Faith on the Go: Ep 3: Darkened Hearts: Consequences of Rejecting God's Glory

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Welcome back to Diary of Black Women to another episode.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm thrilled to have you with me as we continue to dive into Romans 1.

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We've been exploring the downward spiral that begins when humanity rejects God.

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And today we're tackling a critical issue that happens when we fail to glorify God.

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The title of this episode is Darkened Hearts, the Consequences of Rejecting God's Glory.

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We're going to unpack Romans 1, 21 to 23 and look at how rejecting God's glory

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leads to the darkening of our hearts.

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The rise of idolatry, and the profound spiritual consequences that follow.

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So get out your Bibles, and we're going to go to Romans 1, verses 21 to 23,

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and the New King James Version I'll be reading from.

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And let's go. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful.

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I don't know why. Let me start over.

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Verse 21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God,

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nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible

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God into an image made like corruptible men,

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and birds and four-footed animals and creepy things.

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So let's break down these points here. The failure to glorify God,

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Romans 121a, because they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful.

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Knowing God isn't enough. We are called to glorify him as God.

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The failure to do so is the first step towards spiritual decline,

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when we refuse to give God the honor and gratitude he deserves,

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we begin to distance ourselves from his presence.

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Take a moment. You know, you think about that when we, it's like a disrespect,

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I would say, you know, God says here, he says, when we've called, to glorify him as God.

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We are called to glorify him as God.

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We are called to glorify him as God, just as he's deserved.

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And when we don't do that, guess what? He slowly backs out of the picture.

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So take a moment to assess your life. Are there areas where you've acknowledged,

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where you've acknowledge where you fail to acknowledge God or glorify him?

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How might this lack of gratitude be affecting your relationship with him?

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I just remember, you know, you know how children can be, you know,

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so I remember a time it was, they were, well, they were getting into their mid-teens

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and it was Christmas time.

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And I went out and I worked a lot of overtime and bought a whole lot of gifts.

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And I was excited because I spent a whole lot of money I didn't have.

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And so, you know how we do. And when they opened their gifts,

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they were very unthankful.

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They were just unthankful. And I was so disappointed.

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I ended up taking the things back to the store.

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And I don't remember all the details. It was such a long time ago,

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but I remember taking the things back to the store.

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And from going forth, I remember canceling. I canceled Christmas. Yes, I did.

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I told her there was no Santa Claus. I know I was being like,

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you know, I went out, I did everything I could as a single mom to make this the best.

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And you just totally disrespected the whole gift giving season by saying, I don't like this.

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And that gratitude, I can sense that you do that to a real person.

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God is a real person. You do that to me as a mom in my face,

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I know that God is like, you're doing that to me, God in my face.

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I can see how he was just kind of stepped back and just kept walking back.

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And pretty soon, there is no presence.

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Presence, presence.

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And so from that point on, we will celebrate Christmas, But we will put Jesus

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first and then they get to pick a couple of gifts.

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They can pick some clothes and then they get one large gifts.

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And that just settled that whole thing.

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It wasn't no longer me hiding, excuse me, hiding gifts and trying to be the surprise.

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And, you know, no, no, that ended that.

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And I know that is interesting, but I just shared that story.

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But I just felt that like if you can do that to a person,

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your mom, think of a God, how God would feel when you do not honor him,

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when you do not glorify him, when you don't have gratitude, you don't have a thankful heart.

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So let's keep going. The result of a darkened heart, but became futile in their

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thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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When we don't glorify God, our thinking becomes futile.

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So, you know, I just remember when God removes his presence,

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he removes everything that he is. Remember, he's light.

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So he removes his presence. He removes his light.

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So if he removes his light, guess what happens? Darkness comes.

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So we don't glorify God. Our thinking becomes futile.

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Our hearts darken. This darkening in the heart represents a spiritual blindness

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that keeps us from recognizing God's truth and leads us further into sin.

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A darkened heart has turned away from God's light.

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Consider how your thoughts and action reflect the state of your heart.

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Are you allowing God's light to shine in? I'm losing my voice here.

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Shine in or have you turned away, leading to spiritual blindness?

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Wow. Think about how serious that is, that when you are not giving God the glory,

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when you have an unthankful heart,

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and a lot of times people don't realize that there's darkness until there is no light, right?

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Until you go like, wow, there's really darkness is happening in this life.

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When you go to Romans 18.32 and you see all those lists of darkness issues happening,

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you don't know that. Why? Because you have totally...

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Ignore the presence of God, ignore the truth of God.

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God has removed his light and now your heart is darkened.

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And so not even your heart is darkened, he took his spirit is now darkened.

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So everything about you no longer represents him.

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And the question I ask you is, are you turning away from God's light?

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Consider how your thoughts and action reflect the state of your heart.

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Even the words that come out your mouth. Some people freely curse.

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Oh, I don't mean, I'm not a cursor.

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Well, you're acting like a cursor when you're cursing.

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Come on now. And who curses a lot is not God.

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So are you allowing God's light to shine in or have you turned away,

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leading to spiritual blindness.

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Let's continue. The folly of idolatry.

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Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible

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God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creepy things.

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When we turn away from glorifying God, we replace him with idols.

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These idols can be anything we elevate above God.

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Money, power, relationships, even self-image. The result is folly.

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We know Solomon said it's vanity. The result is folly.

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We exchange the infinite corruptible glory of God for the finite corruptible things of this world.

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So we start to idolize. It says money, power, or even our self-image.

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So what are the idols in your life? What have you replaced above?

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What have you placed above God, knowingly or unknowingly?

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Reflect on how these idols have influenced your decision and your relationship with God. Wow.

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The part about self-image is powerful.

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But remember, you won't notice that because he has removed his presence and presence from you.

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And now since that's gone, you begin to worship idols.

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And now that explains a lot of things.

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When remember for a season, people don't say Merry Christmas,

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they say Happy Holidays, because they don't worship the Christ and the Christmas.

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You have just a lot of holidays, a lot of things that you see that people do that they worship.

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And it's self-image, it's money, it's power relationship.

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Just little things, little trinkets that they worship, but they don't worship the God.

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They don't worship the true and living God. And so as you see this slowly progress,

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it's pretty much of that downfall that we have.

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You got the dark heart, then you got the idolatry.

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Let's get some good news on this. Let's see what God has to say.

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Now let's look at scripture that can help us guard our heart against this darkening.

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Philippians 4.8, which says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever is true,

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whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

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whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report,

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if there be any virtue, if there be any praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

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Philippians 4.8 encourages us to focus on what is pure and true,

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keeping our hearts and minds aligned with God's light.

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Come on now. The light is what keeps our heart from darkening by meditating

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on the things of God, his truth, his purity, his love.

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We protect ourselves from the darkening that comes from neglecting the darkness.

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We protect ourselves from the darkling that comes from neglecting to glorify him.

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When we focus on what whatsoever is true, whatsoever is noble,

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whatsoever is just, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely,

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whatsoever is a good report,

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whatsoever is praiseworthy.

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When we fill our mind with God's truth, there's no room for darkness that leads

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to idolatry or spiritual decline. This verse is a powerful reminder that what

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we focus on shapes the state of our hearts.

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So let us make a conscious decision to meditate on God's goodness,

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keeping our hearts aligned with his glory.

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So, wow. So as we close out today's episode, I want to challenge you to take a hard look at your life.

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Are there areas where you allow your heart to darken because you have neglected the glory of God?

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Have you let idols take the place of his glory in your life?

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Here, what I want to encourage you to do, spend some time in prayer,

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asking God to reveal the areas of darkness in your heart.

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Then actively choose to glorify him.

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Start your day by thanking God for who he is and what he has done.

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Fill your mind with his word, focusing on the truth found in Philippians 4.8.

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Remember, the state of your heart influences every part of your life.

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By choosing to glorify God and keep his light at the center of your thought,

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you can prevent the darkening that leads to spiritual decline.

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Next week, we're going to continue to explore Romans 1, exploring how God responds

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when we persist in rejecting his glory.

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It's going to be a deep and challenging conversation like they all are.

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So I encourage you to come ready to dig in.

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Once again, thank you for joining me on this journey. This is Diary of a Black

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Woman, and I'm Connie Morris, your host.

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Let's continue to glorify God, keep our hearts aligned with his truth,

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and live out our faith with boldness and let the light so shine before God so

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that men will glorify him. Amen.

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Stay blessed, stay focused on what is pure, what is true, and keep seeking God in all things.

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Take care. Until next time.