KEEP Fighting, DON’T Quit! | Pastor Morgan

Well, good morning.

How we doing?

>> Okay. Okay. I need to say this. The last

time I preached,

I heard nothing from out there. So

today, I'm asking that you would give me

a little bit of feedback that if you if

you like what is being said, would you

let me know so that I can be encouraged

today as I bring the word to? Thank you.

Thank you. Um, today we are continuing

our series called Hunting Phoenix,

defeating the sin that keeps on coming

back. And today I just want to encourage

you. And so the title of the message is

keep fighting, don't quit. My whole goal

today is just to encourage you. So I

want to pray that the Lord uh would just

bless this service. Did anybody come to

be set free today?

Oh, come on. We should all our goal for

coming to church one is to be amongst

community. It's to be edified and it's

to be set free every single week. Let's

pray. God, we just pray

that you would anoint this service,

Lord, that everything that you want to

do in this room would be done,

Lord. Every way that you want to set us

free, we ask that you would do that. We

open up our hearts to you, we turn our

attention to you, not to me today, to

you, Lord, and to what you want to speak

to your people. Would you be magnified

and glorified in this place? Amen.

Well, for all of us in this room, we all

have things that we have quit in our

lives and we wish we wouldn't have. For

me, that's piano. I quit when I was

probably a teenager. I did three years

and I'm so mad. It's like I lead worship

and I cannot play the piano. Um, but we

have Satie and Matt who are amazing

piano players.

Um, and some of us we have testimonies

of things that we want to quit and we're

glad that we didn't. Um, for me, one of

the stories of that is I had a working

relationship with somebody that lasted

for 10 years and we went through it

together. [snorts]

And I look back and I'm so grateful that

we didn't quit. I will tell you, we had

literally

hours every single week of conversations

for 10 years. And these were conflict

resolution conversations.

And both of us at different points

wanted to quit the relationship. And I

knew that this other person had painful

relationships in their past. and I was

not going to be another person that

brought her pain. And as followers of

Christ, I feel like reconciliation is

part of being a believer. And learning

to love beyond what you feel capable of

is an important thing to learn. And

people would tell me, just quit, just

give up. It is not worth the fight. But

I don't want to be a person that will

give up on relationships. I want to

fight for them. And so we did. And I

learned so much by not quitting on that

relationship. We are still friends to

this day. We say we could hold a

conference on conflict resolution

because we've worked through some hard

things. And today I want to talk about

quitting in and not quitting in another

area and that is the fight against sin.

Every person in this room is battling

something different. And for some it

might be negativity. Maybe you talk

negatively about yourself or about other

people. Maybe you have anger that is not

righteous anger. Maybe unforgiveness is

in your heart and you've struggled to

forgive whoever it is in your life.

Maybe you have internal pride today.

Maybe false pride. For others, it might

be outward. It could be gluttony. It

could be the love of money or lust or uh

substance abuse. I don't know what it is

for you, but I want you to think about

that thing. Whatever the Lord's putting

on your heart, all of us have something.

But as we're talking today, be thinking

about that. Some seasons you will feel

like it's easy to fight and other

seasons are much harder. Some seasons

you will feel a battle in one area of

sin and then you will conquer it and

then all of a sudden there's another

battle right around the corner on

something totally different. Some days

you might feel exhausted in the effort.

But I'm here to encourage you that the

fight for righteousness is worth it. And

becoming like Christ is something that

you're never going to regret.

We know that it's not just us. It's not

just sin that we are fighting, but it's

the enemy that brings about the sin in

our lives. The reality is is that there

is a tempter. There is an evil devourer.

He is not some aloof being. He is a

being lurking at your door every day.

And he desires for you to fail. He wants

you to give up and to give in. He

desires for you to be weak. And he wants

nothing more than for you to quit in the

fight against sin. He does not want you

to become more like Christ. He wants you

to quit loving Jesus and to quit serving

him. And so what he does is he throws

evil your way. And he will throw things

that look good but are actually bad for

you your way. He will tempt you. He will

distract you. And he will destroy you

until you quit.

And although I would not say of myself

that I'm a quitter, I also know the

reality that there is someone trying to

get me to quit at all times. And there

is also my flesh that some days I want

to quit. And so I came to encourage

somebody today who maybe you feel like

quitting today. Maybe you want to quit

on God. You want to give in to sin. You

want to you want for life to be easy

again. And I'm here to say to you, don't

quit.

>> Yeah. I want you to open your Bibles to

James chapter 2.

James 2 · chapter mention

verses three. When you're there, say I'm

there.

Wow, that was quick.

It says, I'm going to put two words

before this.

So, I'm I'm adding to it. I'm letting

you know I'm adding to it just for this

moment. Don't quit because you know that

the testing of your faith produces

perseverance.

This is not the right scripture that's

on the screen. So just listen to me.

Let perseverance finish its work so that

you may be mature and complete, not

lacking anything.

Don't quit because the temptations that

come your way, and the testing of your

character, the testing of your faith

that God does allow will bring maturity.

Every time that I work out, I have to

tell myself, don't quit.

It is painful for me and it is glorious

for my husband. It is like that's his

time with the Lord. That's not my time

with the Lord. Every day that I wake up,

it takes a serious fight to get my

workout clothes on, to go downstairs, to

get out my workout mat, and to pick up

the weights. Every day, I want to quit.

It's like this battle in me. Paul talks

about it. I want to quit, but I don't

want to quit. And yet, I know that it's

going to bring about results that I

want. I might not see it yet.

>> [snorts]

>> I feel it a little bit when I'm sore.

And I also can now lift more weight. I

can handle more. But I don't see I'm not

seeing the benefits yet.

But I know that it's producing something

in me. It might just be producing

perseverance and nothing in my body yet,

but it's producing something that I need

as long as I keep going. All right. Now,

turn over to Hebrews chapter 12. That's

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

really where we're going to spend our

time today. Let's hope this one's right.

Yes, it is. Okay, good. Okay, it says,

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by

such a great cloud of witnesses, we're

not talking a literal cloud." I'm going

to give you context. I want you to mark

in your Bibles Hebrews chapter 11. And

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

after today, I want you to go there. It

is a very cool chapter. It is a bunch of

stories of people that lived by faith

and whose lives testify that God was

faithful to them and that he was worthy

of them fighting and finishing their

race well. And so in light of that, the

author of Hebrews is saying, because you

have stories of people that have come

before you, you have this great cloud of

witnesses that fought their race well,

now you go and do the same. So he goes

on to say, "Throw off everything that

hinders and the sin that so easily

entangles and let us run with

perseverance the race marked out for

us."

Overcoming sin requires you to throw it

off. Sin does not magically go away. It

takes action. It takes prayer. It takes

time. It takes a fight. It takes saying

no again and again. It takes new habits

and new thought patterns. It takes

perseverance and it takes work. It is

not like everything else in our world

today. Most things we can get within

seconds. Now on Amazon, you get things

overnight.

Ridding your life of sin will not take

seconds. It takes a fight. It takes

time. It takes maturing. It takes

walking closely with the Lord every day.

It will be difficult, but it is what God

asks of us. He says to be holy as I am

holy. Hebrews 12 goes on to say, "In

your struggle against sin, you have not

yet resisted to the point of shedding

your blood and have completely forgotten

this word of encouragement that

addresses you as a father addresses his

son." He says, "My son, do not make

light of the Lord's discipline and do

not lose heart when he rebukes you

because the Lord disciplines the one

that he loves."

The Lord disciplines those that he

loves.

The author says, "You think you've

resisted enough times, but have you shed

blood yet?" In other words, if you

thought that running from sin should be

simple and easy, it is not. Saying no to

our flesh should feel very painful.

It's similar to when you break a bone

and you have to undergo surgery and the

healing process of that the breaking to

the healing. That process is painful.

But we know that one day it'll lead you

to be able to walk again. And fighting

sin is a painful process. It takes

breaking. It takes healing. And it often

feels like you are being cut to your

core. Cutting off a relationship because

they've caused you to sin hurts.

Ridding yourself of yourself is painful.

Desiring the flesh and choosing the

spirit is painful.

Oftent times when you're wrestling

through sin, God will give you

opportunities to overcome that sin. And

much of the time the opportunities are

painful. It's like when you pray for

somebody, God, I want to love this

person more. Well, he's going to give

you opportunities to be more loving.

Moving from darkness to light will

always take a fight. It'll never be easy

and it will always cost you, but it

cannot keep you from fighting.

Don't make peace with your sin for the

sake of a comfortable and easy pain-free

life. Some of you keep yourself [snorts]

at a distance from God so that he never

asks anything of you that's too hard. So

that he never asks you to give anything

up.

I've been there before. God, I love you,

but I don't want to get any closer right

now because I'm afraid of what you're

going to ask me to let go of. I'm afraid

of the pain that will come if I get

closer. I just want to say if that's you

today, that God wants to speak to your

heart that the only way that you will

find true and abundant life is if you

come closer. And it's time for you to go

allin with the Lord.

I want to speak to the person in the

room who has failed many times in the

fight to overcome sin because it's been

so many times you think that you're a

failure and that you can't overcome it.

And I'm telling you today that you can

overcome it. That you might just need to

do it differently than what you've been

trying. Failure is an opportunity to do

something different. It reveals what

needs to change. Every time that I fail

at something, I should get better next

time. I learn what I shouldn't have done

and what I need to do moving forward.

And most failure comes from a lack of

discipline, a lack of knowledge, or a

lack of foresight.

You don't fail because you are a

failure. And whoever told you that

you're a failure in your life and that

you wouldn't be able to overcome

anything is a liar. And I want to remind

you what the Bible says that we are in

Christ. Proverbs 26:16

Proverbs 26:16

says that a righteous man, not a failing

man, a righteous man falls seven times

and he gets back up. The important thing

is not the falling, it's that he gets

back up. Romans 8:37 says that you are

Romans 8:37

more than a conqueror through him who

loves us. Romans 6:14 says, "For sin

Romans 6:14

shall no longer be your master because

you are not under the law anymore, but

you are under grace." Romans 6:6 says

Romans 6:6

that your old self was crucified with

Christ on the cross so that you no

longer would be a slave to your sin.

Which means that the power of sin does

not have greater power than the one that

conquered sin. Amen.

>> Micah 78 he says though I have fallen I

will stand up. He refuses to stay down.

And the enemy, what he does is he wants

you to feel so much shame when you fail.

He wants you to feel the weight of your

sin. He wants it to be so heavy on your

shoulders that you can't get back up.

And we have to be people that refuse

that and say, "I am getting back up and

I'm not going to stay down." Come on.

>> Let failure cause you to move forwards

and not backwards.

Failure can be a teacher.

Too many people, they fail, they get

down, and they stay down. Or they keep

falling back into the sin because they

keep failing and now they're okay with

it. They think that they can live in

perpetual sin and still be fully in love

with God. But that is not love.

You cannot perpetually sin against your

spouse and be fully in love with them.

Right? So, we can't keep sinning and go

on how we want. That's actually called

abusing the grace of God. And failing

forward means that you feel conviction

when you sin. And the conviction leads

you to repentance. And repentance leads

you to change. That's how we fail

forward. And if you're failing in the

fight over and over and you can't get a

hold of the sin or you don't want to let

it go because it hasn't become big

enough of a problem or you're not

feeling the conviction, then you're

failing backwards. And the thing that

you can do is to just turn

to spend time with the Lord to get back

to a place where you are so in love with

him that your sin begins to lead you to

repentance. True repentance and then the

repentance leads you to change.

You are capable of true change. You are

not a loser of a person who is capable

of nothing. There is this saying out

there in the Christian world that I am

nothing.

And that is in part true. In my sinful

human nature, I am nothing.

But I'd like us to finish that with, but

in Christ I'm something.

The scriptures tell me that I'm chosen.

The scriptures tell me that I'm loved by

God, that I am his workmanship.

And because he's living inside of me,

I'm capable of overcoming. And I'm

capable of leading others to overcome as

well.

I'm not who I used to be. And because of

his power, I can walk in confidence that

though I may mess up today, I am running

towards Christ and I will overcome

because he already has. And I'm refusing

to be who I used to be.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 10. I want

you to underline this verse. I want you

to memorize it.

>> [snorts]

>> I was screaming this in my house and I

want you to be able to scream it, too.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

2 Corinthians 10:4–5

says, "The weapons God gives us

have divine power to demolish

strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every

pretension that sets itself up against

the knowledge of God. and we take

captive every thought

>> and we make it obedient to Christ. You

have the power to do that. I'm going to

say that verse again. The weapons God

gives us have divine power to demolish

strongholds. We demolish arguments and

every pretension that sets itself up

against the knowledge of God. And we

take every thought captive and we make

it obedient to Christ.

Which means that he has given you

everything that you need to break every

stronghold

there. You don't have to say any longer,

I can't get over that thing. I can't

forgive that person. Yes, you can.

Because he gives us the power and

authority to demolish it.

There is nothing that comes your way

that you don't already have victory over

because of Jesus. And everything that

comes against that knowledge, we have

the power to destroy it. We can say,

Satan, go back to where you came from.

You do not have authority. You don't

have victory.

You don't have a say. God does. And I

align my thoughts and my actions and my

responses with this book, the word of

God. Scripture tells us, do you know

that the word is sharper than any sword?

That it is alive

and it is active. That's why when you

open this book,

it changes you. It convicts you. It

should. Did you know that it's able to

pierce through joints and marrow?

It corrects me. And so I align with this

word. I align with him because he is the

victor. Because he holds all authority.

That's who I pledge my allegiance to.

Amen. Amen.

>> So, don't let the enemy have a say in

who you are or what you're capable of

overcoming.

Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one

Hebrews 10:14

sacrifice he has been, he has made

perfect those who are being made holy."

This is an active statement.

You are always and until eternity

being made holy. It's a lifelong

process, but it promises to produce

something that is lasting and is worth

it. And maybe not today, but someday you

will look back over the months and years

of putting in the work and go, "Wow, I

can't believe that I actually overcame

that. I can't believe that I can go

without that thing or without that

person. I can't believe that I no longer

feel the need to spend my money this

way. I can't believe I no longer have

fits of rage that used to entangle me. I

can't believe

that I can now have control over my

temper. I can't believe that I have

control over my thoughts and my actions.

I've got this lemon tree up here.

And this lemon tree we planted two years

ago

and it just it might be longer than

that. It just started to produce lemons.

And the first year

I wanted to throw it in the trash

because nothing was happening. I was so

happy that I found an indoor This is an

indoor lemon tree. Have you ever even

heard of that? I hadn't. But I felt like

I'm watering it and nothing is

sprouting.

It truly felt dumb and pointless. I said

multiple times, let's just throw it

away. Nothing's happening. [music] It

wasn't even getting leaves for like a

year.

It was not producing anything that the

instructions

said that it would.

I'm going to say that again. It wasn't

producing any of the in anything that

the instructions

the instructions said that [music] it

would. Do you ever feel that towards

your Christian life?

I'm reading the instructions.

I'm following [music] them. I'm not

seeing the fruit.

I'm putting things into action. And I

just feel like I'm defeated. I feel like

I'm getting attacked even more.

Well, two years later, I'm glad I didn't

throw it away

because underneath the soil,

roots were growing and life was forming

and growth was happening even though I

[music] couldn't see it. And two years

later, we're starting to see we've got

[music] some big lemons. Look at this

one.

Can you see it? I don't want to rip it

off, but [music] we got these big

lemons. We have smaller ones. And we

have ones that are still just beginning

to [music] sprout.

And here's my point

is that if you would just keep watering

the good soil in your life, it will

eventually [music] produce fruit.

>> Every time

that you read God's word,

you are watering the soil.

Every time that you go to church when

you don't feel [music] like it,

you are watering the soil. Every time

you go to group when it's inconvenient,

you're watering the soil. Every [music]

encounter night that you come to to pray

and to gather with the body, you're

watering [music] the soil. And you may

not see the growth in the moment, but as

you keep doing that, you will look back

and go, [music] I couldn't see it then,

but I see some fruit sprouting now.

I'm seeing a change in me. And it goes

back to what we [music] talked about

last week that as you grow closer with

the Lord, it's [music] not about

focusing on the sin and stop, stop,

stop, stop, stop. It's about watering

the good soil. [music]

So keep watering. Some of you, you feel

spiritually dry and you have for a long

time. Keep watering.

Some of you, you feel like so defeated

and discouraged like I can't get past

this thing. Keep watering. [music]

When you don't want to come to church,

keep watering the soil.

I [music] wish that all of us could see

what God sees. [music] I wish you could

see what is happening underneath [music]

the surface. I wish that you could see

what he is birthing inside of you and

you will eventually see [music] that he

was growing something the whole time.

[music] And some of you, you've quit

just a little bit too soon.

[music] God is doing something.

If you [music] don't quit, someday soon,

the sin issue in your life [music] that

felt like a mountain before you will

feel like a small hill that it will be

easy to climb over because you're so in

love with Jesus. You are so invested in

what he's doing on the [music] earth

that you look at the sin

and it disgusts you.

You look at the sin and you go, "That's

not who I am anymore. I don't even

desire [music] it because I've been

watering this soil over here

and God is changing me."

Philippians 1:6 [music] says that he who

Philippians 1:6

started a good work in you, you are a

good work

that he will carry on to completion.

[music]

Every person in this room is a good work

that God has [music] started. And until

the day that you see him in glory, he

will be [music] working it out. But it

takes us working as well.

Don't [music] quit the fight.

And the last thing that I want to share

with you

is that [music] one of the most

encouraging things that you can hear

today is that there [music] are other

people in this room

that are fighting the exact same battle

that you are.

Can we actually just stand in this room?

There [music] are people in this room

that didn't quit. They're the [music]

people like Hebrews chap 11, but they

said, "I'm not quitting in the [music]

fight. Even though I don't see it, I

know that you're working." And they're

seeing freedom now. And I wanted [music]

to share some testimonies with you that

I don't have time for. But I can promise

you

that everything [music] that you could

ever imagine overcoming,

people in this room have. [music]

Stories that you don't even know.

addictions, every bad thought, every

wrong motive, [music] every action in

some way we've done. All of us, we're

all on the same playing field because

we're [music] all becoming, right? We're

becoming. There's no shame in it.

And so my prayer today is that every

[music] person that is struggling

is that you don't leave the same.

Something in your life has to stay here

today in this room.

There [music] are things that you're

struggling with and you have been for a

long time and you've been partnering

with the enemy. You have given him so

[music] much power over your mind that

you have given him so much power over

the things that [music] you do. And it's

time that you begin partnering with

Jesus.

It's time to surrender what you've been

holding on to. Some of you have been

holding unforgiveness for way too long.

That you have given that [music] person

so much power over your mind and over

your heart. That's got to stay in this

room today. Some of you,

you the words [music] that come out of

your mouth are inappropriate.

You have bad [music] language that's got

to stay in the room today.

What is it in your life that needs to

stay here?

Coming to church to hear a good message

and leaving the same, I don't [music]

want it. I don't want to speak if we're

just going to leave the same.

We come to church [music] to hear what

the Lord wants to speak to our hearts

through a human vessel. I can't speak to

your heart. Only [music] God can.

And what you can do is to just respond

to [music] what he's saying.

And so I want to ask, I know through

prayer [music] that there are people in

this room

that you're battling something,

something that nobody else knows about

and it [music] is time to leave it at

the altar today. And so I want to invite

you forward. If that's you, if you know

that this message is speaking to your

heart, [music] I want you to come to the

altar and I want you to lay it down.

You can come right now. There [music]

are some in this room that I believe

that the Lord said that there are things

in your literal pockets this morning

that [music] need to be set on this

altar. I don't know what it is,

but you need to give that [music] thing

up that it is time that the Lord is

speaking to your heart [music]

and you need to lay it here and release

it to him.

If you're dealing with pride today,

I'm [music] asking that you would humble

yourself and that you would come to the

altar and that you would lay it down

[music] and say, "I humble myself before

you, Lord. It is not about [music] me

any longer. I surrender it to you.

Some of you, if you have unforgiveness

that you [music] have been carrying for

years and it's got a grip on you, you

wake up thinking about it and you go to

bed thinking [music] about it. It stays

at the altar. Today

I [music] want you with your own mouth

to begin to declare freedom over your

life to begin declare [music] to declare

that you are an overcomer. That it is

finished in this room today.

Lord, we ask with faith

that the things that we have been

battling with

would be forever gone.

that once we leave this room today, we

are leaving [music] with strength. We

are leaving with power

[music] because we carry the authority

of heaven in this place. That we are

able to conquer it. That we are able to

battle today. We're able [music] to

break every chain that you desire to be

broken in this place. So Lord, we break

it off of your people today. We ask Lord

that it would be broken in the name of

Jesus. That your Holy [music] Spirit

would come down upon this place and that

it would change us. That we would never

be the same, Lord. That you would mark

us today for your glory so that we can

move on with the purposes that you have

for our life. So that we can become all

that you desire for us to become. Lord,

we don't want to leave the same.

We want to leave different. We want to

leave holy. We want to leave changed. So

set your people free today.

Lord, we're not satisfied with leaving

the same way that we came in. We want to

be different. We want to be set apart

for your glory, for your name's sake.

God, would you do it? Lord, would you

have your way in this place? Would you

move in power? Would you move in might?

Lord, we thank you. We thank you for

what you are doing. For the freedom that

is taking [music] place, for the freedom

that comes from you.

Lord, would you mark these people today

for your glory, [music]

for your honor,

Lord, continue the work that you have

[music] started.

Continue the work, God.

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

[music] 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 [music] other people being in

a community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, [music] 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

[music] steps are great steps.

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

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We [music] believe that the best days

are ahead of you.