Last Sunday, while looking at the First Century church, we saw again in Acts how Paul and the church were so incredibly affective at influencing the behavior of their culture. What was most interesting to me was again (remember Paul's sermon at Mars Hill) how he was able to confront the idol worship that was such a part of the culture. I had read Acts chapter 19 probably dozens, maybe hundreds of times, in my life and this was the first time I was so profoundly struck by the influence the Gospel was having on drawing people away from idol worship. I mean when the local silversmith who fashions the "personal" idols that the people buy realizes a change in his business you know that Paul's delivery of the Gospel was having an impact. But as we discussed it is inevitable that hearts turned towards God will turn from their idols.

And this truth is just as needed and powerful today as it was in the first century because idol worship is still the problem today. This is why I was personally gratified that we were able to identify this truth when I read the passage in prep for the message and why I was so pleased to discover the writings of Tim Keller on this very concept. Idol worship is still a spiritual threat to us even today and because Keller has done such a great job expanding on the truths we discussed I wanted to give you some links to some articles where he fleshes it out even more:

http://www.monergism.com/postmodernidols.html

http://www.theresurgence.com/gospel_coalition_2009_keller_notes

http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/book-review-counterfeit-gods-by-tim-keller

http://www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Gods-Empty-Promises-Matters/dp/0525951369

Enjoy!