What's Happening at Ember this Sunday

Last Sunday night we launched Ember Church, and 70 adults joined us for worship, along with 14 kids. It was truly a special time of hearing from God and responding to him in worship. Our launch team has been so encouraged by what God did that first weekend, and we're looking forward to what he's going to do this weekend, and on into the future.

This Sunday night we're going to be talking about the second chapter of Jeremiah, where God rails against the idolatry of his people. I've become convinced that idolatry is the core problem of humanity, and the reason that we commit the sins and evil that we do. Idolatry isn't limited to the physical act of bowing down to idols, but rather it includes the sinful desiring of that which is not God--placing God-substitutes on the throne of our hearts. And as we'll talk about Sunday night, the idolatrous desires of humanity have not changed one bit in the past 4,000 years.

You and I are idolaters. We deeply desire things that are not God. We kick Jesus off the throne of our hearts and invite God-substitutes, false gods, to take his place. As David Powlison has said, "The core insanity of the human heart is that we violate the first great commandment. We will love anything, except God, unless our madness is checked by grace.”

I believe that what is ultimately holding you back from living for God is not weakness, but idolatry. What keeps you stuck in sinful patterns of behavior is not some kind of mental or emotional weakness, but the idolatrous desires of your heart.

The Jeremiah series, which we've called Run with Horses, is going to be all about idolatry. Running with horses means living unencumbered by the weight of idols. If you want to live for God well, and be the man or woman he is re-creating you to be, then you must give up your idols. This Sunday night at Ember we're going to talk about how to do that. Come join us, and begin the process of ridding yourself of those heavy and worthless idols that are keeping you from living for God. Sunday. 5pm. 401 E. Schrock Rd.