Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. For those of you who don't
know, we took about a week's vacation. And then
last week, all of last week, we were at our International
General Assembly for the Church of God in Orlando,
Florida. And just an amazing time. A lot of business
meetings, a lot of church services. But I got
to brag on God just a little bit. The General
Assembly for the Church of God takes place every
two years. And two years ago, the moderator,
really Pastor Gary Lewis, who heads up all of
the Church of God internationally, he came and
he really issued a challenge for the church internationally
with the Church of God and said he would love
to see a million souls saved and for us to plant
churches. And when they came back two years later
to report on what took place, Three million people
have given their lives to Christ. Yeah, come
on. Three million. Incredible. We're part of
that with what we do here. And then they planted
10 ,000 churches internationally. I'm just praising
God. We're a church plant that has now matured
some, and we're just grateful for all that God's
doing. We don't say that to brag on the denomination.
We say that to brag on Jesus. Amen. He's the
one. He's the one who does all the work. So could
you give the Lord a hand for all that's taking
place? And with that, we're going to take a moment.
I'll get you to stand on your feet real quick.
We're going to do church aerobics this morning.
We're going to pray over these invitations because
part of that number that took place, the salvations,
these orange balls and the invitations are part
of what's taking place around the globe. And
we're just trusting God for a harvest here. We're
believing God to bring people in that don't know
Jesus, that are far from Jesus, and they're going
to come to know Him. And that happens through
these invitations, praying over them. If you
invite somebody to church, if you invite somebody...
buddy, in any kind of way, please write their
name or initials on the ball, put a date on,
stick it in here so we can pray over them because
we're believing God for them with you. Amen.
Raise your hands this way if you would. Just
point them this way. Father, we come in the matchless
name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that you would
touch, Lord, these invitations that have gone
out. I pray, Lord, that you would somehow step
out ahead. Holy Spirit, go ahead of the words
that we'll bring in this invitation or behind
the words that we've already spoken. Lord, that
it might be effective in the hearer's heart.
And, God, that they might begin to look to you.
And, Lord, we're believing, God, that they'll
draw near to you, that they'll come close. And,
Lord, that they'll come to faith in you. you
and a commitment to Jesus Christ. And we just
give you praise and glory. We ask that you would
have your hand upon the Word today as we listen.
God minister to our hearts and our ears, and
we just give you praise in Jesus' name. And everybody
said together? Amen. Amen. Listen, because you
pray over it, you get to celebrate. All right?
Come on. Give Him glory. Yeah. You may be seated
this morning. Thanks for getting up and praying.
Thank you for worshiping this morning. heard
the great worship just bellowing in behind me
and love every bit of it. But I came across this
story a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd
kind of read it to you. And this is about a man
named Jimmy and his son, Davey. And they were
playing in the beautiful, clear waters of the
Gulf in Mexico while his family was on vacation.
It was him, his wife, his daughters, his parents,
and a cousin that had come along with them. And
they were on the beach, and suddenly a rogue
riptide swept Davey out to see the sun. And immediately
his dad, Jimmy, jumped into the water and began
to swim to Davey to try to get him back to shore.
But before he knew it, he too was caught in the
web or the draw of the riptide, and it began
to pull him out as well. And he began to realize
that he was powerless in this situation. Although
he got to his son, he couldn't swim back in either.
And this man, Jimmy, was an Olympian. This man
was strong, but he was being carried away by
the waters. And he says that he had this one
chilling thought as they were being swept out
into the ocean. thought this. He thought, my
wife and my daughters are going to have to have
a double funeral. This is what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, on the shore, the family didn't hear
their cry for help. They didn't, except for the
cousin. And the cousin, being a little more familiar
with the ocean, knew not to run in and try to
swim to him, but actually went down the shoreline
where they were headed and knew where there was
a sandbar that went extended out into the ocean,
ran out in through the water, out onto the sandbar.
And as he got close to him, or as they began
to sweep down towards him, he started yelling,
come to me, you come to me. And he pulled him
out of the water. And you might say, well, why
tell this story? Because there's a lesson here.
Sometimes if you jump in on your own, you're
going to die, right? Sometimes you can be swept
out to sea. Sometimes you jump out in your own
wisdom. Sometimes you jump out in your own thinking
in some way. Sometimes if you jump in without
consulting God and reaching out, you can pray,
you can wish, you can do all those things. But
if you get swept out to sea, You could die. It's
true. And Jesus began to tell us something very
similar in Matthew chapter 5. If you've got your
Bibles, you can head to Matthew chapter 5. We're
going to go to verse 27. And Jesus started to
talk about sin and being swept out into the ocean
or the sea of sin. Sometimes, if we simply try
to follow our flesh, we're going to be swept
away or we could die. I know, what a way to come
back and start from vacation, right? Y 'all are
like, oh, come on, Pastor. But this is particularly
true with sin. It's true with the sea of iniquity
that can pull us out into the depths. If I just
jump into sin and I try to make them wade my
through it on my own wisdom, my own instinct,
right, my own reasoning of some kind, my own
excuses sometimes, whatever it is, it can sweep
me and take me away. It can begin to draw me
out. Jesus said there's going to be times, many
times, that you're going to have to ignore your
gut. You're going to have to ignore your instinct.
You're going to have to... Ignore your intellectual
ideas. You're going to have to completely ignore
your momentary thought, and you're going to have
to do it his way. Do it his way. Amen? Amen.
To survive, to live, and to not die, to get back
into the shore of safety, sometimes, most times,
dare I say, all the time, you're going to have
to do it his way. And ignore what you're thinking
or what you're feeling. And as he's on the hillside
in Galilee, Jesus begins to instruct the multitude
on what to do and what not to do. It's the series
we've been in. It's what we've been talking about
for the last couple of weeks. What to do and
what to not do to keep you out of the riptide
of sin. To keep you from getting pulled into
the sea of iniquity and death. So Matthew 5,
27 says this, for you have heard that it was
said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman
to lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart. If your right eye causes
you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.
For it is more profitable for you that one of
your members perish than for your whole body
to be cast into hell. And if your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from
you. For it's more profitable for you that one
of your members perish than your whole body be
cast into hell. Jesus begins this, he's talking,
he's doing this Sermon on the Mount, and he starts
this portion of Scripture off and he says, he
names the sexual sin of adultery. And he's saying,
don't do it. Right? Don't cheat on your spouse.
Don't engage in that kind of activity. Don't
even think about it because adultery is kind
of one of those sins that can draw you out. You
can get caught in the riptide, and it'll begin
to sweep you out, and it'll leave you wondering,
how did I get here? When did I get here? How
did I end up in the middle of the ocean of sin?
You can feel like you're drowning. I've worked
with people that have got caught in this, you
know, caught up in this, and they feel like they're
drowning. They feel like the ocean's coming in.
around them. And Jesus isn't just repeating the
law of God that was given to Moses in the Ten
Commandments. He wasn't just speaking about the
law that God spoke, that Mosaic law. Jesus repeats
this law so that he can begin to take it to a
deeper level. He takes it a step further, and
he begins to speak to the root of sin. The causation
of sin, the genesis of any sexual sin or really
any sin at all. And he goes on to say in verse
27, right? He says, you've heard that it is said
to those of old, you should not commit adultery.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman
to lust after her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart. Jesus is telling this
massive crowd on the hillside that don't get
swept away into the sea of sin. And he begins
to talk about the genesis of where this takes
place, which is in the heart. We end up in this
sea of sin. We end up getting pulled out by a
riptide of sin. And that begins in our heart
long before it ever manifests on the outside
of us. long before it ever shows up where people
can see or where we see it, right? We toy with
sin sometimes in our head and our heart before
we ever get to our hands or our body, right?
We mess with it in our head. It starts with us
maybe fixing our eyes, fixating on something
that we shouldn't fixate on. And then our heart
and our head begin to desire what we're fixating
on because we shouldn't be fixating on it, right?
That's where it begins. It starts staring at
something. And I'm going to just kind of G -rate
this whole thing a little bit because I know
we got some young listeners in there. It starts
with looking at the cookie. Amen? Come on, I'm
trying to lighten it up, folks. Right? I'm trying
to keep it G -rated this morning. I'm going to
replace a little bit of the word here. And listen,
don't email me and don't send me anything. I'm
not changing the word of God. I'll preach the
word of God as it is, but I'm just going to try
to keep this G -rated, right? Because Jesus said,
I said to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust
after has already committed adultery with her
in his heart. Just for illustration purposes,
let the woman be a cookie today. Amen? You okay
with that? Say amen if you're all right with
that. So whoever looks at the cookie to lust
after her, our cookie's female today, by the
way, right? Gentlemen, a lustful look at the
cookie is not just a quick glance at the shapely
cookie in front of you, and it's not even a recognition
of attractiveness. Lust of the cookie is when
you begin to look for a long time, when it leads
to your heart changing, and I want the cookie.
I must have the cookie, right? I will stare at
the cookie. Even if I can't have the cookie,
I'm just gonna stare at the cookie as long as
I can. Jesus said, if you're lusting for the
cookie, you've already committed cookie sin in
your heart. It's already happened, right? And
that sin's just waiting to mature and manifest
on the outside. And if the desire remains long
enough inside of you, I can assure you, What's
on the inside is going to appear on the outside.
James 1 .5 says this. Then when desire, lust,
right, has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth
death. Say death. You need to know. You need
to know what it brings, right? It begins on the
inside and it grows to the outside. Desire, in
its nature, always births something. Desire itself
is going to birth something in you, good or bad.
Both sides of this. On one side of the fence
or the other. If you've got desire, it's going
to gestate, right? You're going to conceive.
It's going to gestate. And it's going to bring
forth something in your life. It's going to manifest
something. If we desire God, righteousness and
a relationship with God is going to show up.
It's going to begin to birth out of you. It starts
with the desire to come to Christ. It starts
with the desire, I want to know the king. I want
to know the God of the universe. I want to know
the Savior who went to the cross. and died for
me. And when you begin that desire and that begins
to birth inside of you, you want to come to faith.
You want to confess your sins. You want to do
that. It's a desire. But if we desire sin, any
sin, it bursts action in us. It's going to lead
to change that's taking place in here. And it'll
eventually go from your head, your heart, and
it'll hit your soul. And James tells us that
if it's not repented of, If we don't change directions,
it leads to death. It can kill you. It can pull
you out into the ocean. It's what sin does. And
sin takes its job seriously. It might seem like
a casual swim. You might be out doggy paddling,
right, in the ocean of sin. But all of a sudden,
a riptide is going to get you, and it's going
to begin to pull, and it's going to begin to
draw. And Jesus goes on, right, to explain that
this sin is so dangerous that he gives some radical
steps as an illustration to eradicate the sin
in our lives. In Matthew 5, 29, he says, if your
right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and
cast it from you. For it's more profitable for
you if one of your members perish than for your
whole body to be cast into hell. And if your
right hand caused you to sin, cut it off and
cast it from you. For it's more profitable for
you that one of your members perish than for
your whole body to be cast into hell. Plucking
out your eye, cutting off your, how many know
that's radical? Amen. Turn your, turn the person
besides them. That's radical. Or come on, that's
radical. But what Jesus was getting across, he
was using an illustration here, a very strong
illustration. He was saying to us in these verses,
Jesus said that we need to cut off and cast out
what is causing us to sin. And if you go back
to what I talked about just a few minutes ago,
Jesus referenced back to what's going on on the
inside of you. There's some things on the inside
of us that we've got to learn to cut off and
to cast away from us. So that we don't get caught
in sin. So something, temptation doesn't begin
to turn into desire and then grow into sin, which
eventually leads to death. We got to learn to
cut it off. And there's ways that I'm going to
share that with you this morning. You know, how
do we do that? But you need to learn how to do
this because how many know, you know, it'd be
awesome, you know, plucking out your eyes. That's
radical. And I know that would solve part of
the problem, right? You pluck out your eyes,
you can't see the cookie anymore. But how many
know if the lust is in your heart already, the
sin still can be there even if you don't have
it? That's not what Jesus is talking about. It's
talking about casting something away that's on
the inside of you. Something that you can cast
away because there's always going to be a cookie
that's going to walk by you in some way and create
a temptation. I was just at the ocean. We were
at the beach the first week on vacation. Let
me tell you, there were some half -dressed cookies
there. True, right? They need to put some more
clothing on, right? Just my opinion. And it's
a great idea to turn your eyes from those kind
of things. You should practice getting your eyes
away, closing your eyes to those things. Guys,
gentlemen, right? You got to turn from that.
It's what we do in our heart. It's what's happening
inside of us that begins to start that desire.
And this is where we got to learn to throw the
desire. We got to be able to cast it. Do this
for me one time. Just do it like that. Like you're
throwing a basil. That's what cast means. That
means to throw something. We got to learn how
to throw what's going on inside of us so we don't
get into sin. It's powerfully tossing it. We
don't remove sin from our lives by just simply
closing our eyes. It's good practice, great practice,
right? Don't keep your eyes fixed on it, but
it isn't gonna fix the problem. Outside practices,
right, are not gonna touch what's gonna take
place on the inside if it's already in your head
or in your heart. We gotta be able to cast it.
So how do I do that? How do I do that? I wanna
answer this one. I don't wanna get you all up
to this point and just leave you hanging. What
do I do? Well, here's what has to happen in our
hearts and lives. We've got to develop new desires.
We've got to develop. Say, develop new desires.
And some of you are like, well, you mean you
can do that? Yes, you can. right? You can develop
new desires. One of the greatest benefits of
being a child of the King, being saved by the
blood of Jesus Christ, being restored and rejuvenated
by Jesus, one of the great benefits is that you
can actually be empowered, right, to develop
new desires. You really can. Romans 6, 12 says
this, therefore do not let sin reign in, inside,
right, in your mortal body, that you should obey
it in its lust. And do not present your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
present yourself to God as being alive from the
dead and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. For sin shall not have dominion over
you. All right? Sin shall not have dominion.
Shall is not maybe, possibly, could be. Shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under
the law, but under grace. It is the grace of
God through faith in Jesus Christ that we are
saved and we have dominion over sin. You got
to know this. You got to understand this. You
got to get this in your heart and your spirit.
Sin does not have dominion over you. We have
dominion over it. It does not have rule over
me. I can have rule over it. I can rule over
my desires. The world's not going to tell you
this. In Christ, this is true. We can rule. And
we got to develop new desires. We got to build
new desires. We have the power to do it. We know
how to use it, right? We just got to know. We
just got to do the steps. And how many know that?
That if you have something powerful and you have
authority and dominion over something, that you
can move a lot of rubble, right? You can move
a lot of things. You can cut a lot of things
out of your life. It's true. How many of you
have ever used a chainsaw? Raise your hand in
here. Come on, go. Yeah, that's awesome, right?
I love chainsaws. Why? Because they're powerful,
man. You can move a lot of stuff with a chainsaw.
You can move people. It scares them, right? You
can cut logs. You can cut trees. You can move
a lot of rubble with a chainsaw because it's
powerful. God gave you the Holy Spirit. When
you get saved, the indwelling of the Spirit takes
place. You got power in your life. You got power
that others don't have as you follow Jesus. And
all you've got to do is use that power. That
power is there for you to remove the rubble.
Amen? Say it. Come on. If you agree, say amen.
He wants you to remove that rubble, and he'll
use the Holy Spirit to do it. It's one of the
first parts of the way that you begin to change
your desires. You begin to develop new desires.
It's knowledge first of knowing this. Philippians
4, 6 says this. Be anxious for nothing. But in
everything, prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be known to God, and the peace
of God which surpasses all understanding will
guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Let me read that first part. Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything, by prayer. Say prayer. By
prayer. One step you need to take is to pray
about the desires that are in your heart. If
you want to remove and cast out old desires and
develop the new desires that are in Christ, you
need to pray about those. The desires that are
not good, the desires that are sinful, bring
it to God. Sometimes our desires don't change
because we don't ask them to change them. We
just keep motoring along in life, and we keep
thinking we can overcome it on our own, and we'll
just keep it hidden. We'll keep it under the
radar, right? I'll just keep closing my eyes
to the cookies when I can. And sometimes we don't
bring it to him, and we say, Lord, I need you
to remove this desire in my life. I need the
Holy Spirit active in my life. And you might
say, well, why don't you sometimes? Why don't
some people pray and ask God to remove those
desires, those sinful desires? Well, a couple
reasons, right? One, they don't believe that
the power of God is strong enough to remove those
desires. Maybe they've been dealing with those
desires for a long time, and they feel like the
desire is much stronger than anything God can
do, and they won't pray it. Or maybe sometimes
they really don't even want to remove the desire.
How many know sometimes you just don't want to
get caught? Amen? Sometimes you just don't want
to get caught. And it's not about removing the
desire. It's just like, oh, man, I just don't
want to get caught in the middle of the desire
or whatever it is. And it really has to be this
part of us that we're willing to stop. We're
willing to go to God and say, God, I got to confess
something to you. Jesus, I need to confess. There's
this desire inside of me that does not line up
with your word. It does not line up with you.
And I need you to help me. I need the Holy Spirit
active in my life to begin to walk past. and
to change my desire. Amen? Step two, say step
two. Step two, Philippians 4 .8 says this. Finally,
brethren, whatever things are true, whatever
things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever
things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report, if there
is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy,
meditate. Say meditate. Meditate on these things.
The things which you've learned and received
and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God
of peace will be with you. It is what I think
on, right, that feeds my desire, that drives
me to taste something. And it's what I taste
that begins to feed my desire, right, to continue
to think on that thing, whatever it is. I used
to drink a lot of Pepsi back many, many years
ago. I used to desire to have a Pepsi every single
day of my life, right? I used to dream about
the end of the day when I would get a Pepsi and
it was nice and cold and open that can, pour
it over a nice glass of ice, and I was going
to drink me some Pepsi. I admit it, right? I'm
confessing right now in front of you all, right?
And it's not that Pepsi is a sin. It's just I
desire to have a Pepsi. I remember drinking a
Pepsi almost every day. But there was somewhere
along the way that in my mind began to shift,
my thinking began to shift because I realized
it's not all really that good for you to drink
a soda every single day. And I began to think
of something different. My mind began to meditate
on something different than the desire for the
Pepsi. My mind began to meditate on like, hey,
this isn't really healthy for me. And I probably
shouldn't be drinking this. And can I tell you,
I haven't had a Pepsi in a long time. I haven't
even thought about a Pepsi until I started preparing
this message. Didn't even think about it, right?
And it's because I began to meditate on something
different than the message I was feeding myself
about the desire. I began to meditate on something
that was healthy. And it's the same thing with
God's word. When you begin to meditate on what
God says versus what the desire is telling you,
because there will be two, right? And if you
allow it, the desire will be a lot louder than
the word of God. But if you let the word of God
begin to meditate, you begin to meditate on the
word of God, you begin to take in the word of
God, your desire begins to shift. You begin to
feed on something different that changes your
desire. This is how you change it. This is how
you shift it. The taste and what you feed on
regularly, by the way, you'll begin to desire
in your heart. It's true. It's true in the physical.
It's true in the spirit. What you taste, what
you feed on regularly, what you meditate on will
begin to shift your desire. It's true. What I
eat, I desire, and what I desire, I eat. What
are you meditating on? The devil's job is to
get you meditating on the wrong thing, to get
you thinking about meditating, running in circles
in your head. How many of you go in circles in
your head? Just go ahead and raise your hand.
It's all of you. I know it is, right? You'll
get on a thought, and that thought will just
keep running around. It has nothing to do with
God. It has nothing to do with God's Word. And
you'll keep running that thing around in your
head over and over and over, and it will build
a desire in your spirit. It might be something
different than a sexual sin. It could be hate.
It could be envy. It could be a host of other
things. When Satan came to Jesus in the desert
in Matthew chapter 4 -1, he used some of these
tactics. It says in Matthew 4 -1, when Jesus
was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil. Now, you've got to
understand something where this portion of Scripture
is. Jesus is on the front end of his earthly
ministry. He's been in the desert for 40 days
and for 40 nights. He's been fasting. He's pushed
food aside, right? He's denied himself food,
and he's desiring the Father. He's listening
for the Father. meditating on the Father. He's
been intentional in pushing the physical food
away to get spiritual food. And he's feeding
on these. And the devil comes to Jesus, and he
tries to shift Jesus' eyes back to the physical
thing. He tries to get Jesus to look and meditate
on the thing that he puts before him. Because
in verse 2, it says, when he had fasted 40 days
and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. Now,
when the tempter came to him, he said, if you're
the Son of God, command that the stones become
bread. But he answered and said, it is written,
man shall not live by bread alone, talking about
physical bread, but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. Devil, I'm not going
to be looking at the bread today, right? I don't
care if it's Italian bread. I don't care if it's
poppy seed bread. I don't care if it's potato
rolls smothered in four pounds of butter. That's
not what I'm meditating on. That's not what I'm
looking at. I'm going to meditate on every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It changes
your desire. It shifts it. He can't mess with
you. He can't. We develop our desires by the
supernatural help of the Holy Spirit, but also
by meditating on his promises, meditating on
his word. We start a Bible in a year. Just a
little while back, we're going to do it again.
Why? So that your desires change. So as you read
God's word, things begin to shift. So you begin
to cast out some of the junk and the rubble that's
in your heart and in your mind, right? So I don't
lust after the cookies. Amen? It's true. Worship
team, if you'd come. Know this. Know this. The
devil will try to keep you in the riptide of
iniquity. He'll do it. He'll do it to you. He'll
do it to me. He did it to Jesus. He did it to
Jesus. And to keep us from there, right? He'll
try to keep you from swimming to the sandbar
where Jesus is going, come to me. Come to me.
Come to me, right? He'll try that. He'll try
to convince you that our desire, he'll try to
shift your desire to something outside of God
and convince you that it's better in some kind
of way. It's what he did in the Garden of Eden.
When Eve was in the garden, you know, God told
him not to touch of the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. And Satan came
along and said, did God really say that? You
know, I think this is okay for you. And Eve believed
the deceiver. Oh, yeah, this probably is good
for me. So I'm going to just take of the fruit
that God said not to. The Word of God says in
Genesis that God commanded and said, don't do
that lest you die. Lest you die. Don't buy it.
Don't buy the lie of the devil. The devil will
try to convince you that you have no power over
sin. I'm going to ask you to stand. And I want
you to hear this because this is so common. Maybe
you've tried to overcome the sin in your heart
in the past. Maybe you failed. And maybe it's
not just the sin in your heart. Maybe it's sin
that has manifested in your life. And I can tell
you why you maybe failed in that particular riptide
of life. I really can. First, it's not the lack
of power because we know that the Holy Spirit,
that God has power over all things. As a matter
of fact, Jesus said, authority has been given
to me in heaven and earth. He has all power.
He has all power. So it's not a power issue,
right? It's not that. It's not that we don't
have access to it because we know we have access
to it. But sometimes... What happens is that
you've been in it so long, and it's repeated
so many times in your life that you don't know
the way to the sandbar. You don't know which
way to swim. You don't even know how to get there.
And just like Jimmy's cousin who was out on the
sandbar, you're not swimming that direction.
You didn't even know you could go that direction.
And sometimes you're going to need somebody.
You're going to need the Holy Spirit in your
life, and you're going to need another person
in your life. to help you walk out of this. Sometimes
it's sin that we get caught in and we feel like
we can't overpower it and we feel like we don't
have any power over it. It's just because you
don't know how to swim. How many of you have
ever got swimming lessons? Amen. You got in a
pool or your parents or somebody got you in a
pool and they begin to show you. And if you guys
would play lightly. You just say, you began to
swim, right? And if you don't know what you're
doing, how far do you get? Not very far. Right?
Somebody taught you the doggy paddle. Somebody
told you how to stroke, or the backstroke, or
how to float on your back. And they begin to
give you instruction. The Holy Spirit will provide
the power. But sometimes you need a coach. Sometimes
if there's a desire that you can't kick, and
you can't change that desire, you need somebody
in your life that will help you walk out. Do
you know the good thing about a coach? A lot
of times a coach is somebody who's been where
you already are right now. And they've done,
and they've came through successfully, and that's
why they can coach other people. And if you're
here this morning, and I want to alleviate any
type of guilt or pressure you're feeling right
now, I want you to take a look around the room.
Take a look beside you, left and right. Take
a look right now, left and right. Can I tell
you something? Every single person in this room,
everybody listening to us online has been caught
in the riptide of sin. We're here because Jesus
saved us from sin. Amen. We're here because he
redeemed us. We're here because we still mess
up at times and we got to come back and confess
and repent. At General Assembly this year, 2
,000 ordained bishops, one of whom I am, right,
came down and we were going to do business on
the floor. You know what the first thing the
general overseer did? He pulled us all down.
He said, we need to all repent together. That's
what he said. We need to all repent of sin. We
need to get our hearts pure and our minds clear.
So I'm not picking anybody out. We've all been
there. But sometimes you're going to need somebody.
You're going to need the Holy Spirit to provide
the power. You're going to need somebody to walk
beside you and help you get past these desires
that if you don't deal with them, if you don't
repent, if you don't confess, if you don't get
somebody walking beside you, they'll pull you
out and kill you. They'll kill you. Guys, I'm
going to pick on us a little bit. I don't know
if you know this or not, 60 % of the men in church,
in church, not outside the church, in the church,
are hooked on pornography. 60%. That's what the
numbers are. And it rises when you go up, when
you go outside the church. I want us to do something
here at LifeHouse. We're going to continue to
do this, and this isn't just for this morning.
You're going to keep hearing about this more
and more. We talk about don't do life alone.
I heard this morning we talk about a circle.
And you're going to hear me talk more and more
about a circle and about who's in your circle
because you need to have a circle. And the people
in your circle need to be people that are people
of God. I'm not talking about just community,
right? You can go anywhere and get community.
You can go out to any organization outside these
walls and get community. I'm talking about a
community of people who are following Jesus.
I'm talking about a community of people who will
support you. I'm talking about a community of
people that will keep you accountable. A community
of people, right? And this might be only one,
two, or three to start off that you can begin
to talk to and confess. Like, I'm struggling
in this, man. I got hate in my heart. I hate
this person. I had somebody tell me that not
too long ago. I hate this person, and I don't
even know what to do with this. They're getting
pulled out to sea. Because hate leads to murder,
man. That's where it begins, right? Starts in
here and comes to the outside. We got lots of
police officers in the house. They'll tell you
where it'll go, right? That's where it'll go.
So I want you to begin to pray. And here's how
we're going to pray this morning. We're going
to pray that if you got something in there, you
need to get it circled. And I'm asking you, who's
in your circle? And you need to find godly people
to get in your circle. And it might only be one.
It might only be two. And I know this morning,
you know, I could get you to try. We're going
to get in circles to pray. But I'm not going
to get you to try to confess here because I know
some of this is sensitive, right? It could be
a cookie issue. And I don't need you. That's
an uncomfortable thing. And you're not going
to speak it out anyway in that circle. Maybe
you shouldn't. But you should find a group of
people. Guys with guys. Women with women. They're
going to pray together. You've got to find somebody
that's going to walk with you and pray with you
and help you come out of that riptide because
they've come out of the riptide and they've stepped
through it so that we are free. Jesus came so
that you're free. He whose son sets free is free
indeed. He's got a plan. He's got a pattern.
So I want you to bow your heads right now. Who's
in your circle? who's in your circle because
you'll walk into sin. You'll be out floating
in the ocean and you won't even realize you're
getting pulled out in a riptide. Bitterness will
set in. Hate will set in. Envy will set in. Lust
will set in. You name the sin. You need somebody
in your circle. You need somebody that's going
to help you swim out of that mess and help you
swim to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will empower you.
Just have somebody there to help you walk through.
And I can tell you, if you haven't done it by
now, you need somebody else with you. If you
could have done it on your own, it would have
already been done. Father, we come to you in
the matchless name of Jesus. Lord, I thank you
for each person in the house. God, I thank you
for your wisdom and your direction. I thank you
for your guidance. Lord, I'm asking right now,
individually first, we're going to pray for one
another in just a moment. But God, I... I'm just
asking in the house right now, individually,
Lord, God, those are listed online. Lord, let
them admit, confess to you first, Lord, that
they need somebody. God, that their desires in
their heart, they're struggling with. They can't
get it to shift. They can't get it to change.
They know it's not right. They know it's against
the word. And Lord, they need somebody to walk
with them. And there's no judgment in this house.
We are all sinners saved by grace in this house.
So Lord, I pray, God, that they would just confess
that to you. God, that they would admit it to
you. And God, that you would meet them right
where they are. And God, they need to know. And
Lord, if somebody's here and they don't know
you as Lord and Savior, they can today. All they
got to do is believe in their heart and confess
with their mouth that Jesus, you are Lord. And
the word of God says they'll be saved and they'll
be forgiven of the sin just the same as the rest
of us are. So Lord, if that person's in the house,
let them first, Lord, pray and say, I want you
in my life, Jesus. I want to walk with you, Jesus.
I want to know your presence and your power.
But we got to confess it first. That's what leads
to salvation. And then repentance, Lord, is doing
something different. It's going a different way.
It's turning from where I was, the direction
I was walking. So I want you to look at me now.
Okay, look up, please. I want you to form circles.
I want you to get in circles of guys and ladies.
A couple guys, a couple ladies. And here's what
I want you to pray for the other person. Lord,
lead them to a circle. Lead them to a circle.
Who's in your circle? Who's in your circle? No
more. But we allow. I know it's going to be hard
for me to please, but I'm going to say it. You
know what happens when you walk alone? Take an
example from the shepherd and the sheep. A sheep
that's out there walking alone, that's the one
the wolf gets. Doesn't happen when they're all
together in a flock. It's the one that's out
by themselves. We're not going to let people
go out and wander by themselves. Amen? Safety
in the circle. personally affected by our ministry
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