All right, good morning. It's good to see you guys. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. You guys have a wonderful new year, too. I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel and invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day. Lord, we just thank you for another opportunity to be here, Lord God, to spend some time in your word and lift a sweet, joyful noise to you, Lord. Lord, I just ask that you would soften our hearts this morning, Lord. Give us hearts to receive your word and help us to lift a joyful noise. And we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

Go ahead and have a seat if you'd like. All I see is the battle. You see my victory.

And all I see is a mountain. You see a mountain. Through the shadow, your love surrounds me.

There's nothing to fear now, for I am safe with you.

So let the battle be lost. Yes, Lord God, we just thank you for in you, Lord. There is victory. The battle is already.

Last darkness.

Your grace, that's mine today. Jesus Christ, your spirit will fix me. I say that it is. We continue on. And just, and just praise you, Lord God. I want to tell you how much we love you, Lord, for what you've done for us, for what you are doing in our lives right now, Lord, the works that you're doing in our lives currently. But we also want to praise you for what you're going to do.

Lord, we know that you're coming back. You're coming back again soon, Lord, patiently. We live expectantly of your return, Lord. And we know that when you return. You're coming back. And we know that you're coming back. You're coming back. You're coming back in victory, in glory. And so, Lord, we look forward to that day. And, Lord, we praise you for what you're going to do.

Amen. Cast my mind to Calvary when Jesus bled and died for me. I see his wounds, his hands, his feet. My Savior on. at 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 we cast our minds or fix our thoughts just go ahead and stand with me for this last one peace like a river wash over me immerse me in water as deep as the sea peace like a river

wash over me as i worship your majesty i worship your whole is my everything i would just invite your holy spirit upon this place this morning lord you are a mighty god you do big and mighty lord we just ask that you come in here this morning come into our hearts and do a big and mighty work may chains be broken this morning may new life begin may hardened hearts be softened may restoration happen the lord god as pastor ryan comes this morning just pray that you would speak mightily through him lord god give him the words to speak and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive we pray these things in your precious and holy name all god's people said amen let's take some time and greet one another good morning if you could begin to pray

to locate your seat grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements i can tell it was a holiday week because that's the fastest all of you have quieted down in the entire time i've been the pastor here i think so everybody's on the we ate way too much and it's time to relax welcome to calvary chapel i'm glad that you're here this morning a handful of things to take note of um just for again for this week with it being new year's week all studies are canceled this week so uh enjoy uh your life and your life and your life and your life and your life and beauty is Taher t

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh It will be published on both Facebook and Instagram as well. So join us in that. I hope that everybody enjoys a great new year. So for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 29. Psalm 29. Looking at the New American Standard for this part so that we all sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, 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 water. 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 shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve and strips the forest bare. And in His temple everything says glory. The Lord sat at the king as its 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 so, Father, we do want to give to you the glory that's due to Your name. Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the giver and sustainer of life, and the God who saw fit. And so, Lord, we praise You for who You are. And so, as we spend time in Your Word this morning, I ask that You would move in our hearts by the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Father, we need to hear from You this morning. Because apart from You, these are just words on a page. But, Lord, with the power of Your Holy Spirit, it's the very Word of God spoken to us. And so, Lord, give us ears to hear, hearts to perceive, and minds to take in everything that You have to say this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 10.

Hosea chapter 10.

The last Sunday of 2024. We've almost made it. We've almost made it through another year. And I always like to take a little time. I think it's good to take a little time at the end of the year to sort of reflect on the year, reflect on what has been good, reflect on what has been bad, reflect on some things that need to change, and then set a course for what we think that the new year should look like.

Maybe a vision, maybe a goal for the new year. I don't know if you're one of those people that sets New Year's resolutions. I don't know if you're somebody that sets. I always set spiritual goals for myself. But to quote a good friend of mine, some of those goals just can't be achieved in one year. But it's always good to kind of say, this is what I would like to see happen in the new year.

And so as I was thinking about that, a message that I've actually done before, it's been quite a while since I've done it here. I think it was 2015 the last time that I did this message here. But this message came to mind because it's what I really felt like God was telling me that I think we as the church need to really focus on this next year. And it has to do with a wholehearted, an undivided heart.

And so I've entitled the message, I've always hated long division because I have. I didn't like school growing up. I actually kind of hated going to school growing up. And you know, most kindergartners are like, I like school. I was never one of those. And so, and I remember when our teachers introduced long division, and I was like, what are we even doing here?

Like, none of this makes sense to me, and I didn't think I was ever going to get it. And you will be glad to know that God hates division as well. He doesn't hate the division of numbers, but he hates the division of hearts. And that's kind of what we want to talk about this morning. And so I want to read to us just a short little passage of scripture out of Hosea.

But before I do so, I'd like to give you a little bit of background on the book of Hosea, because I think it will help paint the picture for this little piece of scripture that I'm going to read to you. Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom around the same time as Isaiah and Amos. He was a prophet to the northern kingdom at that point in time. And God gave him an interesting task, a difficult task to perform, because God was going to use him as an illustration of the nation of Israel.

The very beginning of the book of Hosea, God tells Hosea, I want you to marry a woman who you know is going to cheat on you. A woman who you know is going to be unfaithful to you. And I want you to marry that woman, and I want you to deal with the consequences of it, because it's going to be a picture. And so he marries this woman. Her name is Gomer. And they start having kids, right?

And so the names of their kids are very interesting, because it kind of tells the story of the nation of Israel. They have one child. They name it Jezreel. That's what God tells them. That's what God tells them to name this child. Name this child Jezreel. And that name Jezreel means cast away. The second child came along, and that child's name was, and I always screw this up, so I'm going to do the best I can,

Loruhamah. I don't even know if that's how you really say it, but that's how I pronounce it. And that name means not pitied. God would have no pity on the nation of Israel because of their sin. And then the last child was named Loami, not my people. You are not my people. You are not my people. You are not my people. You are not my people, and I won't be your God.

And it kind of tells the story of the nation of Israel at that point in time. The nation of Israel was going to be cast away because God would no longer have pity on them because they were really no longer his people, because they didn't look like his people any longer. They weren't acting like his people any longer, and those were the kids that they had. And so Hosea has this wife, and they have these three kids together, but Hosea starts to take note of something.

Gomer seems to last a little bit longer at the moment, a little bit longer than she used to. It takes a little bit longer to come home. All of a sudden, her affection for him seems a little bit different than it used to be. She just doesn't seem like she's kind of lost that love and feeling, you know? Like it just doesn't seem the same as it used to be. And then, of course, when that last child was born, not my people,

many scholars wonder if that one maybe didn't really belong to him, and he kind of said, that one's not mine. Because he realized that she had begun to commit adultery. Only it was even worse than that. It wasn't just adultery that she was committing. She was actually selling herself to other men. And God said, now I need you to let her go. I need you to let her go,

because that's exactly what I'm going to do with my people. Because while she is committing physical adultery, my people are committing spiritual adultery. And the spiritual adultery that they're committing is with other gods. They have given themselves to other gods. Now, before I get to this section, I want to give you the happy ending of Hosea, because after Hosea's wife, after he lets her go,

and she goes and does her own, pretty soon the men don't really want her anymore, because she's not the hot new thing. And after a time, she finds herself broken, and literally broke. God tells Hosea, now I want you to do something really interesting. 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 like she's your own, because that's what I'm going to do with my people. Because that's what God always does with us. God is always calling us back to himself. And that's kind of what God does here in Hosea chapter 10. I want to read to you verses 1 and 2. It says, What does that mean? It means that Israel had become very prosperous in the material world,

but they had thought that their prosper came from, not only them, but from the idols that they worshipped. But lest they find themselves not following God, as they worshipped their idols, they used their wealth to also build bigger altars to God. You see, they had a divided heart. And that's exactly what it says in verse 2. It says, Their heart is faithless, and now they must bear their guilt.

The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars. That word, faithless, can also be translated divided. So if you read it in the New King James, it says their heart has been divided. And that's what was taking place with the nation of Israel. They had this divided heart. That word divided literally means smooth or smooth talking. We have all heard of somebody that's a smooth talker.

They don't really present who they really are. But the idea behind that word is that they are deceitful, that they are false. The idea is to divide one's self, and give a portion to another. We have a fancy word for that in our culture. It's called multitasking, right? We want everything in our culture to multitask, right? We want our phones to multitask. We want our computers to multitask.

We want our workers to multitask. And we think that we should be able to multitask. Only the problem is no one can really multitask. Have you ever noticed that? Now, everybody, women are always like, no, we can multitask. No, you can't. And listen, you can get mad at me. But you can't really multitask, okay? That's just all that there is to it. I gave this message at ACCO one time

on an age-appropriate level, and I had one of the moms come up to me afterwards and says, I can't do multitask. I'm like, okay, whatever. You believe what you want to. But none of us are very good at it. Why? Because what happens when we multitask? We don't give 100% of ourselves to anything. And that's a problem. And while it's wonderful that my phone can do that,

God does not want our hearts to do that. He doesn't want us to do that. He doesn't want us to do that. He doesn't want us to do that. He doesn't want us to do that. He doesn't want us to do that. He doesn't want us to be multitaskers. He wants us to be completely and totally focused upon him. One of the commentaries that I was reading by a guy named Lloyd J. Ogilvie on this

is called the Preaching the Word Commentary. He told a story about a pastor who preached a sermon. And this pastor's name was Arthur J. Gossip. Sidebar, can you imagine a worse name for a pastor than Gossip, right? Like, you know that guy had to kind of fight for every job he ever had. What's his name? Gossip. I got a bad feeling about this. Anyway, he preached this message.

It was called The Thing That Christ Hates the Most. And it was all about a divided heart. The thing that Christ hates the most is a divided heart in his people. And this is a line out of Ogilvie's commentary. It says, Gossip said that the call for wholeheartedness is like a haunting theme in some intricate piece of music that keeps recurring over and over. And it's fascinating because when you read through Scripture,

that theme comes up a lot. As a matter of fact, especially in the Old Testament, it comes up an incredible amount that God hates divided hearts. He wants 100% of us. And so what I've done is I've gone through a few passages of Scripture. We're gonna take a quick little journey through the Bible in four different Scriptures that tell this story of this theme

of an undivided heart that God is looking for in all of us. So hold your finger here. Put something here because we're gonna come back here eventually and go over to, I better put a bookmark here, and go over to Genesis chapter two. Genesis chapter two.

You ever notice how much we go back to Genesis? It's almost like it's the beginning of everything. That's a terrible joke. Genesis chapter two. I want you to look at verses 16 and 17. I'll give you a second to turn there.

I gave myself a test last night. I went back through and listened to this previous message that I had done before and I waited to see if I could get to the Scriptures in the amount of time that I gave myself and a couple of times I couldn't. And so I was like, okay, I gotta give them more time. So Genesis chapter two, verses 16 and 17. It says, The Lord commanded the man saying,

From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die. Now, God does something very interesting. It's very interesting in the very beginning. Adam is perfect right now. No sin, he's clothed in the righteousness of God and yet while he's in this garden

in this completely perfect place, God gives him one rule and that one rule is you can't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I have people ask me sometimes, why did God create sin? And I tell them, God did not create sin. God created choice. God created free will. That's what God has given to all of us and that's what God gave to Adam. And the reason why he gave Adam free will

is because he did not want robotic love from Adam. He did not want robotic devotedness from Adam. He wanted it to be a choice that he made and so in order for it to be a choice he gave him free will and then he gave him a choice. Because at the end of the day, nobody wants robotic love. Can you imagine? Like you find that person, you're like, hey, that's a pretty attractive person.

They have a great personality. How do I find the like me button on them, right? And you, oh, back of the head, you push the like me button and immediately they go, you're the greatest thing I've ever seen. You're the most attractive person I've ever met. I think everything that you say is funny. I love you with all of my heart, right? Like the first two weeks,

that might be the greatest thing you've ever heard in your life, right? Like it might be the most amazing thing. Like, oh, they love everything I do. They think everything I say is funny. I love to be loved. I love for people to think I'm funny. But at the end of the day, you're kind of like, but they're only doing that because I pushed a button. Not because it's who they really are.

Not because it's what they really want. And that's why God, when he created man, he created us, he created us with that free will. So that when Adam chose to obey God, it was out of his desire to obey God, not out of a robotic obedience. Because God had a desire from the very beginning that man would have a wholehearted commitment to God. Well, as we move on from there,

of course we know that Adam didn't keep up with that. And so we move on from there and we go over to the book of Deuteronomy. Go to Deuteronomy chapter six, over to your right. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And I want you to look at verses four and five. Deuteronomy chapter six, verses four and five. It says this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one with God,

the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your might. So as God gives them his rules, as God gives them his regulations, he kind of gets down to the central thing that God wants for man, that God wants for the nation of Israel and really for all of us, and that's wholehearted commitment. Because he says, I want you to love me with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might, right?

There's a complete giving over of oneself to God than that full commitment that he wants for us. It's sort of like a marriage relationship, right? Like when you devote yourself to that one person, it's complete devotion. They want all of your heart. It can't be like, well, I'm gonna love you on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the other days, I'm gonna love this person.

Or I'm gonna give you this part of my day, but not this part. No, they want 100% of you. Again, I gave this message about a year ago at Argo City Christian Academy, and I was sharing with them about this and trying to create an illustration that they can understand, and there were some teenagers in the room, and I said, now imagine, if you will, that one of these teenagers over here, you know, they get to where they find that special friend, right, that's, when I was a youth pastor, that's what I called a dating relationship. I called them special friends.

And I said, they find that person, that's their special friend, and oh, that person feels the exact same way about them, and about a month later, while they've got this special friend, they found someone else that maybe, maybe they want that person to be their special friend, too. And so they have this special friend, but they're also trying to have this special friend. And I said, you know what, you call that, and this little kid shouts out from the audience, multitasking, and I'm like, that's exactly what it is. Not the word I was looking for, but that's way better than the word that I was looking for.

That's multitasking. But that's not what God wants from us. He doesn't want our heart divided between Him and something else. Just like your spouse doesn't want your heart divided between them and some other person. He wants that wholehearted commitment. Now lest we think that this is just an old covenant idea, I want you to go over to the book of Matthew. I want you to look at Matthew chapter six.

Matthew chapter six. And I want you to look at verse 24. Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six, verse 24. It says, 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. You will always ultimately have only one that you will completely devote yourselves to.

It's kind of like dogs. We've owned several dogs over the years. And I always say that there was only one dog that was ever my dog and that was Beck until we got Carl. And currently we own two dogs, right? Macy and Carl. And Macy is the girls' dog. Like she will always choose my wife first and then the girls right after that. But she's the girls' dog. And then we got Carl.

And Carl is my dog, right? And Carl's just his own vibe. Right? Like he's just a crazy dog that runs around and chases his tail and throws things up in the air and ultimately loses them and keeps chasing them. And that dumb dog is my dog, right? He's like, I like that guy. And it doesn't matter what anybody else says to Carl. He's going where I'm going. And if I get off the couch and he's in a dead sleep,

that dog is following me. If one of the girls says, Carl, he looks at me and he's like, I mean, I'm here for you, right? And he comes to me, right? Because he is my dog. He can only have one. One master. And that's true of every single dog. Every animal can only have one master. And that's who they will ultimately obey no matter what. And that's how you and I are supposed to be

because no one can serve two. No one can serve two masters. You may think to yourself, oh, I can keep a little side stand over here. I can keep a little stuff over here. And I can still serve God. No, you can't because ultimately, you will have to choose one or the other because you will either hate the one and love the other or you will cling to the one and despise the other.

But you can't. You can't serve both. There's one more place I want you to go in Scripture. I want you to go to Revelation. I want you to go to Revelation chapter three. I want you to look at verse 14. Revelation 3, 14. The chapters two and three of Revelation are the letters to the seven churches that as Jesus is doing the unveiling of things to come, he first of all addresses churches.

And one of the churches that he addresses is the church of Israel. The church of Laodicea. So starting in chapter three, verse 14, it says this. Now to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, 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 neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out. I will spit you out of my mouth. God is very clear with this Laodicean church, the problem that they have. They're neither cold nor hot. If you will, they have a divided heart. He says, I wish you were one or the other. But because you're not one or the other,

because you have a divided heart, I am going to have to spew you out of my mouth. I'm gonna have to vomit you out of my mouth. And it's kind of interesting, because if you jump down a few verses you come to verse 20. And Revelation 3, 20 says, behold, I stand at the door, and knock. And if anyone hears my voice and will open the door, I will come in to him and I will dine with him, right?

I will come in and have fellowship and communion with him. Now, I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, that was always given to me as a salvation verse, that God is at the door of every sinner's heart and he's knocking. And if anyone will open the door, then he will come in and he will make his home in there and he will dine with him. Only that's not the context of that verse.

That verse isn't written to an unsaved world. That verse is written to a church, a church with a divided heart, a church with a divided heart who has sort of put God outside and said, it's great that you're here, but we'd prefer if you were outside because you kind of make everybody uncomfortable on the inside. You're kind of making everybody uncomfortable in here. And so God says, behold, I stand at the door and knock because I want you to let me back in because you have a divided heart because God will not stay any place.

He's not wanted. And if you choose something, he will say, that's fine. Just know, I can't go with you. I can't be with you in this. And God is very serious about this. There's one really good illustration I would like to give to you and that's the best example in scripture of a divided heart. You can choose to turn here with me or not. It's over in 1 Kings and it's the story of Solomon.

1 Kings chapter 11, verses one through six. It tells the story of what could have been one of the greatest kings in the world. It could have been one of the greatest kings of Israel, Solomon. Of course, the nation of Israel requested a king and so God, first of all, gave them the king that they thought they wanted, which was Saul, a great big tall guy who looked like a king and came from the right family.

Then God gave them the king that they needed, which was David, who, though he had his share of issues, was a man after God's own heart because no matter how much he stumbled into the things of sin, he always came back to God. His heart was always to pursue God, even though sometimes he got distracted, he always came back. And so, and so, and so David has a son whose name is Solomon and Solomon starts off so well. God appears to Solomon in a dream and he says, hey, listen, I'm gonna give you anything you want.

You can ask for wealth, you can ask for the lives of your enemies, you name it, it's yours because I loved your dad so much. I just want you to be blessed and so you ask me for whatever you want. And Solomon says, oh Lord, I'm young, I don't know how to go out, I don't know how to come in. I need you to give me wisdom to know how to govern this great people and God says, oh, that's such a beautiful thing to ask for.

I'm gonna give you wisdom. And not only am I gonna give you wisdom, I'm gonna give you all the things you didn't ask for because I'm just so pleased at what you asked for. And so Solomon goes on to build this amazing palace and he goes on to build the temple and as we've said before, that institution of the temple is one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible and everything is going great for Solomon until you come to chapter 11. And 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 in love and 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 Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites and Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done. Did you notice the recurring theme in that section of Scripture?

They turned away his heart, his heart turned away. Almost like that's the most important thing that you have to pay attention to is what is your heart devoted to? Because though Solomon had done so many great things, though he had had this amazing dedication of the temple, he had an amazing experience with God, he had one problem. He did not follow God wholeheartedly.

His heart became divided between God and women. And because of that, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. And his heart pursued all of the other idols because what he thought would be something innocent became the thing that turned his heart after other things.

And so we see this theme, this kind of silent theme run all the way through the pages of Scripture that what God desires for us is wholehearted devotion. And what he hates the most is a divided heart. And so as I like to do, I started sitting down to write out what are the things that God wants me to do? What are the things that divide our heart? What are the things that pull us away from God?

And so I started making this long list. Now, first time I made this list was a really long time ago. Second time I made it is I taught this last year. And I tried to make a new list and I found that the same things kind of popped up. Almost like there's nothing new under the sun. Almost like the same problems that we had 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 5,000 years ago

are the same problems that we have today because of the flesh. And so what I've done is I've put these into five different categories. I'm not saying it's an exhaustive list, but I do think these are five main categories that we can put divisions of our heart into the things that divide our heart. Number one, I think the first thing that divides our heart is materialism.

Materialism, the constant need for more. The constant need for things. Now, we just finished Christmas, right? You probably got some great gifts for Christmas. Probably got some cool things. And it's kind of fascinating how just because you receive something great on Christmas doesn't mean that you don't still want more, right? We were in Kansas City for Christmas

and so we drove up there Wednesday evening and did Christmas on Thursday and then the next day had to go exchange something. And you always think to yourself, surely the stores will be empty right after Christmas, right? All of the Christmas shopping is done. People have just gotten all new things. Surely the store is gonna be empty. And so I went to drop my wife and daughter off.

I went to drop them off at one store because there was a roastery cafe right down the road and I was like, drinking coffee sounds way better than going in that store. And so I went to go drop them off and the line for this store, because they were having some sort of clearance event, went out of the door and down the sidewalk, probably from that end of the stage to the other end of the stage outside of the store. And if three people left the store, they let three more people in the store. And I thought, how can that be?

Christmas was two days ago. How do we need more stuff? Because that's who we are as people. We have been sold the lie that more stuff will make us happy. That if you just have the next new thing, it will make us happy. That's why we come out with a new phone every six months, right? It's because surely the next thing is going to make us happy. And quite frankly, unless that phone does the laundry,

the dishes and cooks me dinner, I don't need a better camera, right? I don't like pictures of myself anyway. So why would I need a new camera on my phone? But we always complain. We come out with something new. Why? Because they have convinced you this will make you happy. This new pickup truck is what's really going to make you happy, right? We just had the time with all the commercials

of some psycho showing up to give his wife a brand new car that he didn't even talk to her about. He's like, hey, I'm going to buy you an $80,000 vehicle, not talk to you about it. Saddle us with debt for the next six years. Don't even know if you like it, but Merry Christmas, right? And then there's that crazy commercial where the guy buys two trucks. Well, a truck and an SUV, and he comes home,

and he thinks he's getting the truck, and the wife goes, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, and takes the one that he wants, right? Why? Because we're told, if you just have this next new thing, you're going to be happy. And it becomes an obsession for people. I'm sure that you're constantly getting ads that pop up in your social media pages and your YouTube channels

and even on the Netflix, and you name it. All these ads pop up, and it makes you, it creates within you this thought, that I need the next new thing. I need something new in order to be happy. And the fact of the matter is, you can have all the new stuff in the world. It won't make you happy. It won't bring joy to your life. And no matter how many movies we watch

about the fact that at Christmastime, what really makes you happy is the people closest to you, we still think things are what are going to make us happy. And people completely change their lives so that they can pursue the things of the world in order to be happy. I remember when I lived in Johnson County, there's a neighborhood up there called Hallbrook. The Halls Brothers started it, the one that started Hallmark.

And it's an elite neighborhood in the Kansas City area. And I remember talking to somebody who worked multiple jobs just so that he could live in Hallbrook, just so that his family could live in Hallbrook, so that he could say he lives in Hallbrook. And I thought, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Why on earth would you, I mean, you can't even enjoy your house.

You're just working all the time. In order to live in this place. And it's such a sad thing, but that's who we are as people, and it divides our hearts. Unless we think it's just the rich people up in Johnson County that do that. Listen, I know what it's like here. I know how people are here. And we think if we just have this next new thing, everything's going to make us happy.

And it won't. The only thing that makes you happy is Jesus. But our hearts get divided. And all of a sudden, all we can think about is this next new thing. All we can think about is this next new stuff. And that ultimately, really robs us of our joy. I think one of the things that's done that to us the most, again, is social media. Because it shows us what other people have,

and it makes me go, well, what I have isn't enough. But that materialism tends to divide our heart. The second thing that divides our heart, and I think is one of the biggest idols in our culture today, is pleasure. Pleasure. There's a fancy word for this, it's called hedonism. That is the pursuit of pleasure. In a God-like fashion, where it almost becomes your God.

As a quick sidebar, these topics that I'm giving to you, I also read in a book called Set Apart, calling a worldly church to a godly life. And if you are looking for a good book to kind of reset your mind going into 2025, it's by R. Kent Hughes. I would highly recommend that book, because he really goes into these things in detail and talks about how the church, looks way too much like the culture, because we look at the culture and say, how can they be like this when really we act just like this too?

But the second thing is pleasure. Do you know that the entertainment industry is one of the largest industries in the world? And it's not just the entertainment industry, sometimes the very grotesque entertainment industry is one of the largest industries in the world. You know why? Because we're always looking for something to entertain us. We always want to please us.

And pleasure has become an end in and to itself. That's what we pursue. That's what we seek, is that pleasure, that entertainment. That's why we have an entire world that's so focused on sexuality, is because they've been taught that that's an end unto itself, is you need to pursue that pleasure. That's why everybody's going to be a pro athlete, because they want to be an entertainer

so that everybody can find pleasure in what they do. It's a wild world that we live in right now when it comes to this pursuit of pleasure, and it's become a reality. It's become one of the greatest gods that we have. And we have tried to find every way that we can to not work so that ultimately we can pursue pleasure. And it's destroying our world. Because we are raising a generation of people

who think that their one goal in life is to be entertained. That their one goal in life is to be constantly entertained. My wife and I were talking about this the other day. We were talking about the fact that things were just a little different when we grew up. Like we didn't have all of the phones and the gaming systems and all that kind of stuff. You just had to kind of find a way to entertain yourself.

Only it was really good because it made you more creative, made you think just a little bit more, made you a little bit tougher, and it kind of made you learn a little bit more about life. Because you had to. And now we've taught kids, if you're not constantly being entertained, something's wrong. A quick cry, let me hand you this phone. Oh, they're sad? Give them a new toy.

And we're constantly giving them something new. And we've told them the most important thing you can do is to be entertained. And now it's become the god of the culture. And because it's become the god of the culture, we're watching a generation be destroyed. And it's not just kids that are doing it. It's adults too. I watch it happen every day. And so we see that not only is it materialism,

not only is it pleasure or hedonism, the third thing that I've written down is relationships. Relationships. Now, I'm gonna first go to the place everybody goes with this and talk to you young kids out here and tell you that sometimes relationships can become a god in your life. You can get so focused on, and again our culture I think does this to us a little bit right now, if you're not in a relationship, there must be something wrong with you, right?

You can't get anybody to like you or maybe somebody doesn't like you and all of your worth is tied up in a relationship. All of your joy is tied up in a relationship and all of your life is tied up in a relationship. And if you're not in one, you're seeking to be in one. And if you're in a relationship, that's all you can think about. And all of your life is sacrificed

at the altar of this relationship. And kids, I'm here to tell you right now, if you can't be happy in Jesus, you will never be happy in a relationship. If Jesus is not it for you, then no one will ever be it for you. Because that relationship can never be happy and that relationship can never be your God because that relationship can never bring you joy. It can only be there

to help you be drawn closer to the one who ultimately brings you the most joy and that's Jesus. And so kids, don't pursue a relationship just to have a relationship. Pursue Jesus and let him provide you with somebody who you can be in a relationship with. But now parents, I'm gonna start talking to you. Because that's not just a lesson for kids. Kids are not the only ones

who can make a relationship an idol. Because sometimes we can do it with our marriages. Because pretty soon our hearts get divided between Jesus and our spouse. Because we won't take the strong stand on what really needs to happen within the home because we give in a little bit to make our spouse happy. And even though we know God doesn't approve of what we're doing,

even though we know that God doesn't approve of the way that things are happening in our home, it keeps the house happy and so I'm willing to do it because my relationship is the most important thing. And listen, Jesus has to always be the most important thing. When my girls were little, they used to ask me questions like this. They would say, Daddy, who do you love more, us or Mommy?

And I'm like, that's what happens when you live in a house full of girls. I'm like, well, you know, I love you guys differently. But ultimately, you know, Mommy's my number one. So it's a different love, but probably Mommy would, you know, win out in that situation. And then they say, who do you love more, Jesus or Mommy? And I said, well, I love Jesus more.

And they're like, does Mommy know? Yes, Mom knows that I love Jesus more. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, if I don't love Jesus the most, I can't love Mom the way that she's supposed to be loved, and I can't love you the way that you're supposed to be loved because all of my order in life is off. Because it has to be Jesus first, and then everything else flows from that relationship with Jesus Christ.

But we don't always view it that way. We don't always look at it that way. We sometimes put relationships first in Jesus over here. And what we have to realize is that if we put Jesus first, all the other relationships take care of themselves. But sometimes those relationships divide our hearts. And you know what? It's not just spouses that do this to us. Sometimes it's kids.

I watch this happen over and over again. And listen, this isn't just a message for everybody else. This is a message for this church too. I watch parents make their kids the most important thing in their life. And you know what that teaches kids? That teaches kids you're the most important thing in everyone's life. And they grow up thinking everything is about me.

And right now, we have an entire generation being raised that are being taught that everything is about them. And because they think everything is about them, they are shocked when everything's not about them. And they don't know how to adjust to life. And I'm here to tell you right now, it's okay to say no. It's okay to not make that decision. It's okay to not make them the number one priority in your life.

It's okay to put your marriage above your kids. And it's definitely okay to put Jesus above both. Because if that line of thinking isn't correct, then nothing will ever be correct. Don't make your kids your idols. And so, the things that divide our hearts, number one, materialism. Number two, pleasure. Number three, relationships. Number four, image. Image.

The image that we put out to everybody else. We could also throw another word on that. We call it reputation. Your image or your reputation. How do other people view you? I watch this happen over and over again. In my own life, I think, I've got to make sure I put the right image out there. I've got to make sure that people look at me and think the right thing.

I've got to make sure that people like me, that people want to be around me, that I do everything proper for my image and my reputation. And at the end of the day, those things don't really matter. But again, this is one of the things that social media has done to us in our culture today, is it has made your image the most important thing in the world. Now listen, I'm not against taking selfies.

I take them all the time. But I'm here to tell you right now, that phrase, selfie, is kind of what's wrong with our culture right now. It's because we think everybody's looking at us. And I've got news for you. Nobody's looking at you. I think that's one of the biggest things I've had to learn in life. It's like, hey, oh no, I'm going to look stupid. It's okay.

Nobody's paying attention to you anyway. Don't worry about it, right? But we think everybody's world revolves around us. Therefore, I've got to make sure I have the right look. I've got to make sure I have the right image. And we take four selfies before the one we're willing to post. I've done it, right? Probably did it yesterday, right? And does that picture of me look good enough?

Well, that's about as good as we're going to do. So, yep, let's post that one, right? It's the best we can make happen here. And that's who we are. It's interesting. And I've shared this quote lots and lots of times, but I'm going to share it again. It's by Bobby Bowden, who was the Florida State football guy. And he was being asked after he retired, what's your reputation going to be?

And he looks at these ESPN reporters, which, by the way, if you want to know who the most liberal reporters are, it's ESPN reporters. He looked at these ESPN reporters and he said, boys, I need you to know something. 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 those guys were just stunned. Because that's how he lived his life. He didn't care what people said about him. He worried about what God said about him. He worried about what his image was with God. He worried about who God was in his life. And that became the thing that kept his heart undivided. And so, that image, that desire for image can sometimes divide our hearts.

And then number five, the last thing that I think is the thing that can divide our hearts is our careers. Our careers. Now, I want you to understand something. Work is a good thing and work is a godly thing. There's this idea that actually our country was built upon. It's called the Puritan work ethic. The Puritan work ethic, the general idea behind it is that work is a gift from God

so that we can glorify him. But sometimes when we don't view work that way, when work becomes the most important thing in our lives, it can taint who we are. And this is usually how it happens, right? Starts off great, you've got this great job. It's providing for you. You enjoy the job, maybe, right? It's a beautiful thing to love what you do. But pretty soon, your family doesn't see you

as much anymore. Pretty soon, your church doesn't see you very much anymore. Matter of fact, your church doesn't even know if you still go there anymore. And to think that your family doesn't see you anymore and your church doesn't see you anymore means that your Bible's been collecting dust on a shelf for longer than you can imagine. And all you can think about and all you can talk about

and all you can do is work. Because that's become the most important thing in your life. How do I make more money? How do I keep moving up the ladder? How do I keep my job? How do I keep all the people happy? And your job just became your idol. Because your heart became divided. And you can only serve one. And their job's the one that's paying the bills, not Jesus.

At least as far as you know. And so you choose your job. When I first graduated from Bible college, I was trying to decide what I was going to do. I was working grounds keeping at the retirement community. And I thought, probably I'm not ever going to be able to do ministry as a full-time job. And if you want to go into ministry, just know you may not always get to do this

as a full-time job. I went about 10 years of doing ministry and working at the same time and not getting paid a dime. So I thought, I need to maybe get a secular degree. I was kind of deciding if that was the path that I wanted to go. And so I went up to Johnson County Community College. I sat down and I talked with a career counselor there. Speaking of names that are terrible,

his name was Darwin Lawyer. Right? And he was a Christian. Can you imagine being a Christian named Darwin Lawyer? Are you really on my side here? Are you a plant from the enemy? No, I'm serious, I'm a Christian. So I sit down and I talk to this guy. He's a wonderful man of God. And he changed my perspective on work. And he said, Ryan, I need you to know something.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we don't have careers. We have ministries. Sometimes that ministry is funded by a secular job and that ministry is working in a secular work world. And sometimes that ministry is inside the four walls of a church and is funded by the members of the church. Either way, you are in ministry. And I've never viewed work the same sense.

I know that there's no such thing as a job that is secular in nature as a believer. All of our jobs are ministry. And that's who you are as well. If I always held on to that idea, every time I've always maintained that idea, then I've always had the right perspective on work. Now, there have been times in my life where I did not hold on to that idea. There have been times in my life where work became more important

and I became way too focused on work. And all of a sudden, I would have to sit back and go, whoa, I am completely out of focus. I'm completely off of what I need to be. And I've got to get back to remembering that work is ministry and the only way that I can minister is if I'm wholeheartedly focused on Jesus. But it's amazing how careers can do that to us. They can begin to turn our hearts from God

because they divide our hearts. And so there are these things that our hearts can be divided by. I don't know what it is for you. Maybe it's materialism. Maybe it's pleasure. Maybe it's relationships. Maybe it's image. Maybe it's career. Maybe it's all of them. But as I always like to say, I don't ever want to tell you what's wrong without telling you how to be right.

And so, as we kind of wrap this up, I think that there's three actions that we need to take if we see that we have a divided heart so that we can get back to having a wholehearted focus on Jesus. Number one, you need to identify the problem. You need to identify the problem. You don't have to turn there. I'm just going to read it to you. But you might write down Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24.

It says this, 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. We have to determine what is it that has my heart divided. What is it that I tend to become divided in? What is it that I tend to become divided against God for? What is the distraction in my life? And if we can identify it ourselves, that's great.

But if you're like me, sometimes I have a hard time seeing what's right in front of me. Sometimes I have a hard time self-diagnosing, right? Like, as a dude, I think all of us dudes in here can appreciate this, we don't like to go to the doctor, right? Like, there's not time for that. I don't want to deal with that. Sometimes it's embarrassing to go to the doctor.

Sometimes they do embarrassing things, like, I don't want to go to the doctor, right? But eventually sometimes when you got enough business going on, you're like, I should probably go to the doctor now and maybe see if I could figure that out. And so the most important thing that you have to do when you go see your doctor and you have something going on is you have to be really honest with him, right? You can't go to the doctor and be like, I'm fine.

Everything's good. He's like, why are you here, right? You have to tell him what's really going on. I went in for a physical about a year ago, probably almost time for that again. And they always ask you questions. What's your exercise like? I'll do pretty good with that. You know, I run three or four days a week, lift two or three days a week. I'm doing pretty good with the exercise thing.

How's your diet? Now's where we have a problem, right? Like, how's that going for you? Well, not great. But if I tell him, I'm like, I have the perfect diet, he's going to be like, wow, your dad would not suggest that, right? Like, he knows there's something wrong. I have to be honest with him about everything. Well, that's kind of the way it is with us and God,

is we have to go to God and say, I know I have a problem, and these honestly are the things that I'm doing. Now show me what needs to change. Show me what needs to happen in my life. Search me and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties and see if there's any wicked way in me. And God is so good at usually gently, unless you don't listen, and then he gets really harsh with it,

showing you what's wrong in your life and saying, materialism, that's your problem. You need to quit being that way. Image, you care way too much about what people think about you. And it's time for you to start caring more about what I think about you than what people think about you. And he's really good at pointing those things out in our lives. And then, after we have identified the problem,

number two, we have to repent. We have to repent. I'm going to read to you again 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. Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great of kindness,

and he relents from doing harm. Who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him? We have to repent. Now, maybe some of you in here have walked with Jesus for a really long time, and you're like, Ryan, I repented a really long time ago. Is that something that I still need to do? Well, again, I came across something in Lloyd Ogilvie's commentary

that I thought was really interesting. It's going to take a second, so just follow as I read. It says, 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. No, it is 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 surrender, from willfulness to willingness. Recently, after I had completed a message on repentance at a conference, a man said, Dr. Ogilvie, I did that when I was a teenager and I became a Christian. Do you have anything to say to advanced Christians?

I responded, yes. I do have a word for advanced Christians. You must repent. We never outgrow the need. In every situation, relationship, and challenge, there is a constant need to return to the Lord for guidance and power. The man's question brought to mind a woman who disliked printed prayers of repentance in the bulletin. Repentance is for evangelistic services,

she said, not for believers. It's for sinners. The prayer you had us pray today is like the stirring up the dust of the sawdust trail. Why, what do you have to say to that? I replied, you need to repent. Of what, the woman asked? Self-righteousness and pride. I said going on to tell the woman that repentance, returning to the Lord, is not only the key to the beginning

of the Christian life, but the secret to receiving daily strength and courage. Pretty heavy, right? Every time we think, oh, I don't need to repent anymore. As it turns out, we need to repent more than ever of that pride and self-sufficiency. So number one, we need to identify the problem. Number two, we need to repent. Number three, we need to seek the Lord.

Go back to Hosea chapter 10, and I want you to look down at verse 12. Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 says this, sow with a view to righteousness and 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. You see, once you've repented, you've turned back to God, the best thing you can do is just keep seeking him with all of your heart, seeking him in every way that you possibly can, but especially through his word.

That's why we have in the bulletin a daily reading program because the greatest thing that you can do is to get into God's word every single day and seek the Lord. Don't let it just be the first thing that you do in the morning or the last thing that you do in the evening, but let it kickstart your heart to be the thing that you do throughout the entire day, that the entire day would be set apart to seeking God because after all, it's your purpose for living on this earth. It's your purpose for being alive, and it's the one thing that will carry into eternity because as we seek God now to understand who he is and his grace even more, when we step into eternity, he will spend the rest of his life and the rest of eternity

revealing himself and declaring his grace to us. It's why you're here, so seek the Lord. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, your word has been laid out for us. And Father, I know that it's always a challenge to hear about areas where our lives maybe are not as they should be. And so, Lord, I just want to lift up your hand

and lift up each person in this room this morning. And Lord, I think if we were all being honest, if we were all simply laying aside all of our pride, all of our image, all of what we want everyone to see, we would have to honestly admit that we struggle with our hearts being divided. I know I do. And so, Father, as we move into this new week and as we move into this new year, I pray that it would be with a renewed desire to wholeheartedly seek you.

Father, to repent of the areas of our lives that have pulled us away from you, to repent of the areas of our lives that we have allowed to dwell there, things that keep us from knowing you. And so, Lord, for each person here, I don't need a show of hands because I know what hearts are like. Lord, help us to seek you with all of our hearts, to lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares, to look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And we just pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed. We give you thanks for the day. We give you thanks for the breath in our lungs, for the opportunity to serve you, Lord. Let us use that opportunity to glorify you, Lord, and to return praise to you. All glory and honor due to you, Lord. We love you and we praise you. And as we leave here today, I pray that your Holy Spirit just continue to minister to our hearts, Lord,

and to our lives, and to the people around us. God, we love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys have a wonderful week, and Happy New Year to you.