Strip SIN of Its Power | Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat.

Come on. It's Sunday morning. Who's

grateful to be here?

>> Let's go,

guys. I'm just I'm blown away at the

things that God's doing. I love uh

whether you ex experienced a physical

healing today, whether you experienced

some prayer that was encouraging and

comforting to you. I don't know exactly.

Every Sunday, what I love about it is is

I wake up early. I'm praying over the

service. I'm praying over the message.

I'm praying over this time. And I I

don't know what exactly God's going to

do, but I know God is going to move. And

so I promise you that every single time

where two or three are gathered there in

in my name, there I will be also. So I

promise you if you have not already

gone, man, I've gotten something from

the Lord. I promise you he still has

something to give. Right? you still

there is every single time we get

together if my heart if my ears are

ready my heart is ready to receive and

I'm ready to follow through and obey God

is going to speak. He's going to move.

He's going to transform. And he's going

to continue to take us one step closer

to being like Christ. Amen.

>> Amen. So that's where honestly when I

when I think about uh it's not just

about what I receive, it's about how I

respond, right? I've got to make sure

that I'm responding the right way. And

and and guys, last week we saw God do so

many cool things. The altar was flooded.

Three people gave their lives to Jesus

as either a salvation or rededication.

Come on, that's worth celebrating. That

is incredible.

And I want to say if you have made the

decision that Jesus is your lord, that

he is your savior, that he's in charge

of your life, and it's not just you,

right? But you have not been baptized as

an adult,

now is your time, right? Because you, we

see, as we see in scripture, baptism is

always by my decision, not my parents'

decision, not being baptized as a baby.

that it's by my decision that I say yes,

I will follow. And so I know that we

next week we got baptism Sunday, new

life Sunday is what we call it where we

have baptisms, child dedications. And if

you have not been baptized as an adult

and you believe

in in Jesus as he is your Lord, if you

believed he has come to earth, died,

rose again on the third day, and that he

is your savior, then this is your

chance. You can scan. I encourage you

scan the QR code and even if you just

have questions like I'm not sure if this

actually is for me. Uh but I'd love to

be able to have a conversation with you

and figure out what's God doing? Are you

ready? Is this for you? For some people,

they even go, you know what? I was

baptized as a as a teenager or something

like that. And I the last 5, 10, 20, 30

years, whatever it may be, I've had a

period of time in my life that I've been

running away from God, right? Not just

like I sinned last week, right? But I've

been running away from God. And now I'm

recommitting. And I feel a conviction in

my soul that I need to declare to the

world that Drew is dead. I am dead. I've

been buried. And now there's new life.

There's a new person here. The old is

gone. The new has come. This is your

opportunity. You can also in the blue

with the blue card that you have in

front of you, you can uh fill out the

information. Check the box. I want more

information about baptism and turn that

in in any of the give buckets, the give

boxes outside or at the tent. But I am

it's one of my favorite Sundays. Who's

who's been to a new life Sunday and like

how much fun is that? Oh guys, it's so

cool. Everybody gives a little glimpse

at at at part of the testimony of what

God's doing in their life and it is

thrilling. So that is next week. Come

ready. Uh and I can't wait to see what

God's doing. But I don't know about you

guys. Uh every once in a while I'll have

statements that just like kind of get

stuck in my head. Sometimes I got a song

stuck in my head. Every once in a while

it's a statement stuck in my head. There

is an old commercial of a a really local

commercial. I was not able to find this

anywhere. There's an old commercial of

uh of of a gentleman who's talking about

how cheap the items are at his store and

he holds up two different items and he

says, "Look at this. This is uh uh like

the the same shirt and here it's $100

and here it's $50." And then HE SAYS,

"IT'S THE SAME THING, RIGHT?" RIGHT? And

he goes and then he pops pulls up two

watches and he says, "This one's $75 and

this one's $35." WHAT IS IT'S THE SAME

THING. I don't know about you guys, that

commercial has always stuck with me. If

anybody ever says it's the same thing,

that guy and his annoying salesman voice

pops back up in my head and I go, "It's

the same thing." What' you say? I didn't

say Sorry, I DIDN'T THAT WAS OUTSIDE. I

MEANT TO KEEP that inside. I'm sorry.

But I the it's this it's this idea of

this same thing but for cheaper but for

less. And I feel like that is what my

heart cries out. When I experience the

same problem that I've had a thousand

times before when we come across the

same temptation and I'm like wait it may

look different. Here's the problem. We

don't always realize that the different

ways, the different ways I'm sinning may

actually have the same root. I may have

a problem with addiction to alcohol or

drugs or food or or screens or

relationships or or strongholds in any

of these areas. And it may change the

way I express it, but when I look at the

problem, I got to say it's the same

thing, right? It's the same problem.

That's where I want to get here today as

we talk about hunting Phoenix, fighting,

defeating the battles that just keep

coming back. We talked last week about

coming weak, coming broken. When I'm

empty, he can fill me. Right? When I

come broken, he can heal me. He can make

me whole. That's what God does. And

today we're talking about identifying

the root and building the support around

you to actually

strip the power away from sin.

>> Amen.

>> Okay. Romans chapter 6 verse 7 says when

Romans 6:7

we died with Christ, that's this picture

of baptism, right? I've been submerged.

I've been I'm I'm in the grave. I'm

done. And now I'm ro I'm risen again

with him. I take the same picture of his

death, burial, and resurrection. And now

I live that when we died with Christ, we

were set free from the power of sin.

AMEN. ISN'T THAT GREAT? COME ON. WHO'S

WHO'S GRATEFUL FOR THAT? LET'S GO.

But if any of y'all have been saved for

longer than two and a half minutes,

you're like, sometimes it doesn't feel

that way,

>> right? It's like, yeah, I'M SET FREE

FROM THE POWER of sin and I just did the

same thing again,

right? Like, I gave my life to Christ

last week. I was one of those three

people, and this week was better,

but wasn't fixed. What do I What do I

do? So, there's a difference between

salvation, the moment that I move from

darkness to light, and sanctification,

the the process of becoming new and

becoming like Christ, but I have been

set free. So once you say I am yours and

he implants his spirit inside of you and

he is living inside of you. You now no

longer does sin carry power or authority

over you except

that which you give it.

>> This is where we find our problem. This

is where we see that we are giving

authority.

Right? It's not even necessarily power.

It's this authority, this permission,

this agreement that I've made with sin,

with the enemy, with lies that I've

heard. And and I make this agreement

that I continue to submit underneath

knowingly or not. There's two resources

I used for this uh sermon and series

that if you I I I beg you, please, if

you go, man, this is for me. I'm going

to like skip a rock across this stuff,

guys. I wish we could dive so deep into

this for so long, but these are two

resources that if you go this is for me,

this is going to be great. It is steps

talked about this one on the right. This

is uh the there's a lot in this series

that comes from this takes about takes

the idea that AA was built from a

biblical understanding a Christ-c

centered understanding and it's been

changed to refer to it as the big book

or the good book or what like like this

idea of there is a god and and it's

trying to make it accessible to lots of

people no matter how they feel about

Christianity. But what it's doing is

it's revealing Christ the entire time,

right? And so this is all about how do I

use actually the word of God and the

spirit of God in partnership with 12

steps. And then the other one, the lie

that you don't know, you believe is a

lot of what we're going to be talking

about today by Jenny Allen. But this is

uh what I want to highlight today is in

John chapter 4. If you want to open up

John 4 · chapter mention

your Bibles, we're going to be going

through John chapter 4. It's really 1

John 4 · chapter mention

through30. If you want to read this

later, we're not going to read every

verse. That'd be a lot. Uh, and so I'm

going to summarize a little bit of

what's going on. John chapter 4 1-30.

John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus is walking through a Samaritan

town. It says he had to and actually

though it was the shortest route to get

to Jerusalem where he was heading. It is

not the traditional route because we got

to understand culturally that Jesus was

a Jew. He was a Jewish male. He was a

Jewish male rabbi. So he is this like

elite figure in this culture and then

you have underneath Jews you have

Samaritans and there's this racist very

racist right like this whole culture of

like the Samaritans and then also women

men would not talk to women especially

not alone Jews would not talk to

Samaritans rabbis would not talk to

little weak old who knows what you're

doing like they they are teachers they

are called masters right this this whole

idea of is multiple levels of culture

and Jesus walks into this town that he

could have walked around and he walks

into this town. He's thirsty. He goes to

a well. There is a Samaritan woman there

and he says, "Hey, you got a bucket. I'm

at this well. Could you get me some

water?" And she responds as you would

think in that culture someone would

respond. She goes,

"Why are you asking me for something?"

Like, "What are you doing? Do you not

understand? Like, are you new here?

Like, we don't do this." Like, there's

so many levels of separation. I don't

have to worry about coming to you when I

go to the well or you you talking to me

when I go to the well. Right? It's like

when you're riding an Uber, need

silence, and then they're like, "Hey, so

let me tell you my life story." Right?

That's kind of how I think she felt. but

also these hierarchy differences of like

you think you're great, I think I'm a

loser, and I recognize that we're not in

the same tier socially. Jesus breaks

that down immediately. He speaks to her.

She says, "Why are you asking me for

something?" And he kind of flips it and

he's like, "Listen, you if you knew what

was going on here, you would be the one

asking me for something because I've got

not just water, I've got living water."

and she's she looks at him and she goes,

"You don't even have a bucket.

>> How are you going to get water and

you're saying it's better than this is

the best well around?" Like, what are

you talking about? So, she's not she

doesn't understand that Jesus is using a

metaphor to reveal a spiritual thing at

this point. She's just like starting to

go, "Wait, this is different." And then

this is where we find in verse number 13

where it says Jesus replied, "Anyone who

drinks this water is going to soon be

thirsty again." Right? But those who

drink the water I give, this living

water will never be thirsty again. It

becomes a fresh bubbling spring within

them, giving them eternal life.

Okay, please sir, she said, I want this

water. then I'll never be thirsty again

and I won't have to come here to this

dang well ever again and talk to weird

strangers, right? And uh she is she's in

this place where she finally is is still

still like making this physical

understanding and Jesus is revealing

there's wellwater that kind of

represents the world, our flesh. It

represents this constant searching for

satisfaction.

I'm thirsty. I get a drink. Step outside

on Friday. It's 90 degrees.

I'm out there for two and a half

minutes. I'm sweating bullets. And now I

come back. I'm like, I'm thirsty again.

I literally just drank and I'm thirsty

again. Right. It's this problem like I I

constantly I'm always needing

satisfaction. The world I just I I need

I need to be filled by this this bottle.

I need to be filled by this

relationship. I need to be filled by

this person. by this affirmation you

affirmed me earlier, but now I'm

wondering if YOU LOVE ME AGAIN. I don't

know, right? Like I NEED TO BE FILLED by

my the the authority that I have at

work. I need to be satisfied by and it

just it's like water slipping through my

fingers.

I'm going, man, it just never lasts.

The relationship just it was great and

now it's not and it's I don't know.

you're not doing for me what I was

hoping you'd do for me. It's not not

lasting. It's not doing it. And then

Jesus has this living water, this idea

of I'm satisfied in the depths of my

soul completely.

And actually, no longer do I need

anything else to satisfy me.

That's why scripture says God is enough.

Doesn't always highlight God's more than

enough. It's like he's I'm satisfied.

I'm good. I don't need anything else.

I I already have plenty. I'm I'm in this

like, yeah, I'm content. If I get a

relationship, hallelujah, praise the

Lord. It better be honoring to him

because that's my number one goal,

>> right? If I if I go out and I'm hanging

out with my friends and they're

drinking, I may I may take a little bit.

I may I may not maybe that's been my

vice before and I'm not even going to be

around that stuff at all, but but you

know what? I'm going to because I got

I'm fully satisfied. I don't need that

thing to satisfy me anymore.

And it's this he's revealing this new

concept and it actually steps into this

first

idea of how do you strip sin of its

power?

Because what Jesus does next

is he catches the sin in her life or the

trigger.

Okay, we're going to hit on catch the

sin or the trigger. That's step number

one for stripping the phoenix of its

authority in my heart. Jesus says this

in verse 16. He says, "Okay, how about

you go and get your husband?"

Well, I don't have a husband. He said,

"Actually, you're right. I know this.

You don't have a husband, for you've had

five, and you aren't even married to the

man you're living with now. You

certainly spoke the truth.

Now, what did he just do? He hit on the

surface. He caught this. It's this

moment in my life. Well, where where I

look at and I go, man, I don't know what

I don't know what the problem is. I

don't know what the surface area thing

if it's alcohol. I do got to say I I

gave a warning last week. I want to

clarify as well. This series, we're

going to be talking about sin. We're

going to be talking about all types of

sin, addiction, all that stuff. And so,

we have an amazing kids ministry. I'm

going to be a little bit more unfiltered

here. And so I encourage you guys if you

have kids to to send them over there

because I'm gonna be talking about it

all. Okay. So, uh, here's the idea.

Whether you're addiction, whether your

problem, whether you're authority, the

idea is like it's it's in in my life

it's it's pornography,

it's sexual relationships,

it's money, it's whatever. It's it's the

it's the way that when someone speaks to

me and I I hear something different,

right? Like it may not even be a surface

thing. It may be a trigger. It may be I

don't know why, but when you say this to

me, it hits and it hurts more than I

know more than it should, but it hurts a

lot. And I get this I I I catch this

sin. I catch this trigger and I got to

notice that. Whoa, there it is. There's

a problem. There's something inside of

me. What that does is it reveals on the

surface that there's something inside

that's giving that authority and power

over me. And so this Samaritan woman,

she had, what was her thing that she

caught? It was five husbands plus one

man that she's living with now that she

shouldn't be living with. What does this

tell me? This tells me a couple

different things. It tells me one, she's

living in sin right now. Scripture says,

"Honor the marriage bed. Keep it holy."

That sex is reserved for marriage

because that's the covenant. It's the

way that we were designed. It's the way

that covenant was designed. is the way

that that the the peak of physical

intimacy was designed for one person in

the same way that my heart and the

intimacy that I have with the Lord is is

deeper and more real than anybody else.

And so that's that he's he's calling

that out. But here's the reality. She

may not culturally speaking, she may not

have had uh had had five divorces

because of adultery. I don't know.

There could be a lot of different

reasons. It could be promiscuity.

It could be uh some of her husbands

could have died, right? Culturally

speaking, women were primarily seen as

value. Wives, I should say, were

primarily seen as valuable based off of

creating the next generation

infertility. If she was infertile, then

it probably would have been like, hey,

let's get married. Ah, you're not doing

it. I can divorce you because you're not

creating my next generation. So, I don't

know exactly what is going on in this

surface issue.

But I know Jesus is calling it out.

I know he's saying, "Here's this thing

that feels unsettled in your soul."

Right? And I want to reveal that there

is something more. Now, before we talk,

one important context to this is the

what our understanding of sin is. When

we think of sin, a lot of times we think

of uh there there's two different ways

to think of it. It's the surface area. I

did a bad thing, right? Yes, doing a bad

thing is sin, but ultimately sin means

missing the mark. I had a mark to hit

and I missed it. What is the mark we're

called to hit? Be perfect. Therefore, as

your heavenly father is perfect. Okay,

that's like saying, "Here's a bow and

arrow.

Shoot the target. It's the moon. Go."

I'm not going to be able TO HIT THAT. AS

HARD AS I TRY, AS GOOD AS I DO, I may

have the best bow and arrow shot in the

whole world that's ever happened in all

of human history. I'm not going to do it

right. The reality is is that I've got a

limitation. I've got imperfection. And

so I' I'm in sin all the time. Triggers

are not sin.

Hear me. My emotion

is not sin. Scripture says be angry

and don't sin in your anger.

There's some things that should make me

angry. My emotion is not sin. How I

respond to it may be.

>> How I submit to it often is

>> right. That is that's the problem. So, I

got to recognize that my trigger may be

rooted in how I've been treated in

statements that have been made to me in

abuses or traumas that I've experienced

in my life that are 100% legitimate. But

it doesn't mean I have to stay there,

that there is a freedom still to be

offered by Christ. So, I got to catch

that. I got to recognize that. And then

in verse 19,

she responds to Jesus and says, "Sir,

you I can tell you're a prophet. So tell

me this. Why is it that you Jews insist

that Jerusalem is the only place of

worship where we Samaritans claim it to

is here at Mount Garazim where our

ancestors worshiped?"

Don't you guys see the deep intimate

connection there?

It's called a distraction,

divergence. I'm just trying TO AH UH, WE

GOT A PROBLEM HERE. I GOT AN ISSUE. THIS

IS THE PROBLEM. LET ME LET me As soon as

I start to hit the nail on the head, the

enemy loves to distract. He loves to

pull. No, it's their fault. No, it's

this thing. Don't forget about the thing

that you have to do. Let's keep you busy

again. You're starting to find that

you're starting to find the problem.

DON'T DO THAT. And he'll distract you.

Find a place where I can allow for the

Lord to actually minister. So, she tries

to distract. And Jesus says, "Believe

me, dear woman, the time is coming where

it will no longer matter whether you

worship the father on this mountain or

he's" He's saying that doesn't matter.

That's not even what we're talking

about. Okay, chill out, lady. Right?

That's basically what And then verse 23,

skip ahead. It says, "The time is

coming. Indeed, it's actually now here.

This is what matters." He says, "When

true worshippers will worship the father

in spirit and in truth. The father is

looking for those who will worship him

that way." He's saying the issue is not

location. The issue is you've got a

worship issue.

You got a problem. I don't know. Jesus

sees into her heart. I don't know if

she's got a worship issue of I've always

got to find that next one. I don't know

if she's got a worship if issue of like

I need to prove my value based off my

fertility. I don't know if she I don't

know what she is experiencing. But Jesus

then says, "Here's your surface. I'm

going to call out the lie. We catch the

sin. We call out the lie. And there's

something deeper inside underneath the

surface of our sin of our problems

that's preventing us from living in in

in freedom. That's why I can constantly

beat the surface of the water of my sin

down. And I got to realize there's an

undercurrent that's actually going to

allow for this thing to continue to stir

up and cause a problem. This is where uh

that that not every sin, not every

mistake missing the mark that I have,

not every sin has a core lie, but every

stronghold,

every time that I see this thing

repeatedly coming up and I can't seem to

get rid of it, every stronghold has a

lie that I'm in agreement with.

There's a long list of lies that we can

make,

that we can agree to, that we can submit

to. The uh the lie that you don't know,

you believe

is a book that actually Jenny Allen

highlights that the first three of these

list of lies she says encompasses all of

them. You can find it in those. But

here's here's lies that we believe.

I'm helpless.

So therefore, that's the lie that's

under the surface of these sins that I

have. I'm unlovable.

I'm worthless.

No, I'm a failure.

That's one for me when I voiced it years

ago to my mentor and I go, this is what

I'm feeling. I broke and it hit took

away the all these surface things.

That's the problem. You know what? I'm

not enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not

strong enough.

I'm not rich enough. I'm not whatever it

is. I'm not safe.

Whatever it is, someone's coming to

attack me. I'm not safe. I'm not okay.

I'm I'm broken.

Is I just

I'm not good at that stuff because I'm

too messed up. You don't understand the

mess in my story, the sins that I have

done, the things that have been done to

me. I'm too broken. Maybe it's it's all

up to me.

I must perform because it's up to me.

Maybe it's I'm a loser.

And what not always do we think of this

as the sense of like the the the middle

school bully saying you're a loser, but

the idea of like I in the end I lose.

In the end, it always comes back to bite

me. Other people come out on the winning

side. I don't.

as Polar Express the bull and polar he

says I don't know things just don't work

out for me

these lies that there there may be a lot

of these that we find ourselves in

agreement with and we don't always know

that's it

that's why when you said that thing and

I felt so triggered it's because I feel

like you're going to abandon me because

I I kind of think I'm unlovable.

I step into this relationship and I keep

my defenses up because I'm not safe.

I continue to drink away my memories

because I'm helpless. What else am I to

do? I'm too broken.

Right? This is these are the problems he

calls out. We catch the sin and then we

got to call out the real lie that's

underneath. There may be a different lie

that you have and I want you to take

time. We got homework this week. You

take time to wrestle through what is

this deep lie that I believe

that my sin and the triggers that I

experience

is actually standing on. It's the force

that keeps this phoenix flying.

I can strip away the power.

See, if you can define it,

you can defeat it. But what happens a

lot of times as soon as we define it, we

let it define us. And so we've got to

recognize that once I get to the lie of

that, there's another side of this. And

that's where we see in verse 24, John

John 4:24

4:24, Jesus says this, "For God is

spirit. So those who worship him must

worship him in spirit and in truth." The

woman said, 'I know the Messiah is

coming, the one who is called the

Christ, and when he comes, he's going to

explain everything to us. I don't need

to hear from you. Is what she's saying.

There's a there's a much better person

coming. I've heard it's coming pretty

close. I hear I hear that the prophecies

in Daniel say that it should be right

around this time that we're living in

right now. So, I'm waiting for this guy.

And Jesus told her, I am the Messiah.

Here's the reality is that Jesus is

always where the answer is found.

I can wait for a million different

solutions. I can wait for all these. If

I go to If I go to you with my lie, you

can help me process it. If you come to

me with your lie, I can help encourage

you. I can't do anything with it. I

can't put it in the grave. I can't give

you power over. I can teach you how to

like walk and figure it out. That's what

that's the problem with counseling. A

lot of times, secular counseling says,

"Here's the lie you're believing. Now,

let's learn how to walk with it and love

it and live with that." Uh-uh. We can't

do that. So, instead, I've got to call

out the lie and counter it with the

truth. And I got to look to Jesus. Okay?

So, I'm ready. Are you guys ready? I

want you to see. We have the list of

lies. Here's uh the the counters of

truth. I'm helpless. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

HE IS MY STRENGTH.

I'M UNLOVABLE.

He loves me way more.

>> He loves me more than I will be able to

ever fathom, ever than I will be ever

able to to comprehend. Than I will ever

be able to even come close to loving him

back. He I am worthless. NO, NO, NO.

LOOK TO HIM. HE HAS ALREADY DETERMINED

MY VALUE. HE SAYS, "YOU ARE WORTH THE

DEATH of my child.

I GAVE MY SON FOR YOU. I DON'T CARE HOW

much value you see you have. I see more

in you. I'm a failure. Uh-uh. Jesus, he

is my victory. He takes every failure I

bring and transforms it into something

good. Amen. I am not enough. He

satisfies

me. He is enough. I am not safe.

He's my protector.

He's the one who guards me. He is my

shelter. He is my refuge. He is my

strength. I am broken, but he is my

healer. I don't have to stay broken.

It's all up to me. I've got to perform.

I've got to make it happen. No, no, no.

He leads. I just listen.

I got the burden of obedience. That's

the easy light burden that he calls me

into. I just say yes. I want to be

really good at just saying yes to him

all the time. I am a loser in the end.

It just doesn't work out for me. I end

up failing at the end. Guess what? His

victory has made me more than an

overcomer. Counter with the truth.

And every single one of these has

multiple we don't have room on the

screen has so many Bible verses that

come with this. Don't just speak a

truth. Speak the word of God. When Jesus

is faced in temptation, do you know

Jesus, when we think about the

temptation of Jesus, we think like he

fought the enemy and he like like

whatever. Like it was fine. It was easy.

He was tempted.

It looked good to him. And he countered

not with his own inspirational words. He

countered with the word of God. And I

find verses that I'm that are going to

support that that build this where I go,

"Wait, wait, wait. I know he is my

strength." Guys, this is what I love. If

you need to like Google, use AI. What

are Bible verses that talk about God

being my strength, right? Let and then

don't let AI feed you. Let the word of

God feed you and it'll point you to

that. And then I open up my Bible and I

read the context and I allow for the

Lord to minister into my soul. Amen. So,

we counter with the truth.

And then

we've got a big step and this is what I

want us to focus on here. Okay. John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. The woman left her water jar

beside the well and ran back to the

village, telling everyone, telling

everyone, "Come and see a man

who told me everything I ever did.

Could he possibly be the Messiah?"

So people came streaming from the

village to see him. See what happened is

she

chose to confess with an ally. I catch

the sin. I call out the lie. I counter

it with truth. And then I confess with

an ally. James 5 16 says it this way. It

says, "Confess your sins to each other

and pray for each other so that you may

be healed." This is not just a physical

healing. This is a soul healing. I'm

talking about this same deep wound that

I've operated from, the same trigger

that I've had. If I want to see healing,

I promise you, a stronghold, if it's a

stronghold that you're fighting in your

life, it's probably bigger than you.

We're going to talk about what that

looks like. But today, what I want us to

do is we stand. If we can stand up in

here today, want what I want us to do is

is I want us to recognize

that when I can come last week, we

talked about coming weak, coming naked

before the father, going in this place

where it's like, ah, it's uncomfortable,

it's hard, but I'm going to recognize I

need your help deep, deeply,

desperately, God. Now, we do that before

an ally.

Now, I may not, not everybody around me

may be a good ally, right? Someone who

can point me to the word, can point me

to truth. Someone who can actually help

to to to not just say, "Oh, you're okay.

Pat on the back." That's all right.

Right. We're taught to give truth in

love. This is how I see it. It is it's

it's loving the sinner and hating the

sin. Hating the sin. And so this is uh

this is three essentials super quick. If

you want to see a successful

accountability relationship, I'm going

to bounce through this quick. This is

how you confess. You first need to

confess the right way. Okay? Don't

confess with honesty. Confess with

transparency.

Okay? When I confess multiple times, I

had a seven-year addiction to

pornography from seventh grade into my

sophomore year of college. And I am in

and multiple times I would say, "Hey, I

got a problem and I I need to I need to

overcome this thing." Okay, good. until

finally after a while, there's a couple

different things that happened. We're

going to talk about this over this

series, but this has probably been one

of the the the the biggest phoenixes

outside of like surface area sins. I got

a million triggers that I'm still

walking through, guys. But the the the

surface area things and one of the real

the things I had to do is I had to go

and I had to find an ally. I had to find

some people around me and I had to say,

"Actually, not only is this my problem,

these are the ways I access pornography.

These are the ways that I these are the

times that are hardest for me to fight

it.

In fact, I got I got accountability

partner and then I had a roommate in

college. He and I close enough. We got

along. We were cordial, right? It was

fine. We weren't super tight. He I

didn't have that level of trust with him

for him to be like, "Drew, you need to

fix this right now." So instead, what I

did is I said, Colby,

I need you to tell Joey, if you ever see

me on my computer, I got to study late

at night sometimes, right? If you ever

see me on my computer late at night and

you cannot directly see my screen, I'm

going to work like this. So whenever you

are a whenever like my screen is out

there, I'm not hiding what I'm looking

at. I you can see me. I'm going to break

down all of these barriers and I'm going

to break down all the power. I'm going

to break I'm not going to choose

honesty. I'm going to choose

transparency.

I'm going to fast not just the not the

the bad things, but I'm going to fast

the things that lead into it. Well, when

I find myself scrolling, when I find

myself searching this stuff, it's not

that stuff's not bad. None of it's bad,

but it leads me into that. I'm going to

start giving real transparency in this.

You can see all of it. You can call me

out. treat these boundaries as my own

sin so that you make the assumption that

I'm failing because if I break those

boundaries then I'm getting a little bit

too close and I'm flirting with it.

Okay, so I here's that's how I confess.

Next, I need to how do how do I receive

someone's confession? When someone tells

you that, what the heck do I do with it?

Right? Truth in love. If you've ever

seen a video, I've never had to go

through this. I've never had to do it.

I'm so glad. If you've ever seen someone

who had a joint pop out of socket,

nasty.

How do you fix it? You pop it right back

in. It's painful. It's hard. It hurts

worse the initi than the initial injury.

It hurts way worse than it feels right

now at that time with your limp arm. But

they got to pop this thing out. I love

you so much. I will hurt you for good.

And this is where I say I love I believe

in you. I refuse to let you stay there.

>> That's love. That is love. Not, hey,

you're all right. You'll be okay. You

just do it right. No, no, no, no. You

got to stop that now because God's got a

higher calling for you than that. Do not

let that limit you. Okay? So, I how to

receive someone's confession. Uh James

James 5:19–20

5:19-20

says, "If anyone among you wanders away

from the truth and is brought back, you

can be sure whoever the person that I'm

confessing with, the ally, whoever

brings the sinner back from wandering

will save that person from death and

bring about the forgiveness of many

sins." Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Man, what

a blessing to be able to be in that

place. Number three, essentials for

accountability. How to confess, how to

receive someone's confession, how to

receive accountability. Then when they

tell you, "I got to pop this joint back

in socket."

you rejoice. Faithful are the wounds of

a friend.

The kisses of an enemy are actually a

curse. Oh, you'll be you're fine. You're

okay. Deal with that. Everybody's got

problems. Everybody's got weakness.

That's all right. No, I believe more for

you than that. You got to stop that. And

the next time you slip up, the next time

you mess up, the next time you're

triggered, the next time you sin or

whatever it is, right? Then then they

come over and they, "Hey, hey, I WANT TO

CALL YOU BACK. I want to I want to have

you look at this truth again. Remember

who you are." And that's NOT GOING TO

FEEL GOOD, RIGHT? You're saying, "I

failed again." Well, yeah, but he's your

victor, right? Not you. You're not a

failure. Let's switch that like. Okay.

So, that's how we do it. So, what I want

to do here, what I want to do is I want

a very, very practical, very humble,

very vulnerable altar moment.

So, what I'm going to ask is I'm going

to ask for actual action and movement

right here. Well, we don't have to do we

don't have to step in and find someone

in this room that you can confess it all

to and be full and transparent with.

They may not even be in this room. Find

someone who will point you to truth, who

knows the word of God, who can guide you

in that. But this is what I want us to

do before you leave this room. If you

got a stronghold you're dealing with,

you have talked to that person and said,

"I need to have a conversation with you

about a stronghold that I need your help

with." Before they may be in this room

and you got to walk over to them and you

got to say, "Can we meet this week? Can

we have lunch after this?" And I can be

deeply transparent with you about the

things going on in my life. I promise

you,

this will be so hard. This will be so

painful.

It'll be no. It's not fun to go. Here's

the layers of the depth of the sin that

I'm dealing with. And I'm going to give

all of it. It's probably going to be

tearfilled. It's probably going to be

infuriating. It's pro I may need some

private areas. I may not be able to be

at lunch. I may need to be able to do

this somewhere else where I can shout

and talk about I hate this.

I may I may have to I may have to it may

be a painful process, but I promise you,

you never get to the surgery without the

incision. This is the way that I get to

the healing. This is the way that I'm

going to find it. Please, every step of

fighting the stronghold of the enemy

flows through the door of confession.

Confess to the Lord, confess to someone

else, a believer that will lead you in

that way. So, what I want to do is I

want to take some time right now. I'm

going to pray. As I pray for you, as I

pray for strength, you respond. If you

need to respond, if you need to come up

to the altar, do that. If you need to

text a friend, do that. If you need if

they're in this room right now, you need

to find them, do it right now. Okay. The

rest of us, we're going to close our

eyes. We're going to agree in prayer.

We're going to fight these strongholds.

Amen. Heavenly Father, right now, as we

are responding, whoever we need to text,

Lord, would you give boldness? Would you

give clarity if we don't know who to

contact? We don't know who, Lord, I pray

that you would put the right person in

mind that can help point us in the right

direction that can just give us the

first step. Lord, I hate the sin that

continues to hold back the believers in

this room from living in the abundant

full life that you have PROMISED US. SO

LORD, WE BREAK DOWN these strongholds.

We break these down. WE BREAK DOWN THE

POWER THAT IT HAS. GOD, IF I DON'T EVEN

KNOW the lie that I'm facing, Lord, I

pray that the allies in this room, the

allies that we can come with can help us

to identify the problems and the sins

and the lies that are holding these

things up. Father God, in the mighty

name of Jesus, I pray seeds are planted

right now that begin to shift the

trajectory of people's lives. May we not

be so proud as to not admit, as to not

confess, as not to come broken, as to

appear like we got it together, as much

as we want to look like it, but actually

come to a few, to one who can take the

full ugly and can say, "I love you and I

refuse to let you stay there." Lord, I

pray over the allies in this room that

are going to be contacted, that are

going to be touched, that are going to

say, "Hey, I need to talk with you."

Would you begin to prepare a heart of

deep love? Deep love for you and deep

love for your heart and your vision for

who they are, Father God. And then I

pray, Lord, as correction comes,

as difficult things happen, you need to

cut this out. You need to get that app

off your phone. You need to put a screen

time and give me the password, whatever

it may be. Father God, that I pray that

there would be a a a a receiving because

of the hatred of my sin, because of my

refusal to stay where I've been, Lord,

that there would be a a deep willingness

and a humility to receive all

correction. Father God,

Holy Spirit,

it's no longer about this sermon.

It's now about the conversations that

are going to follow. Holy Spirit, we

invite you into every single one of

those. We ask that not only would you

lead the confessor, you would lead the

ally, you would lead the relationship,

you would lead in the conversations, you

would speak divinely in these moments.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we declare

you will be seen as final, as the victor

in these situations. In the mighty name

of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Come on,

can we give a hand for the word of the

Lord?

Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And 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? 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

great steps.

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

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.