Choose Your God

Pastor author and Bible teacher Alan Wright whatever it is that you say I must have in addition to God that things will turn around and mock you when you don't have Pastor Alan Wright. Another message of good news that will help you see yourself in a whole new light. By being excited for you to hear the teaching today.

In the series. Free yourself from yourself. Fire program I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. He can be yours for your donation this month to Helen Wright ministries as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today's special offer.

Contact us at pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. Now let's get started with today's teaching here Alan Wright to welcome everybody to our final segment and the for yourself yourself series. We invest in our final meeting together. I want to talk about something that will give me an opportunity really to share very personally. A lot of times people will just say to me, will you know I've heard all your teaching about this, but can you tell me just a little bit more about how to God actually change you. In other words, what's your testimony and and I'm going to share some things in this session, just that her personal. I think they're fine, but they're also very holy and they are not there. Not somebody else's story is just my story and and so I like to share some of it but I want to share or what my testimony today about healing from so much shame in light of one of the most revelatory prophetic Scriptures I've ever seen. It is in Jeremiah 1014. The second part of that that verse where or when one of the many places where the prophets are speaking about idolatry and about the foolishness of idolatry. This is what caught my attention every Goldsmith is put to shame by his idols for his images are false and there is no breath in them every Goldsmith is put to shame by his idols thought a long time about what that meant, how could an idol, which the Bible says is powerless in the up shaming you would think that something that doesn't have power couldn't shame you. So how could it be that every Goldsmith that makes idols is then shamed by the idle start by saying this about idolatry. Idolatry and biblically speaking, is not really so much the substitution of something for God as it is the addition of something to God. It is interesting sometimes look back at it, even in the story when the people of God have make the golden calf while Moses is up on the mountain and Aaron is overseeing things and they all throw their gold jewelry and and they they make a calf and in Moses comes to asses what happened here and they say well we flew in our golden outing this calf is what they say and whether thought all that they have this big festival is so interesting to me. It says this was during a festival to the Lord. It was a festival to Yahweh. Idolatry is not really what you say I don't believe in God anymore is what you say guy is is is there but but I also, in addition to God. If I literally have peace and security that I also need this. I think that one of the things that shame does is it seeks to cause us to make idols put those idols on the shelf and then those idols in turn are empowered to shame us all the more so� Take for example 1 of the things I want to confess is been one of my own idols in my life heard me talk about this before but I just would start out by saying this, the whole idea of of of approval or popularity or a united people like you, which is one that is the idle and had to destroy and and let's just put it this way okay. How could this work, let's let's imagine for a moment that I make an idol called approval.

I need people's approval and I make up this idle, not physically, I'm not carving it out of wood or making it out of iron or gold or something, but in my mind. I've erected an idol that says that in addition to God. I also need to have others approval if I'm really going to feel secure. If I'm really going to feel okay about myself. If I'm going to be at peace. I need to have that. So now that becomes an idol and let's imagine that I have that idol called approval and then I preach a sermon on a Sunday morning and as I is I is is people walking out of church there. 500 people to come out and say that blessed my life that was really blessing thank you so much for preparing and for sharing that message and then two days later I get one piece of mail some I was critical of the message pointing out some point that was inaccurate or something like that and now if I will says that you need to have everybody's approval. What happens is my mind now get set up on the one criticism because you don't have that approval and in other words, what happens is the idol of approval that sits up on a shelf and looks down at me every time I don't get approval.

It mocks me and says look you said you got to have approval if you're going to be secure and at peace in this world and you didn't get approval right there. You didn't get approval so now don't you feel even more ashamed. So whatever your idol is when you make it and you put it on the shelf, so to speak. You also by the very fact that you made it and erected it on to the shop you have empowered that idol to turn around and mock you it's it's a paradise and irony is, it's it is something that is so so prevalent and we would never imagine it but that's what Jeremiah is saying is every Goldsmith is mocked by his own idols is what happens, whatever it is that you say I must have been addition to God that things will turn around and mock you when you don't have it. So in my life on what yours might be, but I grew up the youngest of three boys and as I look back if I were to categorize these idols. I would say they pretty much summed up in my life is looking good sound and smart and being liked. I found out early on is the youngest of three boys that I was never to be as smart as my oldest brother never to be as strong as my middle brother but what you can have if you're the baby of the family is you could be cute cute can get you things in this world so you got anybody else the baby in the family with surveys seasonally cute people and cute can get you extra cookies. It can help you stay up later. Cute can can get you in the places and so I just realized early on that people would say of David look so smart and such a good swimmer and a look at marketing say so strongly such good football player really means a look at him.

He is so cute.

Is there somewhere I began to get this idea in my mind that I should it all times in a look. Did look cute and and this is the way to know when win favor with with with people and and I didn't realize it but you know when you grow up with that and some point you start realizing hey that's a lot of pressure to be under always have to be the cute baby of the family.

Sometimes you don't feel cute sometimes you are cute sometimes you don't need to be cute is like an idol in the life I need to always be looking good early but I don't always bother me if you didn't have all the right clothes.

I felt like I was out of place in a certain setting.

So like that'll really bother me, would look right is 1 miles, but also idolizing my life was sounding smart.

I grew up in a family in which everybody how you think the intellect. My dad was a smart man and that he was a news man and he come the dinner table. We be talking that they be talking about current events and I didn't know what they're talking of the baby out anymore. They're talking about, but it sounded smart to me and and people tended to make good grades in my family we valued sounding smart people. I wasn't say this is interesting.

Honestly, it wasn't that I thought you had to be smart, but I did want to sound smart to people and I never want to say something dumb. How ironic that I would end up spending so much my life speaking in front of people, often saying things that come across sounding can adopt but anyway this was sort of an idol being cute sounding smart and is already mentioned the idea of being liked.

The one thing if it's an idol and in anybody's life that need approval. It's a bad thing but for a pastor. This is especially bad because it is so hard to even get two or three people to really approve of what you're doing or who you are, but to try to get hundreds of people who approve. It is exhausting and the pressure is always only always like cannot cannot.

What can I do what can I do to get you like me. What can I do to make you approve of this, what can we so these things are like idols in my life. Those are my big three, and well God has a way when he loves you a lot of stripping you of your idols how to say to you that one of the most wonderful things that the Lord could ever do would be to help you see your idols and then help you destroy them. That's Alan Wright will have more teaching moment from today's important series to be accepted perfectly free to be yourself with no fear of injection rolled her eyes. Last no more anxious feeling that she feel like the pressure is always on right here in my longing for life, with the notion paradise before sinking into the world and this relationship notion since the fall has been riddled with shame you can't be truly September some condescending small tiny perfect in order to meet others to decide. Since I'm not a measure at them as well.

Right now the road ahead is pleasing shame and there's only grace of God in Jesus Christ kind look for yourself yourself exposes the lies of soul. He leads you into a revolution of God's love that heals your cell discomfort freedom joy as you shall performance-based living shame a few for good life-changing full-length book from Alan Wright for yourself. The gospel is shared when you get Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you get today. We will send you a special offer were in the final days of this special offer being made available to you. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Wright Ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor and data work days teaching now can you once again is in the good news is since idols are pretty much man-made we make them ourselves. We can destroy them.

When we see them for not only how worthless they are, but we also see that their mocking us. Don't let anything in your life that you made up turnaround and mock you for not doing what it says. You want to do this is willpower that idols have when actually empty and worthless.

So there are many ways that God can deal with you but this is one of the things God did in my life. It turned out to be a big part of my testimony. 1993 I was pastoring my nice Presbyterian Church and I was minding my own business and we had a nice evangelical ministry and our church was growing was growing kind of slowly but it was growing and people were nice and we had a nice a nice home and I had a nice wife and we had a nice church and we had a nice city. We are in we had a nice people that were around is that my mom called and she wanted us to. Well she wants to come in and go to a revival meeting at her much more Pentecostal church than I'd ever been accustomed to and she said I please come we got this revivalist she's here and she said it's it's incredible. Pentecost is breaking out. I was very scared of her church and and I said mom I said I would like to come on Wednesday night.

I said but I can't. We have an ice cream social at the church. We just can't come.

And she said will come the next night. I said, I'm sure that that night you might be having another social anyway. I kept putting her off.

She, You Must Come. So Finally, My Wife and I Went in 1993 We Went to to Her Much More Pentecostal Church and When We Got There It Was Absolutely Amazing to Me.

People Were so Full of Joy.

There Was so Much Joy There Really Was Authentic Joy in This Room like I Had Never Seen.

It Was in the Way That I Was Used To Worshiping. The Music Was Loud. It Was Five and It Was Going People with Their Hands and All of That but What I Observed Was That These People Are Really Truly Filled with the Joy of the Lord and and the Evangelist. He Was There He Would Pray for People and When He Would Lay Hands on Them. Oftentimes the People Would Fall over and I Was like That Is Way Too Creepy for Me and I'm like You Know but It Looked like the People When They Got up They Look like They Were Happy and Would like Maybe Good Things Were Happening.

As I Said You Note to Each His Own, and We Enjoyed the Evening of the Ministry and I Thought You Know This Is Good Not Not for My Regular Taste but This Is Good for Now and We're Getting Ready to Leave the Long Meeting Long Meeting and Riser to Relieve the Evangelist Is Understanding Depressed Him Pastor in the House That This Was Not a Supernatural Word of Knowledge. This Was Because Actually My Mom Had Gone and Told Him My Son Needs Prayer and so the Present Impasse. I Was Course, the Only Presbyterian Pastor, and I'll Tell You One Thing.

This Really Delighted This Group of Pentecostals That Any Presbyterian Was in Their Midst Whatsoever. Like Come on Here Were There Was No Note, No Alternative except to Go up There and My Wife and I Went up There for Prayer and You Know I Was Actually Just Thinking You Know Okay If I Could Just Take This and Get Out Of Here. This Is Been Okay so Far and and and What Actually Happened Was When He When He Laid Hands As He Prayed First.

He Looked in My Eyes and I Did. I Saw and in This Man's Eyes Is He. He Later Became One of My Dearest Friends.

He Looked in My Eyes and This Was Honestly Good Look That I This Is What You Can Communicate A Lot with Your Eyes and This Was the Look That I Felt like That He Was Given He Was This His Anger and Hurt a Bit and so He Laid Hands on Me and Y'all. All I Can Say Is I Never Experienced This before but It Was It Was a Touch from the Lord. I Knew It Was Soon. As Soon As I Was Taught Some of This Was Just the Anointing.

It Was on This This Young Man's Life and I Was Filled with All Kinds of Fresh Joy and Peace and Revitalize Was God's Presence in Me, and so It Was Good at It.

We Decide We Really Go Back and You Always Have People Come up to Their Testimonies Afterwards and I Just Knew You Go Call Me up Give a Testimony President Pastor Gets Touched by the Lord, Pick up a Meeting and so the News Will Call Me up As I Was Doing What You Don't Always Do. I Was Rehearsing a Little Bit in My Mind What I Would Say so I Could Sound Smart. When He Got Me up There and I Wanted to Tell All of These Pentecostals Are One of Them to Know It's Not about the Manifestations. It Is about the Character Change and I Want You to Know That I've Been Experiencing the Fruit of the Spirit in Some New Ways of This Really Is Been a Wonderful Touch.

Lord, Let's Not Be Distracted by Thinking about All These Things I Was Going to Say You Know and so He Brought Me up There to Give My Testimony and I Again Know. I Just Hope Anybody� You Don't Think Less of Me for This, Because All I'm Saying Is This Was My Testimony. But This Is What Happened.

He Got There and He Said Brother Presbyterian. He Said Brother Perez, Damn Pastor. He Said What Happened to You the Other Night and He Put the Microphone in Front of My Mouth and and Y'all I'm Just Going to Have To Tell You This Is What Happened and I Later Realized That Biblical Happened in the Bible. I Don't Know Why God Did This, but This Is What Happened to Me.

I Could Not Speak. I Was Struck Dumb.

And It Wasn't Because I Didn't Have Something to Say It Was Because I My Mouth Was Shut. I Felt Calling Cesar.

I Felt like the Glory of God All on Me and I Got up so Much for Idle Number One Sounding Smart and a Title Number Two Rather Sounding Smart and I Tried for a Long Time to Say Anything and Then I Couldn't Say Anything and This Is What Is He Just Said That Sounds Great Brother Presbyterian Anything Else and Everybody Was Just Enjoying This Immensely and Then He Finally Just Dino Took the Microwave and He Prayed He Just Blessed Mirrors on These. It Would Just Be Filled with the Spirit, or Something like That.

Well Then What Happened Then What Happens Even Worse. I Fell over onto the Ground and I Began Just Crying and I Cried for a Long Time and Then I Stopped Crying.

I Started Laughing and Then I Started Shaking and Just There. I Am Damn Pastor Line up There with This Happening to Me and and the First Thought That Went through My Mind Was All Know My Congregations Going to Find out It's Not Very Far Away from Here Got a Nice Ministry in It.

Now I Was the First Thing with Mine. But Then There Was Something That Just Happened to Me and This Is This Is the Point of the Story. I Had an Encounter with Jesus and I Just I Knew the Presence of Jesus in a Way That I Can Describe If Either Parts of This Meeting with Jesus That Were so Personal to Me. I've Never Told Anybody about Them. I He Told Me Very Personal Things Very Personal Things and What I Realized Was That Maybe for the First Time in My Life. I Didn't Care Who Was Watching I Didn't Care That There Were There Were about 1200 People in That Room That Night and I Was Looking like a Fool Line about. I Think I Did Not Care Because the Encounter of the Living Lord Jesus Was so Far More Precious to Me Than Anything Else. I Didn't Care and I Caught Myself Saying Just in Your Spirit of Your Head Something like You Not Associate with Your Mouth and I Was Unconscious on This I Decide I Don't Care I Don't Care. Care Care. I Bet You I Said That a Thousand Times, Lying on the Floor. I Don't Care I Don't Care I Don't Care What They Think of Me. I Don't Care What Really Was Happening Was That Idle Called Approval Was Coming Crashing down. I Was Saying If I Am Accepted by You, Jesus.

That's Good Enough for Me. All in One Fell Swoop in One Evening. Looking Good. The Sounding Smart and Worrying about Others Approval. It All Came Tumbling down the Answer You See for Me If I Had an Idol of Approval. The Answer Was Not Getting More Approval.

The Answer Was Discovering That Have Already Been Approved in Jesus Christ and That the Gospel Allen Right.

Today's Good News Message, Choose Your God in the Series for Yourself by Yourself Coming in for Close Your past Realm Is Back with Us in the Studio with a Parting Good News Thought Today Stay with Us like to Be Accepted Perfectly Free to Be Yourself with No Fear of Injection Rolled Her Eyes in Front of You. I Love You Less Anxious Feeling That You Feel like the Pressure Is Always on Longing for Life with No Paradise before Sin Came into the World's Relationship Notion since the Fall Has Been Riddled with Shame You Can't Be True, Acceptable Sin, Condescending, so I'll Try to Be Perfect in Order to Meet Others to Decide. Since I'm Not a Measure at Them As Well. Right Now the Road Ahead Is Pleasing Fashion. And There's Only Grace of God in Jesus Christ Kind Look for Yourself Yourself Exposes the Lies of Soul. He Leads You into a Revolution of God's Love That Heals Your Cell Discover Freedom Joy As You Shall Performance-Based Threading Machine or If You Find Good Life-Changing Full-Length Book from Allen Right for Yourself. The Gospel Is Shared When You Get Allen Right Ministries. This Broadcast Is Only Possible Because of Listener Financial Support Were in the Final Days of This Special Offer Being Made Available to You. Call Us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 Come to Our Website pastoralan.org but Now That's Relevant in the Studio and a Boy That Really Sums It up If You Want If You Want Freedom.

If You Want to Be Yourself and God Created You to Be.

This Is a Great Way to Conclude You Have the Right and the Authority to Destroy Your Idols Because You Were the One That Idle Hours of Comfort and Then Daniel If I Was the One for My Own Thoughts That He Erected the Idle in My Heart Then I'm the One Who Can Easily Take It down.

You Can Do This Very Day. Have the Holy Spirit Show You. Hey, This Is Become an Idol to Me and You Can Renounce It so You Know That's Not the Truth. The Truth Is in the Gospel and I Renounce That Idle and It's Amazing How Quickly I Can Think of Anything More Dramatic That Could Change Your Marriage Change Your Life Change Your Parenting Change Your Whole Outlook Towards the Future Then to Crush an Idol and Let Jesus Have His Rightful Place the Idle Wants to Sing. Jesus Came to Take the Same Path. Today's Good News Message Listener Supported Production Allen Right Ministries