WEBVTT - Give God His Proper Place – Part 1 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:03.680 Today on Bold steps with Mark job, we're learning to 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:05.720 give God his proper place. 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:11.000 You cannot replace God or compete with God or substitute 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.840 God for other things in your life. He stands high 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.400 above all the universe and controls the world and the 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:24.320 destiny of man that God cannot be substituted. There is 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.200 no substitute for that God. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.720 Welcome to Bold Steps. Our Bible teacher is Mark job, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.800 senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago and 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.360 president of Moody Bible Institute. I'm Wayne Shepherd. You know, 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.640 when you hear the phrase the Ten Commandments, what comes 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:53.519 to your mind? Maybe Charlton Heston coming down from the 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:55.680 mountain and a Cecil B de Mille movie or or 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.360 do you see yourself remembering those ten commandments and memorizing them? Mark, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.640 did you have to memorize the Ten Commandments. Growing up. 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.480 I did have to know them. Yes. 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.959 We can't pick and choose, can we? They are for today, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.039 as well as old covenant times. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.679 You know, Charlton Heston was from the Chicagoland area? 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:14.080 Yes. 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.720 Yeah. And that was a great, great movie, The Ten Commandments. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.399 He actually grew up in a little town in Michigan 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.759 where my folks lived. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:25.640 Okay. Great actor. But you know, this first commandment, thou 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.240 shalt have no other gods before me is really at 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.680 the core of what we all struggle with. And when 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:38.000 I say idolatry, most of us think of a tribal 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:39.919 group in some remote place. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:40.920 A statue of some kind. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:45.800 Yes, worshiping a totem pole. But the heart of idolatry 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:50.440 is much more common than that to all of us. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.520 And it's the idea of putting anything equal to or 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.800 above God that's idolatry. All right. And that's the heart 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:00.040 of this first commandment. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.770 Well, we're just starting today with this new series. So 0:02:02.810 --> 0:02:07.010 listen now here's Mark Jobe's message. Give God his proper place. 0:02:08.410 --> 0:02:10.770 And so I'm going to begin reading in verse one 0:02:10.770 --> 0:02:14.130 of Exodus chapter 20. You can follow along. It says, 0:02:14.130 --> 0:02:19.850 And God spoke all these words, I am the Lord 0:02:19.850 --> 0:02:24.050 your God, who brought you out of Egypt and out 0:02:24.050 --> 0:02:29.250 of the land of slavery. You shall have no other 0:02:29.250 --> 0:02:34.610 gods before me. I want to start with this first command. 0:02:34.610 --> 0:02:37.049 I want to talk to you about what it means 0:02:37.210 --> 0:02:40.490 to have no other gods before him. Now, as we 0:02:40.490 --> 0:02:43.130 look at the Ten Commandments and before I get into 0:02:43.130 --> 0:02:47.330 commandment number one, I think it's important to talk about 0:02:47.330 --> 0:02:51.130 how the Ten Commandments were given. Many of you know 0:02:51.130 --> 0:02:55.809 that the people of Israel were in slavery for 400 years. 0:02:56.090 --> 0:03:02.890 For 400 years they had been Subject to the Egyptian rule. 0:03:03.290 --> 0:03:09.090 For 400 years they had lived under someone else's government. 0:03:09.889 --> 0:03:15.169 The Egyptians had multiple gods. They were pagans. They worshiped 0:03:15.169 --> 0:03:19.570 the god of the Nile. They worshipped Baal. They worship, uh, 0:03:19.610 --> 0:03:23.489 dozens and dozens of gods. But the people of Israel, 0:03:23.930 --> 0:03:27.850 they knew that their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, 0:03:27.850 --> 0:03:30.930 and Jacob. But they had no written law. They had 0:03:30.930 --> 0:03:35.090 no principles that they could follow. They had no law 0:03:35.130 --> 0:03:39.610 that would govern them. So here they are, being set 0:03:39.610 --> 0:03:43.810 free to be a country, a nation. Three months after 0:03:43.810 --> 0:03:50.570 they're liberated, God says to Moses, Moses, I want to 0:03:50.570 --> 0:03:55.770 take you to Mount Sinai. I want you to ascend 0:03:55.770 --> 0:03:58.690 unto my holy mountain. I'm going to have an encounter 0:03:58.690 --> 0:04:01.780 with you. He told the people of Israel, no one 0:04:01.780 --> 0:04:05.020 else is to even come close to this mountain. If 0:04:05.060 --> 0:04:09.220 you come too close to this mountain animal, man, child 0:04:09.220 --> 0:04:14.260 or woman will die. They watched as Moses climbed up 0:04:14.260 --> 0:04:18.820 that mountain, and for 40 days and nights he spent 0:04:18.820 --> 0:04:22.780 that time on that mountain in a supernatural fast, with 0:04:22.779 --> 0:04:26.900 no food and no water. While he was on that mountain, 0:04:26.900 --> 0:04:30.260 God appeared to Moses, and God spoke to him and said, I, 0:04:30.300 --> 0:04:34.219 I have a covenant with these people. I, I have 0:04:34.220 --> 0:04:37.100 a purpose and a plan. I have a promised land 0:04:37.100 --> 0:04:40.420 for these people, but I want them to follow the 0:04:40.420 --> 0:04:45.180 laws that I give them. And so God supernaturally on 0:04:45.180 --> 0:04:49.060 tablets of stone, it says, he spoke the commandments. And 0:04:49.060 --> 0:04:52.180 then with his finger he engraved on these tablets of 0:04:52.180 --> 0:04:56.340 stone what would come to be known as the Ten Commandments. 0:04:56.339 --> 0:04:58.820 In the Hebrew it means the ten sayings or the 0:04:58.820 --> 0:05:03.340 ten statements or the Ten Commandments. You remember the story 0:05:03.339 --> 0:05:06.339 when Moses came down from the mountain. He had been 0:05:06.339 --> 0:05:10.940 gone so long that the people of Israel, they decided, hey, 0:05:11.180 --> 0:05:15.219 maybe he's never coming back. Maybe he died on that mountain. 0:05:16.260 --> 0:05:19.700 We need a God to worship. And so they reverted 0:05:19.700 --> 0:05:27.419 to their pagan practices. They took jewelry, earrings, rings, any 0:05:27.420 --> 0:05:30.299 kind of gold they could find, and they melted it 0:05:30.339 --> 0:05:35.780 into the image of a god they had worshiped in Egypt. 0:05:35.779 --> 0:05:39.339 And they began to worship and dance around a calf 0:05:39.540 --> 0:05:45.859 as they went into this major pagan frenzy, worshiping while 0:05:45.860 --> 0:05:48.660 Moses was on the mountain. When Moses came down and 0:05:48.660 --> 0:05:51.540 he heard the roar of the people and looked, he 0:05:51.580 --> 0:05:56.580 saw that the people had quickly gone astray. How about it? 0:05:56.580 --> 0:06:01.870 40 days, and they had already gone astray. They had 0:06:01.870 --> 0:06:05.550 just been liberated. They saw the miraculous sign of the 0:06:05.550 --> 0:06:08.470 parting of the Red sea. They saw the cloud and 0:06:08.470 --> 0:06:12.910 the fire. Isn't it amazing how quickly we can walk 0:06:12.910 --> 0:06:16.750 away from God, even after we have seen the hand 0:06:16.750 --> 0:06:21.670 of God work so powerfully in our lives? Does it 0:06:21.670 --> 0:06:25.430 amaze you? Oh, it amazes me how quickly my heart 0:06:25.430 --> 0:06:28.950 can stray away from God after I've seen God do 0:06:28.950 --> 0:06:33.870 so much. The Bible tells us that Moses was so 0:06:34.230 --> 0:06:36.750 angered at the people of Israel that he threw the 0:06:36.750 --> 0:06:39.710 tablets of stone on the ground, and they burst and 0:06:39.710 --> 0:06:46.109 they crushed. And so a second time Moses ascended unto 0:06:46.110 --> 0:06:49.350 the mountain and met with God. And for the second 0:06:49.350 --> 0:06:54.150 time God engraved in these tablets of stone ten commandments. 0:06:54.470 --> 0:06:58.910 The power of God was so evident that when Moses 0:06:58.950 --> 0:07:02.310 walked down from that mountain after having met with God. 0:07:02.350 --> 0:07:06.070 The Bible tells us that his face was glowing. When 0:07:06.070 --> 0:07:10.150 people looked at him, they noticed the glow on Moses face. 0:07:10.190 --> 0:07:12.830 So strong was the glow on Moses face that he 0:07:12.830 --> 0:07:15.030 had to put a veil over his face so they 0:07:15.030 --> 0:07:18.590 could not see the fading glory of the presence of God. 0:07:19.470 --> 0:07:23.950 I want you to understand these commandments were given at 0:07:23.950 --> 0:07:27.390 a special moment in time. They were given because the 0:07:27.390 --> 0:07:33.470 people of Israel needed a rule. They needed guidelines to 0:07:33.510 --> 0:07:38.310 conduct their society in a healthy manner. In. They needed 0:07:38.310 --> 0:07:42.550 a moral code that reflected the design of God for 0:07:42.550 --> 0:07:48.430 their lives. And so God gave them ten commandments. I'm 0:07:48.430 --> 0:07:52.630 going to read those ten commandments for you. Many of 0:07:52.630 --> 0:07:55.790 us have heard those ten commandments as negatives. Thou shalt not, 0:07:55.790 --> 0:07:58.550 because that's the way they are placed in Scripture. But 0:07:58.550 --> 0:08:01.000 I want you to understand that although there's a negative, 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.400 there's also a positive because God is saying you should 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.560 not do this because you should be doing this. So 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.960 let's read it that way. Thou shalt have no other 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:16.760 gods before me. God is saying God is God. So 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:21.800 make sure that you honor and worship God as number one. 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.080 You shall not make for yourself any idol. God is 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:33.160 not contained in stone or wood or image. God is 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.240 a spirit and therefore we should worship him in spirit 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.640 and in truth, because he's alive and well. He travels 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.559 with us, goes with us, and there are no images, 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:48.640 no graven images that should replace God. You shall not 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.359 misuse the name of the Lord your God. God is holy. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.160 So therefore, when you address God, address him with respect. 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:01.079 His name is to be honored. Remember the Sabbath day. 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.400 God is a God of patterns and rest, so make 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.840 sure in your life you carve out time both to 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.880 worship God and to replenish yourself and to rest. Honor 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.559 your father and your mother. God has given you a family. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.880 Cherish them. Honor them, esteem them in high value because 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:28.520 as you esteem them, you honor God. You shall not murder. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.520 God is the God of life. So therefore uphold life. 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:38.559 Honor life, value all life because all life comes from God. 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:45.000 You shall not commit adultery. God is faithful, asking you 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:49.560 to live as a married individual in a monogamous, faithful 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:54.360 relationship in which you do not violate that covenant. Because 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.840 as you violate that covenant, you sin against God. You 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:05.530 shall not steal. God wants you to work. Work hard, 0:10:05.690 --> 0:10:08.329 make your own money, and live off of what you 0:10:08.370 --> 0:10:11.449 make and not take of others what does not belong 0:10:11.490 --> 0:10:14.809 to you. Thou shalt not lie. God is a God 0:10:14.809 --> 0:10:18.770 of truth and therefore God expects integrity of our life. 0:10:18.970 --> 0:10:23.250 So therefore we speak truth because God is truth. Thou 0:10:23.250 --> 0:10:29.089 shalt not covet. God is sufficient. So therefore we should 0:10:29.090 --> 0:10:33.089 not be looking at what other people have wanting it 0:10:33.090 --> 0:10:36.370 for ourselves. We should learn contentment and peace in our 0:10:36.370 --> 0:10:41.250 life because God is all sufficient. Now think about that 0:10:41.250 --> 0:10:45.170 for a moment. Think about what this society would look 0:10:45.170 --> 0:10:50.650 like if our society practiced the Ten Commandments. Think about 0:10:50.650 --> 0:10:55.690 how Chicago would be different if Chicago was practicing the 0:10:55.690 --> 0:10:59.730 Ten Commandments. The dozens of youth that have been murdered 0:10:59.730 --> 0:11:04.370 this summer would not have been murdered. The robberies that 0:11:04.370 --> 0:11:06.570 have been taken, that have taken place over these last 0:11:06.570 --> 0:11:10.530 couple of months, no one would have stolen. You would 0:11:10.530 --> 0:11:13.170 not hear cursing on the street, using the Lord's name 0:11:13.170 --> 0:11:16.730 in vain because people would be honoring that. Our marriages 0:11:16.730 --> 0:11:19.490 would be stronger because people would be faithful to their 0:11:19.490 --> 0:11:25.209 marriage partner. You wouldn't have people backbiting and gossiping because 0:11:25.210 --> 0:11:28.010 we would be content with what we had, and honoring 0:11:28.010 --> 0:11:31.130 that our churches would be full on Sunday, because people 0:11:31.130 --> 0:11:34.370 would be putting God in the main place and not 0:11:34.410 --> 0:11:38.530 worshiping other gods. You would have people that aren't burnt 0:11:38.570 --> 0:11:41.370 out because they would be taking the Sabbath as a 0:11:41.370 --> 0:11:47.050 day of rest. You would have parents that are older 0:11:47.050 --> 0:11:49.690 and retired, and instead of just being shoved to the 0:11:49.690 --> 0:11:52.370 side and neglected, they would feel a part of the 0:11:52.370 --> 0:11:54.930 family and they would feel like they are being honored 0:11:54.929 --> 0:11:58.250 and being cherished. It would strengthen our families. It would 0:11:58.250 --> 0:12:02.179 help our society. It would make our neighborhood safe. It 0:12:02.179 --> 0:12:07.740 would strengthen the fabric of of son and daughter relationships 0:12:07.740 --> 0:12:12.579 with parents. In fact, this society would be an utterly 0:12:12.620 --> 0:12:21.620 different society if we practice the Ten Commandments. And I 0:12:21.620 --> 0:12:24.340 want you to understand that exactly. I want you to 0:12:24.340 --> 0:12:31.540 understand this, that the Ten Commandments are not obsolete. I 0:12:31.540 --> 0:12:34.380 know they were written in the Old Testament, but they 0:12:34.380 --> 0:12:37.180 come out of the heart of God. And so since 0:12:37.179 --> 0:12:40.380 they come out of the heart of God, they are 0:12:40.420 --> 0:12:45.700 applicable for us today just as much as they were 0:12:46.500 --> 0:12:48.620 2000 years ago. 0:12:55.660 --> 0:12:58.460 You're listening to the Bible teaching of Mark job here 0:12:58.460 --> 0:13:01.580 on Bold Steps. We're pausing our program to take a 0:13:01.580 --> 0:13:03.180 moment to let you know that we'd love to hear 0:13:03.179 --> 0:13:05.940 from you. If you have a question or a comment, 0:13:05.940 --> 0:13:07.780 or even a prayer request that you'd like to share 0:13:07.780 --> 0:13:10.100 with Mark and the team, you can do that online 0:13:10.100 --> 0:13:13.980 at bird-stamps.org. And we encourage you to keep listening, because 0:13:13.980 --> 0:13:17.140 you might even hear your question answered in an upcoming episode. 0:13:17.500 --> 0:13:19.179 Right now, let's get back into the second part of 0:13:19.179 --> 0:13:22.100 today's message, because Mark is going to dive into the commandments, 0:13:22.100 --> 0:13:23.500 and you don't want to miss what he has to 0:13:23.500 --> 0:13:26.220 say about God's place in your life. 0:13:31.500 --> 0:13:34.939 I believe that God put the first commandment in place there, 0:13:35.179 --> 0:13:38.260 because if we don't get the first commandment right, we 0:13:38.260 --> 0:13:42.860 miss all the other commandments. It's like buttoning your shirt. 0:13:43.220 --> 0:13:45.700 If you don't get the first button right, all the 0:13:45.700 --> 0:13:48.900 other buttons are going to be wrong. What is that 0:13:48.900 --> 0:13:51.620 first commandment? You know, a lot of people compete for 0:13:51.620 --> 0:13:56.020 number one, right? Coke and Pepsi are always competing for 0:13:56.020 --> 0:14:00.870 number one. The Sox and the Cubs are always competing 0:14:00.870 --> 0:14:05.390 for number one. There's a lot of competition for number one. Well, 0:14:05.390 --> 0:14:09.470 this number one is the number one top commandment that 0:14:09.470 --> 0:14:14.829 God gives first on purpose for us to follow. And 0:14:14.830 --> 0:14:17.830 I believe it's the foundational commandment that makes all these 0:14:17.830 --> 0:14:21.590 other commandments fall into their place. And it says this 0:14:22.070 --> 0:14:30.990 you shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number 0:14:30.990 --> 0:14:39.310 one you shall have no other gods before me. Now 0:14:39.310 --> 0:14:43.230 it's a very short commandment, but it has some huge 0:14:43.230 --> 0:14:47.070 implications to it. And so I want us to look 0:14:47.070 --> 0:14:49.430 for a moment at what this means. I believe there 0:14:49.430 --> 0:14:54.390 are three breakdowns of what this means that you can apply. 0:14:54.710 --> 0:14:57.550 When it says you shall have no other gods before me, 0:14:57.550 --> 0:15:01.400 the language that's used here in the Hebrew is marital 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:06.120 covenant relationship. It's the idea of a married man marrying 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.240 a woman, and there's no other partner involved in that. 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.880 It's an exclusive relationship right now. It's not between the 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.240 man and his wife and three other women or other people. No, no, no, 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.400 this is an exclusive relationship. And the language that's used 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:25.120 here is marital language. God is saying, I will not 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:31.080 share your worship of me with any other gods. I 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:36.760 want exclusive devotion from your heart to my supremacy. I 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.400 want to be number one in your life and have 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:44.000 no competitors that even come close. I want to be 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:50.160 before every other God in your life. What does that 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:55.920 mean practically? Well, practically it means that you cannot have 0:15:55.920 --> 0:16:02.560 any other gods instead of him. Sometimes we substitute something 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.920 else for God. I love what it says in Isaiah 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.000 chapter 43 verse 11. It says, I am the Lord, 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:16.760 and besides me there is no other. Isaiah 45, verse 21. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:21.440 One Isaiah 62, verse 11. They, they, they all proclaim 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:26.800 the sovereignty and exclusivity of God in our life. What 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.240 God is saying is, if you call yourself a follower 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:33.120 of mine, if you are going to worship me, then 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.480 there can be no substitutes for me. I know that 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:42.200 works for for sweeteners in your coffee you say, no, no, no, 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:48.320 I don't want sugar. Give me sweet'n low. I want Splenda. 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.760 I want equal. Hey, that works for your coffee, where 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:58.120 you can put substitutes in for the real thing. But 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.400 it doesn't work in your Working your relationship with God. 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:06.480 There are no substitutes permitted or allowed. You cannot replace 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:10.920 God or compete with God or substitute God for other 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.840 things in your life. God says I am supreme, I 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.520 am God, I am the I am. There is no 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:23.040 other like me. I am not replaceable. I was, I am, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:27.359 and I will be the eternal God, the omnipotent God, 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.640 the sovereign God, the God that is always known all 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:35.800 things because he is omniscient and has never learned anything, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.280 because he's always known everything. The God that is omnipresent, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:43.679 present at every time, everywhere, all the time. The God 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.960 that is omnipotent, that has unlimited power in the palm 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.919 of his hands. The God that is sovereign, which means 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.600 that he stands high above all the universe and controls 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:00.130 the world and the destiny of man that God cannot 0:18:00.130 --> 0:18:09.730 be substituted. There is no substitute for that God. Now, 0:18:09.730 --> 0:18:19.210 in classic paganism, there are five primary other gods. There's 0:18:19.210 --> 0:18:22.930 the God of Mars, who is the god of war 0:18:23.090 --> 0:18:28.770 and conquering. There was the god Bacchus, the God who 0:18:28.770 --> 0:18:34.930 promises comfort, joys and thrills. There is the god Mammon, 0:18:35.930 --> 0:18:40.810 the god of money and success. There was the god Venus, 0:18:41.410 --> 0:18:45.890 the god of love and romance. And there's the god Minerva, 0:18:45.930 --> 0:18:51.490 the God of wisdom and philosophy and understanding. Now, most 0:18:51.490 --> 0:18:54.010 of us today here we live in a country that, 0:18:54.330 --> 0:18:58.330 for the most part, considers itself a Christian nation and 0:18:58.330 --> 0:19:01.700 Christian country. When you hear the command, thou shalt have 0:19:01.700 --> 0:19:04.620 no other gods, you sit back and you say, I 0:19:04.660 --> 0:19:09.820 got that down. I'm not out there looking for an idol, 0:19:10.180 --> 0:19:15.020 worshiping some pagan god and some foreign religion out there, 0:19:15.500 --> 0:19:18.139 but I, I want to pause and I want you 0:19:18.140 --> 0:19:22.420 to think a little deeper, because this commandment is not 0:19:22.420 --> 0:19:27.140 only violated by people in Africa and tribal Africa that 0:19:27.140 --> 0:19:31.940 are bowing to some statue or pole or addressing some 0:19:31.940 --> 0:19:37.820 other God, this commandment is violated every day in the 0:19:37.820 --> 0:19:43.220 United States of America and is violated not only outside 0:19:43.220 --> 0:19:45.980 of the church walls, but listen to me well, this 0:19:45.980 --> 0:19:55.619 commandment is violated many times by Christians. Oh, we violate 0:19:55.619 --> 0:19:58.740 it not because you go and you bow at some 0:19:58.740 --> 0:20:03.020 shrine of some other god. But the Bible tells us 0:20:03.020 --> 0:20:09.180 that there is no competing gods. When you make the 0:20:09.220 --> 0:20:15.540 center of your life pleasure. When you make happiness and 0:20:15.540 --> 0:20:18.700 thrill the center of your life, the most important thing 0:20:18.700 --> 0:20:22.980 of your life, you have just worshiped at the God 0:20:23.540 --> 0:20:28.260 of Bacchus. When you make money and finances the primary 0:20:28.260 --> 0:20:31.020 drive of your life, and that is more important than God, 0:20:31.020 --> 0:20:34.300 than you have just worshiped at the altar of Mammon. 0:20:35.180 --> 0:20:38.780 When you make love in romance and your date, or 0:20:38.780 --> 0:20:42.780 the person that you're marrying when they become higher than God, 0:20:42.820 --> 0:20:46.580 than you have just worshipped at the altar of the 0:20:46.619 --> 0:20:50.619 God of Venus? Oh, I see it all the time. 0:20:51.300 --> 0:20:54.939 Whatever's at the core of your life, whatever's most important 0:20:54.940 --> 0:20:58.020 in your life will determine the decisions that you make 0:20:58.060 --> 0:21:02.380 in life. You see every day across America and every 0:21:02.420 --> 0:21:07.540 day in churches across America, we violate the number one command. 0:21:07.580 --> 0:21:12.580 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. There is 0:21:12.580 --> 0:21:18.020 no God that should ever compete for my superiority, my 0:21:18.180 --> 0:21:22.139 preeminence in your life. I am the God that should 0:21:22.140 --> 0:21:25.139 have no competition in your life. 0:21:37.380 --> 0:21:40.980 Pursuing God instead of all others. That's the takeaway from 0:21:40.980 --> 0:21:43.940 today's message from Mark Jobe, and we'll continue on tomorrow's 0:21:43.940 --> 0:21:47.139 edition of Bold Steps. In the meantime, Mark, we've got 0:21:47.140 --> 0:21:49.860 a special resource available to our listeners right now, and 0:21:49.859 --> 0:21:51.540 we'd like to tell them more about it. 0:21:51.900 --> 0:21:56.100 You know, Wayne, today's young girls, they're just bombarded with 0:21:56.100 --> 0:22:01.390 messages that shape their beliefs, Leaves affect their identity. That's 0:22:01.390 --> 0:22:04.990 why I'm excited about this Bold Steps gift this month. 0:22:04.990 --> 0:22:09.750 It's called LA Girls Believe by Dana Gresh. 0:22:09.790 --> 0:22:11.190 And Dana is with us right now. 0:22:11.230 --> 0:22:14.550 Absolutely, Dana, great to have you with us. Tell us 0:22:14.550 --> 0:22:17.790 a little bit about why you wrote this book. 0:22:18.430 --> 0:22:21.230 Oh, well, my friend Nancy DeMoss, Wolgemuth wrote a book 0:22:21.230 --> 0:22:26.310 called Lies Women Believe. And over a million women read 0:22:26.310 --> 0:22:30.510 that book, and it helped them to really identify where 0:22:30.510 --> 0:22:33.790 they were in bondage to lies. And that was resulting 0:22:33.790 --> 0:22:36.670 in emotions that weren't working, that weren't healthy. That was 0:22:36.670 --> 0:22:39.350 one of the telltale signs, as well as sinful behaviors 0:22:39.350 --> 0:22:42.510 that they just couldn't stop. And when they identified the lies, 0:22:42.510 --> 0:22:46.389 they felt freedom. Well, those women said, these lies started 0:22:46.390 --> 0:22:48.230 when I was in my teen years and in my 0:22:48.230 --> 0:22:51.230 teen years. So Nancy and I worked together to write 0:22:51.230 --> 0:22:54.109 both Lies Young Women Believe for teens and then Lies 0:22:54.190 --> 0:22:57.510 Girls believe for the 8 to 12 year old girls. 0:22:57.950 --> 0:23:01.070 So this is for 8 to 12 year olds specifically, 0:23:01.070 --> 0:23:05.070 by the way. I just think this is so, so needed. Yes, 0:23:05.270 --> 0:23:09.870 especially in today's culture where young girls more than ever 0:23:09.910 --> 0:23:14.669 are bombarded about identity, lies about who they are, gender, 0:23:14.670 --> 0:23:17.710 where they fit into the world. What would you say 0:23:17.750 --> 0:23:21.230 are the top three lies? I know you have a 0:23:21.590 --> 0:23:24.510 list of quite a few lies. Can you identify what 0:23:24.510 --> 0:23:27.070 you'd say are the top say three lies. 0:23:27.630 --> 0:23:30.790 God is not enough. If we don't believe that God 0:23:30.790 --> 0:23:34.790 is enough, then that dismantles and affects everything else around us. 0:23:34.790 --> 0:23:37.710 And one of the ways that shows up is emotions, 0:23:37.710 --> 0:23:40.550 which I just addressed. Emotions are one of the telltale 0:23:40.550 --> 0:23:43.350 signs that we aren't believing God is who he says 0:23:43.350 --> 0:23:46.510 he is, and he will be in our lives who 0:23:46.510 --> 0:23:50.030 he says he will be. So we believe God isn't enough. 0:23:50.030 --> 0:23:52.070 I need the car, or the house or the job 0:23:52.070 --> 0:23:55.109 or whatever. But as as tweens, they tend to really 0:23:55.109 --> 0:23:57.750 believe the lie. God isn't enough. I need the friend 0:23:58.270 --> 0:24:02.560 and friends lead you down a road of believing all 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:06.320 kinds of other lies. Peer pressure is either a great 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:10.040 gift in our lives that leads us to Jesus, or 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:13.320 it is a great dismantling of our faith and leads 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.200 us away from Jesus to counterfeits. And so I think 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.040 that's probably one of the big lies. And you mentioned 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:24.200 identity so many times. If if that friend isn't from 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:27.280 a source of biblical truth, a home that's grounded in 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:31.240 biblical truth today, which of us feels good about ourselves? 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:33.920 Our emotions are healthy in our in our middle school 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:38.680 and pre-teen years, none of us. Well, today people are saying, okay, 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:41.399 the reason you don't feel good is because and they're 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:45.600 leading them down, these really lethal, dangerous roads of lies 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:48.040 that lead to lots and lots of years of struggle 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:48.680 and pain. 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:50.760 Well, Dana, we are so happy to partner with you 0:24:50.760 --> 0:24:53.280 in getting this book into the hands of our listeners lives. 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:56.919 Girls believe and the truth. Can't forget the subtitle Mark 0:24:56.960 --> 0:25:00.520 the truth that Sets Them Free. Dana, thank you so much. 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:02.560 My pleasure. Thanks, guys. 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:04.840 And we'd like to send you a copy of this book. 0:25:04.840 --> 0:25:07.000 When you give a donation of any amount to bold 0:25:07.000 --> 0:25:09.600 steps to send a check in the mail, write to 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:14.280 us at bold steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:22.320 606 ten. Or call us at 800. D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. 0:25:22.600 --> 0:25:24.640 And of course, you can also visit us online at 0:25:24.640 --> 0:25:29.879 Bold Steps. Well, that's our time for today. On behalf 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:32.600 of the entire Bold Steps team, thank you for listening. 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:34.720 Be sure to join us again tomorrow as we continue 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:38.160 this message. Give God his proper place. We'll be discovering 0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:40.800 how to let God be God in our lives. That's 0:25:40.800 --> 0:25:45.760 Tuesday on Bold Steps with Mark John. Bold steps is 0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:49.680 a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.