Gospel

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Sunday 11/27/11 Pastor Michael sermon= Breaking Bad Habits-The Necessity of My Faith
Matthew 17:14-21
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Experts say it takes 21 to 28 days to form a habit and it takes up to 6 months to establish a habit. The repetition of an act makes a habit or a routine that we establish. There are certain triggers that bring about a habit. We don’t have to think about what we are doing because we do it out of habit.

To establish a habit, one has to do the same thing over and over again. To break a bad habit, we have to stay away from things that will trigger a bad habit. If we are an alcoholic then we don’t go to bars so our habit of drinking won’t be triggered. The same thing with gambling addicts. We won’t go to Las Vegas so our bad gambling habit won’t be triggered. The reasons that addictions are so prevalent is because it gives us moments of escape. We smoke, snort, shoot up, sniff or drink something to get away.

Addictions or habits cause self-destructive behaviors. This also goes to people we are addicted to. People! There are people that we’ve got addicted to in relationships and God ripped them out of our life. We couldn’t let them go and were peeking at them thru bushes, following them and putting sugar in their gas tank ! God wanted us to be blessed and be in a better place so they had to go. We must remember that when we are in the valley, in a low place in our life, this is when we are susceptible to addictions and habits.

Matt 17:15 This verse describes the man’s son as a lunatick. When the son sees fire, he tries to burn himself. When the son sees water he tries to drown himself. These are his triggers= fire and water. What are our triggers? What is it or who is it that makes us go crazy and almost lose our mind up in here, up in here! We get almost Lunatick!!

**To Break Bad Habits**

1) Confront our Fears with Faith
Take it to Jesus and take it to God Almighty! Nobody else-family, friends, doctors can help. They can’t help! Take it to Jesus and help is on the way. Verse 14 The man fell at Jesus feet. That was his faith. His actions showed his attitude of belief. He had no pretense and didn’t care who saw him on his knees in front of Jesus. He took his problem to Jesus! He took it to Jesus! The man wasn’t acting like he had it all together. He knew he needed an encounter with Jesus. We ALL need to make up in our minds that we NEED to get to Jesus!

2) Put Our Faith Into Actions
Its time to DO something. We may have been looking for a job, so go fill out some applications. We may have been praying for a car, so go to a car dealership and look at the cars. Sometimes God shuts the door on us so we will be in the hallway. This is when we need to use our faith. The hallway is hell and we need our faith in hell’s hallway so we will make it to the next door. The next door has blessings on the other side for us. We need to PRAISE GOD in the hallway!!

3) Talk to the Evil Spirit
The man told Jesus his son was lunatick and Jesus rebuked the evil spirit in the boy. Sometimes we need to talk to the spirit in the person that is bothering us. Talk to the evil spirit and say get out of here! We have to sometimes recognize its not the person who is against us but the spirit that is in them. So we should say in our mind if not out loud, devil get out of them in Jesus name!! Also, some sicknesses are caused by demonic activity and particularly mental issues. When Jesus rebuked the demon, the boy was instantly cured.

Verse 20: Jesus said to the disciples that they had little faith and that is why they couldn’t help cure the little boy. The faith they had, the faith some of us have, is not being applied. It is not how much faith we have but that this little faith is in a unlimited God!
Some faith, radical faith comes from prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting adjust our attitudes and we have the faith to give the impossible to God.
We have to take the little faith we have and place it in a Big God!
We break bad habits by putting our faith in God!


AMEN

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