Title: The Battle for Sovereignty
Contents
Title: The Battle for Sovereignty
Main text: Acts 16:6-10
I want to ask you.
Who manages your household's bank account? Who is responsible for educating your children, and who makes all the decisions?
If we look at the causes of marital quarrels, isn't it a battle for sovereignty? My wife said, 'I have to make a decision. Follow me,' and the husband asserts his own argument, saying, 'I am the head of the household, follow me.'
In this case, if either side does not break their argument, the family is not comfortable.
Not only in families, but through history, we see numerous fights between nations, wars, and the destruction of peace due to the struggle for sovereignty.
In the Bible book of Kings, fights and killings occur frequently between the children of the king or between relatives. It was a fight for the sovereignty of the king.
This struggle for sovereignty is the same in the world of young children.
Let's play with one child playing tag, and the other child playing with the house, isn't this a fight for sovereignty?
In particular, why is the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law so bad?
Isn't it just a battle for sovereignty with her husband in between and her son in between from the mother-in-law's point of view?
A son or husband caught in the midst of this struggle for sovereignty will become very tired, and the mother-in-law who sees her son getting tired and stressed usually stops the struggle for sovereignty by saying, 'I am patient with my son.' .
However, the battle for sovereignty between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law, which acts knowingly and unknowingly, can lead to extreme results.
For example, the daughter-in-law said, 'Hey, live well without me.' And I went out of my house and went to my family, 'I can't live like this. Choose your mother or choose me.' And there are times when I push my husband.
At this point, the husband's position was really difficult. Choosing a mother makes the wife and children cry, choosing a wife drives a nail into the heart of an elderly mother and makes her an illegitimate child. It would be nice if the wife and mother-in-law stopped fighting for sovereignty, but it is not easy. In some cases, the struggle for sovereignty between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law ceases only then.
In particular, there are many cases of marital quarrels due to tithing in believing families. At this time, if the wife asks to pay tithing and the husband cannot pay tithing, who should give up the sovereignty in this case?
Since it is God's will to pay tithing, at this time, no matter how good or great the husband may be, he must break his insistence and stubbornness to receive God's blessing.
In other words, depending on who has sovereignty, the atmosphere of the home, church, society, and nation changes and the future is decided.
I ask again. Who is the ruler of your household?
Not your wife or husband, but you or Jesus? Who is the adult in your household and who makes the decisions? Is it you or Jesus?
If you put Jesus aside and pretend to be sovereign, well, you have no future. In the end, the atmosphere becomes bleak and heartbreaking. I get anxious and Happiness is not guaranteed.
Because you do not have the strength to see the future, and you are not capable of taking responsibility for yourself.
According to the Bible, God called Abraham when he was 75 years old.
And he promised to give him children to the childless man.
However, 25 years passed before that promise was fulfilled. What happened during those 25 long years?
It is none other than a struggle for sovereignty. God wanted Abraham to follow God's way. But Abraham did not give up his thoughts, his sovereignty. So, according to his own method, he took a female servant named Hagar and gave birth to a son named Ishmael.
And the struggle for sovereignty between the Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael who were born in this way, and Israel, the descendants of Isaac, who were later born according to God's method, continues into the Middle East war today.
Everyone, to become a man of God means to entrust the sovereignty of my life to God.
In the past, I did my own will, but after believing in God, my attitude changed and I followed God's will is the difference between a believer and a non-believer.
The more you entrust your sovereignty to God, the more you become a man of God.
In other words, I think that God is my master and I am his servant, and obeying and following his words is the most important attitude to become a man of God.
Of course, it is not easy to entrust my sovereignty to an invisible God.
Moreover, in order to entrust the sovereignty related to my future and my happiness to God, I need to know that God's going forward with the sovereignty is much better than my owning the sovereignty.
?쏷he owner of this house is Jesus.??
In other words, it means that Jesus is taking control of this family and moving, and it means that all the family members obey and move as Jesus tells them to.
Wouldn't it be great if everyone in the world, every family, and every society and country could be like this?
However, the devil tries to seize the sovereignty on his own like the devil, and people try to seize the sovereignty on their own according to the people. And in order to seize this sovereignty, conspiracy techniques are sometimes mobilized, and violence and even murder are committed without hesitation. And many fell victim to the fight for sovereignty.
Even in the church, there are times when new members are tired because of the struggle for sovereignty that operates between the members without knowing it.
However, later on, all those who care about the struggle for sovereignty will be shamed and humiliated, and only those who did not care about the struggle for sovereignty and followed Jesus purely will see that they grow into excellent church workers.
?쏷herefore, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.??That is, I used to live according to my insistence and stubbornness, but now that I have believed in Jesus, I am living as the Jesus in me tells me.
So, when the Lord tells you to go, you go, when you say, ?쏶tand,??when you say, ?쏡o this,??you entrust your sovereignty to Jesus and live.
Of course, the task is not easy, so the Apostle Paul uses the expression 'I die daily' (1 Corinthians 15:31).
Ladies and gentlemen, being a disciple of Jesus is giving up your sovereignty to Jesus. In a way, it seems that I have no control, it seems that I am really weak, and life seems not to be interesting, but if I entrust my sovereignty to Jesus and go out, life becomes very interesting. You can taste and live the fun of the sky, not the fun of the world.
And you will taste and live the blessings, happiness, and peace of heaven.
Look at Peter.
He took control of his life and business by his own means and methods, trying to fish all night long.
However, the business he was managing suffered a devastating failure as he could not catch even a single fish overnight.
Then Jesus came to him and said, 'Go out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' In other words, do not take the sovereignty of fishing, but follow my own way. Of course, from the fisherman's point of view, it is not easy to follow Jesus' sovereignty as a carpenter.
But Peter handed over the sovereignty of fishing to Jesus. And as I obeyed his words and proceeded, I had the experience of catching the most fish in my life.
Ladies and gentlemen, depending on who is in charge of my life, business, and family, the outcome will be different. If I do not entrust my sovereignty over my life to Jesus, I will not be able to save myself when the day of judgment comes.
Only those who have entrusted their sovereignty to Jesus can be saved because Jesus takes responsibility for them. And to believe in Jesus means to entrust my sovereignty to Jesus.
So the Lord speaks to us countless times. "Cast all your anxieties on me. Don't worry about what you will eat, drink or wear, but entrust your life to me. I will take care of you."
Guys, who came to Canada to organize? Are you your wife? Are you your husband? Or are you a child? Or did all the family members come to agree? Or did you come here entirely under the control of the Lord?
If the answer to this answer is that I came under the control of me or a human being, would it be a little uneasy to live in this foreign land with such an answer?
In other words, isn't it possible to live in a foreign land only when God is in control of my food, drink, clothing, and everything?
Gentlemen, the realization of the kingdom of heaven does not mean real estate speculation or land grabbing.
Each of the saints entrusts their sovereignty to Jesus, and the sovereignty of the family and the sovereignty of the church are entrusted to Jesus and follow Jesus. And through the saints who entrust their sovereignty to Jesus in this way, and through such a church, the kingdom of heaven will be established.
I pray that the kingdom of heaven will be built beautifully through individuals, families, businesses, children, studies, and all of them under the control of the Lord in this foreign land.