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Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Sunday, 10^th September 2023

Pastor Jonathan Chow

Luke 11:14-26

And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” We can be set free from the fear of abandonment by hearing God speak to us about our identity. We long to hear God speak to us in the midst of struggle and weakness, and to experience changes in our lives. Today’s message teaches us how to let God’s voice truly change our lives.

1. Faith is to allow our lives to be completely owned by the Lord

From Luke 11:14-26, we see that the problems the people encountered was not necessarily all solved by Jesus Himself, because the Pharisees can also cast out demons. But if the power of transformation is not the Lord Jesus Himself, our later situation will be worse than the beginning. The ultimate purpose of faith is not to help us to solve problems, but to allow the Lord to fully live in us. If we only let the Lord partially dwell within us, it means that we also let other things in this world partially dwell in us.

2. Five levels of transformation

The five levels of change from low to high are environment, behavior, ability, belief, and identity. When we encounter difficulties, we usually first want to change the environment because it is easy and has short-term results. If changing the environment does not work, we will then want to rely on willpower to change our behavior, but behavioral changes cannot bring about real life breakthroughs. Ability is a thermostat, which determines the limit we can breakthrough, and it is not the final solution. Our lives are actually dominated by beliefs, rather than abilities, behaviors, and environment. Beliefs live in the subconscious. John 8:31-32 says ‘Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”’ Our life is dominated by our beliefs, not our thoughts. However when we want to make ourselves feel alive by changing our beliefs, this may just be a false feeling, as the scripture says, it is only cleaning the house by making it empty.

3. Only by hearing God speak to our faith through our identity can we truly change our lives.

Hebrews 4:12 says, ‘For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ The four levels of belief, ability, behavior, and environment are within our control, but our identity is not within our control. Only Jesus can redeem a true connection with God in our lives. We often feel that God is not speaking to us. Because we want Him to answer behavioral and environmental level questions. But God often speaks to us at the level of our identity and beliefs, because He knows these are the real issues in our lives. We may be struggled for a long time not being able to hear God speak, but we can learn to adjust our frequency with God to our identity and beliefs, and we will begin to hear Him speak, and gain real changes and breakthroughs in our life.