{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"West Side Church of Christ - Elkton Ky","title":"How To Do Anything You Want To Do (From our 7-12-26 Worship)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1568,"description":"Watch the video version here: https://youtu.be/DjGwACs649w\nHow to Do Anything You Want to Do | Judges 17–18\nWhat if you really could do anything you wanted to do?\nThis sermon takes a deliberately backwards approach to that question. Using the story of Micah in Judges 17–18, we see what happens when a person stops asking, “What does God want?” and begins living according to whatever seems right in his own eyes.\nThe lesson begins with the story of famous hacker Kevin Mitnick. From figuring out how to ride Los Angeles buses for free as a 12-year-old to eventually breaking into major computer systems, Mitnick became remarkably good at finding ways around the rules. His story illustrates something all of us are capable of: justifying what we already want to do.\nMicah does the same thing—but spiritually.\nIn this sermon:\nFear the wrong people instead of God.\nMicah stole 1,100 pieces of silver from his own mother, yet only returned it after hearing her pronounce a curse. He seemed more concerned about the consequences coming from his mother than about having sinned against God.\nSurround yourself with people who enable you.\nInstead of correcting Micah, his mother blessed him and helped finance the false religious system he created. We need people who love us enough to tell us the truth, not simply people who tell us what we want to hear.\nSurround yourself with people who justify themselves.\nHis mother claimed to dedicate all 1,100 pieces of silver to the Lord, but only 200 were actually given to make the idol. When the people around us constantly excuse compromise, it becomes easier for us to excuse our own.\nMake possessions the center of your life.\nMicah accumulated idols, an ephod, household gods, a shrine, and eventually his own priest. More possessions never filled the spiritual emptiness—they simply gave him more things to trust instead of God.\nMake yourself your own standard.\nJudges explains the problem perfectly:\n“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/lvjrvJQzIzEamCIrdKMIrIgeJhJiQm_6B3NGmBkvnkU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yMTFj/NDA4ZDU1M2YyMDdj/ZWFiZjA0MDU1MDE2/NWNmNS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}