WEBVTT - Permission To Quit 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.080 Tell me what these cities have in common. Puck quiz, Austin, Texas, 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:10.879 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It's in Oklahoma, Abbey. We were going 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.080 through the cities the other night. She said, Now, where's 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:19.600 Oklahoma City? I said, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:26.079 Saint Louis, Missouri. Are you seeing a pattern here? Fort Wayne, Indiana, Toronto, Ontario. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:32.800 Elevation Nights Tour April eighteenth through twenty seventh, twenty twenty three. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:36.959 All of those cities were coming. Go right now and 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.320 check it out, and we will be there soon here 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:42.920 at Elevation today. I hope we didn't overwhelm you with 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.159 new songs. We didn't do a single song that's on 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:50.080 Spotify today all new songs because it goes along with 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:55.360 my theme for this year. Don't just do you people 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:00.760 are around? Do you do the new you? Do the 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.000 you that God created, Do the you that God is changing. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:06.720 Do the you that is going to walk into the 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.240 opportunity that is before you, full of faith, acknowledging your weaknesses, 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.760 but confident in your strength in Christ. Do the new you? 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.640 Are you getting this word as I'm preaching it? Come 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.479 on if you're online, say I'm good this thing. This 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:27.640 thing is sinking in for me. We're going right back 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.880 to Ephesians four, so you might as well sit down 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.640 and settle in. Right back to our key verse. I'm 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.600 done arguing with the Lord when he tells me to 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.560 preach something. I'm just gonna stop fighting it so he 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.160 doesn't have to put my hip out of socket. Like 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:45.520 Jacob over there in the Old Testament, who I mentioned 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.279 last week. I'm gonna just go with it in along 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.440 with our groups doing immeasurably more. I'm preaching from the 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.040 Book of Ephesians. But the fourth chapter snuck up on 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.600 me because I always liked Ephesians three twenty Now unto 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.120 him who is able to do a measure more. Well, 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.480 then when I got into four, I found out what 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.080 more looks like, and then that helped me. Is helping 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.639 me so much. Man, God is working on me. I'm 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.120 glad too. I need him to. I'm not there yet. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.000 I have not achieved Ephesians four twenty four yet. Tell me, 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.959 if you have to put on the new self, put 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.799 it up on the screen, created to be like God. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.640 So I'm not there yet. I've reached some goals in 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.040 my life. I think I've grown, But if that's the 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:40.119 goal to be like God, oh man, I'm gonna need Jesus. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.160 I thought I just needed Jesus to get me to 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.000 heaven when I died, but then I found out I 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:50.160 need Him in my habits for everyday life now. A 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.359 lot of times when we preach about Jesus, we talk 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.079 about your new home in heaven. You're not going to hell. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.000 You're going to Heaven and be with Grandma and Gabriel 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.239 and God. And then we forget to mention that, Okay, hey, 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.600 just like we need a new home in heaven, we 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.720 need new habits in our life. Oh. By the way, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.760 I don't need a single amen today. The Lord told 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.720 me this sermon was good, So I'm gonna just break 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.720 it out on you and do whatever you need to do. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.200 So let me read this scripture and then I'm going 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.799 to talk about do you, which I know is kind 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.839 of so oh man. When you hear people say that, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:34.080 it feels good right, like, hey man, you know, probably 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.440 a fifty seven year old shouldn't have that haircut, but 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:43.160 do you? I mean it's a little tight, probably fits 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.080 you better. In a previous season, but I mean, if 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.880 you feel if you can rock and rocket, do you? 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.800 And I'm all for that, that uniqueness, you know, I'm 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.160 all for that. If it's a mohawk that you want, 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.720 get them all, if your parents say you can get 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:06.560 them all. I like your blue hair? Do you? You You 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.080 know what I mean? But I can't just take that 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.680 whole philosophy. Do you if you want blue hair? And 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.760 then tell you, well, if it's a bottle of pills 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.600 that helps you escape and the doctor didn't prescribe it 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:21.120 and you know you're addicted to it, just do you 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:27.480 whatever gets you through the night. So what we're challenging 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:32.320 ourselves in is this idea that the true you is 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.640 the new you. And a lot of times, even if 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:40.479 something is nicer when it's new, at first, I don't 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:45.520 like it. And growing into our relationship with God looks 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.120 like this. Let's go back to verse fourteen and let 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:52.480 me break it down. And this sermon today is called 0:04:53.240 --> 0:05:01.040 permission to quit. Permission to quit. Oh, I know where 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.760 this is going. You're going to tell me keep trying 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.600 and march around the walls. And I know how this 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.880 is man. You just go, oh God, it's gonna be 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.000 one of those sermons. You're just gonna tell me, you're 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:13.760 gonna make fun of me because I joined the gym, 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.240 and I only went twice, and it's only January, and 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.520 tell me I got to get back in there. But 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.680 stay with me, because I think you might be surprised 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:26.320 where the Lord is leading us this week. Ephesians, chapter four, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:32.800 Verse fourteen. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.960 back and forth by the waves, and blown here and 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:43.800 there by every wind of cable news and teaching, with 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:49.240 the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming, 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:56.120 trying every diet, trying every religion, dabbling in this, dabbling 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:00.320 in that, doing it six weeks for remembering what you 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.279 know it used to be like in your old life. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.839 He said, that's not gonna happen anymore. Instead, verse fifteen, 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.679 speaking the truth and love, we will, my favorite phrase 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:16.240 in this whole passage, grow to become. That's so annointed. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.880 Say I will say it with conviction and gumption. I 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:26.599 will grow to become. I'm gonna grow to become a 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.920 better man. I'm gonna grow to become a better dad. 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.680 I'm gonna be a great dad. I'm gonna be a 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.719 great If I was a great dad last year, wait 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:36.719 till you see me this year. I'm gonna be a 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.720 greater dad this year. I'm gonna be a better preacher. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.240 I'm gonna be a better teacher. I'm gonna be more honest. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.120 I'm gonna be more vulnerable, no less powerful. I'm gonna 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.240 get up in here and say what God gave me 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.560 to say without the interference of the fear of man. 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.320 I'm gonna stop pulling back when God gives me something. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.000 I'm growing to become. Man. I'm gonna be a good wife. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.680 Are you married? Not yet, but I'm growing to become it. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.800 And when I become it, God is going to be 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.000 sure that I have the experiences that I need to 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.040 fulfill the calling that He's given me. I'm growing into this. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.720 Don't memorize me right now. If you meet me again 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.880 in a month, I'm going to be more like my 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.800 maker because That's where I'm headed in this life. Don't 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.920 take a snapshot of me and then criticize me. You've changed, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.440 I hope, so if I ever stopped change and cremate me. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.600 I got to do this. I've got to become what 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:38.600 God said I was. But now, don't curse me out 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.560 because I'm an acorn. I thought you said you were 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.360 an oak tree. I am. Let me get in the 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:49.280 right environment, Let me get the right water, let me 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.600 get the right time. Come on, I'm growing to become. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.120 This helped me because I have a hard time striking 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:00.640 a balance between contentment, which I know the Bible says 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.760 is good, and ambition, which the Bible also instructs me 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.480 to have grow to become like God. That's a pretty 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:17.560 lofty go. And so when I realize, oh, God is 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.840 calling me to grow to become, not to be all 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:26.520 at once, but to grow to become. Now, this process 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.800 works its itself out in the following way. Look at 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.160 verse sixteen. Excuse me, I didn't read all of verse fifteen, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.440 did I. We will grow to become in every respect, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.800 the mature body of Him who is the head that 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:45.360 is Christ from him, the whole body, joined and held 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.679 together e groups by every supporting ligament. You are out 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.280 of joint. You are out of socket when you're not 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.640 connected with the right people, and He says together, if 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.160 you're going to do the new, you don't make an 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:05.600 idol out of your individuality. One of the ways you're 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.800 going to grow to become is by getting around others 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:13.480 who challenge you, who encourage you. And so then as 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.200 the body builds itself up in love, each part is 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.439 doing its work Verse seventeen. So I tell you this 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.240 and insist on it in the Lord that you must 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:32.480 no longer live. You must no longer live as the 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:37.120 gentiles do in the futility or vanity of their thinking. 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.800 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.360 life of God because of the ignorance that is in 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.120 them due to the hardening of their hearts. This phrase 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.600 hardening of their hearts calls into mind linguistically when a 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.600 bone is broken and resets, But the callous that grows 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.040 is hard. Isn't that what happens to us in our life? 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:10.319 We get broken in relationships, broken through experience, broken through trials, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.480 broken through temptations that we can't overcome, And then there 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.160 is a hardness if it is not reset correctly, that 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.480 keeps us from receiving from God what he wants to 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.760 give us, to grow us into who He made us 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.000 to be. But God's not going to leave you broken. 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.199 God is not going to leave you with the bone 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.720 broken and reset so that your heart is harder. He 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:38.240 is going to bring you through this brokenness better than 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.480 when you went into the brokenness. He is going to 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.560 bring you through this brokenness. Who receives this word like 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.679 if it's for you, He's going to bring you through 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:51.959 this brokenness. I'm going to be better after I was broken. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.200 I'm going to be better after they fired me. I'm 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:00.160 going to learn things from this failed relationship. And when 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.160 God resets me, the God of resurrection is going to 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.640 call me forth into a glorious future for the praise 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:15.600 of his name, because I'm growing to become so, he says, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:21.000 don't live like these gentiles who, having verse nineteen, lost 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:26.679 all sensitivity. They have given themselves over to sensuality, as 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.600 to indulge in every kind of impurity you'll ever look 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.839 around and think, just when you think that they can't 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.720 invent any new sins, they make a new one. I 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:40.640 feel like we are living in you know, they had 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.280 the industrial Revolution. I feel like we are living right 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.880 now in this time, in the impurity revolution. We are 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.439 making new ways to be screwed up. It's all the 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.120 lust of the flesh, lust of pride, pride lust of flesh, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.960 lest eyes, pride of life. But the flavors of it, y'all, 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.319 we got some creative flavors of sin. I better back 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.440 to the Bible. Y'all are looking at me strange. Maybe 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.880 not in your zip code? Is fine, It's fine. It's 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.360 just something I've been noticing. He says, they give themselves 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.319 over to it. Now follow me. When he says they 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.719 give themselves over to it, that is very different than 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:22.160 saying that they get caught up in it. There's a 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:30.400 big difference between giving yourself over and getting caught up. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:43.160 Everybody can get caught up. If you haven't seen the 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.280 person sitting next to you get caught up in sin, 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.840 you just haven't followed them to the right places yet. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.480 You haven't seen them in the right moments yet. They 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.920 just hadn't shown you yet. We can all get caught 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.600 up in different ways, different varieties, different prescriptions. But there's 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.880 a big difference between getting caught up. Oh God, when 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.200 I say that, because you're human, there is grace for 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.640 your humanity. There is grace for the moments. Why did 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:17.280 I explode on my wife five minutes after church? You're human, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.480 but do not let your humanness I might have made 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.520 that word up. Do not let your humanness and the 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.559 grace that God gives for your humanness become an excuse 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:41.240 for your hypocrisy shouting in Houston. Just because I struggle 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.559 with it doesn't mean I have to surrender to it. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.080 There's a big difference. I mean, there's some big guys 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.480 in this room right now, and I'm sure that many 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.880 of them if they took me and dragged me off 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.640 the stage, they can get me off the stage. But 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.280 that's a big difference than me again on their back, piggyback, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.160 isn't it? Is there a big guy? We should illustrate this. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:11.640 I need somebody bigger than me. I'm about one seventy, 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.200 so you got to at least have me buy thirty pounds. 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:19.520 Come on, I need a big guy. Ah, mate's here? 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:25.160 Where's mate? Where's mate? Get made up here? Get made 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:31.520 up here. That's a great idea, made the great. Everybody say, 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.720 mate the great? Now, it's not my fally bench presses 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.400 five hundred and five pounds. You got that twenty four 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:43.360 year old anointy? Are you too injured to do this? Illustration? 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.880 I want to hurt you. He just went through an injury. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.160 We can't hurt him. But imagine this. I'm not even 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.320 gonna do the full illustration. I care more about you 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:56.160 than my illustration. I'm selfless. But imagine if he wanted 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.200 to drag me off the stage, he could do it. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.000 It would just be a ma or a time. But 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.640 that's real different than I jump up in his arms. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.800 So I just want you to see that. Go back, 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.760 sit back down. It would have been cool if I 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.360 could have done it, but I don't want to do it. 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:22.680 I don't want to hurt him. When when you look 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.120 at what God is doing, and I really haven't read 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.520 the scripture I want to preach from yet, but that 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.960 whole thing right there that helps me make a critical 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.040 distinction in my life as to whether I am still 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:38.840 struggling with sin. You know, the writer of Hebrews said 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:40.800 you have not yet struggled with sin to the point 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.800 of shedding your blood. And I guess he's saying, like, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.320 when you say I've done all I can do, I 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:51.160 can't change it. Did you do all you could do? Rarely? Rarely? 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:56.240 And then grace? When grace comes in, Some people take 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.720 that grace and they don't really receive it as power. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.840 They receive it as permission to keep living in stuff 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:10.600 that makes them miserable. So why would you want permission 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:15.160 to be miserable? You can who's going to stop you? 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.680 But this is what the Bible says in verse twenty. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:23.920 Now we're getting into it real deep here, that, however, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:31.240 the impurity, the greed, the sensuality, the indulgence, that, however, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.880 just talking nasty because you felt mad, You talk nasty 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.640 just because everybody else is so mean to each other. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:42.360 Now you're just mean to Now you're hardened because the 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.560 bone that was broken didn't reset in the hands of 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:50.760 the healer. And Paul says, that is not the way 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:55.120 of life you learned when you heard about Christ. I 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.120 don't care if everybody else does it. That is not 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:06.159 me now. Used to be yeah, but not now, somebody 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.240 shout not now. God's done too much for me. Not now. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.919 I dropped out of church like for eighteen years, but 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.440 not now. I used to think that it was more 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.199 important to wash my car on Sunday than be in 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.240 the house of God, but not now, because I need 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.640 God to wash my soul every Sunday so I can 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:34.200 go forward into my future uncontaminated. Whoa. There is power 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.080 in the word of God, and there is permission in 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:41.000 the Word of God to do it different. That is 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.680 not me. That is what I used to do. That 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.919 is what all my friends have been doing. That is 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.280 what I saw growing up. That is what was done 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.400 to me. But why would I take what was done 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.600 to me and carry it into the future that God 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:03.679 has for me that stays there because this is my 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:09.480 Then let me make a sandwich real quick. Verse fourteen says, 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:15.199 then everybody shout. Then Verse twenty says that everybody say that. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.880 So Verse fourteen speaks to a point of maturity where 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.919 you say, I'm no longer just gonna be driven by circumstances. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:24.879 I'm no longer just gonna wake up and see how 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.000 I feel and act like I feel. I'm no longer 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:28.679 just gonna wake up and see what I think and 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.560 follow my thoughts till they lead me right off the 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.920 edge of the cliff. I'm no longer just gonna trust 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:34.959 everybody who makes me feel good so I can get 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.679 what I want in the moment. No more beans for birthright, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:46.440 So God says, when will your then finally come? When 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.320 will it be enough of you getting the same result 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:57.720 from repeating the same behavior. When will your then come 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:04.080 the DEI to grow up, the decision to come into 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:08.320 communion with God, the decision to say, Lord, I want 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.679 to put this brokenness in your hands, and then something 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:18.080 pretty awesome happens. He said, that is not you. The 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.560 moment you make a decision, then I'm growing up. Then 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:33.439 that no longer has control over you. That that it 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.040 would get real uncomfortable if I started listing specific that's 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:42.400 in the room, because the categories don't really don't really 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.960 make you cringe. Impurity, creed lost, Oh yeah, I watched 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:51.760 that Bernie Madoff documentary Creed. How about me always wanting 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:57.080 more and never giving much? How about me always thinking 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.520 somebody needs to encourage me? But who am I encouraging? 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:04.439 See how this works? That is not me. And I'm 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:06.640 going to do a list next week that I'll give 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:10.280 you where I'm gonna teach you the new me is not. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:12.840 And we're gonna list some of the things that you 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:14.919 are not anymore if you name the name of Christ, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.600 and we're gonna wage war against those things because we've 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:24.000 been accepting them too long as normal. Just because it's 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:30.240 natural doesn't mean it's normal. Watch this, that is not 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.639 the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ. 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:40.120 When you heard about Christ. And so faith comes by hearing, right, 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.680 how many know that scripture. Faith comes by hearing, hearing 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:49.120 the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, but freedom 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:56.680 comes by habit. That's why it is possible for you 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.320 to know more about God than you are bringing into 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:06.639 your current experience. That's why it's possible for you to 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:11.840 drag around deficiencies and dysfunctions that Christ died to help 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:16.320 you deal with, and then start justifying things that Jesus 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:25.800 wants to set you free from. Yeah, we're going to 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.480 get free in some areas of our life this year. 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:31.879 And if you don't want to get free this year, 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.320 don't come here Furdic preach, because Furdic is trying to 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:40.800 get free this year of some childlike behaviors that are 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.800 coming around in a grown man's body. And I want 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:48.359 to be less petty, less prideful. I want to be 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.440 stable because I don't know what wind and waves has 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:54.359 come in my way. So I want to be more 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.119 a tuned to worship. I want to be more tuned 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:03.720 into the voice of God. I want to be like 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:10.600 him say it. I want to be like him. Okay, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.639 you were taught in Him in accordance with the truth 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.879 that is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.520 your former way of life, to put off your old self, 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:28.560 which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Y'all remember 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:30.719 tricks or for kids from last week? I know you do. 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:33.200 I know if you missed last week, you caught the 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:36.080 podcast first opportunity, because no way you would miss a 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.280 sermon from the Word of God. You wouldn't do that 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.920 and watch Netflix or Hulu, not you, Verse twenty three. 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:44.679 This is the goal to be made new in the 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.560 attitude of your minds, to put on the new self 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:55.760 created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 0:22:55.800 --> 0:23:00.639 So now I'm looking at my humanity and I'm looking 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:06.800 at God's holiness wholeness, changing me who I really am. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.360 And I'm making decisions daily about which one to choose. 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.720 You know, in this church, I think it can be 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.679 said that you can bring somebody who is hurting, somebody 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:25.520 who is addicted, somebody who is living in a lifestyle 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:28.679 that is way far from what the Bible describes, and 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:32.080 they will hear and feel that God loves them and 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.120 that they are welcome, and that they can come back 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:36.920 as many times as they want to come back, even 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:40.679 if their life never changes. I hope you know that. 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:46.000 I hope you know that. Doesn't matter how loud I yell. 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:51.439 I'm not mad at you. I'm not yelling because I'm angry. 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:56.359 The thing that I'm angry at more than anything is 0:23:56.440 --> 0:24:00.000 the devastation that I see in the lives of people 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:05.560 that I love because they are loyal to lifestyles that 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:14.600 lead them to death. One time, a guy was kind 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:18.200 of fussing at me very early in the church, where 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:21.399 he said, we don't preach about sin enough. And he 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:25.960 might be right, because, honestly, like, if we really preached 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.400 about all the sin that's represented in this room, y'all 0:24:29.440 --> 0:24:32.680 wouldn't make it to work Monday morning, and I could 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:34.159 just do my own life and we could get at 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:39.000 least a Tuesday. But what he said, now, this is interesting. 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:42.399 Listen to this. He goes, I feel like when you 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:46.400 preach about acceptance and grace and the love of God, 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:52.280 when you do that, it gives people a license to sin. 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:56.040 Now I had heard that before, so I had to 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:59.720 come back ready for it. I said, a license to sin. 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.280 Most of the people that I preach to are doing 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:11.119 just fine sinning without a license. I mean, what is 0:25:11.200 --> 0:25:15.600 sin an eighteen wheeler like you need a license to 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.560 do it? What is sin? A single engine plane like 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.840 you need a license? All of a sudden, what is sin? 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:26.400 A like sin is hunting like you need a license 0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:31.000 to do it. You're doing just fine sinning without a license. 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:32.920 As a matter of fact, you know what your sin 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:42.320 license was? Your birth certificate. You got here knowing how 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:45.720 to be selfish. Everybody who doesn't agree that's your birth 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:52.160 certificate is your sin license? Has it had children? Has 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:55.480 it even looked at yourself? So what I wanted to 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.400 say to the man is I appreciate where you're coming from. 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:03.520 Understand that God has a standard. But I need people 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:07.240 to know that the same God who gives the standard 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:14.320 will also give the strength. As long as I only 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:17.520 tell you this is how you're sinning, As long as 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:19.760 I only tell you this is how you're missing the mark, 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:21.919 As long as I only tell you this is the 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:25.600 fifteen ways that you could have been better yesterday. As 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:28.439 long as all of our focus is on that, what 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:38.320 do we do We continue in what we reinforce a 0:26:38.440 --> 0:26:42.240 license to sin. I never met a single person yet. 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:45.919 I've pastored all kinds of people, Southern people, northern people, 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:48.919 black people, white people, men, women, old people, young people. 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:54.640 I never met one that needed a license to be stingy. 0:26:55.359 --> 0:26:58.640 I mean, come on, like, over half the church doesn't tithe. 0:26:58.880 --> 0:27:03.040 Where's you're not tithed? Sense? Where do they give those out? 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:06.720 And even if we get past the big behaviors, like 0:27:06.760 --> 0:27:08.840 you get all these external things and all that, if 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.640 we get down into the things that people don't see, 0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:16.240 like how sometimes you use your kids as a backdrop 0:27:16.280 --> 0:27:18.239