Kyle Idleman - Gods at War Student Edition. The battle for your heart that will define your life

Other books by Kyle Idleman

Not a Fan

Not a Fan Student Edition

Gods at War

ZONDERVAN

Gods at War Student Edition

Copyright 2014 by Kyle Idleman

ePub Edition December 2013: ISBN 978 0 310 74254 8

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation in Todays English Version Second Edition. Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. Scripture quotations marked lb are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Cover design: Curt Diepenhorst and Cindy Davis

Interior design: Beth Shagene

Printed in the United States of America

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Thank you, Jesse Florea, for the hard work, dedication, and passion you brought to this student edition. You stepped in when needed and went above and beyond to make a very tight deadline, while also taking the time to do thorough research to find great stories and facts specifically for this book. I am pleased that the gods at war message is now in a form students will connect with, and thankful you were there to help make it a reality.

contents

With the camera rolling, an interviewer walks up to a couple of teenagers in a park.

Name as many of the Ten Commandments as you can, he says.

The teens eyes grow wide. You have a right to Oh, wait, no, one of the guys starts to say. His friend laughs. Off camera, another teen begins reciting the books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua...

You might as well put the camera on him, the other guy says, pointing to the kid who knows his Bible but is obviously confused.

After a little while, a light bulb goes off for one of the boys. Thou shall not steal, he says, smiling. No fornication. Another chimes in, No sex before you get married. Then, Uhhh... Silence.

Well, do you think you do a good job following them? the interviewer asks.

No, not really. No hesitation this time from the teens.

The video also asks adults and other teens about their knowledge of the Ten Commandments.

I can name all twelve, one person says.

Thou shalt not steal, comes up a lot.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not covet another mans wife.

Honor thy father and thy mother.

Do not take the Lords name in vain.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Do not give false witness against a neighbor.

In all, the people in the video manage to come up with seven of the Ten Commandments.

Thats not bad much better than when Jay Leno went to the street in one of his Jaywalking segments.

How many Commandments are there? Jay asks a young woman.

Ten. She grins.

Can you name any of them? Jay continues.

Freedom of speech.

Studies have shown that most people know the ingredients of a McDonalds Big Mac better than they know the Bibles Ten Commandments. In a survey of one thousand people, eight hundred of them knew that two all-beef patties could be found in a Big Mac. But only six hundred knew the commandment of thou shalt not kill. And less than half of the people remembered the commandment to honor thy father and mother. Yet six out of ten people knew the Big Mac has a pickle. (Maybe we just have to come up with a catchy Commandments jingle.)

Many people surveyed said theyd memorized the Ten Commandments when they were younger but couldnt remember them anymore. How about you? Can you name all Ten Commandments?

My eight-year-old daughter Morgan certainly can. And believe it or not, her memorization of those commandments changed my life and the life of the church where Im a pastor. As I tucked her into bed one night, Morgan recited the greatest Top Ten list of all time, including the first two commandments that everybody seems to forget: You shall have no other gods before me and You shall not make for yourself an idol.

When she finished, I smiled. Wow, I said. Then I asked the same question as the interviewer in the video: Do you do a good job following them?

Morgan looked at the ground as she admitted that shed lied and didnt always honor her father and mother.

But then her eyes became bright and she said, Dad, I know one commandment I have never broken! Ive never made an idol.

I smiled, holding my tongue. I wanted to tell my daughter that, as a matter of fact, that commandment is the very one we all break most often. But as I said good night to my young daughter, I decided to save the theology lesson for another day. We prayed and thanked God for sending Jesus to take away our sin and guilt. As I left her room, I gave her a smile and a kiss on the forehead, and told her I was proud of her for memorizing the Ten Commandments.

But walking down the steps, I wondered how many people see idolatry exactly as Morgan did. Maybe they see the Ten Commandments as a checklist, like the rules posted at the community swimming pool no running, no diving, no peeing in the pool. Just a long list of rules. And the one about idols is quickly skipped over because they think theyve got that bullet point covered.

After all, the whole subject of idolatry seems obsolete. That command was for the time of golden calves, not now. Right?

As for those thousand or so references to idolatry in the Bible, havent they expired? We dont know anyone who kneels before golden statues or bows down before carved images. Hasnt idolatry gone the way of parachute pants, beehive hairstyles, and three layers of grungy flannel shirts? Arent we past all that?