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Jeremiah 50 Verse 38 "And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them."

God used Babylon to bring judgment to his people Israel and now he is judging Babylon. Why is God judging Babylon, because the whole land is filled with idols and the people are madly in love with them. Babylon went from being an instrument of judgment to being the recipient of judgment because they failed to recognize and worship God. They had plenty of chances to turn to the Lord. They saw the miracle power of God with Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego; they saw the sustaining power and the wisdom of God through Daniel but they kept turning back to idols.

I wonder are we as Americans guilty of the same, we have seen Gods power, miracles and wisdom but as a nation we keep turning back to worthless idols that have no power and as Americans many are madly in love with them. We will pay thousands of dollars for a ticket to a football game, we will stand in lines for hours to see our favorite singer and we will drive for an hour to eat at our favorite restaurant, but when it comes to God, if it is not convenient, comfortable and easy most people step away from the challenge of living a radical life for God and settle for Sunday Morning Christianity.

I don't know about you but I want more, more than powerless idols, I desire a relationship with a supernatural God that can part the sea, hold the sun and rain manna out of heaven. I desire a relationship with God that empowers me with his authority and releases me to work the works of God and even greater than what Jesus did. I desire an intimate relationship with God that draws me into his arms and allows me to feel the heartbeat of my heavenly Father and this relationship that I desire and I believe many of you desire is what God offers us through Jesus. It is ours for the taking, God has placed the cookies on the bottom shelf and he says whosoever will let him come, drink, eat and be filled with the goodness and grace of a loving Father that desires to draw you unto himself. So what are you waiting for, turn from those worthless idols and run to your heavenly Father and let him sweep you up into his loving arms

Muddy Water

Proverbs 25
Verse 26 "If the godly give in to the wicked, it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring."

We can not be overpowered, the only way the enemy can defeat us, is if we give in. Satan uses pressure and discouragement to try to get us to give in. Satan knows he can not defeat us but he can try to convince us to quit. Now here is an important note, when the godly give in, it muddies the water for everyone around them. When the godly give in to the wicked, the lines between right and wrong, good and evil become very hard to distinguish. All of a sudden everyone in your circle of influence begins to struggle with why they do what they do and because of your decision to give in to the pressure, quitting starts to look good to everyone around you. Like it or not your life creates a chain reaction for good or evil, your life encourages people to stand against the enemy or it encourages them to lay down and walk away from what God has called them to do.

Just Say "No"

Proverbs 25:28 "A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls."

Self control is a wall of defense and without it we lie open to attack. If you can not control your flesh then you are always vulnerable to attack. Satan appeals to our flesh to lead us away from God, your ability to say no to yourself is your greatest wall of defense. This is why the daily disciples of the Christian life are important in keeping our bodies, souls and spirits in submission to the Holy Spirit. Prayer, bible study, fasting and giving are daily habits that keep the walls of defense up against the enemy. As we learn to say "no" to our flesh and "yes" to the spirit we fortify our lives and position ourselves to succeed in every area of life.

Changing Your Mind

Jeremiah 34
Verse 10-11 "The officials and all the people had obeyed the king’s command, but later they changed their minds."

Partial obedience is disobedience, the people of Israel obeyed the command but later changed their minds. They went back to doing things the way they used to do them and broke their covenant with God. To repent means to "change your mind", your thoughts determine your actions and the direction of your life. Sometimes we repent in the wrong direction, have you ever had the Lord convict you about something in your life and you obeyed, but after while you "changed your mind" and went back to doing what you were doing before. Maybe it was about how you handled your money, or how you were spending your time, or the music or tv shows that you were watching, maybe it dealt with a relationship, or how you were treating people or the words that you were using. And like the children of Israel your repented for a little while and then you changed your mind and went back to your old ways. Let me interject that God has not "changed his mind" if he told you to stop doing something or to change the way you are doing something, he still means what he said. So unless you have received a clear word from God releasing you; you are in rebellion and have broken covenant with God.

Unfortunately many times we start out in obedience and when things in our lives start to get better we begin to relax and start to drift back towards our old ways. Let's draw a line in the sand and boldly declare that we are moving forward. If you see yourself starting to drift backwards, put on your spiritual brakes and refocus your heart and mind on the forward direction that God has called you to walk in.

Deception

2 Thessalonians 2
Verse 9-10 "This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them"

Deception comes when we refuse to love and accept the truth. People are not deceived because they have never heard the truth, they are deceived because they refuse the truth and that refusal opens them up to deception.

Everybody believes something, belief or faith is not optional. When a person says that he doesn't believe in God, that means that he believes in evolution or some other idea or science that denies God. Belief is not optional, the question is not will you believe, the question is will you believe the truth of God's Word or believe the lies of the enemy which is deception. Your belief determines your life, your future and your eternity.

Many people are saved and going to heaven, but because of deception they are living defeated lives. Why, because they have rejected the truth of God's word. They believe the lies that the supernatural work of God passed away with the apostles or that spiritual gifts are no longer in operation today. Because they reject the truth of the power and gifts of God, they are now limited in what they can receive from God.

Begin today the process of evaluating your beliefs, do they line up with the word, nature and character of God. Because if they don't then you are in deception and deception always brings destruction into our lives; either temporal or eternal

Redefined Success

Jeremiah 22
Verse 15-16 "But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king! Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink. But he was just and right in all his dealings.
That is why God blessed him. He gave justice and help to the poor and needy,
and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?” says the Lord."

A beautiful palace doesn't make a great king, justice and righteousness makes us great in the eyes of God. It is not what you have, but what you give that makes you great. Josiah gave: justice and help to the poor and needy and everything went well for him. His success was not the results of what he had acquired, houses, cars, boats and stuff. His success was the result of what he gave away to others and God wraps that scripture thought up with this statement, "isn't that what it means to know me". Intimacy with God produces a compassion for man and a desire to bring justice and righteousness to those who are poor and needy.

I challenge you today to redefine success in your life, success is not measured by what you have but by what you give. Because as Jesus said in the gospels "what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul". So ask yourself this question, what am I doing on a regular basis to bring justice and help to the poor and needy? Now remember that need is not only defined by natural elements but also spiritual elements, no one is poorer than the man that doesn't know Jesus. Let's be great for God and declare our intimacy with him through our compassion for others.

Purpose or Preasure

1 Thessalonians 2
Verse 4 "Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts."

Our purpose is not to build churches, ministries or businesses; our purpose is to please God. If it pleases God for us to build churches, ministries or businesses then let's build them, but let's never lose sight of our purpose; which is to please God. I have seen pastors and ministers start out to please God and then get ensnared by trying to please people, I myself have felt the pressure of people pleasing.

But we must always remember that pressure is not purpose, one of my favorite stories from the land of Israel is one told by a guide. This guide had been taking people on tours of Israel for years and one day as he was leading a tour, he saw a shepherd driving a flock of sheep down the side of the road. In amazement he stopped the tour and waved down the shepherd, sir he asked, I have seen hundreds of shepherds and you are the first that I have ever seen behind the sheep driving them. Shepherds lead the sheep so why are you driving them. The shepherd laughed, oh he said I'm not a shepherd I'm the butcher. God leads us through his purposes but Satan tries to drive us through pressure. We must never allow our desire to please people to override our ultimate purpose of pleasing God.

The Source and The System

Jeremiah 9
Verse 24  "But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

God is the source of justice and righteousness. Anytime there is injustice or corruption God has been removed from the equation. We live in a world that has been corrupted by sin and the systems of this world have been perverted by the hands and hearts of sinful man. Many people shake their fist in anger toward God because they have suffered an injustice. Many of these injustices come through our court systems and even through our Churches. People blame God for the suffering and pain that injustice has brought them, but God is not to blame.

Ever since Adam sinned, God has been try to get his blessing into our lives through a corrupt system. There is nothing wrong with Gods justice or righteousness, but the system through which it is supposed to be ministered has been perverted. Sinful man bends justice in order to gain wealth, prideful man refuses to admit he is wrong and shifts the blame to the innocent and defenseless. A greed filled man lies and deceives others, consuming what was supposed to be passed on to those in need. The list goes on and on, so instead of shaking our fist in anger toward God, we should bow our heads in prayer and vote for righteous people who have a heart submitted to God. The source is good, but the system has become corrupt, so let's change the system and the source will flow freely bringing the justice and righteousness that God desires to reign in the earth

Intellectual Idolatry

Jeremiah 7
Verse 6 "only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols"
Verse 24 "But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts."

Idolatry breaks the heart of God, but it harms those who are engaged in it. When we worship anything other than God we set ourselves up for destruction and limit our lives. You can never rise above what you worship, your God dictates your life. What you worship determines how you live and what will become of your life. It also determines your eternity, where you will spend forever. Those trapped in idolatry will spend eternity in Hell separated from God, they don't have the promise of heaven or the joy of spending eternity with a loving Father who cares about every detail of their life.

But this is 2010, and we live in America, we don't worship idols. Your right most Americans don't have statues in their homes that they worship, but we do have idolatry in America and it is sending thousands of people to Hell. It is called intellectual idolatry and it is destroying this nation. Americans worship their ideas and intellectual theories over God. Americans have forsaken the truths and principles of the Bible and are now following stubborn desires of their evil hearts. We have reasoned in our own minds, that we know better then God how to govern our lives, raise our children and build our families. Multitudes have forsaken righteousness, integrity and ethics in pursuit of their own ideas. Our thoughts have become our gods and we are reaping the harvest of idolatry as our nation slips further and further away from God. It's time to forsake the idols of intellectualism, repent of a stubbornness which is idolatry and return to God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Denial

Jeremiah 2:35 "But now I will punish you severely because you claim you have not sinned."

Sin brings repercussions but it is denial that brings the punishment and correction of God. When we refuse to acknowledge our sin or we pretend that what we are doing is not sin, then we set ourselves up to be corrected by God. God corrects those that are his, if you are his child he will deal with sin in your life. There is only one way to deal with sin, confess it, repent and receive God forgiveness and strength to walkaway from that sin and move forward into the future that God has for your life.