 Which Jesus are you serving? Because there are many Jesuses in the world today. I don't mean that there are many true Jesuses. There's only one true Jesus. But many different Jesuses are being preached. And many Christians fall into this trap of serving a false version of Jesus. They serve the political Jesus, the religious Jesus, the sin permitting Jesus. I wanna talk to you about idolatry. And as I said, this is a trap many believers fall into, unknown, and I pray that as you hear this message, you would be given the foundation for proper discernment so that you're not swept up by every doctrine, every idea, every version of Jesus that pops up on the internet or pops up on the television or on the radio or through media. I want you to be armed with discernment. I want you to be given eyes to see and ears to hear that you might not fall into deception. I pray that you would be free from deception, that you would be protected from the various different deceptive communications that come across the airwaves and the internet. And I pray that you never fall for this trap of idolatry. You've heard it said that idolatry is putting anything before God. And that's partially true. Yes, it can be true that if you prioritize money over God, that money becomes the idol. It can be true that if you prioritize family above God, that family becomes the idol. Just fill in the blank. So there is truth to that, but that's not the only aspect of idolatry about which we should be aware. How would you measure that anyway? I want you to think of that. When somebody tells you that idolatry is putting anything before God, you have to ask, what do they mean by that? What do you mean putting anything before God? And to quantify that, many times they will say, well, if you spend more time doing this rather than praying or reading the Bible, and that's idolatry, but that's difficult to measure. And if you define idolatry as that alone, you might possibly fall into the trap of legalism. Now, again, there is truth to that. So I don't wanna be completely dismissive with that point. But to say that idolatry is only to prioritize things over the Lord would force you to try to measure that in ways that are difficult to measure and can lead to legalism. Like, for example, if you work eight hours a day, but you only pray one hour a day, does that mean work is now an idol? If you spend two hours with your wife and children, but you only pray for one hour a day, does that mean your family is now an idol? If you sleep for six hours a night, but you only pray for one hour a day, does that mean that sleep is now an idol? If you eat three times a day, but you only read and pray one time a day, Does that mean that food has now become an idol because you eat more often than you read the Bible and pray? Well, this is why I say that that can't be the only measure by which we judge whether or not we are committing idolatry. And by the way, let me throw this in. Many of you are being manipulated by religious people who are in leadership positions that are trying to control you by telling you that if you don't follow after their schedule, if you don't follow after their extracurricular church activities, that if you don't meet every standard that they put out for you, and I'm not talking about sin, I'm talking about you have to come to this function and this meeting and this event and this service. Look, we should be in church every time we can, but some leaders use that in a manipulative way and they'll tell you that if you don't follow their program exactly, that whatever is keeping you from doing that is an idol. And I pray that something was just exposed right now because I might be talking to you. Maybe you're under a controlling form of leadership that will tell you that if you're not following the program exactly, that whatever it is that's preventing that is an idol. They may tell you, you have to spend less time with your family. They may tell you, well, you're gonna have to change jobs. They may tell you, you're gonna have to change schools until you can live your life in a way that matches our program exactly. That's manipulation. And that's not exactly what idolatry is. They'll let me be clear. If you put something before God in your heart, if you prioritize it and you love it more than God, then that is in fact an idol. But again, to try to measure that, you have to be careful. Now, idolatry really, if you wanna get down to the root of it, is a false view of God. Here's how it will affect the time you spend with him. If you're not wowed by the reality of who God truly is, and of course, you're not going to prioritize him. So if we can get our view of God right, we don't have to use legalistic measures, but we will prioritize God. If you can get your view of God correct, then everything else in your life begins to line up. Idolatry is a misrepresentation of who God is. Show me the real Jesus. I wanna follow the true Lord. I wanna follow after the one of the Bible, this Jesus, as the scripture declares. I don't wanna follow after a Jesus that I've created. I don't wanna follow after a Jesus that society has created. Do you agree with me on that? That you wanna follow the true Jesus and not some warped version of who he is, some watered down version of who Jesus is. Idolatry is a misrepresentation of God. Psalm 115, beginning at verse number four, the Psalmist writes this, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. People construct for themselves objects of worship. They construct for themselves a God of convenience who permits their plans no matter what they may be and never contradicts any one of their goals. They serve a political Jesus, one that shares their every view on every policy. They have their religious Jesus, one who limits the Holy Spirit's power because of their own personal discomfort. They then say that the true Jesus who moves in power couldn't possibly be the true God. There's the sin permitting Jesus. This is the one who winks at sin and allows you to do whatever it is that you desire. Well, still forgiving you, even if you don't repent, well still accepting your behavior even if it doesn't change. Well, doing nothing against wrongdoing. He doesn't judge wickedness. He doesn't judge sin. He doesn't judge unrighteousness. That is a false Jesus. And some people create that version of Jesus for themselves because it sits well with them because then they can still have their sin while still bowing to someone who they believe is the true Lord. Powerless Jesus, many believers sadly are very uncomfortable with the power of the Holy Spirit. And because of their own personal discomfort, they will label moves of the Holy Spirit as disorderly when really it doesn't contradict God's order. It contradicts their order. It doesn't contradict God's preferences. It contradicts their preferences. They attack moves of the Holy Spirit and they attack people who operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. And they build for themselves a Jesus who applauds them for intellectualism, a Jesus who applauds them for cerebral knowledge, a Jesus who applauds them for their criticisms of others. And they bow to that Jesus. And that's an angry Jesus they serve. So they become angry. They become bitter. They build their whole lives on tearing others down. They don't wanna bring correction. What they actually want is cancellation because cancellation validates their own view and it validates them in the eyes of others. Others serve a Jesus who never calls for trials, who never allows us to go through anything that will upset us. And you know you're serving that Jesus because when something bad begins to happen, you say to yourself, where's God? Why did you allow it? In an almost entitled tone, you come at God saying, why did you allow this? Why did you allow this when I prayed that it not happen? Why did you allow this when I didn't desire it to be so? We say things like, well I've gone years and God still hasn't done this for me or still hasn't done that for me and therefore I won't serve him. That is a God of convenience. And you've crafted this God for yourself so therefore you've created this expectation that the true God will not meet because he's not bound by the limitations of your preferences. He's not bound by what you think is ideal. He's not bound by your opinion of him. And so we become angry, we become bitter because the Jesus we thought we served allows something to happen that we thought should not happen. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. The sun shines on the just and the unjust alike. Good things happen to who we would call bad people and bad things happen to who we would label as good people. But all of this as we begin to see it through the lens of entitlement can upset us should we face a trial. Now here's a key thought. Verse number eight, look at this right now. Psalm 115, if this is speaking to you let me know in the comment section. Psalm 115 verse eight, they that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. In other words, you become like that which you worship. Write that in the comment section. You become like what you worship. Well, it's true. If you serve the sin permitting Jesus, you will permit sin. If you serve the powerless Jesus, you will grow to despise moves of the Holy Spirit and criticize those who walk in true power. If you follow after the political Jesus, then you will conflate your political preferences for the gospel, you'll mix those two. If you follow after the conspiracy theory Jesus, then every conspiracy theory that becomes a trend will become a part of your theology. And everyone who doesn't mention that aspect of the trend, you will label as uninformed. Think about the fact, if you're watching this live stream, maybe you're watching this 10 years from now, I don't know. I don't know when you'll see this. But as I sit here live, we just had an eclipse and I think the next eclipse, Steve, if I'm not mistaken, you said 2044 or 2045, 45. One of those years is the next eclipse. So it's a long way off, a relatively long way off. And I was looking online at all of these different people scrambling to capitalize on the trend that was the eclipse because surrounding this eclipse was this idea that it was somehow tied to end time events. And I just kind of sighed because I knew, and I say this almost every time a trend starts taking off, I say, here come the YouTube videos. Here they come because the church now, the church these days reacts to everything. And the problem is you can't change anything if all you ever do is react to it. How can you change culture if all you ever do is react to it? And in many cases, that's what the world wants you to do is react to it. And so we were hearing all of these prophecies about major cataclysmic events, society-ending events, economy-crashing events that would occur, that would coincide right at the time or shortly thereafter with the eclipse. And I said, because somebody asked me this on a live stream that I was taking questions and answers, I was doing questions and answers, excuse me. And somebody asked me, well, what do you think of this eclipse? I said, here's what's gonna happen. Nothing major is going to happen. And then there's going to be backpedaling and what I call the moving of the goalpost. What's gonna happen is when nothing major happens, they're gonna say one of a few things. They're gonna say, well, nothing happened in the natural, but in the spiritual realm, something shifted that we didn't see. Or they'll say, well, this news article over here, some localized event, that somehow corroborates what we've been saying all along about the eclipse. But I said, nothing's going to happen. Excuses will be made. And then what's going to happen is another major event's going to come. And people are gonna tie that to their eschatology. They're gonna tie that to their doctrine. They're gonna tie that to the idol they've crafted about Jesus. And they're gonna run with it. And then they're gonna criticize ministers who don't talk about it. They're gonna say things like, but you have to prepare the people. I'm thinking prepare them for what? If you think society is ending, what do you want me to say? Why would the message change? The message is the same. The gospel is the truth. Jesus is the way. None of the basics of the faith change just because of cataclysmic events. And if you wanna prepare people, build a solid foundation upon the word. But here's the thing. Many Christians have tied conspiracy theories to their theology. And it's a fear-based theology. So they serve the conspiracy Jesus. Just as they did when Jesus was incarnate and he came to earth, they thought he was going to overthrow Rome. They thought he was gonna actually do something to establish an earthly kingdom. And he completely turned it on them and did something that was outside of the bounds of anything they had imagined, even though it was concealed in the scripture, the prophetic words. Well, today people want the same. They're looking for Jesus to satisfy the needs that come about as a result of their fears. It's the conspiracy theory, Jesus. They tie every conspiracy theory and it becomes one big web of thought pattern. And they can't break it. And there's no simplicity. There's no joy. There's no peace. It's just this tension that they live under. Why? They become tense. They become angry. They become agitated because the conspiracy theory, Jesus, they serve is that way. Others think of God as a legalistic God who demands that you perform the work required of you for your salvation. Well, if you think God is an angry, petty, vindictive God, then you yourself will become bitter. You yourself will become angry and frustrated and judgmental and self-righteous. What you think about God, please hear this. You hear anything I say on this stream. What you think about God affects the way you see everything, including yourself. If you think Jesus is a sin permitting God, you will think you're right with God when you're living in sin. If you think Jesus is a legalistic Jesus, you will walk in self-righteousness. If you think he is an angry Jesus, you will walk in anger. If you think he's a political conspiracy theory, Jesus, you're gonna be bound in the fear and paranoia that come about as a result of those mindsets. If you think Jesus is a powerless Jesus, you're gonna walk in no power and you're going to criticize those who walk in power. Choose this day whom you will serve. We construct for ourselves these paradigms, these thought patterns, these ideas about the Messiah and they are not true. Many Christians are falling for this trap. When we read in Daniel chapter three, we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who would not bow to King Nebuchadnezzar's statue. Everyone else did, but they did not. And when they were confronted on this by the king who was very angry because his ego had been shattered, his pride had been insulted by the fact that he refused to bow to an earthly king. When he confronted them, he threatens them with fire, a throw you into the furnace. And they gave a response that I think is just, I mean, let me show you here. It's Daniel three. Let me show you this in verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty. But I love this right here. But even if he doesn't, we wanna make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up. I love that. And of course, we know the story. There's a fourth man who appears in the fire. Of course, we know who that was rescuing them. They were not burned. They were not harmed. They actually had this whole situation turned around for their benefit and for the glory of God. But they refused to bow. Doesn't matter what you say, I'm not bowing. Now here's the thing. And I pray, just ask the Holy Spirit right now to give you ears to hear. Ask him, say give me ears to hear. I want you to catch what I'm about to say. Very often, we adopt false perceptions of who Jesus is based upon what our circumstances and experiences and emotions tell us. Let me give you an example. You know that God is the God who delivers. But there's a situation in which you are still bound. And you say, I know God is able to deliver me. But even if he doesn't do it in my timing, and of course, we know he wants deliverance for you. But even if he doesn't do it in your timing, in a way that satisfies you immediately, even if he doesn't do it. I'm not talking about demonic power. I'm talking about deliverance from things like mental strongholds or a depression or an anxiety. Of course, I believe God can break those instantly, but sometimes he doesn't do a process. And so you'll say, even if he doesn't deliver me on my timing in the way I want to be delivered, I still will not bow to a version of God who does not deliver. You know that God is a healer, but even if the healing doesn't manifest right when you want it to manifest or even on this side of eternity, you can say, even if he doesn't heal me, I will not bow to a God who does not heal. In other words, you're saying, I still serve the true God who heals. Of course, he may heal you in eternity, but he still healed you. And in your mind, you have to choose to not accept, not to embrace certain versions of God that fit what you're feeling. Of course, we can trust God even when he doesn't heal. Of course, we can trust God even when he doesn't deliver. I'm not saying we don't bow to the true God. I'm saying we don't bow to a false version of him now that fits that situation. So don't accept a version of God that is powerless. Don't accept a version of God that is sin permitting. Don't accept a version of God that is tied to the conspiracy theory mindset. Don't accept the political Jesus. Don't accept the cultural Jesus. Look for the one true Jesus found in scripture. And even when my emotions, even when my circumstances want to cause me to believe in a version of God that is not true, you say, I will not bow to that false version of who he is. I believe God saves. I believe God heals. I believe God delivers. And I will not bow to any other version. I know the God of the Bible. Even if he doesn't do it in his timing, God is sovereign. He doesn't have to do anything he doesn't desire to do. He doesn't have to do anything that's outside of his will. And we just have to learn to trust him. It doesn't change the fact that he's good. It doesn't change the fact that he's loving. It doesn't change the fact that we are accepted. We will not bow. We will not bow to what emotions say, what circumstances say, what societies say, what the flesh says, or what religious people say. We serve the one true God, the Jesus of the Bible. Father, help us do it and help us to discern when we are way off. Help us to discern even when we're a little off. Thank you for it, Jesus. Protect us. Give us that discernment by your Holy Spirit we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Type it in the comment section. Type, amen. Don't forget to leave a like if you were blessed by this teaching. That like will help it to spread even further. And I want to stay connected with you. Make sure you subscribe to my channel so you can continue to receive my teachings on the Holy Spirit prayer and spiritual warfare. Now, I don't want you to turn this stream off yet. If you're watching the replay, I don't want you to click out of the video just yet. I want to present something to you. This ministry is growing. Our media reach is growing rapidly. Our student enrollment for our Holy Spirit school is growing rapidly. And our events are growing rapidly. In fact, at the time that I am live recording this, we are preparing for our first ever arena event. We have to do that because the crowds that have been coming have overflowed the venues in which we've been hosting our services. And we don't want to turn people away from these events. And so as the ministry grows, it takes in more resources that are needed to be able to host these things, the media, the school and the events. And as we are laser focused on this goal to win souls, to build believers, I want you to join with us. Be a part of something that's bigger than any of us. This is a true movement of the Holy Spirit. Nothing that man can conjure. I want you to be a part of this movement. I want you to get involved. Don't sit on the sidelines. Don't say somebody else some other time. Listen, if even just half of you watching this now decided to support this ministry and start supporting this ministry, we would have the resources to, I could even tell you, we could do events all over the world. We could do a dozen a year if we had the resources. But all it takes is you stepping out of faith. Now you may say, what difference can I make? I'm telling you, you can make a difference. You can make a difference because you are joining in with thousands of believers from around the world who believe in this ministry. And so if you've been blessed by this ministry, maybe you've been watching for the past few months, it's time to get involved now. It's time to do your part. Get involved by becoming a monthly supporter. Go to davidhernanisministries.com slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter. And you can go to slash donate, davidhernanisministries.com slash donate to give a single gift. Whatever you do, I want you to be led by the Holy Spirit. I'm asking many of you to become partners today. Right now, go and click that link, sign up for a monthly gift of any amount. Those monthly partnerships are really what help us to plan for the future. Help us to plan more events, help us to release more content, help us to release more courses on the Holy Spirit School. God wants to use you to do this. Be a part of it. I thank you for it. I love you, I pray for you, and I appreciate you. Until next time, remember nothing is impossible with God.