Sermon Tone Analysis
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Opening:
This morning I would like to talk about relying on God in our lives.
About looking to our Maker for purpose, security, and peace.
I want to talk about Control.
· Control.
What is control?
o Miriam Webster defines control as, “the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.”
· We all desire a sense of control or mastery in our lives.
o We believe that “having control” will ensure the outcome we want.
o Will guide us to “the next right thing” in life.
· And yet:
o Most of our lives, if we are honest, are out of control.
§ Some of us don’t know how we are going to pay our bills.
§ Some of us don’t know where the next meal is coming from.
§ And some of us don’t know if we can even keep going.
o The world would have us believe that all we need to do is:
§ Have the right job.
§ Marry the right person.
§ Have the right things.
o But so often we are let down and feel more hopeless once we have the things, than when we were still searching and striving for them.
Faith and I have experienced this firsthand.
§ We have an amazing relationship.
§ A roof over our heads.
§ Good cars to drive.
§ At we used to both have jobs we loved.
After the pandemic hit in 2020, the church I had worked at for 5 years was hit hard.
§ Attendance dropped.
§ Social distancing was enforced.
§ And giving dwindled.
o My role as the youth pastor was ending because the church couldn’t afford to keep me.
o I had 3 months to figure out what I was going to do.
o Faith and I prayed, and I began to apply everywhere, but God was silent.
o I had many interviews and was often at the top pf the candidate list.
§ But I was rejected at every turn.
My response was to begin to build worldly strongholds in my life.
§ Walls to insulate myself:
o From rejection.
o From disappointment.
o And from the silence of God in my life.
§ My relationship with God and with Faith suffered because I was trying to exert control over the circumstances of my life.
But my life was out of control.
§ In trying to protect myself and building those walls, I made a worldly stronghold in my life.
§ I trusted more in my ability to fix the problem than in God’s plan and will for my life.
§ God wanted to be the divine stronghold around me.
To protect, guide, and give me purpose.
But my desire to control pushed God to the side and I felt alone and unheard.
Middle:
According to the passage we read earlier in Psalm 27, “The LORD is our light and our salvation”
§ God alone is to be the divine stronghold of our lives.
§ Trusting God to be our divine stronghold means:
o God decides which doors to open – not us.
o God declares worth and purpose rather than trusting in my own reason or motivations.
§ When we allow God to be the divine stronghold, we surrender our desire to control things.
§ God becomes the source of our security, and we can surrender to God and love others where they are just as God has loved us.
We create worldly strongholds – we build walls in our life:
§ To insulate ourselves.
§ To remove perceived vulnerability.
§ And to isolate who and what looks different from us.
o All so we can fool ourselves into believing we are in control.
What is a worldly stronghold?
Paul spoke to the church of Corinth about this issue in 2 Corinthians 10.
Listen to what Paul had to say.
(Read the Passage out loud) 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
A worldly stronghold is a mindset, value system, or thought process that hinders your growth.
In the 1970’s, a Pentecostal preacher named David Wilkerson moved from Philly to NYC because he heard the call of God on his life.
He moved alone and without the support of his demonization in order to begin to tear down the worldly strongholds in the community around him.
He started a ministry called “Teen Challenge” to combat drug addiction, gang violence, and alcoholism in the teenagers of the city.
He focused on encouraging people tp seek after God through a deep and personal relationship with Christ.
Regarding worldly strongholds, Wilkerson said this:
Most of us think of worldly strongholds as bondages such as sexual trespasses, drug addiction, or alcoholism.
Those things we would put on our “worst sins list”.
Paul here is referring to something much worse than simply measuring of sins.
A worldly stronghold is an accusation planted firmly in our minds.
Satan uses these accusations to establish strongholds in our lives by weaving lies, falsehoods, and misconceptions – especially regarding the character and nature of God.
§ When we build worldly strongholds in our lives, we instantly focus on actions and sins, but biblically, the issue is much bigger than this.
§ Worldly strongholds are a way of thinking that we internalize and believe but are actually the lies of our Enemy.
Things like:
o I’ll never be good enough.
o If only I could have that job instead of this one.
o I’ll never lose the weight.
o I’m not as bad as they are.
o I don’t struggle with the things they struggle with.
o What I’m doing isn’t nearly as bad as what they are doing.
§ We allow these thoughts, and we build these walls to take the place of God’s way of thinking and God’s way of doing things.
o And when we do this, we reveal our doubts about God and His goodness.
As Paul told the Corinthian church, “We must take every thought captive.”
We must reorient our mindset, attitude, and actions towards the heart and will of God and begin to live under divined strongholds.
As we look at the passage in Luke from earlier this morning, we see Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem’s lack of faith and their functioning in worldly strongholds.
§ We hear frustration and sorrow in our Savior’s voice.
§ Jesus desires to be the divine stronghold of their lives.
o To give them comfort, security, and purpose.
o But Jerusalem has settled for the worldly strongholds in their lives rather than looking to the Savior of their lives.
§ Jerusalem faces societal pressure about who and what they thought the Messiah should be.
§ They faced spiritual pressure in hearing the voice of God but rejecting God’s message to them.
o They did all of this in an effort to exert control over their lives and in turn couldn’t see the promises of God in front of them.
What are the worldly strongholds in your life?
§ Who you think should be president?
§ Whether to get vaccinated or not?
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