House Guest

---------OPTIONAL SERMON DVD VIDEO OPENER-------

Have you ever came home to houseguests like this?

OPENER: DVD CLIP Mrs. Doubtfire

START: 7:32 Scene selection #2 “The Birthday Party” | Time: 1 min 45 sec.

END: 9:10 | Robin Williams says

“You’re Home Early Girlfriend”

NOTE: It’s crucial that you cut it off after that statement because Sally Field yells a curse word soon after.

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POWERPOINT SLIDE OPENER (AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST)

SLIDE: List of Things That Houseguests Do That Bug Us

Sara, 25 year-old single girl living 27 year-old single sister

1. Inviting themselves over to stay the night

2. Staying longer than they originally planned

3. Not picking up after themselves

4. When they do not want to participate in your plans

to join you in the plans you already made (especially if they are "pop in" guests

Allen, 38 year-old married man with 3 children

1. Will not leave when time

2. Opens drawers and inspects things--looks through and reads personal things, like bills of bank statements

3. Break things

Aimee, 24 year- old married girl

1. When they leave the toilet seat up

2. When they are mean to my dog

3. When they bring their dog and it tears things up in my house

4. When they "borrow" a clothing item they forgot

and I never see it again

Suzy, 56 year- old divorced mother with teenage son

1. Stay too long

2. Don’t help after meals

3. Expect to be waited on

SLIDE: Title slide with verse info 1 Samuel 16: 14-23

There is an unwanted houseguest in the home of the disciple.

This freeloader--given to laziness and self-indulgence as well as pre-occupation with self is an enemy who does not have the disciple’s best interests at heart.

This unwanted guest wants the disciple to focus on them and them only.

The enemy of the Spirit in the life of the disciple, this unwanted houseguest in the home of the disciple, is “carnality” or the “flesh.”

What is the “carnality,” and the “flesh”?

In his book So Great Salvation, Charles Ryrie writes the following definition of the “carnality” and the “flesh”:

SLIDE: “Another way of describing the “flesh” is to describe it as that part of a person which is self-centered and self-seeking.

It is the flesh in the believer that perverts even spiritual things by seeking to appear more spiritual than they really are.

It is the flesh that seeks to put on a show and draw attention to self. It is the flesh that is proud and selfish in a person.”

Verse 14: When you leave the door open, anybody can come in

There are times when God himself, in His sovereign will, actually allows the demon hosts to carry out His will.

Such was in the case of Job

Somebody always gets hurt when you leave the door open in your home to anybody

In Oklahoma, legislators passed a "Make My Day" law that allows a homeowner to shoot an intruder in your house.

The “Make My Day” law should strictly be enforced when anything evil approaches. Or else we should build fences to protect our heart -- or as the Word refers to as spiritual strongholds.

Sometimes temptation even wins out when God places a fence to protect us from something...we just want to climb over it just to see or find out what’s on the other side.

ILLUSTRATION: THE HIGH DIVE

Harley and Matt lived in a nice neighborhood where the people were friendly-except for one man who lived at the end of the street in a big house with a gigantic swimming pool.

His pool had the highest diving board they had ever seen-so high they could see it over the big fence that surrounded his property.

Every day Charley and Matt walked past the man’s house wishing they could dive off that diving board. But the man didn’t allow anyone on his property, especially kids.

The No Trespassing sign made that very clear, but the prohibition only made the boys want to get inside all the more.

They made a pact with each other that the next time their neighbor went out of town they would sneak over the fence late at night and dive off his incredible high dive.

Two weeks later they noticed the man load a couple of suitcases in his trunk.

Peeking through the blinds in Matt’s bedroom, they saw him drive away. Charley and Matt felt a rush.

They knew that tonight they’d get to experience the thrill they had been dreaming about.

Around 11:00 p.m., dressed in their swimsuits and wrapped in their towels, they snuck out of their bedrooms to meet at the old man’s house.

Although it was a moonless night, they didn’t use flashlights in case someone might see them. They definitely didn’t want their parents finding out.