1 John 3:2-6 | Avoiding the White Elephant gift.

This is City Post Church, we're about three things, build

equipped and send all under the lordship of Jesus Christ, a

small Church Plant in Fort Worth Texas, who decided to do things

a little differently. I would almost I had to Crystal,

I love City Post because of the people.

It's where I belong, we truly preach the word.

I love City Post because of the community.

We've been able to build to do ministry.

Like Jesus perlite to push back Darkness.

This is City, Post podcast. You know, nobody goes into a

white elephant thinking, man, I'm going to get something

really good today. It's going to be awesome and I

do got to give a shout out. Joseph probably gave one of the

greatest white elephant gift I've ever seen in my life and

it's tab on was the recipient and it changed his life forever.

So I'm going to leave it that way said, got him I was going to

show picture, but that might backfire.

So what's so what's interesting about, why?

Elephant gifts is that people bring kind of the stuff they

don't want but they wrap it up like really nicely.

It's almost like the wrapping and all that goes into.

It is more valuable than the gift itself.

And so you wrap it up really nicely.

You put a bow on it, you put in the middle of the room, hoping

that somebody's going to come in, like take it.

But the expectation is that the gift that you're going to get,

is not going to be of extreme value to you.

So there's an expectation to a white elephant gift exchange

where nobody really goes in. And they're like, man, we can't

wait to see what I get. It's gonna change my life unless

Joseph gives it to me, right? I mean, that's kind of what it,

that's kind of like what we go in thinking.

And when we talk about Sin, it's kind of the same way, and I'm

glad that, you know, Stephen gave that inch, we planned that,

right? Like, that was just perfect.

Yeah, man, we talked last night were, like, what are you talking

about, bro? But But, you know, sin is the

same way. No, nobody ever goes in like

saying, like, oh, that looks really pretty.

I'm going to I'm going to take it, it's going to be of extreme

value to me. Actually sin comes really

wrapped up in a bow and nice wrapping paper.

But you know that what's inside is going to not just be of no

value to you. It's actually going to destroy

you. So then the question is like why

do we say, why want that anyway? You know, so Or is there

something about Sin that we're going to address today in John

addresses this as well. So we're going to be in first

1 John 3 · chapter mention

John chapter 3 and we're going to keep going.

We're going to start off in verse 2.

So verse 2 and verse 3 of First, John chapter 3 is kind of

John 3 · chapter mention

connected to chapter 2 verses, 28 through 3:3.

And then it's going to go on to talk about the The lawlessness

of sin but we're going to cover all of that stuff.

And really what I'm when I'm hoping today is that you leave

here encouraged that you do have the power over sin in Christ and

that you don't have to be a slave to it, and we know that

Jesus brings life and that sin brings death.

But then if we know that it brings death, why do we go that

way anyway? Why do we choose it?

So we're going to talk about that today.

So let's pray together. Father we love you and we thank

you because you're a good God. And Lord we thank you because

you're faithful to us. So Jesus, I pray that you speak

to us through your word this morning.

God that you helped me to collect my thoughts, Lord, and

everything that has been going on this weekend, to put all that

aside and focus on you and your word for these next few moments

together. So, Lord, remove distractions,

God, speak to our hearts Lord, let everything that comes out of

my mouth. Lord, be of you and not myself

in your name, we pray these things, amen.

All right, so we're going to, let's go ahead and let's

backtrack a little bit. It's not going to be.

I don't know if I put the passages on the screen but let's

start in first, John 2:28 and I know we went through this last

week and we're going to start in verse 2, but we got to, we got

to put it all together. We got to connect all the dots.

So that way verse 2 and 3, when we talk about it, it'll make

sense. So verse 28 says, and now dear

children continue in him so that when he appears, we may be

confident and unashamed before him as his coming.

If you know that he is righteous and know that everyone who does

what is, right? Has been born of him and now

this is 3:1 see what great love. The father has lavished.

Isaiah 3:1

It on us and what should be called children of God.

And that is what we are. The reason that the world does

not know us, is that he does. Is that it did not know him.

Verse two. Dear friends.

Now, we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been

made known, but we know that when Christ appears we shall be

like him for. We shall see him as he, Is verse

3, all who have this hope in him purifies themselves just as he

is purified. So we got to look at verse 2 and

3 and I love how John starts verse 2 in chapter 3 and I

remember last week we talked about us knowing that Jesus is

going to return should actually give us confident and give us

hope and that we find ourselves unashamed when he comes back.

So why everybody's running for the Hill's, we are celebrating

the return of Jesus Christ, because we belong to him and

there's and there's something beautiful in that.

And we talked about, that's where we find our confidence in

and because we find our confidence, the hope that God

gives us. We don't rely on our worldly

confidence, but we rely on God, fidence, right?

That tells us like, I've hauled you and I have and I have named

you and you belong to me. So, regardless of you finding

confidence. In yourself which does not work.

You're going to find confidence in me and that's where we get

our God fittings from and that's going to help us to push

forward. Now John is going to encourage

us a little bit more starting in verse 2.

He says my dear friends. Now we are children of who You

could talk, we are children of whom God, right.

So it's almost like John is starting with this

encouragement. He's like hey remember like

you're a child of God, I think this is so vital because even as

Believers if whenever we state that we are believers in Christ

when we're Christians, the world is going to hell.

I always have something to say they're going to push back,

they're going to call you names. They're gonna they're gonna call

you all these things. Things like all here come like

the right wing Freaks and I mean, like whatever.

You see on the news, I mean that's what the world's going to

push on you. And what John is doing here is

he is reiterating that you are a child of God.

Now remember got to connect it from 2:28.

So John is giving us this amazing confidence but he's also

reminding us that the moment that you say, yes to Jesus, that

you surrender your life to Jesus.

Boom. You become a child of God.

There's no like testing out period.

There's no, like, let me drive the car before I I buy it.

No you become a child of God immediately when you repent he

changes your heart. He gives you the anointing which

is the holy spirit. Don't get lost in that word.

Remember words defined differently, right?

So if you guys know what I'm talking about Friday so make

sure that you know that soon as you have surrendered your life

to Christ, you become a child of God.

And when he's coming, John is going to continue in this

thought is and what we will be has not yet been known to us,

but what we do know, I'm sorry, but we know that when Christ

appears we shall be like him for.

We shall see him as he is. It's kind of a little bit of a

tongue twister here. Now remember, who John is

writing this to the gnostics believed in this cultural like

this, this dualism between material and the physical, and

the spiritual, like there's a separation here, so you could do

whatever you want in the body. But as long as the spirituals

intact, then you could be enlightened.

And a lot of these guys are walking around saying, I'm

enlightened. So, you knew you must listen to

me. God has spoken to me and not to

you. So, we have this in mind, we're

like, like God's Little G. We get to do all these things

and that has caused a shift in the way they see sin and in

Morality and John is pushing back and he's like, no, your

child of God. Now, we don't know.

And what he will be has not yet been made known.

So as he's gnostics are going around and they're telling

people that they know stuff and that their they have like this

inside. Insider trading knowledge.

John is saying no, we don't yet know what all of this is going

to look like. But the truth is is like when

you become a child of God, you begin this step.

It's called what we like to call, sanctification, how the

Holy Spirit Works in us and you become more and more like

Christ. You take on the characteristics

of Christ. You have the DNA, you have the

spiritual DNA of crisis with John tells Nicodemus about being

born again. but when Christ appears, That's when you're

really going to see how we become like Christ.

No sin. No, shame is going to be perfect

in heaven. We're truly going to be like

him. It says, we shall be like him

for. We shall see him as he is, it's

pretty incredible. And what I want us to really

understand too. Is if you look back, John just

talks about how it's it's because of his lavish love on

us. That all of this is going down.

You see God's love. We got understand God's love,

because God's love aligns with God's character, so you can't

separate the two. So because God is faithful, his

love is faithful because his God is all-powerful.

His love is all powerful because God is like in imaginable.

His love is in imaginable. God is all knowing his love is

all-knowing. Like think about God.

His love is Pete. A part of his characteristic.

So we get to take part in that and for some of us, we can't

even imagine God's love because God is unimaginable.

And so is his love for us. The Bible says, in Isaiah that

his his ways are higher than our ways, his thoughts are higher

than our thoughts. For some of us, we will never

comprehend his love and that is okay. but if we see God, then we

see love So what he's saying is like there's going to be a time

where when Christ appears we're going to be just as he is.

So we're not only going to go with him but that's when we're

really going to kind of take on his form, the actual character

of God and that is exciting thing.

So we shall conform to the image of Christ, IE his nature but

this does not mean that Believers become little gods.

And there is a teaching out there that kind of says that

like, because you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you're

able to kind of be like God and that's what the gnostics kind of

believed. And what John is saying is like,

no, that's not how this works. You are not a deity.

You are not a little entity. You're not a little God walking

around. No.

So you take on the image of Christ.

We can't take on the nature of Christ and when we go to be with

him, we're really going to be like Christ but he's the only

God nobody else and that's something that we got to

remember. And I know it's kind of hard for

us to understand. But when we look at stuff,

that's self-serving and stuff that we make out of Idols, it's

really easy to talk about God's Little G.

So we need to make we got to be careful that we don't fall into

that category. And then verse 3 is the verse

that stops everything up, right? Like this is the last bread,

stick on the table where you have like a little bit of sauce

on your plate left and you need like a bread to like this is

like you know you're eating cotton.

Asada and those Molina's, and you have a little tiny bit left.

So you ordered tortillas even though you're full because you

need to do the mob job. You know, saying like dad's

verse 3, right here, okay. Verse 3 is, is the thing that

brings it all together. All right, this is the tortilla

Dos Molinos. I'm getting hungry.

All right. All who have this.

Hope in him purifies themselves. Just as he is pure, you see

that's what brings it all together.

So we have that God fit in. So we know he's coming back And

because we know this, this changes the way that we live our

lives. IE, we thirst and hunger for

Holiness and righteousness and we start to hate sin.

No, we hate sin. Sin is something that we're

like, man, I love God so much. Like, if I know that he's coming

back, if I know if I have this hope in me.

Then sin does not pay. Play a major role in my life and

I will fight to stay holy and righteous.

You see what he talks about is all have hope this hope they

purify themselves. Why do we fight for

righteousness and Holiness? Because he is pure I love what

he says in First Peter says be holy because the Lord, your God

is Holy. It's a command you go, you

pursue Holiness? That's how you see the Lord, who

shall, Ascend the hill of the Lord who will go for us, those

who have clean hands and a pure heart, as Psalms 24 to say those

who go to church all the time, those who memorize scripture,

those who serve, no, he's talking about Holiness.

And if you truly want to experience, Ian Scott, you're

going to pay attention to holiness.

And I'll be honest. That's something that I'm

learning more and more, especially going through the

book of First, John all, who have this hope purify themselves

just as he is pure. You know Paul talks about this

in Philippians chapter 3 verses 12 through going read that

Philippians 3:12

Philippians 3. A lot of us know this passage

because this is kind of where this hope.

This is what the the Hope turns into Philippians, 3 verses 12

Philippians 3:12–14

through 14. It says this not that I have

already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal,

but I press on to take hold of what, for which Christ Jesus

Took? Hold of me brothers and sisters.

I do not consider myself yet to have taken, hold of it.

But one thing I do know, forgetting what is behind and

straining and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward

the goal. Goal to win the prize for which

God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

You see? So what Paul is saying, he's

like man, I am pressing on for the prize.

I am living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

My endurance, my faith is going to go.

So that way, I continue to please God in his Holiness and

when I get there, Christ is going to be my reward.

That's what I'm striving for right now.

So as we're here on this Earth, we are going through the

sanctification process. God is continually working in

us, through the Holy Spirit, to become more and more like him to

take on the character of Christ, and that means fighting our sin.

Because he is, Holy. But when we get to him, that's

when you're really going to experience, something Wild and

the reward is Jesus. Now there's a little transition

that happens here because he talks about the hope that we

have through verse 3 and now we, he jumps to, really break down.

So because we have to purify ourselves because God is pure.

That means that we must takes in a little bit serious.

Not a little bit, a lot of B, sin is a serious thing.

So look at verse 4 and he breaks these next three verses is down.

I mean this is this is so John is so clear here everyone who

sins breaks the law. In fact sin is lawlessness,

verse 5, but you know that he appeared so that he might take

away our sins. And in him is no sin.

And in verse 6, no one, who lives in him, keeps on sinning.

No, one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

So verse four, he talks about this, he's like because God is

pure so everyone who sins breaks the law.

Now if we don't explain this correctly a lot of people could

kind of like take this verse and run with it in a different

direction. But you got to look at how this

is written. The verb here, is he who sins?

Actually means he who continues to sin.

So what John is addressing is Habitual sin.

He's talking about if their sin in your life that you do just

out of habit. Like it's, it's a part of you,

but not just out of habit, but you're kind of like, you become

numb to it. Like there's no conviction of

the anointed one in your life. That when you sin, you feel

like, man, I need forgiveness now and because you don't have

the conviction of the anointed one, you continue to sin like

it's just a part of your life. Like it's a A part of your

everyday, like, it's no big deal and you're wrapped up in it, but

see what John is getting to hear.

He's like, if you are a believer in Christ, when you do sin, when

you commit sin, then there is a conviction and that conviction

leads to confession. You see the directory here, but

non-believers, when they do sin, they don't recognize that

they're in their sin. There is no conviction.

Therefore, it will not lead to A confession to a holy and

righteous God. And when I say confession, don't

think of the Catholic Church. Confection like, don't be like

my father. I let her.

No. No, that's not what it.

We have a high priest. That's that's who we confess to.

That's what it talks about Hebrews.

So there's got to be something in you that when you do sin

you're like man, I got to stop. Like this is tearing me up.

I can't keep doing this. You see what he's addressing is

Habitual sin here? Because if you do take on the

new nature God's character, if you claim that you're a

Believer, then sinning is going to go against the work of God in

your life. It's not going to match up.

And then he goes on. And he says that sin is

lawlessness. He's like, nah, like, don't just

do it like a bitch will said, no, it's lawlessness.

We learned this in Romans how sin leads to more sin?

It doesn't just stop. So when John is talking about

being lawlessness in our sin, He's pretty much.

He's using this terminology anus as you're committing

transgressions to God's law. Like you are purposely knowing

that you are breaking God's law. So, give me an example.

So whenever you pull up to a four-way, stop sign.

How many of us actually stop and count to three, one, one

thousand two. One thousand three.

Well, except for a while, you know, while the four-way stop

sign at my house, like, I'm like, 50 yards out, looking both

ways. And I'm, like, I'm clear.

Like I'm going, I'm gonna wear driver.

Now, why do I do that? I know that the law is to stop

at the stop sign, but I continue to do what I do.

You see that's lawlessness. You see, we know what God's law

says toward sin. We see it.

We see the signs but we continue to do what we do.

And that's what he's saying sin is lawlessness.

So even though we know so we are being We're being like, we're in

Rebellion towards God's in. I mean, we're in Rebellion

toward God because of our sin. So we kind of are aligning

ourselves to the world saying the law doesn't really exist or

I could get away with it. So I'm going to kind of live the

way I do and and it when we do that, if you're in God, then you

have a conviction in your life which leads to repentance, which

means that you're going to do it.

Out face and you're going to stop.

But if you don't stop and you continue in these patterns and

it doesn't impact you and there's no conviction and

there's no confession and you only feel bad because you got

caught. That's not the work of Christ in

us. That's a James 4:17.

James 4:17

So Eddie everyone who practices like this habitual sin is living

in an ongoing condition of lawlessness.

That's Romans 415, which marks all who are outside of God's

Kingdom. Oh, that's a hard truth, y'all.

So, when people tell you their followers of Christ, you don't

just say, explain it to me. Y'all still be like you gotta

show me your fruit here. Because if you're loving sin and

it doesn't FaZe you and all that stuff, then I gotta we gotta, we

have a talk, we got to ask some questions.

Look at verse 5 is keep going but you know that he appeared so

that he might take away our sins and in him there is no sin.

He see the another reason why we should not practice lawlessness

is because it's incompatible to the work of God.

So Jesus, there's no sin in Christ.

He's the one that took the sin so in order for us to be

forgiven of sin we must there must be something or somebody

that could meet the standard of God the law of God which is

perfect. Whenever people tell me Well

Rick you don't have to be a believer in Christ to be good.

My next question is like well then what's good?

What standard do you have? That's good.

Well, I didn't kill nobody. Well, what's your standard of

good? Let's ask Hitler.

Stalin. Because they killed millions of

people and he thought they were doing great, you know.

So we got to have a standard. We got have a law that is

perfect and that we aim for and that law is the law that God

created. Why does his matter?

Because he's the only one that could do it.

Jesus is the only one that lived a life without sin.

So he was able to take our sins because there was no sin in him.

For God made him who knew no sin to be ours.

Our sin. So that on our behalf so that

way you and I could become the righteousness of God as First

Corinthians 5:20, so all these great things.

So John is, letting everyone know that our sins are forgiven

because Christ did not have any sin in his entire life.

So he's able to forgive us of our sins and then look at verse

6, No one who lives in him. Keeps on sinning.

No one who continues to sin, has either seen him or have known

him, man. That's a strong Passage.

So what John is pointing to is as a Believer, listen, you could

have all the information in the world.

But your confidence and your, in your perception, and your

personal perception, should be able to appear to others.

And you should take sin, seriously. and when he talks

about Christ, not having sin, In him being able to destroy sin.

That's not like a past thing. Now this it's like a present

reality. Like our sins are forgiven past

present and future because of what the work that Christ did on

the cross. So, John is making sure that we

really understand this and in verse six, he's like no one that

lives in him keeps on sinning, it's that word habitual again.

if you belong to Jesus, Then your life should be so

drastically changed that you look different than your past

life. you say in Corinthians, and second Corinthians says, the

old, has gone, and the new has come Will you continue to sin

and will you struggle with sin? Yes, because we are broken

people. Will you be a slave to sin?

You don't have to be a slave anymore because Christ.

Do you find joy in sin? No, because of Christ.

Those are the marks of a real believer, and no one who lives

in Jesus, in Christ keeps on living the same way that they

live before. There's got to be something that

changes in your life. There's got to be a heart

change. And I was thinking about Paul

when Paul ran into Christ and the road to Damascus.

And he was blinded and the scales fell off his eyes.

Paul didn't stand back up and say, all right, I'm going to

keep going to go be an extremist again.

No, like the encounter with Christ was so powerful that it

changed his life forever. He didn't go back and I know a

lot of us that have been changed through Jesus even though we

struggle and we fight with the sin in our life, that he saved

us front, that he saved us from. There's nothing in me.

That's like, man, I sure do wish I was back there.

No way. Are you kidding me?

No one who continues to sin has either seen him or know him.

So you didn't just experienced Christ.

You have no idea who he is and he doesn't know who you are,

which is kind of scary. So we need to make sure that

this whole idea of constant sitting in a visual sin like we

have to repent if that is us and we got to say, do I really have

a relationship with Jesus Christ, right?

Understand. Do I have his anointing?

Because if my life continues this way, then I don't know if

he abides in me and I abide in him.

Now, here's what's wild about all this, as I was thinking

about this, when Paul talks about like this, lawlessness

about Sin and all that, like we know especially how to Roman's,

like for the wages of sin is what death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ.

Jesus, our lord, we know that sin is destructive.

If I went on a game show and there are like, Ricky behind

door. Number one, You're going to have

death destruction and disorder behind door.

Number two, you're going to have life.

What door would you like to pick today?

I'm not going to be like, give me Door Number One processor.

I don't know. Like, that's so dumb.

Like you know, where it's going to lead you to.

And as Believers, many of us know that our sin is

destructive, we know that it leads us to.

So my question is then why do we keep doing it?

What is it about it? And the truth is sin, does not

show up. In its natural form.

It's almost like a white elephant gift.

It is gift wrap beautifully and nicely.

In self-satisfaction. And they put a humongous po of

self-deception. You see like most of the sin

feeds, our sinful man, our sinful nature, it is

self-satisfying, we do it because it makes us good feel

good about ourselves but that's exactly what John talked about

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of,

man, So whenever sin does appear in our life, it doesn't come in

the form of death and destruction and and all that

stuff. No, it actually comes in the

form of this is good for you. Just going to make you happy and

this is going to satisfy your life.

And then once you get in it, it becomes habitual.

It's habit-forming like you just keep doing it.

It just keeps on working. If you're as habit-forming and

then because you just continue, it becomes Lawless, you know,

that it's wrong, but because it feels good.

I'm going to keep moving forward to it.

But ultimately, your sin is going to lead you to death.

It's going to destroy you. And I think that there's three

things that sin does in our lives.

So I kind of want to address. How does it become habitual?

How does sin become a habit forming?

How does it lead to destruction in my life?

And I think that there's three there's three things that it

forms and I'm just going to start kind of like from the top

down. Number one, sin is death

forming. It's death forming, we know out

of scripture for the wages of sin is death.

It's straight-up tells you it's right here.

And we say it over and over again.

It's so destructive that the Son of God had to give his life for

it. Something had to die.

It's death, forming it erodes your life.

Like if you think about like waves hitting the land a little

bit at a time, it's not all that wants.

But little bit at a time that that land just starts to kind of

disintegrate into the ocean. And next thing, you know, it,

there's landslides and destruction and houses are

collapsing. So it always starts with this

death, former we know that, but it's also cycle for me.

Where do I get that from? Because in verse 4, he says that

sin is not just Lawless but it's also something that we continue

to do it. Forms Cycles in her life.

And in the way it eases into our lives is pattern forming.

If forms patterns in our lives. And I know a lot of us get

sucked into this. So we see that we see sinful.

We want to, please our flesh. We want to please our Humanity.

So, we start doing the same thing over and over, and over,

and over and over again, expecting different results.

That's maddening. That's the definition of

insanity. You know, we saw this like the

woman at the well, Where she had all these different partners?

How come they don't keep working.

Like what is it about it? What is it about her?

A lot of us fall in that same category.

Well, we do the same thing. We find our joy in sin.

And all of a sudden, we feel terrible.

We feel bad, we get, we try to get our lives better.

Once it's better, we find joints in and you keep going and you're

doing the same thing expecting different results.

And you're going to get to a place where you're like, man, my

relationships are wrecked my family's jacked up?

I'm not living in my purpose and this I have no Effectiveness in

life. Now, I'm tied to addictions.

Why? Because it's pattern for me.

You got to start looking why? And then you get to a place

like, how come nothing is working?

How come I'm on my fifth relationship?

Because you keep doing the same thing.

How come I keep giving myself to people?

How come I keep putting the stuff in my body?

Why do I keep living this way? Because it's pattern forming.

You've bought into the lie and now it's form patterns in your

life. But here's what sin does.

Because if you give Satan a little bit, he's not just going

to destroy your life but he's also going to take your legacy.

So now it's going to creep into your what, your families.

You see? So now it's like I'm pattern

formed like so these are the things that I continually do in

my life. That is out of sin.

And now, who's taking part in it?

My kids. Kid is watching how dad treats

mom? My kid, my son, my daughter is

watching her mom treats Dad, how they're they're they're not

loving each other how they're buying into their sin.

So those patterns and are now creeping in to the rest of your

legacy and the rest of your family and those Cycles begin to

form And now me who's going to do and I mean he's going to do

it and it's just going to continue to go family from

generation to generation to generation unless something

breaks. And those patterns form those

Cycles form and then what ends up at the end of it, all this

death and destruction. Not just for your life.

But we got to think about our families and our kids, and our

Generations, their lives as well.

Our relationships. you have to ask yourself why in the world is

every single man in my family, abusive Why are we all

alcoholics? Why are all the women in my

family? Divorced.

Why did all of us? Get pregnant?

When we were 15? What is it about these

destructive life-size. How come it keeps happening

because of Habitual sin. You didn't take sin serious.

So, these patterns form into Cycles the Cycles form into

destruction. And if and at the heart of all

of this is saying, saying God, you do not work.

You pull people away from the faith.

Everything Satan does is to go against what God created and to

thrive So whenever we start in those in that path, we fall into

this whole like self-made and self-help.

Well, if your self made in self help you better add

self-destruct to because that's exactly where you're heading.

How can do it myself? I read 10 books.

I'm like, yeah, well, keep reading.

You're gonna be 10 more. Because it's never going to

work. So how do we get out of this?

How do I get out of this? You'll bite in Christ.

Jesus is the only one that could enter into your life.

And take that sin away. So he doesn't just take the sin

away, but he takes the hunger of sin away and replaces it with a

hunger and thirst of righteousness.

That's how we know we're in him. So whenever that habitual,

whenever since starts creeping in our lives and I dabble back

in it instead of me being like Oh that was awesome.

Like this is great like man, my wife and kids hate me now.

Now it's going to be like wow I have failed miserably.

God forgive me when I fall into my flesh.

Help me to honor and please you more.

Whenever you start seeing more of Jesus, he starts seeing less

of sin, when people are, like, how do I fight it?

How do I fight it? How do I fight it?

It's Christ, man. The more you see him, this

beauty, the more you're around, his people, all that stuff.

That's what helps you fight. Our sin, listening, you will

struggle. We're not perfect people, but we

do serve a perfect God and he will help us.

So, what's on the flip side? So what he says here, no one who

lives in him. Keeps on sinning.

No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

So if I know him and I have his and I have his anointing, Now,

I'm choosing life now. For the wages of sin is death.

But thank God for the butt and the verse come down.

The gift of God is eternal life in who Christ Jesus our lord.

So if I choose the gift of God which is eternal life in Christ,

Jesus our lord it's the same thing except it's backwards.

It's life forming. And it's going to form these

life-giving patterns in my life and it's going to creep into the

cycles of my life. So Sid no longer is leading me

into a destructive path. So with sin, my relationships

are jacked up my family's jacked up my purpose, all that stuff,

but now I have life leading, have Christ in me.

I'm abiding in him. I honor and thirst for

righteousness, life forming life-giving.

That means that my Cycles. Kids are going to see the way I

treat my wife. They're going to see how Mom

treats dad, they're going to see us worshipping together.

They're going to see us reading God's word together.

Going to see us forgiving one another whenever we have

smackdowns at home they're going to see how we handle that.

And that cycle is going to break off and then they're going to

continue to grow in a life or they're going to want to honor

God, because Mom and Dad are honoring the Lord.

I pray for my kids, man. I'm like, man, I pray that

living Elena fall in love with Jesus.

Who cares if they could kick a ball?

Who cares if they're in select it doesn't matter to me.

My number one goal in life is for them to follow and fall in

love with Christ because I know that if they follow Jesus then

their steps are going to be guided the rest of their lives.

Regardless you don't need no help from the world all that

other stuff is going to continue.

So instead of being self-made and self-help and and and all

that stuff is going to be Christ made in Christ help and send

destruction, instead of self-destruction Christ is the

one that takes it over. So my patterns are going to be

righteous and holy patterns, they're going to guide my

relationships, my family, my purpose is found in him.

Now I'm going to be gospel effective.

My addictions are going to be for the things of the Lord, not

for the things of this world. That means that they're going to

be life-giving. My relationships are going to

thrive. I'm going to find and marry an

awesome woman named Rachel right?

Come on. You know, that's I mean I could

only bring so much to the table but the Lord has to do the rest

here but you see that's where those patterns fall in.

So now in my cycle is whenever we do fight with sin and now I'm

forgiven, I'm loved, I'm restored.

I'm you know, it's life forming and then we're going to continue

to see that for our families for generations and generations to

come See, I'm not lost anymore. And I know some of us have seen

that and we'll just close with this and we'll pray.

It's new, it's fresh. It's exciting whenever you

follow Christ for the first time and it continues that way.

Now, some of us are stuck in those patterns and cycles of

sin. Let Me encourage you this this

way there is forgiveness in Christ.

There is forgiveness in Christ. You've got to deal with the

heart issue first You could go to all these places, you can

talk to all these people, but if Jesus is not at the center of

it, you're going to just keep going through those cycles of

seeking help reading books. And all these things Christ, is

the one that changes our hearts, he's the one that forgives us

and he's the one that gives us life. so listen, if you're

sitting here today, you're like, man, Ricky you are all up in my

Kool-Aid and you know, the flavor, how did you know,

Listen, Jesus is the answer, he's the way he is the truth, he

is the life and he wants to give you life.

Go to him, go to him. He pray for us and then we'll

worship a little bit. Have some announcements here.

Father, we love you. And we thank you so much for all

that you are in our lives. God, Lord, we pray father that

we just fall more in love with you.

And Lord for those who are fighting sin for those who are

struggling with sin, for those who have a habitual sin in our

lives. God, I pray that you free us

from that. God that you show us that

there's a better way that there's life not just for you

Lord or not, just for us, but for our families.

For our children and their children.

So God, I pray that you help us to be faithful to you, help us

to surrender Our Lives to you father.

And if there's anybody in this room who has not made a decision

for you father, that your spirit convict them to show them, that

there's nothing better to surrender your life to Christ to

you father because you bring life.

So Jesus, we pray all these things in your holy and

righteous name.