From Hopelessness to Happiness | Identifying Idols

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free eBooks designed to help you grow in your faith. What things are most important in our lives? Our computers probably know, our smartphones have a good idea, or certainly our checkbook or our charge card. What captures our attention? What steals our thoughts? What is it that's always near the top of our minds?

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that idols are anything or anyone that takes our focus off of God. And we'll see the Lord recognizes the danger and mentions it in his 10 commandments. The title of my message is From Hopelessness to Happiness. Am I talking to somebody right now and is feeling hopeless?

Am I talking to somebody right now that is just terrified of the future and you don't think you can ever be happy again? Then you want to hear what I'm about to say to you from the Word of God. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20.

And I'm going to read quite a few verses with you, so I hope you'll read along. Exodus 20 verse 2. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number 2. Exodus 20 verse 4. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above or the earth beneath or in the water under the earth, nor shall you bow down to them or serve them.

For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity on the fathers, on the children of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me and showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. Commandment number 3. Exodus 20 verse 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.

The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Commandment number 4. Exodus 20 verse 8 and 9. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Commandment number 5. Exodus 20, 12.

Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord has given you. Commandment number 6. You shall not murder. Commandment number 7. You shall not commit adultery. Commandment number 8. Exodus 20 verse 15.

You shall not steal. Commandment number 9. Exodus 20 verse 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor or don't lie. And then one final commandment. Exodus 20 verse 17. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or female servant nor his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. So there they are. Those are the 10 commandments. Start working on memorizing them.

Then start working on internalizing them. Now the order of the commandments is very important. If you or I were to write the 10 commandments we might prioritize some over others. For instance we might say well the most important commandment and maybe we should start with this one is you shall not murder or you shall not commit adultery. I mean no matter how culture is going it seems like we all can agree on the fact that murder and adultery are wrong.

Right? So we might put those at the top of the list. But it's interesting how the Lord starts the 10 commandments. He is saying that to him the first thing that we need to start with is not having another God before him. Because that deals with everything.

Here's another way to look at it. Jesus said you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. So if you get this down you will have the 10 commandments working in your life. If I love God with all of my heart soul and mind I'm not going to have another God before him. I'm not going to bow down before a false image of God. I'm not going to take his name in vain and I'm going to set a day aside to worship him. If I love my neighbor as myself I'm not going to steal from him. I'm not going to lie to him.

I'm not going to kill him etcetera. So as Augustine once said love God and do as you please. But I think the reality of that is if I love God I'll do the right thing.

I'll want to honor him in the right way. So let's start with commandment number one. You shall have no other gods before me.

So here's what the Lord is saying. I don't want to share you with somebody else. And you belong to me. We have an exclusive relationship.

I mean what if a wife were to say to her husband honey I love you so much. And by the way I'm going out on a date tonight with Chad. I don't know why Chad. Chad. And I don't know when I'll be back. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow. Bye. Love you.

No. Clear thinking husband would go along with that game plan. But in the same way we'll say oh Lord I love you so much but effectively we have another god in our life. Or we'll say Lord I love you so much but we'll be breaking his commandments left and right. But listen here's what the Lord says. Look at Exodus 20 verse 6. I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Having another God is easier than you may think it is. The Bible says little children keep yourself from idols. A lot of things can become an idol in your life. You know a vehicle can become an idol. A house can become an idol. A career can become an idol. A ministry can even become an idol. A person can be an idol in your life. Or we take our eyes off the Lord and we're more passionate about that thing.

Or it might be something you do for fun or for a hobby or some other thing. You can put other gods in the place of the true God and the Lord is effectively saying I don't want to share you with anyone or anything else. Bringing us to the second commandment don't have graven images. Now that's just making some false image of God.

And that's very easy to do. Okay this is even more absurd. I talked about the wife telling her husband she's going out on a date with some guy named Chad. How about if the husband said no problem I'm going to spend the night with my favorite girl. I call her Mary Manny. And why do you call her that? Because she's a mannequin. Yeah you say I found her down at the department store. She does whatever I tell her to do. She's always smiling.

She's dependable and she never talks back. Oh this is even crazier. Your wife is leaving you for some dude named Chad and you're leaving your wife for some stupid mannequin. Is it any more ridiculous when we allow some object to take the place of the Lord in our life so have no other gods before him. Don't have any graven images. Commandment number three. Don't take his name in vain. Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Verse seven of Exodus 20. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Now what does that mean?

Well there's obvious ways. You see people who use the Lord's name in profanity. To me that's weird. They'll say I don't believe in Jesus Christ but I use the name of Jesus Christ to punctuate a point. And that is obviously one way you can take his name in vain. But the phrase in vain means to use in a frivolous or insincere manner. So sometimes we can say something to the Lord and have no thought of the Lord whatsoever as we're saying it.

Or sometimes we use it when we text each other O-M-G all caps. And we'll just say oh God oh God oh God all the time. Wait why are you taking the Lord's name to make your point? Don't take his name in vain. But perhaps the easiest way to take his name in vain is by being a hypocrite. The person who says Lord Lord but does not keep his commandments. Jesus says why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I say?

Listen to me. The hypocrisy of the church is far worse than the profanity on the street. Let's not take his name in vain. That brings us to commandment four which is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Exodus 20 verse 8.

Now let's get real. Sabbath day always was and always will be the day of Saturday given to the Jewish people in a special covenant between them and God. But for the Christian we worship often on Sunday which is the first day of the week. That's the day Christ rose from the dead. That is the day that the early church worshiped and that is the day that Chick-fil-A is closed in a connected way actually. But the fact of this is is we want to remember to take a day aside and set it apart for the glory of God. A day set apart to rest from our labors. A day set apart to be recharged spiritually.

Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody what are you doing this weekend? I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home. When is Harvest at Home? It is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place so you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home. Join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well we're considering the 10 commandments today in Pastor Greg's message from hopelessness to happiness.

And our thanks to our Harvest partners for their support which helped to make today's study available. Okay so now let's shift gears. We've just left the first tablet. Remember there's four commands on the first tablet. You shall not have any other God's will for him.

No graven images. Don't take his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day. Now we come to tablet number two. So the first tablet has to do with our relationship with God.

The second tablet has to do with our relationship with other people. And it begins with these words honor your father and mother. Did you know the most formative years of a child's life are ages birth to three. And Moses who we're talking about had some very good advice when it comes to raising our kids.

He says in Deuteronomy 6 write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside of your children. Talk about them wherever you are sitting at home or walking in the street. Talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.

I mean how practical is that. So it's great to have maybe a little devotional time with your kids. By the way if you're trying to do devotions at home don't make them too long. Don't make them boring. Involve the kids in the conversation.

The greatest compliment a child can pay a parent a mom or a dad is I want another story. Tell me more rather than them rolling their eyes or falling asleep while you're trying to be some great expositor for an hour and a half with them. Enter into their world. Instead of telling them they can't do all these things do those things with them. You know watch television with them and it helps them to interpret what's going on around them.

Talk to them about conversations they have with their friends because they need your input and they need your counsel. Did you know that the age most kids start to turn away from their faith is the age of 13. You might have thought it was 16 or 17 or 18. It's age 13. Am I talking to a parent with a 13 year old. You've just entered the teen years and you're wondering what happened to my sweet kid. Well they're going through a transitional time and they need you more than ever. Listen am I talking to a 13 year old right now. Talk to your parents.

Get their input because you need it more than ever. And the best example of a good father is our father in heaven. You say well yeah but he's in heaven. I can't relate to him. Oh really. Well if you want to know what God is like look at Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus is God. Jesus was God walking among us. Jesus was God with skin on.

God had a face. He breathed our air. He walked our earth.

He lived our life and then He died our death. And Jesus told us a story that shows us what God the Father is like. It's a story that we often refer to as the parable of the prodigal son. And it's a father who had two sons. I relate to this because I have two sons. One of them is in heaven.

One is on earth. A father had two sons. And one of those sons ran away from home. One of those sons took his portion of the inheritance and squandered it on foolish choices and horrible living.

And he faced the consequences of it. And that son decided one day to return to his father. And in this picture that Jesus gives us of God. In this selfie of God if you will God is presented to us as a loving father who misses his child when they're gone. God is presented as a loving father that longs for his child to return as shown by the story that Jesus told when he said when that boy came to his senses and returned home when the father saw him a great way off he ran to him and threw his arms around him and kissed him and welcomed him home and said let's rejoice my son who is dead is alive again.

He who was lost is found. That's how God feels about you. The 10 commandments. Some people say well I live by the 10 commandments. That's all the religion I need.

Look I don't even know you and I'm going to say something really blunt. You don't live by the 10 commandments because you've broken them. Some of you may have broken every single one of them in some way shape or form. The commandments were not given to make us holy. The commandments are given to show us how unholy we are. They're given to open our eyes and shut our mouths because I realize oh man I fall short of those commandments. Who among us right now has not broken one of these commandments? Well you say not me.

Really? Then you must not know them. Have you ever had another God before him? Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever lied in your life? No I haven't.

You're lying right now. Every one of us have broken these commandments. And the Bible says that we have been in one point of the law.

We're guilty of all of it. A while back I was driving and I ran through a red light. I didn't do it intentionally but I wasn't paying attention. It was my fault and I broke the law technically. And boy I tell you what I did it right in front of a cop. And immediately I saw that light in my rear view mirror and I pulled over and I rolled down my window and I put my hands on the steering wheel and the officer comes approaching me on my left and he asked me for my driver's license and insurance and so forth. And I just said officer I'm really sorry I was wrong. I wasn't paying attention. It's my fault.

That's all I said. So the officer you know checks my license and and comes back a few moments later he says well I'll tell you what I'm going to let you go today with just a warning. I said I have to say officer thank you for that but why? He says well I'm going to let you off with a warning because most people don't admit it when they're wrong and since you did I'm going to let you go with a warning. I was like thank you Jesus and thank you officer.

I deserve to be ticketed. And I think this is the thing is we don't want to admit to God we're wrong. We don't want to admit to God that we've sinned and broken his commandments but that's what we need to do. And the 10 commandments are given to show you that you need Jesus.

They drive me into the open arms of Jesus because I can't live by these standards on my own but Jesus can come in me and forgive me of all of my sin. Remember the title of my message is From Hopelessness to Happiness. Am I talking to a hopeless person right now?

Listen. That can change. Hope has a name and it's Jesus Christ and he can send a rush of hope into your life right now and change your life. Now maybe your circumstances will not change.

Maybe they will but I know this much. Your heart will change and when your heart changes everything changes. You need Jesus. He's the one you're searching for.

He's the one who died on the cross for you 2,000 years ago and spilled his blood to pay for every sin you have committed and then he rose from the dead three days later and he stands at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in. Have you ever done that? I mentioned the story of the prodigal son a few moments ago. Maybe I'm talking to somebody here who was raised in the church who knows what's right but you've ignored it. You've disobeyed it. You've said I don't care what the Bible says.

I know it's true but I don't care. I'm going to live the way I want to live and you have faced the consequences of it haven't you? Just like that prodigal son the Bible says he came to himself which just simply means he he just came to reality like what am I doing?

This is insane. Why have I made these choices but he went back to his father and that's what you need to do. You need to come to your senses and you need to come back to Jesus or come to him for the first time. In a moment I'm going to lead you in a prayer and I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer with me. This is a prayer where you will be saying to God Lord I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you sent the son to be my savior and I turn from my sin and I ask Jesus to come into my life and I choose to follow him from this moment forward. So listen if you want your sin forgiven. If you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die.

If you want to go from hopelessness to happiness. If you want to be ready for the Lord's return or if you've fallen away from the Lord and you want to come back to him right now as a prodigal son or daughter I want you to pray this prayer with me. That's right you can pray it after me. It's a simple prayer. We are saying to God I'm turning from my sin and I'm putting my faith in you now. If you want Jesus to come into your life pray this prayer with me right here right now. Just pray these words Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer for those making a change in their relationship with the Lord today. If you've just prayed with Pastor Greg and made a decision for him and made a decision for Christ we'd like to offer a resource to help answer your questions about this decision. We call it our New Believers Growth Packet.

We'll send it free of charge upon request so just call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or write A New Beginning 4000 Riverside California 92514 or just go online to harvest.org and click the two words know God. Pastor Greg you've mentioned that there are other documentaries on the life of Johnny Cash but your new movie Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon is the only one that tells Johnny's story from a spiritual perspective.

That's right. I think you've called it an evangelistic documentary and I'm wondering wouldn't wouldn't Johnny have wanted his story told from that context? Oh I think so in fact I'm sure of it his sister Joanna Cash Yates said of the book and of this film this is the best thing ever done about my brother because Johnny was very upfront about his faith. You know he wanted people to know about Jesus and from the beginning of his life to the very end he was talking about his faith in Christ and so this comes out in this film that we've done but listen why don't I let you listen to Johnny himself. Now this is a recording of Johnny talking about a time in his life when he was really despondent. In fact he didn't even know if he wanted to live anymore so he went into this cave called the Nickajack Cave and he went in as far as you can go this is a really deep long cave people have actually gone into this cave and never come out again and he tells a story of how he encountered God in this cave. This is from our film Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon.

Give a listen. In that cave Chattanooga I was as far away from God that I had ever been could ever be. I went into this cave and kept walking and crawling and climbing till my light had run out. Every fiber of my being totally exhausted and I lay there in the darkness at the end of the line. I lay there to die. And in the darkness laid down and basically gave up his life gave up everything.

Then the urging came over me to get up and start crawling. I don't have any idea how long I crawled and it was like this feeling came over me that that he wanted to speak to my heart you do not control your destiny but it's my will that you do not die now finally I felt the wind for long I saw light the entrance to the cave and God's love brought him back. A moving moment from the film Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon and you know God's love brought Johnny back time after time.

It's such an inspiring film and what a great source of hope for parents of prodigal children or for the spouse of a prodigal or for the prodigal himself or herself who's searching. Well we want to send you a copy of Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon on DVD along with a streaming code so you can watch on your tablet or phone or computer. We're sending it to say thank you for your partnership that allows us to bring Pastor Greg's studies to you each day. We'll only be mentioning this a short time longer so get in touch today with your investment. Call 1-800-821-3300.

Call anytime that's 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4,000 Riverside, California 92514 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time Pastor Greg continues our studies of the Ten Commandments as we consider the freedom and peace we'll enjoy as we commit ourselves to telling the truth always. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.