Were going to start a series this morning talking about a culture that was just as dark-the culture of the Ephesians, the city of Ephesus. Thats a drawing that Pastor Tim whipped up for us. Isnt that something? Hes quite an artist. Its good to see you this morning. Did anybody get a chance to read a little bit of Ephesians or Acts 19-20? Good for you. Im proud, very good-very good. When I was in junior high school, I used to hate swimming class because I dont swim very well. Something about swimming class-it would just be something I would dread. This particular day was a lot of fun. This particular day was free day. This was the day where we got to play games and have fun in the pool. The teacher made us get in and start swimming around the pool and running around the pool in the same direction. I didnt swim; I ran. We started going around the pool, and it wasnt long before we whipped up a great current. I mean we got that pool just whipping around, and the teacher blew his whistle. We had no idea why we were doing that. We were just doing it because he told us to do it. [There were] thirty guys all going around in the same direction, and that water was just churning. The teacher blew his whistle and said, Okay, everybody. Go in the opposite direction now. It was like, Whoa! We encountered this current, these waves, and it just impacted us. We started laughing. We thought that was great fun. We started to notice all these waves in the pool as we were just splashing around. Then we started going the other way. It was just a matter of time before we got the current going again in the opposite direction this time. Enough people going in one direction can change the current. Would you say the current of our culture, of our society-is it moving toward God or away from God? Its moving away from God at a pretty rapid pace, isnt it? Swim against the current, and you will encounter opposition. Run against the wind, and you will feel its force. If youre running with the world, you are carried along by it; but if you try to live a counter-culture life, if you try to live a life that honors Christ, you will encounter opposition. You just will. Its not the current; its not the direction the world is going. Were going to see how enough Christians understanding the Gospel, working together, can change the culture of a city-even when its as dark as Ephesus. Before I tell you about the culture of Ephesus, I want to try to give you an analogy from a culture in our society. You all know of the Salem Witch Trials, what went on in Salem, Massachusetts, and the women that were found guilty of witchcraft who were innocent. The whole thing was just a way to make money. It was a disgraceful period in the history of the church in that region of the country. As we were driving through Salem, my children didnt even understand the historical significance of that city. Yet, as we were driving through, they were like, Dad, this city gives me the creeps. We dont have to stay here, do we? Can we leave soon? I mean there was just something about the atmosphere of that community that was just not pleasant at all. We drove into the city, and the first thing we saw was this large structure. It looked like an old church-a huge gothic-looking building. It was painted completely black. The doors that used to be red were black; the windows that used to be stained glass were completely black. All the walls were black; the steps were black; the handles on the door were black. There were two large gargoyles on the front of this building. There was a big sign that said, This is not a church. Get over it! So I dont know what it was, but whatever it was really gave us the creeps because somebody was gathering there to worship someone, and it wasnt God. We went to this city, and they give you the different tours and so forth. They have these different magazines you can purchase or look at. It just exalted witchcraft. There were warlocks, sorcerers, wizards and witches. There was promotion of their incantations and their spells and all of that. They were just really extolling the virtues of witchcraft, and it was over the whole city. The atmosphere there was just dark. We wanted to learn what we needed to from history. It took us awhile to finally find a venue that we thought would be a safe place to learn that, and then we got out of there as quickly as we could. Ephesus was a dark place. It was the center of sorcery, witchcraft and idol worship for the whole region. It was a booming metropolis. A third of a million people lived there, and tourism was the number one business in Ephesus. They had a temple there that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Youve heard about the Wonders of the World, right? The Temple of Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a magnificent structure-beautiful pillars of marble-just exquisite. It took over 100 years to build this temple. The goddess Artemis was worshipped for generations. In fact, even as old as the story is from the Book of Acts, even as old as that story is, the rock there that they made an idol of Artemis of, was so old that people thought it fell from space. Nobody even knew the origin of this stone, so worshipping of this goddess goes way back. If you wanted healthy children, if you wanted a lot of children, youd come and sacrifice and give gifts to Artemis, and she would bless you. If you wanted to have a good hunt, be able to provide for your family, she was a huntress. You could come and you could pay homage to the goddess, Artemis, and maybe she would bless you. She was involved in the giving of life and the sustaining of life. There was this beautiful temple, and everything-the economy-all evolved around this temple and the worship of this idol. You could take home shrines. Some were made out of wood; and if you had money, you could get one made out of silver. They were replicas of the temple, or you could even take home a replica of Artemis. You could take that home, so take the goddess with you and pray to the goddess at home-wherever you lived. People would come to actually engage in worship of the goddess. People would come just to see the temple because it was exquisite and just marvel at what man can make. Imagine a building that takes over 100 years to finish. Generations of people would live and die without seeing that building completed. You could get letters to the Ephesians. A letter of the Ephesians was a letter that was blessed. It had a spell over it, an incantation over it, and it was supposed to bring you luck. You know we get those chain emails or chain letters that say, Pray this prayer 8 times or 12 times, and good things are going to happen to you. So and So prayed this prayer, and they won the lottery. Dont break this chain. I get some of those from time to time. I break every one of them. I let the person know Im going to do it. I say, Just so you know, Im about to break the chain. But that was the idea. You had this letter and you were going to be blessed. They had little charms, embraces that they would wear with images of the goddess. They had a lot of spells and incantations that they would practice in exchange and chant and say; so the whole society is based on this temple worship and the practice of witchcraft. Paul is going to come on the scene, and he is going to attack the core of that economy. He is going to declare that Artemis is not a god at all. Shes a false god, and there is the true God of Heaven. How do you think thats going to go over when you attack the core of their religious life, and you attack the core of their economy? Any time you take a stand for God, you will encounter opposition, but he was not just attacking their religious beliefs. He was attacking their pocketbooks. Thats not a good way to start a church. It would be like me coming to Janesville 20 years ago and going, GM is bad! Buy foreign cars! Dont buy from GM! If I would have come to town and said that, how well do you think our church would have done? We wouldnt be here today. Ill tell you that! So Paul is going to come on the scene, and hes going to attack the goddess, Artemis, and he is going to exalt the true and living God. We find this story in the Book of Acts, so lets turn there-Acts 19. If youre new to our church, we spend a lot of time with our faces in the Word. We like to preach and teach directly from the Scripture, so wed like you to open up your Bibles if you dont mind to the Book of Acts 19, page 1099. What Im going to do this morning is just tell you the story. This is not going to be a three-point sermon kind-of-thing. Im just going to read through the text, comment on different things, make some application, and just tell you the story of how the church began because were going to study this Book. This is an important church. This is where Paul spent more time than any other church that he started. This is a church that inspired the Book were about to study for months. This is the first church that Jesus speaks to in the Book of Revelation when he writes the letters to the churches in Asia. This is the first church that he addresses. This is an important church. It has great significance. If were going to truly understand it correctly, we need to know what it was like. What was it like to live there? What was the culture like? What were the people like? What were going to find is that even though its a different time in history, a different place, a different culture, they are more like us than they are different from us. There is going to be a lot were going to be able to glean from the people of Ephesus. Paul wanted to come earlier. In Acts 16:6, we read that Paul wanted to come to Asia a long time ago, but the Holy Spirit said no. The timing wasnt right. There were some key leaders that needed to come to that place. This is going to be in a region that would require a lot of groundwork, a lot of preparation of the soil. God was going to bring some key players into this city. There was a married couple by the name of Priscilla and Aquila, and like Paul, they were tentmakers. Paul discipled them, and they in turn discipled a man by the name of Apollos; so if you read the New Testament, you encounter those names quite often-Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila. Theyre not major players, but they were key players. Theyre going to be part of the leadership of this church in Ephesus. They come to live there, so there are a lot of outstanding Christians that are living there; but the church really has not begun an earnest until Acts 19. There are some men there who are familiar with John the Baptist. They followed John the Baptist, but they didnt know about Jesus. They didnt know about the Holy Spirit. Paul tells them about the Holy Spirit; about 12 of them receive the Holy Spirit, and the church has begun. Now, one of the first things that happened in Verse 8 is Paul went into the synagogue to preach. Hes there for three months, trying to speak to the Jews who lived in Ephesus; but they resisted his message. Verse 9 says, They became obstinate and refused to believe and publically maligned the Way. So Paul left them… Theres an old saying that says a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. They werent ready to receive the message. When somebody is obstinate, somebody has no interest in your faith, your Lord, your God, Paul says, Im not going to waste my time trying to reach a people who at this point have no desire to hear the truth. So he changed his methodology and began to use a school of a man by the name of Tyrannus; and at this school, he taught for two years. For Paul, thats an eternity. For two years, people would come to this school. One of the Codexes tell us that it was from 11 oclock to 4 oclock, so from late morning to early afternoon. Actually that was their siesta in Ephesus. When it got really hot, they would shut things down; so late morning, early afternoon, theyd go home and take a nap, but Paul would be there teaching the people-every day discipling them, and wonderful things began to happen. Miracles began happening-extraordinary miracles! People are taking Pauls apron and the handkerchief he used to tie over his head to hold back the sweat and bring them to sick people and possessed people. These people are being delivered and being healed. Now this isnt one of those things thats like on television where the evangelist is going, If you send me $1,000, and Ill send you this miracle handkerchief. Youve all seen those hucksters out there. Pauls not doing that. Paul is showing up at the shop to work trying to find his handkerchief. Hey, wheres my apron? Whered it go? Somebody has taken it and dragged it off. They would say, This is the Apostle Pauls. They would put it on the person to heal them. God did that to confirm that Paul was speaking the truth. Paul was His servant. This was an extraordinary miracle. This was not the norm. God still does miracles, but this is the way He chose to operate uniquely at this point in history. So word is beginning to spread that Paul and his message seem to be even greater than the power of Artemis of the Ephesians. Then there is a group of exorcists, and exorcist guys were paid to perform exorcisms. That was their job. These seven sons of Sceva-that was their job-to go around doing these exorcisms for money. They get a hold of this, and, Boy, this Jesus stuff really seems to work, so theyre going to try it too. They have a client with them who is possessed. There was no shortage of possessed people in Ephesus. If youre an exorcist, thats a good place to be because there are a lot of potential customers there. They say, We want to speak to you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches. The Spirit says, Jesus, I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you? They dont have an answer, and they are beaten, naked and bloody and are running out of that house; and this starts to spread throughout the whole city of Ephesus, and this was a real catalyst. Paul is the real deal, and they saw the counterfeit exposed. They came to Christ by the droves. I want you to notice in Verse 17 (page 1100 of pew Bibles) what it says, When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Thats a key phrase. The name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. When the name of the Lord Jesus is held in high honor in your life, there are things that will happen. There are things that will not be tolerated. There are things that will be removed if Christ is held in high honor. If Christ is held in high honor, and there are certain sins you have been quite comfortable with and are embracing, I would question whether Christ is held in fact in high honor in your life. Is your life consistent with what Christ has called us to be and do, or isnt it? Were all sinners; every one of us is in the same boat. We all miss God. We all fall short, but because they held Christ in high honor, look what happened. Many of those who had believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. Thats number one. There will be confession of sin. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. Paul didnt tell them to do that. That was the work of the Holy Spirit. They wanted to do that. They were changed from the inside out. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas, about $10,000-which was a lot of money back then. Its a lot of money now, but back then it was a ton of money. They said, Listen, we found the real thing, and we dont need the counterfeit anymore. When you have the genuine article, and then you look at the counterfeit, you realize how inferior it is. You dont want it anymore. Occasionally my wife will try to save money. Ill open up the fridge, and Ill be looking for the Heinz ketchup for my burger. Theres a jar there of some kind of ketchup Ive never heard of before. Ill say, Wheres the ketchup? Oh, its right there. This just says ketchup on it. Wheres the Heinz? Its okay to pay the extra $0.50 to get the real stuff. My mom used to do that. Shed try to save money. Id say, Mom, wheres the Coke? Its in the fridge. Theres just a can there that says Cola on it. I want the Coke. Give me the real stuff. Once you have the real stuff, youre not happy with the fake stuff anymore. These people began to find out that Artemis didnt have real power. The name of the Lord Jesus had the real power. They started coming to him, and they started to see it for what it was. Artemis wasnt their friend. These spells that they have been counting on-theyre not what they should put their trust in. They shouldnt put their trust in incantations. They need to put their trust and hope in the living God. There had to be a transformation in the way they saw those things and viewed those things. They werent their friend. They werent their ally. They were their enemy. They were keeping them from serving the true and living God. I use the example of somebody who is trying to eat right. For a lot of us here-were not going to do this, but if I said, How many of you today need to lose some weight? almost every hand in this building would go up; so were not alone. Those hands that would not go up, we all hate you! You need to leave, you skinny people! We dont like you at all, but youre out there. You know who you are! You need to go eat a Twinkie or something (congregation laughing)! We know that some people are overweight because of heredity or maybe because theres a glandular problem. We understand that, but others of us, we have some weight to lose because we eat the wrong food or we eat too much food and we dont get enough exercise. One of the things we have to do is we have to change our habits, right? You have to stop seeing that Culvers sundae as your buddy. I know Im meddling now. Im getting really personal, but thats your buddy. Youre hungry, and youre sad or depressed or stressed, Oh, Culvers sundae is just so good. Im expecting a check from Culvers now for promoting their product. Or maybe you rearrange your route to go by a certain restaurant because man, they have the best fries or they have the best pizza. Thats my downfall, pizza. If I could go back in time and not eat a pizza my whole life, Id weigh like ten pounds today. Thats my big downfall, and you have yours. I mean its okay to eat a brownie or a cupcake or pie or something occasionally, but some of us are eating it like five times a week. Thats not good. That is not good, so you have to learn to see that that comfort food is not your ally. It is actually taking you further away from your goal. Its not good for your waistline; its not good for your heart. All that grease and stuff like that-you need to stop seeing that as your buddy, and you need to start seeing that as your enemy. Thats hard to do with somebody thats been your pal. Those fries have been your pal. That sundae has been your buddy. Its helped you through some tough times. You say, You know what? This really doesnt help me. This really isnt going to do me any good, so I need to make some changes if Im going to be serious. Notice with sin, you dont wean from sin. You prune it. Now sometimes were trying to break smoking habits, and you kind of wean from it. When it comes to sin, sin means to miss the mark. The Bible says the best thing to do is cut it off. Jesus says if your right hand offends you, cut it off. If your eye offends you, tear it out. Now did Jesus mean that literally? Ive heard some skeptics attack that and go, Well, look at Christians. Jesus taught people to pull their eyes out. Well, you dont understand-thats rabbinic hyperbole. Rabbis did that all the time-used exaggerations to illustrate a point. What hes saying is deal with it expediently, deal with it now, deal with it aggressively-remove it from your life. Dont coddle it; dont befriend it; dont become comfortable with it. See it for what it is and remove it. That's what these people tried to do. They didnt wean themselves off of it. They just said, Im done with it. They didnt pass it on to somebody else either. They didnt go, You know, Im done casting spells, so here you go. Or [they didnt say], Im done worshipping Artemis, so heres an idol for you. They just said, We want this out of our lives. Some of you have some things in your lives that you should do a private burning in the backyard with. I could be saying that figuratively or literally. There might be some things in your lives that youre looking at, listening to or reading that need to be removed-just get rid of them; and maybe that will require you to destroy that, but thats what they did. They said, Were not going to mess around anymore. Were going to remove this from our lives, so they have this holy bonfire. Smoke is rising in the sky, and they celebrate. They say, Were free from that. We have a new way of life. Now thats going to cause a lot of problems because if people arent buying spells, if people arent buying idols-remember the economy is fueled by that-who is that going to hurt? Its going to hurt the businesses, right? Its going to hurt the foundation of that economy in Ephesus, and it starts doing that. Were going to encounter a man by the name of Demetrius. Verse 23 says at that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. The Way was Christianity. It was called the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. In other words, this guy was making a killing, and so were the leather people, and so were the wood people. The craftsmen were making a ton on these souvenirs and these idols that they would make. Now, Im guessing heres how it went down. Business was booming. This guy was loaded. He loved Artemis; he loves her because shes a goddess, and hes blessed and prosperous, but this business is really good for him. Hes making these silver shrines and hes making these images of Artemis for people to take home. You could buy big ones if you had a lot of money. You could buy small ones if you didnt have a lot of money, but he is making a killing. He goes to the local merchant who is selling near the temple. He says, Hey, I have some more temples for you today. I have some more images of goddess, Artemis, for you today. He says, I just dont need any right now. What do you mean, you dont need any? He says, Well, business has not been good. Theyre just not selling like they used to! In fact, my sales are down 50 percent! I still have temples from the last time you came in. Really? Is it my craftsmanship? Am I slipping? Am I not doing…? Oh, no, no. Youre great! Theyre fantastic. Its just people arent buying them anymore. Theyre not even coming into my store anymore! Im hurting too! I cant afford to buy them right now, so hopefully it will turn around. It will come back next month, but things are tight for me! Okay. All right, thanks. He goes to the store down the block. Hey, Tobias, how many can I put you down for this month? Oh, Demetrius, yeah, listen. Ive been meaning to talk to you. I dont know how to say this, and I dont want you to take this personally because I like you. I think youre a great guy, and youre obviously a wonderful craftsman, but Im not going to be selling them anymore. What? Who are you selling with? Whos your partner now? I mean am I not doing a good job? No, theyre fantastic! What? Did I offend you in some way? No, no, no, no, no. Its not you. Youre a great guy! Well then who are you getting your business from? Nobody. Im not going to sell the goddess anymore. Why? Im a Christian now, Demetrius. I went to the school of Tyrannus, and I heard a man named Paul talk about Jesus, and Ive given my life to Christ. Im a follower of the Way, Demetrius. A follower of the what? The who? Paul? What are you talking about? Hes a wonderful man, and he serves the living God, the true God. Oh, I dont want to hear this nonsense. Im going to go down the road, and Im going to see what he wants to buy down the road. He said, Dont bother. Hes a Christian too. Oh, great! This is just wonderful! Now Im going to go bankrupt now because of this stupid Paul and his dumb way-whatever it is! Something has to be done about this! He calls a meeting, and he gathers all the craftsmen from around Ephesus because theyre all feeling the pinch in their pocketbooks. Theyre like, We have to do something! This guy sees the writing on the wall. He says, We have to do something. Hes sounding the alarm. Remember years ago when people were saying, We have to start building economy cars. We have to start building them. Gas prices are going up. The world is changing. They were sounding the alarms. The writing is on the wall! Thats what he does. He says, We have to make a change or were going to hurt. We have to stop this! So he calls this meeting together. Heres what he says in Verse 25, Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. How dare he! There is danger not only to our trade that will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty. Hes up on his soapbox. Hes preaching, man. He is preaching with all his heart for Artemis, but the bottom line is he wants to keep his job. He wants to keep his lifestyle, and he works them to a frenzy. They get mad, and they start shouting, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people hear this commotion, and then they start joining in. Whats going on? Somebodys trying to destroy the temple! No! Somebody is trying to attack Artemis and say shes not a true god! No! And they start chanting, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Pretty soon, thousands of people are chanting. They try to find some scapegoats. They cant find Paul, so they grab a couple other guys. They grab Gaius and they grab Aristarchus, and they say, These guys are with Paul. The crowd wont be satisfied. They grab a Jew named Alexander. They shout this guy down. For two hours straight, they chant, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Nobody can reason with them until finally the city clerk comes. The city official comes. It doesnt say his name, but hes much respected. He calms them down. He says, Listen, theres no crime that has been committed here today. If Demetrius and the others have a charge to bring against Paul, we have a court system. We have a legal system. Let them bring their charge the right way. Right now, youre in danger of calling Rome down upon us for a riot, so I suggest everybody calm down and go home. Lets do things the right way. It works! The crowd subsides, and they go on their way. Make no mistake about it. The church of God in Ephesus was alive and real. Thats a whirlwind story, isnt it? There is a lot of drama packed in Chapter 19, but when we go back to Ephesians 1 in a couple weeks and start reading, youre going to know these people better. Youre going to know their lifestyle, why Paul writes what he writes, and how they would understand it. As we close today, I want to focus in on Verse 17. I want us to look at that. It says, …the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. The first thing they did was confess, so were going to confess today. Im going to lead you in a public confession. That is one of the ways we hold God in high honor because to confess means to agree. When we agree with God, we are esteeming Him and holding Him in high honor. The second thing I want to ask you is is there something in your life you need to forsake? If I asked for a raise of hands on this question, pretty much every hand would go up and say, Is there some housecleaning you need to do? Are there some things you need to remove in your life that are a hindrance in your walk? Every honest hand would go up in this place today. What is it? Is there a relationship that is destructive and harmful? Is there a habit that is destructive and harmful that you have become comfortable with and just accepted it, but you know it doesnt please God? Is there an attitude that you know doesnt please God? Is there blatant disobedience? God has said, Dont gossip, and youre impugning the integrity of another person through gossip. God has said, Forgive, and youre holding on to unforgiveness for all its worth. There are some things that you need to purge in your life. The name of Jesus is held in high esteem; you will seek to purge those things. You will not coddle them, but you can have a figurative or a literal ceremony like the Ephesians had and say, God, I want to cut it out right now. I want to break free from this from the power of the Holy Spirit. Thats what I want to lead you in-a prayer of confession. I want you to open up your Bibles to Psalm 51. This is the Psalm that David wrote when he had been confronted of his sin with Bathsheba, the murdering of Uriah, her husband, the covering up of his sin. He prayed this prayer; he wrote this prayer to God, so were going to multi-task today. Were going to read this prayer, and while were reading this prayer, were going to make this prayer our confession of faith. Normally if you pray and confess, your eyes are closed; but were going to have our eyes open because were going to be reading. Were going to read this out loud together. Were going to read Verses 1-13. Im going to read Verse 1; you read Verse 2; Ill read Verse 3, etc. The way to remember this-memory device-is Pastor Jeff is odd, and we are even. Im odd, and you are even. Thats how you remember this. Then at Verse 13, were going to read that together in unison. Instead of saying, Then I will teach, were going to say, Then we will teach. Were going to put that in the third person as we read that together. Now listen, if you want to go home and not change a thing-if you want to go home and just stay the way you are-you have no intention of removing anything from your life that displeases God-I want to encourage you not to read this prayer. Dont be a hypocrite today, but if you mean business with God, and you say, Lord, there are some things Ive become comfortable with, and I know theyre not right-some attitudes, some habits, some action, some possessions, then I need to purge my life of, and youre serious about that, it begins with confession-then I want you to pray this prayer with me. So, lets open our Bibles, and Im going to begin reading with Verse 1. Then you will follow out loud with Verse 2 (page 562 of pew Bibles). Pastor Jeff: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Congregation: Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Pastor Jeff: For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Congregation: Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. Pastor Jeff: Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Congregation: Surely You desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Pastor Jeff: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Congregation: Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Pastor Jeff: Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Congregation: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Pastor Jeff: Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Congregation: Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. All: Then we will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will turn back to You. Lets pray: Father, as we read Your Word, we are challenged today. We see in our lives that rebellion as well. Weve tried to go our own ways. We have idols too. Our idols are not made of silver, and we do not bow down and worship them, but we do worship idols. We may worship the car we drive or the home we live in. We may worship a person. We may worship our jobs. We may worship money. We may worship our physical self in some way. There are many things that we ascribe ultimate worth and value to, so we do worship idols in this culture. We do engage in behavior and practices that are not pleasing to You, so that is why weve come today-to confess that sin. We pray by the help of Your Holy Spirit we would forsake that, that we would live lives and honor You, that Your name would be held in high regard in our lives. The Psalm we just read said that You anoint us with hyssop. Lord, we know that hyssop was the herb that was used to apply the blood during the Passover. It is the blood of Christ applied to our soul that pardons our sins. It is not through our works or our own righteousness, but it is by Your grace, through Your love-the blood shed for us upon the cross that we are forgiven and free. Lord, we dedicate ourselves to the Gospel to the cause of Christ. We pray that in this series, we will draw even closer to You. We pray that You would apply this truth to our hearts today, help us to make the changes we need to make, that our lives might honor You. In Jesus name we pray, amen.