"Dangerous Compromises: Small Choices That Slowly Destroy Your Faith" | Pastor Bobby Chandler

So glad you guys are here. I pray that you enjoyed some time with family last week. I didn't miss you guys, but let me ask you this question. Who really enjoyed the Christmas service that we had this year? Come on, give God some praise on that. Just being together, wasn't that amazing? Like seeing the entire church under one roof and the building altogether. And it was just amazing seeing everybody just feel up the room. I believe we had anywhere from 1,300 to 1,400 people in that room that day. And so it gets me excited over what God is doing this year for us, OK? Because it's a new year. And God is doing exciting things. We now own 23 acres that we're going to build on. Hallelujah. And also with that being said, we're going to be moving into a transition space very, very soon. As soon as we can, once the renovations are done, and we're going to add more room for people. And this month, I'm excited. I know Avery already touched on it. But we're celebrating the year of 7. Guys, it's been seven years of ministry. And I've been excited about this because the number 7 means completion out of the Bible. 8 means new beginning. So I'm excited about the 8th year as well. But we can just see all the new things that God is doing and putting together. Hallelujah. And so I believe we're going to see a lot more miracles to come. And so I want to say thank you to everybody too, that's watching online because we're people watching from all over the world. You mean so much to us. And so make sure to drop a comment down below. That way we can see where you're watching from. And if you're new online, make sure to click that link. It will help us get connected with you. And if you're new in the house of the Lord today, I want to say thank you for joining us. You came on a good day. You're starting off the new year right. Because today we're starting a new series. I'm very excited about this series. It is titled Still Growing. Still growing because believe it or not, we're all still growing. Nobody in this room has arrived. OK. God is still teaching me to things. Jesus is still teaching you new things. And we're going to learn and we're going to grow together. Because the truth is it doesn't matter how long you've been saved. You can be saved for a very long time and still be spiritually immature. You could have given your life over to Christ a long time ago, been baptized, so have to church every single Sunday, and still make the wrong decisions. Still do the wrong things and still feel like you're caught up in the addictions that Jesus has come to set you free from. And so I want to talk about spiritual maturity and what it means to still grow. And we're hitting in that time, right? This is that time we're going to hear the phrase that we always hear. A new year, a new you. And some of you are excited about that. You've already ordered your planner off of Amazon. You know who you are like every year you get one. And you've decked it out. You put stickers on it like you're like, this year I'm going to use it. I'm going to go to the gym. I got high hopes, right? New year, new you. OK, so I came to preach the truth. OK, and I love you, but I came to preach revelations. And here's the truth, just because it's a new year, it does not automatically mean it's a new you. You can step into 2026, still making the same bad decisions and relationships being broken, feeling left in pieces. OK, you can step into 2026, still choosing the same habits that drain you and still listening to the same negative thoughts that tear you apart and bring you down. You can even make the same excuses you make every year. I'll just change this about me next year. All right, when the following year comes, then I'll do it. Then I'll step up. I'm just not ready for it now because the truth is the calendar can change, but your heart can stay the same. And that's a big problem in a lot of our lives because we want to grow. We do want a new me, a new you to spiritually grow and understand the word of God. And so what is it that's really holding us back? And I believe James says it best. So James here is the half brother of Jesus. And here's what he says in James chapter one, verses 22 through 24. And he says this, don't just listen to God's word. You ready for this? You must actually do what it says. Somebody needs to underline that right now. Okay, don't just listen to the word of God. You also need to apply it. You need to do what it says otherwise. It's something this for you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey it, it's like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, you walk away and you forget immediately what you look like. I'm going to break down what James is saying. But let me make it clear here. It means you can show up to church every Sunday. You can even take notes. You can say amen and you can walk out of this building making the same decisions that don't involve Jesus in your life. So breaking your heart, so doing the wrong things. And so James is saying, listen, the word of God is meant to show you what's on the inside so that you can change it and be convicted over that. Conviction is a really good thing by the way. It's part of God's love. He convicts us so that we change. Now don't get it twisted with what Satan does. Satan doesn't convict he condemns. Okay, so if you ever hear the voice of condemnation telling you you're not good enough, you're never going to change. Understand that's not the voice of God. That's from the enemy. But God will bring conviction into our life. Show us what's on the inside. And so let me bring it down for you. Let me say it like this. God's word is a mirror, not a window. What do I mean by that? In a window, when you look outside, what do you do? You judge everything around you. Some of us love it when the Bible points out what's wrong in culture. We love it when the Bible points out what's wrong in our friends. Okay. When it points out what's wrong even in our spouse, no pointing, please in this room. Okay. When it comes to somebody else, oh, I love to open up the Bible to really put you in your place. We love to point the finger. And James is saying, I don't know. But what if God is pointing the finger at you? When's the last time you looked in the mirror? When's the last time you stopped blaming everybody else for the problems you have because of it keeps having happening in your life? Maybe there's a reason. Maybe it's the things that you're doing. Maybe it's the things that you were saying. And so what James is saying is that the word of God is meant to convict you on what's on the inside. You see yourself, though? And you walk away. Here's the dangerous thing. Forget what you look like. So what he's saying here is don't look in the mirror and see the reflection by God's word and then choose not to repent. Because here's the dangerous part about that. How many times has God convicted you, but you did nothing about it? How many times has God spoken to you? Maybe a word on a Sunday morning, maybe just during the day, maybe just a random moment while you're at work and God is convicting you over something, but you don't do it. And then the dangerous thing is this you let the moment slip away, you're no longer convicted and you no longer want repentance or change in your life. You heard the word. You say to a man to the word, but you did nothing about it in your life. How do you expect change? And so this is going to be a hard word today, but it's a deep word that actually brings the change that you desire. God is saying, listen to my voice. It's all about trust, by the way. That's what it's about. Do you trust God to listen to his voice, to believe that he knows better than you. And so we're going to see this growth in our life, but in order to be obedient, all right? Instead of a new year, new you, let's say it like this, new year, obedient you. New year, obedient you. This is the year you're going to walk an obedience in God's word. And in order to do that, you must be aware of the small compromises that bring dangers into your life. And so the title today's message is this, the dangerous compromises. I want to show you today that it's the little things, the things that you think are no big deal, the small things that start in the beginning of your mission of your life as you're trying to see change that you allow that can slowly become something very big. And so for the rest of this month, I want to examine to learn and to grow from the life of King Solomon. So we're going to look at the entire life of King Solomon. And I love his story because Solomon is called by God. He is the son of King David. And if you know the story, you know that he becomes the wisest man who ever lived besides Jesus Christ, who is the wisest of them all. But even though he has this reputation and he did amazing things, incredible things in the world, if you look at the beginning of his story, he still felt like he wasn't worthy. He still felt like he didn't have what it took to be the king over the nation of Israel, even though he did great things. So let me say it like this, because maybe you're struggling in this area. You can be anointed and still be scared. Okay? You can be called by God and still be afraid to step into the new season. Just because you're called by God doesn't mean that you're not going to feel fear. It's actually just a revelation that reveals to you how bad you need God through it all. Because who gets the credit in the end? The answer is not you. The answer is Jesus. Jesus is going to call you into things that you can never do by yourself and you can't. And that's what gives God all the glory. Okay? But I want you to hear the words of King Solomon at the very beginning of his leadership. And first King chapter 3 verse 7, listen to this. He said, "Now, oh Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David." But I, listen to how he feels. I am like a little child who does it, know his way around. Now, I believe this is interesting, but scholars do believe when he stepped into kingship, he was around the age of 18. So Solomon is being real right here. He's around the age of 18. Can you imagine being an 18 year old? Stepping into kingship now, running the nation of Israel and so he's very honest with the Lord. He's saying, "God, I'm afraid. I still feel like a child. I am a child pretty much. I don't know what to do. And I'm going to lead these people. And so what we see at the beginning is this humility. And by the way, this is not weakness. Please understand this. Men in the room. It's not a weak thing to humble yourself before God. And to say, "God, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to provide. I don't know the answers to these things in my family is looking for me towards. But I will humble myself before you. And I can ask you, God, give me wisdom. I don't have." You know, you can do that. You don't have to have it all figured out. In fact, you were not created to have it all figured out. Stop putting that pressure on yourself. And come before the presence of God. This is not weakness. And humility, God honors humility. Luke chapter 14, verse 11, "Now listen to this. For those who exalt themselves will be what? Will be humbled." You know somebody like that? All right? Every time you start to talk about an accomplishment in your life, they're like, "Hey, yeah. I did that five years ago. You should hear about these things in my life." And it brings you down a little bit. Why? Okay? Because they're talking about themselves like they're better than you. And you don't have to get even with them. You don't have to get jealous. You don't have to start comparing. No, no, no. God says, "Listen, those that exalt themselves, those that are prideful, guess what? They will be humbled." And by the way, God does that as a side of love to change people and convict people. We learn that from stories like King Nebuchadnezzar who was humbled over his pride and actually came to the Lord through it. But here it is, here's the promise. But those who humbled themselves will be what? Will be exalted. So just be humble. Just admit that you don't have the answers. Just trust in Him. And at the right time, God is the one that exalts you. But pride comes to kill your calling. Okay? Pride will always come to kill your calling. But humility is going to lead you into everything that God has for you. But here's why I wanted to study the life of King Solomon because in the beginning, King Solomon does all the right things. It seems like it. His heart is in the right place. He's saying, "God, give me wisdom so that I can lead the people in and out." He specifically chose that phrase because it represents his father, David, leading the people of Israel in and out of war. He's saying, "God, I don't know how to lead these people in the battle. I'm afraid of it. I just don't know what to do. It is everything right in the beginning. But then there's a warning that comes from the life of Solomon. And here's what we learn. Wisdom alone, though great, though wonderful and the Bible highly recommends having wisdom and knowledge in the Word of God. But it isn't enough to keep your heart obedient. You know what keeps your heart obedient? It's not just knowledge and information in your head. It's actually surrendering everything over to the Lord. I think this is fascinating because another story I love out of the Bible is the story of Samson. We said it to him last year. And in Samson's life, God gave him supernatural strength. Yet he could not fight the lust that was on the inside of him. Now here's a man who is extremely wise. Has everything in his fingertips yet still struggles with the same thing? First Kings 11, verses 4 through 6 states this, and Solomon's old age, they, meaning his wives, listen to this, turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord. His God, as his father, David, had been. And it gets worse than that because it starts off as a small compromise in a relationship that he should not be in and then it opens up a door for worse things. And then Solomon started to worship Asterooth, the goddess of the Sardoneans, and Mollik, the detestable God, the Ammonites, by the way, when people came to worship these gods, there was prostitution taking place. And they were sacrificing children to these idols. And somehow I just want you to see this because Solomon didn't plan for his kingship to end here. When he started in the beginning, he had no idea that that was going to come. But it's the small little compromise as you don't see the things that you think are no big deal that can lead to idols feeling your heart. And next thing you know, you're sacrificing the very thing God gave you as a blessing. And he started to worship these other gods, the detestable God of the Ammonites, listen to the wording there, and in this way, Solomon, here it is, he did what was evil in the Lord's sight. How did he get here? Because he refused to follow the Lord completely. Is that where you are? God, I want to grow, I want to dive deeper, I want to follow you, but there's still some areas in my life, I just refuse. I refuse when it comes to dating. I refuse when it comes to where I am on the weekends. I refuse when it comes to forgiving. I refuse when it comes to these people because I can't stand them, are there things in your life that you're refusing to give over to God and it keeps allowing an open door for idols to come into your life. And so again, wisdom is powerful, but it cannot compete with a divided heart. And so I want to ask the question, how did Solomon get here? And what can we learn from his story to apply to our own lives? So if you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Kings chapter 3. We're going to be in 1 Kings chapter 3 for the rest of the sermon. Okay, I'm going to have some other scriptures I'll bring in, but mostly in 1 Kings chapter 3. And we're going to start at the beginning of Solomon's story because I'm telling you, there were little things that we read that we don't pay attention to that happen. Okay, so the first point is this. Small compromises start early when no one is paying attention. That's why it's sneaky. I think a lot of times we're like, you know what, the devil can't mess with me because I'm going to know. I'm going to recognize it. And sometimes we think the devil is just going to come full attack mode, right? Just bring everything into our life. We're going to recognize it. No, no, no, it's a little bit of time. You understand that? It's a little of time. It's just a small open door. So just trust me here. Trust me there because the more the devil can try to build up some deception, some trust in your life over his way instead of God's way, the more you let them in, the more you let these demons in. So it's a small compromise to start early. When no one is paying attention, let me also say like this, what you allow or what you tolerate today can dominate you tomorrow. The thing that seems like it's no big deal, it can consume you tomorrow. It can break up your family and tear you apart. And as far as mentally as well can bring in depression, anxiety, frustration. Okay, so let's start by reading and I'll break it down. First Kings chapter three verses one through three. I'm going to read the amplified version here because I like the description that it gives, but it states that Solomon became the beginning of his kingship. He became a son-in-law to the Pharaoh king of Egypt. And so we formed an alliance by taking Pharaoh's daughter now in marriage. And he brought her to the city of David, where she remained temporarily until we had finished building his own house, which is the palace and built for the name of the Lord. For there was no permanent house yet for the name of the Lord at all. And he also built the wall around Jerusalem, but listen to this. But in the meantime, the people were still sacrificing to God on the high places, on the hilltops. And if you were to read that, you would think, okay, they're building altars and they're still sacrificing to Yahweh. This is not a bad thing. But then it states here, as the pagans did with their idols. Okay, for there was no permanent house yet built in the name of the Lord. And so since there was no permanent house yet, no temple yet, they had to go to the Tabernacle, which is about five to six miles away and give you. And instead of just traveling to give you as the law commanded them to do, they would see it as an inconvenience. I know God told me to go over there to sacrifice over there, but that seems a little inconvenient for me. So let me go ahead and just build an altar on one of the high places. And I'll just do that because that's here. I'm still honoring God. I still have good intentions, right? But they're on the high places. It's just like who else did this? Who else did this? The pagans. So notice that in the wording here, the pagans did the exact same thing with their idols. They're starting to worship God by copying culture. That's very dangerous. Please hear me on that. They started to feel the pressure to look like everybody else around them. If they did it, I can do it too. So they did this. Now Solomon, again, he has good intentions. He loved the Lord walking at first in the statutes of David, his father. Except. Don't miss that. Except for the fact that he also sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. And here's why I like to amplify burst in it. ignoring the law, the law of Moses, that required all sacrifices to be offered at the Tabernacle. And so he's following the Lord. He loves God except in this area of my life. I feel like we can all relate to that. There's two red flags that we see from the beginning of Saul's kingship. The first one is this. Solomon loved God with his words, but compromised with his habits. He loved God with his words. God, I give myself to you, make me wise. But there were small compromises with his habits that he didn't think was a big deal. See, Solomon's story, notice this, it doesn't start off with idle worship, doesn't it? Again, it doesn't start big. It starts small. It started off with small compromises by marrying the first compromise, this by marrying Pharaoh's daughter. Okay, this was a political move for peace. He was not in love with Pharaoh's daughter. This was a political move to make sure that there was peace for the nation of Israel. But it was morally not right at all. Right? Because God would not tell him to be with Pharaoh's daughter. They believed in worshiped in idols. They believed in false gods. In fact, Egypt was not just another nation to Israel. They were what? They were in the nation's trauma. Because let's talk about Egypt for a second. Egypt was a place of slavery for the Israelites for 400 years. Genesis chapter 15 verse 13, "Then the Lord said to Abram, 'You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land.' Now listen to this, for they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years." Egypt is a place of oppression. Exodus chapter 3 verse 7 states, "It's like this, then the Lord told him, 'I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries of distress because of their hearts, slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.' So I want you to understand God freed his nation, his people, the Israelites from Egypt. And now Solomon is making agreements with the enemy. How did we get here? Okay. Because you're going to see pretty soon that it was a common thing to do. It was a cultural thing to do for kings to marry and put together these arrangements so that there would be peace upon the land. But even though physically he did not lead the people back into the land of Egypt and bondage spiritually, he's allowing bondage into their hearts and to his life quietly a little at a time. Because in this time when royalty married, other royalty had formed an alliance. And so Solomon's saw this as preventing war. And again, it seems smart. He had pressure. Why? Again, the pressure is this because everybody else doesn't. Everybody around me does it. So it's no big deal. But they let them back into spiritual bondage and brought in idolatry. And then we're going to see at the end of the life of Solomon, how Solomon's actions actually led to a division in the nation of Israel that became a civil civil war. And I want to make this known to you as well. Your sinful actions don't just affect you. It affects the family. It affects everybody else. It affects generations to come. Again, these seem like very small things. But it's going to affect the entire nation over time. And we'll dive in more into that very, very soon. But a done just impact you and impacts everybody. And so this is why I believe every pastor should preach on the subject of relationships. Why? Because when I look at the stories of the Bible, do the Old Testament? We see the nation of Israel fall many times. Why did they fall? Many times they fail into worshiping idols and to do in the wrong thing because of the wrong relationships. Many times it was the wrong relationships that led their heart astray. Even the judges that we see out of the Old Testament were led astray because of the wrong relationships. And so I want to break this down even deeper today. Okay. Because he didn't just make a treaty with Pharaoh's daughter. Please listen to me on this. He formed a yolk. Point number two is this every yolk builds an altar. This is where we dive deeper spiritually as well when it comes to relationships every yolk builds an altar. There is a warning that Paul speaks about influences. Okay. And he's speaking to the church of Corinth. And the reason why he's speaking to the church of Corinth in this way is because they have allowed sexual immorality into the church. Why are they doing these things because they're living just like everybody else around them. They are just surrounded by demonic culture and idols and sexual immorality. And so even though they love Jesus and they're trying to do the right thing, they're also allowing small compromises into their lifestyle and to their relationship that is complicating some things and not allowing them to grow. So Paul has some very strong words and second Corinthians chapter six verses 14 to 16 and it says this don't team up with those who are unbelievers. Okay. How can righteousness be partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? And you may be hearing this thing and that's kind of extreme. But he's talking about again, those that were sacrificing to idols, prostitution, doing very dark spiritual dark things. What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? You hear that? The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. There's a light inside of you. But when you become intimate with those that don't believe in Jesus, you understand you're allowing the Holy Spirit inside of you to be connected with somebody that's living off the antichrist spirit. That's what it's saying here. How can there be harmony between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever now? I've read this many times. I've preached on this many times. God showed me something new today that I believe is powerful. Listen to this word right here. What union can there be between God's temple and idols? God's temple and idols. So Paul here isn't just talking about dating rules or bad influences. Please hear me. He is talking about spiritual agreements. Spiritual agreements. What you allow into your heart, into your life by being intimate, okay? By choosing to sleep with the darkness. Let's talk about this for a second. In the Old Testament, we hear about the temple. The temple in the Lord was the tabernacle. Many times the tabernacle represented God's presence. There's many stories out of the Bible just for example, Exodus chapter 40, verse 34 is one of them. It states that the cloud covered the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Okay, so the tabernacle was God's presence. A light as you kind of glory will come upon the tabernacle. Sometimes the fog would be thick from God's presence. Sometimes the priest actually had to leave because God's presence was so strong. So the tabernacle represents God's presence. What do demons want to do? What do the idols want to do? And again, it was always formed through the wrong relationships. So compromise in relationships then they allowed their idols in and guess what the idols end up. The idols end up in the tabernacle. The tabernacle is God's presence. So we come to a time in Israel and we even see it with Judah once the Civil War takes place that later on in the tabernacle, their worshiping Godway at the same time, their worshiping bell. The worshiping Molek. The lies are still in culture today. We haven't escaped this. How many times have you heard? You know what? Just worship whatever you want to worship it all leads to the same direction. No, it doesn't. There was only one way into the kingdom of God. That's through Jesus Christ because my Jesus is the only one still not in the grave. He rose from the grave. He died for your sins. And I understand this when you say all these ways can lead you there, then you literally take away the importance of the cross. Like the cross represents just how much God loves you. How significant you are in his eyes, then it's so bloody, so hurtful. The way he had to be sacrificed so that we can be free. And if you say there's many other ways, you literally laugh at the cross. You take it for granted, but Jesus has done for you. There is only one way and he paid the price and full. You've been paid for by a price because God loves you and he wants to set you free. And so that's what Paul is talking about here and he's saying, listen, the temple, the tabernacle represented God's presence. But the idols wanted to creep into the tabernacle to be worshiped to. Okay, Old Testament, New Testament, New Covenant. What's the temple? Your body. Your body is the temple who lives inside of you. When you give your life over to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God lives inside of you. So I need you to understand how deep this gets when it comes to allowing idols in the temple. Because now Paul is talking about our bodies and he's specifically talking about sexual immorality by allowing these idols into our life. First commit the insheptic 6 verse 18 and 19. Notice how it starts. Run from sexual sin. The truth is when you look in the Bible, it says run from sexual sin. Every time you see how to handle sexual sin, it literally says run away from it. Don't look at it. Don't be around it. Why? Because you're not strong enough. Nobody is strong enough. And that's why the Bible says, flee from it. Run away from it. Okay? Because it's unlike any other temptation. Why? No other sin clearly affects the bodies. This one does sexual immorality opens up doors into your heart and to your life and you become one with somebody else. And sometimes you allow things into your life that you didn't know was in their life. Because there's really no covenant agreement before God. It's just a good time. And clearly affects the body. This one does now. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Now listen to this. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God. You do not belong to yourself. And when you give into sexual immorality, listen, you actually grave the Holy Spirit. That's why there's some places that you've been to, some people you've been around. And it's like you hear a voice on the inside screaming. You need to leave. Why are you around them again? Why are you looking at this again? Why are you around these people? Why are you allowing this into your heart again? It's not where you need to be if you're struggling with it. Why are you walking into it? Hook away from it. Flea from it. You grieve the spirit of God. It's big. It is important. It doesn't mean a lot. Grieve them because you don't belong to yourself. That's all to make it clear. When you willingly become intimate with the darkness, you open up a door for demonic influence in God's temple. Okay. Idols don't just invade a temple. They're what? They're invited. Idols come into the temple when they're invited. And they're invited by the small compromises. It's no big deal. Everybody else is doing it. This is what I see in culture. I just want to have fun. They're having fun. And you allow these things. Now, I want to make it very, very clear to you. What does this voice sound like? What does fake love sound like? Okay. It's fake love. It's not real. It sounds like this. Okay. If I don't have them, I can't be made whole. You ever heard that before? Disney movies, romantic movies that you see all the time. Understand this? It's not biblical. It's actually from pagan mythology. It comes from pagan mythology. It comes from the idea that Zeus came and cut everybody in half. And so you need to find your other person to be whole. I didn't come from the Bible. All right. The Bible says, no, no, you're made whole and you're fulfilled by Jesus Christ because only Jesus can satisfy you. Only Jesus can bring a love into your life. And when you put Jesus first, guess what? You're going to love people better. That's why Jesus has to be first for God is love. And without God in your life, you don't know love. God called you to love differently because his love is different from the ways of the world. It's a commitment. His love to you is a commitment. He says, I'll never leave you. Never forsake you. It doesn't matter. So many times we leave or we do things based off of feelings and feelings can lead you the wrong way. Listen to this. Another lie is this if I get attention, even bad attention, I'll fall loved. If I let this person have it, they want for me, then this person will stay all these, this fake love promises these things and only Jesus can satisfy these things. Fake love will promise you all the things you've ever wanted. That only Jesus can satisfy. And so I also want you to see this. Idols don't just come to visit either when you let them into the temple. They come to rearrange. Some of the stresses that you have today, let's break this down, come from the idols that you've allowed in. The first thing I want to show you is this devotion to God becomes divided when you allow idols into your life. Jesus said a Matthew 6 verse 24, no one can serve two masters. Now notice the wording here. It's very strong. You're going to hate one. You're going to love the other two extremes. Okay. So if you start to love the relationship. So the world, you're going to start to hate the way God says do a relationship. If you start to love just culture around you and say, you know what, that's my evaluation of what is truth. Then you're going to start to hate the ways of the Bible and the truth that it brings because you will be devoted to one and despise the other. That's what happens here. Devotion to God becomes divided. And let me also say this. God is not asking for a party very hard. He's asking for the whole throne. There has to be a surrender here. The second thing is this you lose spiritual clarity. Okay. Idols, cloud discernment. Wait, used to be in the beginning. You see it in Solomon's life. But used to be in the beginning. What's God? I want to live my life in a way that pleases you. But over time, the small compromises, that changes to God. I want to live a life that pleases me. This has made me feel good. Does this please me? Does this give me everything that I want? And that's what, that's when it gets really bad because the third thing that happens after this is this. According to the Bible, you become double-minded back and forth. I love God. I love the party. Right. I'm going to put Jesus first. I'm going to jump into a relationship. That is fine. Good. I'm going to trust the Lord and I'm going to trust myself. Listen to James chapter one verse. He says, their loyalty is divided between God and the world. And they are unstable in everything that they do. That is a big revelation right there. Unstable when your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Meaning, part of you wants to please God and the other part of you is addicted to the very thing God rescued you from. And here's what it leads to even more. You carry God's presence while entertaining what opposes him. Your body is the temple. You're carrying his presence, yet again, maybe you're in a relationship with somebody who's just full of darkness. Doesn't believe in Jesus. Mark's God and yet you still want to be in that. The temple becomes divided. And here's why Satan loves to use relationships because Mark chapter three verse 25 says, if a house is divided against itself, it cannot. It cannot stand. If a marriage is divided against itself, it will not stand. How can you even stand on the truth of God's word if you're divided in your own mind? That's what it means to have a double mind. These idols creep in a little at a time. It doesn't just happen right away. It happens with a small compromise. It's really start to think, what are you allowing? How did you get there? Why did you make that decision that you were regretting now? What things took place to lead you there? Start to notice the little things that you give into that allow you to become numb, that influence you to do the wrong things. Because so many times we say it's no big deal. And again, what we tolerate today can dominate you tomorrow. So my last point of the message is this, Solomon worshiped God, but he worshiped God on his own terms. That's what we see. And I want to ask you today is that's what you're struggling with. I love Jesus. I'm gonna live my life for Jesus. But as long as it makes me happy, there's things that I don't want to give up. Except, right? Remember, let's look again at 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 3, Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except that he also sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, teaching us that partial obedience always hides behind good intentions. Be honest, I want to give myself over to the Lord except the smoking and drinking. I enjoy it. I want to give my life over to the Lord except I just like being with this person right now. And I know it's not right, but it just makes me forget how much I don't like myself. All right, we give my life fully to Jesus except I still got some bitterness. I don't want to let go of because they really hurt me and I don't feel like I should just walk away from that. There's some altars in your life on high places, you need to tear down. See, that's what happened here. What are the high places in this story? What is it talking about? So remember, David wanted to build the temple of God, but God told David, "No, your hands are too bloody because David had an assignment and that was war." Solomon also had an assignment and that was to peace, bring peace. So the house of the Lord was to be a house of peace. The problem with Solomon is this, even in his own wisdom, I believe that he wanted too much control. And he thought he had to do things the way man does things to bring peace instead of just asking the Lord and trusting God completely. And so many times we do that too. So many times we just get ahead of God. God, I'll take care of this. You can't. Don't get ahead of God. That's when we start to make a lot of mistakes. And so there was no temple at this time. And so again, traveling to the tabernacle and giving, guess what? That's inconvenient. And so the people desired convenient worship. How worship according to their ways, I want to worship. And so I'll just go to the high places that are local, those elevated places that are in the nation of Israel and I worship God. I'm worshiping God. I'm not worshiping idols, right? It's not bad. No compromises lead to bigger compromises. Which you feed over time starts to grow. And again, where did they learn this from? Okay, not only was it a temptation of comfort, but again, it came from the pagan cultures around them. Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse two, when you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods. High on the mountains up on the hills and under every green tree. Now here's where it gets really sad in the story. In Solomon's life, he thought it was no big deal because he's still worshiping God, but by the time it gets to his son, ruling the kingdom. Verse 14 verse 23, "For they also built for themselves pagan shrines." That's what he did in Judah, and set up sacred pillars and ashtray poles on every high hill and under every green tree. And this is where they committed again, child sacrifices, prostitution, evil and despicable things, all because in the beginning, Solomon said it's no big deal, it's just small. And so what we see out of the story is this, what Solomon normalized privately became normalized publicly eventually. And what you allow in your life because it's no big deal can often be the very thing that leads you astray in the future. And so we need to be careful of this. For Solomon, the high places weren't evil yet, they were just unregulated. And it led him astray. Now I want to say this because you don't fall away from God all at once. You drift away. You drift away by the small decisions that you make. And here's our love. Here's what I think actually I know. I just truly believe this series going to be life changing because I love it when I feel like God has revealed so much information. We just have gone over a few verses. And this is the start of this series. There's a lot more to dive into. But I want to stop here and we'll continue next week. But I want to ask the question again, how do we grow spiritually than even more? Again, wisdom is an amazing thing. Knowledge of the word of God is an amazing thing, but it must come with surrender. Because you can have all the information in your mind, but still not surrender. Everything over to the Lord. And so I want to ask you right now, what is the very thing you're still holding on to that you need a surrender over to God that is leading you astray, that is hurting you little by little. Let me tell you right now, lust is not your God. Bitterness and anger is not your God. You can rebuke these things in the name of Jesus Christ and Jesus comes to rescue you. I'm telling you Jesus really does and can set you free. But you have to believe it. And when you hear the word of God, you must do what it says. And the times when you feel like you don't have the strength, the Holy Spirit, because your body's a temple, the Holy Spirit inside of you, he will give you strength you do not have. You want to defeat the devil when you feel tempted, open up the Bible. And the moment's going to be the last thing you want to do because you want to give into a temptation, but instead open up the Bible. Watch the temptation flee. Watch the demons flee. Because Jesus came to be our savior. We love to say that. He also came to be our Lord, which means he requires lordship over your life. He requires all of 40. That's where freedom comes from. So two things, two things we need to apply today. First of all, what are the small compromises you have been accepting that you need to stop right now? It's not a problem yet. It's not a big deal yet. But you know what's wrong and you know it's starting to make your mind divided. The last thing I want you to think about is this what high places, what high places that you place alters, do you need to tear down? Just because it was convenient. Remember what the prophet Samuel said to King Saul about his rebellion. King Saul was saying it was no big deal. What he was doing, he had good intentions. And the prophet Samuel said, but rebellion against God, disobedience against God is as bad as witchcraft. Because that means you're trying to control and trying to say that you know better than God's way. God knows better than you. Trust him. Because he's a good father that loves you. To grow, you're going to hear things you don't like. But it's where we start. And it's surrender and humility that will change everything today. Authentic family, thanks for watching today. And before you go, I want to thank you for your faithful giving. It is through your generosity and obedience that we're able to impact the world every single day. It's through your gifts that we're able to touch lives and need and get the hope of Jesus to those that need it the most. If you'd like to partner with us, you can do so by going online to authenticchurch.com/give. There you can become a partner with this ministry and to push out to the kingdom of God, the love of Jesus. Maybe this is your first time giving or maybe you've been a partner for a long time. We want to thank you for that partnership and we want to thank you for your obedience to what God is calling you to do. And also we want to invite you to a waking conference, 2026, June 4th through the 7th. It's going to be four impactful days, some awesome worship bands, some amazing speakers and God is going to be moving in that building. I want you in the room. But more importantly, it's going to be an online homecoming for all of our online family. We're calling all of our friends from all over the world, all over the nation to come in to gather under one roof and to celebrate the one true king. So go online to a waking conference.com, register today. And we will see you there. And as always guys, y'all go out, be the hands of feet of God this week. We love you and we'll see you again real soon.