Defeating the Sin that KEEPS Coming Back | Pastor Drew

I believe if God has created us to be

who he's created us to be and if God is

creating in us to become who he's

leading us to be then there's some areas

that we need to make sure that we get

right. There's always I never drift in

my life towards good. I always will find

when I lose intentionality that I begin

to drift towards my flesh, towards sin,

towards the way that whatever which way

the world is pushing me or pulling me in

that moment. And I want for this church

to see what God has done to be increased

double, triple, 30, 60, and 100fold.

Amen.

>> Amen. So, one one thing I think we got

to get right is I I want to make sure

that we're stepping into this series.

It's called Hunting Phoenix. And it's

this concept of defeating the sin that

keeps on coming back. If you know what

I'm talking about, defeating whe this

this may be struggles that you've had in

your life. This may be a ceiling you

find you keep hitting again and again

and again. But here's the reality.

This is it. This series will be

beneficial. We'll bless every single one

of those. But it's really

it's it's pinpoint accuracy is this

whole series is all about the enemy's

strongholds in our life. And the areas

where we keep coming against the same

thing. I know you guys I I I I'm sure

you've experienced it. I know I've

experienced it in my life. the number of

times that I I'm going through something

and I'm starting to and and I'm like,

Lord, WHY IS IT THIS WAY? WHY DOES THIS

PERSON WHY WHY WHY DO I FEEL SO HURT BY

THIS? OR WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT? OR

GOD, I'M JUST SO TIRED. OR LORD, MY

FAITH FEELS so weak or whatever it may

be or WHY THE SAME PROBLEM THAT HAS

HAPPENED AND THEN he speaks something

and it's like, hey, I need you to trust

me. Or, hey, I'm I'm I'm in this. Just

come to me. Surrender to me. whether

whether it's like stop doing this on

your own, go to someone else and and

they will encourage you and lift you up.

And I go, "Oh yeah, that's not the first

time you've told me that.

Oh yeah, IT'S THE THIS IS THE SAME

THING. It's the same solution. It's the

same problem. It's the same attack that

the enemy is bringing against us because

the Lord is creator.

But everything he creates, the enemy

likes to twist and warp and disguise and

deceive. And this is where I want to

talk about a lot. This series applies

for every single one of us here. It

applies talking about these things that

keep coming back. Maybe it looks like

addiction.

And for you, when I when I say

addiction, especially during the series,

I don't want us thinking about, "Oh,

well, I don't know. I got a drug

problem." Good. Praise the Lord. I'm so

glad. Maybe you do. Praise the Lord that

you're here. Amen. Right.

>> Here's the reality. I want us to

realizing that there's a lot of

addictions that this world has and

sometimes this world deems them

acceptable

and we got to release those. So maybe it

might be drugs. It might be alcohol. It

might be just that next relationship.

It might be just scrolling again and

again and again. It might be games on my

phone or it might be Netflix or it might

be what is that thing that when I'm

stressed out, when I'm overwhelmed and I

go, where do I lean? WHAT DO I FALL BACK

ON? HOW DO I FIND HOPE? HOW DO I FIND

REST? Where does my heart go? Where does

my flesh go? That is my addiction.

Maybe it's pornography.

Maybe it's that next relationship. Maybe

it's that ideal that maybe it's your

job. Maybe it's money. These are not all

of these are bad things, right?

Some of these are even good things. God

created us to work. But the reality is

is that I can then turn that into an

idol and make that an addiction of my

soul when reality is I was created not

to lean on things of this world but to

lean into God. Amen.

>> To lean into who he is to what he's

doing. So this may this may look like an

outward addiction. It may even look like

internal struggles that you have.

Whether it's heart tendencies like

pursuing bad relationships, right?

Whether it's unforgiveness,

maybe it's mental illness stuff that

just keeps on coming back in the same

old way. And here's where here here's

where I want to say this series is I

believe is going to be lifechanging. I

truly believe I believe that there's

some people that need this series that

aren't in this room yet and that you may

have. It's easy to go, "Oh, I know

someone who needs this."

It's a little harder to go, "Oh, wait. I

need this." And to admit that, amen.

It's a little harder to do that. Both of

those may be true. And I want to

encourage you guys, that person in your

life that like, "Hey, I think I I think

at my church or maybe this church I went

to on Sunday has something that this

series may be a blessing to you. Would

you want to come with me? I believe that

this is something that God wants to do

and he wants to multiply. But in this

series, I will say we're going to be

talking about real things. We're going

to be talking about real sin. And so,

it's not going to be rated R by any

means, but we're going to be talking

about real things. And we got an amazing

kids ministry. So, I want to encourage

you guys if you got kids that love to

join you in worship, we got one of uh

our our kids love to jump in. and our

daughter especially will be like, "Can I

jump in for worship and then go back and

check in the kids?" So, we check her in.

We have her with us for a little bit and

then we send her back after a couple

minutes of worship together. But the but

this is this is where I want to

encourage us that we can have real

conversation.

We're going to have real sermons talking

about real issues in life. And we're

going to talk about it and we're not

going to be ashamed. We're not going to

be afraid. We're going to be overcomers.

Amen. Amen. Amen. So, I believe

collective church, if he's going to send

us forward into his plan, he's going to

be sending us in freedom.

>> And I don't want strongholds to be taken

hold of our lives. And every single one

of us has an area that the enemy is

continuing to beat the door down slowly

but surely. And so we're going to talk,

scripture talks about a whole bunch of

different ways to be able to battle and

overcome these types of things. And

we're going to do kind of a bit of a

study on this over the next few weeks.

But a phoenix, if we're talking about

phoenix, hunting phoenix, typically,

y'all ever heard the story of the

phoenix, right? The firebird that flies

around and then at a at a certain time

it builds a nest. It lays down in the

nest, it burns up, and it dies. and it

creates this this this pile of ash. And

from within that ash, a new phoenix,

that same phoenix is reborn. And we're

kind of flipping this on its head where

the phoenix is that thing that is like,

wait a second, I beat that. I already

conquered that sin. I already dealt with

that temptation. I ALREADY FOUGHT THAT

FIGHT. WHY IS THIS COMING BACK AGAIN? I

ALREADY FORGAVE that person. Why do I

feel this within me again? I already

healed from that trauma. Why do I feel

so stirred up again in this? Why does it

seem like it owns me again? It's that

same fiery substance that just is coming

back and rearing its ugly head again.

And in the same way that phoenix, a

phoenix is often presented as actually a

really good thing, the world and and

rebirth itself is a biblical concept.

Did you know uh Nicodemus, a Pharisee

who his whole group of friends and all

his fellow colleagues and studious

religious leaders hated Jesus. And

there's one of them named Nicodemus that

came to Jesus at night and he's like,

this is in John 3. This is where we get

John 3:16 where Jesus is talking to him.

John 3:16

And this is he he comes and he goes,

"Listen, I don't I I'm I'm trying to

figure this thing out about you and I'm

not sure what to do. And so I'm coming

at night and it's a little bit secret

and a little bit like how do I how do I

like who are you? What do I do? How do I

respond to this?" because I see that

we're just a lot of my friends are just

angry at you, but I see through that

anger and I see that there's actually a

truth that you're holding.

And Jesus says to him in John 3:3, he

John 3:3

says, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless

one is born

again,

born a second time, he cannot see the

kingdom of God." So he asked him about

the kingdom of God. And and Jesus is

like, "You got to be born again. It's a

rebirth."

And the world has a version of rebirth.

This phoenix, this idea of what the

world says, oh, just here's how you

start over, right? This is the this, you

probably heard it, maybe you've said it,

right? It's like the listen, I just need

a minute. I need to pull back. I need to

step back. I just need to focus on me. I

need to restart. I need to redefine

myself. What is this going to look like?

I need to I need to pull back from my

job. Listen, my job is just I I'm I'm

going to I'm going to pull back. I'm

going to give less. I'm going to try

less. You know what? actually my my my

job is the problem. I need to quit my

job. I need to move away. I need to

break up with my significant other. I

need to I need to restart. I'm going to

change my style. I'm going to change my

hair color. I'm going to change whatever

it may be. I'm going to redefine myself.

And here's the problem. When you start

over by focusing on you, you are

actually amplifying the big problem.

Because I don't know what problems

you've faced in your life, but I

guarantee you the common denominator in

every single one of them is that you're

involved in it.

I am the problem. I am not my solution.

I am my problem. And so rebirth

according to Jesus when he says you must

be born again looks less like I redefine

me. And it looks more like in Matthew

Matthew 16:24–25

16:24-25

when Jesus says, "If anyone wants to be

my disciple, if he wants to follow me,

this is how you do it. I want to follow

Jesus." Amen. Right? Anybody else with

me?

>> Come on. Amen. Deny yourself.

Take up your cross, which is not just

like wear your cross necklace. This is

like that didn't have any sign of hope

in that time. That was a sign of

oppression and death and persecution.

and the most the the most public

gruesome way to die.

Take up your cross

and follow me. Whoever would try to save

his life is actually going to lose it.

Whatever who loses his life for my sake,

that is how you find it. So rebirth in

Christ is actually not about redefining

me. It's about dying to me.

I've actually got to not fight to change

me. I've got to surrender

to him.

>> Right? It it it's going to look less

like pulling away and more like leaning

into the right things.

>> And I may have to pull away from some

things, but it's not about isolation. I

just need to I just need to focus more

on me. I just need to be me. I just need

to take time. Yeah, kind of. But maybe

you're the Lord is saying you what you

need is to serve others

and to not work for your own income and

you're finding how hollow that is to

just work for the sake of power for

money for because it's just what I'm

supposed to do to be a good member of

society. I don't know why I'm doing this

and the pointlessness of it all is

rising up and he's like I actually I got

a purpose for you.

But it's going to take dying to

yourself.

is going to look like spending more time

in prayer, letting God change your

heart,

maybe actually giving more generously of

your time and money, changing your

habits, cutting out sin, building strong

Christian friendships, renewing your

mind. There's a lot of these things that

we're going to be talking about

throughout this series of how do I

actually defeat this thing? How do I

actually see this old thing inside of me

get conquered? And I get to go on to new

ground. I get to go and have new

problems,

right? I'm okay with problems. I'm

always going to have problems. I don't

want the same old problems every time,

>> right? I want I want a new problem. I

want to conquer ground and I want to

find every new level has a new devil.

And I want to find a new monster, a new

giant that I got to slay, not the same

old one. So this is what the world says.

World says rebirth looks like I work, I

fight, I try and I will make myself into

who I want to be.

This is made in my own image.

And then I have godly rebirth. I

surrender. I die. I give up. I deny

myself. And I let him shape me into he

has created me to be.

>> The creator defines the purpose of the

creation. And if I want to figure out

who I am, I look to him.

Not for my own personal gain and to

affirm all the things that I felt about

myself, but to actually lay those things

down and to let him do the great work on

my heart that I've always needed. This

is Colossians 3:3. When we're described,

Colossians 3:3

he he talks to believers and he says,

"You died. You have already died and

your old life is hidden under Christ.

The blood of Christ has covered him. The

blood of Christ has covered her. The

blood of Christ has covered you in all

your mess, all your past. So why do I

have why is death the key to rebirth?

Here's the reason why. Because I

can't.

because I can't.

I think one of the most important steps

that we need in the first step, there's

a lot of really important ones. I think

there's a couple that are going to be

really challenging and extraordinarily

lifechanging in this series, but the

first step has to come with this

admittance that I can't. I am not. I'm

not capable. I'm not able to. I've

conquered this thing. I keep fighting

this fiery bird and it keeps just being

reborn. How do I How do I fight this

thing that just keeps stirring back up?

I conquer it for years even and then it

rises again. I just got a little lazy

for a little bit and then it starts

stirring back up in my heart. I had this

addiction beat. And guys, I'm speaking

from I'm speaking from I'm going to be

sharing testimonies from my life. I'm

we're going to be sharing testimonies

from other people's lives about what

this looks like throughout this series

of OF LIKE AH I HAD THAT THING BEAT. Why

when I see them or I hear that testimony

again or that that that a story about

them again does that same anger and

hatred stir up in me. I thought I'd let

that go.

How can I conquer this thing? The

Apostle Paul has this exact same problem

in Romans chapter nine. In chapter

seven, he says, "I know. I know. I've

lived with myself long enough. Nothing

good lives in me. There's nothing that

is in my flesh. That is in my sinful

nature. For the desire to do what is

good is with me. I wish I could. I want

to do good. ANYBODY KNOW WHAT I'M

TALKING ABOUT? I want to do good, but I

also like some sins. I also like some of

these struggles. I also am a little

afraid of letting go of that thing. And

I'm also I don't I I feel like I need to

hang that thing over their head because

who else is going to hold them

accountable for what they've done to me,

what they've done to others? I I desire

to do what is good and it's within me,

but there's no ability to do it. I keep

finding myself stuck in the SAME THING.

FOR I DO NOT DO THE GOOD THING THAT I

WANT TO DO, BUT I PRACTICE THE EVIL

THINGS THAT I DON'T WANT TO DO.

>> This is the Apostle Paul speaking.

If he can't figure it out, maybe it's

okay that I'm still in process. Amen.

>> And then he says this. I love this. Oh,

what a wretched man I am. I see my sin

in light of him. Oh, I am so wretched.

Who will RESCUE ME FROM THIS BODY of

death?

If that's your prayer that you go, "Oh,

I relate to that. I've been there. I may

be there right now and I feel this

limitation within me.

Jesus talks about it as he shares about

a parable of the tax collector and the

sinner. And the tax collector says, "Oh,

I'm so glad." Or the the the Pharisee

goes, "Oh, I'm so glad I'm not like this

wretched, evil, terrible tax collector

and that I'm holy, righteous, and good

and and and I've got it all figured

out." And instead, the tax collector,

Luke 18:13, says this.

Luke 18:13

Says, "The tax collector standing far

off wouldn't even lift up his eyes to

heaven."

But he beats his chest.

He says, "God, would you please have

mercy on me? I'm a sinner.

I am [music]

so broken."

You know, a place that I think gets this

[music] idea really, really well,

way better than almost any church I've

ever been in.

It's an organization that's been going

on for a very long time. Many of you

have heard of it. Some of you have been

there. It's called AA, Alcoholics

Anonymous, NA. [music]

There's a there's there's these

organizations where you you come in and

and and and your whole goal is you

introduce yourself with this idea of

have mercy on me. I'm a sinner.

Hi, my name is Drew and I'm an

alcoholic.

And because alcoholism [music] is

recognized as a problem,

there's not a there's not a society for

people. Hi, my name is Drew and I'm

addicted to my screen.

Hi, my name is Drew and I [music] can't

stop myself from holding this grudge

over the people that have done me wrong.

Hi, my name is Drew

and I don't know how to overcome the

traumas [music] that I've experienced in

my life. Hi, my name is Drew

and I love the weaknesses that I have

because they're my excuse for all other

time convictions and problems that I

have and I have [music] a problem

actually hanging on to those and letting

those define me.

If you've ever been to an AA meeting,

you may have come out

saying the same thing that I've heard

from many people.

That felt more like church than the

church that I've [music] been to.

Why can't the church be more like an AA

meeting?

You want to know why?

Because when we come to church,

way too many of us

are going,

"Lord, I thank you that I'm not like the

people I drove by on the way to church

today. [music] I thank you I'm not like

my bad co-workers. I thank you that I've

got this thing figured out when they've

got it all messed up."

Lord, I thank you that I get to come in

here and I get to stand holy, righteous

before you. Yes, we do. But not because

of us. Because I [music]

am not.

When I fight this thing, I recognize I'm

not capable.

When I look [music] to who I am, when I

look to the good things around me, when

I look to the blessings, it's not

because of me.

And the [music] problem we often have

actually with why why the church doesn't

look like an AA [music] meeting is

because

we just want to clean up a little bit a

little bit more. And I'm I don't want to

come as a sinner because in Christ I'm

saved. Amen. I've been made righteous.

I've been made holy. My sin is covered

by his blood. But the reality is I may

got some stuff that I'm dealing with.

And so I kind of ignore this side to

stand over here.

I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm a

sinner who needs his mercy

and I'm I must become [music]

desperate. The first step

is to admit that I'm not enough.

Many of us have an [music] attitude

and a tendency to say but

but I

I would change. I'd overcome that

addiction. I'd stop that thing. I know I

I I I kicked that bad habit, but I need

it. But I didn't have the upbringing

that you did, Pastor Drew. So, it's not

as easy for me. But I am not able to

because YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE TRAUMA

I'VE DEALT WITH. But I don't know how

to. But I've tried before.

And here's where here's where I want to

flip this because I am weak. I am in

need. I am not. I am not capable. I am

not able. I cannot defeat this thing on

my own. The enemy is way bigger than

you. The enemy is way stronger than you.

The enemy has a power that is greater

than you on your own. Ephesians 6:12

Ephesians 6:12

says, "We are not fighting against flesh

[music] and blood. We are fighting

against rulers and principalities and

[music] powers in the heavenly places."

That's a big deal. That's bigger than

me.

But it's not bigger than Christ in me.

And so I want to I want to switch this

from but I to but God. [music]

But God can.

I'm not CAPABLE OF THIS. BUT I KNOW GOD

CAN. I don't EVEN REALLY WANT TO

OVERCOME THIS PROBLEM IN ME. BUT GOD CAN

SHIFT my heart TO BEGIN TO DESIRE THE

THINGS THAT I DON'T EVEN YET DESIRE.

I am not but he is.

[screaming]

Do you know the name for God Yahweh? Do

you know what that means?

Means he is.

>> He says this is my name. [music] My name

is I am. And so what do we say? We don't

call him I am. We call him he is. He is.

He's capable. He can overcome. He can

defeat this. And so my first step, if we

can stand up in here, what I want to do

here is our very first step is to come

broken, to come empty, to come sick and

to come as a [music] sinner. That's my

very first step. I come weak.

Why?

Because if I come strong, then I don't

need him to strengthen me.

and I end up with my strength, which is

I find out [music]

as good as I think it may be, it's

pretty weak.

I come [music] broken so he can put me

together.

I come sick so he can heal me.

I come empty

so I may be filled with his spirit. And

so if collective, if we are going to be

anything,

if we are going to see this next five

years and beyond to be what I know God

wants us to become, we must come weak so

that he may make us strong. And so what

I want to do is I want to invite

any of us, all of us that say, "I'm

coming [music] weak. I'm coming broken.

I'm coming in need. If that's you, come

on forward. [music] Come forward. If

you're desperate, come forward if you

want him. Come forward. If you go, I am

not enough and I'm in desperate need of

him. Come forward IF MAYBE YOU GOT A SIN

THAT YOU'RE LIKE, I WANT TO see this

overcome. [music] Come forward if you

got a flesh issue that you're like, I

will see God move in this. Come forward

if you just refuse to stand in your own

strength. Come forward if you want his

story over your story. Come forward IF

YOU SAY, "GOD, I'M coming weak." Come

forward if you say, "God, I'm coming

sick and I need your healing." Come

forward if you're saying, "God, I am

empty and I need to be filled by you."

Come on. I believe that that should be

all of us in this room. Heavenly Father,

I pray in this room right now. Would you

build our desperation? We are not okay

with where we are. We come to you not

righteous, but broken so that you can

make us righteous. Father God, we come

to you not holy but hurting, Lord, so

that you can heal us. Father God, we

come to you not full, but empty so that

you may fill us. Father God, I pray that

our greatest strength at Collective

Church may be our passion and our

desperation for needing you in every

avenue of our lives. [music]

May we be a church. May we be a church

that stirs up a greater [music] faith

within our own heart. May we be a church

that continues to come and never lose

our desperation. May we be a church that

always comes [music] to a place where we

come on our knees before you saying,

"God, I need you.

God, I'm nothing without you.

[music] May we be a church that lets the

simple things bring about the

supernatural things and lets the

ordinary [music] be brought to the feet

of God so that he may do extraordinary

things. Father God, I am not

but he is but you are. And we declare

[music] this in the mighty name of

Jesus. Come on. If you believe it, come

on. Would [music] you shout it to the

Lord right now? Let's go. I want to do

something.

I want to do something because I believe

God's doing some special things in this

moment. I believe there's some of us in

here that God's going to start breaking

old strongholds. And this series is

going to be lifechanging.

It's going to be the same thing that

maybe you've been a believer for a long

time and you've just kind of lived with

this and you're like, "Well, maybe

that's not a thing that gets fixed in

[music] this. Maybe I just have to live

with this. And and the Lord's going,

"No, no, no, no. I want to free [music]

you from that."

But I believe there's some of us in here

who this is a new thing, a first time in

a while or first time ever kind of thing

going,

"All right, Jesus,

I'm going to surrender. I'm not going to

fight for it [music] myself anymore. I'm

going to surrender to you."

And if you are giving, if you're s if

you're in that place where you go, I'm

surrendering my life for the first time

ever, or maybe [music] for the first

time in a long time, or maybe you just

got questions about like, what would it

look like to actually [music] dive in to

this Jesus thing with everything I've

got? Or maybe you're in the camp of

going, [music] I did follow. I've been

in this and I haven't been recently. And

so, I'm going to reddedicate. I'm going

to recommmit my life to Jesus. If you're

in any of those boats, would you just

throw your hand up? We want to [music]

celebrate with you right now. Come on.

Come on. I see you. Let's go. Keep your

hand up high. Come on. Let's go. God's

[music] got great things right back

here. We got some people. We got a

prayer team. We got some leaders with a

lanyard. Keep Please keep your hand up

because I don't want you to walk through

this alone. [music] I promise you life

will hand you things bigger than you can

deal with on your own. And so please,

what we want to do, we just want to hand

you some resources. We want to bless

you. If you need a Bible, we got a Bible

for you. [music] If you need to go, I

got a Bible, but I don't know how to

read it. I don't know necessarily what

to do. We got resources for you. You go,

I don't know necessarily what steps to

take. I just know God's calling me

[music] to do something. We want to help

you in that. We want to pray with you.

So, I want to do this real quick.

Everybody in this room, if your hands

raised, this is especially for you.

Everybody else, can we reach our hands

out? And we're going to recommmit right

here. Heavenly Father, I just pray in

the mighty name of Jesus over every

single one of us. Lord, we surrender our

lives to you [music] again. We submit

ourselves to you again. We say right

now, we are no longer ours. I pray a

death [music] to our flesh, a death to

the old things. That it is not going to

be the same way we've done [music] this.

But Lord, we're going to not be good at

fighting. We're going to be good at

surrendering. Lord, I pray in the mighty

name of Jesus, would you take our sin?

Would you take [music] our mess? Would

you take our brokenness? We come to you

so we may receive your forgiveness. We

may receive your cleansing. We come

desperate and we'll see you move in the

[music] mighty name of Jesus. All God's

people said, "Amen." Amen. Come on, can

we give a hand for the word of the Lord?

He's doing great things.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our is more than the words that

were spoken in the message that you

would remember the things that God spoke

to your heart.

>> Yeah. No matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form?

[music] This is going to help us so that

we can celebrate with you and equip you

with some tools so that your next steps

are [music] great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you

[music] on. We believe that the best

days are ahead of you.