We are designed to live in the deeper reality of God. This is the more certain reality of eternity which gave birth to the temporal realm that will one day pass away.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. NIV
The eternal reality of God’s Word and God’s Truth will remain. Building our lives on this reality is what will last and must be our priority. Let’s go deeper together.
See The Invisible Do The Impossible
2 Corinthians 4:18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. NIV
It was a beautiful season in Gotham City. Batman had successfully eradicated all crime. Suddenly Bane shows up to wreak havoc, so Batman comes out of retirement. As the two are fighting Batman begins to lose and Bane makes this riveting statement, “Victory has defeated you.”
Today’s topic is a difficult one. The church has created a beautiful atmosphere with various expressions of creative gifts. In many ways there are wonderful expressions of God in our midst. In many ways there is great eternal deficiency. God is wanting to address the deeper issues of what is truly going on in our
We are all wired for something deeper! Even the most non-religious people are fervent worshipers. All people worship something. Worship is at the core of our existence.
We sacrifice for what we glory in and this is the essence of worship. We sacrifice for fashion and glory in looking good. We sacrifice for careers and glory in success. We sacrifice for love and glory in relationships. The list goes on but the issue is the pursuit of a deeper sense of identity being found in anything other than God. This is allowing someone or something other than God to occupy the place in your life only God should occupy. This is idolatry.
Interestingly the very first Commandment God gives is:
Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me. NIV
This commandment addressing idolatry may look to most people like it doesn't have a lot of relevance to modern life. It might just be the most relevant commandment of all. What is the most common sin we are told to avoid in all of Scripture? Lying? Gossip? Stealing? The most common sin we are told to avoid in the Bible is IDOLATRY!
1 John 5:21 (children of God), keep yourselves from idols. NIV
The Bible describes our new life, our new birth in Christ in this way:
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” NIV
In a culture saturated with images of celebrity and glamour, technology has allowed anyone to compete in that world. Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, blogging, tweeting, social networking all communicates the same thing, “Hey look at me!” We can all become a celebrity. Maybe just a minor celebrity but people can know about us and can follow us and celebrate us and it's all about - me."
Jesus refused to elevate recognition of men above the Father.
John Calvin said, “Our heart is an idol factory. In a fallen world, people constantly seek things they can worship, even though the Creator is before us in plain view.”
The essence of worship is to sacrifice for what we glory in. Sin problems are actually worship problems. Alcoholics worship alcohol. Gluttons worship food. Sex addicts worship pleasure.
Do you want to go deeper?
A man was visiting India. One day he was talking to a pastor’s wife who lives there. They were standing next to an altar with chicken blood and feathers everywhere. He asked do you think you’ll ever come to the USA to visit. She said, “I did once, and I’ll never go back. I can’t stomach the idolatry.” She’s saying this while standing next to this altar where chickens are slaughtered to some chicken god. He looked around and asked where are the shrines of false worship and idolatry in our culture? She replied, “Your god is your stomach and you have restaurants everywhere. Your god is your sports teams and you have billions of dollars invested in stadiums to house them. Your god is your television and all of the chairs in your home are lined up so your family can gather around the altar and worship that god.”
Let’s think about these stadiums and arenas for just a moment. Imagine somebody from ancient Rome who was used to seeing idolatrous ceremonies in the colosseum. Let’s go to a game! Huge pictures -- beyond life-size --, their jerseys and bobble-heads, and faces on the screen. People standing, cheering when star athletes do something spectacular.
Just because it’s “normal” doesn’t mean its pleasing to God. In the Old Testament they'd offer human sacrifices. You'd say that's unbelievable. How many people in our society are sacrificing themselves going to their jobs literally offering themselves as a human sacrifice (stress, heart attack, obesity) for company, promotion, level of income
God’s loving desire is to keep us free from allowing anything other than Him into the center of our lives. This is why tithing is such an important expression of worship. It’s deeper than merely giving money. Tithing is an act of worship saying all increase that ever comes to my life is under the Lordship of Christ and for the purpose of expanding God’s Kingdom not my own!
Deuteronomy 14:23 “The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives.” (TLB)
We sacrifice for what we glory in and this is the essence of worship.
There is a common vision emerging of something many are beginning to call “Stadium Christianity” on the horizon. Masses of people are going to come to know Jesus and will pack into stadiums to seek God. This will not happen because of big names that attract crowds. This will happen because of a hunger for Jesus and many will come.
The new wineskin church is a highly relationship family that is deeply devoted to pursuing Jesus with others as a true expression of discipleship. God is doing something so unique in this next season. Let’s bring our hearts and lives before him readily inviting the Holy Spirit to do whatever deep work He would like to do in us personally and corporately.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Make some time this week to pray and ask God for wisdom to respond to God as we invite him to address these deeper issues in all of our lives.
Vision from Esther Uppal: Acts 27 Paul sailing to Rome. We as a church are on a journey like Paul to an unfamiliar destination in the midst of a storm. Paul heard Gods voice in the midst of the storm declaring - keep up your courage, not one will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed. We too must throw overboard the things we are carrying, the cargo and tackle, the anchors, the lifeboat and the food. Everything we have brought along must be discarded if we are to survive. We must release the things we trusted in. The ship, the manmade structures must be destroyed if we are going to reach the new land that has not been seen before. Paul broke bread on the ship and we too must gather around Christ. Burn the ships, the old structures, old mindsets, old struggles. Time to step into a new day.
Discussion Guide for Community Leaders
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: We are designed to live in the deeper reality of God. This is the more certain reality of eternity which gave birth to the temporal realm that will one day pass away.
Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. NIV
The eternal reality of God’s Word and God’s Truth will remain. Building our lives on this reality is what will last and must be our priority. Let’s go deeper together.
See the Invisible. Do the Impossible.
2 Corinthians 4:18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. NIV
We’ve been starting our groups with the first and primary question that we want to continue even more specifically during this season:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Exodus 20:3-5 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
2. Before hearing the message this weekend how much had the issue of idolatry crossed your mind compared to after hearing the message? What stood out to you?
The Bible describes our new life, our new birth in Christ in this way:
1 Thessalonians 1:9 “…You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” NIV
We read continued caution about this important issue.
1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. NIV
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. The essence of worship is to sacrifice for what we glory in. What are some common illustrations that demonstrate this point?
John Calvin said, “Our heart is an idol factory. In a fallen world, people constantly seek things they can worship, even though the Creator is before us in plain view.”
CONCLUDE with prayer together in response to the action point this week:
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Make some time this week to pray and ask God for wisdom to respond to God as we invite him to address these deeper issues in all of our lives.