Subliminal Idolatry

[Music]

today uh this afternoon I’m going to be

throwing at you some theological

curveballs we’re going to be challenging

you I’m going to be hitting you in the

in the spiritual kidneys a little bit um

rabbit punches okay I’m going to be

preparing you for where we’re at in CL

in in the in the culture today uh and

also what the Bible said about what

we’re going through as as a as as not

just a nation but as an International

Community and I want to do this kind of

from the foundation of First John John

was the one that wrote the Book of

Revelation John was one of those uh that

was very close to Jesus and in first

John A lot of people don’t realize this

but first John has a a lot of themes

about the end times

but it ends with a very peculiar phrase

which I’m going to get into in just a

minute and I’ve entitled this subliminal

idolatry and the question I have for you

is could you be committing

idolatry in the worst way and not

knowing that you

are I see some people kind of like it’s

kind of

that yes no typ nod it’s very hard to do

by the way some of you are like yes some

of you are like no some of you are

unsure let me just throw a few things at

you and then let’s get into this and see

where the cards fall in your life and

mine as we’ve said first John is

probably one of the most

underrated Epistles when it comes to

discovering what the end times will look

like so for example let me just run down

a few some of the samples of what John

talks about in his epistle in the mere

short five chapters first he talks about

deception

coming not just in his day but also in

the future what really is deception

deception is a alternate reality that

we’re convinced of we’re convinced of an

alternate reality and we buy in to

basically a lie we have been duped we’ve

been fooled and we subscribe to whatever

is presented to us all in and then we

find ourselves maybe later in life

regretting it maybe later in life even

subscribing more to it and we see that

happening in our culture today 1 John

Chapter 2 vers 3-6 Now by this we know

that we know him if we keep his

Commandments now remember when he says

his Commandments he’s talking about the

teachings and the commandments of Jesus

not the Mosaic lack code okay so keep

that in mind a lot of people confuse the

two he who says I know him and does not

keep his Commandments and what was

jesus’ commandment to love the L Lord

your God with all your heart soul and

mind and to love your neighbor as

yourself all the rest of the

Commandments of Moses hang on these two

that’s what he taught right before he

left he says love one another as I have

loved you that’s a commandment of Jesus

the commandments of Jesus is what he’s

talking about here he who says I know

him and does not keep his Commandments

is a liar and the truth is not in him

but whoever keeps his word truly the

love of God is perfected in him by this

we know that we are in him he who says

he abides in him ought himself also to

walk just as he

walked so one of the most obvious things

of a True Believer that’s prepared for

the end times is someone who actually

keeps what Jesus taught in loving one

another see if you claim to be a

believer and you’re constantly sewing

Discord and you’re constantly creating

drama everywhere you go you know

remember the the pig pen of the peanuts

you know that little that guy was always

dirty wherever he would go he would

create chaos if that’s you spiritually

you’re a

fake you’re you’re not real you you are

you you are a fake it says it right

there in the end times we know that

there will be divisions there will be a

lot of

Discord and uh John calls it out

Antichrist he talks about the Antichrist

within the fir in the in the first

Epistle of

John look at this John 1 John chapter

2:8 little children it is the last hour

you ever notice that in the Gos in in

the uh the Epistle of John he actually

comes right out and says this is the

last hour see they didn’t know the

timing and so they just they said

everything after the resurrection of

Jesus is the last days um even in the

book of Acts uh he quotes from the Old

Testament and and they talk about the

last days the last days waiting the

second coming little children is last

hour as you have heard that the

Antichrist is coming even now many

antichrists have come by which we know

that it is the last

hour so in the Q&A those of you who made

it we talked about Ai and we talked

about how the devil is going to use and

is using

technology to deceive the Nations to

have PE people subscribe to different uh

philosophies different ways of life

different behaviors um people have in

the last 100 years through

technology have made life decisions that

they’ve committed to that nowhere ever

in human history we have seen

before and I’m talking about confused

sexuality I’m talking about the return

of some of the ancient religions when I

was just in the Air Force two weeks ago

I was down at the maintenance Squadron

one of the guys comes to me and says I

would love to find a group for Norse

paganism since this is north Dakota C

there certainly is groups here and I

said well not really because most of the

people from uh the Scandinavian

immigration were Lutheran they had

converted to Christianity because Norse

paganism was seen as inferior less

powerful in Christia Christianity

offered less demands for higher rewards

worshiping a higher God that other soall

gods Fred and T tuck tailed and ran out

of fear you know and he’s looking at me

going uh

uh okay I said well but if you’re still

interested uh I’m sure that the college

may have a group or

two youth you said there are Jedi in the

US military

seriously oh there there are wiccans

there are you name it we’ve got it you

if you want a spiritual buffet table of

craziness just go to the register of the

religions that are registered within the

dod that alone well you you’ll be

shocked to see um what what my world is

made of and how the you know the

philosophies and the religions that I

have to serve but John is saying even in

his day there were many antichrists but

he does admit that there will be a big

Antichrist coming which they all agreed

on as a Apostles they just didn’t know

when that time would

come so you’ve got that theme and then

you’ve got Readiness Readiness is a big

thing and probably the major theme of

the of the Epistle of John did I call it

the Gospel of John sometimes I say that

it’s the Epistle of John there were

three of them this is the first one I

want to read these texts and then I want

to kind of give you a little gut punch

and a

question

Readiness he prepares the people in

different categories he calls them

children he calls them adults he calls

them different levels within their

spiritual journey in 1 John 2: 26- 27

these things I’ve have written to you

concerning those who try to deceive you

but the anointing which you have

received from him abides in you and you

do not need anyone teach you but as the

same anointing teaches you concerning

all things and is true and is not a lie

and just as it has taught you you will

abide in

him amen right you you can you know that

the spirit of God is living in you you

many of us can actually pin point the

day of our Salvation many of us can

actually remember specific examples of

how the Holy Spirit revealed something

to you gave you wisdom gave you a vision

gave you an Insight gave you something

to to guide your path to avoid

destruction I can see the satisfaction

and the the agreement we are we are a

commu we are in a community of Believers

right here and that is one of the proofs

of being ready is that we’re walking in

accordance with his principles we’re

understanding what the spirit is trying

to do in the ages now we get to chapter

4:

12-19 no one has seen God at any time if

we love one another God abides in us and

his love has been perfected in Us by

this we know that we abide in him and he

in us because he has given us of his

spirit and we have seen and testify that

the father has sent the son as Savior

into the world whoever confesses that

Jesus is the son Son of God God’s God

abides in him and he in God and we have

known and believe the the the love that

God has for us God is love and he who

abides in love abides in God and God in

him that’s why it’s important that we

love one another especially in these

last days so he’s talking about

readiness of abiding in Jesus walking

with Jesus loving one another that’s

what it means to be ready and then verse

17 love has been perfected Among Us in

this this is how it’s been perfected

that we may have

boldness in the day of

judgment because as he is so are we in

the world there is no fear in love but

perfect love casts out fear because fear

involves

torment how true is that huh when you’re

living in fear isn’t it just tormenting

can’t sleep you can’t

concentrate okay but he who fears has

not been made perfect in love we love

him because he first loved us

notice here that the Readiness part it’s

he’s talking about the day of judgment

for the believer which of course would

be the post-rapture BMA seed of Jesus

where we have to stand before Jesus and

we are then uh evaluated for how much we

walked with him and for how much we

didn’t the one the when we’ve walked

with him you know that’s the gold silver

and all the precious medals you know you

put the fire to the works of our life

and how he’s entrusted us a spiritual

gift and exercised it over time those

are the things that will trans ER into

eternity on the other hand all the fluff

all of the wasted time all of the time

that we spent doing fluff activities I

don’t want to mention what those

activities are specifically because

people online will write in and say why

did you say that I do that sometimes and

then there’s the conviction we’ve got to

go into these dialogues and it’s a

headache so I’m not going to go that way

okay fluff wasted time do the math you

know what I’m talking about I know what

I do to waste time you do too we will be

judged and that will be the ref minor

and then we’ll receive rewards and

whatever is not whatever is fluff

doesn’t last it’s not like we’re judged

for heaven and hell okay this is about

Awards or just loss because we’ve wasted

time now let me ask you this we’re not

done

yet there is the

rapture that occurs and is written about

in first John I didn’t really know this

or really focus on it until

recently so we’ve talked so far about

deception

Antichrist

Readiness and now the hope of the

Rapture and then I’m going to give you a

gut

punch the rap the hope of the Rapture is

mentioned 1 John chapter 3 beloved now

we are children of God and it has not

yet been revealed what we shall

be but we know that when he is

revealed we shall be like

him

for we shall see him as he

is and everyone who has this hope in him

purifies himself just as he is

pure no

more

headaches

backaches no more skin diseases diabetes

no more corrective

lenses

no more health concerns no more

fogginess imagine being high energy

maximum capacity imagine

flying yeah you see a wall no problem

you just walk straight through

it imagine a full cemetry body no bone

diseases imagine that’s part of the

inheritance now after he goes through

all these themes the very last phrase of

the book which is the theme of this

topic right

now he says in chapter 5: 21 after all

of this as exciting as it is and as

challenging as it is he says little

children keep yourselves from Idols

amen there’s no greet Rufus over there

in this city uh say hello to these three

people in

kosai keep yourselves from Idols

amen you

know I was at my uncle’s house in

Seattle and we had a great dinner and it

was time for me to go and we left and he

escorted me out to the uh to the car and

he said where are you staying I said oh

I’m staying at the W Hotel he said stay

away from the women then he gave me a

hug and went

inside okay okay what does that mean and

he winked he said stay away from the

women John has and I

did

okay stay away from keep yourselves from

Idols do you find am I the only one that

finds that bizarre he could have ended

this by saying ah we the Saints in such

and such a city greet you be encourag

don’t give up we’re praying for you amen

no keep yourselves from idols

I believe that in the end

days with such a theme from first John

and John was selected to write the Great

and Mighty Revelation let’s not forget

that there is something to this phrase

that is worth digging into and I’m going

to show you the results as a tour guide

and as a lawyer of what I

found and it’s not going to be an easy

journey and we’re going to do that in

the next 40 minutes in fact uh if you

have your Bibles you better grease up

The

Binding because we are going to be using

your Bibles now I’ll put most of these

up on the screen as well but um let’s

get into

it first of all let’s look at what a

definition of an idol actually is and

you’ll see that we have a little calf in

the background there’s a reason for that

that should bring you some anticipation

of where we’re going to go um what could

this mean well let’s look at what it

means at least in in

dictionary.com and I want you to focus

on number five and six because the first

four are things that you and I would not

be able to relate to but the last two a

figment of the Mind in other words a

fantasy or number six a false conception

or notion which is a

fallacy are the two things that I want

to focus on pertaining to the end times

and why we should keep ourselves from

idols I didn’t make up this definition

this is from

dictionary.com okay fantasies and

fallacies all right now the next slide

typically when we think of an idol we

think of going to India or South America

or up north and we find totem poles and

we find different statues to different

ancient gods uh we find a lot of snakes

a lot of rituals a lot of hands up in

the air and we say yeah I can easily

steer away from that stuff that’s easy I

am Holy I am Sanctified and I will not

succumb to such an obvious idolatry how

easy is that okay well way to go good

job let’s go to the next

slide now this is getting a little bit

more difficult but many of us honestly

will say I listen to my uncle in Seattle

and I’m not going to go um do anything

with the ladies at the W Hotel in

Seattle okay but what about the Quest

for notoriety or stardom I’m sure most

of us would say you know I’m I’m content

in my relationship with the Lord I don’t

need to be on the front you know news I

don’t NE necessarily need to be in a

movie maybe some of us would love that

not that there’s anything wrong with

that in itself that’s one of the things

we’re going to be looking at at idolatry

how the good

things can become idols there I let the

cat out of the

bag I will’ll come back to

that now a lot of us may not have an

issue with

drugs a lot of us you know may not be

social media addicts where we need and

feel a false sense of self-worth when

people like our posts that never end

there’s never an end because they like

one post then what are you going to do

about it the next day and the next day

and the next day it’s a feeding Friendzy

some of us have our eyes on the prize

the cash we want to win the lottery we

want that ultimate job that pays out now

this these

pictures I’d say many of us can identify

with and certainly these can be

Idols what

about let me ask you this

question if you were the

devil not that you are just let’s let’s

just let me play around a little bit

here I’m going to be a tour guide and

lawyer okay if I if if if you were the

devil and you hated

you and you want to destroy

yourself would you do things that are

obvious idolatry or would you try to

creep in with something

that’s

neutral and then make that over time and

Idol where you’re literally locked in

for

life if you could pull that off wouldn’t

that be

genius

for

example who would ever criticize you for

going to your daughter’s foot uh your

daughter’s dance or your son’s football

game nobody who would ever say shame on

you for going to the gym three times a

week who would ever dare say wow you’re

a horrible person because you’re

successful in business and you’ve

employed hundreds of

people

nobody it if if the devil was able to

transform something that’s seen as good

and honorable within

society and successfully make it an idol

how loving it

more than God

himself that would be a genius the the

level of deception and ability of the

devil to do that to you and me

that would have to be next level

stuff now are you ready for the gut

punch chances

are every single one of us in this room

has some form of an idol somewhere

lurking in some closet of our

soul and if we’re going to be truly

ready for the second coming and the

Rapture wouldn’t it be nice to say at

least right here right now we took care

of business and cleaned out one Idol at

least from one room of our

soul so the question is are you ready to

do a soul audit with the scriptures this

morning or this afternoon you’re excited

woohoo yeah

let’s Okay well you ask for it all right

well let’s let’s look at the first part

here and that is uh self

worship and I’m going to be sharing a

little bit of my own journey and how

I’ve made some mistakes over my life and

hopefully you can learn from Me Maybe

what not to do maybe what to do and

let’s just enter into this as a body of

Believers that’s family let’s let’s have

a family conversation right now okay

that’s all I want self-

Worship in the end days is actually

predicted to be the ultimate Idol for

the world and I’m going to I’m going to

like a lawyer I’m going to substantiate

that

okay this is the known goto passage that

you’ve heard in hundreds of conferences

many of which we’ve put on over the span

of The Last 5 Years but notice very

carefully in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5 it says

this but know this that in the last days

perilous times were will come for men

not women only

men women will never women would never

do these things they wouldn’t love thems

they wouldn’t become lovers of money or

gold diggers are proud only men okay

just

kidding you know that when the Bible

says men it it includes the you know

okay all right for men will be lovers of

themselves and women lovers of

money

boasters have you ever loved yourself or

money or boasted about

yourself

proud blasphemers m

maybe as a non-believer disobedient to

parents unthankful Unholy unloving

unforgiving slanderers without

self-control have you ever had that bout

where you just said ah it doesn’t matter

I’m just going to go all in and well

I’ll just deal with the consequences

later brutal despisers of good traitors

headstrong hotti lovers of pleasure

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of

God having a form of godliness but

denying its power and from such people

turn away

well wait a minute we are some of those

people the difference between the

believer and the non-believer is the

believer wants to keep this stuff hidden

because it’s shameful because they know

it’s wrong whereas the world is like

what’s wrong with this you should have

seen how I treated my mom the other day

man I just let her have it you know

they’re proud of these things in fact

they actually promote this kind of

behavior if you read it in the Greek it

says says that they’re promoting the

last few words and that they’re against

the first half they are literally all in

in the public eye whereas the believer

struggle with this and we when we commit

these kinds of sins we we feel bad we

sometimes it gets us depressed it gets

us down but we want to we have that

tendency to to repent and and to get

back in the game and say God give me the

strength for

tomorrow now listen very

carefully in the last let’s say 50 to 60

years we’ve this comes back to the AI

question I promised you we would talk

about

this the internet was invented or became

public

rather

computers pdas do you remember

when Rim created

Blackberry remember we used to call them

crack

Beres crackberry was then really

challenged by Apple and then Microsoft

and Samsung and all these other

companies came in in the wire now we

have ai we have World connectivity

through social media

apps for the first time ever in human

history we are connected on levels that

the Ancients would have said is

absolutely impossible impossible

when it comes to social media apps when

we first started out do you remember

Myspace remember that okay some of us

don’t then there was Facebook and many

others there’s an evolution that has

catered to the

individual do you remember playing

Wolfenstein 3D which was amazing

Graphics back in the 90s you don’t know

maybe not now they have these virtual

reality headsets of where you can play

video games and live in these

fantasies and there’s

fallacies right down the

road I’m going to let the spirit of God

do his work in your heart I don’t feel

like I need to do that but as a tour

guide and as a lawyer do the math for

the first time in human history right

before we believe the second coming has

happened will happen right after the

resuscitation of Israel right after

Jesus predictions of Wars rumors of wars

earthquakes pestilences all of these

things are going on which you would

expect if we were in the end times but

one of the things that you may not

expect is children keep yourselves from

Idols that’s the best advice I can give

you and that is the last statement John

gave in his epistle and idolatry is

found and saturated in in technology

because it caters to you it makes you

feel good about you it gives you a false

sense of self-worth so you can walk away

and have this assurance that someone

appreciates you it can become very

addictive you can conquer the boss on a

video game to feel good about you you

can watch a television series enter into

this fantasy identify with some of the

actors and feel good about the Journey

about being you and as we walk around we

have these fantasies that our marriage

will look like the one we just watched

we have these fantasies that I will grow

muscles and go into beast mode and

conquer the boss of a video game we have

these fantasies that our social media

profile will grow grow grow grow grow

and have the recognition of the Nations

and we will feel like

someone be careful be

careful as much as the Lord can use this

the devil is standing by like a roaring

lying seeking whom he may

devour no other time in human history

have we had

psychological consequences with

neurological chemical imbalances like we

have in the last 40 years

I’m talking about serotonin which

regulates mood and sleep let me throw

that slide up there these are the happy

chemicals no other time in human history

if we had oxytocin issues that’s the one

that regulates uh our emotions and our

connectivity with human beings for

example when you put your hand on a

little baby and caress the little baby

the Baby draws into the hand when you

hug a loved one and embrace that person

it’s your body your brain is releasing

oxytocin endorphins those are natural

pain relievers and stress reducers but

the big thing that I want to focus on is

dopamine dopamine is the chemical that

the brain releases right before we

anticipate a great

reward the video game industry

understands dopamine the entertainment

industry understands dopamine any kind

of sensory company that brings

entertainment value of any kind to you

understands that the human body is

designed in a way to emit dopamine right

before the big reward so if you wave a

nice banana in front of a monkey the

dopamine on the frontal loes of the

monkey’s brain are going to be going

crazy and that becomes an insatiable

part and the Bible called this long ago

and it’s called lust of the

eyes lust of the eyes is a dopamine rush

for something that we should not go

after no other time in human history

have we seen these chemicals so far out

of balance because of what the world is

able to provide did you know that

there’s Engineers of visual just for

junk food alone they use different

colors like Reds and oranges and they

use different textures if you’re looked

in a on a Dorito and seen all the specks

and it’s like w you know that’s dopamine

going into your head you want to eat

that you know crunch this is what

anything that has to do with sensory now

what happens if these chemicals are

constantly being emitted in your brain

you get a you get an

addiction if you analyze a heroin

addict’s brain and somebody that is a

video game junkie the brain is very

similar because they got used to

dopamine rushes for the reward

mechanisms in this case heroin is the

World mechanism to escape from pain or

some reality or a video game which is uh

to escape into a

fantasy no other time in human history

have we had these

opportunities Mike are you saying that

video games and entertainment is wrong

no

no I’m saying we’re at a unique time in

human history that if we indulge so much

with

ourselves we could end up committing

idolatry and feeding into what was

predicted of the world becoming lovers

of

self you say to you say to me well how

do I know if I’m

committing self worship and self

idolatry funny you should ask because I

have a uh a test right in front of

me you can always watch this video later

uh where do you stand I told you I’m

this is not going to be

easy look I had to go through this

I went through a very hard last year I

had to do a lot of self analysis looking

in the mirror because I was in the

spring getting a little bit out of

control I was traveling a lot with a

mirror I was going from church to church

and some of the stuff was getting into

my head like

wow

people there’s a lot of people there’s a

lot of people we meet are always saying

nice things and I found myself enjoying

being away from my

family found myself coming

home

to dogs that vomit on the ground

and kids that need to be rushed around

to different places and dishes to be

done what I failed to see is that I was

becoming an idolator of

myself and I was failing to see the gift

of dishes and

dogs and running my daughter to dance

it’s a

gift are you ready to do a self

[Laughter]

test 10 signs you might be guilty of

self-

idolatry ah the story isn’t over this is

only part one okay first you search your

heart before you search the

Bible look I put substantiating

scriptures here because we have to be

lawyer-like

two your feelings matter more to you

than your

faithfulness I’m not going to play the

role of the Holy Spirit I’m just going

to let him do his work in your heart

three you are overly obsessed with

outward Beauty and vanity

four you re routinely reject pastoral

Authority I wish my pastor would do more

on end time stuff boy I don’t even go to

church anymore I just watch YouTube

videos and I just sit and watch you Mike

Amir and

Barry okay I would say go to church even

if it’s not the church that’s the best

you you crave flattery number five but

recoil at conviction

six you lack compassion for those less

fortunate than

you seven you maintain a double standard

you consider some things acceptable for

you but not for others is that

you chances are you might have a little

self- worship going on there remember

children keep yourselves from Idols even

if it’s yourself you use a manipulate

people while simultaneously wanting

their admir

admiration nine your prayers are

primarily focused on your own wants and

needs you rarely pray selflessly for

others and 10 there are more this this

will just get you started okay you can

you could you know what read read the

Bible read the New Testament this

weekend and then see where you come out

on that okay number 10 you View Church

as being all about your blessing your

opinions your wants and needs are always

the main

focus all right

now do whatever you want with that

that’s just a list and we’ve provided

some scriptures there for you to follow

up if you want to watch the video after

and click pause you can look these up

and see for yourselves if you’re really

motivated to see if you’re committing

acts of self-

worship did you know that in the end

times it’s it’s it’s really true people

will become lovers of self it will

Crescendo to a point where there will be

the mark of the beast as quote The Mark

of man in fact let me read this this is

from Revelation 13: 16-18 it says very

clearly he causes all both small and

great rich and poor free and slave to

receive a mark this is the Beast that

causes everybody to do this receive a

mark on their right hand and on their

foreheads so it’s mimicking the ancient

Jewish teine you know where you have the

box on your head and and on your arm

that kind of thing it’s kind of a it’s

kind of a counterfeit method it’s always

an antithesis there’s the Christ and

there’s the Antichrist and this is the

same kind of concept and no one may buy

or sell except one who has the Mark or

the name of the Beast or the number of

his

name here is wisdom everybody asks what

is the mark of the beast here’s wisdom

let him who has understanding calculate

the number of the Beast for is the

number of a man his number is

666 and anybody knows anything about

numers seven is the perfect number of

God seven days the Lord created all of

the the order of the world and the the

universe and on the seventh day he

rested as a Capstone of perfection what

day was Man created on the sixth day

there’s also something else and we’ve

talked about this in previous

conferences and that is the hebraic

mindset of the power of three Peter

denied the Lord Jesus three three times

to put his foot down in the culture that

would have seen that as an adamant

absolute I do not know this man he said

it three times and he was trying to say

in the cultural Meo of his day that he

is serious Jesus picked up on this same

theme went to Peter at the very end of

the Gospel of John and he said Peter I

love you he said it three times for

Redemptive value Peter denied him three

times Jesus said you have Redemption

value three times when you have

something that is me mentioned three

times you’re saying I am serious even in

modern day Israel you go to a friend you

say hey how’s it going ah pretty good

wait for a few seconds hey how’s it

going man it’s good to see you you know

it’s been a while yeah doing okay doing

okay a few seconds go by tell me how is

it going the third time yeah you know my

life it’s falling apart my wife just

left me I lost my job and I found I have

taxes dating back to 196 69 what am I

going to

do it’s the power of

three what this is said what I believe

this is saying I could be

wrong is that people will want nothing

to do with God in the end days they will

love themselves and they will love the

beasts that they worship and they will

say

me me

me us us

us no

God so my my my second Point there’s

only two points to this teaching

today is

this is it possible to worship self and

someone or something else simultaneously

as

well sure if something else or someone

else feeds your values and feeds what

you love to see and that is exactly the

scenario we find for the recipe of the

end times and I’m saying as a lawyer and

as a tour guide this morning the

infrastructure is already built unlike

any other time in history where we have

brain chemicals being emitted on levels

we’ve never seen where people are

literally addicted to methods with the

devil whispering in that they can get

what they want when they want how they

want and derive self-worth from any of

these equations live fantasies and

fallacies that will set them up for the

ultimate kill when the devil turns his

back on them in the tribulation if they

even last that

long the devil may be extremely

extremely evil the

worst but he’s definitely not stupid and

he definitely knows how to manipulate

destroy and

deceive number

two now you know we’re in that airplane

and we’re starting the downward dis sent

and now we come to why I put the calf

there on the slide worshiping God

through a thing or a person you can

expect in the last days self- worship

yes but also an increase of idolatry on

an unconventional level that we’ve never

seen so this reminds me of all the way

back when Moses went up to the mountain

of Si to receive Torah and he’s up there

talking to God it’s a beautiful thing

thing you know he’s expecting all the

children of Israel to be patient and

relax and wait while he’s taking care of

business he’s doing the Lord’s work he’s

going to bring the law code down it’s

going to be a new era they’ve just

escaped from the evil

Egypt and the people aren’t patient

they’re starting to get

squirly hey Ellie what’s he taking so

long up there you know we’ve got we’ve

got to move on you know what is this and

uh Abigail here what were you going to

cook something for us or what you know

we’ve been this is a very very difficult

situation says in verse one of Exodus

chapter 32 now when the people saw that

Moses

delayed coming down from the mountain

the people gathered together to

Aaron and said to him come make us gods

that shall go before us for as for this

Moses the the man who brought us up out

of the land of Egypt we do not know what

has become of

him is gone he is up on the mountain

maybe he’s dead maybe he’s alive but we

have to move on we’ve got to do

something so Aaron you you are the

closest of kin make some idols and some

Gods we’ll worship them and then we’ll

have the power we need to move forward

so quick After experiencing such

miracles from the Lord but watch

this they’re not looking for Pure Idols

they’re looking for a hybrid see they

want the Best of Both

Worlds they want God they want the power

of God but they also want to be seen as

cool and fit into the eyes of culture

that’s something you would never want to

do

right you you and I would never be

tempted to

want to fit into the culture at the same

time have a fruitful relationship with

the Lord concurrently right that’s just

that’s for crazy people right spiritual

schizophrenic people maybe but not me oh

not so fast look verse two and Aaron

said to them Aaron jumps in he’s like

okay uh sounds like a great idea uh this

is he should have known better he should

have said absolutely not what you’re

asking for is absolutely unacceptable

but no break off the Golden Earrings

which are in the ears of your wives your

sons your daughters and bring them to me

it’s not like they had a bunch of gold

laying around that was you know

dispensable they they actually had to

make sacrifices personally to make this

Idol so all the people broke off the

Golden Earrings which were in their ears

and brought them to Aaron and he

received the gold from their hand and he

fashioned it with an engraving tool you

see they’re really really making this

into something here and made a molded

calf now there there’s there’s a there’s

a phrase I left out of the slide I want

you to turn to your Bibles

now what doesn’t the slide

say look it

up I want to hear it I this is not on

the slide I I don’t want you to be the

the sheep that just watches from the

slides I want you to look at your Bible

and you tell me what the last verse the

last part of verse four

says yep they then they said this is

your god o Israel that brought you out

of the land of

Egypt

yeah Aaron was there everybody this is

your god that brought you up they

recognized

The Works of God and they took the works

of God and slapped a fake Idol on top of

it have we ever done something like

that have you ever done something in the

name of

God have you ever tried to sell somebody

in the name of God can I I’ll use an

I’ll use an obvious example this is

Extreme this is something that the

culture is doing right now have you ever

been to a church where they’ll say uh

it’s okay to be gay lesbian or sexually

confused and still wear the Christian

Banner the there are many things that in

the end days right becomes wrong and

wrong becomes right and even God is

implicated within the mixed God is now a

she we can change our sexual identity

right is wrong wrong is right and this

whole concept of attributing the works

of God to a stupid golden calf that they

had to make from the remnants of

People’s Jewelry just to make it work is

now getting credit for the very works of

God and they believed they believed that

through the calf they were actually

worshiping the same God that brought

them out of

Egypt so it’s not like a separate

deity it’s not like je or Jupiter this

is the god of Israel that’s being

worshiped through the facade of a

calf it’s almost even more

evil so when Aaron saw it verse 5 he

built an altar before it and Aaron made

a proclamation and said tomorrow is a

feast to the Lord and he uses the word l

o r d in capital the feast to

Yahweh then they Rose early in the next

day offered burnt offerings and brought

peace offerings and the people sat down

to eat and drink and Rose up to

play to Yahweh through a

calf now you say wow that’s

despicable I would never do

that you and I already

have children keep yourselves from

Idols I got to a point in my career

where I was

enjoying being

away remember one time I was in a hotel

and I was playing some music that my dad

used to

play when I was a

child We were finishing a basement

bathroom and I would listen to this

music before he would come home and hope

that he would want to work on this

bathroom with me as a father and son

project and he did and there I was

sitting on a hotel

bed listening to this

song and I just

wept because I hadn’t spend time with my

son in

months and I didn’t even know who he was

you don’t ever want to be

that and then the devil uses that to

condemn you

and and then when you get

home you see the need you may try a few

things but oh you got to leave

again and it’s a Perpetual self worship

self worship self-hatred self- worship

self-hatred and it came to a head that’s

just one thing I’m sharing because I

want you to see that every single one of

us there is a trick the devil has a

trick waiting he has a alternate

lifestyle that’s good that’s good he

doesn’t need you to take a syringe and

just inject heroin he these are the good

things of life it’s good to go to the

gym it’s good to have a career it’s good

to have

family

and sometimes we or situations or jobs

or activities can become more important

to us than God himself and end in

disappointment so I’m going to land the

plane now and I want to go straight to

the point where it says Jesus is

enough Jesus is enough you don’t need to

melt down jewelry and create a calf you

don’t need to get all those likes on

social media you don’t need all of it

all you need is

Jesus and I’ll show you how this works

in Mark chapter 10:

28-31 in these last days

friends you are it people are looking to

you you are ambassadors for Jesus most

of the church doesn’t know what you know

about the Bible in end times and the

timelines of what Israel’s plan is and

what the Antichrist and the Rapture and

this no very you people know people are

looking to

you look at this this is the promise of

scripture Mark 10: 28 through 31 Peter

began to say to him to Jesus see we have

left all and followed you Jesus answered

and said assuredly I say to you watch

this this is

amazing there’s no one who has left

house or brothers or sisters or father

or mother or wife or children or lands

for my sake in the gospels who will not

receive a hundredfold now in this time

houses and brothers and mothers and

sisters and children and lands with

persecutions with persec we want to blot

that out but we

can’t and in the age to come eternal

life but many who are first will be last

and the last

first Jesus is enough Jesus is enough if

you say well I I was raised in an orphan

situation or I was rejected by my

parents or I I was

abused Jesus is saying you may have had

all of that but as a Believer if you

come to me you’re going to have new

family you’re going to have a completely

new life now until eternity which lasts

forever you will have everything that

you need for every single part of your

life it’ll be beautiful it’s

beautiful and if that’s not enough

Colossians chapter 2 gives it to you

straight Colossians chapter 2:

8-10 beware lest anyone cheat you

through philosophy and empty deceit

according to the tradition of men

according to the basic principles of the

world and not according to Christ uh

YouTube videos sensationalists alarmists

anxiety creators fear-mongers all that

not that doesn’t say that I’m just kind

of adding that in as my my own

interpretation for the context we’re in

for in him dwells the fullness of the

godhead

bodily and you are complete in him who

is the head of all principalities and

power let me read it again let’s get it

through our thick skulls for in him

dwells all the fullness of the godhead

bodily and you are complete in him who

is the head of all principality and

power I’m going to end there even though

there’s more to say I want to put the

pie chart up

though rather than this is a proposal to

you as a tour guide rather than say

Jesus is number one family is number two

work is number three and then do a

hierarchy of importance I have found

that the reality of life is that there

are times where Jesus is the center of

all things at all times and then there

are times in my life that I need to give

more time to family than I do to work

and then there are times where I find

that sometimes I have to give more time

to work than family but since Jesus is

in the in the center he manages this

equation through the power of the Holy

Spirit and through the power of

community and being connected with

others for accountability sake so I’ve

mentioned some generic percentages

perhaps the 23% could be work maybe the

35% is family maybe the 22% is something

else in the 19% it might be finances it

might be Hobbies it might be family it

might be work whatever you want to slate

in those percentages can change based on

the seasons of life that we go through

but one thing that will never ever

change is that Jesus is at the

center and it says in Hebrews do not

forsake the assembling of yourselves as

is the custom of

some but all the more as you see the day

approaching if you claim that you don’t

need

Church chances are you’re a self-

worshipper

if you think that you need more than

just Jesus and you need the affirmation

of some other device or some other

activity then you’re a candidate for

subliminal

idolatry we don’t commit overt idolatry

the devil is too smart he knows the only

way he can get you is through subliminal

idolatry the question is

what needs to be cleaned out of some

closet of your spiritual heart so that

you can be that much more ready for the

long haul or the short Hall we don’t

even know for the Rapture may even occur

today and it may even happen right after

this conference which would be epic

which would be

cool wouldn’t that be cool Lord thank

you for uh this discussion and pray that

you will do your work start with me and

start with all of us as we move and

become role model an example of what it

means to worship you in spirit and truth

to all those who love us and look up to

us in Jesus name we pray

amen