What to do? Cookies... - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. For those of you who don't

know, we took about a week's vacation. And then

last week, all of last week, we were at our International

General Assembly for the Church of God in Orlando,

Florida. And just an amazing time. A lot of business

meetings, a lot of church services. But I got

to brag on God just a little bit. The General

Assembly for the Church of God takes place every

two years. And two years ago, the moderator,

really Pastor Gary Lewis, who heads up all of

the Church of God internationally, he came and

he really issued a challenge for the church internationally

with the Church of God and said he would love

to see a million souls saved and for us to plant

churches. And when they came back two years later

to report on what took place, Three million people

have given their lives to Christ. Yeah, come

on. Three million. Incredible. We're part of

that with what we do here. And then they planted

10 ,000 churches internationally. I'm just praising

God. We're a church plant that has now matured

some, and we're just grateful for all that God's

doing. We don't say that to brag on the denomination.

We say that to brag on Jesus. Amen. He's the

one. He's the one who does all the work. So could

you give the Lord a hand for all that's taking

place? And with that, we're going to take a moment.

I'll get you to stand on your feet real quick.

We're going to do church aerobics this morning.

We're going to pray over these invitations because

part of that number that took place, the salvations,

these orange balls and the invitations are part

of what's taking place around the globe. And

we're just trusting God for a harvest here. We're

believing God to bring people in that don't know

Jesus, that are far from Jesus, and they're going

to come to know Him. And that happens through

these invitations, praying over them. If you

invite somebody to church, if you invite somebody...

buddy, in any kind of way, please write their

name or initials on the ball, put a date on,

stick it in here so we can pray over them because

we're believing God for them with you. Amen.

Raise your hands this way if you would. Just

point them this way. Father, we come in the matchless

name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you would

touch, Lord, these invitations that have gone

out. I pray, Lord, that you would somehow step

out ahead. Holy Spirit, go ahead of the words

that we'll bring in this invitation or behind

the words that we've already spoken. Lord, that

it might be effective in the hearer's heart.

And, God, that they might begin to look to you.

And, Lord, we're believing, God, that they'll

draw near to you, that they'll come close. And,

Lord, that they'll come to faith in you. you

and a commitment to Jesus Christ. And we just

give you praise and glory. We ask that you would

have your hand upon the Word today as we listen.

God minister to our hearts and our ears, and

we just give you praise in Jesus' name. And everybody

said together? Amen. Amen. Listen, because you

pray over it, you get to celebrate. All right?

Come on. Give Him glory. Yeah. You may be seated

this morning. Thanks for getting up and praying.

Thank you for worshiping this morning. heard

the great worship just bellowing in behind me

and love every bit of it. But I came across this

story a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd

kind of read it to you. And this is about a man

named Jimmy and his son, Davey. And they were

playing in the beautiful, clear waters of the

Gulf in Mexico while his family was on vacation.

It was him, his wife, his daughters, his parents,

and a cousin that had come along with them. And

they were on the beach, and suddenly a rogue

riptide swept Davey out to see the sun. And immediately

his dad, Jimmy, jumped into the water and began

to swim to Davey to try to get him back to shore.

But before he knew it, he too was caught in the

web or the draw of the riptide, and it began

to pull him out as well. And he began to realize

that he was powerless in this situation. Although

he got to his son, he couldn't swim back in either.

And this man, Jimmy, was an Olympian. This man

was strong, but he was being carried away by

the waters. And he says that he had this one

chilling thought as they were being swept out

into the ocean. thought this. He thought, my

wife and my daughters are going to have to have

a double funeral. This is what he was thinking.

Meanwhile, on the shore, the family didn't hear

their cry for help. They didn't, except for the

cousin. And the cousin, being a little more familiar

with the ocean, knew not to run in and try to

swim to him, but actually went down the shoreline

where they were headed and knew where there was

a sandbar that went extended out into the ocean,

ran out in through the water, out onto the sandbar.

And as he got close to him, or as they began

to sweep down towards him, he started yelling,

come to me, you come to me. And he pulled him

out of the water. And you might say, well, why

tell this story? Because there's a lesson here.

Sometimes if you jump in on your own, you're

going to die, right? Sometimes you can be swept

out to sea. Sometimes you jump out in your own

wisdom. Sometimes you jump out in your own thinking

in some way. Sometimes if you jump in without

consulting God and reaching out, you can pray,

you can wish, you can do all those things. But

if you get swept out to sea, You could die. It's

true. And Jesus began to tell us something very

similar in Matthew chapter 5. If you've got your

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Bibles, you can head to Matthew chapter 5. We're

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

going to go to verse 27. And Jesus started to

talk about sin and being swept out into the ocean

or the sea of sin. Sometimes, if we simply try

to follow our flesh, we're going to be swept

away or we could die. I know, what a way to come

back and start from vacation, right? Y 'all are

like, oh, come on, Pastor. But this is particularly

true with sin. It's true with the sea of iniquity

that can pull us out into the depths. If I just

jump into sin and I try to make them wade my

through it on my own wisdom, my own instinct,

right, my own reasoning of some kind, my own

excuses sometimes, whatever it is, it can sweep

me and take me away. It can begin to draw me

out. Jesus said there's going to be times, many

times, that you're going to have to ignore your

gut. You're going to have to ignore your instinct.

You're going to have to... Ignore your intellectual

ideas. You're going to have to completely ignore

your momentary thought, and you're going to have

to do it his way. Do it his way. Amen? Amen.

To survive, to live, and to not die, to get back

into the shore of safety, sometimes, most times,

dare I say, all the time, you're going to have

to do it his way. And ignore what you're thinking

or what you're feeling. And as he's on the hillside

in Galilee, Jesus begins to instruct the multitude

on what to do and what not to do. It's the series

we've been in. It's what we've been talking about

for the last couple of weeks. What to do and

what to not do to keep you out of the riptide

of sin. To keep you from getting pulled into

the sea of iniquity and death. So Matthew 5,

27 says this, for you have heard that it was

said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman

to lust for her has already committed adultery

with her in his heart. If your right eye causes

you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.

For it is more profitable for you that one of

your members perish than for your whole body

to be cast into hell. And if your right hand

causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from

you. For it's more profitable for you that one

of your members perish than your whole body be

cast into hell. Jesus begins this, he's talking,

he's doing this Sermon on the Mount, and he starts

this portion of Scripture off and he says, he

names the sexual sin of adultery. And he's saying,

don't do it. Right? Don't cheat on your spouse.

Don't engage in that kind of activity. Don't

even think about it because adultery is kind

of one of those sins that can draw you out. You

can get caught in the riptide, and it'll begin

to sweep you out, and it'll leave you wondering,

how did I get here? When did I get here? How

did I end up in the middle of the ocean of sin?

You can feel like you're drowning. I've worked

with people that have got caught in this, you

know, caught up in this, and they feel like they're

drowning. They feel like the ocean's coming in.

around them. And Jesus isn't just repeating the

law of God that was given to Moses in the Ten

Commandments. He wasn't just speaking about the

law that God spoke, that Mosaic law. Jesus repeats

this law so that he can begin to take it to a

deeper level. He takes it a step further, and

he begins to speak to the root of sin. The causation

of sin, the genesis of any sexual sin or really

any sin at all. And he goes on to say in verse

27, right? He says, you've heard that it is said

to those of old, you should not commit adultery.

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman

to lust after her has already committed adultery

with her in his heart. Jesus is telling this

massive crowd on the hillside that don't get

swept away into the sea of sin. And he begins

to talk about the genesis of where this takes

place, which is in the heart. We end up in this

sea of sin. We end up getting pulled out by a

riptide of sin. And that begins in our heart

long before it ever manifests on the outside

of us. long before it ever shows up where people

can see or where we see it, right? We toy with

sin sometimes in our head and our heart before

we ever get to our hands or our body, right?

We mess with it in our head. It starts with us

maybe fixing our eyes, fixating on something

that we shouldn't fixate on. And then our heart

and our head begin to desire what we're fixating

on because we shouldn't be fixating on it, right?

That's where it begins. It starts staring at

something. And I'm going to just kind of G -rate

this whole thing a little bit because I know

we got some young listeners in there. It starts

with looking at the cookie. Amen? Come on, I'm

trying to lighten it up, folks. Right? I'm trying

to keep it G -rated this morning. I'm going to

replace a little bit of the word here. And listen,

don't email me and don't send me anything. I'm

not changing the word of God. I'll preach the

word of God as it is, but I'm just going to try

to keep this G -rated, right? Because Jesus said,

I said to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust

after has already committed adultery with her

in his heart. Just for illustration purposes,

let the woman be a cookie today. Amen? You okay

with that? Say amen if you're all right with

that. So whoever looks at the cookie to lust

after her, our cookie's female today, by the

way, right? Gentlemen, a lustful look at the

cookie is not just a quick glance at the shapely

cookie in front of you, and it's not even a recognition

of attractiveness. Lust of the cookie is when

you begin to look for a long time, when it leads

to your heart changing, and I want the cookie.

I must have the cookie, right? I will stare at

the cookie. Even if I can't have the cookie,

I'm just gonna stare at the cookie as long as

I can. Jesus said, if you're lusting for the

cookie, you've already committed cookie sin in

your heart. It's already happened, right? And

that sin's just waiting to mature and manifest

on the outside. And if the desire remains long

enough inside of you, I can assure you, What's

on the inside is going to appear on the outside.

James 1 .5 says this. Then when desire, lust,

right, has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth

death. Say death. You need to know. You need

to know what it brings, right? It begins on the

inside and it grows to the outside. Desire, in

its nature, always births something. Desire itself

is going to birth something in you, good or bad.

Both sides of this. On one side of the fence

or the other. If you've got desire, it's going

to gestate, right? You're going to conceive.

It's going to gestate. And it's going to bring

forth something in your life. It's going to manifest

something. If we desire God, righteousness and

a relationship with God is going to show up.

It's going to begin to birth out of you. It starts

with the desire to come to Christ. It starts

with the desire, I want to know the king. I want

to know the God of the universe. I want to know

the Savior who went to the cross. and died for

me. And when you begin that desire and that begins

to birth inside of you, you want to come to faith.

You want to confess your sins. You want to do

that. It's a desire. But if we desire sin, any

sin, it bursts action in us. It's going to lead

to change that's taking place in here. And it'll

eventually go from your head, your heart, and

it'll hit your soul. And James tells us that

if it's not repented of, If we don't change directions,

it leads to death. It can kill you. It can pull

you out into the ocean. It's what sin does. And

sin takes its job seriously. It might seem like

a casual swim. You might be out doggy paddling,

right, in the ocean of sin. But all of a sudden,

a riptide is going to get you, and it's going

to begin to pull, and it's going to begin to

draw. And Jesus goes on, right, to explain that

this sin is so dangerous that he gives some radical

steps as an illustration to eradicate the sin

in our lives. In Matthew 5, 29, he says, if your

right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and

cast it from you. For it's more profitable for

you if one of your members perish than for your

whole body to be cast into hell. And if your

right hand caused you to sin, cut it off and

cast it from you. For it's more profitable for

you that one of your members perish than for

your whole body to be cast into hell. Plucking

out your eye, cutting off your, how many know

that's radical? Amen. Turn your, turn the person

besides them. That's radical. Or come on, that's

radical. But what Jesus was getting across, he

was using an illustration here, a very strong

illustration. He was saying to us in these verses,

Jesus said that we need to cut off and cast out

what is causing us to sin. And if you go back

to what I talked about just a few minutes ago,

Jesus referenced back to what's going on on the

inside of you. There's some things on the inside

of us that we've got to learn to cut off and

to cast away from us. So that we don't get caught

in sin. So something, temptation doesn't begin

to turn into desire and then grow into sin, which

eventually leads to death. We got to learn to

cut it off. And there's ways that I'm going to

share that with you this morning. You know, how

do we do that? But you need to learn how to do

this because how many know, you know, it'd be

awesome, you know, plucking out your eyes. That's

radical. And I know that would solve part of

the problem, right? You pluck out your eyes,

you can't see the cookie anymore. But how many

know if the lust is in your heart already, the

sin still can be there even if you don't have

it? That's not what Jesus is talking about. It's

talking about casting something away that's on

the inside of you. Something that you can cast

away because there's always going to be a cookie

that's going to walk by you in some way and create

a temptation. I was just at the ocean. We were

at the beach the first week on vacation. Let

me tell you, there were some half -dressed cookies

there. True, right? They need to put some more

clothing on, right? Just my opinion. And it's

a great idea to turn your eyes from those kind

of things. You should practice getting your eyes

away, closing your eyes to those things. Guys,

gentlemen, right? You got to turn from that.

It's what we do in our heart. It's what's happening

inside of us that begins to start that desire.

And this is where we got to learn to throw the

desire. We got to be able to cast it. Do this

for me one time. Just do it like that. Like you're

throwing a basil. That's what cast means. That

means to throw something. We got to learn how

to throw what's going on inside of us so we don't

get into sin. It's powerfully tossing it. We

don't remove sin from our lives by just simply

closing our eyes. It's good practice, great practice,

right? Don't keep your eyes fixed on it, but

it isn't gonna fix the problem. Outside practices,

right, are not gonna touch what's gonna take

place on the inside if it's already in your head

or in your heart. We gotta be able to cast it.

So how do I do that? How do I do that? I wanna

answer this one. I don't wanna get you all up

to this point and just leave you hanging. What

do I do? Well, here's what has to happen in our

hearts and lives. We've got to develop new desires.

We've got to develop. Say, develop new desires.

And some of you are like, well, you mean you

can do that? Yes, you can. right? You can develop

new desires. One of the greatest benefits of

being a child of the King, being saved by the

blood of Jesus Christ, being restored and rejuvenated

by Jesus, one of the great benefits is that you

can actually be empowered, right, to develop

new desires. You really can. Romans 6, 12 says

this, therefore do not let sin reign in, inside,

right, in your mortal body, that you should obey

it in its lust. And do not present your members

as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but

present yourself to God as being alive from the

dead and your members as instruments of righteousness

to God. For sin shall not have dominion over

you. All right? Sin shall not have dominion.

Shall is not maybe, possibly, could be. Shall

not have dominion over you, for you are not under

the law, but under grace. It is the grace of

God through faith in Jesus Christ that we are

saved and we have dominion over sin. You got

to know this. You got to understand this. You

got to get this in your heart and your spirit.

Sin does not have dominion over you. We have

dominion over it. It does not have rule over

me. I can have rule over it. I can rule over

my desires. The world's not going to tell you

this. In Christ, this is true. We can rule. And

we got to develop new desires. We got to build

new desires. We have the power to do it. We know

how to use it, right? We just got to know. We

just got to do the steps. And how many know that?

That if you have something powerful and you have

authority and dominion over something, that you

can move a lot of rubble, right? You can move

a lot of things. You can cut a lot of things

out of your life. It's true. How many of you

have ever used a chainsaw? Raise your hand in

here. Come on, go. Yeah, that's awesome, right?

I love chainsaws. Why? Because they're powerful,

man. You can move a lot of stuff with a chainsaw.

You can move people. It scares them, right? You

can cut logs. You can cut trees. You can move

a lot of rubble with a chainsaw because it's

powerful. God gave you the Holy Spirit. When

you get saved, the indwelling of the Spirit takes

place. You got power in your life. You got power

that others don't have as you follow Jesus. And

all you've got to do is use that power. That

power is there for you to remove the rubble.

Amen? Say it. Come on. If you agree, say amen.

He wants you to remove that rubble, and he'll

use the Holy Spirit to do it. It's one of the

first parts of the way that you begin to change

your desires. You begin to develop new desires.

It's knowledge first of knowing this. Philippians

4, 6 says this. Be anxious for nothing. But in

everything, prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your requests be known to God, and the peace

of God which surpasses all understanding will

guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Let me read that first part. Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything, by prayer. Say prayer. By

prayer. One step you need to take is to pray

about the desires that are in your heart. If

you want to remove and cast out old desires and

develop the new desires that are in Christ, you

need to pray about those. The desires that are

not good, the desires that are sinful, bring

it to God. Sometimes our desires don't change

because we don't ask them to change them. We

just keep motoring along in life, and we keep

thinking we can overcome it on our own, and we'll

just keep it hidden. We'll keep it under the

radar, right? I'll just keep closing my eyes

to the cookies when I can. And sometimes we don't

bring it to him, and we say, Lord, I need you

to remove this desire in my life. I need the

Holy Spirit active in my life. And you might

say, well, why don't you sometimes? Why don't

some people pray and ask God to remove those

desires, those sinful desires? Well, a couple

reasons, right? One, they don't believe that

the power of God is strong enough to remove those

desires. Maybe they've been dealing with those

desires for a long time, and they feel like the

desire is much stronger than anything God can

do, and they won't pray it. Or maybe sometimes

they really don't even want to remove the desire.

How many know sometimes you just don't want to

get caught? Amen? Sometimes you just don't want

to get caught. And it's not about removing the

desire. It's just like, oh, man, I just don't

want to get caught in the middle of the desire

or whatever it is. And it really has to be this

part of us that we're willing to stop. We're

willing to go to God and say, God, I got to confess

something to you. Jesus, I need to confess. There's

this desire inside of me that does not line up

with your word. It does not line up with you.

And I need you to help me. I need the Holy Spirit

active in my life to begin to walk past. and

to change my desire. Amen? Step two, say step

two. Step two, Philippians 4 .8 says this. Finally,

brethren, whatever things are true, whatever

things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever

things are pure, whatever things are lovely,

whatever things are of good report, if there

is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy,

meditate. Say meditate. Meditate on these things.

The things which you've learned and received

and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God

of peace will be with you. It is what I think

on, right, that feeds my desire, that drives

me to taste something. And it's what I taste

that begins to feed my desire, right, to continue

to think on that thing, whatever it is. I used

to drink a lot of Pepsi back many, many years

ago. I used to desire to have a Pepsi every single

day of my life, right? I used to dream about

the end of the day when I would get a Pepsi and

it was nice and cold and open that can, pour

it over a nice glass of ice, and I was going

to drink me some Pepsi. I admit it, right? I'm

confessing right now in front of you all, right?

And it's not that Pepsi is a sin. It's just I

desire to have a Pepsi. I remember drinking a

Pepsi almost every day. But there was somewhere

along the way that in my mind began to shift,

my thinking began to shift because I realized

it's not all really that good for you to drink

a soda every single day. And I began to think

of something different. My mind began to meditate

on something different than the desire for the

Pepsi. My mind began to meditate on like, hey,

this isn't really healthy for me. And I probably

shouldn't be drinking this. And can I tell you,

I haven't had a Pepsi in a long time. I haven't

even thought about a Pepsi until I started preparing

this message. Didn't even think about it, right?

And it's because I began to meditate on something

different than the message I was feeding myself

about the desire. I began to meditate on something

that was healthy. And it's the same thing with

God's word. When you begin to meditate on what

God says versus what the desire is telling you,

because there will be two, right? And if you

allow it, the desire will be a lot louder than

the word of God. But if you let the word of God

begin to meditate, you begin to meditate on the

word of God, you begin to take in the word of

God, your desire begins to shift. You begin to

feed on something different that changes your

desire. This is how you change it. This is how

you shift it. The taste and what you feed on

regularly, by the way, you'll begin to desire

in your heart. It's true. It's true in the physical.

It's true in the spirit. What you taste, what

you feed on regularly, what you meditate on will

begin to shift your desire. It's true. What I

eat, I desire, and what I desire, I eat. What

are you meditating on? The devil's job is to

get you meditating on the wrong thing, to get

you thinking about meditating, running in circles

in your head. How many of you go in circles in

your head? Just go ahead and raise your hand.

It's all of you. I know it is, right? You'll

get on a thought, and that thought will just

keep running around. It has nothing to do with

God. It has nothing to do with God's Word. And

you'll keep running that thing around in your

head over and over and over, and it will build

a desire in your spirit. It might be something

different than a sexual sin. It could be hate.

It could be envy. It could be a host of other

things. When Satan came to Jesus in the desert

in Matthew chapter 4 -1, he used some of these

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

tactics. It says in Matthew 4 -1, when Jesus

was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness

to be tempted by the devil. Now, you've got to

understand something where this portion of Scripture

is. Jesus is on the front end of his earthly

ministry. He's been in the desert for 40 days

and for 40 nights. He's been fasting. He's pushed

food aside, right? He's denied himself food,

and he's desiring the Father. He's listening

for the Father. meditating on the Father. He's

been intentional in pushing the physical food

away to get spiritual food. And he's feeding

on these. And the devil comes to Jesus, and he

tries to shift Jesus' eyes back to the physical

thing. He tries to get Jesus to look and meditate

on the thing that he puts before him. Because

in verse 2, it says, when he had fasted 40 days

and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. Now,

when the tempter came to him, he said, if you're

the Son of God, command that the stones become

bread. But he answered and said, it is written,

man shall not live by bread alone, talking about

physical bread, but by every word that proceeds

out of the mouth of God. Devil, I'm not going

to be looking at the bread today, right? I don't

care if it's Italian bread. I don't care if it's

poppy seed bread. I don't care if it's potato

rolls smothered in four pounds of butter. That's

not what I'm meditating on. That's not what I'm

looking at. I'm going to meditate on every word

that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It changes

your desire. It shifts it. He can't mess with

you. He can't. We develop our desires by the

supernatural help of the Holy Spirit, but also

by meditating on his promises, meditating on

his word. We start a Bible in a year. Just a

little while back, we're going to do it again.

Why? So that your desires change. So as you read

God's word, things begin to shift. So you begin

to cast out some of the junk and the rubble that's

in your heart and in your mind, right? So I don't

lust after the cookies. Amen? It's true. Worship

team, if you'd come. Know this. Know this. The

devil will try to keep you in the riptide of

iniquity. He'll do it. He'll do it to you. He'll

do it to me. He did it to Jesus. He did it to

Jesus. And to keep us from there, right? He'll

try to keep you from swimming to the sandbar

where Jesus is going, come to me. Come to me.

Come to me, right? He'll try that. He'll try

to convince you that our desire, he'll try to

shift your desire to something outside of God

and convince you that it's better in some kind

of way. It's what he did in the Garden of Eden.

When Eve was in the garden, you know, God told

him not to touch of the fruit of the tree of

the knowledge of good and evil. And Satan came

along and said, did God really say that? You

know, I think this is okay for you. And Eve believed

the deceiver. Oh, yeah, this probably is good

for me. So I'm going to just take of the fruit

that God said not to. The Word of God says in

Genesis that God commanded and said, don't do

that lest you die. Lest you die. Don't buy it.

Don't buy the lie of the devil. The devil will

try to convince you that you have no power over

sin. I'm going to ask you to stand. And I want

you to hear this because this is so common. Maybe

you've tried to overcome the sin in your heart

in the past. Maybe you failed. And maybe it's

not just the sin in your heart. Maybe it's sin

that has manifested in your life. And I can tell

you why you maybe failed in that particular riptide

of life. I really can. First, it's not the lack

of power because we know that the Holy Spirit,

that God has power over all things. As a matter

of fact, Jesus said, authority has been given

to me in heaven and earth. He has all power.

He has all power. So it's not a power issue,

right? It's not that. It's not that we don't

have access to it because we know we have access

to it. But sometimes... What happens is that

you've been in it so long, and it's repeated

so many times in your life that you don't know

the way to the sandbar. You don't know which

way to swim. You don't even know how to get there.

And just like Jimmy's cousin who was out on the

sandbar, you're not swimming that direction.

You didn't even know you could go that direction.

And sometimes you're going to need somebody.

You're going to need the Holy Spirit in your

life, and you're going to need another person

in your life. to help you walk out of this. Sometimes

it's sin that we get caught in and we feel like

we can't overpower it and we feel like we don't

have any power over it. It's just because you

don't know how to swim. How many of you have

ever got swimming lessons? Amen. You got in a

pool or your parents or somebody got you in a

pool and they begin to show you. And if you guys

would play lightly. You just say, you began to

swim, right? And if you don't know what you're

doing, how far do you get? Not very far. Right?

Somebody taught you the doggy paddle. Somebody

told you how to stroke, or the backstroke, or

how to float on your back. And they begin to

give you instruction. The Holy Spirit will provide

the power. But sometimes you need a coach. Sometimes

if there's a desire that you can't kick, and

you can't change that desire, you need somebody

in your life that will help you walk out. Do

you know the good thing about a coach? A lot

of times a coach is somebody who's been where

you already are right now. And they've done,

and they've came through successfully, and that's

why they can coach other people. And if you're

here this morning, and I want to alleviate any

type of guilt or pressure you're feeling right

now, I want you to take a look around the room.

Take a look beside you, left and right. Take

a look right now, left and right. Can I tell

you something? Every single person in this room,

everybody listening to us online has been caught

in the riptide of sin. We're here because Jesus

saved us from sin. Amen. We're here because he

redeemed us. We're here because we still mess

up at times and we got to come back and confess

and repent. At General Assembly this year, 2

,000 ordained bishops, one of whom I am, right,

came down and we were going to do business on

the floor. You know what the first thing the

general overseer did? He pulled us all down.

He said, we need to all repent together. That's

what he said. We need to all repent of sin. We

need to get our hearts pure and our minds clear.

So I'm not picking anybody out. We've all been

there. But sometimes you're going to need somebody.

You're going to need the Holy Spirit to provide

the power. You're going to need somebody to walk

beside you and help you get past these desires

that if you don't deal with them, if you don't

repent, if you don't confess, if you don't get

somebody walking beside you, they'll pull you

out and kill you. They'll kill you. Guys, I'm

going to pick on us a little bit. I don't know

if you know this or not, 60 % of the men in church,

in church, not outside the church, in the church,

are hooked on pornography. 60%. That's what the

numbers are. And it rises when you go up, when

you go outside the church. I want us to do something

here at LifeHouse. We're going to continue to

do this, and this isn't just for this morning.

You're going to keep hearing about this more

and more. We talk about don't do life alone.

I heard this morning we talk about a circle.

And you're going to hear me talk more and more

about a circle and about who's in your circle

because you need to have a circle. And the people

in your circle need to be people that are people

of God. I'm not talking about just community,

right? You can go anywhere and get community.

You can go out to any organization outside these

walls and get community. I'm talking about a

community of people who are following Jesus.

I'm talking about a community of people who will

support you. I'm talking about a community of

people that will keep you accountable. A community

of people, right? And this might be only one,

two, or three to start off that you can begin

to talk to and confess. Like, I'm struggling

in this, man. I got hate in my heart. I hate

this person. I had somebody tell me that not

too long ago. I hate this person, and I don't

even know what to do with this. They're getting

pulled out to sea. Because hate leads to murder,

man. That's where it begins, right? Starts in

here and comes to the outside. We got lots of

police officers in the house. They'll tell you

where it'll go, right? That's where it'll go.

So I want you to begin to pray. And here's how

we're going to pray this morning. We're going

to pray that if you got something in there, you

need to get it circled. And I'm asking you, who's

in your circle? And you need to find godly people

to get in your circle. And it might only be one.

It might only be two. And I know this morning,

you know, I could get you to try. We're going

to get in circles to pray. But I'm not going

to get you to try to confess here because I know

some of this is sensitive, right? It could be

a cookie issue. And I don't need you. That's

an uncomfortable thing. And you're not going

to speak it out anyway in that circle. Maybe

you shouldn't. But you should find a group of

people. Guys with guys. Women with women. They're

going to pray together. You've got to find somebody

that's going to walk with you and pray with you

and help you come out of that riptide because

they've come out of the riptide and they've stepped

through it so that we are free. Jesus came so

that you're free. He whose son sets free is free

indeed. He's got a plan. He's got a pattern.

So I want you to bow your heads right now. Who's

in your circle? who's in your circle because

you'll walk into sin. You'll be out floating

in the ocean and you won't even realize you're

getting pulled out in a riptide. Bitterness will

set in. Hate will set in. Envy will set in. Lust

will set in. You name the sin. You need somebody

in your circle. You need somebody that's going

to help you swim out of that mess and help you

swim to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will empower you.

Just have somebody there to help you walk through.

And I can tell you, if you haven't done it by

now, you need somebody else with you. If you

could have done it on your own, it would have

already been done. Father, we come to you in

the matchless name of Jesus. Lord, I thank you

for each person in the house. God, I thank you

for your wisdom and your direction. I thank you

for your guidance. Lord, I'm asking right now,

individually first, we're going to pray for one

another in just a moment. But God, I... I'm just

asking in the house right now, individually,

Lord, God, those are listed online. Lord, let

them admit, confess to you first, Lord, that

they need somebody. God, that their desires in

their heart, they're struggling with. They can't

get it to shift. They can't get it to change.

They know it's not right. They know it's against

the word. And Lord, they need somebody to walk

with them. And there's no judgment in this house.

We are all sinners saved by grace in this house.

So Lord, I pray, God, that they would just confess

that to you. God, that they would admit it to

you. And God, that you would meet them right

where they are. And God, they need to know. And

Lord, if somebody's here and they don't know

you as Lord and Savior, they can today. All they

got to do is believe in their heart and confess

with their mouth that Jesus, you are Lord. And

the word of God says they'll be saved and they'll

be forgiven of the sin just the same as the rest

of us are. So Lord, if that person's in the house,

let them first, Lord, pray and say, I want you

in my life, Jesus. I want to walk with you, Jesus.

I want to know your presence and your power.

But we got to confess it first. That's what leads

to salvation. And then repentance, Lord, is doing

something different. It's going a different way.

It's turning from where I was, the direction

I was walking. So I want you to look at me now.

Okay, look up, please. I want you to form circles.

I want you to get in circles of guys and ladies.

A couple guys, a couple ladies. And here's what

I want you to pray for the other person. Lord,

lead them to a circle. Lead them to a circle.

Who's in your circle? Who's in your circle? No

more. But we allow. I know it's going to be hard

for me to please, but I'm going to say it. You

know what happens when you walk alone? Take an

example from the shepherd and the sheep. A sheep

that's out there walking alone, that's the one

the wolf gets. Doesn't happen when they're all

together in a flock. It's the one that's out

by themselves. We're not going to let people

go out and wander by themselves. Amen? Safety

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