Well friends, here it is, Sunday again and all God's people said... AMEN!! Some of us will be in church and some of us won't, but most of us will be with God in our hearts. Here again is a sermon that I have preached and I post it to help further God's Word, and to help you further your relationship with Him. As always, may God richly bless you today!! H Trent!
“Do You Have Divisions in Your Life?”
Scripture: Luke 11:14-22
Introduction:
What a day to be alive!! We were all blessed to be born in America. The land of the free and the home of the brave!! Right? We are free here to share our opinions, our ideas, our talents. We are free to come and go as we please. We enjoy more freedoms here than in any other place in the world. But, with that freedom, there are also consequences. If you pay attention to any of our news, you would know that although America portrays a great face to the rest of the world, underneath the mask is a nation divided. We are divided over social issues like marriage, sexuality, politics, and religion. But the real focus of the text today is on us. The question for me and you today is, what divisions do I harbor inside of myself? You see, Jesus has warned us, a house divided against itself will FALL!! Do we have a house, meaning our heart, that is divided?
1. What Are My Issues (v17).
In our text, Jesus has just delivered a man from demon possession. But the Pharisees, to discredit Him, claimed that He did this through another power other than His own. This man’s physical issues were the fact that he was blind and could not speak. What about our issues? Think about your beliefs, your desires, and your needs. How many of us have ever struggled to make a decision about a desire verses a need? All of us at some point I’m sure. It’s difficult to make any clear decision when we allow ourselves to become divided upon the decision. How about our decision to trust in Jesus? Most of us here have made the decision to trust Jesus for our souls, but what about trusting in Him for your life, here and now? Are you sick and hurting? Do you believe that Jesus can deliver you, or do you think that you are not important enough? Are you worried about finances? Listen to Jesus as He addresses our worries. (Matt 6:25-27). God knows where you are today! He knows where you are especially in your heart. We need to examine ourselves and see where we have allowed division to come into our life. It saddens me when I find in myself that I have stood for something, only to find that later I go the opposite direction. We need to discover what our issues are. They can be issues with our relationship to God, our relationship with others, belief in somethings and doubt in others.
2. How’s It Working For You (v18-19).
The next question to ask ourselves is, how’s it working for me? What I mean is, because of the divisions I am allowing in my life, what consequences am I suffering as a result? Is your relationship to God good in church, but not so good when you are in the world? The word “hypocrite” is a word that is used to describe a person that takes a stand on the one side, but turns from the same position on the other side. Let me explain, let’s say for instance that you are against the death penalty, but you are all for abortion. Not punishing the guilty, but punishing the innocent. This would be considered a division. I know that this is an extreme example, but it catches the point. How about using money? Let’s say that you love to give money to the evangelist on T.V., but you ignore the homeless person begging on the corner? Are we getting the picture? If we are struggling with things in our life, we need to ask if it is because of the stance we take on certain issues. Consider what Paul wrote to Titus in 1:15-16. If at the end of the day we are stressed and worried and in a wrong attitude, we should ask if it is because of the way we are positioning ourselves on certain things in our life. If our life is a mess, maybe we need to stop being so divided on things and start learning to be whole again. How do we do this?
3. Decide to Be Undivided (v20-21).
We decide to be undivided. Look at how Jesus puts it in verse 21. Are you guarding your house? Paul put it this way, (Romans 12:2). Only in Christ will we be able to be undivided in our life. We need to seek out those things that are good and acceptable to the Lord and then do them. We need to realize that having a divided heart will cause us to fall every time. Look at the way Jesus walked. Always He kept His heart and mind set upon the Lord and He was able to face even opposition without having to compromise on anything that He knew was acceptable to God the Father. If we allow public opinion to sway our stance, we will not be serving God, but serving men. We were raised with certain morals that our parents instilled in us, but when we became children of God, His morals were placed in us. We should not bend or sway those principles just to get the approval of those around us. We should do as Paul said to do, to stand firm, even in the face of opposition. And this applies to all things in our life. Think about relationships, what sorts of divisions cause relationships to end? Many causes, but if both people learned to be on the same page, I doubt that those relationships would end. I’m not saying that we should never disagree, we will always have disagreements, I’m saying that in each of us personally we should agree to be made whole in Christ and then strive to stay that way, in all things in our life.
Conclusion:
Life can be a struggle. Life can be difficult. God never said that life was going to be easy. We can, however, even make the most difficult situations seem small if we would only learn to remain complete in Jesus instead of letting division come into our life. We need to be ever mindful that we war against a powerful enemy who brings all things against us. If we allow ourselves to become complacent, we are opening the door for a fall. Be mindful of yourself in Christ, and if you falter, lean upon His mercy and allow Him to give you the answer.
Pastor Harold Trent.
“Do You Have Divisions in Your Life?”
Scripture: Luke 11:14-22
Introduction:
What a day to be alive!! We were all blessed to be born in America. The land of the free and the home of the brave!! Right? We are free here to share our opinions, our ideas, our talents. We are free to come and go as we please. We enjoy more freedoms here than in any other place in the world. But, with that freedom, there are also consequences. If you pay attention to any of our news, you would know that although America portrays a great face to the rest of the world, underneath the mask is a nation divided. We are divided over social issues like marriage, sexuality, politics, and religion. But the real focus of the text today is on us. The question for me and you today is, what divisions do I harbor inside of myself? You see, Jesus has warned us, a house divided against itself will FALL!! Do we have a house, meaning our heart, that is divided?
1. What Are My Issues (v17).
In our text, Jesus has just delivered a man from demon possession. But the Pharisees, to discredit Him, claimed that He did this through another power other than His own. This man’s physical issues were the fact that he was blind and could not speak. What about our issues? Think about your beliefs, your desires, and your needs. How many of us have ever struggled to make a decision about a desire verses a need? All of us at some point I’m sure. It’s difficult to make any clear decision when we allow ourselves to become divided upon the decision. How about our decision to trust in Jesus? Most of us here have made the decision to trust Jesus for our souls, but what about trusting in Him for your life, here and now? Are you sick and hurting? Do you believe that Jesus can deliver you, or do you think that you are not important enough? Are you worried about finances? Listen to Jesus as He addresses our worries. (Matt 6:25-27). God knows where you are today! He knows where you are especially in your heart. We need to examine ourselves and see where we have allowed division to come into our life. It saddens me when I find in myself that I have stood for something, only to find that later I go the opposite direction. We need to discover what our issues are. They can be issues with our relationship to God, our relationship with others, belief in somethings and doubt in others.
2. How’s It Working For You (v18-19).
The next question to ask ourselves is, how’s it working for me? What I mean is, because of the divisions I am allowing in my life, what consequences am I suffering as a result? Is your relationship to God good in church, but not so good when you are in the world? The word “hypocrite” is a word that is used to describe a person that takes a stand on the one side, but turns from the same position on the other side. Let me explain, let’s say for instance that you are against the death penalty, but you are all for abortion. Not punishing the guilty, but punishing the innocent. This would be considered a division. I know that this is an extreme example, but it catches the point. How about using money? Let’s say that you love to give money to the evangelist on T.V., but you ignore the homeless person begging on the corner? Are we getting the picture? If we are struggling with things in our life, we need to ask if it is because of the stance we take on certain issues. Consider what Paul wrote to Titus in 1:15-16. If at the end of the day we are stressed and worried and in a wrong attitude, we should ask if it is because of the way we are positioning ourselves on certain things in our life. If our life is a mess, maybe we need to stop being so divided on things and start learning to be whole again. How do we do this?
3. Decide to Be Undivided (v20-21).
We decide to be undivided. Look at how Jesus puts it in verse 21. Are you guarding your house? Paul put it this way, (Romans 12:2). Only in Christ will we be able to be undivided in our life. We need to seek out those things that are good and acceptable to the Lord and then do them. We need to realize that having a divided heart will cause us to fall every time. Look at the way Jesus walked. Always He kept His heart and mind set upon the Lord and He was able to face even opposition without having to compromise on anything that He knew was acceptable to God the Father. If we allow public opinion to sway our stance, we will not be serving God, but serving men. We were raised with certain morals that our parents instilled in us, but when we became children of God, His morals were placed in us. We should not bend or sway those principles just to get the approval of those around us. We should do as Paul said to do, to stand firm, even in the face of opposition. And this applies to all things in our life. Think about relationships, what sorts of divisions cause relationships to end? Many causes, but if both people learned to be on the same page, I doubt that those relationships would end. I’m not saying that we should never disagree, we will always have disagreements, I’m saying that in each of us personally we should agree to be made whole in Christ and then strive to stay that way, in all things in our life.
Conclusion:
Life can be a struggle. Life can be difficult. God never said that life was going to be easy. We can, however, even make the most difficult situations seem small if we would only learn to remain complete in Jesus instead of letting division come into our life. We need to be ever mindful that we war against a powerful enemy who brings all things against us. If we allow ourselves to become complacent, we are opening the door for a fall. Be mindful of yourself in Christ, and if you falter, lean upon His mercy and allow Him to give you the answer.
Pastor Harold Trent.
Harold, I really appreciate how you do not put the verses into your sunday messages. It makes me take out my bible and look them up myself. Thank you so very much. You are helping me return to the word.
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