Have you ever pretended to be something that you weren’t? Have you ever lied about your age? Exaggerated your job skills? Stretched the truth on a date?

As Pastor Ronn pointed out in this week’s message, “Deceitful or Authentic”, trying to be something you’re not will always catch up with you eventually.

It caught up with Jeroboam, the subject of the sermon this week from I Kings 14:1-20. Jeroboam’s son, Abijah, was sick and he wanted to hear some positive news from the prophet Ahijah. So, he sent his wife, dressed in a disguise, to visit the elderly prophet.

When Jeroboam’s wife arrived, she got a shock. The prophet was blind and couldn’t even see her disguise. Yet he called out to her: “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news.”

The prophet said the Lord has told him that because he had worshiped other gods and done evil, that the Lord would bring disaster on his house.

The story was a great reminder about the two choices we need to make. We need to choose authenticity over deception. And we need to choose God’s way over our own way.

Jeroboam wanted his own way, but he was unwilling to do what God had asked him to do. How many times in life do we want our own way without the pay?

Did God speak to you this week about an area of your life where you are trying to gain the reward without doing what you need to do? Are you wishing you had a strong family unit without spending time together? Or a strong marriage without dating your spouse? Maybe you want to hear from the Lord, but you aren’t spending time in His Word?

We would love to hear how God is calling you to be more real in your life.

When you are faced with a tough decision, where do you turn for advice?

Do you go to your childhood friends who were your “partners in crime” when it came to breaking the rules? Do you turn to your siblings who always tend to see things your way?

Or do you go to a small group leader or an elder in the church? Most importantly, do you seek God for direction and look for the answers in His word?

In the third message in the “Torn” series, we learned that King Rehoboam chose “want” over “wisdom” when he had a choice to make. Instead of listening to his elders, he surrounded himself with his childhood friends and let them give him the advice he wanted to hear.

The result was a kingdom divided. Like Solomon before him, Rehoboam’s kingdom was torn.

So why do we reject wisdom?

• We already have our minds made up.
• We don’t want to follow the advice.
• And we already know what the person is going to say, so we don’t ask.

In the end, it is really a reflection of our heart condition. When our hearts are set on God, we are willing to submit to others.

What about you? Where do you go for advice? Are you seeking want or wisdom? How has God been speaking to you through the “Torn” series? We would love to hear from you.

In the second week of the “Torn” series, Pastor Ronn continued to look at the life of King Solomon and the heart condition that led to the “tearing” of a nation.

In I Kings 11:14-40, we found King Solomon chose defiance over obedience when he disobeyed God’s command and worshiped other gods. In response, the Lord raised up three adversaries against Solomon. The third one was Jeroboam, who had been one of Solomon’s officials.

The prophet Ahijah gave Jeroboam a message from the Lord when he tore his new cloak into 12 strips, representing the 12 tribes of Judah. Ahijah told Jeroboam that he would rule over 10 of those tribes. Only one would remain with Solomon.

We learned from looking at the life of Solomon that defiance communicates that something is wrong in our relationship with God. Our obedience isn’t just about following the rules. It naturally flows from our heart condition when we are in a right relationship with our Father.

If our hearts are set on God, we will obey even when we don’t want to. If we are willing to trust God, we will experience his promises of peace, his presence, forgiveness of sin, joy and eternal life.

What causes us to choose obedience over defiance?

• We obey those we respect.
• We obey those we trust.
• And we obey those we love.

The story of Solomon worshiping other gods might seem outdated. But how often do we do the same thing today? Our gods might not look like literal statues, and we don’t come before their altars with sacrifices. But what are some of the things that we are tempted to worship instead of setting our hearts on God?

What has God been teaching you through this week’s message?

Pastor Ronn kicked off the “Torn” series on Sunday with a look at what happened to King Solomon when his heart was divided between desires and integrity. (1 Kings 11:1-3) If you missed the sermon, you can listen to the podcast or watch it on YouTube.

We learned that our daily decisions matter. The choices we make each day make a difference in our lives, Pastor Ronn said.

Solomon’s problem was that he did not set his heart upon the Lord. Solomon loved “many foreign women” despite the Lord’s command not to intermarry.

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. ⁵ He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech ^[a] the detestable god of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done…

⁹ The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

However, Solomon’s downfall was not just his outward action of marrying foreign women. His real problem was that he let his heart stray from loving the Lord. “It’s not just about what you do, but who you are becoming,” Pastor Ronn said in his message.

He gave four warning signs to watch for:

Your affections matter.

The greatest command in the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. (Deut. 6:5) Where do you turn in times of stress? Those things you love become more of a priority than Jesus.

Your obedience matters.

We have a tendency to value knowledge over obedience. But “to obey is better than sacrifice”. (I Samuel 15:22)

Your relationships matter.

Who are you spending the most time with? If you are single, are you dating people who don’t believe in Jesus?

Your time matters.

As Solomon grew old — as time passed — his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord. Solomon’s love for the Lord didn’t fade overnight. It was a process that happened because of daily decisions.

Time can wear down our convictions. Sometimes we think we can dabble in sin, but the longer we go without repentance, the closer we get to turning away from God.

Finally, Ronn stressed that we tend to focus on behavior, but what really matters is our heart condition.

Were you convicted by Sunday’s message? What stood out to you from the sermon? We would love to hear your thoughts.

What happens when your heart is divided? What happens when you have to choose between desires and integrity? Defiance or obedience? Fear or trust?

During the upcoming sermon series on the book of I Kings, we will learn some hard lessons through the lives of the Old Testament kings, Solomon, Jeroboam and Rehoboam. What happens when people choose to follow their own judgment rather than relying on the Lord?

Hearts are torn. Families are torn. Nations are torn.

As we will learn during the 8-week series that begins Sunday, the problem for these kings and the challenge that is ahead of us is to set our hearts on seeking the Lord.  There are so many distractions and so many excuses, but God has called all of us to seek after Him with all we have.

My heart’s desire is that lives will be changed through the “Torn” series and that each one of us will be convicted in those areas where we might not even realize we are divided in seeking God’s will over our own.

Pastor Ronn