The Seduced Soul

(BOOK) SOUL DETOX - CLEAN LIVING in a CONTAMINATED WORLD

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” {Mark 8:36–37}

WE ARE NOT A BODY WITH A SOUL — WE ARE A SOUL WITH A BODY

RESTLESS...HEAVY...TORTURED...Soul

...how the soul is so easily SEDUCED into settling for a SUBSTITUTE - the SIN of IDOLATRY!

When we are SEDUCED into loving something MORE than GOD!

...and how it can be very dangerous to the health of our souls and our relationship with Jesus...and with others.

(S1)

THOMAS’ TARANTULA

…not for the faint of heart; but for all of us! I pray that you don’t just brush it off...ask God if there is something you love more than Him…that he wants to see change in you

God I pray today that Your Spirit would have free reign in our hearts. God, for those who know You I pray that we would be open to your loving conviction to draw us even closer to You. And God, for those that don't yet know You personally God, I pray that this message would rock their souls in a way that would create a divine hunger for You, the only One that truly satisfies our souls. So God, we ask You to do a work in us today. We pray in the name of Jesus.

And everybody who agreed said Amen.

Bibles/Notes

(S2) — TEN COMMANDMENTS (God’s Law)

— The Book of the Covenant (Ex. 24:7)…

The means to lead them to a life of practical HOLINESS and live out their relationship with God, with others, and order their lives in light of God’s Goodness.

The O.T. is easily seen as not relevant by many in these contemporary times..

But it was Jesus who in affirming the old covenant became the NEW COVENANT...

— Jesus became the means, or THE WAY, to fulfill the greatest of these…

(S3)

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength…and love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” {Mark 12:30–31}

Jesus is the character and person of God—all believers are called to GATHER…GROW…and GO… in Christ-likeness...not all FOLLOW Jesus as God intends

—He knows all to well the human heart and our tendency towards things other than God

“You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.” {Luke 16:15 }

WE LIKE WHAT WE LIKE and because of our human nature (SIN) and the world we live, we are constantly being drawn away from the life God intends.

Why Moses spoke these words of wisdom for all time, and especially for us in these times…

—BE VERY CAREFUL, keep watch to PRESERVE how God has meant for you to live—do not be SEDUCED into loving ANYTHING more than GOD!

(S4) — {Exodus 20:3-4}

IDOL (GRAVEN IMAGE) - “A representation or symbol of an object of worship; FALSE god.”

“A prohibition of worship to FALSE gods; The one true God will not tolerate DEVOTION directed toward any other than himself”

We are created to connect/commune with God (Adam/Eve)—Drawn to worship the one who created human-kind in His image

Genesis 4:26 “At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.”

When we try so hard to fil our lives with things that satisfy (TEMPORARY), our souls remain empty! When we allow our lives to be consumed by anything other than God—We will NEVER be SATISFIED.

A man lost at sea becomes desperately thirsty. Surrounded by water, he leans over the side of the boat and begins drinking the ocean. For a moment, it feels like relief. His mouth is wet. His throat is coated. But the more he drinks, the thirstier he becomes. The salt dehydrates him from the inside out. What feels like satisfaction is actually intensifying his need.

That’s what happens when we try to fill our lives only with temporary things—success, pleasure, attention, money, relationships. They seem to satisfy for a moment. But they were never designed to quench the soul.

Allowing our lives to be consumed by anything other than God, is like drinking saltwater. o matter how much we consume, we will never be satisfied.

(S5)

16 So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form—whether of a man or a woman, 17 an animal on the ground, a bird in the sky, 18 a small animal that scurries along the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea. 19 And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don't be seduced into worshiping them. (NLT)

— Golden Calf {32:7-8}—Asher Pole to a pagan Canaanite fertility God ({34:13}— Sun, moon, stars {19}

...do not be seduced into worshiping them!

How many of you have worshipped a golden calve...cedar poles...statues, moon and sun?

— Their example of FAILED worship is very relevant for us to hear today.

(S6) — QUOTE (Nelson’ New Illustrated Bible Dict.)

It can be ANYTHING that stands BETWEEN us and God or something we SUBSTITUTE for God.”

Problem—we don’t recognize our own idolatry because we are easily seduced into it worshipping counterfeits.

India/sacrifice chickens (dead, not fried)—U.S. What was it like? Can’t go back, the most idolatrous nation on the planet! (Not American Idol) You worship so many things and its so obvious!

STOMACHS/FOOD—PORTS—TV’S (alter of worship)—families gathered around eating chicken wings...

She couldn't see her own idolatry just like we cant see ours.

IT’S DIFFIUCLT TO SEE OUR OWN IDOLITRY IN THE MIRRIOR!

— We are easily seduced by the things we see, desire, want (GOOD THINGS)...but without realizing it we lift them ABOVE God in our own HEARTS

Mark 8:36 “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”

SOUL DETOX—This is HARD for EVERYONE of us—PRAYER

HOW do we DETHRONE the FALSE IDOLS (SEDUCED) of our SOULS?

(S7)

1) IDENTIFY THE IDOLS OF OUR SOULS.

What have we ELEVATED to a SUPREME place...that ranks HIGHER than the ONE TRUE God; what is more important than our relationship with Jesus?

(S8) — {Psalm 24:3-4}

ascend...? One who has clean hands...and a pure heart...

“Its easy to justify things that are important in our lives — But they can become so important that they are dangerous to our souls” Pastor Groschel

Hobbies and interests are good...but we can elevate them to a supreme place...

WORSHIP GOD IN MY BOAT—WORSHIP ONLINE—DAY TO SLEEP IN/REST

Three things that we can be easily seduced by

(S9)

TIME — where do you spend the majority of your time?

If you love Jesus, does it show in your time...?

MONEY — Bank Account is all of it going to one thing

If the church and its mission are important to you, does your giving reflect that?

CONVERSATION — is it always drifting towards this or that...

If God is important to you, your conversation will drift toward his Word (Jesus)

How do you spend your TIME...your MONEY...and what do you TALK about the most?

We can be seduced by...HOMES/IMAGE/CHILDREN/HOBBIES/ONLINE IDENTITY/PHONES/SOCIAL MEDIA

Is this your posture? Dysfunctional relationaship with your phone

We can agree, that they are all IMPORTANT, but they should not be elevated to THE place of supreme being in our lives. Its unhealthy for our souls!

— My false Gods—SUCCESS (wanting wealth)—OPNIONS of OTHERS—/False SECURITY

IDENTIFY—(BLANK PAPER)—WRITE IT DOWN—Where have I been seduced...?

(S10) — GOD - FAMILY and...

Quick to dismiss these things as not being gods in our lives

CUBE: BASIC NEEDS/JESUS

TALK IT OVER...name your idols. What do i have to dethrone to put Jesus where he belongs—on the throne of my heart

God, where have I been seduced in my soul? What has become a substitute...? God Help me to identify...

(S11)

2) TEAR DOWN OUR IDOLS.

...idols were all over the place and the Bible is clear; God finds idolatry offensive because it violates the foundation of our relationship with him

—no idols before or in place of me

Gideon...Judges...

Judges 6:12 “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!””

(S12) — {Judges 6:25}

...don't tolerate or try to manage it...GET RID of anything that is your god!

...a wooden pole representing the Canaanite fertility Goddess.

26...using as fuel the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down

Righteous anger: Demolish it, Crush it. Don’t tolerate it—obliterate it! If you only try to manage it; it will continue to seduce your soul!

God blessed me and I want to tithe...until

...I LOVE MONEY. That’s an idol. I WANT MORE (Borrow)...KIDS/SPORTS (traveling)...CAREER..BUSY. (schedule)...Your IDENEITYT at WORK, SCHOOL...What is my IDOL more important than my Jesus...

We’ve been SEDUCED into worshipping the COUNTERFEIT God of ME, ,MYSELF and I...toxins to our souls and everything God has intended us to be...

“Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”” {Mark 10:21}

“Jesus wouldn't ask you to do that today...unless it was an idol to you”

What is seducing your soul...? TEAR IT DOWN!

(S13)

3) FILL YOUR SOUL WITH GOD.

Your soul was not designed to run on fumes

If you don’t intentionally fill your soul with God, something else will fill it for you.

When anxiety fills you, you become fearful. When comparison fills you, you become insecure. When ambition fills you, you become driven but never at peace. When entertainment fills you, you become distracted.

But when God fills you—everything changes.

When you fill your soul with His Word, your thinking becomes steady. When you fill your soul with prayer, your heart becomes anchored. When you fill your soul with worship, your perspective lifts. When you fill your soul with His presence, peace begins to settle where chaos once lived.

Tear down, remove what is toxic and make room to...

(S14)

2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Ps 84:2

9 For (God) satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Ps 107:9 ESV

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God… Ps 42:1-2

...longing, yearning, thirsting, panting, clinging? Not experiencing these feelings for God, then its likely your soul is poisoned by idols.

Three friends were walking along the beach and noticed a fish flopping around on the shore. One person wondered if the fish was sad because it didn’t seem to own anything nice. So he bought the fish a gold watch and set it beside him. But nope. It made no difference. It still just flopped around. Another wondered if a nice house wouldn’t do the trick. So she got a nice little castle from Toys ‘R’ Us. But that didn’t make a difference either. A third person got a masseuse to come give it a massage. But the fish didn’t seem impressed. It continued to flop around. They just stood there scratching their heads. They were out of ideas. By Matthew Ruttan

You’re right. It’s a silly story. But what did the fish need? Water!

We can behave in a similar way. We try to satisfy our most important needs with less important things.

— Don’t be duped by the false hope of shiny things. When we try to satisfy our deepest desires with anything other than Jesus, we’re just flopping around on the beach.

The water was to that fish what God is to the soul! If your going to follow Jesus (deny yourself) its essential to be FILLED WITH GOD or you will never be satisfied.

— The fish was not created for the beach, it was created for the water...just as you and I were created to worship the ONE TRUE GOD

Mark 8:35–37 “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”

I DON’T WANT to SETTLE, and CONTINUE to be SEDUCED by...

BLANK PAPER/CALL FORWARD

Pray...detox your soul in the presence of God and each other. Will you make a commitment to TALK IT OVER? ..what you do you need to...

(S15) — IDENTIFY — TEAR DOWN — FILL

Lord, MY LIFE IS FULL OF SO MANY THINGS BUT MY SOUL IS SO EMPTY.. help me to put JESUS ON THE THRONE OF MY HEART?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace. Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

We are not made for this earth we are made for the kingdom of God...to worship the one true God...Jesus is the only one who should sit on the throne of our hearts.