Reversing Idolatrous Consequences, Part 1

I use by humans living on Dr. Tony Evans is idols are just statues of fungi can be anything we put in the more weight daily consulting other gods we break celebrating faithfulness.

This is the alternative Dr. Tony Evans mother speaker, senior pastor of Oakland Bible Fellowship in Dallas Texas and president of the urban alternative competition is a healthy thing in the business world but Dr. Evans says it's dangerous to let anyone or anything in your life compete with God. So today he'll help us learn how to keep our faith in focus much joining of the self everywhere you go people taking pictures of themselves, something means you want to be. Whatever else and whoever else is around you to want to be on display. One of the things God said to his people is don't take any pictures of me don't even try.

You shall make no image of the living God not only took one cell free in history. His name is Jesus Christ.

That's God centric that don't make any image of me because anything you make you think looks like me will only distort me your pictures will be bad photographs. Photographs taken from all the little booths with the curtain you sit down click click click click click photographs would then come out of the machine showed us pictures of the body zones will not be complementary photographs dirt cheap reflection of who you are, in most cases God says don't have any image of me because an attempt to show me you will distort any distortion of me is idolatry is idolatry. When I all saturated society. Although sophisticated, remember that I don't lose any person place for thought that you look to as your source. It is any person place on any now that you put God in front of him. You can always know what your God is by what comes first. Love the Lord your God first. Anything else, put first in competition with or in front of the God of the Bible is idolatry. Now I know in our culture we live in the culture of the American sophisticated idols, but idols come in all shapes and all sizes and all forms and they're all designed to compete with God and draw us from God. I don't have one overriding purpose to compete with God and to override God. Idols are used by demons to draw from the living God as he brings about competitive forces to spare us from the truth and evolve us in our lifestyles in our decision-making. Virtually everything wrong in our lives that continues to devolve us. Over time, even though it may have started out looking okay is because what ever that thing was or is has become entitled, unbeknownst to most of us object of worship because your more popular figures in Scripture, but in second Chronicles chapter 33 we are told about the next. I don't care how bad you will have all your probably not as bad as that's good news to go south from there. First of all, we are told in verse one of second Chronicles 33 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem is 12 years old. What that means when you're 12 years old you become king means you that they elected him to be the future.

Kingsley comes in as a collegiate cocaine with his daddy now the story up. Manasseh got to understand, he was raised in a godly home. Manasseh was raised right.

A summary of Manasseh that is given in chapter 29 the second Chronicles is that his name was Hezekiah Hezekiah verse one of chapter 29. This became king when he was 25 years old and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem verse two and he didn't in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David done the first year of his reign in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord in the paradigm he brought in the priest of the Levites and gather them in the square on the east and he said, listen to me only bikes consecrate yourselves now consecrate the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry the uncleanness from the holy place. Hezekiah is Manasseh's father. He was raised by discounted he was raised by her father, who love God and serve God wanted to obey God and the people around him to take God seriously, but not as baby boy Manasseh because we find out in verse two of chapter 33 people in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nation the Lord dispossess before the sons of Israel. Daddy was a great godly man but his baby boy Manasseh went left when he left.

According to the abominations of the nation's that were surrounding him. The last picture Manasseh he's growing up these avid devotionals wouldn't daddy that is taken in the temple is getting all this godly stuff, put it in and then along the way out and see all the folks around all the nations, the Canaanite, the Hittites Jebusite. The termites are maybe clear all the nation around these nations limited up nations and all the stuff we come to track to him.

God calls of abominations we called him what's happening now. God calls available, but it looked like fun. So I adopted their worldview in God's place.

Okay that's that's good but I don't relate to me okay.

I was raised by her grandmother or who pray for you made you go to church on Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday when no one centigrade ago to serve as the afternoon service tonight. I think they eyeballed you they just they just mean the dog was Christian in your house to get overwhelmed. You would Christians stop and then you with the View at the college you found out and you look at the fault of all the other places all the other towns about the cities of the house and they will have a good college you plan for you last night you keep plan but I didn't get my thing.

You know, because what's happening in the human all around me looks like that having more fun than I am, have more joy than I am. All the things around me become attracted to and as a result of that. I picked up their habits.

I picked up there worldview. I picked up there thinking what I was made to feel bad about in the house that I grew up in. Don't feel that bad about incompetence. What was shameful back then that bad right now because everybody around me that lifestyle and are no longer accountable to the world in which I possibly was right. So Manasseh decides to incorporate the worldview of the society that surrounded him, rather than godliness, in which he was reared that's how he decides to operate and he is now the King.

Dr. Evans will tell us about the downward spiral that followed Manasseh's decision when he continues her message just a moment. First, though I wanted let you know that Dr. Evans has written a brand-new book that goes hand-in-hand with the lesson we been hearing today is called U-turns and it's a look at how you can turn around vital areas of your life and allow God to manage them areas like fear and anxiety financial challenges addiction issues and since they can be passed down from generation to generation for just a couple more days where bundling this powerful new book, along with all 12 full-length messages from his current teaching series you turn reversing spiritual consequences, and offering them as our gift to you.

When you make a donation to help us keep Tony's teaching on the station and if you're interested in sharing these powerful lessons with others are just understanding the concepts better for yourself. Be sure to ask about the companion U-turns Bible study and DVD kit together.

This complete package of powerful resources can help you get yourself and those you share it with headed in a whole new direction. Just call us at 1-800-800-3222 or visit Tony Evans.org to get all the details before time runs out again that's Tony Evans.org. I'll have her contact information for you again after Dr. Evans brings us the second part of today's lesson and this how have we checked into our culture. How can you bring unity to play Dr. Evans has written about colorblindness embraced walk in the footsteps of Dr. Evans as he tells the story of how he had to straddle black urban culture white mainline evangelicalism. Find out what he enjoyed and learned to bring us in biblical and pastoral guide for unity across racial divides discount for unity is as timely as get your copy today of oneness embraced Tony Evans.org verse three tells us places which Hezekiah his father had broken down the idol worship centers also erected alters for the bales I made sure he made more items and worship all the host of heaven and serve them open to get worse first one built alters in the house of the Lord which the Lord had said my name shall be in Jerusalem so number one singles out idols of the culture of one but then according to verse four of the culture into the house of God and the church would house of God because you will be close enough to God that it looks like worship and for real. But wow you looking like you worshiping for real pleasure in the house.what are some of the preaching song being sung by doing the Christian thing but you got that culture appalling. You got that world all you got that secularism all up in your you bring that you to the house of God, you bring it with you to the house of God is because you had it outside the house of God, you just came so they brought the culture made at the worship of God we Christians is worship the strategy you got Christians talking about praise the Lord. How do you love the Lord and then opened the newspaper and read the hospital to look to your hospital for guidance is to look at the happens that God has made so that you literally chosen it as it does now is competing with God. So once you look to God and look to his word and then I was told. You have now brought idolatry into the house of God that is to look to the creation on Romans one says, which is to himself and create so it's bad enough you and that culture works when you brought it into the house of God because what shall bring it into the house of God, you make the true God seem like he's saying okay to that which belongs to the nations around to the second world system. You and I live in a day of idolatry.

We live in a day when God is daily insulted by the other gods we bring whether it's the God of technology whether the God of entertainment. Whether it's the God of athletics. None of those things may be wrong in themselves, but the moment they compete with the God of the Bible that you have a worldview sprinkled a little Jesus on it to make it feel better.

Brought it into the house of God, it gets worse. He built alters to the host of heaven's verse five says in the two ports of the house of God, and he made his sons pass through the five that's child sacrifice we got child sacrifice today is called abortion. That's child sacrifice that's killing the unborn, who all persons understand the issue of abortion. Nothing to do with women's rights do with this is my body. That's irrelevant because we not talk about your body, which is about the body of another, that you happen to be housing for a nine month period of time. The Bible says in Psalm 139 that God stitches. The baby in and that that baby the image of God, so to abort is to attack God's sake, it's a God if child sacrifice so while we have sophisticated today and somehow we think because it's illegal is legitimate. We think because the world has said it's okay that God says it's okay and you bring that into the house of God, because the society the nations around made you feel okay about the house of God gets contaminated by the thinking of the world because the thinking of the world has robbed all of the people of God we become babies of Manasseh says he sacrificed on the altar. His children he keeps going.

Verse six says the middle of a practice witchcraft divination sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. She did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. From reading minds on your way to tell you. Your future and I will love you have a notice that have been populated but once you pay a palm reader. The lines go be good, the line will be you don't pay a palm reader and give you a bad reason why they need you to come back to you spiritists to use wizards the use of went outside of divine revelation to get information about you should do this job when you only divine revelation and you saw in the creation. The Bible just call that title with you to the Bible pronounces at the end of Revelation covers any woman to divine revelation that is you bring outside contradictory thoughts, ideas, perspectives was worse about it is when it's done in the house of the Lord. One of the reasons our culture is falling apart is that instead of the church influencing the culture. The culture is not influencing the church because now bringing the mass of the culture of the church asking the church to go along with is that many churches are going along with it in order to be popular in order to raise money on big crowds in order to get notoriety in order to be all that's in a bag of chips they will compromise divine revelation to keep people keep people coming keep people giving and Tuesday. What divine revelation has said, you know that the culture is in trouble when appropriate, and to acquiesce to the culture when we bring the goals of the culture of the house of God worshiping God. This social idolatry, relational idolatry, it is the bringing of any person placed single thought in competition with the living God. And would you bring competition, idolatry, and you put it next to God you just made God. Your enemy wants this. Ezekiel chapter 14 verse six says that when you choose an idol that I called the testable practices that were idols lure you into a new lifestyle that is godless. They may not say that outfront but you around long enough and I will you win, see pleasure, pleasure, thought I would drink starts out with feel good, but it keeps working you when you when you would market you until now.

You don't know that don't you. So he says with testable practices and self idolatry is any person placed single flaw that competes with and therefore lose you from the living God, but reconciliation is right around the corner and Dr. Evans will tell us more about it when he continues this message tomorrow.

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