Hillview Family and Friends!
Ushers and greeters. We can create an alternate schedule. If anyone is interested, please see LaTanya Dunn.
Children’s Ministry will be with the Ministry leader during worship time starting in the fall. Pray with us in our transition. Sis Debbie.
Youth ministry will meet in the fellowship hall at 9:30 am. Youth Ministry will be meeting every 1st Sunday of the month at 9:30 am.
Pastor Dexter will be live streaming on our new Hillview YouTube Channel. Please subscribe and download to access this new adventure. We are no longer live on Facebook. Instead YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/@HillviewChurchofGod-u3m
Happy Birthday and Wedding Anniversary to all family and friends celebrating in the month of October.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. After Service we will have Pastor’s favorite treats. Candy corn and Peanuts.
Funds Summary as of September 2025 contribution: $10,679.31. Monthly Budget that needs to be met: $15,417.00.
Oct 7th– Funeral Services for Bro. Howard Saunders. New Seasons Christian Church. 1907 N. 3rd Street. Kansas City, KS 66101. Visitation 9-10 am.. Service: 10-11:30 am. Keep Bro. Cedric Sauders and his family in prayer.
Oct 8th– Bible Study at 6 pm.
Oct 11th–3-6pm Hayride and Chili cook-off at Pastor Dexter and Sis Karen White’s home 4525 Sortor Dr. Kansas City, KS 66103. We are needing participants to cook chili, bring other food items and judges. Email LaTanya Dunn if you are participating. See attached flyer
Oct 17th– Pastor Dexter and Sis Karen White 26th Pastoral Anniversary Here at Hillview.
Oct 18th– Board Management Meeting at 9am.
Offering Envelopes are located on the wall outside of the sound booth.
Church of God News
During my 42 years in ministry, I don’t believe I’ve ever delivered a sermon on idolatry. In praying for guidance for this sermon, wanting God’s input, the subject of idolatry and idol worship kept coming to mind as the topic that needed to be addressed today.
I don’t know if anybody here would acknowledge having a shrine in their home where they put the idols they worship. After today’s message you might receive a revelation that you do have a shrine but didn’t realize it because the objects of your worship aren’t what you normally consider an idol.
A shrine in a person’s home is a sacred place “dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, or a similar figure of respect, wherein they are venerated (to regard with great respect) or worshipped.
The biblical definition of idolatry is “worshipping or placing trust, value, or allegiance in anything other than the one true God. This goes beyond bowing to statues and includes giving your heart to other “God-substitutes” such as greed, possessions, pride, or any created thing that displaces God as the supreme object of your love and devotion.”1
We have several examples of what happened to the Israelites because of their idol worship. We also have examples of Israelites that refused to worship idols.
Exodus 32:1-4
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Because of Israel’s worship of idols, there were consequences.
Exodus 32:26-29 (Moses talking)
26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
27 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'”
28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.
29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den because he would not pray to Darius, king of the Medes and Persians but continued to pray to God instead.
Daniel 6:16, 17
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.
God shut the mouth of the lions and Daniel was not hurt.
Daniel 6:19-22
19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.
20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
21 Daniel answered, “O king, live forever!
22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.”
When you are guilty of idol worship there are consequences for your actions. You might be thinking, I don’t have any carved or cast images I worship in the place God. Remember the biblical definition of an idol said, “This goes beyond bowing to statues and includes giving your heart to other “God-substitutes” such as greed, possessions, pride, or any created thing that displaces God as the supreme object of your love and devotion.”
I realize we are in the 21st century and things are different but the same. I Googled Modern Day Idols That Take the Place of God and got a list of six common idols.
- Money and materialism – the pursuit of wealth, possessions, and financial security can easily become an all-consuming goal. When people prioritize earning, saving, or spending money on themselves above all else, materialism becomes an idol because you are worshipping what you have, not God.
- Success and Achievement – we are a society that values accomplishment, career advancement, and recognition. This quest for success can overshadow spiritual pursuits. When personal achievement becomes the measure of your self-worth it has taken the place of God, it has become an idol.
- Technology and Entertainment – smart phones, social media, video games, and streaming services can dominate attention and time. The constant need for stimulation and connection through technology can fill your day with activity crowding out meaningful relationships with God and others.
- Relationships and Approval – The desire for acceptance, popularity, or validation from others can become debilitating when God is left out of the equation. Trying to fit in with the crowd and the church at the same time leads to confusion. Mt 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
- Power and Control – A strong desire for influence, authority, or control over circumstances and people can replace humility and trust in God. This idea of power and control opposes what Jesus stood for. Jesus was a servant leader, and He is our example. Power and control are rooted in self-interest and dominance, while servanthood or service is based on empathy, humility, and prioritizing the well-being of others.
- Physical Appearance and Health – in America we spend more than $150 billion a year on our physical appearance. Caring for our health is important, it becomes an idol when it is pursued obsessively or for the sake of vanity.
God will reveal to you if you are worshipping an idol. We are all different, so if there is an idol in our lives, depending on the level of our spiritual maturity, we are dealing with different idols.
A litmus test is defined as a test for acidity or alkalinity using litmus. They are opposites of each other. We also use the term litmus test when a person must make a decision, pro or con to a suggestion. When it is God making the suggestion or directive, if He is Lord of your life, you will obey Him. Whenever you have a choice and you choose to disobey God, He is not Lord of your life you have an idol.
Genesis 22:1-13 (An episode in the life of Abraham and his son Isaac)
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Abraham didn’t know how God was going to do it, but he believed what he said, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,
7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
What is God telling you to get rid of or replace, or change? I ask God a lot if anything I have has become an idol. I want him to show me so I can get my priorities straight. Most of you know I graduated from KU, and I am a fan. I remember the day Peggy, my sister came into my church office and said, “I see more KU in here than Jesus.” Without hesitation, I removed everything associated with KU except a tissue box cover. Another thing I stand by is, I will never skip church to attend or watch a KU event or any event. Allow me to share another example. My son, my namesake was not obeying the rules he needed to follow to stay in our home, rent free I will add. The Lord said to me, he will never embrace Me, God, if you allow him to disrespect you in your home. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was to tell my son he had to move out, and I gave him a move out date. I thought, Lord, how can I protect him if I put him out? He replied, you can’t but I can.
God must be first in our lives followed by our family, then the ministry He has given us. When that order is out of line, we become susceptible to idol worship. Now you know.
Study Questions
- Is there an idol in your life that needs to be dealt with?
- Did anyone come to the realization after the sermon that they had a shrine in their home and God was not the God being worshipped?
- Did the biblical definition of idolatry enlighten you, discourage you, or surprise you?
- Who do you think will become your greatest detractor because of your stand for righteousness?
- Pastor listed six modern day idols we can become entrapped by. Which one could become a challenge for you?
- What do you think would have happened if Abraham had refused to sacrifice Isaac?
- Do you believe God already knew what Abraham would do based on the challenge before him.
- You might face a difficult challenge as well. Knowing that God already knows how you will respond, do you think that determines the tests God gives us?
- Is God first in your life? The decisions you make from this day forward will tell the story.
1 Google’s English dictionary, provided by Oxford Languages.
Topic: Are You Guilty of Idol Worship?
Text: Romans 1:20-25
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.
Support Hillview’s Greeting Card Ministry – We have anniversary, birthday, and get-well cards on the table by the front entrance for you to send to others to let them know you are thinking of them. A donation of $1.00 will help cover the cost of cards and postage.
Continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins and their caregivers. Prayer is needed for our entire congregation as we are all dealing with spoken and unspoken needs and requests.
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