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How many people do you need to notice you before you feel like you matter?
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When you reach that threshold, how long would it take to be enough?
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What about your title or credentials?
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What level do you need to reach before you're satisfied?
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When you feel like you've officially arrived.
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Most people wouldn't openly state that they're chasing status or looking to be a performer, but the desire can be subtle.
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It can appear in a variety of ways.
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It can even be a temptation for those who have no desire to be in the public eye.
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When we think of the topic of platform, our first thought might go to content creators obsessing over stats or sales.
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But it appears in professionals, centered on title, maybe a promotion, or how many letters are behind their name.
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For politicians, the office they hold carries a platform.
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Even for tradesmen, it can be their reputation around town.
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And believe it or not, it can even be for us, pastors.
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We focus too much on the size of the congregation or how many people are watching online, like you right now.
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The idol of platform shows up all over the place.
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We are in week four of our series titled Idols, uncovering the areas of misplaced worship in our day-to-day lives.
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Last week we called out the idol of work, learning how to return to God for his Sabbath rest.
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And today's message serves as a bit of a dovetail from last week, looking a little bit more specifically at work, but within the title, within the platform that we carry, which is often very much connected to our careers or maybe trades, whatever it is you do for work.
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And sometimes enough isn't enough.
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And so we're going to address the inner craving to be seen, valued, and known based on our title or status, our platform.
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We'll discover what happens when our desire to be platformed goes unchecked, and asking the deeper question of who we're really doing all this for, and whose opinion should matter the most.
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Let's get started.
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Our scripture reading is Galatians 1, 6 to 10.
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You're welcome to follow along with a physical Bible.
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Search the table of contents for the corresponding page number, or you can download the Bible app or visit Bible.com.
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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
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Not that there is one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed.
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As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
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For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
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Or am I trying to please man?
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If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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The Apostle Paul is writing to the Christians in the city of Galatia, and he's not impressed with the report he's been getting.
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He writes, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.
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The Galatians had been pulled away from the gospel of Jesus Christ that they once had embraced.
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And now they're chasing a version of false Christianity, a false gospel.
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And this is an important verse related to our series because that's ultimately what all misplaced worship does.
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This is how we slip into idolatry.
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We're pulled away following something else instead of Jesus little by little, and he fades into the distance.
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Misplaced worship sets in as he's replaced by someone else or something else that we love.
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And then we start to love that thing or person more than him.
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Related to today's focus, he's replaced by the adoring fans, the cheering constituency, the dedicated workforce, or maybe the social metrics.
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Now, if we come back to Paul, who before he met Jesus was a religious leader named Saul.
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He had significant status under the title of Pharisee.
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He highlights this later in chapter one of this letter to the Galatians.
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He writes, For you have heard of my former life in Judaism.
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I was advancing in Judaism beyond many my own age among my people.
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So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
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In first century Judea, this was a platform.
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A Pharisee had a platform.
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He would have been known and appreciated by the elites, he would have had a following, and likely a comfortable life.
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And yet, he left it all when he met
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Jesus.
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His life was transformed.
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The praise and platform of the world he once knew totally lost its luster when compared to Jesus.
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If we jump back into the core text for today, he writes, For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
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Or am I trying to please man?
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If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
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The sentence kind of has a sarcastic pivot.
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Likely the sentence?
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This sentence has a bit of a sarcastic pivot, and it's likely aimed at church leadership.
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Nevertheless, it applies to everyone and anyone, even you and I today.
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At some point, we need to choose between impressing the crowd and following Jesus.
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Within this sarcasm of Paul, the message is clear.
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The crowd will never offer what Christ can guarantee.
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The approval of the crowd is fickle based on shifting opinions of culture.
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In order to maintain a platform, the crowd needs to be continually impressed and appeased.
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God's approval, however, doesn't depend on us.
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It was freely given at the cross when Jesus paid for our sin and then offered in pure form, conquering sin and death at the empty tomb.
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The crowd might offer fleeting earthly approval, but Jesus offers a guarantee, a guaranteed eternal approval.
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All because of him and nothing dependent on us.
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Now, at this point, there might be a temptation to see all platforms and large followings as wrong or sinful.
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And that happens sometimes in our culture.
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If someone's popular, they must be bad or they must be doing something wrong.
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But that's not true, and that's not what I'm saying.
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And that's not what we see in scripture and throughout Christian history.
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In the Bible, we see leaders like Moses, who was given a massive following that he initially didn't even want.
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And yet God used him to lead his people out of slavery.
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David, who was the least likely in the family to do anything great, defeated the giant Goliath and later became Israel's greatest king.
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The Apostle Paul, who we're talking about today, had a massive following, becoming one of the greatest preachers and church planters in the first century.
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All of these leaders had a massive following, but all of them were given it by
God for God's greater purposes.
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And it didn't stop with them.
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As we look throughout church history, we see preachers like George Whitfield preached to tens of thousands in open fields during the Great Awakening.
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Charles Spurgeon's sermons were printed and read by millions of people who were never a part of his congregation.
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And Billy Graham preached to more people than anyone else in history, reaching over 215 million people in more than 185 countries.
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In more recent history, God gave people like Tim Keller, Rick Warren, John Piper, and Andy Stanley, each of them a global platform to teach the Bible and reach the world with the gospel.
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And before you assume this is only about preachers and Bible teachers, God also platforms regular folk in the marketplace and civil service.
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There have been hundreds of people who have been given positions of influence outside of vocational ministry.
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God has called them to lead, speak, create, and organize so that they may have a position of gospel-driven impact on the world for the sake of the gospel.
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Here's some examples.
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William Wilberforce, a British member of Parliament, who spent decades using his platform to end the slave trade.
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Or R.
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G.
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Laterno, an inventor and businessman who gave the majority of his company's earnings to missions.
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Florence Nightingale, whose nursing reforms saved countless lives on the battlefield and beyond.
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Miller Fuller, a lawyer and businessman who mobilized tradespeople worldwide through Habitat for Humanity.
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Or David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Christian ministries and helped fund the Museum of the Bible.
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God has always used visible, influential people for his purposes and our benefit.
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Now, he used people behind the scenes for sure as well, but he's not afraid to use big platforms.
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You see, these people have used their platform to carry the gospel in the world or to support human flourishing.
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We've experienced the benefit.
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That being said, there are far too many stories, far too many accounts of preachers and leaders that have fallen from the platform that God's given them.
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Now I don't need to name names.
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We've heard enough accounts over the time we've been on this earth, I'm sure.
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But it starts with a shift in focus, leading
toward either a regrettable decision or a full-on moral failure.
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As you unpack their stories, you can often see how they let status and influence get to them.
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Little by little, they focused more on the crowd instead of Christ.
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Their identity, security, and belongings started to get wrapped up in the next level of popularity, credentials, a reputation.
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And here's how it happens: this is how the idol of platform creeps in, and maybe is creeping in in your life.
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First, it could be impacting identity in your mood as it follows the numbers.
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If your accomplishments achieved in secret feel worthless, or if you feel jealous when someone else gets the praise.
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Next, the idol of platform could be impacting your security if a dip in your stats feels like an emergency.
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If you soften your convictions to protect your reputation, or if you can't sleep until you've checked those numbers just one last time before you go to bed.
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Finally, platform could be impacting your sense of belonging.
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If you feel lonely when the attention's not on you, if you gain more satisfaction from followers than friends, or if you don't let people ever see the unedited or unpolished version of who you really are.
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This is why we can't isolate the idol of platform as simply a social media issue.
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We're prone to do that, but it doesn't always apply.
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The temptation to be popular or recognized or appreciated, it impacts people from all walks of life, whether they have a small staff team of a few or a following of a few thousand.
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Now, if one of those descriptions hit close to home, it's better to address it now and make changes before it becomes a habitual behavior.
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Because chasing a platform, like all forms of misplaced worship, it doesn't just distort our identity, security, and belonging.
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As the drift happens, it pulls our focus away from Jesus and the call that he's put on our lives to live out the gospel.
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We lose our mission.
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And this is why, regardless of the size of our influence, we should all cling to Jesus' teaching on who we are as his followers.
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He told us, you are the light of the world.
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A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.
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But on a stand, it gives light to all in the house.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
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You see, if Jesus has given us his light, it can't stay hidden.
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You might not be called to preach and teach the gospel.
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I get that.
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But you can still live out the gospel and the good works that he's given you to do.
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And eventually, people will see it and they'll give glory to God.
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Remember those people, Wilberforce, Laterno, Nightingale, Fuller, Green, they all held significant platforms.
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A seat in government, a growing company, a hospital ward, a builder's crew, a national retail chain.
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God gave them influence and put them to work right where they were, where they were passionate, where they were successful.
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The light they carried mattered more than the size of their platforms.
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They were laser focused on the job that God had given them.
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They kept doing the faithful work of honoring God with the good works of their platforms.
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And sure enough, the light of the gospel ended up shining through their careers, and God continued to bless them as they blessed others.
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They ended up changing nations, industries, and the lives of millions of people they would never meet.
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This is why, again, the crowd will never offer what Christ can guarantee.
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In the public square, the marketplace, the workshop of the office, in the pulpit or on the screen, the people who follow you will see the light and over time it will point them to God.
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So let's take a moment.
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Take a moment for yourself right now and consider your platform.
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Maybe it's small, I get it.
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Maybe you just lead a couple people, a small staff team.
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Maybe you're just a tradesman with a couple apprentices under you.
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Maybe you're an upper management with a lot of people looking to you for leadership.
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Or maybe you're in the political arena and you've been given civil service oversight in some way.
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Or perhaps you're legitimately an online influencer and you're watching this and you have a growing following.
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Wherever you're at, let's start with this question.
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Ask yourself, why do the people in your life follow you?
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Are they paid to you?
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Why do they choose to stay?
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Are they drawn in by your title, your results, or your image?
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Or do
they see something different in the way you lead?
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The second question is, what would they say you represent?
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Would they point to your title, your success, the image you've built?
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Or would they say you represent a better example in how you lead and how you live?
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The third question is, who would they say you follow?
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Would they say you follow the numbers, the approval of the crowd, the appeasement of your direct report?
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Or would they know that you're a Christian and that you follow Jesus?
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Now, if you're still struggling, remember that Jesus has faced this same temptation.
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You may not know that, but he has.
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You see, when Jesus was in the wilderness, one of the temptations Satan used was actually platform.
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We read about it in Matthew.
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It says, Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
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And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.
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Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan.
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For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
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Matthew 4, 8 through ten.
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Jesus had every kingdom on earth offered to him, and he turned it down.
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Instead, he submitted to the Father's will, eventually leading him to the cross.
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He gave up his platform and then his very life so ours could be made new.
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And then on the third day he rose from the dead, proving his offer is a guarantee that death doesn't get the final word.
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You don't have to keep chasing the next level of approval.
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You can trade it in today.
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If you've never done that, you can pray this prayer right now.
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You can ask him to forgive you and to become the foundation of your life from this point on.
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Let's pray together.
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Dear God, I confess that I've looked for worth in the wrong places.
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I've let the crowd, the numbers, the position, and the title distort the influence you've given me.
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Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sin and rising again to overcome sin and death.
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Reset my identity, my security, and my belonging so they're rooted in you instead of what others think of me.
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Help me seek Jesus over the crowd.
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In Jesus' name I pray.
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Amen.
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It's time for us to slow down once again and have some discussion and prayer.
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This week's discussion question is this.
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How have you struggled with the approval of others in the past or in your current role?
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How have you struggled with the approval of others either in the past or in your current role?
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After you discuss that a bit or add a comment in the feed, spend some time in prayer.
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Our focus today is to ask God to help you seek his approval and use your influence for him.
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Ask God to help you seek his approval and then use your influence for him.
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Then come back next week as we're looking at the idol of creation.
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What happens when the world God created becomes the focus of your devotion and affection?
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There's a difference between stewardship and creation care and the misplaced worship of nature.
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Come back next Sunday, we're going to talk about it.