and even gave you sexuality for a purpose. 00:32:39.060 --> 00:32:41.980 And in the Lord, they're wonderful things, right? 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:44.690 They're things to delight over in the greatness of who God is. 00:32:45.560 --> 00:32:52.580 But when they're given over to the enemy, what the enemy desires to do is rip at the image of God in you, to degrade you as an 00:32:52.580 --> 00:32:54.360 image bearer of the Lord as you. 00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:58.110 You seek to worship the idol rather than the giver of all good things. 00:32:59.300 --> 00:33:00.940 And so it's amplified in this moment. 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:05.060 And these people are seeing this played out, and they're wondering why in the world are we doing these things? 00:33:05.080 --> 00:33:07.150 And what we have is Christ. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:11.460 And so when I look at this third point, I gotta land this quickly. 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:15.440 But this can I just tell you, this is the most critical point out of all of this? 00:33:16.260 --> 00:33:18.940 Because when you talk about identifying our idols, that's important. 00:33:18.980 --> 00:33:21.530 You can't change what you don't call out and surrender idols. 00:33:21.660 --> 00:33:22.960 That's significant. 00:33:23.100 --> 00:33:30.140 Being willing to turn those over because of the most important thing, which is this trust Jesus 00:33:30.140 --> 00:33:30.760 alone. 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:39.180 Trust Jesus alone because our goal today is not about just letting go of your idolatry. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:42.840 That's more of a religious way of thinking. 00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:46.460 A religious way of thinking is saying to you, look, you're bad. 00:33:46.520 --> 00:33:47.540 You should stop being bad. 00:33:48.580 --> 00:33:49.900 And we want to surrender our idols. 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.440 So we quit doing the bad performance so we can do the good performance. 00:33:53.060 --> 00:33:54.580 That's not what God calls you to. 00:33:56.100 --> 00:33:58.700 The Lord calls you to so much more in him. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:03.740 And the answer to idolatry is not merely removing idols, it's replacing them with a greater love. 00:34:03.740 --> 00:34:08.400 Jesus didn't just take away there the identity and idolatry. 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:10.480 He gave them something altogether new. 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:15.159 In fact, Thomas Chalmers, who was a theologian in the 17th and 18th century, he was Scottish. 00:34:15.580 --> 00:34:22.440 He said this the heart must have the expulsive power of a new affection. 00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:26.560 When Christ becomes more beautiful and satisfying, idols lose their grip. 00:34:27.520 --> 00:34:29.000 And this is exactly what you see. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.080 Verse 17, it says, and fear fell upon them all. 00:34:32.080 --> 00:34:33.400 And the name of the Lord was extolled. 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:38.780 And also many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. 00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:45.820 A number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them, and found 00:34:45.820 --> 00:34:51.159 it came to 50,000 pieces of silver, which is somewhere between 7 to $10 million today. 00:34:51.840 --> 00:34:54.690 So the word of the Lord continue to increase and prevail mightily. 00:34:56.520 --> 00:34:57.100 What do they see? 00:34:58.600 --> 00:34:59.720 Freedom in Jesus. 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.540 The truth of who they are in light of who he is. 00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:10.110 The opportunity they have to know Christ when Christ becomes more beautiful and satisfying. 00:35:10.340 --> 00:35:11.760 Idols lose their grip. 00:35:13.540 --> 00:35:15.420 Can I tell you it's good to surrender them? 00:35:16.240 --> 00:35:19.990 But one of the things that helps you surrender them is the significance of Christ in your life. 00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:25.100 If I just close with this illustration, like, I moved to Utah a little over 20 years ago. 00:35:25.100 --> 00:35:26.420 I've lived here longer than I lived anywhere. 00:35:26.520 --> 00:35:27.340 This is home for me. 00:35:27.340 --> 00:35:28.080 It's beautiful. 00:35:28.120 --> 00:35:32.550 I wondered when I first got here, man, would I ever get sick of losing or looking at those mountains? 00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:36.320 And I got to tell you, 20 years later, the answer is still no. 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:38.420 I hope 20 years later, the answer will still be no. 00:35:39.640 --> 00:35:42.860 But one of the things as you look at those mountains, they're breathtaking, they're beautiful. 00:35:43.520 --> 00:35:46.440 And there's a part of them that also looks a little bit daunting, overwhelming. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:51.720 Try to think to yourself, you see a mountain, you're like, I got to get to the top of this thing, but can I even do that? 00:35:52.020 --> 00:35:54.240 It's like, how does one do this, right? 00:35:54.620 --> 00:36:01.660 But then if you drive up, if you want to cheat and just drive to the top of one and you go up Little Cottonwood Canyon right up to Alta or Snowbird 00:36:01.660 --> 00:36:03.000 and start to ascend. 00:36:04.160 --> 00:36:08.600 And what looked at one point so daunting becomes becomes achievable. 00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:15.570 And when you get to the top of those mountains and you turn around and you look at the valley, it puts everything else into a different perspective. 00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:18.490 And can I tell you it's the same thing with idolatry? 00:36:20.560 --> 00:36:22.760 Sometimes idols can so grip our heart. 00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:24.630 We think, how can I ever escape this? 00:36:26.500 --> 00:36:29.020 But the point is not just about letting your idols go. 00:36:30.180 --> 00:36:32.860 The point is about grabbing a hold of something far greater. 00:36:34.160 --> 00:36:41.380 And the more we walk in the beauty of Jesus, the better it puts our idols into perspective as we see the significance of 00:36:41.380 --> 00:36:42.280 beauty of who Christ is. 00:36:42.300 --> 00:36:48.750 We ask ourselves the question, why did I even stress about the things that God called me to leave behind. 00:36:50.180 --> 00:36:51.380 He's so much greater. 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:53.500 He's so much better. 00:36:54.600 --> 00:36:56.710 He's freedom to the soul. 00:36:57.620 --> 00:36:57.920 C.S. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:00.670 Lewis said it like this in The Weight of Glory, and I'll read this and be done. 00:37:00.820 --> 00:37:06.340 He said, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. 00:37:07.540 --> 00:37:14.780 We're half hearted creatures, fooling about when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who 00:37:14.780 --> 00:37:21.800 wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer 00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:23.580 of a holiday at the sea. 00:37:24.980 --> 00:37:32.540 The greatness of who Jesus is the is the great solution to the battle of idolatry that we wage 00:37:32.540 --> 00:37:33.090 against.