Good morning, everybody. I want to go ahead and invite you. Take your device or your Bible and turn to Jeremiah, chapter 10. Jeremiah, chapter 10. When we get to that point, I'll have you stand and we're going to read one verse out of that.

I'm about to do something to get myself in trouble, so I'm just going to go ahead and apologize on the front end, because when you start trying to recognize people or teams that have had recognition over the weekend, I'm going to leave somebody out. By no means do I mean to do that, but our varsity football team. Congratulations on making it to the next round of playoffs. I'm going to get this wrong. Our cheerleaders are fifth in the state.

Is it competition, cheerleading? Yes, I got that right. And. And then I think our 6U team made it and won the Super Bowl. Did I get that right?

So I think. And I know I left something out. If I left something out, raise your hand. See there? I knew I may have left something out.

But you know, to me, though, at home, like, let's bring this home for a moment, because as you walked in, every week, you've been seeing these red and green boxes out in our lobby. And this is collection week for Operation Christmas Child. And that's not possible without you. Some of you have taken that box and in love, you have filled it with all kinds of things with the hope this is going somewhere across our globe to share the good news of Jesus Christ. So Autumn Whitworth and her team of volunteers will be here all week because we are a collection site, so other churches and people will be coming and bringing boxes.

So it's an extraordinary week. Next week, during our message, we'll pray over those boxes. But could you let Autumn and those that are going to be working this week know how much we appreciate them and what they'll be doing.

In 2003, Brenton Brown and his wife found themselves in a dilemma. Serving as a worship pastor at Oxford University. In his words, things were going well. People were coming to faith. But one morning, he woke up feeling ill and fatigued.

And this continued for days and for weeks. And when the fatigue would not go away, he was eventually diagnosed with what's called chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder characterized by prolonged fatigue of six months or more. He moved back to live with his parents in South Africa. It became so bad, and only in his 20s, and he was thinking, man, does God know that I'm even here? He said he was desperate and crying out to the Lord for help.

He remembered something. He remembered A passage in Scripture found in Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 28, that at that moment brought hope into his life and later would be expressed in a song by the same name that many of you may remember from 2006. Let me just read the words because this is one of the two places for the designation of God we're going to study today. In verse 27 of Isaiah 40, it reads, why do you say Jacob and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice do me escapes the notice of my God. Now are you ready or do you not know or have you not heard?

Elohim Olam. The everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired, but gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks many might to increase his power. Though youth grow weary and tired and vigorous, young men stumble badly. Yet those who wait on everlasting God will gain new strength. Mount on wings like eagles.

Run and not be tired. Walk and not become weary. That everlasting God. Elohim Olam. The word olam appears forever 439 times in the Old Testament, but twice in designation to who our God is.

In the Greek text, the word Aionios is the same word and that appears 71 times in the New Testament. And it means eternal, never ending. That our God has no beginning. Our God has no end. He has no bounds.

There is nothing that can hold back our everlasting God. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the first and the last. And there is nothing in this world that can take the place of our everlasting God.

If I can't get you excited about it today, I don't know what else I can do. Irish scholar Alec Motier once said. I love what he said before he made this quote. He said, I'm not really a scholar. I'm just a man who loves the word of God.

And he said about the Judahites in this text, their God is such as eternal, Creator and untiring, that they never need to doubt his capacity. It never fills up. Our God is beyond able because he's everlasting. And he is also such that they may never expect to understand all of his ways. That's how big our God is.

He's everlasting. Pastor and author Raymond Ortland said this about the everlasting. Everything that matters in life hangs on who God is. You want to know who you are? Tell me what you think about God.

Show me how you express faith in that God in your life. And that will tell me what you think about yourself. You see, we're talking this morning about idols. If you back up in chapter 40 of Isaiah and here in Jeremiah 10, he's talking about idolatry. It's been around since the creation of the world after the Fall.

This idea of establishing something in my life to bring security, comfort and strength. But yet our idols are things that have no life. They have no power, they have no meaning. What are the idols in your life? This week when we were talking about this, Kevin and I were talking and Kevin quoting Kevin Hurt, said that Jesus plus anything else you add is an idol.

Jesus minus anything is an idol. So if Jesus isn't good enough that you gotta spruce him up.

That's an idol. In fact, when I was in Ecuador years ago and in Haiti, in Haiti we had this phrase called judu, where the people were coming to faith in Christ, but they still practiced voodoo. So they kind of took Jesus and voodoo and put it together. That's an idol. When I was in Ecuador, we'd be driving the roads and we'd see these statues of a lady on the side of the road.

And they would venerate this statue with roses. And they said that when the Catholics came, they heard about Mary and this idea of Mariology of Mary being a mediator to Jesus. But they also had this goddess they worshiped. So they put Mary and this goddess together and that's what they worshiped in the name of Christianity. Now those are things you were like.

I would never do that. Like none of you took your little he man dolls from a kid and put it up on a shelf, said, oh, he man, thou art so awesome. Now you don't do that. Or if you're a lady, you took your old Barbie dolls. You know, I always had a hard time standing those things up.

That's why I like Legos. You get a one by one and you stick the Lego on there with a little bit of superglue and it ain't going nowhere. I might mention that again in a little bit. I love what Pastor Joe Thorne said. Let me define idolatry for you.

I love. His words are beautiful. Listen to this quote. Idolatry is what comes first in my life, what captures my heart, and where I find my identity.

Are you tracking Idolatry tends to work itself out in one of two ways. We deify creation while we defy the Creator and we exalt ourselves while excluding our God. Romans chapter one is very clear that they exchanged God for corruptible Images of man and beasts. And you think, I'd never do that? Do you put more stock in your money, possessions and wealth, or your career, your prestige, accomplishment or influence, or your appearance, your body image or your beauty, or your spouse or your children or your friends?

What about ease and comfort? Or even positive things like church ministry or even being a parent can become an idol because it takes the place of God in my value. I, in Christ, am a child of God, and that is sufficient.

But where do you stand? Why in the world would anybody put more stock in those things than in the everlasting God? Let me give you four if you want to write these down, they're pretty easy. Number one, practicality. The reason we allow idols into our life is practicality.

Handling an idol is easier than believing in something. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, often not tangible, like cash or a mirror. It's practical. It's autonomous. Second reason.

Autonomous or autonomy. What does that mean? Self rule. I can tell what that idol needs to be, what it needs to look like, how to work for me without the accountability.

Identity. Identity. We have practicality. Autonomy in my identity. Like I need this God in my life to give me something, to be accepted, to have power, or because I feel rejected in other places.

And finally, control. With idolatry, the inanimate truly has no control over me because it's inanimate. It has no being, it has no life. Yet I will venerate the idols in my life to control the story, to control the narrative. And.

And honestly, it's a terrible form of atheism. When I allow an idol to rule over me that has no being. To submit to things that take the place of God opens us up to all kinds of satanic and demonic influence. Where did I come up with that? I come up with it from the word of God.

Write down First Corinthians 10, verses 19 through 21, specifically talking about eating meat sacrificed to idols. Paul says, what do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? Neither of them are anything. He says, no, but I say that the things which Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

So when I venerate myself or my looks or my wealth or. Or my success, I am opening myself up to demonic influence.

And you think you can fight that? What did we study last week? The God of hosts, the God of angel armies fighting for us. We are in a battle that we can't see. So why would you want to open up the front door?

And just let them come in and say, hey, have a seat right here. Let's have a cup of coffee. Demons don't do coffee. They come in and take over all of it.

It's like a copper top battery. They just keep going and going and going and going. You know, it's funny because when I think about the subject matter that's been preached and what we've been talking about on Wednesday nights with thinking biblically, there's a question I want to toss to you to consider. Are you fully satisfied in Jesus Christ?

I want you to think about that one for a moment. You'll be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm here this morning. I'm here to worship. Does he define your life? Is he your Lord?

When you make decisions, do you consider him? Is he your full satisfaction? Because if he's not, guess what? The door is just a little bit open for Satan to come in and put something else in your path. Well, you're 50 years old, Jamie.

Maybe you need to dye your hair, start working out, and get rid of that potbelly.

What, so I can venerate myself?

Satan said to Eve, who told you, you know, when you eat it, you will be like God, controller of your own destiny, knowing the things that he knows.

Ecclesiastes 3:11. You'll want that one. This is one. I'm going to start saying this. This is dashboard worthy.

All right? If you know what I mean. Get you a note card, write this verse down. The preacher said he has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set you ready olam in your heart.

The only way to feel everlasting in your heart is with everlasting. If you study algebra, the only thing that matches infinity is infinity. There is nothing in this world that will ever satisfy the lust and the desires of your soul except God Almighty. Are you satisfied in our Lord? In fact, as I was looking at this, I looked at a study that put career and family and wealth ahead of faith is what defines people in their identity.

Now, whoa, whoa, you're going, no, no, that's not me. That's not me. Is it anything? Jesus plus anything is idolatry, and Jesus minus anything is idolatry. Family, like, I love my family.

Don't get me wrong, but when I stand before God, someday I'm not gonna be able to say, well, my grandmother put the first brick in that church, and I sat with her every Sunday. That will not get you into heaven. Well, my career, I was successful. I was a bank president. I was a.

A head Coach, I was. Go ahead, fill it in. That will not get you right standing before God. Well, I had a lot of money, you see, I can keep up example after example after example. But if that's the thing that you pursue and it gives you identity, it is an idol in your life.

And Jeremiah writing to the Judaites, this is. This is toward the end, they're about to go into deportation. And Jeremiah, in 627 B.C. begins his ministry under good King Josiah. Remember the one that found the law and started reinstituting the covenants?

Well, that worked pretty well. But after Josiah, he was the last good king. Everything else after that point began to unravel. And Jeremiah's writing to them to call their attention, to steer away from idolatry anything that would stand between them and God. In fact, if you know the Ten Commandments, I think.

I don't know that kids memorize ten Commandments anymore. You will have no other God before me. Number two, you will not create any image. What's that called? I'll say it again.

Anything that would take the place of my life, to provide security, to provide blessing, is a mockery of the everlasting God. I want to invite you to stand. Just. I want you to stretch your legs. I'm not preaching an hour, I promise.

Verse number 10. It's kind of the climax. I'm going to back up and show you some things structurally here in this text. In a second, I'm going to ask you to repeat some things with me because I want to know, do you believe it and do you see it? But the Lord is the true God.

Say true God. He's not false. He's not pretend. He is the true God. He is the living God.

Say living God. And he is the everlasting King. Say everlasting King. And his wrath, the earthquakes. And the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Father, as we dig into this, Lord, speak through me. You know how much I can mess this up. But Lord, I pray that your word would speak louder than I and that you would call us to stop putting stock in things and start putting our stock in you. In Jesus name, Amen. So I want to give you four things we just saw in that one verse.

These are quick things. I had you recite them. But I want you to look back at verse number 10. He said, but the Lord. Yahweh is the true God.

The first thing we see here is that Yahweh is the true God. There is no other gods. Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, The Lord is one. There are no other gods.

Anything else? According to First Corinthians 10 is a demon. There's only one God. Say one. And that one God appeared in three persons at the same time, bro, Blows my mind.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. Unfortunately to our friends in some other wannabe denominations think that he's not co equal with God the Father, but he is. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. He was before the beginning and he will be here after the end.

He is one. But you know what else he is? He's the living God. He's not like an idol. He's not something dead.

The moment that they would cut a piece of wood to make an idol, that wood was dead.

And God is not that kind of God. He's the living God. He's not even to be compared to idols. You know why? Because he made the substance that the man took to make the idol.

How disrespectful that is. You don't go into your grandma's house and grab her best pie and go out and say, look at what I made. Your grandma will slap you silly.

He's the living God. But we've already talked about he's the everlasting. He's the true God. He is living and he's everlasting. The word everlasting is an English word.

It's a compound word. Ever, meaning no end and lasting, meaning endurance. He knows no tiredness. He knows no bounds. There's nothing that can limit his strength.

There's no way you can twist his arm and make God do something he has not willed. Why, y' all are going to get used to this by the end. He is everlasting. Say it again. Everlasting.

And here he is in the face of all these kings that have just messed everything up. King Josiah dies somewhere around 609 BC, and then his son Jehoahaz takes his place for three months. The Egyptians come in and take him out, takes him to Egypt and he dies there. But the Egyptians then installed Jehoiakim Kim, because there's gonna be another one in just a minute. That's almost just like it.

And he rules until about 605 BC. And that's a very important date. 605, 597, 586. When I was in seminary, they hammered that over and over and over and over because that was the first of three, what they call deportations. The Babylons come in and they defeat the Egyptians.

And now Judah becomes a vassal state to the Babylonians. And they take a group of people from Judah back to Babylon. One of those men was named Daniel. He leaves. Well, things kind of rocking along.

And in 597, Jehoiakim dies and the Babylonians come back and they capture Jerusalem and they take Jehoiada. See, I told you you'd have to keep these separate if you want to read this. This is at the end of second Kings. He was only there for three months. And they take him into Babylon and they install his uncle Zedekiah.

And all of these men were bad. The Bible says they were bad kings. They did not adhere to the covenant. They did not adhere to covenant relationship with God. And in 586, Zedekiah is flirting with disaster.

This is like soap opera worthy, you know what I'm saying? He starts talking to the Egyptians because he's tired of the Babylonians. And in 586 BC, the third deportation, the Babylonians come back. They take Zedekiah, his sons, they gouge his eyeballs out, they kill his sons and they raze the city to the ground and destroy it. Jeremiah and some other Judaites flee and go to Egypt.

Jerusalem is done. God fulfilled his promise. He said in Deuteronomy 30, I will banish you to the nations, but I will bring you back. This was God's will for this to happen. Jeremiah 4, 9 reads, it shall come about in that day declares the Lord, that the heart of the king and the heart of the princess will fail.

But not the everlasting king, who does not fail, who does not wither, who is not. He cannot be taken down. He is more powerful than anything. Do you believe that? Because if you believe that, then no matter what comes against you, no matter what may scare you, no matter what may rob you, God is always sovereign over that and his power is magnificent.

So when you look at this text, verses 1 through 10 is a satire poem about the foolishness of idols. The foolishness of idols. In fact, if you look at 12 through 16, it's a contrast about celebrating Yahweh. So you can say it like this. 1 through 10 is about the impotence of idols.

They can't do anything. But 12 through 16 celebrates the omnipotence of Almighty God. Verse 11 is unique. Verse 11 is the warning. Verse 11 is kind of the crescendo of the passage.

It says, thus you shall say to them, the gods that did not make the heavens and earth will perish from the earth and from under the heaven. So whatever is in your life that is an idol, it will be destroyed. So why are you following it? Why are you drawing your security from it? Why are you drawing your identity from it?

Today and today, in light of everlasting God, would you assess yourself and determine what are the idols in my life? Because if God is not the true God, the living God, the everlasting king in my life, I am setting myself up for failure to stumble and to fall away. You see, we need the same thing they needed point number one, a woeful warning. A woeful warning. Do not follow the fears and the threats of this world.

Do not follow the fears and the threats of this world. They would create idols in response to some natural catastrophe or something observed in the heavens or some earthquake or. A lot of the gods were like Zeus and BAAL were like gods of lightning and thunder. And they would worship them not only because of their majestic, the majesty of the power of the heavens, but they worshiped them because a lot of them were self indulgent. Don't let me scare you, parents.

I won't go any farther than the one statement I'm going to make. The God baal, Ashtara and others were called fertility gods and goddesses. And the way you worship them, which is sick, is through sexual immorality. That's as far as I'm going. Parents, if you plug their ears, you can unplug them now because they wanted rain and they wanted fertility in their life.

They wanted to have children. They thought, if we worship them this way, those gods will give us that fertility that we need. Sounds kind of self indulgent to me. And the perversions that erupt out of that. If you want to study that, look at First Corinthians, chapter 6, the perversions of how they would worship these various gods and goddesses.

You see, we follow through fears and threats that we hear from the world. Look at the text. Verse number two. Thus says the Lord, when it says that, stop and say, all right, God, what are you saying? Because your word is higher than mine.

He says, do not learn the way of the nations and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them. The biggest thing that's gotten the American church in trouble is we listen to everybody else and really America too. There's the saying that whatever's going on in Europe, we're slightly behind that, Right? When we went to Scotland a few weeks ago, we were reminded that over half the population of the UK is atheist or Agnostic. Now, hold on.

Atheist means they believe there is no higher power, there is no God. Agnostic is not the same word. It means that. That God can't be known. Are y' all following?

So if somebody says I'm atheist, don't call them an agnostic or they might take you out. They're very easily offended with that term if you use it loosely in America. The last pew research revealed that 28% of the population in America now is religiously unaffiliated, out of which 10% claim to be atheist or agnostic. And that number is exponentially increasing.

Here we go. Here's the world. Let a catastrophe happen. And the government goes haywire. New agencies all freak out.

Fear mongering goes and begins to manipulate people. Let me remind you of a quote before I say this. I'm just going to say I may politically offend you. Rahm Emanuel once said, you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

So our politicians will use whatever it takes to manipulate you and me. News media will do whatever it takes to manipulate you and me. And preachers will do whatever they can to manipulate you and me. But I don't need to fear a politician. I don't need to fear the news.

I don't need to fear a preacher. I need to fear the everlasting God, because what can they do to me? I think Jesus said something around Matthew 15 that said, don't fear man, but fear the one who can kill the soul and spirit in hell. Who do you want to fear? Fear the one who's over all fear the one who called and spoke all things into existence.

That's who we should fear. And if the nations go one way, we need to go the other way. I mean, here's the irony. In 2016, according to Al Gore, we were supposed to be gone.

Alexandria OCASIO Cortez in 2019 said we had 12 years left. We're halfway there. Y' all packing your bags. They say these things to manipulate you and to manipulate me. He said, do not learn the way of the nations, although the nations are terrified by the signs and the wonders.

You know why I want you to look down at verse number 12? Because here's the contrast. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom and by his understanding, he has stretched out the heavens. There is no sign, There is no phenomena. There is nothing that happens in our universe that goes outside of God's control.

Who are you going to fear first? John 2, 15:17 says it best do not love the world, nor the things of the world, because when we do, we fall into the same trap. The fears and the threats of this world will always leave us empty. Romans 12:2 says, to conform, not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We can't think like the world, because if we think like the world, the that's what we fall in.

So let me ask you a point blank question. What scares you? What gives you anxiety?

Because if you can identify that, then you probably can identify what possibly is an idol in your life. If you're afraid of what people think about you, then your looks is probably the idol in your life that you need to throw in the fire and let it burn.

Are you with me?

If the chorus of men praising you because you're successful is your kryptonite, then that's probably a good indicator of what the idol is in your life. You know, the beautiful thing about the story of Job is that God allowed him to be stripped down to nothing. And yet he did not curse God, but he wasn't happy about it. What would it take for God to do in your life to strip you down to that nothingness so that he can be everything and I can be satisfied in him? Point number two, worthless wood.

That's what an idol is. It's just worthless wood. Misplaced fear and self indulgence leads to idolatry.

Look at verse 3 says, for the customs of this people are a delusion. You could say an illusion. Like you're driving through the desert and you think you're seeing palm trees and it's just the heat rippling off the sand because it is cut from wood in the forest. The work of a craftsman with a cutting tool. In other words, it's created by man and man was created by God.

The tree was created by God. These are products of man's hands, not God. And then they even try to decorate it, make it look better. But check this out. He says they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not totter.

So they will not totter. Wait a minute. Look at verse 10 again. At his wrath, the earth quakes. All you got to do is walk through the house and those little, those statues will just topple right over.

And they took them. You remember Rachel stuck them in her bag like this is insane. Like he says in verse five, like a scarecrow in a cucumber field. Are they? Now, I don't know what cucumbers looked like back then, but I kind of imagine they grew really low to the ground so you could take your little statue out there and put it on the ground.

And probably what scared the scarecrow is that it fell over when the bird kind of flapped around it. What he's saying here is that they can't speak, they can't walk, they can't do anything, they can't do harm, and they can't do good. Why? Because they don't exist.

Your success in life can be gone like that if you haven't looked in the mirror lately. All of us are working toward the end of our life. And if you had smashing good looks in your 20, I hope you become sophisticated in your 50s and 60s. But you may not. We are working toward death.

So if I'm going to put my stock in my looks and my successes and my degrees and all the things that can become idols in my life, anything that defines who I am is no different than what I just read to you in that text. It can't speak. It can't. Well, you got to carry it around. It's like my little pocket God.

Here you go. Let's just take this around with me. No offense, but it's kind of like putting Jesus on your steering wheel. What can a false Jesus do on your steering wheel if you don't have faith in Jesus Christ?

See, it comes from the heart. This is a heart issue. Fear comes along. My lust comes along, and I put my stock that. Matthew 15:18 19 says, but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those are the things that defile the man.

Because out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, and slanders.

Romans 13:14 says, make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lust. So if I told you that if you figure out what you're scared of, you can determine your idol. Let me give you another one. What are your lusts? What are your lusts?

See, lusts turn into all kinds of different things, but when you let it take birth, it gives birth to sin. What in your life are your lusts?

Paul said in First Corinthians 10, he said, Flee idolatry. John would write at the end of his first epistle to guard yourself against idolatry. Paul would write to the Colossians, and he would say that there's this litany of list of sins. And he said, which amounts to idolatry. It means equal.

It's a linking verb. These things, these sins are idolatry. What in Your life are your temptations. Identify them and put guardrails up, because when you yield yourself to those lusts, it will give birth to sin and those things will have control over you. Isaiah 14:3,7 says it best in verse three of that chapter.

Son of man, these things have set up. These men have set up idols in their hearts and have put before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. These idols are the very thing that gets thrown in the floor that you begin to trip over.

Do not fear again those who can kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both. What are those things in your life? Because if you can identify them, then you can identify your idols.

Number three. We talked about fear and self indulgence and how there's a warning and there's worthless wood. We get it. We got the point, right? We should not have idols in our life.

Are we good with that? Are we good also that idols don't look like probably they did back then? That we've got all kinds of things in our life that have been set up that identify who we are. Listen to this. The creations of man do not compare with the everlasting Creator.

The creation of man does not compare. Look at verse number six. There is none like you, O Lord. You are great, and great is your name. He's beginning to steer them away from this idea of the folly of following deaf and dumb, inanimate, impotent dolls.

That's what they are. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? Verse 7. Indeed it is your due. For among you all the wise men of nation, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.

Your kings have failed you, Judah. They have failed you. But the God of the universe does not fail you. You can get all the gold you want to from Uphiaz and from Tarshish, and you can make it look. You can put clothing on your little dolls, but it doesn't make them any more real.

But the Lord is the true God. You see the contrast now? The Lord is the true God. He's not false. He is living.

He's not dead. He's everlasting with no end.

The Bible says about Jesus Christ that he's the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power. He can't do that if he's not everlasting. So we give him praise. Colossians 1:17 says he, Jesus is before all things and in him all things are held to together. Our Lord Jesus Christ emptied himself to come on behalf of sinful, idolatrous man so that we might be made right, forgiven even in our own stupidity and ignorance.

And I'm sorry, parents, the word stupid is in my text twice. I know we've told our kids not to say stupid. The Hebrew word here in its base form means to be burned, to be dull hearted. That's what the word stupid means. That they're so dull of ignorance that they would go, oh, there's a storm that came up and knocked down my tower.

Let's go craft an idol out of a piece of wood. That doesn't make sense.

No, what I do is I run and say, well, you know what? The government will take care of me.

God, I could do something right now. I'm not going to do it.

Don't tempt me, Clay.

I don't care what side of the aisle it is. None of our politicians are here to save us. In fact, I'm pretty well convinced. I told you I'd get myself in trouble. Maybe they're listening online.

I don't really care. I wouldn't put my confidence in any politician because they're not Jesus. They're not our eternal God. When you look at Romans chapter one and you see the depravity of man. For even though they knew God, they didn't honor him or give thanks.

But they became futile in their speculations and their hearts were darkened. They became stupid. Sorry, parents. I apologize. Please.

And exchange the glory of an incorruptible God for an image of corruptible man to venerate for their own fear and their own selfishness. But I love what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 89, 6, 8. For who in the skies comparable to the Lord? It's not the sun, it's not the moon, it's not the stars. Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord?

O Lord, God of hosts. Remember we talked about that last week? Who is like you, oh mighty Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. What?

Let me give you a third way you can tell. What are the idols in your life? What do you worship? What do you worship? What scares you?

What tempts you? And what do you worship?

When you can figure that out, you probably can figure out what your idols are. Point number four. I'm going to wrap this up quickly. Wasted worship. We need to exalt the eternal God who created all and sustains all, not idols.

Let me repeat that again. Exalt the eternal God who Created all and sustains all. Not in idols. I'm just going to ask you, for the sake of time, go home and read 12 through 16. This says things like this.

It is he who made the earth by his power. And so what we see is that God expresses His power and his wisdom in creation. Verse 13. He utters his voice, and there is tumult of the waters in heaven. He speaks, and his voice is powerful.

And these idols can't speak. They can't walk. They can't move. He sends rain because he provides for his people. He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth.

He is sovereign over the weather. He says he brings wind out of the storehouses. Nothing happens that God is not unaware of. In verse 14. Listen again, parents, I apologize.

The word in the King James is brutish. Would that fit better for you? Let me just say it that way. Every man is brutish, devoid of knowledge. And what do they do?

They make idols. So they're no different than Forrest Gump's accusations. Stupid is as stupid does.

They're a mockery. They're worthless. Do you see that we need to exalt the eternal God, not these things that we put our hopes in. There's a clear choice today. Will I serve the everlasting?

Will I continue to pursue useless, temporal, weak things in this world? And will I find my full satisfaction in God Almighty? Paul looked at the Epicureans and the Stoic philosophers in Acts 17, and he said, the God who made the world and all that's in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since He Himself gives people life. Breath in all things. You can craft all the idols that you want, but you'll never put breath in them.

And the proof is Jesus, the Son of God, who gave up his life and he came back alive three days later to live forevermore. You can't receive eternal life for something that doesn't have life. What greater way to prove our faith in the everlasting than to hold true to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ? Two last blanks. You ready?

Sorry, I went over a little bit. Please forgive me. It is time to stop playing church and start being the church. But you can't be the church if you're still worshiping your idols. You cannot.

You've got to decide. As Joshua said in 24:15, choose today. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Brenton Brown decided that it brought him comfort and hope to know that he knew the everlasting God. Do you know him today?

So here's the three things I'm going to challenge you to do today. Number one, assess what gods you have in your life. I know you think, well no, I've been a Christian for 40 years. Listen, even religion can become an idol.

Is it truly Jesus Christ, the everlasting God? Number two, do you have your identity being a son or a daughter of God? And the only way you can be that is to repent of your sins and to trust Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And lastly, and this one might be a little harder for you, I just want to ask you, how do you practice worship? Do you give of your time, your talent and your treasure?

Do you yield your entire life flow to the one who gave you life? Or do you go like, well I'll give him. I'll give him a tithe of my time. I don't know how that works. Tithe of your time like he gave you life.

Every breath that I take is a gift from God. It's not a matter of me tithing my time. It's about every breath that I take, every move that I make be an exaltation to the everlasting God. Where do you stand with worship? And we believe that we pursue God daily.

It's one of our core values. We believe that we honor him. Do you how are you worshiping this God? Don't ask you to stand with me. And let's bow our heads and let's pray.

Some of our pastors will be up here after service if you want to want to come and pray. Kevin's going to come up in just a minute, make a final announcement for us. But what is your need today? Come find one of us or call us, text us and let us counsel with you. Some of you in this room have you know what you've overcome addictions.

And some of you in this room haven't overcome those addictions yet. Get some help. Don't walk through that alone. But keep in mind that God is everlasting, all powerful, eternal. Before you and I even came into the existence he knew us.

I want you to know that God by faith in Jesus Christ, Lord we love you, we praise you today. Just ask God that you would go with us. Be with us in Jesus name. Amen.