Chapter 1: Understanding high places

tearing down the high places of your faith as I said moments ago sometimes when you read words like

this it’s difficult to know exactly what you’re talking about because you know we want to be in a high place we in our

faith we want to have high faith and so sometimes this looks counterintuitive but there’s something that I wanted to show you uh this

morning for Shabbat I want I wanted you to understand what a Biblical high place is and

how um they can hinder our growth

spiritually high places a study of idolatry building from our discussion of

two weeks ago when we looked at knowing thy enemy we briefly covered the broader meaning of the biblical usage of the

word world you guys recall that uh what it meant to be worldly or to be in the world world we learned that

it meant an ordered system of which the enemy has spent the last 6,000 years

building in an effort to turn the hearts and minds of humanity away from their

creator today we’ll explore how sentimentality develops in people’s hearts for various things people and

places and events that still exist within this organized system we also examine how

idolatry starts by taking root in the heart and then slowly moves the focus and loyalty away from God and toward

created things or false gods by the way let me just makeer before I go any

further um I’m going to ask a challenging question today one that might get me in trouble little bit

controversial but that’s okay it’s just for the purpose of discussion um so when that slide comes up I’ll let

you know it’s here so I want to begin this morning with three little words what possible

three little words could I be meaning could I want to talk about three little

words is Walt Disney World what in the world Walt Disney World yes Walt Disney

World Walt Disney World Disneyland and they’re kind of the same thing at any

Chapter 2: Disney world illustration

Disney facility it is a well-known fact that each of these facilities regardless

of where it’s at was built to be quote the happiest place on Earth right we know

this in order to be as such everything about Disneyland or Disney World is

intentionally and masterfully orchestrated to ensure that as long as that you stay as long long as

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possible eat as often as you want to and never see trash on the sidewalks bathrooms strategically placed

and providing a solution to every possible need even what you smell see and read

when you smell it see it and read it is intentional the distance from the

parking lot to the park is intentional so walking back is the last thing you want to do until it’s absolutely

positively necessary fireworks in the evening to keep you looking forward to a finale shops that sell sweatshirts because it

gets cold in California at night in an underground world one story below you

everywhere you go where workers are working tirelessly to make sure that you

are in a happy place there’s actually a documentary online about how everything

in Walt Disney World everywhere you go everything that you look at every

experience that you have has been masterfully orchestrated to make sure that you feel

that you are in the happiest place on Earth and my question is does that sound familiar when you think about it

spiritually when you think about the ordered system that the enemy has created it’s

very much so like this right everything in our world is aimed at getting us to

love the world it’s built to make sure that we love the world and the things in

the world it’s orchestrated in such a way that we feel that our life is the

happiest place on Earth and we don’t need no stinking Messiah Disney World serves as an ideal

illustration of the structured system prevalent in our current world similar to the sentimentality one

feels towards memories of a Disney park visit and that’s true for us we love Disney I’m not I’m not a Disney hater my

wife loves Disney more than me and we have nostalgic memories of our time at those Parks but similar to the sentimentality

one feels towards memories of a Disney park visit reminiscing fondly cherishing those moments as treasured me memories

and longing to relive them so our attachment to this world evokes comparable mental and emotional

responses in us all this ordered system creates an environment

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in which Humanity can get emotionally attached to its ways and practices high places then as we will

see represent those entrenched customs and practices that for various reasons

individuals may cling to or hesitate to relinquish in their quest for God now

that doesn’t make quite enough sense now but once we begin looking at the scripture you’ll understand a little bit

more of what I’m talking about so high places these are three

Chapter 3: Defining biblical high places

images of ancient high places that still stand in Israel today some of them are

more extravagant than others as you can see but they’re all constructed with Rock and brick there’s an

altar uh not you can’t always see the altar in these old pictures but um these are this is what a high

place would have looked like you can see in the one on the left the green trees that still stand in

these uh back in the day uh there these all would have had green

trees uh surrounding them like little Park areas so to speak and they’re used

for Pagan worship the high places in Scripture is a short-hand term for places of pagan

worship usually on Hills or mountains to bring them closer to their false gods they were centers of

idolatry the greatest time of compromise for God’s people in the Old Testament Israel was when in addition to

worshiping yahovah the only true God they also worshiped false

gods these high places became associated with syncretism and we’re going to look at that word in a

second syncretism and idolatry the Israelites would adopt the religious practices of the surrounding Nations and worship foreign Gods

alongside or instead of Jehovah at these sites these syncretic worship or this

syncretic worship was condemned by the prophets as a violation of the Covenant with yehovah so what is syncretism

syncretism is the combination of different forms of belief or

practice the fusion that’s a key word the fusion of two or more originally

different inflectional forms so we’re going to remember that word

syncretism because it basically means you’re holding to two different gods

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you are simultaneously worshiping and sometimes

interchanging two separate gods and that’s what they did in these

days uh between B and yehovah but let’s explore this a little bit more and here

Chapter 4: Greek vs Hebrew Messiah

comes the controversial part we’re going to jump right into it this is Jesus

this is the Greek Messiah that came to free us from God’s law this is the Greek Messiah that broke

the Sabbath and eight BLTs this is

Yeshua this is the Hebrew Messiah that championed God’s law this is the Lamb of God who called

people back to the ways of the Lord I found that passage in Isaiah 532 that

said speaking of Yeshua speaking of when he came that he had no form or Majesty that we should look at him and no beauty

that we should desire him remember when the first king of Israel was chosen it was

Saul and he was chosen because he was Head and Shoulders Above the Rest he was a handsome good-looking

guy and yet the Messiah the Messiah that was to come would not have any form or Majesty he was not a handsome guy that

we would look at him and go oh he’s a good-look guy he must be the Messiah now I I mean this isn’t obvious

this is obviously an artistic rendition but sometimes I wonder if Yeshua didn’t look like a bearded long-haired Adam

Sandler he was Jewish after all right he was a Hebrew he wasn’t pale white blonde

her so this person has never

existed and and sometimes that it’s a hard pill to swallow for some people to

think that a person named Jesus never existed there was never a

time in Hebrew in in Israel’s history where a Jesus was

born so here’s the controversial question is worshiping this

Jesus idolatry now before we go on I I just wanted to have you unmute

yourselves and give me your thoughts a little bit when you see these slides when you see this question when you see this

contrast between the Greek Messiah and the Hebrew Messiah the fact that the Greek Messiah

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never existed and answer the question honestly just for the sake of

discussion is worshiping the Greek Jesus idolatry give me your thoughts on

that he’s a false Christ okay

yeah yeah we it’s an adulter because we we make

up the ideal person you know that we want to worship and that we agree

with okay somebody else I think um gotta unmute yourself I

have I think now that we are studying this out and understand it better I would say yes yes that is idolatry I

think at the time I I didn’t know that um and the ability to be able to change

my view uh I think makes makes the difference for

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me uh I would agree with you Joe um you know it’s only been what seven

eight years now since I’ve I began my my journey and I can honestly say that the 25 years before

that if you it wasn’t my heart to worship an

idol uh I didn’t know I just didn’t know that the the Jesus that I was I was

following was this Greek personification of the Messiah I just

didn’t know I my heart was pure if I could say that my my intentions were pure like somebody else

so so I wouldn’t go and and tell somebody in the Christian church that their Messiah is a pagan and Idol I would never do

that um and I would never fault somebody for uh pursuing this Jesus the trouble

is once we’ve come into knowledge of the truth once we understand the truth then we’re talking a different ball of wax then we’re talking about

about knowledge of

[Music]

something uh coming into the picture and playing a part in our understanding so I guess the broader question would be if

we know who the real Messiah is if we know that the Greek Jesus never

existed then as Believers can we get into spiritual

trouble and I’m trying to use ver very basic terminology here to help us wrap our brains around this can we get into

trouble if we try to worship them both now in our mind we’re not saying

we’re worshiping two Messias but sometimes we can do and

embrace certain things where they become interchangeable you know based on our

feelings or opinions and that’s the syncretism remember remember the syncretism that

Israel did and don’t forget these things that Israel got caught up in are there for a

reason God God was is trying to teach us something very important about Israel and their history with

syncretism combining or fusing

together two gods as we’re as we’re worshiping instead of completely and utterly submitting to one

or the other right to worship them both is at the very least

syncretism but could it be more than that and when you take another look at the very first commandment in

the Ten Commandments then it kind of takes it kind of has a a different feel

you shall have no other gods before me well what about a different version of

you what about someone that’s almost like you but not quite well that would be

another God right that would be another version of him you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any

likeness of anything that is in heaven above or is the Earth beneath or that is the water under the Earth shall bow down

to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God so if he’s a jealous God and this is a Godly jealousy

Paul makes the distinction in his letters between sinful jealousy and godly

jealousy if he is a jealous God then what does that mean that that means if if

we continue to chase after in any way shape or form emotionally or

otherwise this bastardized version of the true

Messiah the this milk toast version this sinful version because remember a lot of

people in the Christian World believe that Jesus broke the Sabbath in in the Book of

John and that he add Advocates eating BLTs in Mark

7 so if we are combining the two then I think we fall

into we we we we get into trouble with this very first commandment and yes ma’am oh so I I hav

a thought about this um and I like God God knows our hearts and I feel like

it maybe comes down to a heart issue and I don’t know if I’m jumping ahead because I know you have a whole study to go but I mean even just thinking about

marriage like when I married Eric and I had this idea of who he was and as you get to know each other you you fall into

more you know kind of truth about who he is um and misunderstandings Fall by the wayside or whatever and and that’s a

simplistic comparison because we’re talking about our you know our

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Messiah but to I guess add a a component here of Grace that God knows our hearts

and if we are genuinely willing to know who God is and we seeking with our whole heart that

over time that will become um revealed to us I guess which is exactly what happened with us and

with each of us here I’m in a Bible study with a woman who who very much holds to this you know that I don’t want to fall under the law again like I don’t

want that burden to be put on me again and I’ve been praying that you know she has a real heart to seek God that I can

trust that God will show himself to her because of that heart stance instead of

um I I don’t know if that made sense it makes total sense and I agree with you 100% yes I absolutely do believe you

have God does know our hearts and sometimes and I’m just going to throw this out there I’m not saying this is

you laurian I’m just saying sometimes I’ve done this but sometimes people hide behind

that yeah oh God knows my heart uh and and but the reality is yes does and that

should scare you oh yeah sometimes we hide behind that statement not realizing just how true that is that he

really does know what’s in your heart and and yes I would agree with you 100% that if you are truly searching him

then then he knows the difference this slide isn’t for those people per se this

this slide is more for people who want to somehow hold on to both

deities yes I believe that Jesus was a Jew and yes I believe that you know we should

um observe the sabbath but what about this I mean food thing really I mean should we

really do do we really have to eat the way he says we have to eat and you know they they want to they want to have both

they want to have their cake and eat it too no pun intended when it comes to their faith and they’re not they’re not

willing to completely bow the knee to one or the other or they at one time bowed the knee to the Jesus and

struggling to fully bow the knee to Yeshua you know so I think that’s why I

wanted to approach this topic not because I’m blaming anybody here or accusing anybody here or anybody that’s

listening by the way on YouTube I I wanted to I wanted to uh um to get your

your mind thinking I wanted you to toss this around in your heart a little bit uh as we move forward in the study

Chapter 5: Historical syncretism

so okay amen let’s move on systemic confus saying to laian like I think about the going through the holidays

these last couple months and then heading into Passover Easter how appropriate this is in terms of how you practice this you know where do you bow

and E how do you how do you worship your Messiah yeah exactly

amen uh Joy said yes that’s a good point you can’t always hear her because she’s sitting far away from me but okay a

systemic confusion of who is who joining two Gods worshiping both as if they’re one and this is what we’re going to see here in scripture uh the tradition of

allowing the high places to exist where both Bal and yehovah were worshiped together and often mistaken for one another lasted for more than 150 years

and I just copied and pasted this from my book by the way um in fact B wor worship became so prevalent that people

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began to name their children after the false god so that’s when you know when syncretism is really set in the hearts

of in the minds of people and you start naming your children after false gods not just any people but David the greatest king of

Israel amongst other high-profile biblical figures we see here in 1 Chronicles 14 that one of his children was named

Bela and Bel is ball NOS in Hebrew this is King

David So how just how deep just how

sentimental just how emotionally embedded was this

idolatry if King David is naming his daughter after ball and it wasn’t just

David there’s others biblically we have Saul and Jonathan had children named

after ball in 1 Chronicles 8 ash ball and meie

ball were um Saul and Jonathan’s children children one means man of ball

one means advocate of ball so this is pretty enlightening this is pretty scary what does this tell

us well it tells us of the deep rooted sentimentality that existed in the hearts of Israel for their tradition they didn’t want to let it go

so much so that they wanted to name a child after it they began to share in the worship practices of the Canaanites from the moment they entered the

land from the moment they came out of the desert and entered the land of Canaan

that was already preoccupied they began to share in those worship

practices it shows us why yehovah was so angered at their attempts to worship because he had

become just one of their gods and we’ve already looked at the passage that

talked about him being jealous of this that he is a jealous God he doesn’t want

to be just one of our Gods he just he doesn’t want to to be that God that we

serve on Shabbat and then serve another God on

Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or or

Chapter 6: Prophecy and violation

Wednesday so high places a study of idolatry this whole highplace business was actually prophesied and it it might

interest you to know that as Israel was coming into the promised land a lot of

stuff was prophesied about their future uh we see in the book of Deuteronomy

that um God casting the house of Israel into the Nations was prophesied we see here in

Leviticus that them embracing the high places as forms of worship was

prophesied and I don’t know about you but if I’m an Israelite back then and I’m listening to these Prophets

phes I I I want to say that I’m going to do the darnest my darnest to to to not

do these things that was prophesied and yet they did Leviticus 26

after all of this if you do not obey me but walk contrary to me then I also will walk contrary to you in Fury and I even

I will chastise you seven times for your sins you shall eat the flesh of your sons and they

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did and you shall eat the Flesh of your daughters and they did I will destroy your high places cut

down your incense altars and cast your carcasses in on the lifeless forms of your idols and my soul shall abhor

you my soul shall hate you why because this is adultery this is spiritual adultery

right and yet they walked right into it so these high places already

existed uh when they entered the land due to the Canaanites already living in the land when they arrived Israel would adopt this worship style then and then

begin to build for themselves their own high places during the reign of jeroboam First Kings

12 therefore the king asked advice make two calves of gold and said to the people it’s too much for you to go up to

Jerusalem to sacrifice it’s too much for you to go it’s too far to go all the way up to the temple

to do your business here are your Gods oh Israel which brought you up from the land of Egypt and he set one up in bethl

and the other he put up in Dan this thing became a sin for the people went to worship

there they worship before the one as far as Dan if you look on a map Dan in in distance from Israel is pretty far he

made shrines on the high places and made priests from every class of people who were not of the sons of Levi now if you

recall the only people who can be a a Le a levite are the sons of Aaron right so

so jeroboam not only Built these shrines on high places but anybody who wanted to

be a priest came along and he said oh yeah sure from every class of people he made

priests so he was going off the wild end there first Kings or 2 Kings 17 for so it was that the children of

Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of pharaoh the king of Egypt and they had

fear other gods and had walked in the statute of the Nations whom the Lord had cast out

before the children of Israel and the Kings of Israel which they had made also the children of Israel

secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right and they built for

themselves high places in all their cities so they’re continuing this tradition

I handed down by a rebellious King from Watchtower to fortified City they set up

for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every Green Tree we looked at that

phrase several months ago there they burned incense on all the

high places like who like the Nations whom the Lord had carried away

before them and they did Wicked things to provoke provoke the Lord to anger for they served Idols which the Lord had

said to them you shall not do this thing so we can see here that the

tradition of high places had become rooted in their hearts so that now they weren’t just

using the ones previously made by Canaanites but they’re building their own just like the the Nations around

them so Israel’s syncretism caused them to worship God in the same way that they had learned to

worship ball now why is that important God was very

specific about how he wanted the people of Israel to worship

him very specific and we all know the story of Aaron’s

sons who brought Strange Fire into their worship and the Bible

says they were struck down because it wasn’t God’s fire they brought a Strange

Fire and so there we see a depiction even though it’s historical it’s of depiction for

us of how God feels about how we worship

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Him and here because of Israel’s syncretism had caused them to

blend their worship of ball with their worship of

God and I don’t have this written down but it makes me want to ask the question how do we do

that do we do that do we bring in worldly worship patterns or

practices to our own worship of the one true God and if so what does that look like how would you articulate it maybe

that’s something that we can discuss later on Jeremiah 7:30 for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight says the Lord they have

set up their Abominations in the house which is by is called by my name what’s Happening Here

now they’re bringing in their Idols into the

temple now they’re bringing the things that they learned from ball into the temple they have built the

high places of toet which is in the Valley of the son of hen to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire which I did not command nor did it come

into my heart why is he saying that but because they’re bringing this stuff into his

camp and if someone who didn’t know the difference was looking into that camp and seeing what was going on they think

they would think that it was Israel’s God who who who commanded this and so so

extreme was their attachment their emotional attachment to these

practices that they were sacrificing their children in the in the name of

Chapter 7: Generational idolatry

God high places an incomplete Reformation so what is this slide about

well there was an attempt by some Kings to eradicate or to call Israel to

repentance uh in time if you look at a list of the Kings and by the way I have a list of said kings in the book If you

haven’t uh read that part that shows whether or not they were good or evil and the majority of them were evil but

there were a handful of kings that tried to make some Reformation with the people of Israel but we see something very interesting

here before we go into that I want to ask a question reading these two passages

Genesis chapter 3119 and Matthew 24:17 what is the similarity in the two let’s look at them now laan had gone to

Shear his sheep and Rachel had stolen the household Idols that were her fathers Matthew

24:17 let him who was this is Jesus talking about when the abomination of desolation happens what to happen he

need to run and it says let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house what’s the

similarity in these two passages what makes r steal an idol and why would one

take something from a house before fleeing what’s your answer to that

question because they love it they love it what’s another they consider their protector I

think okay let’s drill this down a little bit more though Rachel has stolen an idol and Jesus says don’t go down and

get anything when you have to leave why would someone go down and get something well the answer is really simple I put

it on both sides of the page so that we could see it

sentimentality that’s right Joy says it’s something we value we’re sentimental about this thing that’s why

Rachel took this Idol from her father’s house that’s why we would want to run into a burning building to save

something pictures of our kids or some type of valuable thing it’s sentimentality sentimentality is what is

behind these things and sentimentality is behind the high places

let’s talk about that first Kings 15 in the 20th year of jeroboam king of Israel

also became king of Judah also did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as did his father David and he banished the

perverted persans from the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made he removed MAA his grandmother

from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Ashera a pornographic image of

ashra and Assa cut down her obscene image and burned it by the Brook

Kidron but the high places were not removed moved nevertheless O’s heart was loyal

to the Lord all his days what do you see

here he was sentimental about the high place what

else you jeopardise going deeper with God because of holding on to holding on to that

yes it’s very interesting to me when I look at this that in the same sentence

almost well the you know adjoining sentences the high places were not removed we already

see how much God hates high places in the very next sentence nevertheless O’s heart was loyal to the

Lord all his days so what are we seeing here we’re seeing syncretism we’re we’re

seeing that these things were allowed to live together Assa a committed believer

a committed follower who did great things who did great things Joy

says still had this anchor this sentimental

anchor that I believe held him back the high places were were not

removed again First Kings 22 Jehoshaphat who by the way is one of my favorite people in the Bible the son

of Assa had become king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel so this is asa’s son the guy we just

looked at Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king and he reigned 25

years in Jerusalem his mother’s name was azuba the daughter of shile and he walked in all the ways of his father

also that’s a good thing he did not turn aside from them doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord

nevertheless the high places were not taken away for the people offered sacrifices

and burned incense on the high places and again I ask what do you see it’s a

repeat this time it’s not just a repeat of what Assa did this time it’s generational

so we see this toleration of idolatry due to

sentimentality not just existing in the heart of one king but passed down to his son and just like his son or just like

his dad Jehoshaphat allowed these high places to

exist 2 Chronicles 20:33 there’s a very interesting this is

this is one of the parallel passages that talk about these events and there’s something that I I I I just jumped out at me as I was reading nevertheless the

high places were not taken away and then this next statement is chilling for as yet the people had not directed their

hearts to the god of their fathers and that therein

lies the reason why the high places

remained because it says something about our hearts being totally directed

to and devoted to the god of our fathers Second Kings

14 in the second year of joash the son of jehoahaz king of Israel mesiah the

king of joash king of Judah became king he was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem his

mother’s name was joim of Jerusalem and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord yet not like his father David

he did everything as his father joash had done however the high places were not taken away and the people still sacrificed and

burned incense on the high places so it continues 2 Kings

15 in the 207th year of jeroboam king of Israel Azariah the son of amiah the king

of Judah became king and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all uh that his father amziah had

done except that the high places were not removed the people still sacrificed and burn incense on the high

places in the second year of peka the son of ramalia king of Israel jotham the son of

Uzziah king of Judah began to Reign and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done

however the high places were not removed the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places one must

ask when we see this repeated over and over and over again as it Des describes these

Kings why does the Holy Spirit keep saying

however these high places were not taken

away why because I think and you guys could pipe in here anytime you

like I think the Holy Spirit God is trying to tell us MH that our repentance

can sometimes be incomplete that our devotion to him can

sometimes be lacking because these people these Kings as you all just read did according to the things their

fathers did he did what was right in the sight of the Lord those things that he

did except this one thing and it was a thorn in their flesh

it was an obstacle in their heart it it was something that kept

them from truly truly embracing God in his ways and we’re

going to see the contrast to that here in a second so king after King came and went but the high places remained why

and I think we just described that we just explained that and then Along Comes Hezekiah

Chapter 8: Hezekiah’s reformation

hezekiah’s complete repentance let’s read about him 2 Kings 18 now it came to pass in the third year

and before we finish this scripture pay attention to

the complete contrast difference between the things that we just read and what we’re about to

read it came to pass in the third year of HOSA the son of elah king of Israel but Hezekiah the son of ahas King of

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Judah began to Reign and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done he removed the

high places and broke the sacred pillars cut down the wooden image and broke in

pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made you guys remember that right from

The Exodus when the people complained God sent

snakes to kill them and they begged for mercy for some

for Moses to do something and God told Moses to make a bronze serpent so that when they look at it they’ll be

healed why is Hezekiah destroying that bronze

serpent well simple they began to worship it as an

idol so he destroyed into pieces this bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the children of God

burned incense to it and called it neahusan he Hezekiah trusted in the Lord the god

of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor who

were before him him for he held fast to the Lord he did not depart from following him but kept his Commandments

which the Lord had commanded Moses and then look the Lord was with him and he

prospered wherever he went and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him he subdued

the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from watched Tower to fortif IED

City so here we see a striking difference between the Kings that we mentioned before and this

one who had a complete repentance and the Bible says he prospered compare that

to the previous Kings jeroboam ended up becoming Israel’s most notorious

King by which every other rebellious King was measured he was by far the

worst even Assa who did the things that were right in the eyes of the Lord but allowed

these things to remain died of a terrible disease in his feet I have no idea what that looked like

gout I’ve had gout I I guarantee you it’s much worse uh I’m sure whatever Assa had was much worse and then and

Jehoshaphat one of my one of my spiritual Heroes ends up being allied with a

wicked person named aesia and G and God cursed him

so I think when we tolerate things to to live and remain in our

heart as it pertains to our worship of God and why we do the things that we do and the syncretism

I think it opens the door for even worse things as we see here with these three

kings so the conclusion of the matter presence of high places in Israel throughout their

history underscores the Nations struggle with idolatry and syncretism combining elements of their

relationship with yehovah with Pagan worship practices despite occasional efforts by righteous

leaders to remove them the Allure of foreign gods and the influence of neighboring

cultures led to a persistent compromise of Israel’s Faith read that again and instead of thinking about

Israel’s history think about our modern day despite the occasional efforts by

righteous leaders to remove them the all of foreign gods and the influence of

neighboring cultures led to a persistent compromise of our

faith the syncretism ultimately contributed to their spiritual Decline and divine judgment highlighting the

ongoing tension between Fidelity to God’s commands and the temptation to adopt worldly Customs

Chapter 9: Modern application

so tearing down the high places so the remaining question is the big question of the day

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is what high places do you still have in

your life I put these two passages from First Corinthians in first John to

remind us that even under the New Covenant idolatry was a very serious and remains a very serious thing Brothers

flee from idolatry children keep yourself from Idols so I don’t know if we want to take

this moment to answer this question maybe you feel compelled to answer yourself how you may

have high places in your faith how you may

have um continued to worship the Greek Jesus or have sentimental emotional

attack attachments to the Greek Jesus that are that have been difficult for you to let go

of um I don’t know I’m just tossing things out there um wondering if if any of this stuff hits you and maybe it’s

not going to hit you now maybe after you leave to tomorrow later on this week something hits you and you go wow

I all all we’re trying to do in this group obviously is to call people back to the ways of the Lord

um but you are going to find yourself wrestling with a lot of things that you

you held to for a lot of years uh and that’s normal don’t run from

that um I think being uncomfortable in that regard is a good

thing because it’s going to force you to re-evaluate and to think through everything that that you believe and

compare it to scripture and you’ll find like I found

that that doesn’t stop even today a seven eight years after I kind of came to an understanding on on these

things I’m still amazed at how I’m I’m

unlearning so when you’ve been in the system the ordered system for a long long

time you don’t just snap out of it in one day or one week or one month you you have to unpack yourself

from it for weeks days months and years you have to constantly uh remind yourself of who you

serve and and and who you don’t serve uh

so I know it’s a lot but but baby steps I’ve always told people

in in in their Journeys baby steps don’t get overwhelmed by everything that you feel

like you’re learning and not learning or or have to repent of or all you know don’t that’s just another trick to get

you to fail instead just one one week at a time one day at a time one Bible study at a

time where you are are constantly comparing yourself to the things that you see God calling you to and that’s

that’s all what that’s all we’re called to do anyways biblically to seek him out and to be little

children in that process and like little children you absorb and you grow and you change

slowly a child doesn’t become an adult in a day or a week or a month child becomes an adult in

years does that make sense anybody else this reminded me a

lot of of the teaching in Matthew 7 on the two foundations um the teaching that you did

but I guess the the hard thing for me this year is is Easter because

you know because I come from a Catholic background and we have a lot of family I’m actually going to my son’s house who

is also tour observant for Passover but it hasn’t been a a good thing in my in

my household now because my husband’s still kind of leaning on Easter which makes it difficult and uh you know we

grew up with it and our families and you hear it everywhere you go happy Easter but I don’t I don’t want any part of it

this year I don’t want to even acknowledge it so I’m kind of in a tough spot that’s

a great example Sandra of what it’s like to be um trying to set yourself apart from an

ordered system our the ordered system that we live in says Easter is good Christmas is

good all these holidays are good but they all they are all obviously we

looked at that I don’t need to rehash it but they’re all part of this ordered system and it’s going to be strange to

people that you don’t want to be a part of it anymore Peter even said that you know people are going to

look at us like we’re the ones that are weird when we don’t in this ordered system and I know it’s difficult I know

Chapter 10: Group discussion and prayer

it’s difficult especially for those of you who are alone or some somewhat

alone family members um

but in my experience when you hold to it with humility and love not casting

judgment and those people still following that ordered system you win them

over and and eventually they’re going to look at you and go I need to give Sandra another thought talk to her a little bit more about this stuff that she’s into

and and learn and and I think that’s that’s how we win people

over I if I may share a little bit because I’ve been on this journey for the last three years and uh for

Christmas what I decided to do was I put the ol tree and I put the scriptures along on the side in my home because my

kids were like no Christmas what are we going to do and we were celebrating at my house and I say you know I don’t have no Christmas tree so we did it on the

dining room table we’re going to have gifts you know God gave us a lot of gifts so we did that so we had it on the

table but I had that manura and the Olive Tree on it and then a scripture

why I don’t observe Christmas and um and you know but I was

celebrating lights right uh the FES light so I’m thinking I’m going to do the same thing for uh Easter just put

the scripture that one that we just saw there you know and uh that’s what I want

to put there next to my ol tree you know and in my home right I can do

whatever so I I’m not getting your house yes so I I don’t get to anybody you know

why you whatever you know I’m not CH chastising them they going to get there but if they come to my house this is

what I celebrate and this is why you have questions and I had a few people that you know I was able to share because they asked me you

know and uh so I’m opening the door if they ask me here I I’m G to share my thoughts you know in my heart but I am

not going to you know kill everybody you doing wrong and you know so uh we all

get there on our own time so amen something that stood out to me from

your lesson and thank you this was really great um was the incomplete repentance that the king had and his

name is escaping me at the moment um I don’t have my Bible in front of me aome yeah um and I

think the the scripture where David you know he says create in me a clean heart renew a right Spirit within me like

having a heart that after hearing these things you know I imagine myself just like sitting down by a stream with God

and genuinely being willing to lay it all out you know that I I want to have a

clean heart before God show me the areas in my life that are not right and it’s

you know it can’t be a turnaround that all of it happens you know in one day because these things are so ingrained in

our culture like I mean I was thinking even just about um I was telling Eric I had a dream last night about Little

Women the movie Little Women um but I was in a play and Christmas is a huge

part of that um that book and it’s so cozy I mean there’s kittens and there’s

food and there’s ice skating and there’s snow and there’s Shaws and there’s all of these things that we associate

with goodness and you know I feel like the enemy has been really clever and bringing alongside of those emotions

that are God given in US these things that we replace

with we replace God things and and we don’t even really know how to do it I feel like our culture is so far removed

from the Faith of Our Fathers this is a great opportunity to ask God like how can I be part of a

movement or you know maybe that’s a little bit too Noble but um part of the word is Awakening I

like to use the word Awakening not a mov because God is Awakening people’s eyes and hearts all over the world apart from

any one group or or movement as we would associate it with but continue well and I I love that word

Awakening because it’s very appropriate for Eric and I and and what we’ve processed um but it’s I feel like it

starts in the heart like a true willingness to have God show us what it is that needs to change because he’s the

only one that can know like if we look at our own lives and and say well I’m going to change this and this and this and this like we’re still trying to control it God is the one that knows how

we can go from where we are to where we need to be and I think submitting to

God laying it out you know rep fully repenting um really needs to happen it’s

a heart issue it’s a true submission to whatever God wants to do and then responding to it

um in humility like humility has to be a part of this but repentance really stuck

out to me from what you said I think that that really touches on how this how

it could happen to tear down the high places yeah I I wanted to the thing there’s this this kind of the word kept

coming back to me in this laston thank you again was appropriate cretion how much this helenistic Jesus appropriated

what Yeshua was and how much seeing like I didn’t grow up in the church but I grew up every year going to Disney World

I I didn’t see you coming up with those three World words when we started this lesson but it hit me pretty profoundly

um because we kind of have this curated world where things have been appropriated and and the Allure that word Allure to things that are nostal

and and like that’s the conflict and the tension that we’re dealing with every day around family around holidays around

even Sabbath I mean we still like have kind of a a life that we’re surrounded by people who look at us as if we have

three eyes um but there there’s something in all this that really hit home and made Lor and I

very uncomfortable and a bit disturbed and that’s a good place to be well amen

amen yes Joe you’re you’re there you go well when you were talking about wake up it made me think about

Ephesians uh five and um just starting in

verse 13 it says but everything exposed By the Light becomes visible for it is light that makes everything visible it

is why it is said wake up Oh Sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you be very careful then how you live

not as unwise but as wise making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil and I just you know that

just brings it home for me how important that is I almost shared that script that very scripture in this

lesson yep yeah and the funny thing about that Joe is how many times have you and I read that how many times have

any of us read verses like that and didn’t have the historical context of why Paul was saying some of

the things that he said why he so often quoted from the Old Testament and we didn’t even know it we just thought you

know Paul was some cool guy and and coming up with all these cool sayings and the truth of the matter was is he was he was carrying over everything that he

learned as be to in being a Pharisee of Pharisees and being you know a Jew of Jews he was a scholar of the Old

Testament and he was bringing all of that knowledge into the letters that he wrote to the churches and we missed it

we missed it well okay awesome well little smaller

group today but that’s okay all right well guys let’s close with word of prayer and we’ll have a

fantastic Shabbat Holy Father Jehovah thank you for hearing our

prayers thank you for being the loving perfect example of a father that you are in our

lives thank you for the ways that you nudge us point us and sometimes shove us

into an understanding of something in your word that we never saw before thank you Father for the mystery

that your holy words are to us and how they are unsearchable and un

we we cannot ever fully come to a complete knowledge of of your word in the course

of our lifetime thank you that you’ve made it in such a way that every time we open it up it’s new and it’s fresh and

it’s alive thank you that we never stop learning than thank you Father for even

showing us new things in Verses that we’ve read a thousand times thank you for the ways that you open our minds and

our hearts to seeing new and exciting things in in your word thank you for

your love most of all because all the things that I just thanked you for come from your love of your children your

people and we we just pray father that but that continues in in every day of our life that when we open up your Bible

to to read it that we’re not just skimming that we’re searching for you we’re searching for your values we’re

searching for your character we’re searching for your heart in every little verse in every little Hebrew word in

Every Little Greek word we want to know you and so we do bring before you father the needs of those in our extended

families that are dealing with sickness right now be it my sister or my nephew or Joanne’s daughter Becky who’s

dealing with her bodily issues father we know these things mean nothing to you that these diseases and these bodily

issues you you could fix with a thought but we just pray that you help

them and be with them and use these things in their lives as a tool for them to turn their gaze to

you as a tool to get them to consider talking to you again or for the first

time we pray that for those who are not here for all who couldn’t join this morning that you watch over them on this

Shabbat keep them safe if they’re traveling keep them healthy um and for those that we don’t know where they’re at I pray that

everything’s okay uh with them and just ask that you watch over them thank you for our wives our husbands our children

and the lives that you’ve given us we pray for a great Shabbat we pray these things in the name of your son Yeshua

amen amen okay guys have a great

day shalom shalom shabbat shalom sh shalom