Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- I've Always Long Division - Pastor Ryan

All right, good morning. Good to see everybody. I'm glad you're here. Hi, Nick. Happy New Year to everybody. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day, Lord, and we just thank you for another opportunity to be here, Lord, and to be in your presence, to sing songs to you, Lord, and to spend time in your word, Lord. And as we hear your word today, Lord, I pray that you would soften our hearts, Lord, make us moldable, shape us into what you would have us, Lord. Father, we ask your blessing upon this time. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Come and have a seat if you like. All I see is a battle. You see my victory. And all I see is a mountain. You see a mountain. And as I walk through the shadow, your love surrounds me. There's nothing to fear now, for I am safe with you. Yes, Lord God, and with you, Lord, there is victory. Lord, there is victory. And Lord, and we just thank you. We thank you, Lord, that there is victory over sin and death and that there is freedom with you, Lord.

And with you, the battle is all. I want to take a moment before we continue. I want to, Lord, but just to offer up some simple praise to you, Lord. For what you've done on the cross, for being resurrected, Lord, for overcoming death, hell, and the grave, and sin. I thank you for what you're doing in our lives now. Thank you for the works that you're doing in our lives, constantly changing us, Lord, sanctifying us.

And Lord, we thank you for what you're going to do. Lord, we know that you are coming again. You're coming again in victory. And in glory. Lord, you came the first time as a suffering servant. And you're coming again as the victorious king. So, Lord, we live expectantly of you, of your arrival, Lord. Help us to be ever mindful. Help us to cast our mind towards you, always.

To meditate on you. And your word, day and night. Cast my mind to Calvary. When Jesus bled and died for me. I see his wounds, his hands, his feet. My Savior on that cursing tree. His body bound. And drenched in tears. They laid him down in Joseph's tomb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone. Messiah still. And all.

Just praise you continually.

We're still in the business of doing big and mighty things. So, Lord, we invite your Holy Spirit to come this morning. And rest on us, Lord. Inhabit our hearts. Inhabit our praise. Lord, do a mighty work in our lives.

Lord, send revival in our lives, in our families, in our churches.

Lord, God, send revival. Lord, send revival. Lord, send in heaven break out. Come now, cover this land like you've done it before. What to do?

Lord, this morning as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, I just pray that you would overflow him with your Holy Spirit. Lord, give him the words to speak. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive it, Lord. Lord, soften our hearts this morning. Lord, if our heart is hard this morning, break it. Lord, God, soften our hearts. Soften mine to receive that word. Help us to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, Lord.

Do something awesome and mighty in this place this morning. Father, we love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name. All of God's people said, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seat.

Grab a bulletin. We'll go over some announcements, which there's not very many of today. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Just two things to mention to you. Number one is that with this being New Year's week, again, there will be no midweek studies going on throughout the week. So enjoy recovering from Christmas with your family.

All that kind of fun stuff. Also, we are starting over again with our Bible reading plan. So if you're looking for a way to get into the Word this year, on the back side of the bulletin, we'll once again be publishing this every week, the daily reading plan. If you want to go through the Word with us again, it'll also be on our Instagram and Facebook page. So join us with that.

You can either do the Old Testament or the New Testament, or you can do the whole thing with this. But no matter what, just be in God's Word this year. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And then before we get into our responsive reading this morning, we have a baby dedication. So if the Marshall family can come up here.

Which today is just Andy and Idabel.

Katie isn't able to join us this morning. Mom got sick, but she said, do the baby dedication. So at Calvary Chapel, we don't believe in infant baptism because we believe that baptism is a choice that an individual has. We believe that we have to make for themselves to follow God with all of their hearts. But we do believe that we should give these little ones to the Lord.

And we kind of get that out of the book of 1 Samuel. Samuel's parents, Hannah and Elkanah, were not able to have a kid. And so Hannah went before the Lord and said, Lord, if you'll give me a child, I will dedicate them to you. And that's exactly what God did. And so when Samuel was old enough, Samuel was dedicated to the service of the Lord. He took Samuel to the temple and he was dedicated to the service of the Lord.

You can't just leave her here with me. I'm not going to raise her here at the church, but we will dedicate her to the Lord today. So this is Idabel Faye. Oh, and I was like, oh, snoozy.

Hello. Oh, very good. It's so fun to hold tiny people, isn't it? Especially when they sleep like this. It's just so great. She's like, what is going on? Well, let's pray. Well, Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I just want to lift this family to you. First of all, Lord, I just lift Katie and Andy to you. Let's pray that as they seek, Lord, to raise her in the nurture and the admonition of you,

that you would just give them everything that they need, that you would just overflow them with your Holy Spirit to be the mom and dad to this tiny person that you want for them to be. And Lord, we just lift up Idabel to you. And we just dedicate her to you, Lord, and to your service. And Lord, we put her in your hands. We know that ultimately you love her more than anyone could ever imagine, even more than her mom and dad.

And so, Lord, we give her to you. And we pray, God, that you would lay out. Lay out the path before her. Father, that you would instill within her a love for your word, that you would instill within her a love for you. Father, that she would know and understand the value that she has as having been created in the image of God, having been fashioned by the hands of her Savior.

And, Lord, that she would come to a true knowledge of you, and that as she does so, Lord, that she would live her life to please you in everything that she does. And so, Father, we thank you for this family, and we just give them to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, I'll give you back now. You can't stay with me, probably.

All right. Yes. Here you go, buddy. This is for you.

Oh, careful. There we go. Those stairs will get you. Okay. And then for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 29. Looking at the New American Standard for this so that we all hopefully sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 29, if you are able... Please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen, and the even verses. Psalm 29, a Psalm of David. Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in holy array. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Syrian like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calf, makes the forest bare, and in His temple everything says glory. The Lord sat as king at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as king forever. And read verse 11 with me. The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. And Father, we do come before You and we praise You for who You are.

We ascribe to You the glory that is due to Your name, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the giver and sustainer of life, the eternal, all-powerful God. You saw fit to dwell among us and to be our God, to save us from our sins. And so, Lord, may we respond with that wholehearted commitment as we give glory to Your name. And Father, we just lift up our time in Your word now.

And I pray that You would move in it by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Father, would You give us ears to hear, hearts to perceive, and minds to take in everything that Your Spirit wants to do this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you brought a Bible, open up to the book of Hosea chapter 10. Hosea chapter 10. Well, we come to the last church service in 2024.

And so I always, when we come to the end of the year, I always start kind of the reminiscing process, sort of a little bit of reflection. What was good? What was bad? What can I improve on? How can we be better? I don't know if you're a person that makes resolutions or not. I don't really make resolutions, but I do like to set for myself spiritual goals. And how I achieve those goals and things like that.

And so as I started thinking about that, not only in my own life, but also for the church in general, I thought what would be a good message to end the year with, to sort of springboard us into this next year. And so I came up with a message that I've done before. It's been a long time since I've done it here. But it's a message called, I've always hated long division.

And really it has to do with the heart. Now, growing up I hated school. I didn't enjoy being there. I wasn't very good at school. I was really bad at math. And I'll never forget as a little guy when they introduced long division. And I was just like, what are we even doing here right now? Like I didn't think I was ever going to get it. It didn't make sense.

And I take comfort in the fact that God also hates division, right? But He doesn't necessarily care as much about the division of numbers, but He definitely hates the division of our heart. And so that's what I want to spend a little bit of time talking about this morning, is an undivided heart. Because that's what God desires of us. And so I want to springboard off of a verse in Hosea chapter 10.

And before I springboard off of that verse, I want to give you a little bit of background on the book of Hosea. Because Hosea is an interesting story. And maybe you've heard it before. But to build this context, I would like to tell it to you again. Hosea was a prophet during the time of the divided kingdom. And he was a prophet to the northern ten tribes. And he was around the same time as Isaiah and Amos and some of those guys,

prophesying to the northern tribes, while they were prophesying to the southern tribes. And he was prophesying in Israel in a time of great spiritual apostasy. As a matter of fact, you might call it a time of spiritual adultery. And that's what Hosea was asked to prophesy to, is a group of people like that. And so he was told to do something very interesting,

something very difficult. He was told, I want you to take a wife, and in the Old King James it says a wife of whoredom. A wife that you know is going to cheat on you. A wife that you know is going to be unfaithful. I want you to do that, because it's going to represent for the people the unfaithfulness of their hearts towards me. The fact that they have been unfaithful to me

in the way that they've lived, and it will be displayed by your wife's unfaithfulness to you. Can you imagine that calling in your life? And so he takes for himself a wife whose name is Gomer. And they start having kids, and they have three kids. And the three kids' names are this. The first kid was named Jezreel. And Jezreel's, all these names mean something.

Jezreel's name means cast away. Their second child was named, Lo-Ruhamah, which means not pitied, because God would no longer have pity on the nation of Israel. And the third child was Lo-Ammi, which means not my people. You're not my people, so I'm not going to be your God. And interestingly enough, in those three names, it sort of tells the story of the nation of Israel.

That the nation of Israel would have to be cast away, because God would no longer show them pity, because they were no longer his people, so he would no longer be their God. Because of their spiritual adultery. Well, what was played out in names is now played out in the life of Hosea. Because Hosea started noticing something. His wife, Gomer, took a lot longer to come home

from the supermarket than she used to. And it seemed like she'd sort of lost that love and feeling. And she was just a little colder to him than she used to be. And he noticed that there were some men that were making more longing glances than there used to be. And he knew that what God had told him would start to take place. Because not only had she begun to become unfaithful to him,

but she had actually started selling herself to other men. As a matter of fact, many scholars believe that that last name, that the last name that he named Loami, not my people, meant that he looked at that last one and said, that one's not mine. And he knew that there was something wrong. And so God said, I need you to do something very difficult. I need you to let her go.

I need you to let her pursue the things of her flesh, just like I'm going to have to let the nation of Israel go. And so that's exactly what Hosea did. Can you imagine his broken heart? Can you imagine everybody that saw him said, my, how your heart must be broken. And then Hosea was able to say, yes, just like the heart of God. Now, before I get to the verse,

I want to tell you the happy ending of Hosea. Because God told Hosea, after a certain time had passed, she had no longer been attractive to the men anymore. They had pretty well left her by herself, and she was not only broken, but broken, because nobody was coming around any longer. And God told Hosea, he said, I want you to do something even more difficult.

I want you to go, and I want you to purchase your wife. And I want you to take her home, and I want you to clean her up, and I want you to love her. I want you to love her like nothing ever happened, because that's what I'm going to do with the nation of Israel, is I'm going to bring them back, and I'm going to clean them up, and I'm going to love them. And it would be the perfect picture of God's grace towards the nation of Israel.

Well, with that as a backdrop, Hosea is prophesying to a nation who was just like that wife that was cheating. And so we come to chapter 10, verse 1, and it says this, Israel is a luxuriant vine. He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, the more altars he made. The richer his land, the better he made the sacred pillars. Their heart is faithless. Now they must bear their guilt,

and the Lord will break down their altars, and destroy their sacred pillars. Basically what that means is this, the nation had become rich, they had become prosperous, but they thought it was them that did it. They thought it was their idols that had done it. But lest they completely cast off God, because they knew that God was still important, the richer they became, the bigger they built their altars.

Not only the altars to their gods, but also the altar to God, because they wanted enough of God to feel secure, but they wanted enough of the world to feel happy. And so God told them, you have all of these luxuriant vines, and you have great big sacred pillars, but your heart is faithless. In the New King James it's translated, their heart is divided. And that's who they were as a people, and that's who they were as a nation.

That word divided means to be deceitful, or to be false. It means to be divided between one's self, and to give a portion to another. In our culture we have a different word for it. We call it multitasking. Right? We want everything in our world to multitask. We want our phones to multitask. We want our computers to multitask. If you're an employer, you want your employee to multitask.

You probably want yourself to multitask. You know what's true about everybody in the world? None of us can multitask. Listen, I know there's some of y'all ladies out there sitting there going, I'm a lady, I can multitask. No you can't. Look, you can be mad at me later, okay? It's all that there is to it, you can't do it. Because you know what happens when you multitask?

You split your attention, you split your attention between two different things, meaning you never give 100% of yourself to anything. That means you really can't do it. And it's one thing when we talk about multitasking in the work world or with our technology, but it's a whole other thing when it comes to our hearts. It's a whole other thing when it comes to our devotion to God.

And that's what God tells the nation of Israel. This is what I don't like, and this is what has to change. One of the commentaries that I read when studying for this was Lloyd Ogilvie's Preaching the Word commentary, and he quoted a sermon from a guy way back in the day named Arthur J. Gossip. Can we just take a moment and think about the fact that there used to be a preacher with the last name of Gossip.

Can you imagine him ever trying to fill a pulpit anywhere? What's your last name? Gossip. I've got a spirit of discernment right now, right? Has nothing to do with the sermon, but can you imagine having that last name? So, Arthur John Gossip wrote this sermon called The Thing Christ Hates the Most. And I want to read a quote to you out of Ogilvie's commentary about this.

It says, Gossip said that the call for wholeheartedness is like a haunting theme through some intricate piece of music that keeps recurring over and over again in Scripture almost on every page. Because that's the thing that God wants for us the most is wholehearted devotion to Him. And the thing that makes Him the most sick is a divided heart between Him and someone else. And so what I've done is I've written down a few Scriptures.

We're going to go four different places in Scripture to explore this theme of wholeheartedness that God desires for us. So hold your finger here. Maybe put a little bookmark there or something. And go over to Genesis chapter 2, very beginning. First book in the Bible, Genesis chapter 2. And look at verses 16 and 17. I gave myself a little test last night. You keep turning while you're listening to me talk.

I gave myself a little test last night. I went back and listened to this message and I tried to turn the pages after I would give myself the Scripture. And I realized I didn't give myself enough time. And so I'm learning to give a little bit more time. I was like, slow down, dude. Right, so everybody there? Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. It says this,

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day you eat from it, you will surely die. That's the first command that God gave to man. Why did God give us that command? Because He wanted wholehearted devotion from His people. He wanted wholehearted obedience from us.

I had somebody ask me one time, actually multiple times, Why did God create sin? If God wants us to be good people, why did God create sin? I said, well, God didn't create sin. God created choice. And God created free will. We have the choice whether or not we give in to sin. You can either follow God or you can follow sin, but you can't do both. When you disobey the rule, you follow sin.

And so God created a choice. Why? Why did God create a choice? Because nobody wants robotic love. Can you imagine, if you will, you find that special person that you want to spend some time with. You're like, hey, that person's really attractive. I want them to like me. So I need to find the like me button on them. And you look at the back of their head and you're like,

you click the like me button. And they immediately go, you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life. Everything you say is perfect. You're hilarious. I love listening to you talk. And I love the way the sun shines off of your bald head. Right? Like at some point in time, you would get tired of that. The first two weeks might be kind of nice. First two weeks might be kind of like, this is what I'm talking about, right?

But eventually you know it's not genuine. Eventually you know that's not real. And so you're like, no, no, I want to know how you really feel. So you turn the like me button off. And then they've got to make a choice for themselves. And that's what God wanted from us. He didn't want robotic obedience. He didn't want robotic love. He wanted it to be sincere.

And so he gave us a choice. Of course, we know the choice that Adam made. And we've been hopefully correcting that choice ever since. But that's what he wants from us, wholehearted devotion. Go over to Deuteronomy chapter 6. So it goes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6. I want you to look at verses 4 and 5. Because this theme continues in Deuteronomy.

God, of course, is giving the law again to the people through Moses. And he's giving out his instructions to the children of Israel for how they're supposed to live. And we come to Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 and 5 that gives the heart of everything that God has to say. It says this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your might.

Did you take note of one word that was repeated over and over again in there? It's the word all. Because that's what God wants from us. He wants all of us. He wants all of our heart. He wants all of our soul. And he wants all of our might. It's not unlike a marriage relationship, right? When I stood at an altar with my wife, I said, I will give you 100% of me.

I will love you with all of my heart and I will forsake all others and keep myself to you only. And she expects me to do that. Because that's what she wants from me. Just like that's what I want from her. I want that wholehearted commitment from her. When I was teaching this about a year ago at Ark City Christian Academy, I did a little chapel service there for them.

I used this little illustration. I said, and there were some teenagers in the room. I said, now, imagine if you will that one of these teenagers, they found themselves a special friend. As a youth pastor, that's what I always call people that dated. I call them special friends. Well, imagine they found themselves a special friend. And they get to know that special friend.

And that special friend says, you're going to be my special friend too. Maybe that lasts about a month or so. But pretty soon, they look and there's another person they want to be their special friend. They don't want to abandon the first girl. But they also want to look at this other girl. What do you call that? And I loved it. This kid yelled out, multitasking.

And I was like, that's exactly what it is. That's multitasking. Not the word I was looking for, but it's better than the word that I was looking for. And that's what we do, right? And that's what God doesn't want from us. God does not want us to love him and a whole bunch of other things. He wants us to love him. So he says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.

Unless we think this is just an old covenant idea. Go over to the book of Matthew. Matthew. And look at chapter 6 and verse 24. Matthew chapter 6 verse 24. This is Jesus speaking in the sermon on the mount. To those who would be his disciples. He's talking about treasure, the treasure of your heart. I want you to notice what he says in verse 24 of chapter 6.

No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other. Or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. No one can serve two masters. No one can have two things that they devote themselves to because you will eventually make a choice. It's kind of like dogs, right? My wife and I have owned several dogs over the years.

I used to always say that there's one dog that's always been mine and his name was Beck. And yes, he did have two turntables and a microphone. Thank God. Sometimes I crack that joke. Nobody gets it. That's right. Amen. But now we have these two dogs named Macy and Carl. And Macy is the girls' dogs. She will choose all three girls over me, right? But then there's Carl.

Carl's my dog. And Carl's like his own vibe, right? Like he's his own set of personality. He plays fetch with himself. He chases his own tail. He gets confused easily and he has a sweet underbite, right? But Carl is my dog. And he will choose me over anyone else in the world. If I get up to go to the kitchen to get a snack, he's like, I'm in. Let's go, right?

Because I'm his master. And he will always listen to me. And it's like if the girls are going, Carl, come here. He's looking at me. He's like, I mean, you good with that? I'm with you. Are we going to do this? And I'm like, stay here. And he's like, right? Because I'm his master. And that's the way dogs are. They can really only have one. And that's the way we're supposed to be.

No one can serve two masters. Ultimately, everyone has to make a choice. Who are you going to serve? And that's what Joshua tells the children of Israel. You have to choose who you're going to serve. And that's what I'm telling you. You have to choose who you're going to serve. You'll either serve God or something else. But you can't serve both. And then one last place.

Go to Revelation chapter 3. Very last book of the Bible. Revelation chapter 3. And I want you to start in verse 14. Chapter 14. Verse 2 and 3 of Revelation, which is the unveiling of Jesus, give us the letters to the seven churches in which Jesus instructs the seven churches, sometimes on what they're doing right, oftentimes on what they're doing wrong, and how that can improve.

There's one church that Jesus really doesn't have anything good to say about. He really just rebukes sharply. And it deals with what we have to do with now. And that's the church of Laodicea. And so starting in Revelation chapter 3, verse 14, it says this. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and if I may add a word to that, half-hearted, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Now, I don't know about you. Nothing about that sounds like a good thing. He says, because you have a half-hearted desire for me, because you are divided, I'm going to have to spew you out of my mouth.

It's interesting because if you jump down to verse 20, it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come in and I'll have dinner with you and we'll have fellowship together. I'll commune with you and you with me. It's interesting because when I was a little kid, I always heard that as a salvation verse.

That Jesus is standing at the door. He's at the door of the heart of every sinner and he's knocking and he just wants to come in. And if that sinner will just open the door to Jesus, then Jesus will come in. But that's not the context here. You see, that verse isn't written to an unbelieving world. That verse is written to the church. You know why? Because when your heart is divided, you've made a choice of who you're going to serve and it's not Jesus.

Therefore, he's standing on the outside looking in and going, could you please just let me back in? I'm standing here knocking. Could you please just let me back into your heart? And we'll have communion together again. We'll have fellowship together again. But until then, I can't be in there. And you know what the problem with a lot of the churches in the United States of America are right now?

Jesus isn't there. He's not there because we've chosen a half-hearted desire for him. We want enough of Jesus to make us feel secure, but enough of the world to make us feel happy and popular. So our hearts are divided, meaning that Jesus isn't there. And this theme of wholeheartedness runs all the way through Scripture. And there's a beautiful illustration that's given to us.

You don't have to turn there, but I'm going to turn to 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11. I want to look at verses 1 through 6 again. Just write it down. It tells the story of Solomon. So the children of Israel had their first king. They said, we want a king. We want to be like the other nations around us. We want a king. And so God gave them, first of all, the king that they thought they wanted.

And his name was Saul. And he wasn't a good king. They lost him. Or God took him out. And then God gave them the king that they needed, which was David. And even though David had his issues, he was always known as the man after God's own heart. Because in spite of his sin and in spite of his failures, he always came back to God to pursue him with his whole heart.

And then David had a son whose name was Solomon. And everything started off great for Solomon. Solomon started off with God giving him a dream. And in this dream, God said, you can have anything that you want. You can have wealth. You can have the life of your enemies. You name it. It's yours. What would you like for me to do for you? And Solomon says, oh, man.

I mean, this people is great. I don't know how to go out. I don't know how to come in. And if you could give me wisdom to know how to govern this people. And God says, man, I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm not only going to give you wisdom. I'm going to give you everything you didn't ask for. And Solomon's life started off amazing. It started off great because he's following God.

He's pursuing God. He builds a beautiful palace for himself. He builds a beautiful temple for the Lord. And, again, one of the most amazing things. One of the most amazing chapters in all of scripture is when the temple is dedicated and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. And he had this amazing experience with God. But Solomon had one problem. He had a divided heart.

Look at chapter 11, verse 1. It says, now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, you shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you. For they will turn your heart away after their gods. And Solomon held fast to these women in love.

He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods. And his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashteroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

Solomon did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done. Do you notice another recurring word in there? It said his heart. And what did his heart constantly do? It says his heart was turned away. Let me sort of paraphrase that for you. His heart was turned away by distractions, by the things of the world.

And that's what happened to him. He started off so well. And then he found himself completely set apart from God because of his sin. Well, as I was thinking about this, I thought about some of the things that our hearts have a tendency to be divided by. That's great. God wants a wholehearted pursuit of him. He wants us to be wholehearted in our following of him.

But what are some of the things that divide our hearts? And so I made a list of five things. I originally started off with a huge list of things, but I simplified it down to five, five categories. It's not exhaustive. You may come up with something else. But these are five things that I think tend to create division in our hearts. Number one is materialism.

Materialism, the constant desire for things. It's kind of fascinating because we just had Christmas, right? Wednesday was Christmas morning. I hope you got some amazing gifts and probably got some cool stuff. And you would think after Christmas, nobody could even want to shop anymore, right? You did all of the shopping. Shopping, preparing yourself for Christmas.

Then you got some sweet things on Christmas morning that mommy and daddy Claus brought to you, right? And that was amazing. It was an amazing time. And you think, surely everybody's done wanting things. We were in Kansas City for Christmas. We went up there Wednesday night and did our Christmas Thursday morning with my wife's family. And then on Friday had to exchange something that didn't fit right.

And so we went down to the south end of Johnson County and my wife and daughter were going to go into a store. And I was like, that's a terrible idea. There's a roastery cafe. I'm going to drink coffee while you guys do that. And so I went to drop them off at the store. When I went to drop them off, first of all, you couldn't hardly find a parking spot, which

is why I was dropping them off at the store. Second of all, the store had a line coming out of the door that was probably as long as this stage of just people lined up. And when three people came out, three more people could go back in because the store was just so packed full of people. And all I could think was, what do all of these people want? Christmas was two days away.

Christmas was two days ago. Do that many of you not have clothes that fit? Like, do all of you need to make exchanges? No, there was a clearance sale going on in there and everybody wanted more. Why do they want more? Because we're materialistic. And we have been sold the idea that if you just have more, you'll be happy. That if you'll just have the next new thing, you'll be happy.

If you'll just have a little bit of a bigger house, you'll be happy. If you just get a newer truck, you'll be happy. Right? It's the time of the year when there are commercials of people that buy their spouses $80,000 vehicles without talking to their spouse about it. They saddle themselves with six years worth of debt and buy a car that their wife probably

doesn't even like the color of without asking. And their wife goes, yay. Right? Merry Christmas. Little elves hopping through the commercial like, that's not real life. But we're told that's what happiness is. If I could just have a newer truck, I'd be happy. If I could just have the newest style, I'd be happy. If I could just have the newer phone, I could be happy.

What else can a phone do for us? Right? Like, unless that thing makes me dinner, folds my laundry and does my dishes, I don't need a bigger camera. I don't need it to have 72X zoom or whatever it can do. Like, I don't like pictures of myself anyway. And yet we're told, if you want to be happy, you got to have the next new phone. And we're materialistic. And all we can think about is getting that next new thing.

And it fills up all the feeds of everything that we follow. Right? Your Instagram feed's full of commercials. Your Facebook feed's full of commercials. I don't do the TikTok, but I'm sure that's full of commercials. Your YouTube channels are constantly telling you you need the next new thing. And it fills our minds with the idea that happiness comes from the things that we own.

That joy and peace come from the things that we own. And it divides our heart. Because all we want is something new. When I lived in Kansas City, there's a neighborhood just outside of Kansas City. Not outside of Kansas City, it's in that area. It's called Hallbrook. And it was started by the Halls brothers that had Hallmark cards. And a really expensive neighborhood to live in.

And I remember I knew this guy that lived there. And he worked three jobs just so that he could live in Hallbrook. Just so that that could be where he was. And I was like, wow, that's really wild. And it's not like he couldn't afford a house. He just needed the nicer house because that's what made him feel good about himself. Materialism divides our heart from the things of God.

So number one is materialism. Number two is pleasure. Pleasure. There's actually an interesting word for this. That word is hedonism. Which is the pursuit of pleasure in a really unhealthy way. But that idea of pleasure sort of I think is one of the biggest idols in our culture right now. Because we have raised a generation of people to believe that you were put on this earth for one reason and one reason only.

And that is to be entertained. That's the one thing that you need in your life is a little bit of entertainment. You work hard so that you can have things to be entertained. And if you're not being entertained, you should figure out how to get entertained. And if you're not figuring out how to get entertained, then we need to work harder to figure out how we can entertain you.

Because pleasure is the most important thing in your life. That's why sexuality is such a major issue in our culture right now. It's because we are always looking for the next new way for pleasure. And if we can't find it this way of sexuality, then we'll look for this other way of sexuality. If we can't find it in alcohol, we'll find it in drugs. If we can't find it in either, then maybe our lives aren't even worth living because I can't find pleasure any longer.

We're always looking for the next new movie that comes out because we need more entertainment. So many people build their schedules around when the game is going to be. Right? Like what's happening after church today? Nothing because the Chiefs aren't on, right? They played Wednesday. But so many people surround their lives with that. And we believe. We've raised a culture of kids.

That if they're not being entertained, they think something's wrong. Oh no, they're crying. Hand them a phone. Oh no, they're crying. Hand them an iPad. Oh no, they're crying. Make sure they've got a game to play. My wife and I were talking about this on the way up to Kansas City. And it's like, man, do you remember when we used to just have to go figure out what to do?

And we were like, we're bored. And your parents were like, I don't care. Get out. Right? And you had to go find something to do. And you went out and you made up games with like the most random things in the world like stickball or something dumb like that. That's why we played GI Joes all the time. When I was a kid. Because you had to make up your own entertainment.

Because our parents didn't believe that the most important thing for you to be was entertained. That's the culture that we live in. And it becomes always the next new thing that we seek. And that aspect of pleasure divides our heart. Because that was sort of Solomon's problem. Because he was always pursuing more pleasure. If you don't believe me, if you want to know what pleasure ultimately leads you to, read the book of Ecclesiastes.

Because Ecclesiastes is about the emptiness. The emptiness of the pursuit of pleasure. And it divided his heart. So number one is materialism. Number two is pleasure. Number three is relationships. Relationships. Did I skip one? Nope. Okay. Relationships. Now usually we give this talk to teenagers. And I'll do that real quick. You young people out here, I want you to know something.

You can never find all of your joy and peace in a relationship. I promise. You can't. You have to first find it in Jesus. And then you can find it in a person. Because if you don't find it in Jesus, you'll never find it in a person. I had this talk with my daughter the other day. And I said, you know, the fact of the matter is, mom's not the one that ultimately makes me happy.

Jesus makes me happy. She's just a part of my pursuit of Jesus. And I love her with all of my heart. But the fact of the matter is, I have to love Jesus first. And kids, you're being told that if you're not in a relationship, you're less than. That somehow there must be something wrong with you. And I'm here to tell you right now, a relationship is not an end in and of itself to be pursued.

Your relationship with God is what's to be pursued. And God will give you things from there. But so many young people are living today, and they're just, they'll go for any person. I just need to be in a relationship. I just need that. I need that security of a person. And they've made an idol out of it. And sometimes they sacrifice their morals because of it.

And I'm here to tell you right now, kids, you need to understand something. A relationship will never bring you joy. Jesus does that. And then he uses a person. He uses a person to give you everything else that you need in life. Pursue Jesus, and the relationship will take care of itself. But parents, this is not just a lesson for teenagers. We need to understand something.

Our spouse can sometimes take the place that only God deserves. Sometimes our relationship with our husband and wife can end up becoming an idol in our lives, and it becomes something that divides our hearts. You know when it starts to happen? When you no longer pursue the things of God because you're afraid that that might affect your relationship with your spouse.

When you start sacrificing what you know to be right so that you can have happiness in the marriage, pretty soon that marriage becomes your idol. It's the thing that's divided your heart, and you're no longer pursuing God first and foremost. My girls used to always ask me these questions when they were little. I said, Daddy, who do you love more, us or Mommy?

That's what happens when you live in a household of all girls, right? Like, who do you love more, us or Mommy? I'm like, well, I love you guys differently, but Mommy's always got to come first because my relationship with her has to come first because if we're not right, we can't ever be the right parents for you. They seemed satisfied with that, and they said, Who do you love more, Mommy or Jesus?

And I was like, well, I love Jesus more. And they're like, does Mommy know? Yes, Mommy knows. And it has to be that way because if Jesus doesn't come first in my life, if Mom comes before Jesus, then I can't love Mom or you girls the way that I'm supposed to. Jesus has to be the one that comes first. But sometimes in some marriages, I see that Jesus takes second place to the spouse,

and you're willing to sacrifice everything for the happiness of your spouse, not realizing that if you put Jesus first, that will ultimately mean the happiness of your spouse. But you know what happens with kids sometimes, too. Sometimes our relationship with our kids can be that which divides our hearts from God because we put our kids in a place that they're not supposed to be, and we make everything about them. And I hear parents say this, I'm just doing everything for my kids.

And I say, well, then you're doing it wrong. And I know that's a harsh statement, but it's true. If you do everything for your kids, you've taught them a lesson silently. You've taught them everything in life is about them. You've taught them that they are the most important thing in the world. And you know what happens when you grow up thinking you're the most important thing in the world?

You tend to think you're the most important thing in the world. And right now, we have a generation of kids whose parents taught them that they're the most important thing in the world, and they think everybody else should think they're the most important thing in the world. And it's completely out of balance. Parents, your kids are important, but Jesus is importanter, right?

Your kids are important, but Jesus is more important. And you have to put Jesus first and teach your kids that Jesus has to come first. Because if you teach them that Jesus comes first, then they realize that the world does not revolve around them. And that restores the peace. That restores the balance. And so, our hearts can be divided by materialism. Our hearts can be divided by relationships.

Number three, pleasure. Number three, our hearts can be divided by relationships. Number four, image. Our image. How does the world view me? We could also use the word reputation here, right? Like, what do people think of when they think of me? And do they like me? And am I doing things to make other people like me? It is such a big problem. Listen, social media's been a big part of what's created this problem

because it has made your image the most important thing in the world. As a matter of fact, and I take these, I'm not like saying don't do this any longer, but it is kind of interesting that the term that we use for most of what we post on social media is called a selfie, right? Because what's the key word in there? The word is self. So what puts us in the middle of it?

That picture puts us in the middle of everything, right? So our image is the most important. And we always think about what people think about us. Well, what do they think about me right now? Listen, I have news for you. Most people, they're not thinking about you. You just need to know that, right? Even though you're thinking about you all the time, the rest of the world, they're not thinking.

What are the people going to say? Nothing, because they're not paying attention to you, right? They're paying attention to them, just like you're paying attention to you. And that's the thing you have to realize. And so that image can sometimes separate us. We have to regain a proper view of that. I've shared this lots of times. I've probably said it a kajillion times.

I'm going to do it again. I'd like to repeat myself. One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from a football coach named Bobby Bowden. Bobby Bowden started Florida State football, built Florida State football. And when he retired, he did an interview with ESPN. Now, if you want to know who the most liberal reporters are, they work for ESPN, okay? And so he's doing an interview with ESPN,

and they said, talk to us about your reputation. What do you think people are going to say about you? And he looked at them in the way that only that southern guy can. He said, now, boys, right? Like, that's just how they talk. He said, reputation is what people say about you. Character is what God says about you. And I care a whole lot more about my character

than I do my reputation. And they just sat there kind of stunned, right? Because he had the proper understanding of his image. I struggled with this in high school. My image caused me to absolutely change everything about myself in high school. I grew up going to a Christian school and very few people. So I go to the high school, and I don't know very many people.

So I started changing everything about myself. I changed the way I talked. I changed the way I acted. I changed the recreational things I was willing to do on the weekend so that people would like me. And you know what I found? I still wasn't happy. And so one day I said, Lord, I'm sorry that I have sacrificed everything of me to the altar of image. I'm going to come back to you now.

And I've been happy ever since, right? Because you get things lined back up. You get that image lined back up. And that's where it's supposed to be. That image can sometimes divide our hearts. And then number five is career. Sometimes our jobs can divide our hearts. Now listen, you need to understand something. Work is a godly thing. And I like pointing that out in this culture

because work is not always viewed as a good thing in this culture. But it is. It's a godly thing. Our nation was actually built on what's called the Puritan work ethic. And the idea behind the Puritan work ethic is that work is a gift from God. And so it's a good thing, but it has to be held in the right sort of way. It has to be held in the right balance because our hearts can become divided.

And this is how you know when your heart starts being divided between work and Jesus. First of all, your family stops seeing you as much because you're putting in so many hours. And you're not home as much as you used to be. You really don't talk to your kids very much anymore. Your wife knows that you're there because you sleep in the same bed together, but that's about it.

And you miss a lot of dinners, and pretty soon you're just not around very much. And then, you know, your church forgets that you even attend there because it's been so long since you've attended there. And if your family never sees you, and your church never sees you, and then your Bible's probably collecting dust. If those things are happening to you, then I would say that your career has probably divided your heart.

And it's divided between God and your career. And no man can serve two masters, so your career is winning. And you have to restore that balance. When I first graduated from Bible School, Bible College, I didn't make money as a college group leader, college pastor. Unfortunately, as ministers, sometimes we have to work to support our habit. And so I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do.

Am I gonna pursue a secular degree along with this? Which, by the way, if there's anybody in here that wants to go into ministry, do a major, right? Okay, because that's just all that there is to it. That's always my word of advice. So I go to Johnson County Community College, and I go and I sit down and I talk with, like, one of the career counselors there.

Happened to be a Christian. Sidebar, his name was Darwin Logger. Speaking of names that are not good to have as a Christian, right? Like, I'm really a Christian. He's a spy. No. And that was his name. But a wonderful man of God. Counselor up there at Johnson County. So I start telling him what I want to do, and he goes, oh, wow, okay, so we can talk on a different level

than I can with most people. And he said, Ryan, you need to understand something. As Christians, we don't have careers. We have ministries. Sometimes those ministries are paid for by the people of a church, and they take place within the four walls of the church. But for the most part, those ministries are funded by secular careers, but it's still a ministry.

And whatever you do, view it like that. And I've never viewed work the same way since. I've always viewed it as a ministry. And I'm here to tell you right now, if I ever lose that balance, if I ever stop viewing work as a ministry, then I would always get out of balance with everything that I was doing, and I would end up becoming someone whose heart would be divided with the stress over work and Jesus.

And so you always have to maintain that idea that you don't have a career, you have a ministry. And so as we look at these things, these things tend to divide our hearts between God and these things. And so as we've looked at the theme of wholeheartedness throughout Scripture, we've seen the things that divide our hearts. As we kind of start to wrap this thing up, I want to look at the action.

So what are we supposed to do? How do we become people whose hearts are not divided any longer? Well, I think that there's three things that we need to do. Number one is we need to identify the problem. We need to identify the problem. I'm gonna read a passage of Scripture to you. Just write that down. You don't have to turn there. It's out of Psalm 139. It says,

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. And see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. Now, sometimes we can sit down and we can examine our lives and we can see where our hearts are divided. I can see, you know what, that's an issue for me. Like I see the pleasure is a problem for me. I see that relationships are dividing my heart.

Sometimes we can do that because it's just so blatantly clear that a Mack truck would be more subtle, right? And so sometimes that's easy to see. But for most of us, we have a hard time self-diagnosing because sometimes we have blind spots. Now, fellas, I'm gonna reveal something about us here. We're not good at going to doctors. Can we all agree with that?

Can we all agree that no man ever wants to go to the doctor? My wife has actually threatened to call and make the appointment for me because when I've had things, I'm like, I'm fine, I probably have this. Like I use Google MD. And I'm like, oh, look, I've got this. I'm just gonna mix this vitamin into my shake and that ought to take care of it. She's like, I'm calling the doctor for you, right?

Because sometimes we have to go because as much as we think we know, we don't always see everything. You know what the most important thing is when you go see a doctor? Is you have to be honest, right? I had a physical about a year or so ago, probably almost time for me to do that again. And had this physical and they go in and ask you questions. And I'm an open book with the doctor, right?

I don't mind telling them things. And he's like, how's the exercise? I'm like, it's great. Run three or four days a week, lift two or three days a week. Exercise is doing great. He's like, how's your diet? I'm like, well, now's where we've got a problem, right? And so I started running through the issues that I have to say, ooh, that is, yeah, you should work on that.

That's probably something you should improve upon. But I have to be honest with him. I can't go in there and not tell him the truth because if I don't tell him the truth, he can't tell me what's wrong with me. And that's the way it is with us diagnosing things like this in our lives. If we're going to identify the problem, we need to go to God and we need to be really blatantly honest with him.

Is that clear? And we need to share with him what's really going on. And one of the best ways to do that is to get into this, get into his word, and let his word act like a two-edged sword, is what it tells us, that separates between the bone and the marrow and shows us where our heart is divided. So the first thing that we need to do is we need to identify the problem.

The second thing that we need to do is we need to repent. Repent means to turn around and go the other way. So if sin's over here, I've got to now go over here. I can't keep pursuing this. Otherwise, I'm still half-hearted in my pursuit of God. I've got to repent. Let me read to you a passage out of Joel, chapter 2, verses 12 through 14. It says, Now therefore, says the Lord,

turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. So rend your heart and not your garment. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind. We have to repent. And listen, repentance is not something

that you do just when you come to Jesus. Repentance is a lifestyle that you live. I'm gonna read a little section of an article to you from a commentary that I read, again by Lloyd Ogilvie. He said, Repentance is not a once-done art, but the continual, daily, hourly response to the grace of God. As Spurgeon put it, Repentance is not a thing of days and weeks

to be gotten over as fast as possible. It's the grace of a lifetime, like faith itself. Our initial act of repentance must be followed by constantly returning to the Lord. A change of mind is required from pride to praise, from self-sufficiency to self-surrender, from willfulness to willingness. Recently I had completed a message on repentance at a conference.

The man said, Dr. Ogilvie, I did that when I was a teenager. Now do you have anything to say to advanced Christians? I said, yes. You need to repent. We never outgrow the need. In every situation, relationship, and challenge, there's a constant need to turn to the Lord for guidance and power. The man's question brought to mind a woman who disliked printed prayers of repentance

in the worship bulletin. She said, Repentance is for evangelistic services, not for believers. It's for sinners. The prayer you had us pray today is like stirring up the dust on the old sawdust trail. What do you have to say to that? You need to repent, I replied. Of what, the woman asked? Of self-righteousness. And pride. I said, going on to tell the woman

that repentance, returning to the Lord, is not only the key to beginning the Christian life, but the secret to receiving daily strength and courage. Friends, repentance isn't something that you do one time. It's something that you do over and over again. The day that you came to Jesus, you repented of your sins. But every day since then, hopefully you have repented of your sins.

Because every day something new comes up. Every day there's a new issue, and it needs to be repented of. And so number one, we identify the problem. Number two, we repent. And then number three, we seek the Lord. Go back to Hosea chapter 10. Hosea chapter 10. Maybe you don't have to, but if you want to, go back to Hosea chapter 10. We're going to look down at verse 12.

Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 says this. Sow with a view to righteousness. Reap in accordance with kindness. Break up your fallow ground, for it's time to seek the Lord until he comes to rain righteousness on you. Listen, the reason you were put on this earth, the reason you were created, is to know God. Therefore, repent of what's keeping you from knowing God,

and get back to the purpose that you were created for, which is knowing your Savior. Seek him every day. How do you seek the Lord? Well, it starts off with seeking him in his word, then you seek him in prayer, and then you seek him in every other aspect of your life. Jump onto this Bible reading plan with us this year. Do as much or as little as you want to,

but be in God's word every single day, and see what God has to say to you, because as you seek the Lord, that's wholehearted pursuit of him. And as you wholeheartedly pursue him, he begins to change the fabric of who you are. So, identify the issues in your life, repent of those issues, and then begin to seek the Lord wholeheartedly. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the time that we were able to have in your word. And Lord, I thank you for the working of your Holy Spirit. And so, Lord, I want to lift up each one of us in this room right now, because what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that if we were all to let down the walls, if we were all to really be honest, if we were all to set aside our pride for just a moment, every person in this room would have faith.

And I have to say, I struggle with a divided heart. And Father, your word makes it very clear how you feel about that. When your word says, I just want you to be one way or the other, and I'm knocking, and I just want to come in. So, Lord, for each person that's here this morning, may they let down those walls with you, and may they repent of the areas of the divided heart.

Lord, I feel in my spirit that there's someone in here that has, that's living a double life, that wants to say the right things when people are looking. But, Lord, when the right people aren't around, they act just like the world around them. Lord, I feel in my spirit that there's some people in here that have never really made a commitment to you. They know the right words.

They know how to go to church. They maybe even know some of the Bible. They've maybe even taught a Sunday school class. But it's never been a true commitment to you. And today's the day for that to happen. And so, Lord, I lift up the hearts of each person that's in here and the hearts of each one that's watching online. And, Lord, may you grant us that repentance.

Father, we want to leave the old behind in this year and walk on in the new in 2025. And so, Lord, may we set aside that which is behind, and may we follow you with all of our hearts. Lord, I thank you for the time that we've been here, and I pray that you would continue your good work in us. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. This darkness you give. When we leave here today, I just pray that your Holy Spirit go with us.

Lord, it is you that gives us each day. You're the one that causes us to wake up in the mornings. You're the one that gives us our next heartbeat. So, Lord, let us use our lives to glorify you, to lift praise to you and return it to you. Continue working in our lives as we leave here today. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week.

Happy New Year.