"10", Part 2: No Other Gods | Is God Your Number One?

Hey everybody, you're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners.

If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at greg.harvest.org. Again, it's greg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. Pastor Greg Laurie wants us to be warned about modern day idols. Idols these days?

Yes. An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. So let me ask you this, what do you get really excited about? What gets you fired up? What are you passionate about?

What do you think about the most, dream about as you fall asleep in your bed, or perhaps even scheme for? That, my friend, is your God. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Again you hear all the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. We each have to make a decision in our relationship with God. Are we sold out, or are we a sellout? Are we sold out for the Lord where He is number one and we don't compromise? Or do we allow ourselves to sell out to the world and its lures? We face that question afresh each and every day. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out that's an issue that's addressed up front in the Ten Commandments, and it's a decision that affects our quality of life.

This is the day, the day when life begins. Let me begin with a question. Are you a happy person? Some of you are very good.

Excellent. But maybe there's someone listening to me right now that basically has everything they should have in life to theoretically make them happy, but yet they don't find themselves in that state. Why is that? Because there's a right and a wrong way to find happiness. Because there are two ways that we can live. There's the right way and there's the wrong way. There are two paths that we can take in life. The broad path that leads to destruction and the narrow path that leads to life. There's two foundations you can build your life on.

The rock or the sinking sand. And the result is we'll either live the happy and holy way or the miserable and unholy way. And I bring this up because some people have a false idea of what it means to be a Christian. Sort of a caricature. You know it's pretty rare to find Christians portrayed on television programs or in movies in a positive light. Have you noticed that?

There were usually an exaggerated version or a completely distorted version. But people sort of think of Christians as what's the right word? Lame. People that live by a lot of rules and regulations. People that don't have any fun. People that live in perpetual boredom.

And I suggest to you that is completely false and the opposite is actually the case. Let me illustrate in the story of a boy who ran away from home. We often call it the parable of the prodigal son. You remember a father had two sons and the young son lose paraphrase said, dad I'm sick of living here with you. I'm sick of the rules.

The regulations. All the rest of it. I want my portion of my inheritance now. So the father gave him his inheritance and the boy went off and lived a crazy life with hookers and drinking and all kinds of horrible decisions. And then he came to his senses and realized how messed up his life was.

And let me just take a little extra different path here for a moment. If you have a prodigal child, a son or a daughter that's gone astray, don't give up on them. Keep praying for them.

They can escape your presence but they will never escape your prayers. And both of my sons went prodigal. And they both returned to the Lord.

But it took a little bit of time. And they didn't return to the Lord because I pressured them into it. I didn't have an advantage being a preacher dad you see.

It was a decision they had to make. And so always keep the door open to your prodigal son no matter what they are doing. Always keep communication open with your prodigal daughter.

Remind them that they are loved and you would always welcome them back home. So coming back to the story in Scripture. Here is the boy. He has come to the end of himself.

But listen. When you get to the end of yourself you get to the beginning of God. And he has lost everything. He has lost his money.

He has lost his so-called friends who weren't friends at all. And the Bible says he came to himself. He came to this realization. You know what. I had a better back on my father's house so he returned home and we read when he was still a great ways off the father saw him and ran to him and took out a large stick and beat him over and over again.

Right. No that is not in my Bible. The father ran to him threw his arms around him and kissed him and hugged him and said welcome home son. And then announced this my son who is dead is alive again. He who has lost is found.

Here is the point I want to make. What was that boy looking for. Apparently he wanted to wear nice clothes. Apparently he wanted to have great food. And apparently he wanted to party. And what did he find when he came back home. Oh what did the father say. Put a new robe on him. Oh he got his nice clothes. What else did he want. Nice food.

Let's have a feast. And then the father announces let's have a party. Here is my point. I am not suggesting that Christian life is wearing clothes eating food and partying. I am trying to make the point that everything the boy was looking for was found in his father's house.

It was there to begin with. And everything you are looking for in life is found in your father's house in a relationship with God. The fact is I have more enjoyment and fulfillment in a worship service and a Bible study than I ever had in any party. Right.

Any party. So in a sense it is a party. It is just a different definition of one. So the point here is that everything we need is in this relationship with God. Sometimes people talk about all that they give up to follow Christ.

My response is seriously. You didn't really give up all that much. Paul summed it up this way in Philippians 3. You know everything I used to value I now see as worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ my Lord. I have discarded everything else counting it as garbage that I may have Christ. And by the way the word garbage is a very kind translation. The literal word is a word that translates to excrement.

Do you know what that is? We are talking poop people. Now let's talk about when you walk your dog. And by the way I just read that PETA an organization for animal rights is very upset when we call our animals our pets. They should be called our companions now. First of all animals don't understand human language.

So they don't care what you call them. All they care is that you pet them. Put food in their dish. And take them out on walks right. But who's really in charge here. We say there are pets and we're their owners. I think if you look at it from a dog's perspective they might think you're their pet.

Why would they not think that. What do they do. Do they work. Do they mow the lawn. They fertilize the lawn. You know do they make any contribution.

No they just sit around all day. That's why they say it's a dog's life. I know cats think they're in control. I know it. You can just tell from the expression on their face. But when we're observing our master also known as our dog they may relieve themselves.

And I hope you're one of those people that carries little doggy bags. Because some people don't. And I know this because I've stepped in it right. So once you. I know I'm talking a lot about this. I'll be off it soon. I didn't come to church to hear a sermon about this preacher. Let me finish it.

Has a point. So when your dog does his business and you put it in the little bag. Now what do you do.

Do you carry the bag around and show it to people. Check this out. No. You want to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Because it smells. It's offensive. That's your old life before you knew Christ.

Paul says that's what it's like. It's dung. It's garbage.

It's junk. I don't want it anymore because I'm going to focus my attention on following Him. And listen to me. This is where you will find happiness.

Now this might surprise you. The Bible actually tells us there is happiness in keeping the commandments of God. Psalm 112.

One says, Praise the Lord. Blessed or happy is a man who fears the Lord and delights in His commandments. It doesn't say happy is a man who resists them or breaks them.

No. Happy is the man or the woman who delights in them. So you don't just keep it. You delight in it. If you want to be happy and holy you must live holy. W-H-O-L-L-Y. Committed to Christ. If you want to be holy. Live holy. Committed. Not half-hearted commitment. In Psalm 1 it says, Happy is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.

But listen. His delight. His delight.

He looks forward to it. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Or the word of the Lord.

And in it does He meditate day and night. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're encouraged when we hear stories of people who've had their lives changed because of the Ministry of Harvest. I just wanted to say I was a drug addict for 10 years. I've been clean since 2019 and having a dog with St. Greg on the radio and it truly helps me through some hard times. I give all of the praise and glory to Jesus. I just want to say thank you for everything you do. I throw on the radio and my day just gets brighter. So thank you.

Do you have a story to share? If so, would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email. Greg at harvest dot org. Again, that's Greg at harvest dot o-r-g. Well, we're digging into the 10 commandments today as Pastor Greg leads our study of Exodus and the life of Moses. Now why does God ask us of us?

Here's the answer. So commandment number one, have no other gods before Him. A lot of things can become gods with a small g or idols in our life.

An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. So let me ask you this. What do you get really excited about? What gets you fired up? What are you passionate about? What do you think about the most? Dream about as you fall asleep in your bed or perhaps even scheme for.

What are you passionate about? That my friend is your God. Sometimes we can make ourselves God. We can become God. Romans 1 26 says they traded the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped and served the thing created instead of the Creator Himself.

I can make myself God. For some people it's their body. It's all about the way they look. They worship at the first church of the perfect physique.

They're not here with us today. They're working out and they're taking selfies while they do it. People die to take selfies. I read the other day that 250 people have died in the last few years taking selfies in dangerous places. Like at the edge of a cliff. Like oh here's 500 feet. This is a great place for a shot. Here here. What like what are you doing?

Don't do that. But they're they're all about themselves. They are their own God. For others it might be an object. Maybe you drive your idol.

Yeah this is it. You get out of the car. Beep. Turn on the alarm. Kind of walk away. Somebody dings your door. You freak out for another person. It can be an object.

Oh if I just win this object. This medal. People in the film industry. Actors. Producers.

Directors. Oh they're all hoping for the Oscar. Am I going to win the Oscar? You know the Oscar even kind of looks like a little idol doesn't it?

I mean there it is. That gold statue everyone wants. If I won the Oscar you might think I know I'll achieve everything I've wanted.

I'll be fulfilled. You know actor Matt Damon actually won an Oscar at the age of 27 for his film Good Will Hunting. He made an interesting statement in a recent interview. He said he was alone with this Oscar. He's a 27 year old guy and he's looking at it and he said suddenly I had this thing wash over me where I thought imagine chasing that and not getting it until you're in your 80s or your 90s with all of your life behind you and realizing what an unbelievable waste that was. Then he made this statement speaking of the Oscar. It can't fill you up. If that's a hole that you have that won't fill it end quote. So Oscar, gold medal, object, career, house, whatever it is you want to put there that can become a God in your life.

Listen to this. Idols are not always evil outright. The most dangerous idols are good things that are twisted. Things that are not bad in and of themselves but we make them more important than the Lord Himself. And why is it that we should not have any other gods because our God is a jealous God.

Exodus 24. That doesn't mean God's insecure. Actually the fact that he's jealous speaks of how much he loves you. He has this commitment he's made to you and he expects you to honor the commitment you've made to him and the Lord doesn't want to share you with another. God wants an exclusive relationship with you.

Is that not reasonable? I have an exclusive relationship with my wife Kathy and her with me. I illustrated this last time. I said imagine if the wife announced to her husband, honey I am going out on a date now with Chad. And by the way I heard from a guy named Chad that didn't appreciate me using his name. Sorry Chad. And then she went on to say and I may not even be home tonight. I may sleep over with Chad but I will see you in the morning.

Love you. What moronic husband would go with that game plan? But what if the husband said oh that's no problem at all because you know I have met a fine woman and I don't care what you do with Chad. Where is this woman? She's right here in the closet and he opens it up and pulls out a mannequin.

I bought it down at the mall. I like this woman. Number one she's always smiling. Always smiling. She even waves. I can move her arm around you know. And I admit she's a bit stiff but she's a perfect companion. How weird would it be for a husband to leave his wife for an object.

Okay. How weird is it to leave the Lord for an object. And that brings us to the second commandment. He shall have no graven images. Verse four. Or likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath.

You think well how could this happen. Well let's talk about when it did happen. Back in the days of Moses and the Israelites. So Moses was a great man of God wasn't he.

Wasn't a flawless man or a perfect man as we'll see later. But he was described as Moses the man of God. Man I can't think of a higher compliment to be given to a person than for someone to say you know what that person is a man of God.

That woman she's a woman of God. Moses was the man of God. And through his influence.

His godly influence and his personal integrity he effectively kept two to three million people from turning to full tilled idolatry. You know integrity is so important. I read an article in Forbes magazine and this statement was made quote success will come and go but integrity is forever. The article went on to point out that building integrity takes years and it takes only seconds to lose.

You ever heard of Warren Buffett a billionaire investor. He says with me he's looking for someone to hire. He looks for three things. Number one integrity. Number two intelligence. And number three energy.

So that's something to think about when you're applying for a job. Integrity intelligence and energy. But Buffett went on to add but the most important is integrity. What's integrity. It's what you are in the dark. It's what you are when no one is watching.

It's honesty. Moses was a godly man full of integrity. And the reason I say this is the moment he left the scene all hell broke loose. And he was summoned by the Lord up to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments and he left Aaron in charge his brother which was a big mistake. So while Moses is gone the people come to Aaron and in Exodus 32 we read the people said to Aaron how long is it going to take Moses to come back down from the mountain. Then they said to Aaron come on make us some gods that can lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt. They're basically saying to Aaron you know what we don't know where Moses is.

We need something tangible we can worship right here right now. So Aaron instead of discouraging this says all right bring bring all your bling to me right now. All your rings your earrings everything. All your jewelry. And he melted it down and he put it in the shape of a golden calf.

Now that makes no sense. So it's a golden calf. Well they worshiped those back in Egypt. They had lots of gods. So sort of brought an Egyptian god and then Aaron boldly announces this is the god that brought you out of Egypt. And so they stripped off their clothes. In some translations of the words that are used would imply there was an orgy and they danced before the golden calf.

But here here's the interesting thing. Their first idol was Moses. The golden calf was their second. See they made an idol out of Moses and we can do the same thing. We can make an idol out of a person. Look it's finding out people you look up to spiritually. But just remember they're human and they're going to disappoint you.

I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of very impressive godly people and to hang out with them. I'll be honest some were a little disappointing. They weren't what I hoped for. Others surpassed my expectations and amazed me. But in every one of them no matter how godly they were they still had human foibles.

They still were a person just like I am. And so sometimes we put people on these pedestals and we expect them to walk on water. And when we discover they have feet of clay like we do we're devastated. And we say I don't even know if I want to be a Christian anymore. Hey grow up.

Grow up. You can look up to people but don't put them on pedestals and make gods out of them. They're flawed just like you are. These people made Moses into a god so when their god left the scene we need another god.

Golden calf will do just fine. And that's what they ended up worshiping. Pastor Greg Laurie is providing some important background as he offers a practical look at the Ten Commandments today here on A New Beginning. Well Pastor Greg the movie Johnny Cash The Redemption of an American Icon came out in theaters a number of months ago and we received a lot of viewer comments. This one said the movie made my soul sing. It sparked my faith in a way I did not expect. I walked out of the theater refreshed and renewed.

And you know that's the way my wife and I felt after seeing the movie. But what surprised me was how many special guests there were in the film. Celebrities. And they bring such rich color to the life of Johnny Cash because they knew him well didn't they? Yes and I think it's really important to notice there have been other documentary films done on the life of Cash and they're really good some of them.

But none of them focus on what we focused on. This is a spiritual documentary. In other words we're telling the story of the man in black but we're telling it from the perspective of his faith journey. And so we have a lot of interesting people that wanted to talk about Johnny Cash starting with his family. John Carter Cash's son. His sister Joanna Cash Yates who was with them obviously from the very beginning. But then we have Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow, Marty Stewart, Winona Judd and others that some knew him some recorded with him. Some just admired him but they were all influenced by him. And the interesting thing is they talk about the faith of Johnny Cash.

How strong that came through. Johnny was not embarrassed to talk about his faith. At the end of his life he did a series of recordings that are called the American recordings with the producer Rick Rubin. I think it's the finest work of the career of Cash. Even as his health was failing it almost brought a greater authenticity to his recordings. And you know it's interesting because Rick Rubin this amazing producer that got Johnny back to his roots and just Johnny and his guitar and some great production added to enhance it but not too much to overshadow it said that Johnny would say well let's have communion. They would have communion together before they would go into the recording studio. So here's Johnny recording with people like Tom Petty in his band and Bono and other rock luminaries and Johnny was always up front about his faith. Everybody knew that Johnny was a Christian.

Sometimes he'd be working for a while and he'd say well I'm done and he'd go home and just want to read his bible and pray. This is very this is very interwoven into Johnny's life. So you're going to learn things about Johnny you didn't know. For instance did you know that Johnny Cash was an ordained minister?

Yes it's true. Oh yes he went to bible school and he got a degree. So these are things people don't know about Johnny Cash. Did you know that Johnny Cash originally wanted to be a gospel recording artist not a country artist. So there's a lot of twists and turns in the life of this fascinating character and it's all found in this beautiful documentary film called Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon and I would add that in this particular DVD we're offering it has bonus content.

You won't find this anywhere else. Now you can stream this film on other platforms like Amazon and Apple but they don't have this bonus content which includes a presentation of the gospel that I give based on Johnny's life. I tell people who Jesus is how to come into our relationship with him and I even have a prayer that they can pray to accept Christ. So think about this what a great tool you can invite people over to your home and have a watch party or sit down in front of a computer or a tablet and watch it with someone.

You say well I thought it was a DVD yeah it's a DVD but it also comes with a streaming code so you can download it to your phone your tablet or your laptop. So this is a great resource one of the best we've ever offered and I'll send it to you for your gift of any size. I'm going to ask you to be more generous and normal because we've had to pay more for this resource than we would normally pay for something that we would offer you and whatever you send we'll take that money and invest it in this work that we do here in a new beginning to teach the bible you know we do that and also to proclaim the gospel you know we do that too. So if you believe in this mission that we're involved in why don't you join us and become a partner. We haven't mentioned this for a while Dave in addition to just encouraging people to order their copy of this new DVD on the life of cash let's tell them how to become a Harvest Partner.

Yeah let's do that. Harvest Partners are close friends of the ministry who feel strongly about the importance of sharing the gospel and they recognize how the Lord is working through Harvest Ministries to bring many people to the Lord through this radio program through tv through films like this one through Pastor Greg's books through digital media really everything that's available to us and if you'd like to become a Harvest Partner and regularly support this important work get in touch with us at 1-800-821-3300 we'll take care of the details and with your first gift as a Harvest Partner we'll thank you with this new DVD Johnny Cash The Redemption of an American Icon. Again dial 1-800-821-3300 or write us and mention you'd like to become a Harvest Partner. Our address is a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time more insight from the practical wisdom and instruction found on the Ten Commandments. Join us here on a new beginning with pastor and bible teacher Greg Laurie. Hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast to learn more about Harvest Ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God.