Ridding Ourselves Of Our Idols Series

SERMON BRIEF

Date Written: June 8, 2006

Date Preached: June 11, 2006

Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Idolatry in the Church

Sermon Title: Ridding Ourselves of Idols

Sermon Text: 2 Tim 1:6-7

Introduction:

This past week you heard me share with you several idols that have plagued us here at OZHBC and we learned that we need to abandon these idols and put them out of our lives… the idols we looked at… the idols we bow to here in our fellowship are…

1. Our Dismal Fixation on the Past

2. Our Distressing Fear of Change

3. Our Dreadful Failure to Submit to Leadership, and

4. Our Deadly Folly of Ignoring God…

Now understand that God had me share these idols with you… not to condemn you but to convict you and encourage you to turn from them and turn to Him!

In the Bible we read where the nation of Israel faced the wrath of God time after time because they had fallen into worshipping idols rather than Him…

We find that time and time again God sent prophets with basically the same message… TURN AWAY FROM YOUR IDOLS AND SERVE ME.

Usually Israel would ignore the prophet and God would have to discipline the nation through some sort of difficult time…then God would send a messenger with a message of repentance and the people would repent and turn back to God… only to repeat the entire process again and again…

I find that in our church as well, we find ourselves facing God’s discipline because we turn away from following Him to follow or bow to these idols we hold dear!

But if we are to become what God wants us to be… If we want to truly rid ourselves of the idolatry that haunts us and prevents us from growing, we must turn back to God!

God has said in Matt 6:33, “…But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you…”

God calls us to seek Him first in all we do… and when we put Him first… our idols are going to fall by the wayside. But God calls us to live for Him in this evil world… to be a witness for His love for all of humanity…

Acts 1:8, “…But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth...”

But it seems that we lose our focus and we stumble and fall much too easily. It seems as if we cannot stay ‘on track’ with God, and this morning I want to share with you that if we are going to remove these idols from our fellowship… changes must be made!

What we have to do is become VIGILANT Christians… we cannot allow the world and all its distractions to dissuade or distract our walk with God…

We must have a vigilant attitude in how we serve Christ. Vigilant as defined by Encarta Internet Dictionary means: WATCHFUL AND ALERT, ESPECIALLY TO DANGER OR TO SOMETHING THAT IS WRONG

This means we must become watchful and alert in our walk with Christ, because as believers we are in danger… and there IS something wrong in our world today…

The Bible tells in 1 Peter 5:8 (HCSB)

“…Be sober! Be on the alert! [Be VIGILANT!] Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour…”

It is dangerous because we have an ETERNAL enemy in Satan and all his minions. He seeks to destroy us in any way he can.

Once we come to know Christ as Savior, he knows he has lost the battle for our soul, but he is intent on keeping you from sharing what God has done for you with others…

He will attack you and influence you so that you will stumble and fall and become a bad witness for the Lord. He does this because he understands that when people see Christians acting like the world… it turns them against Christianity…

So as believers we are to be VIGILANT in our relationship with Christ. Turn with me this morning to 2 Tim 1:6-7 and I want you to follow along as I read the verses…

Therefore, I remind you to KEEP ABLAZE THE GIFT OF GOD that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment…”

We are not called by God to be timid or weak or fearful… We are not called by God to stumble, bumble and fall…

We are called by God to be strong, courageous and vigilant in our walk… we are called by God to…