* Competing affections rob you of the power and blessing that could be yours if you stayed true to God. * Backstory - Solomon had just dedicated the Temple. * God then gave him an ultimatum. * “If you stay true, I bless and protect you. If you don’t, I won’t.” * PROBLEM - The biggest threat to the blessings of God are the blessings of God. * They can lure your focus away from Him. * When this happens, God will no longer be your ally but your adversary. * Vs 8 - The result of cheating on God is that everything you worked so hard for will amount to nothing and people will blame it on God. (Ravi) * This came true - Solomon cheated on God. * Vs 9 - They’ll see the results of your cheating ways. * Cheating typically starts in the mind, then it moves to the heart. * It starts with thoughts, then moves to desire. * Affectionate thinking arouses emotion and moves you in the direction of your affection. * This is what happened to Solomon - he loved God and had a heart for him, but then he became king and now he’s got a big calling to fulfill. * The next thing you know he’s focusing on his purpose (expanding the kingdom) over the Person (God). * So what do we do? * Jesus shows us in Luke 10:19-20 - “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” * Don’t get caught up in the blessings of God, stay caught up in the beauty of God. * How do you do this? Three keys: * 1) Spend time alone focusing solely on how amazing God is. * It’s not about “your” thing. * 2) Don’t fall in love with your gift, anointing, or blessing. * When you pray about your thing, think about it as your “assignment.” * It’s no different than anyone else’s. Just do your job. * EX: Me at C21 seeing the server in the middle of David speaking (made me lose conscious thought of myself). * 3) Remember it’s not about you, it’s about others. * Remove yourself from the equation so the transaction can be between God and others.
1 Kings 9:8 (6/3/21)
Cheating on God
June 3, 2021
Jeremiah 45:3-5 (5/8/24)
May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 45:3–5
* Oftentimes, before God entrusts you with a message, He has to make you into the message! * This typically involves a “mess.” * But we can turn a mess into a message if we keep our eyes on God. * Backstory - The long letter Baruch worked so hard on was burned in the fire. * The ministry Baruch was a part of was not going well. * He was frustrated. * Deep down, there was something in Baruch that wanted a little bit of fame and fortune from his services. * Being attached to Jeremiah, a great influencer of his time, was Baruch’s path to becoming something great. * But it was not to be. * God allowed Baruch to work hard on something only to have it destroyed before his very eyes as preparation for what God was going to do with Israel. * God was going to destroy Israel as well, something He had worked hard on, and He chose Jeremiah to be the voice to warn them about it. * Baruch started to complain. * vs 2-5 - “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ 4 But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.” * God had to make Baruch the message before he would deliver the message. * EX: This happened to us back in 2010 - the retaining wall for our building collapsed, costing us over $1million to repair. * In the process of repairing, we felt God call us to speak a message of “rebuilding the wall” of faith in our culture. * God had to make us the message before we would speak it. * And He’ll do the same with you! * What you’re going through is not about you, it’s about what God can do through you to help others.
Lamentations 1:20 (5/8/25)
May 8, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Lamentations 1:20
* Anxiety has many root causes. * Trauma, ambition, self-consciousness, over-work, etc. * Another cause of anxiety is sin (often unconscious). * Conviction and anxiety often feel the same. * Jeremiah had his bout with anxiety and he found the cause: * vs 20 - “See, Lord, how distressed I am! I am in torment within, and in my heart I am disturbed, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is only death.” * The root cause of heartache and despair was rebellion against God. * A great place to start is to ask, “Have I rebelled against God in any way?” * It may not always be the case, but quite often our experience of brokenness is due to our lack of surrender to Him. * Psalms 88:7 - “Your wrath lies heavily on me; and you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.” * The term for “wrath” is ḥēmâ and it’s used a few times to indicate physical heat in body. * Like the heat from a fever. * The term is used to convey the concept of an inner, emotional heat that rises from within. * In various places where ḥēmâ appears it refers to God’s reaction to people who have been unfaithful to Him in some way. * God is aroused to great heat because he, as a jealous God, sees the people He loves disobey him. * According to this verse, the psalmist is feeling divine heat. * In fact, it’s a weight that is almost too much for him to bear. * God is pressing, pressing, pressing—squeezing the life out of him. * Why? * Because He wants us to need Him, to draw close to Him. * Conviction draws us close. * EX: My bout with anxiety. * God revealed some things I needed to get right.
Jeremiah 42:13-17 (5/1/24)
May 1, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 42:13–17
- Craig Groeschel has some great teaching about momentum. - Newtons law of momentum – an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. - Momentum is something we should always have in our lives in business. - If you have momentum, you should keep it unless you do something to kill it. - Four factors that kill momentum: - When things get difficult, we default to doing what’s: - Safe - Easy - Known - Comfortable - This is what many in Israel were faced with after their friends were deported to Babylon. - Nebuchadnezzar let many of them stay in the now Babylonian-controlled Israel. - But there were threats from the surrounding nations, and the people were scared. - Being in the center of danger in the middle of God’s will is the best place to be. - Jesus said “I send you out as sheep among wolves.” - Jeremiah gave them this word: - vs 9-12 - “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.” - If you’ve been following the Lord and delighting in Him, then wherever you are is your Promised Land. - It may not be pleasant but stay there. Don’t leave. - God will show you when it’s time to go. - You'll know it's time for a move when the doors open easily and you don't have to push. - Faithfulness where you are paves the way for you to be faithful where God will take you. - God outlined what would happen if they chose to go to “greener pastures.” - vs 13-17 - “But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.” - God was very clear about what would happen if they didn’t stay put. - But a false prophet arose (in chapter 43) and told the people that Jeremiah had prophesied a lie. - They liked the easier message, so they chose disobedience, and it cost them dearly. - Note - run from the prosperity preachers! - So here’s the question for you - what is your Egypt? - What is your default when things get tough? - You need to define it so you can overcome it. - EX: You know you need to lose 50lbs, so you start eating the right way and you feel momentum. - Then it gets really hard. - What habits do you default to at that point? - Write them down, then define new habits you’ll do whenever you want to default back to those. - If you go back to them, you’ll lose your momentum! - EX: I defaulted to ice cream, so I replaced it with dark chocolate. - EX: Buddy struggled with porn, so he replaced it with holding the Bible. - Don’t default to what’s safe, easy, known, or comfortable or you’ll lose momentum.