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Hello. Hello, you guys, and welcome back to Saved. Not soft. Let's get it, y'all. Happy Tuesday. You know what time it is. It's time to get into the word. Y'all ready for this? Hope you guys had a great, amazing week. My name is Emmy Moore. I'm the host of Save Non Stop. If you do not know my face, now you know it. I'm so excited, as you can see. I also really like my outfit today. I'm wearing a cute little T shirt, a little skirt. You know, the vibes is good today. I believe the Lord is going to do his thing, and I love when he does it. This last week has been absolutely crazy for me. I got insanely sick, ill to where I got hospitalized and did not tell anybody, and that was absolutely insane. I'm okay. I'm fine. Everything's all good. There's just, like, something going around. And what ended up happening to me is that I got sick and then I got wrongly prescribed and from that wrong prescription, the medication that they gave me was not good for me at all to where my body went into overdose mode. And, yeah, I had a sinus infection and they treated it as if I was freaking dying and then made my body way worse. So now I'm dealing with the repercussions of that. But you know what? Everything happens for a reason. I learned a lot of lessons. That's not what we're talking about today. I'm going to be talking about probably that incident another time, but. But not today. But anyways, the Lord has just been speaking, speaking, speaking. If I were to just, like, describe, I guess, one word, I. One. One word? Yeah. If I were to use one word to describe my past, my season, my new season that I'm in. It's peaceful. I've been feeling a divine amount of peace the past few weeks, and it's unexplainable. It's beautiful. It's Jesus. And I'm really excited for this next season that the Lord has pushed me into and what it looks like, you know, with life, ministry, relationships, work, whatever it may be. God's just moving, and I love it. But I hope you guys are doing amazing. Hope you guys are doing well. We're going to jump straight into it. Straight into it today. Today we are talking about idol worship and how you need to shatter your golden calf, whatever it may be. And the inspiration of this actually came from a TikTok video I saw, which I responded to already of this girl who made a video who said something along the lines of like, like, what does she say? She says something among the lines of like, oh, Christians need to stop acting like celebrities, or something like that, or Christian influencers need to stop acting like celebrities. And so in response to that, I made a. I made a video and the video was pretty much about idol worship. And I thought to sit down and make a whole episode just about shattering your idols. And I'm going to talk about a little bit of, of what I've already Talked about on TikTok. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I made a 10 minute video to it already that you could go watch. I mean, it, it really isn't. It, it's. It's just talking about the Bible and just talking about how sometimes we could put people on a pedestal and God necessarily doesn't negate platforms. God obviously exalts people. There were kings and prophets and famous people all throughout the whole Bible. But it's just a matter of turning your glory or turning the glory always onto God and never onto yourself. And so I want to talk about that today. I want to talk about what it's like to create and worship and believe things that are not of God and how they could get in the way of our relationship with him. And yeah, that's that. So let's pray and then we're going to get into the word. Y'all ready? Y'all? Y'all ready? Y'all ready already? Okay. By your heads, close your eyes. You already know the drill. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you and praise you, God. God, we just invite you into this space. God, we invite you into you our presence. God, we just thank you that we're never. We're never the ones that are. How do I explain this, God, that I meant to say it this way, that you are never the one who's far away. It's us. That's what I was trying to say. God. God, I just thank you that you are always drawing close to us, that you draw your. Your ear close to your children's voice. God. God, I just ask that today we receive your word with open hearts, open hands, open minds, open ears, whatever it may be. Jesus, we just ask that any, any offense or any part of our hearts or of our minds that's easily offended. We just ask that we put it to the side. God. God would just come destroying every expectation of who we think you are. God, God, blow our minds today. Show us the God that you are. Show us a freshness. Show us a, a newness of who you Are God, God, we're not coming in with any expectations of oh, I already know the scripture. Oh, I already know the story, God, God, we just crush those expectations now in Jes. Jesus, mighty name God, and just ask that you teach us through the scriptures that you counsel to us, that you minister to our hearts, God. That you equip our hands to do the works of you, God. And that you encourage us to make disciples of all nations, God, God, I ask that as we cast down and shatter these golden casts today, God that it is permanent and that it is so, God that God, you reveal every single part of our lives or, or instances or things that that may be happening, Father God, to where we're putting it on a pedestal, God, and right now in the mighty name of Jesus, we just thrown you exact. You belong God. And that is at the tip top of our entire lives, God, God, I just seat you at the throne, God, let your train, let your, let the train of your robe fill this place, God and God, let your holiness and let your glory just be so wondrous and let it be, let it be so thick to where we never want to leave your presence, God. God, I just ask that you bless this podcast, that you bless the words that come out of my mouth, God, I just give you this platform, I give you this podcast, I give you my voice, I give you my body, I give you everything that I am God. I ask that you equip my spirit man to speak the things of the Holy Spirit and, and, and that I speak of kingdom work, God, and that I do not stutter, that I have confidence in my speech, Father God, that I am eloquent with speech, Father that. That everything that comes out of, out of, off of my tongue, Father God, that it is ordained and and. And determined by you, Jesus, not by my will, but by your will, Jesus and God. I just decree and declare in the mighty name of Jesus that and purposes of you, the plans and purposes of God prosper over and against the plans and purposes of Satan God. So let this podcast today be a episode to where we break chains. In Jesus mighty name, we thank you. Amen. Amen y'all. Like I was said, the inspiration of this podcast was really what the Lord was putting on my heart about where my brain is right now is that I believe we see idol worship everywhere. I think one of when we think of idol worship, especially biblical idol worship, you quite literally think of these crazy statues and these big altars that are obviously of these false weird gods that people bow down to. But But a lot of the times, idolatry could be relationships, it could be experiences, it can be materialistic things. It could be a handful of things. And so today, the goal is to discover any golden calf you've created and asking that God gives us the strength to destroy it. And regardless if you destroy or not, at some point, all false idols and all golden calves will be destroyed. We know that because the Bible says, every knee shall. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess. And so when it comes to idol worship and what is an idol? Let's just talk about that. An idol is anything that you put anything that you put over the presence of. Of God, right? So for an example, I work with a lot of high school kids every single week. And so a lot of the times their idols could look like sports or school or friendships because they're showing up to all their practices and they're showing up to all their festivities with their friends. But when it comes to church, they're not showing up. And so it's kind of like that same thing. Like, what is robbing you? Ultimately, idolatry is a thief. And I think sometimes we like the friend of idolatry because it keeps us occupied and distracted and makes us feel real nice. But the bottom line is that idolatry will always be a robber. It will always kill, steal, and destroy everything that God wants for your life. And so the goal of idols is that idols spark three things. And I call this the triple D. That's as creative I got. The goal of idols is that it causes desperation, which leads into deception, and then bleeds into despair. That is the goal of idols. Idols come from desperation, which leads into deception and bleeds into despair. This is kind of like going to be our chopping point today. Point one, point two, point three, desperation. Why do we have golden calves? It's because you desperate as hell, that's why. It's because you desperate. Desperation causes us to do a lot of things that we never wanted to do in the first place. And when it comes to idols and when it comes to putting things above the presence of God, the majority of the times as to why we put these things in front of the the presence of God in the first place is because we are desperate. Something I say on this podcast a lot is that sometimes we have legitimate needs but go about them in an illegitimate manner. I could give you a million examples on the top of my head for an example. A lot of the times I wanted to be heard, seen, and loved. And because I failed to receive that within myself, I would turn to smoking, I was here to drink, I would turn to boys and texting and DMing everybody because I wanted to feel love seen and heard. And because I wasn't trying to fill that God shaped hole in my life with God, I was going to all these other things that were lowercase G that I was making lowercase G in my life. So that looked like spending time with people who weren't edifying my spirit or, you know, eating or drinking a certain way that was not glorifying my body or just, just being in festivities or. Or places that wasn't glorifying God or myself whatsoever. And so when you have a need, whether if it's, hey, I want to be loved, I want to be seen, I want to be acknowledged, another one that just came up to my head. I think growing up, I dealt with a lot of abandonment and neglect. So in response to that, I was always very loud and rambunctious and drew a lot of attention to myself because I wanted to be seen, I wanted to be recognized, I wanted to have attention because I felt like if I didn't get attention, I would be abandoned and neglected and no one would ever take me into consideration. Do we understand what I'm saying? So one of the main driving forces of idolatry will always be desperation. And humans are desperate people. If you want to look at the human species, we're desperate. And desperation, I believe, happens when you have a deep acknowledge, when you have a deep, deep desire for something that you're failing to see in God or find in God. And so you're trying to find it in all these other places when God can actually give you sustainability, Sustainability and satisfaction. And so when we talk about golden calves and when we look at the story of the golden CALF In Exodus 32, it shows that the Israelites were deeply into desperation. So let's read. I'm going to be reading from Exodus 32, where reading verses 1:14, and it says, when the people saw that Moses was so long and coming down from the mountain. Pause. Every time I read this, it's just so funny to me because it's like when the people saw that Moses was taking so long from coming down, like, oh my gosh, the scripture already just sound like we complaining. We're already complaining. When the people saw that Moses was, was taking so long, come down from the mountain. What's going on? First, first, what's happening is that Moses went to Mount Sinai to get the ten Commandments from God. That's the context of this. And so the Israelites had to wait on the bottom of the mountain. So whenever Moses went up and got the And God wrote the the law and the ten Commandments on the stones, and he brought them down that the people would be ready to receive them. So Moses had to go do his thing with God. Moses had to go do his thing. And then the Israelites had one simple job. They just had to wait. That's all they had to do. Let's continue. They gathered around Aaron. Aaron is Moses's cousin and said, come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, who has brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him. Aaron answered them, take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they what they handed them and made it into an idol cast into a shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. So the next day, the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. There we go. Then the Lord said to Moses, go down because your people, who you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They've been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, these are your gods, Israel, who have brought you up out of Egypt. I've seen these people, the Lord said to Moses, and they are stiff necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. But Moses sought favor of the Lord, his God. Lord, he said, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent that he brought them out, killed them in the mountains and to wipe them from the face of the earth. Turn from your fierce anger. Relent and do not bring disaster upon your people. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you have sworn to yourself. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And I will give you descendants all this land I promised them and it will be their inheritance forever. Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. And so this story is massively intense for a multitude of reasons is because the context of this is that the Israelites came out of Egypt. They were rescued out of Egypt, well, from God, but. But through the vessel of Moses. So the Israelites were entrapped. They were enslaved by Egypt for hundreds and years. And it was really bad. It was terrible work conditions. People were dying. This is where you see the templates. And then this is when you see Passover happen and then the moment with the Red Sea and etc, this is right after that. God is trying to get his people out of Egypt, take them to a promised land and start a new beginning. That is the goal. Okay, goal is God rescues his people. God's going to give them a new land. All they have to do is be obedient and trust in the Lord. At the end of the day, that's all that it is. So I don't know where your circumstances right now. I don't know where, where you could relate in this story, but the truth of the matter is, is that we have all been in a situation like this to where we were trapped in an old life, slaved and bondaged by sin. And God rescued us and is taking us to a new place filled with new promises. And your job is, is to be obedient and to wait on the Lord. This is what's happening with the Israelites. They had to be patient, they had to wait on the Lord and they had to listen to what he had to say. And when you look at the first verse when it says, oh man, he was taking so long to come down the mountain because of impatience and because of desperation, they built a calf out of something that was honestly their own belongings. They. They created an idol out of. Out of their own things. Not. And it was because they couldn't wait one. They were saying, oh my gosh, you taking so long. Like, hurry, let's do something. Because of impatience and then also out of desperation, the people of Israel felt desperate. And their desperation led them to doing extremities that they shouldn't have settled for in the first place. Computer shutting off. Bye. What's going on? And so the dangers of desperation is that desperation is ultimately compromising. Passivity is whenever, whenever you are desperate, you are compromising for a state of mind or a state of self that you never deserved in the first place. And you're passive to the things that God actually wants to give in your life or you're passive to the things that God actually wants to grant upon you. And so when it came to these Israelites, God promised them that he was going to take them into the promised land. But because they failed to remember what God said, and because they failed to even believe it so much, they turned to their own desperation, into their own impatience. And that then turned into them constructing a golden calf, which then brought out the wrath of God. And God has every reason to be angry. Like, I feel like we see God's anger and we're just like, oh, my gosh, why would God be so angry? I know why. Because I would. I would be pissed off if that happened to me, too. Because think about it. God literally took these Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery, all of them, orchestrated these 10 plagues perfectly, rescued them, parted the Red Sea, and then you can't even. Wait, like, you saw all of that, and you can't just, like, chill while I talk to my son real quick and give him these ten commandments? Like, you just can't chill. And then you mock me by making another God and giving credit to that. What are we talking about, y'all? What are we talking about? Why do we question the wrath of God? If that were to happen to you, you would have. You would have already destroyed them. So. So understand that God's wrath was very relevant and understandable that he would. He would respond this way to this instance, because these Israelites made a calf in response to their deception and to their. And to their desperation. And so one thing I also want to talk about is that when we look at this story with the Israelites and how they constructed a golden calf is that they built this golden calf thinking that it was glorifying God. Sometimes we do that with a lot of other things in our lives. We'll do certain things thinking that it's glorifying God, but it's really not. Oh, well, I can say a few things. Holy Spirit, I need you to leave me and don't make me go out of pocket, okay? There's a lot of things that people do, and they'll. I say is for God, but is it really for God? Like, you'll just do something, slap Jesus's name on it and just be like, oh, that's God. Yep. Like, I've literally seen people try to tie witchcraft and Christianity together, saying, like. Or people who tied, like, crystals and Christianity together, and they're like, oh, they're from the earth. And then all this stuff, it's like, no, like, you can't mix. You can't mix idolatry and God together. Just don't. It don't look like that. So whenever these, these Israelites constructed the Golden Calf, they literally thought that. That it would glorify God. And we know that because it's scripture. It says. Where was it? In verse five, it says, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. Wait, was that verse 5, 32. 5. Yes. It says tomorrow that they will. There will be a festival to the Lord. So they were building this calf thinking that it was for God. So I don't know what's going on in your life right now that whatever idol it. It is, whether if it's a relationship, whether if it's something you are doing, if it's an action, if it's an activity, I don't know what it is. And if you're just slapping God's. God's face on it and just being like, oh, well, like, if I say the name Jesus, then you know it's good. No, like you're actually offending him more because he's like, don't give that any credit. Like, God is God. Do we understand? And so, like, desperation. Desperation at the end of it is honestly delusion. Desperation will always be delusional. Like, the Israelites became so enchanted by their own desperation that they believe their own idol worship actually glorified God instead of offended him. That's why they built the Golden Calf. They thought, oh, this is going to glorify God. But because, you know, we're just so desperate and we need something right now, I'm going to take off my own earrings, my own clothes. I'm going to melt them together and make a golden calf. And this will glorify God. We do the same things with our idols. You'll take off your own belongings, you'll make yourself a little handful of glory of what you think God is and worship that than who he actually is. You know, how many people just pick and choose little tiny parts of the Bible or parts of God that they like? And it's like, oh, I'm gonna just choose these parts of God that I like, make it my own, and then I'm going to believe that more than who he actually is. That's actually a very popular form of idol worship, is that people will take what they. What. What they only like about God and only like that and only worship that or, or only make something out of that, but never for what God actually says and what he's really calling you to do. And so now it points to the question, what do we do with our idols? And I kind of have three points to this. First point, we create them, we worship them, and then we believe them. So the first point is that we create. Well, we don't like. I hope you wouldn't like to create them. But usually how. How. Why idols are created is be. Or why. Why we worship idols is because we create them. We worship them and we believe them. So first one created them. Aaron answered them, take off your girl's earrings, your wives, your sons, your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me. So the people took off their earrings, brought them to him, and they took what they had made of them, made an aisle idol into the shape of a calf, fashioning it with the tool. So these people literally made their idol, it's made by man. Right. So that just shows that idols will always be made by man. Amen. Second point, worshiped it. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. The next day, the people rose early, sacrificed burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down and eat and drink and got up to enjoy, indulge in revelry. Rev. Rev. Allry. There we go. Such a hard word to pronounce. And so we see that the people worship it. And then they believed it because verse 8 says they have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them, and they made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bounds out to it and sacrifice to it and have said, these are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. And so whatever it is, I'm just asking that the Holy Spirit. Look, I don't. I don't know your problem on the other side of the screen. Okay? I'm here to assist. I'm here to be a messenger, and I'm here to just do the things of God. What the heck is in your life that is an idol to where you've created it, you've worshiped it, and you've believed. Could be fear. It could be anxiety, it could be depression. It could be anything mental. It could be physical, it could be what is it? What is it? And God. I just ask that whoever's listening on the other side of the screen that you give them context and you will give them clarity of what it is. Amen. Let's go to the second point. Second point, we're going to be talking about deception. So this first part we Just talked about desperation. Now we're going to be talking about deception because idols make you what? They make you desperate, they make you. Or go back. What do idols make you do? They make you fall into desperation, deception and despair. Cool. On second point, deception. We're going to be talking about Acts chapter 14. This is what I talked about, my 10 minute little spiel on TikTok. And this is a story about we're going through a multitudes of scriptures. I'm giving a lot of Bible today because this isn't just what Emmy thinks. We're here for what God thinks. Amen. Acts chapter 14 is about Paul and Barnabas in Lystra. Lystra, Lystra, Lystra. Yeah. I was like, what is going on? Come on, tablet. But anyways, in Lystra, and basically what had happened is that they're performing miracle signs and wonders, etc. And in response to Paul and Barnabas performing these signs and wonders, people see what's happening and they start to worship them instead of actually worshiping God. So let's read the story and let's talk about it. We're going to start in verse 8. In Lystra they sat. There sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, stand up on your feet. At that the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in Lycionian language, hard words. The gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas they called Zeus. And Paul, they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. And the priests of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bowls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed out in the crowd shouting, friends, why are you doing this? We are only human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things of the living God or to the living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them in the past. He let all the nations go their own way. He has not let himself without testimony. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowds from sacrificing to them. Now we're going to talk about some things I'm really excited to talk about. So I'm going to take y'all back to what I was talking about earlier of this thing on Tick Tock that was kind of being said of Christian influencers need to stop acting like celebrities, because why are they acting like celebrities? And when I made the response video on Tick Tock, I brought up this passage because that's where the Lord has taken me. And what we see is that when we. When there's a lot of people with influence, right? And we're. We're in a. We're in a generation to where influence is very accessible, and it's something that a lot of people can have, and it's something that. That we're easily able to exalt. And so with social media, you see a lot of people, whether if it's people, you know, my age or in the same space, or it can even be celebrities or et cetera, get a platform because of the exaltation of man. And so I think when we see this claim or this, especially speaking from a Christian influencer, which I just hate that that's the terminology, but, you know, it is what it is. But, you know, being one who's in a social. In the social media space, carrying a lot of influence, one that wasn't my decision that I made, the Lord has favored me and placed me and seated me in a position that I feel very fortunate to be in. But there's also a burden that comes with public ministry and being in front of a camera and, and doing what I do. It. It's a beautiful burden. But I. I think a lot of the times we don't understand the depths of what it actually entails. And when it comes to this celebrity Christian influencer take, the thing I will just say is that one Christian celebrity, Christianity shouldn't be a thing at all. I think that's a stupid term. But the people who make it are the people who think it's a thing. And I think it's one of those things you got to realize is like something is not a thing unless if you actually make it and construct it for yourself. And what, what we're seeing is that there's a lot of people who are secretly admitting that they see these influencers and these teachers and these pastors and these evangelists on social media as idols. And so when we look at the story of Paul and Barnabas is that they went to a city to perform miracles, signs and wonders, and God has appointed them and gave them a name. And an influence to do so. So whenever Paul and Barnabas go to Lystra and they're performing a miracle not from their own power of their mind, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit, the people in response and praise and worship, but not for God, for Paul and Barnabas. Now I got a question. Whose fault is that? Is that Paul and Barnes's Barnabas's fault or is that the people's fault? That's where I kind of want to shine light on this topic is that a lot of people will be mad at Christian influencers and people in, in the social media space who are hosting the presence of God and who are working in ministry and they'll be like, oh my gosh, it's your fault that you have a platform and that and that you're getting all the glory. Whoa, who's doing it in the first place? Who's doing it in the first place? Because here's the thing. Paul and Barnabas did exactly what Jesus told them to do. The problem was that the people worshiped the wrong person. And that's not Paul and Barnabas's problem. And that, and that wasn't their fault. It's the people's fault. And so my biggest encouragement is when it comes to following people on social media and these influencers, whether if it's me, whether if it's other people, whether if it's your favorite evangelist or pastor, or if you tune into a church online, whatever it may be, you have the responsibility to not make them your God. That's your responsibility. It's nobody else's. And so when it comes to idolatry and people making or are having idolatry problems in the church, when it comes to pastors and Christian influencers and etc, that's nobody's fault. Except for your own. It's nobody's fault. And what I'm not saying, I'm not saying that there's not people, you know, in church or you know, in ministry, there's going to be bad people regardless, who are probably going to have some bad or whacked intentions. You're going to find that anywhere, no matter where you go, okay? Because we human and people will always be people. But I'm talking about people who are swearing up and down who literally comment on influencer stuff all day long, like, oh my gosh, you're self glorifying this and you're doing that. And when the reason as to why they have the influence and the platform that they have in the first place is because of your exaltation of them. So it's like people are complaining to a problem that they caused. And the answer to that is to always turn to God and never to these influencers. Because these influencers, these pastors, these teachers, these apostles and prophets, they're vessels. They're not God. They're an extension of God. So we must know what it means to be the object and to be the vessel and to let God always be the hand and the mind that's behind it. Right? And so what I love about this story in Acts chapter 14 is that these people are literally calling Barnabas and Paul gods. And then in response to that, Paul and Barnabas were responsible enough to be like, no, all of this is for Christ. This is for the glory of God. This is for kingdom work. This isn't for us. And it says in the last verse, in verse 18, it says, even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. Whose fault is that? Whose fault is that? So we have to be discerning, y'all. If you feel like you're putting an influencer, if you're putting somebody on social media on a pedestal, and these people are great, amazing people. You. You have to know how to die and shatter. How to die to that and how to shatter that idol, because the only person who's constructing it onto a platform and onto an altar is you. It's you. And I think me being a person in influence, being a person of influence, and being a person on social media, someone in my position has to say that, because on the flip side, my responsibility is to minister and to teach. And when I minister and teach, the responsibility of that is for me to go low and to always humble myself. So what that looks like is when I'm teaching or when I'm doing the things of God or with my platform, things that God has. Has blessed me with, it's never glory for myself. I have the responsibility to always give glory back to God. That's my job. God has given me the wisdom. He's given me the platform and the insight, and my job is to always give him the glory. My job is to always make it about him. That's my job. And as long as a person who is in influence and who. Who. Who God has entrusted the platform with is always giving the glory back to God. That pleases him. We see all throughout the Bible, people like David, I. I think of prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel. We think of. I think of Jeremiah, I think of Abraham, Moses. Who are all these people? They're very famous, well known people in the Bible. So to hear people say that, oh, Christians shouldn't have influence, or Christians shouldn't be in these spaces, what would you say to all these kings and prophets that God gave influence to? Would you call them cocky? No, because you at home pray to be like David. So what are we talking about? It's so interesting that people come against, it's so interesting that people come against Christians now with influence and creativity and people who are making disciples of all nations, even if it's through social media. But you love what Paul did, but you love what Abraham did. As if it's not the same thing. The difference is, is that if you do have a position of influence, your responsibility is to always give the glory back to God. And if you don't, well, that's where you see stories like Saul and King Uzziah where God gave them over to their pride and it broke them out and it literally ultimately led to death. So God doesn't oppose influence. God actually promotes, God actually promotes his people to be in spaces of influence because God wants to influence the whole entire earth. And so our job is to be in cohorts with God when he does that. So God wants all of his people in all of these spaces. Our responsibility is to make it not be about ourselves, but rather always about God. It's kingdom work. It's not our work. It's for the kingdom of God. That's it. And so I'm going to talk about this too because I saw someone made a, a video about it or, or said it under mine. Someone said under my, under my video that I made. They were like, well, you know, what do you, what do you think about. I think people were like, well, the devil words just like threw us off. Like seeing all these people like dressed up and going and taking pictures and stuff. So my question is, is, do you then not think that Christians should have spaces to where they're honored and had, did even watch the award show? Because if you watch the award show, everything was about God. It was never about, oh, this is what this person did, this, this and that. It was all about Jesus. And so I think it's just kind of like asking those questions is like, okay, if you, so what, so what are you saying? Christians can't do you think, like only and then what makes it secular? I think that that just brings us to a greater conversation of how Gen Z does not know the difference between being the salt of the earth and being set apart. Because that's what the Bible teaches is that we need to be synonymously set apart and the salt of the earth, meaning that we're byproducts of the earth, that we are literally operating on Earth. We're on Earth right now, okay? Whether if you like it or not, we're on Earth and things aren't secular. Or how do I say this? We give secularism way too much credit in too much terrain to where you're not. You're putting limitations on God by not putting him in these spaces to where he should reign over everything. Because there's a difference between secular spaces and satanic spaces. I'm not encouraging that God is in. God is in spaces to where it's fully Satanic. So places like, like, I don't agree with certain things where certain. I'm gonna say this as broad as I can. Like, I don't agree when certain people or things that you know, are obviously doing the things of God collaborate with things that are obviously satanic. I don't agree with that whatsoever, because Jesus would not do that. Like, what are we doing? But I do agree with God by his will, overtaking spaces that are inherently secular and giving all the glory back onto God. So for an example, like, rap music does not have to be profane. I believe there's a lot more better Christian rap music than secular rap music. But if you, if you focus more on, like, the secular side, like, you're going to put limitations on where God can go. Does that make sense? And so the reason as to why I bring all this up is because we are deceived of what God can do and where he should be at. And when it comes to this story of Acts, chapter 14, and Paul and Barnabas, the people were fully deceived on who they should be giving glory to because they had an expectation of who God is and what he looks like. And so deception happens when you're turning to idols out of desperation. And so when it comes to idol worship, whether if it's your favorite influencer or a podcast, like I would encourage all day, if you're listening to a podcast more than you are in your Bible, then that's an idol. Even if, if, if it's me, okay, some of. Some of y'all might. Might think it's me. If you listen to my podcast more than you are in the word of God, you need to stop listening to my podcast as much and prioritize getting in the secret space. More. If you're listening to me, talk about. More. If you're listening to me, talk About God more than you're actually talking to God. I'm going to tell you, you should stop watching my podcast. You should stop. That's what I'm talking about. Okay, next point, because I actually gotta go. I'm gonna late just a little bit. Gonna be talking about despair. We're gonna go to Romans 1, which this is just an insane part of scripture. We're Gonna read verses 1832. Yeah, let's read. It says the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what had been made known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have clearly been seen being understood from what has been made. So that people are without exception excuse for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of God for immortal, for for images made to look like mortal human beings, birds, animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts and sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served Creator things. Created things rather than the Creator who was forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lust. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, men also abandoned natural relations with women and inflamed with lust for one another, men committed shameful acts with other men and received themselves in dual penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think worthwhile and retained to the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a deprivated mind so that they would do what ought not to be done and have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossip, slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. They invent ways of doing evil and disobey their parents and have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these things very well, but also approve of those who practice them. And so this whole verse at its finest is despair. So we're talking about idols and shattering them. And what do idols do? They cause you to be desperate, which then leads into deception, which bleeds into despair. Because the goal at the end of the day is that Satan doesn't want to. He doesn't want to. How do I want to say this? Satan doesn't want to just give you anxiety. He doesn't want to take away your family. He doesn't want to destroy your job, your health. At the end of the day, what Satan really wants is he wants you to fall into despair. Because when you fall into despair, you have no faith. Satan wants to take your faith. That's. That's what we're fighting for. The. The battle. The fight that we're fighting is for faith. And so when we. When we look at despair and we look at the goal of it and, and how despair is always the end goal of every false idol, it's always to throw you in a state of unbelief. And you become in a state of unbelief through godlessness, through wickedness, through sin, from indulgence, from despair. That's how you get there. And idols will always leave you feeling empty. Idols will always leave you feeling unsatisfied. And when I read Romans 1, it always reminds me a multitude of things, of how God makes His goodness and his mercy plain onto us and plain to us. And we're the ones who audibly reject it. We're the ones who say, no, God has made his existence plain. God has made his goodness plan and his mercy and his kindness and his compassion, and we have the opportunity to partner with Him. And the only person who's keeping us from the things of God is truly ourselves. You can't blame the enemy for it for so long. I think sometimes we blame the enemy for our lack of belief, for, oh, dang, I'm not close to God because of the enemy. Can I tell you something, though? All Satan can do is leverage your flesh. You are the one who got to open the door and creak it. Satan will slam it wide open. But all Satan can do is already leverage the sin that you are partaking in. And so I think sometimes we give the enemy way too much credit because a lot of our unbelief, a lot of our stagnation, a lot of our passivity comes from sin that we're orchestrating ourselves. And so when the Bible says that God has made himself plain and known to mankind, the reason as to why we're not in close proximity to God isn't because of Satan. It's because of Our lack of belief and our lack of confession and acceptance of who God is. And so this is why God says also in Romans 1, that he gave these wicked people over to their minds, to their why? Why? God said that he gave these people over to a deprivated mind because he gave them over to what they were already thinking. So don't fall into a swivel of despair, and you don't fall into despair by not casting or by not constructing golden calves. If you want to escape falling into despair and falling into belief, then you must destroy every single gold calf in your life. That's it. And I don't know what it is, I don't know how specific you know it needs to get, but whatever it is in your life that is prohibiting you from the things of God. It's funny, my friend Ashley said this the other day, and it's probably one of the most profound things. Like I think I've heard her say, it was so simple. And it's understanding that we're always the problem. We're always the problem, but simultaneously you hold the answer. And so this is a great moment for repentance. And this is where I feel like we gonna edge off the podcast. I would really encourage. This is just what I'm feeling in the spirit. I would really encourage y'all who are listening to this episode to stop and spend time to confess to God. After you listen to this episode, stop, sit with him and just confess. Confess and repent. Say God, you know what I've been thinking and wondering, and I've been idolizing this for way too long, and I'm going to destroy this calf today and trust that the Lord is going to restore you when he does, when you do that, because you get to make the decision to destroy everything that's coming into that's coming into contact with you and God. You have the power and the authority God has placed place it upon you when you accept him. So tear down the thing that's holding you back from getting the things of God because you might be your own block to your own blessing. Just tear down the idol. Tear it down. I don't know if you got to block somebody's number or block somebody on Instagram or delete the pictures from your photo album. I don't know what it is, but do it. If it's get in the way of how you and the Lord have been in relationship, let it go. It's not worth it. And if you don't destroy it, God will. So who's gonna get to it first. And that's all I have today. That's it. That's all I have. But that's my encouragement. Sit and repent. Sit and repent. God is pleased with your repentance. I think that's something. If you want to please God every day. If you want to wake up and think, how do I please God today? You please God through repentance. It's so beautiful to think about that. Whenever I repent to God, it actually pleases him that I can make God smile today. By confessing. By confession. Confess. Confess. Confess. He takes joy in it. He takes joy in it. Amen. Amen. Okay, a few announcements. If you want to shop the merchandise, save not soft shop.com. got a few T shirts left for you guys to pick up. If you feel led to tie towards this ministry, there's a link down below. If you need prayer requests, there's another link down below. If. If you got saved through this podcast, there's a link down below. Anything else? I think that's that. Yes, I think that's that. Yeah. You guys, I feel at peace. I really don't know what else to say. I just feel good. And I believe the Lord did what he needed to do. I love you guys so, so much. I'll see you guys two weeks from now. Maybe I'll post another one next week. I don't know. My life's been busy. We'll see, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. But I love you guys. Have a great rest of your day. I'm praying that the Lord keeps you, that he just continuously speaks to you and that God is just the greatest. I love him. Okay, I love you guys so much. I'll see you two weeks from now. Go spend your time with God because he loves you and he loves your beautiful face. Okay, love you guys. Bye.