A House Divided Cannot Stand Series

A House Divided Cannot Stand

Mark 3:25

25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

Last week we began to clear a path through our front porch so that we could really roll up our sleeves and do away with all the trash or the hinderances from us having a truly great relationship with God and others…

Go to table with wadded up papers with the vice lists on them…pick up pride and rethrow it in the trash can…

Reach and pick up gluttony… nope not preaching on this one today

Toss on the floor…leaving that mess here for now…maybe I should put it in my back pocket…

Reach and get two Strife and Divisions and Dissension picture

That’s right today I am going to start meddling a little…sounds like fun doesn’t it…

Two elderly, excited Southern women were sitting together in the front pew of church listening to a fiery preacher.

When this preacher condemned the sin of stealing, these two ladies cried out at the tops of their lungs, "AMEN, BROTHER “When the preacher condemned the sin of lust, they yelled again, "PREACH IT, REVEREND"

And when the preacher condemned the sin of lying, they jumped to their feet and screamed, "RIGHT ON, BROTHER TELL IT LIKE IT IS... AMEN"

But when the preacher condemned the sin of gossip, the two got very quiet. One turned to the other and said, "He’s quit preaching and now he’s meddlin’."

As we go along in the series there will be sermons that will feel like I am “meddlin”…

but I am not I am simply preaching… about somethings that you may not want to hear but need to hear…

Toady we are going to talk about a real problem on many front porches…TITLE SLIDE

and we are going to look at this in several areas of our lives…Strife, Divisions and Dissension don’t just apply to the church its is also very much a part of every aspect of our lives…so lets begin with where we work

WORKPLACE TROUBLES

Anybody here ever have any trouble at work?

If you haven’t worked for a while, then remember being at work and there being trouble.

You do know that God gives us instruction on having a good work ethic…

Colossians 3:23-25

23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the LORD as a reward. It is the LORD Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

2 Thessalonians 3:10

10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."

God created man with the intentions that he will work… Genesis 2:15

That’s all well and good but there is always that guy or gal that just can’t find anything good to say about the workplace…

Tell of Tim at General Engineering…running a saw on 3rd shift…nobody giving me any problems…making more money than and had health insurance that cost me nothing including dental…but the guy on the other saw was miserable and all he did was complain…before long I found myself right there in the same boat…complaining…

Instead of feeling blessed that I was providing for my family I was miserable…now I have had many careers done lots of things that I didn’t like doing to make sure that I was able to pay my bills and put food on the table…

Being a complainer at work is not a good representation of Jesus now is it…all it does is breed strife and dissention in a place where you spend the majority of your life…

Family Strife/Divisions

Pictures

House

Living Room

Kitchen

Dining Room

Guest Room

Jacobs Room

Our Bedroom

Proverbs 17:1

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

I spend countless hours with families that are divided over many issues…I know the statistics show that the number one issue is money, but every time we dig into it, money is just the excuse for the strife and there are deeper issues…

Picture Unequally yoked…

(JOKE)A family was driving home after church and they noticed little Johnny was sitting in the back seat crying his eyes out. Mom asked him several times what was wrong, but he just kept crying.

Then finally he sobbed, "The pastor said he wanted us to be brought up in a Christian home. but I want to stay with you guys!"

One of the best toasts I ever heard at a reception for a wedding was the dad of a good friend of mine William Moore…His Dad Wayne raised his glass and wished William and his new wife a life with lots humor and forgiveness…