Break the Cylce

Well, hey, how's it going. Venture So good to be with you today. My wife Amber and I are just honored to be able to take some time twenty one years we've been married, and so thankful for her and thankful for what God is doing and what some are calling the least likely least churched region in America. And I look out today and I'm like, well, God clearly has different plans. So I love this. I love your pastors, Pastors Brandon and Diabeals and just the joy that we've had in friendship with them throughout the years. And I want to encourage you. Do everything you can to encourage your pastors. I'd love for you to some of you still do this. You actually write handwritten notes. You know what those are. You can like send them, write them some handwritten notes, thank them for their lives, their leadership. And I love that your church is committed to the health of your leaders, even in blessing them with some time on sabbatical this summer. I know that's such a necessary gift, and so thankful for them. But how many of you are thankful for Jesus? Come on, can we take a moment just celebrate Jesus today? Today. Over the next few minutes, I want to share a message with you that I've entitled break the Cycle. Break the Cycle. If you're taking notes, would love for you to write that down. In a moment, we're going to go to Romans chapter eight, so if you have your Bibles, you can get those ready. We'll be there in just a few moments. But I want to talk about breaking the cycle. You see in each of our lives today, there's a characteristic that was passed to you from the generations before you. And here's what I know. You can't really change what was passed to you. What you received. You didn't really have a say in it. Be for you the shape of your nose or the shape of your ears. My kids make fun of my ears all the time because I have attached ear lobes. Anybody else you have attached ear lobes in the house? All right? Most of us have detached. I'm one of the lucky ones that have attached ear lobes. My kids make fun of me. Some of us we received great hair from the generations before us. Come on, where's the good hair? People at? Some of you you were not in that gift. Where are you at right? Maybe maybe there's a lack of hair that was passed to you. And again, here's the dynamic. You can't change what was passed to you. You didn't sign up for it. There's good things and there's bad things. Maybe your food preferences, they were passed to you. You've learned to like certain types of food. But then there's things like our temper, our anger. Our grandfather had a short fuse, our dad out of short fuse. And we just know this is who I am, this is what I've received, and we have a short fuse. Maybe the way that your family, your parents, they approached money, and here it is, it's been passed from generation to generation and you just kind of inherited it and now you kind of look at your kids and you're like, sorry, just how we do what we do. Here's what I know. You can't change what was passed to you, but you can change what you pass on. And today I hope that God, in his grace would give us ears to hear that truth, because some of us we received some stuff that we didn't necessarily want to receive. And here we are, we have a choice to make. Will I pass that on or will change happen. In my life, you see cycles of brokenness. One they're developed, are hard to break. His cycles happen. In fact, so much of the brokenness in our world, the brokenness in our culture, it is cycles of a brokenness that go from generation to generation to generation. And one of the things that I love about Scripture it doesn't whitewash or hide reality. Have you noticed this that for those of you who maybe ever done an annual Bible reading plan and you're a few months in and you start scratching your head, going, all these people are messed up. Have you ever had that thought? If you're working through the Old Testament, you're like, wait a minute, I thought all these people are perfect. And here's the truth. No one is in Scripture is perfect except for one person. His name is Jesus. In fact, scripture doesn't hide the flaws, the failures, the fractures of the individual that we read about their lives. Ultimately, scripture is not about them. It's about the God who rescues and redeems them. And the same is true in your life. In my life, God wants to rescue us and redeem us and help us experience transformation. One of the families that we read about early on in scripture in the book of Genesis, is really the family who it all starts with. It's a man named Abraham in his offspring. God makes a covenant with Abraham, and he says, listen, through you, through your family, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. That's an incredible promise which ultimately is fulfilled in the New Testament through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And yet Abraham is amazing as his faith was. Abraham had some issues. Aren't you thankful that you can be a part of a church? And even if you have some issues, which, by the way, if you're breathing, you have issues. Some of you were offended by that. Listen, I love you. It's okay, it's okay. We all have issues. Abraham include it. You see, Abraham had this issue called deception. In fact, we read about it in Genesis both chapter twelve and twenty. He says to his wife Sarah, hey say you're my sister, not my wife. And so Abraham what does he do? He deceives Pharaoh and then in chapter twenty he deceives a Bimeleic. But this begins a pattern in Abraham's life that then transfers to his son, Isaac. Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac. Isaac gets married to a girl named Rebecca, and in Genesis chapter twenty six, guess what he tells Rebecca to do. Lie and say you're my sister, not my Does that sound familiar? And now all of a sudden, there's this pattern that passes on and Isaac and Rebecca. They are blessed with twins, Esau and Jacob. Jacob, the younger brother. His name, by the way, means deceiver or he'l grabber. Jacob partners with his mom to deceive his dad and steal his older brother's birthright and inheritance. Talk about messed up family dynamics, and this is the family that God chose to work through. And so all of a sudden you have Abraham who told some deception, Isaac who told some deception. Now Jacob is actually deceiving his father with the help of his mother. Then Jacob, in Genesis twenty nine, is deceived by a man named Laban says to him, Hey, if you worked this amount of years, I'm gonna give you the girl that you want. He wakes up the next morning after the wedding realizes Laban did a switcheroo. That's tough on the day after your wedding, by the way, And Laban says, hey, it just works seven more years. And so now the one who deceived is experiencing deception. You see how the cycle brokenness continues. But then Jacob gets his act together and he decides, I'm gonna deceive Laban. And we see this in Genesis thirty and thirty one. This is God's chosen family friends. Yet the cycle continues. It comes to a head when Jacob he had number of sons. His second youngest son was Joseph. He was the preferred son, the favored son. In fact, Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. His love was revealed in a coat that he provided for his son. Maybe you've read about it, maybe you saw the play. And his older brothers begin to despise Joseph, and so they come up with a plan. They decide at first to murder him, and one of them goes, no, no, let's not murder him, because we don't get any money out of that. Let's sell him, and so they sell their younger brother into slavery, and they go to their father. And what do they do? They deceive their father, Abraham Isaac Jacob now the fourth generation. There's this cycle of deception, the cycle of brokenness continues. But then something important happens. What is that Joseph breaks the cycle. Joseph breaks the cycle. You see, instead of deceiving his father, what does he do? He blesses, he protects, He provides for his father. A famine hits the land where his dad is living. He brings he and his whole household down to the land of Egypt and provides for his dad. Instead of revenge on his brothers, although he messes with them a little bit. But instead of taking revenge on his brothers, what does he do? He forgives, He welcomes them, He accepts them. Instead of being a victim of his past. He sees God's redemptive purpose and power at work, even through the mess that he had to go through. You see that mess. His brothers threw him into a pit. How many know when you're in those pit moments of life, you can begin to question God. This doesn't look like what we agreed life should look like. And maybe you've been there, maybe that's where you're at today. For Joseph, he went from that pit to being sold into slavery in Egypt and worked in a man named Potiphar's house, and he experienced pressure from Potiphar's wife, and he did the right thing, although he was accused for doing the wrong thing. He ended up in prison again. At this moment, you got to be wondering, God, this seems very different than your plan of blessing. What's going on? But God, in his grace, was working his redemptive plan. And what I love about Joseph, he blesses instead of continuing the pattern of brokenness. He becomes an extension of God's blessing and salvation for his family. Now that matters why, because Joseph, in scripture, should point our hearts towards someone even greater. And who is that? His name is Jesus. And by the way, all of the challenge, all of the pain, all of the brokenness that Joseph experienced, Jesus too experienced some of those things. He was also betrayed and stripped of his clothes. He was also sold for silver. He was also wrongfully accused, but unlike Joseph, Jesus. He was condemned to death so that those of us who should be condemned, we could be welcomed into abundant life. You see, friends, that's the good news today for those of us who maybe find ourselves in a cycle of brokenness that maybe we started, or maybe we inherited. Here's some good news for all of our hearts today. Jesus came to end the cycle of brokenness that sin has created. You want to see the cycle broken. Maybe it's been generation after generation for you. The good news is that Jesus came. He lived the life we could not live. He died the death we all should die. But the story doesn't in their friends, he rose again? Why so that that cycle of brokenness from sin could be broken in our lives. You see the source of our brokenness. It's not just wrong decisions, it's not just little mistakes. It's this thing called sin. And what is sin? Sin in its truest essence is against God. Tyler. That feels pretty heavy for a Sunday morning, but I understand it goes all the way back to the Book of Genesis, where Adam and Eve they rebelled, they chose their will above God's will, and the cycle of brokenness started. But the good news is God loved his creation. He loved you enough to provide a solution for the cycle to end. You see that sin cycle in all of our lives, it continues its destructive course unless something is done. And that's why I want us to turn together to Romans chapter eight. The apostle Paul writing this letter. In chapter seven, he is talking about the dynamic of why is it in life that I do those things that I know I shouldn't do, and I don't do those things that I know I should should do. Anybody else relate to that? Why do I do what I know I shouldn't do? And why do I not do the things that I know I should? And he goes on to say, who will free me from this life dominated by sin and death? In other words, I'll paraphrase it, Who's gonna break me out of this cycle? He says this at the very end of chapter seven. Praise God, The answer is in Christ Jesus. His very next thought Romans eight, verse one, would you look there with me? He says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. I have good news for you today. If you are in Christ, Guess what. There is no condemnation. There's no condemnation towards sin. There's no price tag that you now have to pay. Why because Jesus has already paid it on your behalf. If you are in Christ, there is no condemnation. Why because the law of the Spirit of life. In Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, since it was weakened by the flesh. God, did you say, God did? God has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. God did this. He condemned sin in the flesh by sinning his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law's requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh have their mindset on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit have their mindset on the things of the Spirit. Again, if you are in Christ, I have good news. There is no condemnation in you, not because you're so amazing, but because Jesus has done for you what you can't do for yourself. But we live in this tension at times because we hear that truth, we know that truth, But then we feel a little bit like Paul in Romans chapter seven. If that's true, Tyler, why do I still do what I don't want to do? And why do I not do the things that I know I'm supposed to do? And here's what I want to remind us. You still live in a body that has appetites, You still live in a body that has desires. We are still subject at times to that old individual that wants to raise back up and take control in our lives, those patterns that we've learned and picked up along the way. Where does that leave us? It leaves us longing for what Paul's says is the actual solution and what is that? The liberating power of the Holy Spirit you see at salvation. We are justified. In other words, God's judgment, God's justice towards sin is completely satisfied in our lives. But how many know, even though you are justified, you have a new spiritual standing, you are not yet completely sanctified. In other words, your life, your patterns, your desires, your thought processes. You are still in process. Can I get an a myth? And by the way, if you're already done, like you've you've figured all of this out, you perfected everything. We're gonna have a time of prayer at the end of this gathering. We want you to pray for all of us because we're all in process. So we're all still trying to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. How do we do that partnership with the spirit. So you have to make a decision. And will I trust in the Spirit or will I trust in myself? Will I try to do this on my own? You see, because of Jesus, a new cycle in your life can be set in motion, set a different way. Instead of passing on a cycle of brokenness, we can actually pass on a cycle of blessing. I don't know about you, but when I think about my kids, and Lord willing someday my grandkids, I want to pass on a cycle of blessing, not brokenness. But this just isn't about me trying a little bit harder. No, it's much deeper than that. It's much more important than that. The goal of today is not just try harder see today, consider for a moment, what were some of the cycles that were passed to you. What's some of the brokenness that you receive that you weren't necessarily looking for, but it was just passed on. Maybe you think about the way that your family always approached anger or conflict. Maybe you came from a passive, aggressive family. Right nobody ever said anything. You just knew who was ticked off and who wasn't. And now that same reality is being lived out at your dinner table multiple times a week. I don't want you to just think though about what you've received. I want you to pause and consider for a moment, what are the cycles that you are passing on? Something's going to outlast you and outlive you. What is it that you are passing on? You see, you can't change the patterns and cycles that were given to you, But through the grace of Jesus, you can break the cycle and change what you will pass on. But the question is how do I break the cycle of brokenness? Today? I want to give us a number of cycle breaking truths. The first one is this, you are not enough, and that's okay because Jesus is hear me. You are not enough and that's okay? Why because Jesus is. And I know right there, some of your minds just kind of broke for a second. Like Tyler, I came to church to be encouraged, and now you're telling me I'm not enough. And I know that goes against every self help book you just read. It goes against every blog that you just read. It goes against what all of your social media feeds will be feeding you this next week that oh, here's seven ways just be it better you but understand you are not enough and that's okay. Why is it okay because Jesus is more than enough. Jesus is more than enough. You see. To try to come to a place where we find in ourselves that somehow we are enough, we got to understand that message is in opposition to what the gospel declares. The Gospel actually reveals I am not enough. I cannot do this. So God has done for me what I cannot do. See, the true key to your freedom is not believing in yourself more. The key to freedom is believing more accurately about Jesus. And again I feel the tension because so much of our culture is like, just believe in you more, believe in you more. But the problem is we're all flawed, we're not perfect. It's only one person who has done this right. His name is Jesus, and he's the source of our hope and our strength. You see, God has never asked us to be the source of our own freedom, never once. Self sufficiency is not a prerequisite for freedom. Self surrender is. So it's not about leaving here going okay, I just got to become more self sufficient, just gotta try harder. No, no, no, we are not enough. And that's okay. Why because Jesus is We don't just need some more self help most of us. We don't just need another blog post about seven ways to be a better us. Most of us we need to just come back to the simple Gospel. Be reminded. I can't do this without you. Can I teach us? I think a powerful prayer to learn how to pray. Maybe you want to write this down God, I'm not enough on my own, but you are more than enough for me. Maybe we want to say that out loud together. Come, why would you say these words? Say? God, I am not enough on my own, but you are more than enough for me. If we would learn to approach our days, setting aside the illusion of self sufficiency and come to a place of greater dependency on the spirit. I wonder how much of the cycles of brokenness would be transformed just in that approach. I'm not enough, and that's okay because Jesus is. Here's the second truth. Every significant change starts at the same place. It starts with the decision you want something to change in your life. Decide. So much we're waiting for every specific detail to line up and something outside of us. But so much of the change we long for it's on the other side of a decision. So if there's a cycle of brokenness in your life, maybe something that you've received, decide today, make a decision. Maybe for you, you've said for years, well, well Grandma had a spending problem, Mom had a spending problem. I have a spending problem. Sorry, kids, you're gonna spend the rest of your life in debt, and we just make these assumptions instead of making a decision. Maybe for you it's alcohol, and instead of just enjoying something, now you become dependent on something. And now you're at a place in life where you can't even fall asleep without a night cap. Maybe there's other areas of addiction or broken Maybe in your life it's sexual addiction, sexual brokenness. That's been a pattern from generation to generation. And you find yourself saying, God, I don't want to pass this on friends. You are not enough and that's okay. Jesus is more than enough. But every significant change, it starts at the same place, a decision. Maybe for you it's that anger, that bitterness. You don't know how to live a day without blowing up on somebody. Man, somebody cuts you off on I five last week, and all of a sudden, the spirit of sign language came out. You know, that hit really close to home for some of us, like Tyler, did you see Well I didn't see. I didn't see it. But we don't know how to live not angry? Is that what you want to pass on? Pride, arrogance, narcissistic behavior, neediness, obsessing over things. Every significant change starts at the same place, starts with a decision. See, nothing moves in our lives without a thought that leads to a decision. We understand this pattern. Thoughts lead to decisions. Decisions should lead us to actions. Actions repeated create habits and your habits over time are actually forming your destiny. So if you want to know where your life is headed, the destiny of your life, all you got to do is back up and consider, what are the decisions that I'm making that are leading to actions that are creating habits that are also shaping the trajectory of my destiny. If you want to change that, you got to be willing to go back here and listen to the Holy Spirit help you shift the thoughts, the decisions, and the desires in our lives. By the way, this progression is not just for the bad how many No, it's also for the good because the thoughts and the decisions that you make here, also for the good, are impacting your destiny. Our destiny in life is a direct result to the decisions that we make. Here's a third truth for us. Transforming freedom is something we receive. Maybe you're here today and you say, Tyler, I want to experience the cycle to be broken in my life. I want things to change. How do we experience that type of freedom? You receive it. Transforming freedom is something we receive, but don't miss this, It also demands a response. We receive it by grace, but then as we receive it, it demands a response. In other words, I need to choose to live in alignment with the freedom that I've now received. This is why we can't live from Sunday to Sunday. It's not enough to just pray today and say God break the cycle, all right, see you next Sunday. It's a daily decision. I receive freedom, but then that freedom now demands a response. I love the story In John chapter five, Jesus encounters a man who's been paralyzed for decades. He's laying there on a mat, and Jesus asked him, what I feel like is the craziest question in all of scripture. John chapter five, Jesus looks at a man who's paralyzed, laying on a mat, and he asked this question, do you want to be well? Yes? Like, why are you even asking? Of course I want to be well? And instead of responding that way, what does the man do? He begins to give all the reasons of why he's in the condition that he's in. Capture. This freedom personified is standing right in front of him, asking him the question, and instead of engaging in the freedom that's available, he begins to give all the reasons of why, well, nobody's here to pick me up and put me in the water once it's stirred up. And if only, if only, And how many of us are tempted when we think about changing the cycle in our lives, Well, if grandma would have been different, if my upbringing would have been different, if we just if we just had a little bit more resource. And it's so easy to begin to point blame at these things instead of just receiving the freedom. Do you want to Well, here's the good news. Jesus is still making people. Well, He's still in the habit and the pattern of bringing freedom in our lives Galatians five, verse one. Some of us know it. It is for freedom that Christ that you free. But don't let that freedom lead you to another yoke of bondage. In other words, don't just pray for freedom today from the cycle of brokenness in your life. And they go, cool, I'm under grace. I'll just go right back to it. No, walk in that freedom, that's the response. How do we receive the freedom repentance. But once we've repented, we have to walk and respond in alignment with the freedom that God, in his grace has provided. Yes, friends, salvation is free, grace is free. But don't miss this. It is the most costly thing that's ever existed. God himself clothed himself in humanity, and he took the place and the punishment that we deserve. Walk in the freedom. See that's where this fourth and final thought leads us to. We need to understand blessing flows as we live in alignment with freedom. You want to break the cycle of brokenness and begin a cycle of blessing. How do we do that? Blessing actually flows through our lives as we live in alignment with the freedom that God has brought. Freedom isn't a one time decision. It's a daily decision. Today, some of you, you're gonna pray and you're gonna ask God, God, would you break the cycle? But don't just leave it at that. Tomorrow you need to pray God, continue to help me walk in alignment with this freedom that You've brought. And next week, and next month, and next year and a decade from now, we need greater to dependence on God's strength working in us to break those cycles. See you. In Romans chapter eight, verse five, Paul said these words for those who live according to the flesh have their mindset on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit have their mindset on the things of the Spirit. Skip down to verse twelve. So, then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated. Come on, would you say those four words with me? We are not obligated one more time. We are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh. Because if you live according to the flesh, you're going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Tyler, put to death that sounds violent, Yeah, put to death the misdeeds of the body. Why because the sin in your life was violent towards you. You need to partner with the spirit and not play patty cake with the things that seek to destroy your life. And understand what Paul says here is so significant. You are not obligated to the flesh. Well, Tyler, I received this short fuse, I received this anger. Good news, you are not obligated. Tyler, I received this this propensity towards addiction and substance abuse. And though that might be true, I have good news. You are not obligated well, Tyler, Tyler, There's there's been generation after generation of debt and financial brokenness and I learned it from my parents And sorry, kids, is just gonna be what it is. You You are not obligated, not because you're so amazing, but because God, in his grace has provided everything we need to allow that cycle of brokenness to be broken off of our lives and we can walk in freedom. See how do we do this? By the spirit? Not myself? By the spirit. If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you'll live. You'll live. Friends, you have the help of the Holy Spirit. Do you ever think about that? I mean sometimes we wonder. Man, I don't know how I'm gonna get through Thursday. Stop it. You have the spirit of God living, dwelling inside of you. Don't underestimate what God is able to do. See, I'm here to remind you venture Church. Jesus came to break the cycle of brokenness and lead us to be people who will create cycles of blessing, to be an extension of His grace, to be an extension of His love. And I know this. We can't go back and change what was passed to us. But today, through the grace of God, we can create a new cycle of what's passed through us. That's his goodness, that's his grace. Today. Can I invite you to about your heads. I want to pray for a couple of things, and then in a moment we're going to respond. Today, maybe you're here and you're not walking in relationship with God. Maybe you feel like you're a million miles away from him. Again, I want to remind you that Jesus has already done for you what you could never do for yourself through his life, his death, and his resurrection and scriptures. Is this that by trusting in Him we are forgiven of our sin. We have a new relationship with God. We are made into new people or a new creation today. If that's your desire. You want to know that your debt is paid, You want to know your sin is forgiven. You want to fresh start with God. That's you today. Can I invite you just to raise a hand, just hold it up for a moment so I know who I'm able to pray with today. Yeah yeah, Others just gonna say, yeah, that's me, that's me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can put those hands down. Second, I want to pray for those of us who know that today there's a cycle in our lives that needs to be broken. We don't want to live in that reality any longer. But through the grace of God, we want that cycle to end today, through his grace, through his strength today. If that's you, would you just raise a hand, just hold it up for most So, yeah, that's me, that's me, that's me. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Can I invite you to stand to your feet today that the worship team is gonna lead us just in a response of worship, and I'm gonna invite the prayer team to make their way forward. Listen, if you raise your hand for either one of those things, Can I invite you to step out right now? Would you make your way down front? Because both myself the prayer team, we want to be able to pray with you today. And believe it's not by accident, Its not by coincidence you walk through the doors. It's not by coincidence that you tuned in online today. But God, in his grace wants to meet you right where you're at. But he doesn't want to leave you right where you're at. He wants to break that cycle and bring you into a new place, a new place of blessing, a new place of forgiveness and freedom that He alone provides. And so, Father, I thank you that your love is active in our lives today. Jesus, thank you that you have done for us what we could never do for ourselves through your life, your death, and your resurrection. God, I thank you for the reminder today that in your grace, the cycle of brokenness can end, in a new cycle of blessing can begin. God. I pray for the faith and the courage for decisions to be made today, God that would lead to transformation in our lives, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. God, continue to allow us to rest and rely on the power of your spirit and not on ourselves. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray Amen.