Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
So, we come to you today. God, we praise your name. We worship you. We give you the glory and the praise and the honor. You're the only true God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God in the flesh who died on the cross for our sins, who rose from the dead. The only way for forgiveness, the only way to eternal life, the only way to heaven. We exalt your name, Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit. We thank you that you've given us the truth in your word, in the Bible. Lord, we thank you for it. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hallelujah. You may be seated this morning. Hallelujah. But, we welcome everyone listening by Blog Talk Radio, by mixlr.com, uh by Facebook live. Those of you here this morning, good to have you. Fire and Grace Church, I'm Pastor Dean Odle. We're going to get in the word for a little bit this morning. Um entitled this morning idols in the heart. Want everybody to turn with me. First, we'll start in Ezekiel chapter 14. Are you with me? Everybody get there. Either to your Bible or your Bible app or whatever you're going to use. Now, this message is a little different today. Um you know, we we know about idols. We think we know anyway. I don't know if any of you ever been to a country where they worship idols. I have. I've seen it with my own eyes. In the year 2000 I went to the island of Mauritius, which is a long way from here. Actually, you fly over You go to fly to South Africa, fly another 5 hours cross Madagascar out into the middle of the Indian Ocean. There's two little islands out there. One's called Reunion, the other one's called Mauritius. Actually, it's the home of the dodo bird, you know, that's extinct, right? That was the only place in the world it was, and it went extinct because sailors used to stop there, English, Dutch, French sailing around the Horn of Africa, that was a stopping point, and they would the poor dodo bird couldn't fly. So, they'd grab a stick and hit it over the head, and that'd be dinner. So, the dodo bird went extinct, but the island of Mauritius is a majority Hindu country.
I mean, they worship, you know, Hindus worship millions of gods. They worship Kali, Krishna, Vishnu. Uh there's so many of them, different gods. And when I was there, it was heartbreaking to see people, sincere people with great devotion. I saw women weeping their eyes out taking food, which, you know, a lot of them are very poor, but they would take food offerings out to these statues of these different Hindu gods. And it was quite heartbreaking to see when people have their devotion and their worship uh misguided, when they're deceived. Uh we know that it's obvious that Roman Catholics, and I I don't care if I offend Roman Catholicism, but Roman Catholicism is full of idolatry. The Bible says that we shall not make any graven images of anything that is in heaven, in earth, or under the earth to bow down to it. In Roman Catholicism, they have statues of Mary and Peter and angels and saints, and they pray to those things, and they bow to them. In fact, the picture I used for Mixlr and on Facebook this morning for this service was Pope John Paul II bowing before a statue of Mary. That is idolatry. That is the outward acts of idolatry. Now, this is what a lot of people don't know about idolatry, either. They don't know that idolatry, according to the New Testament, we'll turn there in a minute, we'll look at some verses, but idolatry is a sin that will separate you from God. It is a sin unto eternal death that will separate you from God and put you in hell if you practice it habitually. Okay? That's in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It's in Revelation 21. Idolatry is serious with God. In fact, it's one of the first things that he hates the most is whenever we put something ahead of him. When something else is first. The first commandment we are to keep, according to Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, he says we're to love the Lord, our God, our creator, Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, we're to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then we're to love our neighbors as ourselves. So, idolatry is a serious issue, right? The outward idolatry. Paul dealt with it everywhere he went in the pagan world, in the Greek world, they would worship Diana, the queen of heaven. That's what they call Mary now, the queen of heaven, same thing they called Diana. But, we're going to tell you something a little a little more deep this morning. Because even in the Old Testament, everybody thinks the Old Testament only dealt with the outward and not with the inward, with the heart. But even in the Old Testament, the God spoke through Ezekiel to speak to the elders and to tell them,
"You have idols in your heart. Not statues of stone or brass or gold or silver, but you have idols in your heart." And when you have idols in your heart, you will not be able to hear properly from God. You will not be able to discern what God is saying to you. And you will be misled. So, let's read this. And let's see if we have idols in our heart this morning, what idols we have. Ezekiel 14:1. Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me. Not the heathen, not the Gentiles, not those who didn't know about God and the Bible. These were God's people. He said, "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?' Meaning what God's saying, should they come to me at all? Should they come come to a prophet for a word? Should they come to church to hear a message? Should they come and pray to me?" The Lord's saying, should they even come to me at all? Since I'm not first in their life, why should I Why should I answer their prayers? A lot of people wonder why God didn't answer their prayers. I'm going to tell you because he's not first in their life. I know that might hurt some feelings out there. But let's keep reading. Verse 4. "Therefore, speak unto them and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel my people is what he's saying. That setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols. Now, let me break that down. What he's saying is if you have idols in your heart and you come to a prophet, you want a word from God. He said, "Yeah, I'm going to answer you, all right." I'm going to answer you according to the idols that's in your heart. Basically, I'm going to tell you what you want to hear. Even if it's wrong. Uh-oh. You say, "Wait a minute now, God wouldn't do that." Yes, 2 Thessalonians chapter number two, speaking about the end times that we now live in, says this, "If you don't love the truth," says, "in that time, God will send a strong delusion that you will believe a lie." He will allow it. Now, he doesn't do it himself, but he will allow Satan, demons, and very, very slick people to deceive you and mislead you. And you will listen to it if you have idols and sin in your heart. You will be deceived. And the Lord will make sure it happens.
Let me tell you this, I don't care how much of the Bible you know, I don't care how close you've been to the Lord at one time or another. All of us are susceptible to being deceived if we're not very, very careful and diligent in our walk with God. It's a serious matter. I mean, Jesus said it. He said, "Many will fall away." Many, many. In fact, the Apostle Paul said it, 2 Thessalonians again, chapter two. He said, "In the last days, there will be a great falling away, great apostasy, a great abandoning of the faith of walking with the Lord in truth. Let's keep reading this. Verse 5. Well, well, let's read verse 4 again. He says, "Therefore speak unto them and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, or to the church, or to the people of God, thus saith the Lord God, repent, stop this is what that means, and turn away from it. Turn yourselves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. For every one of the house of Israel, or the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me and setteth up his idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself. Now, listen to this. I will set my face against that man and I will make him a sign and a proverb and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Now, this is a serious matter. I'm going to break down a few things for you this morning. After being in the ministry now, 2017 coming up will be my 30th anniversary of preaching the gospel, of being called by God to do what I'm doing. And Mike's known me for most of those years. Mike came to my house in 1988. The Lord allowed me to lead him to Jesus and salvation. Mike was healed that night. A miraculous healing took place. And that was in 1988, man. That's a long time ago. November the 23rd. Shoo. Long time ago. But I want to tell you this. I've counseled a lot of people. And I'm going to tell you that the number one problem in people's lives, I don't care if they if they if they got a drinking problem or a drug problem or
a lust problem or an adultery problem or a premarital sex problem, the number one problem is always God And when I say God, I mean the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. God and God's word, God's truth is not number one. It's really that simple. People tell me all the time, "I love God. I love Jesus. I love the word. I The Bible's the truth." But then their actions, the way they live their lives day-to-day, does not show that. I mean, folks, listen to me. Right now, one of the greatest idols that are in people's hearts is media. TV, Facebook, music, secular music. Spend hours and hours and hours and hours and hours on these things, but can't spend 15 minutes in prayer. Can't People, you know, I I was amazed in the last few years how many Christians, especially Christian women would read all the Twilight novels. Which are just demonic filth. Occult filth. And not spend 15 minutes a day reading their Bible. That's not even talking about You know, a few weeks ago when the stuff came out about Trump what Trump said 11 years ago. You know, I everybody pitched a fit the media about objectifying women and I thought to myself you know who bought 80 million copies of 50 Shades of Grey and couldn't wait to go to the movie and help 50 Shades of Grey movie make 585 million dollars? And then a friend of mine who knows the woman who did the audio for 50 Shades of Grey, the audio book told me said you're wrong. It's not 80 million copies of the book sold, it was 160 million. Who bought that? I saw women who claim to be Christians on my Facebook page and I'm not just picking on ladies, but I'm just going with this. But I saw women on my Facebook who say they're Christians. Pray for me. I was talking about pray for me about this. Pray for my family about this. Pray about this. And they couldn't wait when that what was it? MAGIC MIKE? OH, WE CAN'T WAIT TO GO see Magic Mike. I'm like
America, we everybody wants to point at Trump. No, no, no. America has a lust problem. America has a media problem. That media Listen, TV now, regular TV is soft porn. I'm just blown away. And I I I'm just talking about Christians today. I'm not talking about people that don't know know God. I don't expect people that don't know God to act like they do. I don't expect that. A fish is going to be a fish. Jesus said I called you to be fishers of men. Pull them out of the water. Lead them to Jesus and they become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away. This is This is what I don't get anymore. If you say you're a Christian, your old life, old sins, old idols are supposed to be gone. You're supposed to be different. I mean, this is the most simple message or part of the gospel is repentance means if I was a drunkard, I quit being a drunkard. IF I WAS AN ADULTERER, I stop being an adulterer. IF I'M A DRUG ADDICT, I stop TAKING DRUGS. RIGHT? IF I'M VIOLENT, IF I'M ADDICTED TO PORN, IF I LIKE TO FIGHT, I QUIT THOSE THINGS, I turn away from them, and I START A NEW LIFE OF WALKING with Jesus, obeying him, and and getting in spending time with him more than I spend time with these other things. I used to say this I've said this for years. Mikey, you probably heard me say it, too. The people will say, "I don't have time to pray or read my Bible." I said, "Write that on a 3 by 5 card and put it on your TV." Back then, all I could say was TV. Now, I can say TV, iPad, iPhone, smart phone, whatever. Let me go to the second thing. Let me tell you why I I more people more people fall away from God, especially young people. But older people, too. Got to have a man. Got to have a girlfriend. Got to have a boyfriend. And they'll date some lust-filled heathen. We call it missionary dating. Oh, I'm trying to get them saved. I'm going to tell you right now that never works. All right. Bible says don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Every person every single person that I've ever told, do not marry this person
I talked to Christians because they're not truly born again and walking with the Lord. Every single one ended up being a disaster. But got to have a boyfriend. Got to have a girlfriend. That becomes more important. When that becomes more important than obeying the word of God, then that's your idol. That's idol in your heart. You can go to church. You can go to counseling. You can ask why you're having so many Well, I You know what? Why are so many people depressed? Why are so many people depressed and taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety and anti-psychotics, anti- this, anti-that? Why? Because happiness, peace, and joy does not come have from having this boyfriend or that girlfriend or this person for a husband or this person for a wife or how much money. You know, when when I was a teenager, man, you want to talk about I was the party animal, football player, modeling contract, movie contract. I was about to be rich and famous. And the more stuff went well for me in the world, the more depressed I became. I mean, you think about it. You would think being signing a contract with a major modeling agency, doing screen tests for All My Children, One Life to Live, the soap operas. Once you do the screen test, you get a call, "Oh, we want you to be in And this is going to show my age, but I want you to be in in the We We got a part for you in Die Hard 1." Then, what I was making in the modeling age, $200 an hour. Sigma Chi fraternity. Go play football. And I kept getting, you know, drinking, partying, frat parties. And I kept getting more and more depressed. More and more darkness kept covering me. I'm going to tell you right now, if I'd have kept going down that road, at some point I'd have probably blown my brains out or ended up in a bar fight as I did many nights with the wrong people and been shot, stabbed, or killed. Or if I'd have gone to Hollywood, I only knew one speed. Man, cocaine, marijuana, drugs, alcohol, I would have been, you know, I'd have been Heath Ledger.
Or what was the other one? River Phoenix, those guys just partied so hard until they they killed themselves. That would have been me. I thank God when I was 19 years old that God reminded me of the experience that I had with him when I was 11 and 12. And God put it in front of me and said, "You cannot have the world and everything in it and have me, too. You got to make up your mind, son, which way you're going to go." And I'm glad that I chose the the right way. Amen. I wouldn't change it. 1987, I wouldn't change that decision to follow Jesus 100%. I would not change it for anything you could give me. Not millions of dollars, not fame, not all the women in the world, the drugs in the world, none of it. It's all all of that's going to die. All of that's going to be be in hell. And I'm glad, man. I'm going to tell you. But that's just a couple of things. Let's look at some another a few other idols in your heart. The number one, I would say probably above just relationship, mass media, of course, as the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6, the love of money is the root of all evil. Not money. We have to use money. The love of money. The desire for it, the longing for it, that I got to have it because I got to I want this and I want that and I want this and I want that and I want to appear or look to be something. And the problem becomes when you're willing to do anything to get the money or the fame or the millions of dollars. There's a lot of people say, "Well, I know I know people that help the poor, so that it doesn't mean money is an idol to them." I know poor people that money is an idol to. Giving is not a sign that it's not an idol in your heart. Jesus said a rich young ruler came to him one time and said, "Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The Lord said, "Keep the commandments. Obey me." You don't hear that preached in church anymore, but that was Jesus. And the guy said, "Well, you know, I've kept your my your commandments from my youth. I don't commit adultery. I don't steal. I don't kill." A lot of people do that, don't we? I've been pretty good, Jesus. What's interesting, the guy went through the commandments. He didn't talk about the commandment the first one and the second one. But Jesus looked at him and you see, here's the thing. The man knew he had
this knowing in his heart. He knew he wasn't he didn't have eternal life, even though he had tried to be good and keep as many commandments as he could. He knew he didn't have eternal life, or he wouldn't have been asking Jesus. And Jesus knew Finally, Jesus looks at him and says, "Go and sell everything you have, give it to the poor and come and follow me. Basically, give up your entire life and start a completely new one." It said the man head went down and he walked away. Today, churches would have said, "Just say this prayer, sign this card. Make sure you give 10% and you're good." Jesus said, "No." Go sell everything. I want you to get rid of everything. How many of you would do that? If today Jesus said get rid of the boyfriends, get rid of the girlfriends, get rid of your job, get rid of your money, get rid of your car, whatever, follow me. You wouldn't do it. I can say this today, I have. I have had times God said, I remember I had $1,000 in the bank and I had a car that was worth at the time probably about $6,000 paid off. Mike is my witness. The Lord told me to empty your bank account, give it to this person and give your car to this poor family over here. I like, Lord, you do know that's my only car and that's all my money. And he was like, yes, I know. The Lord's tested me with that many, many times. Are you willing to walk away from everything? Look, for some of us, for us pastors and ministers, sometimes even ministry becomes an idol. I have walked away from the ministry. Today, I'm going to tell you right now, if the Lord told me to shut this ministry down, even though, hey, we have a small church, but we're reaching hundreds of thousands of people through through the media, through the internet. But if the Lord told me to shut it down, I'd shut it down cuz you know what? This is not my God. This does not make me who I am. My wife knows I'd shut it down. Nothing can be an idol. Nothing can be an idol in your heart. Let me tell you another idol in people's hearts. Their children. Oh-oh. About to hurt some feelings here. Oh, yes, we're supposed to love our children. We're supposed to provide for our children. We're supposed to encourage our children, discipline our children. But I've seen parents that will not do
what the Bible says to do, will not do what God is telling them to do with their lives because of their children. Oh, well, I want my children to do this or I want my children to go to this school or I want my children to be in this type of program or I want my children to be be be be be be be be be. And you know what? I say to them all the time, what's God say about it? I remember in 2002, I was going through a very difficult time. My kids were going through a difficult time, my two girls, older girls that I have. It was a very difficult time for us. The last thing that I wanted to do at that time was to leave the country for a month and go preach in Nigeria. Last thing I wanted to do. The Lord said, "I've opened a door. I want you to go." Okay. I've learned obey God no matter what your feelings. You want to talk about somebody that didn't feel like they could preach, didn't feel like they could do any good? Watch your children cry because of there's a situation going on that's already difficult and now daddy's going out of the country for a month. I didn't want to do it. But let me tell you, I obeyed God. And I'm going to tell you the power of God came down in Nigeria. I preached twice a day minimum, sometimes three times a day. People would pack these churches that didn't have walls. They had a roof and a concrete floor and poles. They would pack every seat. They would be standing outside around hundreds and hundreds of people. I preached in one place I had 20 plus thousand people. People one one healing service we had every single person that came that was sick or had a physical problem, every single person was healed in the name of Jesus. My mind was on people were saved. People were delivered. You know what? I would go preach and see those miracles and see people get saved weeping their eyes out giving their lives to Jesus. I would teach in the seminary school in the mornings. I would I would go back to my room at night exhausted. I mean, folks, it never gets cold there. So, it was 90° in November. I would go back to my room exhausted and you know my heart all my heart would do was just ache because I wanted to be with my kids and I wanted to be home. But I'm like, "Lord, this is what you want me to do." We we know little now about actually sacrificing anything to do what God wants us to do.
If it doesn't please us, prosper us, and make us feel good, then we don't want to do it. Listen, most of Christianity is taking up your cross, denying yourself, and doing what God wants you to do even when it doesn't feel right, even when it when it's misery. That's Christianity. Jesus, when he called the first disciples, the first apostles, what did they do? He said, "COME AND FOLLOW ME." THEY LEFT THEIR WIVES. Peter was married, kids, their their jobs, THEIR BUSINESS, EVERYTHING THEY DROPPED to follow him. We have no concept OF THAT ANYMORE. WE GET UPSET if a preacher talks about tithing, when really in the New Testament, God could tell you AT ANY MOMENT, "GIVE EVERYTHING TO THE CHURCH." AND YOU SHOULD be able to do that. Not in America. I watched people when I was in Africa, and I went back multiple times. I would see people who heard about our church service, who would walk through the bush, through the jungle for 2 days to get to a service. Now, we can't even get people to drive 15 minutes. You know, this this idol of children, I have seen pastors of Church of God, Assembly of God, Baptist, men who used to be solid in the word of God, in the truth of what the Bible says about homosexuality. And one of their kids ends up getting into homosexuality or claiming to be homosexual, and all of a sudden, BECAUSE THEIR CHILD IS NOW a homosexual, NOW IT'S OKAY. IT'S NOT OKAY. CHILDREN. God tested, you know, everybody ought to know this. Abraham was what? The father of our faith, right? Paul said in Galatians, Abraham's the father of the children of faith. Anyone that's of faith, believing in Jesus as the Messiah, believing the word of God, we are children of Abraham. Through the blood of Jesus, through being born again. So, I'm a child of Abraham, right? Abraham had a relationship with God. He heard God's voice. He had a New Testament relationship with God before the New Testament ever came in. And Abraham has this relationship with God in Genesis chapter 22. God's promised him. He couldn't have a child, him and Sarah. Sarah was barren, couldn't have a child. But God said,
"You're going to have a child, and you're going to be the father of many nations." But for years and years, 25 years, I think it was, no child, no child born. And I'm not even going to get into the Ishmael thing right now, but finally God's word came to pass. And Abraham's long desire to have his own child, his own son, God works a miracle when he's about 100 YEARS OLD. AND SARAH about the same. A miracle. And Isaac is born, and God says, "Isaac is the promised child." And then in Genesis 22, God comes to Abraham and IT SAYS, WE KNOW the story, it was a test. God said he tested Abraham. BUT ABRAHAM DIDN'T KNOW that at the time, and God said to Abraham, "Go take your son, your only son, and go to the mountain I tell you, AND THERE SACRIFICE HIM. KILL HIM AS A SACRIFICE TO ME." And Abraham SO BELIEVED GOD, AND SO TRUSTED GOD, AND GOD WAS SUCH SO HE WAS FIRST IN HIS LIFE ABOVE THIS even this precious child, who was now about 12 years old. Some even say it might have been older. And he takes him there, and he ties him down. And he raises the knife. And then the Lord says, "Abraham, stop." And the Lord said, "Now I know." Now I know. But now parents today can't even tell their children no. We want to be their friends instead of their parents. We can't tell them, "No, you're not going out with that guy, or you're not going out with that girl, or you're not doing this, or you're not doing that." How many people really put God first? Abraham so believed and trusted God and had God such first in his life that he believed that even if he killed Isaac on that altar, that God was going to raise him from the dead because God had promised through Isaac would be a nation. We can't we Let me tell you. I love my girls. But they will not determine whether I obey God or not. They will not determine whether I continue to stand for God's truth, God's morality, and God's will and direction in my life.
Idols in their heart. What's in your heart? I got one child right now rebelling against me. Living in Chicago. Hasn't spoken to me in a year. Because I told her, "You're in sin with that boyfriend of yours you're living with. And you're not going to heaven and you're not right with God." Oh, she's so angry at me. I love her. I love her with all my heart. It breaks my heart. But just because she's my daughter, my firstborn, does not mean I will ever back away from what the truth of the Bible says about it. You know why? Because true love is not here to make her feel good and tell her everything's okay and for Daddy to approve of her sinful behavior. True love is the fact that I want her to find a good guy who loves Jesus, who's going to treat her right, who's not treat her like crap. I'll tell you what, if I weren't a Christian, he would already be in the hospital or 6 ft under. Cuz I know people. I know a guy. Y'all think I'm kidding, but I know people. But you know what? She's 23 years old. She was taught the truth. I can't let it determine what I'm going to how I'm going to live. But I will never tell her it's okay to be in fornication. You know why? Cuz I want her to go to heaven. And the Bible says no fornicators. That means premarital sex. Nobody living in that goes to heaven when they die. I want to Want me to prove that for you? Let's Let's it. I told you what cuz this covers Let's go to Galatians chapter 5 real quick. Verses 19, we'll start there. Just so you'll see it's not Pastor Dean making this up. Galatians 5, let me get there. It is my pages are sticking together. Let's all read this. Galatians 5:19. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, which are wild partying, like I used to do, and the such like of which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The Greek word here do is prasso. It means to practice habitually. That's the definition. So God is saying very plainly here through the Apostle Paul, "Anyone, I don't care if you're a Christian or a non-Christian, if you are a practicing adulterer, if you are a practicing fornicator, premarital sex, and really fornication, the word porneia, covers all sexual immorality, lesbianism, bestiality, homosexuality, sodomy, it covers it all. So he says, "If you're a practicing sodomite, you're a practicing homosexual, you're a practicing fornicator, you're a practicing adulterer, you're a practicing drunkard, you're a practicing idolater, you will not inherit the kingdom of you will not go to heaven. I don't care if you think Jesus is your savior and you're saved. You are not once saved, always saved, no matter how you live your life. That is not what the Bible teaches and if you believe that you are deceived. And your idol is a religious doctrine. That's false. Let me show you another verse. Revelation 21. See, I'm going to tell you right now a pastor that loves you, a parent that loves you tells you the truth, even the painful truth. There is a heaven and there is a hell. And Jesus said that the way to heaven was narrow and few would go in thereat. You know why? Cuz few would ever give up their idols and their sins. He said, "Wide is the gate, wide is the road that leads to destruction and many go in thereat." I can tell you this much, this preacher will never, ever stand before God and say you didn't tell them. Not ever. Revelation 21. Let's start reading at verse six. And he said unto me, and this is Jesus speaking, "It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And I will give him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable, and God calls homosexuality abominable. The murderers, the abortionist, Hillary Clinton, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, the idolaters. The word whoremonger is the same word in
the Greek for fornication. So, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. I mean, there it is. Oh, but people will say, "But Pastor Dean, we don't believe all the Bible is inspired by God. We don't believe we don't It was written by men." Well, there you have another idol. Religious unbelief. That's why he said here, "The unbelieving." There's no book that's been more proven by archaeology, history, manuscript evidence, fulfilled prophecy. The Quran doesn't even come close. The Hindu Vedas, Nostradamus, that's all foolishness. When you have a book that has 300-plus prophecies of the first coming of Jesus down to the details of where he would be born, that he would be crucified, his hands and his feet would be pierced, that he would be born of a virgin, the very town he would be born in 750 years before he was born there. No, there's never It Guess what? The Quran doesn't predict the birth of Muhammad 750 years before he was born. People say, "I I've been accused." There's a family member that says, "Oh, you're pa- you know, Pastor Dean is a hater because he he he rags on other religions." Well, guess what? Common sense tells you they can't all be true because they're completely different. SO, THEY CAN'T ALL BE TRUE. THEY CAN'T ALL BE VALID. They can't all be the way to God. Oprah, Morgan Freeman, these have become the new priests and prophets and preachers. Deepak Chopra, Oprah. Doesn't matter always lead to God, they say. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man No man will come to the Father, will come before the throne of heaven without knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior." And guess what? A lot of people think that that idolatry is simply a definition of having a god other than Jesus. No, idolatry is also having Jesus and something else. Jesus is not just to put up on the shelf with the rest of your idols. Right? This is a matter of eternal life, idolatry.
I want you to turn with me and I'll close with these passages. I want you to go with me. We're going to go to Luke 9 and then to Luke 13. And we'll finish up. I want you to turn there and see this. This is the gospel. This is the the demands of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know most are not going to listen. Most are not going to do it. It's just the way it is. Luke chapter 9, Jesus made some interesting comments here. Oh, where shall we start? Oh, we'll start at verse 18. Luke 9:18. And it came to pass as he was alone praying his disciples were with him and they asked him saying, He asked them, Jesus asked them rather, "Whom say the people that I am?" And they answered and said, "John the Baptist and some say Elijah and others say that that you're one of the old prophets risen again." And Jesus said unto them, "But whom say you that I am?" And Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And he immediately charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the priests and the scribes and be slain and be raised the third day." And he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is it a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed when he shall come in his glory and in his father's and with the holy angels. Let's look over at Luke 13. Everybody there? Luke 13. Let's read verse 22 here. And he, speaking of Jesus, went through the cities and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, "Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Look over in chapter 14 of Luke. Verse 25. There went great multitudes with him, and he turned and he said unto them, If
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. What is Jesus doing here? He's wiping out every excuse, every reason. Oh, well, my husband won't go to church, so I won't go to church. Do you know I hear that? Well, my husband wants me to do, you know, wants me to drink with him. So, I drink with him. Or my wife wants me. Works both ways. Well, I I I I know I should shouldn't, but but but but but but but Right? What Jesus saying is no one can be an idol. There are people that are going to die, and they're going to be in hell, because they loved a family member, or a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or a spouse, or whatever. Those people more important to them than doing what God said. Drawing near to God. Putting God first. So, Jesus has made this clear. This is the Bible's made this clear. Let's keep reading. Luke 14. Read verse 26 again, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and his and his wife and his children and his brethren and his sisters, yea, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. That's pretty plain, right? You believe and know that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you believe he rose from the dead. That's a good start. But don't be fooled by these churches and these preachers say that's all you need, just believe. Just believe and you're good. No. If you do not take up your cross and follow after God daily, then you're just deceiving yourself. Don't do that. Don't deceive yourself. Really with God, it is all or nothing. He is, you know, I heard Oprah Oprah get all in a tizzy one time over the passage about God is a jealous God. Well, he should be. You know what? If God didn't care about us and he didn't love us, it wouldn't bother him, now would it? Whatever we decided to do.
He really wants us to make it to heaven. He really wants us to be with him forever. He really wants us to be saved. The Bible is very clear. Second Peter chapter 3, he says this very plainly. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I mean, he don't want you to be lost. He don't want you to be deceived. He doesn't want you to be deceived by by sin, sexual sin, or idolatry, or anything. You don't want you to be deceived by this world. I can tell you it's worth it. When I walked away from the modeling career and the movie career and the penthouse and the sexual immorality and the drugs and the alcohol and the fighting and the bar hopping and the partying and all when I finally walked away from it and made Jesus Lord of my life, I found true peace that I hadn't ever had that I remember except for that one moment when I was young and I and I got saved for the first time. But I found peace. I found true happiness and joy. It wasn't dependent on what I had or I didn't have. It wasn't dependent on whether I had a girlfriend or not. In fact, once I really got saved, I realized that I didn't need one for a while till I found the one God wanted me to be with. Right? If you take up your cross, if you crucify the flesh, if you choose to truly repent and follow Jesus, everything in your life will change. Everything. My dad he was blown away. You have to understand, my dad, my mom, my brother, my friends, oh gosh, my best friends that I grew up with blown away. They were like if Dean walked away from the modeling career, the movie career, the money, the women, the drugs, the alcohol, THE PARTYING IT'S GOT TO be real. I mean, THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE SAYING. MY FRIENDS were like THEY WERE LIKE, "OH, IT'S JUST A And then someone said, "Oh, it's just a fad." When it Then a year goes by, 2 years goes by, 3 They're like, "Okay." I mean, I have friends right now that I mean, that I grew up with years that years ago One one guy is not saved. He's not saved right now, but he goes, "I I WANT WHAT YOU HAVE." I'M LIKE, "YOU CAN HAVE IT." BUT YOU GOT to be willing to do what it takes to have it. You got to be willing to turn loose of your idols and your sin. It's funny. Guy asked me to pray for him.
He said, "Man, ask the Lord to tell you something about me." I did. And he did. And when I told him what the Lord told me, he didn't he didn't talk to me for a long time. It freaked him out. Because what God showed me was the problem of what's holding him back from God. We all have His His is an offense with someone that did him wrong. And he won't forgive them. He won't let it go. He won't release it. And that idol of having to hold on to that anger and that pain and that hurt and that bitterness and that unforgiveness He that holding on to that is keeping him. Listen, we all If you live long enough in this world, somebody will lie about you, somebody will hurt you, somebody will do you wrong. You know, some people, that's their idol. They will not let go of the hurt, the pain, the anger, the desire for revenge. They won't let go of it, repent of it. Nothing you can do. Jesus said if you won't forgive others, you will not be forgiven. That's pretty simple. Right? It's not optional with God. Shh. I could preach on this one for a while, y'all. Do you have idols in your heart? You may not bow down to statues of Kali or Krishna or Buddha. But if anything's more important to you than knowing Jesus, walking with Jesus, and obeying Jesus, then you have idols in your heart. Anything that can keep you from him. And what I'm saying from obeying, according to the Bible, obeying his voice speaking to you. A lot of people say, "Well, you Pastor Dean, you hear from God. You hear God speak to you." Yes, I do. It's not weird. It's normal for Christians. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me." Said the Holy Spirit will speak to us and show us things to come. God showed me things. I I you know, I've shared this before, but one time I mean, 2 days before 9/11. 2 days before. September 11th, 2001 was a Sunday morning. I'm preaching, in the middle of preaching a sermon on the blessings of God, and the Holy Spirit comes over me and I say, "By the gift of prophecy, Washington D.C. and New York City will be attacked. Terrorist attack." 2 days later it happened. God can speak to any of you. He can speak to me, he can speak to you. The problem is not that he's not speaking, the problem is that we are not listening. The problem is, you know, somebody said,
I remember one time I said, "Lord, why am I you know, I'm not hearing you as good as I used to?" And I remember he said, "Hearing has to do with proximity." I could be talking, but if you're 2 mi down the road, you're not going to hear what I'm saying. But if you draw near to God, you get up close to him, you'll start hearing what he's saying. And I'm going to tell you the days that we're moving in cuz we are moving in some dangerous times. Probably the most vulnerable and dangerous times this nation has ever seen will be between now and this next 2017 will be one of the most dangerous seasons for this nation. Most of you have no clue that we are a breath away from nuclear war with Russia. A breath. A BREATH AWAY. I MEAN, EVEN OUR government just moved us to DEFCON 3. How many of you knew that? DEFCON 2 is nuclear war imminent. That's really where it should be. DEFCON 3 is probable. Nuclear hostilities. What? Over Syria. Vladimir Putin flat-out said, "If Hillary Clinton wins, it's war." Cuz she's going to push him in Syria. But what what what what We're too busy with the what what is it now? The Voice? I guess what's took over American Idol spot. Isn't that funny? We have a show that was on TV for years that everybody couldn't get their called American Idol. I'm like, we really have to define what that is? And yes, people worship there. They worship their music artists and their actors and I've been around some of those people. Not impressed. They're just people. Matter of fact, you almost don't recognize them when you meet them in person. Cuz they're not covered in makeup and you know, touched up. So, you I remember running into uh who was it? Kid Rock. And then I ran into uh What's the guy used to be on Saturday Night Live? Oh, McDonald. What's his name? Norm. I was standing right next to me. I didn't even recognize him. I was like, "Oh, man." I didn't want to say, "You look terrible without makeup and Jesus loves us. This we know, right? I'm going to end with this. It's never been a question of whether Jesus loves us. It's always been the question of whether we love him. And he's the one that said, "If you love
me, keep my commandments." The proof, you know, I don't want my kid My kids can say, "Daddy, I love you." all day long. I love to hear that. I love it. And I love it when they jump in my lap or they hug me and they say, "Kiss me and Daddy, I love you." But I'd rather they obeyed me. I'd rather they respected my wisdom and my discernment and I'd rather they lived for God. See, I miss my I miss my girls. I got one another one in college I don't get to see very much. And the other one in rebellion. Miss them. Terribly miss them. But my hope and prayer is that they both will walk with the Lord and get back where they need to be with the Lord. So, that you know what, we'll have eternity to catch up. And I promise you they're going to come to me as many of you will. But they're going to come to me and they're going to say, "Dad, sorry. You were right." I said, "Yes, I'm right cuz God's right. God's word's right. God's word's the only It's the only truth we have in a world full of lies and deception. It's the only truth that you can bank on. So, you parents out there, you got some kids that are not r- living for the Lord, keep praying for them. Don't don't back off the truth. Don't water it down. Don't worry about making them mad. Don't kiss their butts. I told my I You know, I'm another reason she she's mad at me cuz I told her flat out. She's wanting money from me one day to go see this boy out in Texas and I'm like, "I'm not funding your sin." So, get mad if you want to. I'm not paying for you to go fornicate. Ouch. You know, love you, but sorry. I'm not paying for your alcohol. Not paying for your marijuana. Not paying for anything else you might be buying or doing. All right? Oh. Let's let's pray this morning. Thank you, Jesus. Father in heaven, Lord, I know for some this is a tough, hard word. They don't hear this. They're not used to this. The church in America has gotten away from telling the truth. I ask you, Lord, to move in this place. I ask you to move on those listening,
those watching. God, I pray today that if any idols are in the hearts been exposed that people today will humble themselves and repent. Just simply say, "Lord, forgive me for having these idols. Forgive me for putting these things before you. Forgive me of idolatry. Forgive me of my sin. Jesus, I want you to be Lord of my life. I want to follow you. I want to obey you. I want to be saved. I want to be changed." It's as simple as saying a prayer and then doing what you pray. I've preached all over the world. I've preached in prisons. I always tell people, "You can pray a prayer with me. That's fine and dandy. What are you going to do tomorrow? And the next day, and the next day?" Father, I pray in Jesus' name that Holy Spirit conviction of sin that you will draw people to the place of true repentance and making Jesus Lord. Of smashing and destroying and removing the idols from their lives, from their hearts, from their homes, from their minds, and truly making Jesus number one, Lord of their lives. That's what I pray more than anything. We pray this today in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand.