HCBC Sunday School "Friends" Class
Unit 1 -- Crisis of Faith
When Idols Tug at Your Heart (Ezekiel 8:1 - 14:23)

1) What's in Your Temple? (Ezek. 8:3b-4,10)
a. God demands exclusive loyalty and will not tolerate rivals that compete for the attention of His children.
b. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. ~ Deut. 4:24
c. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? ~ I Cor. 6:19
d. Anyone (or anything) other than Jesus, that becomes first and foremost in our lives becomes an idol -- and all idols are detestable to God.
2) Do We Think God is Unaware? (Ezek. 8:11-12)
a. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ~ II Cor. 4:4
b. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. ~ I John 2:11
c. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. ~ Psalm 14:1
d. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 8:11
e. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. ~ Prov. 15:3
3) What's So Wrong with Idols? (Ezek. 14:1-5)
a. Any and all idols become stumbling blocks in our relationship with God.
b. Remember the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-5)
c. Leads to "lukewarm" Christianity.
i. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ~ Matthew 6:24
d. Ask your spouse about your girlfriend/boyfriend!
4) What's the Way Out? (Ezek. 14:6)
a. The Lord offers a way to be freed from the guilt of our idolatry and the powerlessness of our half-hearted devotion.
b. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; ~ I Thess. 1:9