Lessons From The Worship Of Baal 1 Kings 16:1-4 and 1 Kings 16:29-34 1. Worship of Self We want to condemn the practice of idol worship, but it is very easy for us to fall into the worship of self. The Devil wants us to look out for ourselves and to do what makes us happy. Matthew 16:24–25 NLT Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. When we get to heaven, God is not going to ask if we lived a happy life. He will ask what we did for others, and what we did to further His Kingdom? 2. Sexual Promiscuity With Baal as one of the primary “gods,” the Canaanite religion was extremely abnormal and destructive to those who practiced it.  (1) It promoted both female and male cult prostitution, and worship ceremonies involved sex orgies and other lustful and immoral behavior. Canaanite prophets and priests were also murderers, sacrificing newborn babies in their temples (see article on The Destruction of the Canaanites).  (2) God knew that if his people interacted with the Canaanites, they would later adopt those shameful practices. God still calls his people today to separate themselves from the ungodly beliefs and behaviors of the world around them. 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NLT Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.  Our body is the temple of the Lord, do we treat our body as his temple? 1 Kings 15:4-5  3. Child Sacrifice Baal, the chief god worshiped by the Canaanites, was the god of fertility, rain, and vegetation. Baal worship included the practice of cult prostitution and child sacrifice, which was a horrible offense to God. Israel’s prophets repeatedly condemned them for connecting themselves with the worship of Baal. Psalm 139:13–16 NLT You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. In the Bible, they were sacrificing their children at the altar of Baal, but we sacrifice our children at the idol of self. What are our transformational moments? What are you tolerating that you should not? Do you need to repent to God today?  Will you cry out to the Lord for our nation today?