"Building a Church Through Outreach"
Two Overlooked Evils
ELCOG 4/13/08
Text: Jeremiah 2:13
This morning I want to preach on two evils that are often overlooked. If I were to ask you to make a list of all the evils you could think of I would bet that the two that we are going to discuss would not be on your list. However, I figure that your list would probably contain lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, killing and any of the BIG 10. You may have bigotry, hatred, or any of the current violent crimes we hear about so often in the news. But today, I want to discuss two things that you would more than likely find in the church; two evils that good people may have creeping into their lives. The two overlooked evils are Forsaking God and having broken lives.
First: Forsaking God. This is very important that we understand because this evil will cause you to miss the presence of God. It will cause you to be dismissed from heaven. The word forsake means to abandon or to disown. In our text the word says it is an evil thing to abandon or disowned God.
Think about this for a moment. You have God, but you are ashamed of Him. You act as if he doesn’t exist. You try to act like you are not his creation.
Mark 8:38
38Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
If you abandon God, he will abandon you. I want to give you a couple of scriptures to show you the important of this evil.
2 Chr. 15:2
2And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
Psa. 89:30
30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
Psa. 89:31
31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
Psa. 89:32
32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
2 Chr. 34:25
25Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.
Have you forsaken God? Did you promise to serve him early in your life, but now you live the life opposite of His word. Have you disowned him? You may come to church, but do you allow him to control your life? Do you give him free reign to live fully in your life?
The second evil is having a broken life. Let me explain this. You have built for yourselves pots that can not hold water. You are shallow and empty.
2 Pet. 2:17
17These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2 Pet. 2:18
18For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2 Pet. 2:19
19While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2 Pet. 2:20
20For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2 Pet. 2:21
21For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
God considers it an evil thing for you to build a well and not have water. It is evil to pretend to be something that you are not. Water is essemtial for your life. Jesus is the water of life and we must have pots that can hold his water. We must be able to keep a fresh supply of Him! He is our necessity. It is important that we are not cracked pots. Our lives can not be broken. We must be able to maintain him. We will be broken through the pains of life, but Jesus is our healer. We must allow him to heal or brokenness. If not bitterness and other evil things will grow in our lives.
How can we give out of our reserve when we don’t have anything in reserve? We can not give what we do not have. We must allow God in our lives so that he can minister to us and then through us.
It is evil to forsake God and to forget God. It is evil to abandon Him.
It is evil to know him, but not be possessed with Him. It is wrong for us to worship him without be controlled by Him.
Don’t forsake him. Don’t build yourself into a well without water. You need him on the inside. Run from these two evils and allow God to be God!