Desire For Other Things Series

Standing In the Storm #5

Desire for "Other things"

The girl knelt in the confessional and said, "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." "What is it, child?" "Father, I have committed the sin of vanity. Twice a day I gaze at myself in the mirror and tell myself how beautiful I am." The priest turned, took a good look at the girl, and said, "My dear, I have good news. That isn’t a sin - it’s only a mistake."

A tourist was admiring the necklace worn by a local Indian.

"What is it made of?" she asked. "Alligator’s teeth," the Indian replied. "I suppose," she said patronizingly, "that they mean as much to you as pearls do to us." "Oh no," he objected. "Anybody can open an oyster."

There is a parable in Matt.7 about two houses. One is built on a rock and another was built on sand. This is a great lesson about the way ALL PEOPLE face storms in life.

One house stood while the other fell. This is the way people do when faced with all the problems in life.

Those that can laugh at trouble must be having a hilarious time!

Matt. 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it

Notice it was not hearing the word.

The key is in the doing of the Word.

This same principal of being a DOER of the WORD is found in another parable.

Mark 4: 13-20 is concerning how we receive the Word

Seed= Word, ground= your heart, fruit = what the Word does

75% of the people were not DOERS OF THE WORD.

Only 25% of the people were DOERS OF THE WORD and produced FRUIT.

V.15 No understanding of the Word

V. 16 Understanding and did well for a while, but become offended.

V. 18,19 Produced Fruit for a while but become unfruitful. They BACKSLIDE.

Why?? The CARES OF THIS WORLD choked the WORD

CARES== fearful concerns

1.Fear is a cause of falling,

2.We saw there were reasons for Storms:

1. Disobedience

2.Because you are being obedient and doing the will of God

3 Because of the people to whom you are unavoidably connected.

3. We found Deception to be a cause of falling.

1. Riches,

2. The Bible is Not Literally True,

3. You Are Not Worthy,

4. It Doesn’t Matter What You Think,

5. It Doesn’t Matter What You Say.

The Devil knows he can’t defeat you if he can’t deceive you.

4. Lack of understanding

An understanding of the Word of God is the foundation of believing.

1. The Holy Spirit will teach you

2. God has provided in the Church teachers.

3. We must pray for understanding.

4. We have blessings in this world for meditating on His Word.

Tonight we are going to see some more things that can cause you to fall in the storm.

Mark 4: 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

“There is a story of a man who, resisting the cost of oats that he fed his mule, decided to gradually substitute sawdust in its diet. Everything went fine for a while – but by the time the mule was satisfied with sawdust, he died.” When people start feeding themselves on worldly desires and pleasures rather than the Word of God, they do not even realize that they are dying until it is too late.

The lust for other things = is an intense desire or passion for anything other than God’s Word.

This is what chokes the seed and it becometh unfruitful.

You may ask why God’s Word, The seed that was sown was the Word of God.

This is the reason I have stressed reading, meditating, obeying, and understanding the Word.

Ps 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

To me this means if I neglect the Word I have nothing to tell me if I am about to sin.

The bottom line is if you have accepted Jesus into your life you will want to hid the word in your heart and become passionate for it.