Gods at War
February 3 - March 8
God of Me
March 8, 2020 • Gregg Parris
Daniel 4:1-3 What motivates you? For Nebuchadnezzar his motivation was to impress others. What is your standard for success? For Nebuchadnezzar it was personal gain. What’s your source of power? For Nebuchadnezzar it was self-empowerment. What’s the purpose of your life? For King Nebuchadnezzar it was personal happiness. “’Therefore, I bring charges against you again,’ declares the Lord…’My people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,’ declares the Lord. ‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.’” Jeremiah 2:9, 11-13 What motivates you? Instead of “impressing others” that answer becomes “pleasing God.” What is your standard for success? Instead of “personal gain” the answer becomes “faithfulness to God.” What’s your source of power? Instead of “self-empowerment” your answer becomes “dependence on God.” What is the purpose of your life? Instead of answering “personal happiness” your answer becomes “God’s Glory.” Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
God of Success
March 1, 2020 • Gregg Parris
Luke 18:18-30 I. Success vs. blessed. There are not enough deeds or donations in the world to buy an ounce of the purity we need. II. You have to choose. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24 How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Mark 10:23 III. Jesus my purpose.
God of Money
February 23, 2020 • Gregg Parris
Luke 12:13-21 “Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, and over these ideals they dispute and cannot unite – but they all worship money.” Mark Twain “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:14-15 “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” Ecclesiastes 5:15 I. Source of security. II. Source of satisfaction. If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. Ecclesiastes 5:10 III. Source of significance.
God of Love
February 16, 2020 • Gregg Parris
Genesis 29 "EVERY ONE OF US IS, EVEN FROM HIS MOTHER’S WOMB, A MASTER CRAFTSMAN OF IDOLS." John Calvin I. Looking for love. When you make a relationship with someone else your god, it will eventually be marked with disappointment and bitterness. II. A new love
God of Pleasure
February 9, 2020 • Glenn Greiner
1 Kings 18:18-24 1. Don’t expect God to bless his competition. “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 1 Kings 17:1 Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing. 1 Kings 18:20-21 2. What is the cost of chasing your god of pleasure? 18: 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. 3. God wants your heart. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” 40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. 4. God must be your greatest pleasure! “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
Gods at War
February 2, 2020 • Glenn Greiner
Joshua 24:14-15 Every sin you are struggling with, most of the discouragement you are dealing with—even the lack of purpose you’re living with is because of idolatry? 1. Understand that all of us are worshipers. Worship: the built in human reflex to put your hope in someone or something and chase after it. 2. Prepare yourself for war. Over the course of your life, you will face more spiritual warfare over your connection with Jesus than anything else. 3. God is jealous ___ . Ex 34:14: “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” 3. God is jealous for ___. Deut 4:24 - …for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” 3. God is jealous for me. 4. Make a worship choice today. You must make the choice to worship God every day. You must make the choice yourself (choose for yourselves this day …) 23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.” What are my idols? What have you picked up from your family/friends? What are you most disappointed with? What do you sacrifice your time and money for? God wants our hearts to burn with zeal for Him!