Evicting Idols

Hey, it's so good to see everybody this morning.

How are ya?

You guys ready for the word?

Amen.

I have to be honest, I was torn up when we started singing that song,

Make New Wine Out of Me.

Yeah.

What I want to share with you today has everything to do with that song.

It has to do with opening our hearts before the Lord

and really allowing Him to go to work.

I think today is going to be a family moment.

I think it's going to be one that we, at least I pray,

we look back on and just say,

Lord, you started something in my heart that day.

Last week, we talked about the heart,

and we're in this series called Moveology,

which what Moveology is in its simplest definition

is just a recognition and a study of what it means to be a people

who are on the move, closer to God, closer to each other,

and closer to the world around us.

That's a lifetime journey.

We never arrive.

And along the way,

God asks for certain things from us.

He requires.

He comes in and He does surgery,

and we've looked at a variety of scriptures.

Last week, we looked at the parable of the two sons.

We often call it the prodigal son,

but the reality is it was an irreligious son and a religious son.

And then you see the gospel heart of God worked out through the Father.

And really, the truth of the matter is,

in that particular story,

the Lord's wanting to use it to do heart surgery on us.

He's wanting us to align to a gospel way of thinking.

Unfortunately, many times in our give-to-get kind of culture,

we develop a religious systemic kind of heart.

We just have a list of rules and duties.

Church attendance is one.

Tithing is one.

As long as we check the box, we're good with God.

That's not the gospel heart.

There's also the irreligious heart,

which is the one that runs from God, makes self the center.

I think uniquely enough, the religious and the irreligious,

both,

make an idol out of self.

And what God's wanting to do in all of our heart

is just to get us to respond to the initiating love of the Father,

to hear his heart that actually looks at our lives from a distance.

And he says, I'm going to run towards you.

And I notice, even in that story last week,

he ran towards the son who had gone away in prodigal living,

and he ran towards the religious son who was out in the field working.

He runs towards us.

And if we'll respond to the initiating love of the Father,

that's the first step of a heart transformation.

And we have to have a heart transformation, Manahouse,

if we're going to be the kind of people on the move that God's called us to be.

We've been looking at Jeremiah 29.

God's people carried away exile into Babylon.

And while they're in Babylon, they're trying to live at the edge of the city.

And God said, no, I want you to actually live in the city and prosper in the city.

But if you're going to prosper,

and you're going to be part of the well-being and the turnaround of the city,

then you're going to have to shift what's going on.

You're going to have to shift what's going on on the inside.

You're going to have to accept your placement as my work in your life.

You're going to have to be responsive in your heart to my dealings.

And you're going to have to listen to my voice and do what I have to say.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

But where we're at right now, our job is to bring heaven to earth.

And here in this place, the only way for us to do that, church,

is to go through a heart transformation.

It's to say, God, I believe you've called me.

You're initiating your love.

You're coming towards me.

And I want to be responsive, God, to your hand.

So today, we're going to kind of dig into that a little deeper,

that whole thought about what it means to be a church that's a heart church.

I'll be honest.

Today's message gets pretty personal.

It kind of gets up in your business a little bit.

And I want you to know, I told Dylan today,

I feel like God's been up in my business for weeks just in this regard.

And I'm just going to give you a little bit of forewarning.

It's not just for a handful.

It's for every single person in this room.

What I have to share with you today,

I'm not saying that it's a you versus me kind of thing.

It's not just for a few.

Oh, yeah, well, there's some people that are really struggling out there in the world.

No, that's a religious heart.

A gospel heart says, God, do your work in me.

God, I might have served you my whole life,

but God, just whatever you want to do in me, that's what I want.

God, don't pass me by.

Whatever you want to say, whatever you want to do.

God, I'm not too mature to get all sloppy and cry.

I'm not too proud to get on my knees.

I'm not too proud, God, to open my heart and say,

if there's any wicked way in me, God, would you work it out in me?

God, would you forgive me?

Would you restore me?

Would you renew me?

God, where I've gotten too proud, would you just kind of work out

a new level of humility?

Humility in me?

God, where my ears have grown dull to hearing,

God, would you speak to me?

I want to talk with you about the affection of your heart today.

I want to talk to you about idols and idolatry.

The sin that is beneath the sin.

The affection of our hearts.

There's two key texts today, and obviously,

I've mentioned Jeremiah 29.

We're not going to go back there.

You understand the context.

If you haven't been here, you can go back and read where we've come from.

You can go back and listen online.

There's two verses, Exodus 20, verse 3 to 5.

This is actually God giving the Ten Commandments to his people,

and it's the second time about 40 or 50 years after Jeremiah,

when the Israelites were in Babylon.

And here, what we find is such an important issue to God.

This isn't what he said.

He said,

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above

or on earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them,

for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

I'm a jealous God.

That phrase is so impactful.

It's not that he's a needy God.

He doesn't need anything.

But what he does,

is he says there's something about my creation that I want them to make me first.

I want them to prioritize our relationship.

Because God's a jealous God.

He's a heart God.

And he said, I don't want there to be anything between us.

The first sentence of this first commandment in the scriptures is,

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything.

Because just in case you didn't get that first statement,

you shall have no other gods.

Well, what does that mean?

I'd like to quantify it.

I'd like to kind of narrow it down a little bit.

Okay, well, let me tell you.

Just again, that same verse.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven

or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Sounds straightforward.

Anything.

Everybody say anything.

Anything.

You shall not have anything.

Anything.

I want to be the first love of your life.

I want you to capture my initiating love,

and then I want your heart response to prioritize.

Now, fast forward many generations to the Babylonian captivity

and the moment when God comes and talks to the prophet Ezekiel

about the condition of people's hearts

in relationship to the exact thing God spoke about.

Centuries before when he gave the Ten Commandments.

Listen to this.

Ezekiel chapter 14, 1 to 11 says,

Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me.

Then the word of the Lord came to me,

Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts

and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces.

Should I let them inquire of me at all?

Therefore speak to them and tell them,

this is what the sovereign Lord says,

when the Israelites set up idols in their hearts

and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces

and then go to a prophet,

I, the Lord, will answer them myself

in keeping with their great idolatry.

I will do this to recapture the hearts of Israel.

I'm going to recapture them.

They've gone away to something else,

but I'm so jealous I'm going to initiate my love

and I'm going to move towards them

who have all deserted me for their idols.

Therefore say to the people of Israel,

this is what the sovereign Lord says, repent.

Turn from your idols and renounce

all your detestable practices.

So this is what we're going to do today.

Four simple things.

We're going to define what an idol is.

We're going to ask and answer the question,

why does that matter?

We're going to try to discern them in our life.

We're going to talk about how to evict them.

And at the end of the day,

the title of what I'm going to share with you today

is just simply this, it's evicting idols.

Evicting idols.

Everybody say evicting.

Evicting idols.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for your goodness,

for your favor, for your truth in our life.

I pray that you would help us today

to understand what it is you're saying through these verses

and why it still matters to us today.

God, thank you for your goodness upon Manor House

and your favor upon this body of believers.

I pray your grace would flood this room

as we look to your word today.

In Jesus' name and everybody said, amen and amen.

Well, hey, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

When you hear that simple word, idols.

What's the first thing?

I think probably for everybody around the room,

most of us think of little statues,

maybe great statues.

We think of Buddha.

We think of the Chinese food restaurant.

There's a lot of things that we think about, right?

Other than maybe what the Bible would define idols to be.

This ancient sounding word is actually relevant to us today.

It's not an irrelevant term.

It's not a distant term.

It's not a dehumanized term.

It's actually a very personal term.

Idolatry is really about disordered affection.

Disordered affection.

And it's a problem that's actually more prevalent

in first world countries than even third world countries.

We travel the world and we often see shrines

or we see temples and we think, oh, there's idolatry.

No, idolatry is right in this.

There's idolatry in this room.

We make religion idolatry.

We make buildings idolatry.

We make serving idolatry.

There's a lot of things that we do in first world countries

to adapt idolatry to the way that we live.

And the problem is that idolatry is actually present

in every single one of our hearts.

So when I say today I'm going to get up in our business,

I'm not talking about 10% of the room or 20%.

I'm talking about 100% of the room.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus' movement

is actually made up of people who constantly evict idols

so that Jesus is the only one sitting on the throne

of their hearts.

To join Jesus in his movement, to respond to the initiating

love of the Father, I actually have to become proficient

at idol eviction.

I have to become proficient.

It's a skill set that I have to develop because the reality is

that the cultural system that we live in, the world system,

is built on idolatry.

We don't talk much about idolatry, largely because we don't think

it applies to us, because we misapply scripture.

Our hermeneutics are wrong.

Hermeneutics are principles of interpretation of scripture.

It becomes very clear that an idol is really anything that takes

the place in our hearts that only belongs to God.

That's why God is jealous.

Interesting, you just do study on God.

God is jealous.

At some point, you're going to come across a video on YouTube

of Oprah Winfrey talking about God as a jealous God,

and that was a stopping point for her in her relationship with God.

How can God be jealous?

How could God not be jealous?

He's a relational God.

He's a relational God, and he longs to be first.

He doesn't want to take second, third, fourth place.

And by the way, he understands that when we misplace him

with some other idol, we've actually been,

you know, built on a faulty foundation.

And at some point, the inability of that thing to bear up

under the weight of all of our hopes and dreams

will cause a crushing in our life.

And so God's jealousy is actually a favor.

It's actually a positive thing, because he's wooing us,

and he's longing us, and the Bible says in Ezekiel

that he'll run after us because of our jealousy

and try to pull us back from a place of idolatry,

because he knows in the end that will only lead you to death.

God's jealousy is his kindness at work in your life.

You can define an idol this way.

An idol is anything that competes with God

to determine our happiness, our meaning, our worth,

or our identity.

That should be on the screen.

An idol is anything that competes with God

to determine our happiness, our meaning, our worth,

or our identity.

Think about it for the moment.

Whatever that thing is, a counterfeit God,

a pseudo-salvation, any time there's something,

which is, by the way, anything that is affecting my emotions,

anything that's controlling my hopes,

determining my sense of identity,

anything that's determining my security, my value,

other than God himself,

that could mean marriage becomes an idol.

That could mean that my house becomes an idol.

That could mean my job becomes an idol.

That could mean clothes, spending money.

That could mean friendship.

Friendship, anything.

It's these things that we rest our heart in more than God.

It's disordered affection.

If that's the case, and honestly,

the possibilities of idolatry are endless,

and not one of us might be exempt.

Martin Luther said it this way.

He said that he believed that the commandment about idolatry

came first in the Ten Commandments

because you couldn't really believe it.

You couldn't really break any of the other commandments

without first breaking the commandment of idolatry.

You shall have no other gods before me.

If that becomes the first,

and you actually lean into that,

you probably won't break the others.

So the first becomes, even in order of priority,

the reason you would lie or covet or commit adultery or murder

or any other sin was because you were putting something else

in your life.

You were putting something else in your life before God.

It might be pleasure.

It might be reputation.

It might be financial well-being.

It might be self-centeredness.

It might be saving face.

I don't want to look bad, so Cain killed Abel.

Why?

Because I looked bad before God.

You brought an offering that was accepted.

Mine wasn't.

Whose problem was that?

Well, it's yours because you made me look bad.

How many of us live reactionary lives

in response to idolatry?

How many of us have idolatry moments in our heart?

A famous early church father, St. Augustine,

perhaps the earliest Christian writers

to actually expound on the subject past the Bible,

past the scriptures.

In his book called The Confessions,

he writes on the definition of sin

in the way that I've already referenced,

but I think it just bears quoting.

He writes this,

the essence of sin is disordered love.

Loving things in the wrong order.

Is it wrong to love your family?

No.

Is it wrong to love your family more than God?

Yes.

So sometimes God will work in the context of crisis

because of his initiating love and jealousy

to get you to surrender something

that's great,

but he's got your affections more than God himself.

Does he send that?

No.

Oh, I'll tell you what,

the last couple of years,

God's been working on the order of love in my heart.

Daryl, what do you love more?

God, I love you.

Do you?

He asked Peter that question.

Do you love me more than these?

What is he doing?

He's reestablishing an order of love.

I'm priority.

Well, if you really love me,

then,

you're going to have to give of yourself.

And in feeding my sheep,

Peter,

you're going to have to give of yourself.

You're going to have to lay yourself down

to prioritize me,

and that's going to require you to give, Peter.

Well, I don't want to do that.

I want to retain control.

I want to retain power.

Well, then,

power is disordered love.

You love power more than God.

Well,

that wasn't the conversation.

I was wondering,

what are we going to have today?

In devotions, Lord.

But if you love me, Peter,

the first commandment says there's only one thing

that can be in first place,

and that is God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

It's interesting.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was,

with no hesitation,

he said,

love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength,

and the second is like to it.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

So,

So there's going to be a divine flow of love outward towards somebody else

because you love God first,

which means there's going to be a sacrificial tone to the way that you love.

Augustine said that disordered love will cause you to put career before family,

comfort before God,

self before another.

When you love anything out of order in the end,

it'll result in a negative impact on every other part of your life.

When you love family more than God, it seems right in the moment.

But what happens is because we start to sacrifice for maybe what we feel like family needs

and we don't ever ask family to sacrifice for what God needs.

What happens is in the end is I've taught family not to prioritize God.

One of the greatest things we can do for family is say we prioritize God and his house.

We prioritize worship.

We prioritize tithe.

We make him first in our life.

And when we train, you know, sometimes we long for something else,

but there's times we sacrifice.

Oh man, there's been times in my kids' lives where they just said,

I don't feel like church or I don't feel like this or I don't feel.

It's actually not about that.

It's about a love.

It's about a love affair with God who's first and foremost in our life.

Not all created things can bear the weight of your soul's longings.

It'll fracture at some point.

It'll crumble.

Idolatry is never about the statues.

You've got to understand this or any other physical image or symbol for that matter.

That's not what idolatry is about.

An idol's always been misplaced affection.

That's why the idol isn't the bad thing.

What makes it bad and destructive is the idol's place in our heart.

So what this means is that anything, even a good thing, can become an idol.

That's why it's so deceptive in our lives.

Frederick Nietzsche, who was anything but a Christian, by the way, said this.

He said, there are more idols in the world than there are realities.

Interesting to say, more idols in the world,

meaning things that you can attach to that seem like they're real,

and would add substance, but in reality,

they're an idol that tries to establish your heart,

and in the end, it will create a crushing.

There's a way that seems right in a man, but its end is death.

So you've got to think about the implications of this.

You have to think about the implications of a life lived,

even a Christian life.

I love God.

He's got a place in my life.

I'm faithful to his house.

But if we never stop and put the lenses on,

like,

are there idols?

Not are there.

There probably are.

Yeah, there are.

So, God, would you reveal, if we never go down that road,

and we relegate it to a third world country,

never kneel before God and pray,

never ask him for insight,

I wonder what the enemy can subtly rob from our lives.

I've been asking myself the question, like,

what would be on the other side of humility?

What would be on the other side of idol eviction?

Right?

Right.

What would be on the other side of humility?

What's the realization?

What revival?

What breakthrough?

What multiplication?

What opportunity for God's favor and miracle-working power

would be on the other side of my simple step of humility

that would say, oh, God, would you work in me?

God, I'm not going to trust my own heart.

I'm not going to trust my own heart,

but, God, I'll trust your word and your Holy Spirit

to reveal to me where my heart has deceived me.

now by the way that's not a one-time practice again why I think first world Christianity

actually causes us a little bit of a problem because we believe salvation is a one-time

experience it's a one-moment confession of praying the sinner's prayer that might get

you through the door but it doesn't keep you on the path of sanctification and holiness

and spiritual growth and movement what it does it gets you through the door and it's one simple

step what it takes after that is daily humility and brokenness before the Lord to say God everything

I am is yours would you reveal to me God what do you want to take what do you want to adjust

what surgery do you want me to perform what do you want me to surrender God

you pray those kind of prayers I'll tell you he'll take you up on it

I read an article this past week doing some research on idolatry

New York Times the question was asked what happens to really good athletes when they have a career

ending injury the doctors who treat them say they not only need medical care they often need

therapy because depression sets in why the injury sends them into an existential crisis they ask the

question who am I now that I've had this injury

I was an athlete but now I'm not

I wonder how many times we've wrapped our identity so much into what we do

it's devastating for them the article went on to say because the loss of athleticism has totally

wiped out their reason for being it happens when people lose their jobs

pastors when they step out of position parents when kids move out

it sends so many reeling when we go through a significant life change

I I've asked myself the question this last week what do I have a propensity to make an idol in my life

and as I sat before the Lord I didn't like the answers

the praise and admiration of people is one of the things that I make an idol out of

I'm I'm a person who has no problem leading but I'll tell you I also like the accolade that comes

with leading I like affirmation I like people to notice when I do something well do you know

that it's not wrong to give words of affirmation that can actually be kinda wired into somebody's

personality but if I derive my identity and I don't know who I am

unless somebody give me words of affirmation guess what

what is wired into me actually now has become an idol

and I begin to work my motivation I actually won't say some things that need

to be said

because I if I spoke up I might not get the affirmation

and so I have to check that area of my life because God is jealous of me and I'm not going to do that

I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that I'm not going to do that

over that place on my life

anyone's first love and there's some times with the words about friend need

actually create some pain

can I need to say the right thing and not worry about

the words about summation another one for me is work

it actually feeds the first because if I just work hard and do well guess why

people will see that the work was well done

II don't know about you I i think it's smart

its

smart to stop and evaluate this. When we went out in 97 as a church

planner, one of the motivations that I had was to grow a

really large church. And I remember I thought, man,

if I could just get 100 people, that's going to satisfy this longing.

And when 100 people were in the room, I remember thinking, it doesn't feel like I thought it would

feel like. So I changed the number.

Then it was 200. And when 200 people were in the room,

I was disappointed because it didn't feel like I thought it would feel like. And I'll

tell you, business people around the room, you said, well, if I can build a business

and hit a million dollars in revenue, then I'll know that I'm successful.

And when you get there, you'll almost resent the million bucks because it didn't

create what you thought it would create.

It's because you've built the stability of your heart

on an idol, and it will crush you.

I get pretty worked up when people throw around trigger phrases,

things that, like, really bother me. They're things that, yeah, I don't like it when you

say that. I've had to ask myself the question, why do I get worked up?

Maybe it's touching an idol in my own heart.

Emotional outbursts. These are signs.

Something's going on on the inside. It was actually

said that in a certain museum in China, there was an exhibit called the American

God, and guess what the exhibit is?

A dollar bill. The American God. The dollar bill.

I think one of the

American idols that we struggle with, not the television show, by the way,

it's not about Katy Perry, all right? It's just the American idol.

Colossians 3 doesn't mince words. Listen to this. Put to death, therefore, whatever

belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires,

and greed. Greed,

which is idolatry.

The American dream, is it wrong to succeed? No.

But what is success?

Is success being faithful with one talent and making it two?

With five, making it ten? With ten, making it

twenty? I think what success is, according to the Bible,

is faithfulness with what the Lord entrusts to our hands.

Believing that the small thing can

become larger. I'm just faithful with what the Lord entrusts into my hand.

Where, we'll deal with this next week, if you take one and you bury it in the ground

out of fear because you have a wrong view of God, he's not a loving God, he's not a

gracious God, he's not a trusting God, he's not a faithful God towards you.

If we actually don't make him first place and actually turn towards

my ability for the dollar and I live in fear, then I bury it, and when you

bury it, you're not being successful. But you've got to get the right

vision. You've got to get the right vision. You've got to get the right vision.

You've got to get the right vision. You've got to get the right view of success.

And so this idea of greed is that somehow if I can get

more, then I'll be satisfied. That's idolatry.

Ephesians 5 says,

For of this you can be sure no immoral, impure, or greedy person

for such person is an idolater

has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and

of God. It's interesting because immorality, according

to the Bible, is an endless pit that's never satisfied. It wants more.

So immoral, immorality, impurity, and

greediness are both an insatiable desire for more

that can never be met. And because I've

linked my desire to something other than

God, and I'm trying to satisfy that, whether it's money, whether it's

lust of the eyes, or lust of the flesh, whatever it is, I've actually

sought to fill the gap between the two. And I've actually sought to fill the gap between the two.

The Bible actually says in that verse that I cut off my

inheritance in the kingdom of God.

That's why this is such a... Now, I understand this isn't

the most popular preaching, but how many are just with me today?

And you're just... I'm looking for a little words of affirmation there,

okay?

If I was looking for words of affirmation, I would not be preaching

this message, I can guarantee it.

We needed a little levity there, didn't we?

We needed a laugh. I have to ask myself this question,

why does this matter?

It's easier not

to deal with this. But in the end,

if we're talking about eternal inheritance, and our eyes

are set on things above, then this really, really matters.

If we're talking about the movement of Jesus.

The movement of Jesus in the Northwest isn't just grow a bigger church with a lot more people

so that you can feel good about yourself.

The movement of Jesus in the Northwest is a discipleship movement.

It's about individuals who take the next step to get closer to God, and whatever the next

step is, and they're evaluating closer to God, closer to each other.

If I find myself distant, then I've probably made an offense

to my idol, so I've got to deal with offenses.

And I have to deal with the wickedness in my own heart. I need to be closer to each other.

God called me into a discipleship journey.

Idols matter. Here's the statement I want to make. Idols matter because they hold the affection

and the loyalty of our hearts. That's why they matter.

And when they hold the loyalty of my heart, it sets the course.

That's why the Bible says, guard your heart, for out of it flow the issues of life.

God's ultimately after our heart.

So how do we deal with this?

How do we discern them? There's some questions that we need to ask and answer.

If you're saying, Daryl, how do I even discern? Where are the idols that are in my heart?

There's some questions I think that we could ask that may

direct us towards discerning the idols that are in our heart.

And I'm going to just read them to you. Here's the first thing.

What thing, if you were to lose it, would cause you to almost lose your will

to live? What thing, if you were to lose it,

would cause you to almost lose your will to live?

What thing, if you were to lose it, would cause you to almost lose your will to live?

We talked about athleticism. We talked about being a CEO or a leader of a company.

You know what's interesting?

Is when you start facing near-death experiences, either yourself or somebody you love,

or you lose your home, or you go through some kind of a loss.

Maybe you're a pastor, a leader, you lose position, or you lost your job.

Um, when we deal with losses,

watching people spiral in those moments, almost losing their will to live,

you have to ask yourself the question, what got crushed in that moment?

What ideology, what idolatry got broken in that moment?

Here's the second question. What are your greatest nightmares?

Your greatest fears? Another way to ask the question is,

help us discern our hearts, Lord. If there was a terrible future scenario that unfolded,

I don't know what I would do.

If that happened, a tragedy, a loss, your greatest fears.

What are, what causes almost uncontrollable emotions, incredibly angry,

pushes your buttons emotionally, makes you incredibly sad or depressed.

Often these things reveal that there's a place in our heart that needs adjustment.

Here's another one. What do you regularly and repeatedly daydream about?

Oh, if I could just be that.

Oh, if I, if life would look like that, then I would be accepted,

or then I would be loved, or then I would know that God cares for me.

Here's another one. Where do you regularly spend your money?

Where do you regularly spend your money?

Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Oftentimes we spend too much money, or we spend an excessive amount of money in,

in one area. That might reveal. I'm not saying it always does,

but it might. These are just mites. They're things to ponder and help me rototill my life.

Favorite hobbies. You know, interesting. Hobbies are actually God-given. If you've got overflow

of finances, the Bible says he gives us freely all things to enjoy. It's not wrong to have hobbies

and things and nice stuff. But if that becomes the main thing. Here's another one. What thing

in your life often exceeds appropriate boundaries? It's not wrong to have it, but maybe it's not right.

It's now too much. It's become a driver in my life. Maybe it's financial gain. Maybe it's things.

Maybe it's relationships. Maybe it's even personal standards or convictions. Habits might even be in

an area of spiritual life. You know, interesting. Some people get very legalistic about good things.

Never, ever miss church.

If I miss church, I'm not a good Christian. Can I tell you? You might need a vacation.

Nothing in the kingdom is built on system and structure. It's built on relationship.

Systems follow to support relationships. The challenge is, are you willing to do something

about it? That's the question that we have to ask. Because there's a movement that Jesus started,

and it's a movement of idol eviction.

So we have to ask the question, how do we evict idols? And this is where we move to land. Here's

a scripture I want to give you. Colossians 3, 1 to 5 says this.

Where Christ is seated. That means in a position of authority at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden

with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in

glory. So put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to you.

For earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

The context of what I shared with you earlier is this scripture. And there's actually just three

things there that I think we need to draw attention to. And the first one is just setting

your mind on things above. Setting your mind on things above. The ESV says, seek those things

that are above. Daryl, I'm going to ask myself those questions. And I'm going to ask myself those

questions. And I want us, honestly, this week, maybe even right now today, to practice asking

these questions. What are the things that are creating an idol in my heart? What am I going to

do about them? The first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to name the idol and its replacement.

That's how I seek those things that are above. I just shared two of them with you.

One is the seeking of affirmation. I'm naming that. And I'm going to name the replacement,

which is, Lord, I am the one. And I'm going to name the replacement, which is, Lord, I am the one.

I only need affirmation from you.

Lord, I'm not going to seek affirmation. I'll accept affirmation that comes my direction,

but then I'm going to take it and return it to you.

So my practice this week, number one, how do I seek those things that are above?

When affirmation comes, I'm going to say thank you. And I'm going to take the affirmation,

and I'm going to hand it back to the Lord. And I'm going to say,

I'm going to seek those things that are above. You are the one who gave me the ability to do

what I do. And God, this week, I received affirmation. Thank you. Thank you for allowing

me to be your vessel. I'm going to seek that which is above. I want us this week to name

our idols. I can't seek those things that are above unless I talk about what I'm fighting

on the earth below. I've got to name it, and I've got to get it. And I've got to name it, and I've got to get it.

I've got to get it back above the clouds. I've got to turn it back towards the Lord. I'm going to

seek those things which are above. The second thing I've got to do then is set my mind on things

above. So he says, first of all, I want you to set your heart on things above, and then secondly,

set your mind on things above. Set your mind. So what does that mean? To set your mind, actually,

the idea is that your mind is a formable,

shapeable, moving entity. Brain science calls it neuroplasticity. I can shape the way my brain

functions. And what the author here says in setting your mind on things above is to view

our thinking not through the lens of solid concrete kind of thinking patterns. See them

through the lens of wet concrete. I can actually shape it. I can build a form around it.

And as that thought lands, I can actually compact it and get it into a shape that actually is in

alignment with what God said when I first set my heart on things above. Now I begin to galvanize

my thoughts. I begin to align my thoughts. I begin to critique my thoughts and make sure that

they're continually formed in alignment with now where I've set my heart.

I need to see my mind through the lens of wet cement. It's not set. I can change it. I can

change the thinking patterns. I've got to not only name the idol and its replacement, but then go on

a journey of repetition to reorder and reframe my thinking around what? Around the death, the burial,

and the resurrection of Christ. Understand, back in Colossians, it says set your mind because you've

been raised with Christ. The only reason you're able to do that is you identified with him. You

put yourself to death when you were saved and water baptized and raised to newness of life.

Now let's begin to go on a journey of aligning our life around it. The center point is not the

idol. The center point is Jesus. So I set my heart on things above. That means seek the things that

are above and then set my mind on things above. And lastly, put to death.

Your earthly desires. Here's five practices. I want the band to come back that I think that the

believer needs to solidify in their life to live this kind of life, to set our hearts on things

above and to seek those things that are above and to set my mind there and to stay and build a

thought pattern that relates that way. The first thing I need to do when I wake up in the morning

is capture my first thought and align it to the Lord.

First thing in the morning. If you reach for Twitter first thing in the morning,

you've already started to lose the battle.

Set your mind on things above. First thought in the morning.

Secondly, take that first thought and meditate on it throughout the day.

I think if we'd not only take that first thought but spend a few extra minutes.

Take 15. We talk about this.

In our church on a regular basis, take 15 minutes and just focus on the Lord.

Then meditate on it throughout the day. That's number two.

Number three, don't sacrifice the weekly gathering of believers.

I need not only daily focus, I need a weekly rhythm that causes me to walk into the house

of the Lord and be preached to, taught. I need to sing songs that realign my heart.

I need the corporate gathering of believers.

Something even happens.

I'm spiritually in the room where I get recalibrated.

Weekly gathering of believers. It's not a religious practice.

It's a desperate need.

I come not only to be recalibrated but to be part of the recalibration of my brothers and sisters.

Church attendance shouldn't be a low priority in our life.

It should be a high priority in our life.

Fourth, the giving of my tithes.

On the first day of the week.

You know why tithing is important?

God doesn't need your money, by the way.

But he's jealous for your heart.

And the reason why the principle of tithe is so important is because

it's a physical manifestation of the affection of our heart.

Lord, 100% came from you, so I take the first 10.

On the first day of the week, I walk into the house of God.

Because it's a priority.

And I give my 10th.

I wave it before you.

And I give it as an offering to you.

We automate it many times.

And I do as well.

But there's times I stop the automation and start to write an old school check.

Because I realize sometimes my heart grows cold in the area of my tithes and my offerings.

But Lord, I need your blessing.

I long for your favor over my tithes.

And the increase of my house.

It all came from you.

The fifth thing is faith-filled remembrance of Christ in communion.

So we not only attend church, but I come to the table of the Lord to remember what he did

and to reorient my life.

Communion is a powerful moment of evicting idols in my heart.

And I do it because I'm wanting to put to death the earthly desires.

God, I'm dying with you.

And I'm identifying with your death again.

Your burial and resurrection.

God, I do this at the communion table.

So the first thing we do is we seek those things that are above.

We get our eyes from the earth and above.

And in order to do that, I've got to name my idols and their replacement.

Second, I see my mind as wet cement.

And I begin to reshape it around that truth and put it into practice in everyday life.

And in doing that, I gain a new hunger for his word first thing in the morning.

I meditate on it day and night.

I weekly gather.

I give the first day after being paid.

And I faith-filled in a heartfelt way run to the table of the Lord.

And I take communion in faith knowing that his death, burial, and resurrection sets me free.

And when I do that, I believe I do what Colossians says.

I put to death earthly desires.

And I evict idols from my life.

And in doing so, come on, I join Jesus in his movement.

And I get closer to God, closer to each other, and closer to the world around me.

And I do it because he paid away for me to be free.

Come on, and live an abundant life.

But it's going to take that level of faith and conviction to evict the idols from my life.

Come on, if you just say, Daryl, I hear the Lord talking to me today.

Would you wave at me in some way?

The Lord's talking to me here today.

Totally.

So good.

I'm going to ask us to take two minutes and honestly just sit in silence before we sing.

And I want to say, Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?

What are you saying to me, Holy Spirit?

If there's any wicked way in me, would you just reveal it to me?

Just allow him to speak.

If the Lord's putting his finger on any area of your life, which no doubt he is or he will

throughout the day, if we'll give him room and give him access, we...

In evicting idols, the only way for this to work is to remove one thing and replace it

with another.

And we're talking about affections of our heart.

And for me to even tell you what I'm going to replace and how I'm going to work is just

one example.

But if your idol's a natural thing, what could you do?

You could use it for God's glory.

If your business is an idol, why not turn that business around and use it for God's

glory?

Make it a place where you disciple people rather than it be just for your own gain.

Take the wealth and learn how to give it away.

If your hobby or your toys are all-consuming, use them as a way to bless somebody else.

Take what we have and allow the Lord to use it.

That's when we loosen the enemy's grip in our hearts.

And I think what God is looking for at Manor House is a church that's free.

A church that's free from idolatry.

A church that's free from the bond of its stuff.

A church...

A church that says, God, everything we have is yours.

That's our heart.

God, that's our longing.

God, evict the idols from our lives.

I want you to stand to your feet.

We're going to sing this song to the Lord.

And as we do, I think the Lord's going to do some heart surgery.

This is going to be our heart's cry in response to him.

God, make new wine out of us, God.

Do something beautiful and powerful with our lives.

Come on, let's sing to him.

Let's sing to him right now.

Come on, let's sing to him.

The reason is because the scriptures actually reveal in eternity there'll be some who stand before the Lord and say,

didn't I prophesy in your name?

Didn't I do this and didn't I do this?

And actually he'll say, depart from me.

I never knew you.

What is he saying?

He's saying that the affection of your heart was on the spiritual gift.

The affection of your heart was on the religious thing.

The affection of your heart was on the activity, on the money, on the thing.

It wasn't on me.

And because of that, there's an inheritance in the kingdom that gets lost.

And that's why this is so serious.

And I know this is just a heavy message, but it's kind of worth being heavy.

I'll be honest with you.

To just say what we need is a revival of humility and brokenness and idle eviction from our heart.

And so the only way to do it is to kind of go there and say, Lord, have your way in me.

I don't want anything.

I don't want anything, God, to separate me from you.

So that's our heart's cry today.

As we sing this again, we're just going to open the altars.

If you've never confessed Christ as your Savior, I want you to come and just say, I want to be saved today.

If you're far from him or maybe you're living in sin in some way or you just need somebody to really stand with you and contend for something to turn around in your life, that's what the prayer team's for.

And we'll pray with you and believe God.

And then we're going to go on and we're going to chew on this this week.

And the Lord's going to help us to grow.

I want him in our hearts to be 100% towards him.

Can I hear an amen about that?

Come on.

As we sing this again, God bless you.

Thank you for being here today.

Altars are open.

Come on, team.

Let's sing this again.