Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Why Can’t I Stop? | Ever Wonder Why: Part 5

Episode Date: December 12, 2021

Do you have a bad habit that you can't seem to break? Do you ever wonder why you can't stop? Maybe there's a deeper reason that's making it tough to quit. We're talking about it in this message.ABOUT THIS MESSAGEHave you ever had a question so hard you wouldn’t even say it out loud? Or a doubt so big you didn’t feel like you could share it—especially at church? Maybe it’s time to ask the tough questions together in our new series, Ever Wonder Why?WE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIId...Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #whycantistop Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So I'm curious. I wonder how many of you have a bad habit, something you wished you didn't do, and you've tried to break that habit, but you can't seem to break it. I wonder how many of you, maybe at some point you just pray down to God, like God, would you please help me stop? Help this go away. You might even negotiate it with God and say, like, you know, if you will, I won't ever again. you know, please, God, just help me stop. I don't want to do this. Maybe you prayed, maybe you made a promise, and maybe you did stop for a little while,

but then, unfortunately, you fell back into the very thing you didn't want to do. You might have made a promise. Like, God, help me, and I promise I won't ever cuss and lose my temper at my kids. And you drove all the way to church and set all the way through church, and you didn't cuss, and didn't lose your temper at your kids.

until you were driving home. And someone cut you off, and someone was saying something in the back. And you cussed, and you lost your temper. And you went home, you were so mad at yourself. You felt so depressed. You just scroll through social media mindlessly, and that made you feel worse.

And so you went into the kitchen ate half of what's in the refrigerator. And so you lost your temper and cussed again. You want to change. You tried to change. You ask God to help you change, but it didn't work. The title of today's message is, why can't I stop? Would you pray with me?

Father, we ask today that by the power of your spirit, you would speak a word of life, a word of encouragement, even a word of power to help us overcome anything in our lives that would be displeasing to you or harmful to us or to others. God, by your power, teach us through your word, empower us by your spirit strengthen us God by your grace to live a life that pleases you

we pray this in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen amen what's going wrong whenever you want to stop something you want to change a behavior but you can't seem to do it I would suggest that in most cases there are a lot of people that have the right intentions

but the wrong strategy what you're trying to do is you're trying to do is you're trying to change, but you're actually trying to change in the wrong way. As we dive into this message, I want to start by acknowledging, unfortunately, that this message is going to be a little bit incomplete, and I apologize for that. There's no way in a 30-minute time period that I could fully and completely address a full theology of change. When you ask, why haven't I changed, I would just say there would be multiple factors working against you that keep us stuck in in the lifestyle that often we would like to live in a different way.

For example, I'll show you some of the factors and then try to get to the root. Why is it that we can't change? For almost all of us, there would be practical reasons that we find it difficult to change. For example, why do I always eat the wrong food? Well, the answer might be because you have access to the wrong food and not the right food.

There's a practical reason. Why do I oversleep every morning? It could be because you're binge watching Netflix until two in the morning, and you don't set your alarm, there's a practical reason why many of us don't change. There are other reasons, not just practical, but there might be emotional reasons as well. A lot of us, we have emotional wounds, we have some baggage, we have some unresolved issues and that often lead us to coping an unhealthy way.

So there might be practical reasons, emotional reasons, and there would be relational reasons. In other words, it's really, really hard to get healthy when we're surrounded by unhealthy people. It's hard to have the right mindset if all we do is interact with people with the wrong mindset. You may say, why in the world do I always do drugs? Maybe it's because you're three best friends or drug dealers. You know, you're around the wrong people and it's almost impossible to live the right life when you're consistently surrounded by the wrong people. Why don't we change? It could be practical. There could be an emotional element to it. There could be a relational element to it. And there's often, what I'd say, a physical element.

Meaning some of us are stronger in some areas and we're just more vulnerable in other areas. We might have bad neural pathways. We might have a chemical imbalance. When we talk about change, there's a lot of complications to it. There could be practical, emotional, relational, physical reasons. But at the heart of the issue, almost every time I would argue is a spiritual challenge. at the heart of the reason why most people can't change. The root issue is often a spiritual issue.

And what happens is many people, whether they're a Christian or not a Christian, they're trying to meet a spiritual need with something besides God. And there is a void, there is a longing, there is an emptiness. They're looking for something to meet that need, to fill that void,

with something besides God that leads them into a very destructive lifestyle. And so that reason is we're going to talk about the spiritual element of change today. Why can't you change? For so many people, the reason you can't change is because you're focusing on the poison of religion and forgetting the power of grace. Let me say it again. It's a spiritual issue for so many people. You're focusing on the poison of religion and forgetting the power of grace.

Now, some of you may say, well, poison of religion, Pastor Craig, aren't you religious? And I have to say, actually, not at all. I am not a religious person. In the world today, when people think of a religious person, they might think of a Christian person or a churchgoer. but the root word of religion is actually something I don't want to have anything to do with. In fact, if you're not a church person and you say, I don't like religion, I would say, guess what? I agree with you. And if you say, I hate religious acting, Jesus actually said, essentially, I don't really like religious acting hypocrisy either. What is religion? What is the poison of religion?

One definition of what religion is this. Religion is our attention. to earn God's approval by following all the rules. It's our attempt to please God, to earn his love by following and obeying the law. Essentially, it's our attempt to please God without God. The reason you can't change, many of you, is you're trying to change by religion

and not by grace. In fact, what I wanna do is I wanna show you one of the most powerful verses that you probably don't know. There are an amazing amount of verses that you know you probably got them on your refrigerator and your coffee mug. You see them on social media. But what I want to do is show you a verse that you may not know that speaks directly to how God helps us change. The verse is found in Titus chapter 2, verse 11. And this is what the verse says. The verse says, for the grace of God has appeared. Now, everybody helped me out.

What has appeared? Would you say it aloud? The grace of God has appeared. What is it? The grace, God's grace, has appeared. And that grace offers salvation to all people. I've got to pause there for just a moment and say, this is the most amazing news that you will ever hear.

The grace of God. offer salvation to all people. If you are a follower of Jesus, you likely know that you're not made right with God by your works, by your religious effort, by your best attempt, but you're made right with God by the grace of God through faith.

Our sins are forgiven by grace. We're made right with God by grace. God loves us because of his grace. We are saved by grace, and grace makes sense. salvation available to anybody. Doesn't matter how bad you are. Doesn't matter how mean you are.

Doesn't matter how many bad things you've done. Doesn't matter how many bad thoughts you've had. God's grace is available to you. So what's grace? What is grace? I know a girl named grace. What's grace? Well, the Greek word that's translated as grace is the word caris.

Everybody say, chais. You got to say it like you're hacking a lugie. Trust me, that's the way you say. Khris, okay? The word kharis, it means the unmerited goodwill and favor of God. It's unmerited. It's unearned. It's God's favor.

It's God's power. It's God's strength. And the good news is it's always a gift. You can never be good enough to earn it. You can't do enough good works to deserve it. It is always a gift, and we're saved by grace. So there would be those of you that you might know that. I'm saved by grace.

I know that. But then what Christians tend to think is, okay, I'm saved by grace, and God forgives me. Now it's all on me. Now I've got to get it done. Now I've got to try hard. Now I've got to check the boxes. Now I've got to follow the rules. And then they get like Christian face.

Like, what are you doing? I'm being a Christian. What I'm doing? What are you doing? Trying to be good. What are you doing? Trying not to be mad. I'm trying not to lust.

Looks like you're trying to go to the bathroom. But that's a whole other thing. It's the grace of God that changes us. And we need to understand the grace that's saving. you is also the grace that sustains you. It's not just a saving grace of God, but it's the sustaining grace of God. The same grace that forgives you is the grace that transforms you. And I want to show you the power of God's grace in this verse one more time. Why can't you change? Watch what scripture says. For the grace of God has appeared and offered salvation to all people. It's

It teaches us, watch what it does. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness. It teaches us to say no to worldly passions. It teaches us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Let that sink in. What does it do? It teaches us to say no to something that. displeasing to God. It teaches us to say no or deny our worldly passions. It teaches us to live a

self-controlled, upright, and godly life. Now, what is the it that teaches us to live this life that glorifies God? Let me tell you what, it's not. It's not the rules. It's not the law. It's not religion. It's not you trying to do the right thing before an angry God who's watching over you, waiting for you to mess up so he can smush you like a bug. What it is is, it's the grace of God. It's the grace of God that teaches us to say no to that which is wrong or harmful. What enables you to say no is not your grit is God's grace. It's not your strength, but it's God's spirit. The grace that saves you is also the grace that sustains you.

The challenge is we're often focusing on the wrong thing. Why can't I change? We're focusing on the poison of religion and we're forgetting the power of God's grace. So why have I not been able to overcome this thing that continues to haunt me. Why can't I change? What I want to do is talk about how God actually changes us

by His grace. How does the grace of God change us? And what we're going to do is we're going to contrast religion and grace, and we're going to watch how God uses His grace to change us and conform us to the image of His Son. Let's contrast, starting with the focus. What is the focus of religion? The problem is the focus of religion is always outward.

It's what other people see. It's an outward effort to be right with God. So outwardly, I'm going to stop yelling at my kids. Or you might say outwardly, I'm going to stop smoking. Or I'm not going to drink anymore. Or I'm not going to be addicted. Or, you know, I don't want to shop till I drop. Actually, I do.

I just don't want to pay for it. Whatever it is. You know, it's with the outside. It's the external what other people see. The focus of religion is always outward. And Jesus talked about how dangerous and ineffective an outward-focused life is. He said in Matthew 23, verse 25, he said, woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees.

He said, you're a bunch of hypocrites. If all you're trying to do is get the outside looking good, you're a bunch of play actors. I can't stand hypocrisy. He says this. He said, you clean the outside of the cup and dish. But inside, they're full of greed and self-indulgence. He says, blind Pharisee.

You want to bring about real change? Here's what you do. First, clean the inside of the cup and dish. Then the outside also will be clean. What is the problem? Why can't we change? For some of us, It's the spirit of religion.

Religion focuses on the outward, but the power of grace is always inward. Religion focuses on what other people see. Grace works inside of us. In fact, that's what Paul said in Ephesians 316. This was a prayer. He said, I pray that from God's glorious, I love this, unlimited resources from every power in heaven

that is available to you, all the spiritual blessings from all. all those unlimited resources, that God will empower you with what? With inner strength through his spirit. Religion focuses on outward, but God's grace focuses on what's inward. I'll try to explain it this way. For years and years, I was blessed with a very high metabolism, and I could eat anything I wanted any time,

and it didn't impact my physical appearance, or any of you in that stage of life right now, raise your hand if you're there. Okay, just take a moment and praise God. Just break out into a little Holy Ghost dance right now and say, thank you, God. Because it will go away. And people told me that for years, but by the grace of God, I lasted longer. I was in my early 40s before they were finally right. And in my early 40s, what we might say, we might say, high metabolism Craig, disappeared.

And Fuller-faced Craig made an appearance. And those of you that would have been here a little while ago, there were some photos we can go back to when I was about probably 18 pounds more than I am now. And most people wouldn't say, hey, like you were grossly overweight. I wasn't. But let's just say my pants size had about three more inches around them than they do now. Not that big of a deal, but I went to the doctor and the doctor said, hey, there are some things on the inside that others don't see that aren't exactly where they need to be. And so you can change your diet or we can put you on some prescription medicine. need to make a change. So I went home to Amy, who said, let's not do prescription and let's change your diet. I said, okay, let's change my diet. You don't have any idea how bad I used to eat. I'm

telling you, Amy can testify before the Lord. Cinnamon rolled pizza, brownies, ice cream, cupcakes, chips and salsa, sweet tea, donuts, more donuts. Daddy's Day off is donut day. Whenever we'd go to the grocery store, my kids would sing a song and they would sing, Mama buys good food, he buys great food because daddy was buying the junk food and that was me. So I decided I'm going to change my diet. And if you looked on the outside, it looked like I was eating better. But on the inside, all I could do was fantasize about chips and salsa and sweet tea. Come on somebody for the glory of God.

Little donut, little brownie with some ice cream. Oh, come on, I can feel that chocolate cake. And on the outside, it looked like one thing. On the inside, I was just like, and I sneak. after 10.30 at night and get a spoon and a half gallon of something cold and then I make it disappear. And on the outside during some times, and you could watch, you could go in the picture like, okay, these two months, he's losing and these two months is back. And the change wouldn't stick. Until I had a conversation with someone and it was a game changer. And a friend of

mind said, hey, how do you like to please God? And I thought, what do you mean? He said, how do you like to please God? So, well, I like to, you know, I like to worship him. I'm giving him the preacher ranch. You know, I like to preach, I like to serve. And he said, hey, one of the ways you can actually please God is because he already loves you is you can just respond to his love by choosing what's best for what he calls the temple of the Holy Spirit. And you can make what you eat and you can make how you exercise. You can make it not a duty, but a devotion, a way to be devoted to God. And suddenly, there was a real change on the inside. Rather than me saying, no, I can't eat, but I want to eat. On the inside, I started to say, you know what, I want to honor God in the same way

I honor him with integrity, in the same way I honor him with purity. I want to honor him with the temple of the Holy Spirit. And what I choose to eat or not is going to be a reflection or devoidation. devotion, and I'm not saying God's going to get mad at you, eat a brownie. If you eat the whole pan and a gallon of ice cream, that's called gluttony in the Bible. But I'm not saying you can't eat a little bit, but if you fast forward to today, Amy or the people in my office would tell you, I had a ridiculously, ridiculously strict diet, ridiculously strict diet. And it's not out of duty, but it's out of devotion. And it's not hard to do. It's easy to do. It's a reflection. It's a reflection of my heart to please God and to take care of what he's given me. It's a change that's

been born on the inside, on the inside. Here's the difference. This was not a change of outward behavior. It was a change of the heart. If you simply change your behavior, but don't change your heart, what happens? The behavior comes back. And that's why so many people don't change. Because real and lasting change is a reflection of God's grace on the inside. Let's look at the difference. The focus of religion is outward. It's what other people see. It's what we show them. But the focus of grace is inward. It's what the work of the spirit of God is doing inside of us as we pursue God with all of our hearts. Let's look at another difference for a moment. What does religion say versus what is grace say? Religion says,

Try harder. If it's going to be, it's up to me. You need to do better. You need to stop. Religion says try harder, but grace says trust more. Religion says try harder, but grace says trust more. In other words, I'm not trying in my power, but I'm relying on God's power. And this is the way the apostle Paul phrased it in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, when he was

praying for God to do something and God didn't do what he wanted him to do. And he said, God said to him, my grace. Everybody say my grace? It's God's grace. God's grace is sufficient for you. What do you need? You need the grace of God. And God says, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And that's when Paul got it. He said, I get it now. I'm not strong when I'm strong. but when I'm weak and God's grace is perfected in me, that's when God is strong through me. That's how I actually change. I'm not trying harder, but I'm trusting more. And here's where I hope it all comes together.

When you really trust God's grace, that he loves you and you're right with him not by what you do or don't do, but it's his unmerited favor and love that he gives to you. And when you trust that he always loves you and that his grace sustains you, it's from that point of spiritual security and spiritual strength that you can be honest. You can be honest. You don't have to play at. You don't have to be the hypocrite. You don't have to show one thing

When you know on the inside You're something entirely different When you know the same grace that saves you Is the grace that sustains you You can be honest You can be honest with God And you can be honest with other people And why does this matter?

Because you are only as strong as you are honest you're only as strong as you are honest. And when you recognize the same grace that saves you as a grace that sustains you, then you can be honest enough to take what's been in the dark and bring it into the light. And so I actually do have a problem. And I need help. And that's when change really starts to happen because whatever you keep in the dark doesn't get healed. sin grows best in the dark.

But when you recognize the same grace that saves you is a grace that sustains you, you can be honest and ask for help. And I want to pause for just a moment because we're coming to the point of the message that for some of you would be the moment of truth where you decide, I don't want to pretend anymore. I don't want to fake it anymore.

I want to be honest. transparent, I want to be different. It's incredibly risky to be vulnerable about any part of your life that you're not proud of. And the only way you can really do it is when you're secure in the grace of God. And then you have courage to say, I need help.

Because we know from any great 12-step program that the first step is admitting you have a problem, that you can't do it on your own. How do you know if you have a problem? Let me tell you, if more than one person has told you, you have a problem, you have a problem. If there is a secret that you've been carrying,

a shame that you've been hiding, chances are you have a problem. And this is the moment. If you experience the grace of God, the same grace that saves you will carry you, strengthen you, and sustain you, then you can't admit it. And you have to admit it because you cannot correct what you won't confront. And you admit, I need help. And you're not afraid to ask for help because you have the security and the strength of God's grace sustaining you. you. But asking for help, sign of weakness. No, no, no, no. Asking for help is never a sign of

weakness. It's a sign of wisdom. That's what it is. It's a sign of wisdom and the strength of God's sustaining grace. So, why can't I stop? Whatever it is. Stress eating, scrolling for hours, wasting your life through social media, looking at stuff that just makes you more depressed. Why can't I stop looking at lustful images I shouldn't look at or overspending or whatever it would be? And the reason would be I can't tell you completely because it's complicated.

But what I do know is that the root problem is probably spiritual. In most cases, probably trying to live by the poison of religion instead of being transformed by the grace of God. And at a deeper level, why is it that you're trying so hard to find something to ease the pain? Because deep down, there's very likely a spiritual issue where you really aren't trusting God and you're fearing the loss of control. Or maybe you just feel alone or depressed. or left out, or you feel empty on the inside,

or you feel overwhelmed with anxiety or frustration or anger. And here at its root is so often the problem. You're trying to meet a need or relieve a hurt with something besides God's grace. Let me say it one more time. What are you doing? You're trying to meet some meat. You're trying to relieve some hurt with something besides God's grace.

So what do you do when you try to stop and the problem doesn't go away? And then it gets worse. And that voice inside of you says, do better, do better, do better. Anytime you hear that, remember, you're focusing on the poison of religion and you're forgetting the power of God's grace. we're not here to try harder, but we're going to trust more. We're going to put our trust and our faith, not in our grit, but in God's grace. And if you're ready for some good news, the Apostle Paul said this, he said in Romans 520.

He said, but where sin increased, guess what? Grace increased all the more. Wherever there's more sin, there's more grace. wherever there's more temptation, there's more grace, wherever there's more shame, there's more greatness or more brokenness or more hurt or more shame, there is more of God's grace. And the good news is, his grace is always enough. It's exactly what you need. And whenever you're tempted, the Bible says, God is always faithful and he will always provide for you a way out. There's always a way out.

There's always a way out. And grace is the way out. It's by his grace. I don't think you're getting it. I don't think you're getting it. Video game fans. Raise your hand. Video game fans.

Video game fans. There's a very few video game fans here. Classic video game fans. Donkey Kong, Gallagher, Pac-Man, Asteroys. I go way back. The olden days. Pac-Man, Muckum, muckum, ma'am, ma'cum, what happens when the little red guy's on your tail?

Where do you go? You go to the little tunnel. There's always a way out. Asteroids. Beav-be-be-be-bh-bh-bh-bh. Anybody remember asteroids? I mean, high-tech. Whenever you're in trouble, there's a button in the middle.

What's it called? Hyperspace. And your little guy disappears. In the kingdom of God, I'm here to tell you there's something better in hyperspace. It's called hyper-grace. It is the grace of our good God that always gives you a way out where sin increases. His grace increases all the more. And so you don't change by trying harder.

You change by trusting more. You don't change by focusing on what the outside behavior is, but you let the grace of God do something, only the grace of God, can do and change you from the inside out. Because the grace that saves you is the same grace that sustains you. God's grace doesn't just forgive you from sin. Here's the good news. Grace also frees you from sin. And the good news is God's grace is available to all to bring salvation. And it doesn't just save you. But God's grace. sustains you. So Father, today I pray that your grace would do what our strength can't do.

Teach us to say no to ungodliness. Teach us to live a holy and disciplined life. Grace by grace, strengthen us from the inside to do your will. Wherever you're watching today, I'm going to ask you do something a little bit different, would you just go ahead and look up? If you're back to your computer, wherever you're at a campus, just look up for a minute. And out of the humility of knowing that God's grace saves you and God's grace sustains you out of that strength, not caring what anybody else thinks, because it doesn't matter what they think, because God is with you. Those of you who would say, there is something in my life that I need is God's grace to help me change. Would you be bold enough to just say, yes, God, I need more of your grace. Lift up your hands

right now. Let's lift up your hands right now. Let's lift them up. Those of your line, you can just type it in the comment section. I need God's grace to change. With a hand lifted toward heaven in an act of worship, we pray Heavenly Father, give us more of your grace. Give us the same grace that saves us, God. Give us that grace to sustain us, to change us. God, I pray you just forgive us when we, out of good intentions, try to change with religious efforts. Help us rely on your grace, your grace, not just to try harder in our own power, but to trust more that your grace is sufficient. Your grace is enough. And so, Father, I thank you ahead of time that from the inside out, your grace is going to change hearts. God, by your power and by your grace.

make us more like your son, we pray. As you continue in an attitude of prayer at all of our different churches, wherever you're watching, there's some of you that all this talk about God may even be a little bit intimidating to you because if we sat down with each other and I just kind of ask you, you know, where are you with God?

You might say, I'm not really sure. And if we talked longer, you might say, well, I try to be a good person, I try to help people, and I try not to do bad things. And that's kind of a good thing to try not to do bad things and try to do good things.

But the problem is, that's not what God is looking for. Scripture teaches us very, very clearly that every single one of us, we've all done wrong. And you know it, you feel guilty for some things. We sinned. And we fall short of God's standard. That's the bad news. But here's the amazing good news.

The good news is that God's grace is available to awe for salvation. What is his grace? It's his unmerited favor. It's his undeserved goodwill That while we were still doing wrong God sent his son Jesus The perfect son of God who never ever sinned To die in our place

And God raised him from the dead So that anyone who calls on the name of Jesus Your sins would be forgiven And you'd be made right with God Not because you're good But by God's grace It's the grace of God Wherever you're watching those who say

Yeah I really don't know where I stand with God, but I want to know him. All we're going to do today is we're going to confess that we've done wrong, and we're going to step away from that. And by God's grace, he's going to accept you. And by his grace, he's going to forgive you. And by his grace, he's going to reveal himself to you. And you're not going to become a better version of you.

You're going to be different. Why? Because you're changed by God's grace. Wherever you're watching from today, those who say, I need his forgiveness. I want to know him. Call on his name today. When you call in the name of Jesus, he hears your prayers, he forgives your sins, and by grace he makes you new.

Those who say, yes, I need his forgiveness. Today, I give my life to Jesus. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place, say yes. We've got hands going up here and over here. All over the world. Those of you online, just type it in the chat,

just put Sam, giving my life to Jesus. Come on somebody. Let's give God thanks today for people around the world coming to faith in Jesus in. I would love it if you all would just pray with those around you. Pray a lot. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive all my sins. Save me by your grace.

Fill me with your spirit so I can know you and serve you and follow you for the rest of my life. Teach me to do your will by your grace. Thank you for saving me. By your grace. I give my life to you. By your grace, take it all. In Jesus' name, I pray. Somebody celebrate big

and welcome those born into God's family. Come on, church, come on.