Do I have iDols in my life?

Preacher Joseph spoke to us today on "Do I have idols?". The scripture text is taken from 1 John 5:18-21.

What are idols?
Deuteronomy 5:7-9
- Something that takes priority over God
- Something that takes the place of God in terms of honour
- Something that takes the place of God in terms of service
- Something that takes the place of God in terms of purity (causing us to sin)
1 Corinthians 10:19-21
- Has a demonic aspect
Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 3:5 -> Covetous people are idolators, as they are not happy with what God gave them and want to satisfy their lusts by turning to idols.
- Things we turn to to satisfy our desires (for sinful things)

How do I recognise idols in my life?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have something that you cannot put aside at will?
- Can you be happy without it? Will you get angry when someone calls it an idol and takes it away?
- Do you spend more time, energy and resources for this thing than you're willing to for God?

There are idols everywhere nowadays, the things that possess our hearts and occupy our minds.
E.g. idol worship of movie/TV stars, pop singers, football stars, cosplay.

What are the dangers of idols? (Romans 1:21-32)
It will mould my character, my personality, my desires and will control me.
- Leads to immorality/sexual uncleanness (v24)
- Cause us to serve/worship the creature (v25)
- Damage our minds and cause them to be reprobate (v28)
- Create an obsessive mind, filling our mind with all the wrong things (v29)
- Cause covetousness, our desires will be darker, and we will be inventors of evil things (v30)
- Affect relationships, lead us to be disobedient to parents (v30)
No man can serve two masters; it's either God, or the idols.

How to avoid them? (1 John 5:18-21)
A true born again Christian will not sin willfully, purposefully, and continually, without any conviction in his heart.
If we don't care about our sins, we must question whether we are saved.
To avoid idols, we must keep ourselves.
It means:
To guard ourselves, keep an eye on, to build a fortress against the idols, to withhold.
Isolation, avoid, beware, imprisoning your heart to avoid anything that is an idol or temptation.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."