The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Idolatry (EP 90)

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

In this episode, Bryce talks about idolatry, the dangers of idols, and how to identify idols in your life.GET YOUR LIVE PODCAST SHOW TICKETS HERE👉 https://www.ticketmaster.com/search?q=bryce+crawfordMERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.comsubscribe for more!Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly!Visit 👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.org (all donations are tax deductible) follow me on other platforms!Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcastPersonal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordMerch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesusTiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford#christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism #love

I have a huge announcement before you guys continue to watch this episode of the podcast. Guys, May 18th, we are doing our second live podcast show in my home state, Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to be at the Cobb Energy Center, May 18th for worship and a powerful word. Guys, I am so excited to be back in the same city that God took me from death to life. If you guys want to come out to the hometown live podcast show, May 18th, go to Ticketmaster and search up Bryce Crawford and get your tickets today. Guys, I'm looking forward to seeing you guys on May 18th. Go to Ticketmaster, search Bryce Crawford,

get your tickets to the live podcast show May 18th. Love you guys. Now enjoy the episode. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And today, by the title of this episode, we know exactly why you clicked on it.

We're talking about idolatry. What does it mean to have idols in our life? How do we know if we have idols in our life? And what do we do about the idols in our life? we're going to be diving into that, diving into the scripture, what a scripture says, and then I'm really going to highlight. We're going to be kind of like quote-minding a few different scriptures about idolatry that are just kind of like basic statements about idolatry.

But I really want to hone in on this one story in the Old Testament that I really believe that we as believers can fall into a trap or just we as human beings, can fall into a trap with an idolatry. But we need to first identify what does it mean to have an idol in your life? What is an idol? An idol is when something matters more than what matters most. The thing that takes your full captivity, your full control, and the thing that sits on the throne of your heart.

Now here's the interesting part, okay? Holy Spirit does not split rent. God does not split rent. What I mean by that is some of us say, oh, well, I want 50% of God, and then I want 50% of this thing in my life because I can't choose it. And, you know, the Bible actually tells us

that a house divided on itself cannot stand. meaning when we sit on the fence, let's say we give God, say, God, here's 99% of me, but there's one percent of me that is devoted to this idol, we're still unknown by God. Because there's one percent we're holding back and giving this thing full attention to. So an idol is when something matters more than what matters most. Now, before we go into idolatism with the verses say, what matters most? Jesus Christ. Now, why is Jesus Christ greater than money, fame, status, sex, women, all of these things.

or even false gods, why is Jesus greater than that? Well, out of all religions, Jesus Christ is the only God that meets humankind where they're at because he recognizes that they're broken. Jesus Christ is the only God out of any labeled religion that doesn't say, get yourself together before you come to me. He's the only God out of all religions that comes down, meets humanity where they're at, shows them how to live it, and then displays the ultimate act of love and kindness by laying his life down for his wicked, broken creation so that the price can be paid.

slate is wiped clean and we're found free in Christ now the first verse I want to jump to about idolatry here is going to be in first John five verse 21 okay first John five verse 21 says little children keep yourself from idols this is how John the disciple ends his letter of first john now I know it's a really big statement but I want to bump up a few verses to first john 510 because I I believe 1 John 510 really sets up verse 21. He says, whoever believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe in God has made himself a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has born concerning his son.

And then verses later, he says, Little children, keep yourself from idols. Sometimes we fall to idols and we submit ourselves to things other than Christ because we don't fully understand the freedom that we have in him. Maybe that sin you keep going back to feels familiar. You know what's going to let you down, but it just keeps, it's familiar. You recognize it, you understand, and it's like, you know, I know this thing is hurting me, but I'm going to keep going back and back and back to it

because it's the only thing I know of. And that was me for a lot of my life. I was the back half of 1st John 510. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar. when we don't put our trust fully in God, then we're saying, man, God, I don't really believe who you are, who you say you are.

Because I don't believe in the testimony that God has done through Jesus Christ. And that's what sin is. Idolatry and sin is substituting ourselves in the place of God. Idolatry is not only allowing something to matter more than what matters most, but idolatry is substituting yourself in the place of God

saying, God, your ways aren't higher than my ways. When Isaiah clearly says, God, your ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. So, God, I'm going to trust you. And that's why the Psalmist David praise Psalm 139. Search my heart, God, and know me. Because even David says, you know, I think I know myself, good God.

You know myself way better than I know myself. So, God, I need you. Search my heart, God, and reveal in me the areas of my life that are keeping me wicked. So why would people turn to idols? It's because they don't fully believe the truth of Jesus Christ. they don't fully believe that Jesus really is who he says he is. Now I want to flip to Colossians 3. When someone surrenders themselves to Christ, we are born again.

Our old self has died, our new self has been given. Now, I love what this letter is, and to the Church of, I always pronounce it wrong, Coloscia, Colise, I always pronounce it wrong. But chapter 3, we're going to hone in on verse 5, but we're going to read the first few verses before in. Colossus 3 verse 1, if then you have been raised with Christ,

seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. So right here in chapter 3, the first two verses, he's kind of referencing back to Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus is like, don't store treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. because when you believe fully that Christ is who he says he is and you're going to think like Christ, you're going to seek the things of Christ, you're going to seek first the kingdom of God, and all things will follow, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, and you also will appear with Him in glory, put to death, therefore, what is earthly to you, sexual immorality, impurity,

passion, evil desires, and covetedness, which is idolatry. This is very important. What does the writer of Colossians say idolatry is? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and coveness. All falls under the category of idolatry. Because when you prioritize sexual immorality, money, fame, status, passions, evil desires, these things take the place of God. You know what idols are in our lives?

idols are things that we think are better than our self-worth. So if we idolize women or men, we say, oh, that person's better than me, I can never get them. And we just chase it, chase it, chase it, chase it, chase it. Or money. Oh, money is way better than me. It's way more valuable than me.

So I got to seek it, seek it, seek it. And the more money I get, well, if you're not satisfied with the amount of money you have right now, then if you doubled your bank account, you sure as heck would not be satisfied with the money in your bank account. So you just keep chasing, chase it. Idols in our life are things that we think are more value. than ourselves.

And Colossian says, look, if you have been born again, if your eyes are set on Christ, then seek the things that he loves, seek his kingdom, and put away the things that take you away from his kingdom. Idols take us away from a necessity of God. And that's why sometimes suffering is good. Because these idols keep our gaze off of him, but when our gaze is on Christ, man, we just fall in love with who he is and his character. And it's crazy because these fleeting things that die and that parasit don't satisfy us, but who God's character in essence, his, sustains us when

our eyes are on him. You know what blows my mind about Egypt is when royalty in Egypt would pass away their sarcophaguses, which are basically coffins. Boy, they'd pimp these things out, man. They put gold all on them, put some jewels on them. And then inside the coffins, they'd, you know, they'd wrap the body in mummy cloth and burial cloth, and then they'd put some jewelry in there. you know what's crazy is all these bodies are still rotten today but this gold where did it go and went nowhere these idols man these idols last verse i want to flip to is uh in psalm chapter 16 verse four before we close out with uh the story from the old testament psalm 16 verse four the sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply the sorrows of those

who chase after other gods shall multiply. Man, that breaks my heart. King David says, you'll never find what you're looking for. The more idols you have in your life, the greater your sadness will increase. And to be honest, man, if you're someone who's struggling with depression, maybe you're partially struggling with depression because you've got some things sitting on the throne of your heart

that shouldn't be sitting there. Like I said earlier, you know, idolatry is when we think that other things are people are more valuable than ourselves. And so if you're chasing that significant other right now and they're not giving you the type of day, time of day, because you think that they're more valuable than you are than, whoa, whoa, whoa, you need to love your neighbor as yourself before you can, you know, love other people the way Christ loves other people or love other things or enjoy things the way that Christ enjoyed and love things, you have to first see yourself the way God sees you. you know why like idolizing significant others is so difficult in today's society the number one

what am i trying to say that the number one idol i believe in america today is dating or romantic relationships and the reason that idolatry and romantic relationships is so big right now in today's society is because it's a form of love and today's society says oh well you know if you make me feel excited, if you give me the butterflies, then I'll decide to show up for you in the highs and lows. And then if you give me the butterflies and I decide to show up for you, then I'll choose to be faithful to you or not. Whereas Jesus Christ says, no, no, no, no, no, you choose to love me. And because you choose to love me, you show up despite the conditions. And when you show up despite the conditions, it stirs your affections for me, the number one

idol in America today is romantic relationships. Because it's a form of love. It is deception sometimes, to a point. Now, I'm not saying romantic relations. are bad, that's not what I'm getting at, but what I'm getting at is sometimes we trick ourselves into saying, that's love. But when our significant other becomes God on our heart, then we become extremely more disappointed. When the best love, the best relationships are when each significant other is trying to out-serve each other. And when each significant other's gaze is on Christ, then you guys begin to draw closer and closer and closer to each other. And that's the best way you can love each other. But if your significant other is sitting on the throne of your heart, then you're

going to be extremely disappointed a lot, deeply saddened. You're going to be controlling. Got to know their every decision, got to know their move. And if they're with you, then you're happy. But if they're not with you, they're not happy. And then you become controlling and manipulative because they're on the throne of your heart. And I love what King David says in Psalm 16. He says, look, if you're chasing after idols, your sadness is just going to increase. Or maybe it's not a significant other. Maybe it's Netflix or food. Well, how much food do you have to eat to numb the pain? Well, you fill yourself up. But then when the hunger comes back, you've got to keep eating, keep eating and keep eating. It's equivalent to an alcohol or drug addiction.

Like, you can't numb the pain unless the feelings there, but you have to continuously go back to these things. And oftentimes, the more and more idols we have in our heart, the more idols we have in our lives, and the more times we turn to things other than Christ, we become more depressed and our life becomes invaluable. And if I'm talking to you right now, if you've got idols in your life and you hate your life, then give your life to someone who wants it. If you hate your life, give your life to someone who wants it. Who wants your life? When I was 17 years old, I was going to take my life because of depression and anxiety. And I thought I wasn't valuable enough.

And now that I'm reflecting on my life, I had so many things that were idols in my life. People pleasing, pornography, girls, money, fame, all of these things when I was 17 years old. And I kept going back to these things because it was familiar, even though I knew it was going to let me down. And finally, I came to the place where I was going to take my life because I thought I wasn't valuable. what is the value Christ puts on your life, his own. I was just watching a podcast clip today on TikTok and I loved how this guy explained it.

He said, man, like Christ looked through the gap of time and space saw how valuable you were and decided to die for you saying even if nobody else gets it, if they get it, I'm willing to do it. And I loved how he worded it. It's so true.

Now last story I want to share about idolatry, I think it's very prevalent. Now, I believe we oftentimes as believers can fall into idols. It's exactly like Israel does. So if you guys know the story about Moses, you know, Israel becomes enslaved to Egypt. They're in captivity. They're in exile.

God uses Moses to set the captives free. And after the 10 plagues, you know, the Israelites are leaving Egypt. And, you know, sometimes we miss over this key detail. God allows the Israelites to basically lose. Egypt. Okay, so they get to ransack that place. They get in gold, they get in jewelry, they get in all this gold. And then they escape Egypt. They're like, hooray, man, God, you're awesome, thank you. You let us escape and you allowed us to loot Egypt. This was lit. And then after they leave,

Moses does this thing where he goes up on a mountain to get the Ten Commandments. So he goes up there, okay? Now, how many times in your life has God set you free from things? Or you've prayed so many prayers and finally you received the quote unquote freedom that you've been praying. for or you've asked for this thing so many times and finally you get it and then moses goes out he's all right guys you know i'm going to be back i'm going to go get these commandments and the law from god and i'm going to be great i'm going to go talk to him then we're going to come back and game playing and strategize we're going to have the law the commandments is going to be great moses goes up on the mountain they get impatient this guy's taking too long it's like you and me man god why aren't you answering my

prayers you just did it or we live in a society that's immediate gratification and and we say, oh man, God, you didn't give it to me immediately. And so the Israelites said to Moses and God, what we say to God all the time. We don't get immediately what we're praying for or if we think God is, quote unquote, taken too long. Screw off God. So all the gold that God gave the Israelites when they left Egypt,

they take it to Aaron and say, hey, Aaron, make us a false God to worship since this guy Moses is taken so long. They build a false God out of the gold that God had graciously given them. And when Moses comes down from the mountain, he's like, what is going on? We just got set free. You just saw God do miracles.

You just saw this. And now you're worshipping a false God made out of the very gifts that God has given you. We have to remember a couple things. Number one, God's timing is perfect. Number two, just because we don't get what we're praying for doesn't mean God didn't answer our prayer. That means it's a no.

God answers yes or no. Number three, if God doesn't give us what we're praying for, that means maybe we shouldn't have it. Maybe it's going to crush us. But number four, a prime example of what idolatry does. Idle substitute God to sin. We substitute ourselves in the place of God.

That's what happens. And Moses is so like, what is going on? Last piece of advice I would say to steer away from idolatry before we pray is, in order for us to keep idols off of the throne of our heart, we have to continuously remind ourselves of the glory and goodness of Jesus Christ, and we have to continuously preach the gospel to ourselves. If we lose sight of the free gift of eternal life and the free gift of relationship with God,

then it allows idols to creep into our life. If you lose sight of the gospel, lose sight of Christ, and you're going to prioritize other things over God on your heart. So I want to pray for us. I want to pray that God gives us a couple of things, the strength to remove idols, the strength to deal aggressively with our idols, and the last thing, for God to reveal idols in our lives so we can cut them down. Jesus, I thank you so much for today, God.

I thank you that you love us. God, I thank you that when we seek you above all these idols, above other faults, God, that you sustain us, that our joy grows in you, God, and that when we don't seek you, Jesus, that actually our sorrows grow, our sadness grows because these idols are fleeting and these idols won't sustain us. So God, we ask for a couple things. Number one, God, help us deal aggressively with idols in our life. God, number two, give us the strength to keep idols off the throne of our heart. And God, lastly, we just search our hearts. God, search my heart. Search each and every watcher,

listener to this podcast. Search their hearts and go, God, help us know what idols are on the throne of our heart so we can be fully submitted to you. God, we just want to be known by you. And idols keep us unknown from you. Idols keep us not relying on you and God. But when we rely on you, when we listen to you, when we trust you, that is the rich good life. Not the American dream. Trusting you is the rich good life. God, we love you, bless you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Guys, thank you so much for watching and tuning in to these episodes. Guys, if you love watching and listening to these episodes, aside from following us along on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, I want to ask you guys, would you guys consider partnering with our ministry financially? Your guys' radical generosity is actually what continues to fuel and produce. these podcast episodes and our evangelism videos. So if you guys feel a burden to support this ministry, reach lost souls with the gospel through digital and in-person ministry,

go to Jesus in the street.org, pray and ask God, how should I partner with Bryce and their ministry and Jesus in the street ministry? Should I partner with them in prayer? Should I partner with them in finances? Should I partner with them in support? Whatever it may be, pray and ask God, how should I support Jesus in the street ministry? Love you guys.

See you guys next week for the next episode.