When have you stopped a conversation, looked people in the eye, and rebuked them, saying, “This is an abomination to God and we shouldn’t be partaking of this”?  If you’ve not done that, if you’ve not owned up to it, if you haven’t encountered it, the reason is that you don’t fear God.  I point that out because it’s something that virtually everybody in here deals with.  It doesn’t have to stay here; amen?  It doesn’t have to stay in your life.  Sin does not have dominion over you any longer, if you obey the will of God and the Word of God.  So, these mandates that keep coming to us in the Scriptures.

Deuteronomy 13, take a look, and we begin to see that this is the theme of Deuteronomy.  It might be good for a number of us just go back and do again a survey of Deuteronomy, to start looking at all of these commandments that He’s given us.  He said, “If you obey them, I’m going to bless you, and if you don’t, you’re going to be cursed.”  We saw that in Malachi. 

Many of us struggle with different financial things, many times.  We’re tithing out of obedience or obligation, but not out of love and not out of respect.  He says, “Where is My honor?  Where is My respect?  Where is My fear?  If you’re giving to Me out of legalism, you don’t fear Me.  If you feared Me, you would be a cheerful giver, if you truly believed that I’m worthy of the praise and the worship and the keeping of My commandments.”  Each and every one of us needs this heart change continually, as we’re growing in the Lord.  The fear of the Lord is more of You and less of me; amen?  How’s it going? 

Chapter 13 tells us here in Deuteronomy, verse 4, “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.”  Powerful.  Then, he goes on and gets into that thirteenth chapter that so many people live as though it was written for those thousands of years ago, but doesn’t apply to us today.  We’re going to get into how we deal with the different idols that are in our lives.  Can any of us identify an idol in our lives?  If so, why is it there?  Why does it remain?  It's because there is no genuine fear of the Lord.