Monday, May 15, 2006

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8).

IDEA: When you believe in one God who rules over everything, then wherever you are or wherever you go, His rule does not change.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize what it means to believe in one God.

Why do you think that people in the ancient world tried to worship many gods?

Even when the Jews and some Greeks came to believe that there was really only one God, why did polytheism flourish?

I. Polytheism seemed to reflect life as people knew it.

People assigned different gods to the grow crops, to control storms, to bring children into the world.

Even the Jews who believed that God alone was God drifted into the worship of idols. They never left their belief in Jehovah, but they did adopt other gods they felt could help them at certain times of life.

Why did God demand that His people put away all these other gods?

Why did the prophets scoff at the worship of idols that represented other gods?

II. Do you think there are ways in which we today can abandon our worship and devotion to the God of the Bible for other gods?

Do you have to have an idol of wood or stone to have idols in your life?

Is it possible that life as we know it lures us away from our devotion to the God we trust?