Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Your Response When Temptation Strikes | Book Club | Part 4

Episode Date: June 30, 2024

Feeling tempted? You don’t want to miss this message. Special guest Ben Stuart shares key strategies to fight and overcome temptation.ABOUT THIS MESSAGENo one has all the answers. That’s why we need diverse voices to help us grow. During Book Club, we’ll get fresh perspectives on living out our calling with confidence, purpose, and freedom.PRAYERIf you're facing something difficult, you don’t have to carry it alone. If it’s on your mind, it’s on God’s heart. We want to pray with you and support you through whatever you’re facing. Share your prayer request: https://www.life.church/getprayerNEXT 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://live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LCNowCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/craiggroeschelFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #benstuart #bookclub Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, several years ago, I attended a Navy SEAL training exercise where I got to watch a team take down a building filled with enemy combatants holding hostages. And it was a simulation, so they were using simulation rounds, paintballs, but they're shot out of real guns, so they go fast and hard and hurt. Now was my understanding that I would be watching all this from the safety of an observation deck. But I remember as the team approached the door, I was standing with their commanding officer, and he motioned with me to start coming with him towards the door. And then at one moment he stopped and he goes, you know, I wouldn't get any closer than this if I were you.

Sometimes when they blow that door, the handle comes off like a bullet. I'd stay right here. And I was like, yeah, great. Like I wasn't planning on being this close. But sure enough, they blew the door, they went running in, and then he hit me in the chest and said, let's go. And he went charging in. And so I followed him in jeans and a T-shirt. And I remember as soon as I passed through that door, two things hit me immediately.

Metaphorically speaking. The first thing was the chaos of the situation. I mean, it was flashbang, smoke everywhere, shots fired, it was bedlam. But then the second thing that hit me was the beauty of their strategy, that they were aggressive but graceful, they were purposeful but patient. I mean, two of them would come to a doorway and with barely a nod, they would both swing out to eliminate all threats while never being an open target themselves. And within seconds, they'd eliminated all threats, rescued all hostages,

and brought peace where there was chaos. And I remember looking at that and thinking, this is a Christian life. Where it's supposed to be. And you go, what do you mean by that? Well, I don't think you have to honestly pursue God for very long before you start to realize that the pursuit of intimacy with God happens in the context of adversity.

That it's a struggle. That sometimes it's something even as simple as, I want to read the Bible. You go, I'm going to start to read his word. And as soon as you try, all manner of competing thoughts rise and rival affections, and you can't do something simple like focus. Or some of us, honestly, we live in Romans 7. The good I want to do, I'm not doing. And the evil I don't want to do, I keep doing that. And the truth for many of us is we're discouraged by the situation. And then you show up in places like this, and maybe we have testimonies up front and a guy

will get up front and say, like, I just want you to know I was addicted to every drug made by mankind, that I put my faith in Jesus and was never tempted again. He pulled up the entire struggle by the roots. And that's amazing. God does do that. And yet for some of us who are sitting there and going, he uprooted your struggles? He didn't even prune mine. They're as robust as ever.

And for some of us, let's be honest, you don't sing with a great passion. Because the truth is, the wet blanket of your besetting sins and consistent failures is just muting any fire of passion for the Lord. And you're just discouraged by the situation. And yet I know some of you may be going, you know what Ben, I know the situation's a struggle. I know there's a spiritual battle going on.

Like, I'm not discouraged by the situation. I know it's hard. But I need a strategy. I want to look more like the seals and less like you. I want to be trained and equipped in eliminating all hostiles. I don't want to be run around and flip-flops going, it's smoky in here. And the methods I've been using aren't working. Like, I don't know about you. I grew up going to camp in the camp I went to the first couple days, man, everybody, live crazy. We were smoking, drinking 40s. It was wild. That's not a joke. But on the last night of camp, man, everybody got saved. After a couple nights of little sleep and malnutricious food, we were all in an emotionally volatile state. And then the band would get us all fired up.

And then the speaker would get us all dialed up. And by the end of the night, everybody's crying, unlocking pinkings, thinking friends are friends forever. And then right at the emotional pitch, it was open mic night. And one by one, we're going to be. And one by one, we'd get up and make these big promises of what we were going to do for God. It's what I want to know. I'm never going to sit again. You're like, I don't think he is. He's had such a good week at camp.

I think it's over for it. I just want you to know. I'm going to tell the whole world about Christ. Man, he is prophesying right now. And on and on, we would go. But there wasn't a one of us that two weeks later hadn't broken every promise. And we laid alone in our rooms surrounded by the same addictions going, what's wrong with me?

Maybe there's some spirit. spiritual people out there somewhere, but I don't know if this counts for me. And I'll tell you what I want to do with the time we have left is I don't want to give a pump-up speech, almost in an unemotional way. I want to look at the situation we're in and then talk about our strategy. If life is a struggle, how do we struggle well? And so to look at our situation, it feels like a war because it is a war. The pursuit of intimacy with God happens in the context of adversity. Jesus Christ, as much as he's presented as a lamb and a shepherd. He's presented as a warrior. That his arrival was a landed invasion. First John 3 says, the son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the

devil, that Jesus came to destroy something. His first introduction in Genesis chapter 3, when our first parents broke faith with God, when they had the stain of their sins still on them, God announced the solution to our sin was a savior. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. His first introduction was a warfare. I will destroy the one who has deceived you. And it wasn't just a landed invasion. It was a rescue operation that when Jesus arrived on the planet, he was announced by his father, this is my son, and then immediately tempted by the devil. And when he emerged victorious from that, his first sermon, he marched into town, grabbed the school of Isaiah and said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim,

release to the captives. I'm here to set people free. One of my favorite explanations of Jesus, he was asked to explain his work, and he said, picture a strong man with a bunch of armor and no one will mess with him. He said, now picture someone stronger than him, beating him up and stealing his things. That's me. Try that next time in your evangelism efforts. What does Jesus mean to you? He's like a big dude that beats up a guy and steals his gear.

That's my king. Read Luke 11. When a strong man fully armed guards his house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone's stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, takes away his armor, on which he relied and distributes his plunder. Some of you are caught up in temptations and addictions, and they're stronger than you. But the good news of the gospel is, the stronger one is here. He's here to destroy what you cannot and to set you free.

And he did it not by perpetrating violence, but by taking it upon himself. That he who knew no sin became sin for us, that I will take your sin in death and you get my life. that's what our king has done. And in doing that, he transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved son. And so not only was it a landed invasion and a rescue operation, it's an ongoing mission. The mission's not done. C.S. Lewis said it this way, enemy occupied territory. That is what the world is. He said, but Christianity is the story of how the true king has arrived. You might say in disguise, it is calling us all to take part in his great campaign of sabotage, that we are in a war spiritually, but one in which our king has won

the decisive victory. And because he's been victorious, so can we. It's like Israel. Do you remember when the Philistines attacked the Israelites? They were powerless until David stepped forward. And when he defeated their champion, Goliath, what happened? The Israelites who were terrified, now shouted the war cry and could drive the Philistines out of their land. That's like us. We are powerless before sin. But when the son of David came and beat sin and death and hell on our behalf, when we saw that he beat death, now we can shout our war cry and drive the Philistines of of sin and lust and pride out of our own hearts. And so it's interesting. I talk to people who does say, man, I thought when I came to Christ that I wouldn't have these same struggles.

And so maybe if I do, this didn't work. I said, man, you don't understand. You haven't been freed from the fight. you've been freed for the fight. Before you were just a victim, now you can be a victor in Jesus' name. That's where we are. You've been liberated to struggle. See it? So for those who are in Christ,

the spiritual life is now one movement with two parts. It's one movement with two parts. A movement away and a movement towards. And a movement away from ways of thinking and ways of living that isolate us from the intimacy with God that Christ purchased. And it's a movement towards the intimacy

with God, ways of thinking and living that promote the intimacy with God that Christ purchased with his blood and a movement away and towards. Old school theologians had a word for this. They called it sanctification. Sanctified means to be set apart. And you can hear those two pieces in it. I'm set apart from and set apart too. So in the Old Testament there were utensils that were only used in worship in the temple, set apart from common usage and only in worship from the Lord. My wife is like that. She is holy unto me. No other man may date her. Some of you have coffee mugs like this. They are only unto you. No pagan lips may touch them.

You get the idea, right? Old school theologians had words for each of these pieces. They called this mortification. There are certain things that were in my life. I must now mortify. I kill. They can't be a part of my life anymore. And they called this piece vivification.

But there's other ways of thinking and feeling that I I want to vivify, I want to cultivate to bring to life. If we were using gardening illustrations, this would be the pulling up of weeds. This would be the planting of flowers and trees. Dating, this would be doing things that promote intimacy with my wife, like taking her on dates, preferably to restaurants that don't have TVs so I can listen with my face. And this would be not dating other women. I don't do this. I do this. Do you see it? Now, for clarity's sake, what I'm not saying is, so this is the devil's side of the stage, and that's the God's side of the stage. So you've got to get on that God side, kids. That's not what I'm saying.

Because that makes it sound like God's over here waiting for you to get your act together. That's not the gospel. If you've put your faith in Christ, you said, I'm never going to leave you or forsake you. But here's the reality. I can be standing next to my wife, knowing she'll never leave me. But I can feel miles apart because we haven't done the work to cultivate the intimacy our covenant affords. That's what I'm talking about here. The Christian life is a fight for an unrestrained intimacy. So what Paul told Timothy, I fleeful us, pursue righteousness, along with those who call out to God out of a pure heart.

There's a big no, but it frees us up to a better yes. And yet, this does not happen in a vacuum. We have an enemy who hates our king, so he hates us. So I remember my first day of middle school. I was very excited, because I was going to ride the bus with my brother. who by every count was endlessly cool. And so when we got on the bus, I remember he walked to the back of the bus

because that's where the cool kids sit. And I began to walk to the back of the bus as well, because I'm related to him, that's cool by proxy. So I'm making my way, and then this kid jumped up between us and put his face right in my face. And this is before I understood that that's what some people do when they want to fight.

I just thought he had proximity issues. I'm like, why are our nose to touch him? And he said, are you Cole Stewart's brother? And I said, yeah. He said, I hate you. brother. And turns out this kid Marvin was a bully. Some emotional needs met by picking on little kids. The problem was he decided to play football. And so did my brother. And there was one day at practice, my brother was running with the ball, and Marvin attempted to tackle him. And my brother

hit him so hard that Marvin flew through the ear and made squealing sounds like a piglet. Which when you're a bully, kind of cramps your style, right? So fast forward back to the bus. He says, I hate your brother. And then he said, so I hate you. And then he put his finger on my face and said, you'll look good with a cigarette burn here. He pushed my face.

And then from behind him, we heard my brother's voice go, Marvin, I'm kind of straightened up. And he sat down. But I remember he looked at me and he said, it's going to be a long year, little brother. Now, question, why'd he hate me? I didn't do anything, too. I'll tell you why. Because I looked like the one who shamed him. And the gospel tells us that Jesus

made a public spectacle of the enemy when he triumphed over him. So Christian, you are not immune to temptation. In some ways, you may even be a bigger target because you look like the one who shamed him. So I want to talk about our strategy, but let's look at his first. I want to look at what he knows and then what he does. And then we'll look at what we do in response. What he knows is he knows you, particularly your wiring and your tendencies. He knows your wiring, that you have a mind to think with, that you have affections, likes and dislikes, and he knows you have a will, decision-making faculty. And he knows your tendencies. He's watched the game film on you. So what does he do? What he wants to do is to get you to willfully step away from the intimacy with God

that Christ purchased. He can't attack God with an affrontal assault, but the way to twist the knife in our king is to make his kids walk away from his love. Why would you participate in that? Why would you take part in such a suicidal option? Well, he's got to figure out a way to make this look attractive. And so what he will do is solicit thoughts to the mind to stir the affections so that you will enact the will and move to places you were never meant to be. Now, the Bible calls this act of the will sin. This moment, the soliciting of thoughts to the mind, to stir the affections, the scriptures call temptation. You go, Ben, where are you getting us from?

From the passage we just read, James 1.14 says, but each one is tempted when he has lured, that's your mind's attention, and enticed that your heart's affections by his own desire. And then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it's fully grown, brings forth death. And you end up in a place you were never meant to be.

So, ladies, let's say we have a lot of single women in our ministry, say that you're getting ready for school or work. And while you're getting ready, the thought is solicited to your mind, I am single. And as you think about that thought, you go, that is true. I'm neither married nor currently dating someone. But then a Taylor Swift song comes on about how you belong to me. And you go, but I don't want to be alone. I want to be with someone. And then as you drive to work, you see couples walking hand in hand. And you see the animals going two by two. And you go, everyone has someone but me. And as those thoughts are solicited to your mind and your affections are stirred,

that an idea will come into your head. And you'll date a loser. Who's beneath you morally. And you know he doesn't have an allegiance to your king. But you're so caught up. You honestly think this is the best you can do. And a whole cascading world of tragedies are waiting for you. Do you see it?

I'm not trying to shame you. Shame impede strategic thinking. I'm trying to show you how it works. What the devil knows is what you think about is what you care about. And what you care about, you will chase. So, beloved, what do you entertain in your mind? It will determine what you love and what you become.

So guys, you'll be getting ready for bed. And the thought will be solicited to your mind. You should look at naked things online. And as it consult your affections, you go, naked things? Okay. And that's about it for you. Each one is tempted.

He's coming for all of us. Some of the best self-knowledge you can have is how does he come at me? Paul told Timothy to keep watch on your doctrine and yourself. Keep watch on yourself, Timothy. Know you, right? He's going to come at you, know how he does it. It calls it a lure. What do you do with a lure? You present it and you want to get the fish's attention. And not just his attention, you want to stir his affections, right? You want to break him off mid-conversation with his fish buddies. So maybe you get one that looks like a frog and swim it by so it looks wounded and delicious. And you want his attention and his affections.

And when he enacts the will, you got it. And he never even saw the hook. And he had no idea there was a sentient being behind this whole operation. But some of you may go, a frog. That's what turns you on? Gross. Like you're into that? I don't even know how you can really call yourself a fish.

If you're into that because that's disgusting. That's fine. He just gets a different lure for you. And you go, ooh, shiny, and off you go. Each one is tempted. The best self-knowledge you can have is how does he come at me? Sun Su said in the art of war, if you know your enemy and know yourself,

you need not fear the result of 100 battles. If you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you will succumb to every battle. This is how he works. So what do we do in response? Let me give you three things. Number one is we eliminate. the moment. Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 26, watch and pray that you may not enter into

temptation. Notice where he draws the battle line. If this, the soliciting to my mind to stir my affections always leads to here me stepping away from the intimacy with God I was made for. If this leads to this, then I'm going to get out of here. I eliminate the moment. Do you see it? So I had a buddy years ago told me that a friend confided in him that he and his wife had been fighting and had become yelling and it even at times become physical. And my buddy told him, man, you never lay hands on your wife

in a hurtful way. Look, the church is coming around you. The elders are coming around you. Councilors are coming around you. We need to solve this. But then as they continued to talk about it, he asked him, hey, look upstream. Where is this coming from? What gets you here? And as the buddy considered it, he was like, you know, there's this bar

we go to on Tuesday nights. And she never wears as many clothes as I want, her to wear, and guys hit on her, and she doesn't rebuff their advances is the way I want. And so I get mad, and if she gets mad that I'm mad, and then it begins an argument, and we go home, and it escalates, and off we go. And my friend told him, look, there's a lot going on here that we need to work out. But maybe it's a first step, you just stop going to that bar. If this leads to that, maybe the first step is, we don't go here. And this friend never thought about it.

It's like, it's Tequila Tuesday. That's not worth sitting over. So I talk to young men all the time who are struggling with pornography. And let me tell you something, I hate it. And it's not because I hate you. It's the opposite. I really love you.

And young women are struggling with it more and more, too. It's coming at you when you're young. I hate it because I watch it steal life and agency out of young people. And I want that to stop. But I hate it because I love you. And yet what I ask guys, don't let shame impede strategic thinking.

How does he get to you? trace it back, where does it come from? And so many of them say, you know what? It's my phone next to my bed, late at night. I succumbed to it. I say, yeah, Romans 16 says make no provision for the flesh. That's ample provision. You're putting the World Wide Web next to your head at your most vulnerable moment.

That's like an alcoholic pouring a glass of scotch every night and put it on the nightstand going, now I'm not going to drink you. That's a bad strategy. So if this leads to that, get all the screens out of your bedroom. And I talk to so many guys, they're like, but it's my alarm clock. We'll get an alarm clock. It's not what's sitting over.

They're basically giving them away now. I've never fought a lion. But if I do, I want to fight a baby one. You attack sin when it's small. Don't wait until it gets fully grown. And so if temptation leads to sin, I eliminate the moment. Do you see it? Second thing James mentions is I paddle downstream.

Before I jump into the boat and participate in a certain act, let me turn my ear downstream to hear of the crashing waterfall. Notice the way James says it in verse 15. He says, desire when it's conceived gives birth to sin. Sin when it's fully grown brings forth death. The interesting thing about the imagery he's using is it's actually not fishing imagery. Greek has gendered language in the same way Spanish does. And so desire is a feminine word. And so he says, when you unite with your desires, she conceives and gives birth to a a baby called sin. Sin's a female word too. And so he says when sin is fully grown, she brings forth death. It's a shocking imagery. To give birth to death, it's weird,

but it's meant to break the spell. The reality is that temptation is tempting. It always sounds good. And yet before you jump in the back seat with it, you've got to go, wait, what kind of baby are we going to make? And do I want that to be true in my life? Like they say in Alcoholics Anonymous, I'm going to think through the drink. If I start here, where will I end up? And is that a place I want to be? I've got a pastor friend that in his prayer closet, he's got newspaper clippings of all these pastors who have fallen out of ministry for moral failure. It's a very morbid wall. And I'm like, what is this here for? And I know what he's doing. I know that he realizes that there will be moments where ministry is so hard and emotionally draining that the enemy will begin to whisper to him

to find an oasis in the arms of a woman who's not your wife. He says, and I just know that happens. And he said, so what I do is I put these pictures up to remind me. I see them at the press conference. One of me had a picture of the guy's wife with a circle around her head, and he wrote next to her, look at her eyes. Because in that moment, this pastor was still trying to spin the story of what he had done, but her face betrayed the real story.

And he said, man, sin looks a lot less sexy in the cold light of day. so before I start listening to this whisper, I'm going to see this temptation leads to destruction. And if I don't want to go there, then I'm not going here. The last thing James says is not just paddle downstream. He says, paddle upstream. What is giving my temptations their energy? What's giving them their strength? Why is this activity that I know is destructive so alluring to me?

For many of us that struggle with addiction, it's I want to obliterate bad feelings. I want to manipulate my chemicals to feel good. what are you trying to get away from? What is happening here? Well, James points back ultimately in verse 16 and 17. He says, don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. He says, downstream from temptation is destruction, but upstream from temptation is deception. What's the lie? He says, don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Comes from your father in whom there's no shadow or variation to sin according to change. The lie, that launches a million sins

is that God is not a good dad who will take care of me. And when I begin to doubt the love of God, I will go to many broken streams to find life. It's the same lie of the garden played over and over again. And so we have to fight the battle here.

It says of his own will, he brought us forth. Sin's not the only one having babies. God brought forth a new people and he loves you. I remember for me, if I can be honest, for years, I just didn't like the song how he loves us. I don't know. It was safe to say that in a church context. Didn't like the song. And finally at one point, I just questioned myself,

why don't I like it? Is it the lyrics? Yeah, I'm not a tree. Is it the Doppler effect way we sing it? How we love us. I was like, is it that? No. I'm thinking, what's my issue? And I realized, as a child from a divorced home? I didn't believe it. I mean, I would get it right on a theological quiz, but they make you say it over and over again. Oh, how he loves me. Oh, how he loves me.

Oh, how he loves me. And it began to sound like a cruel joke. And then I had kids. I remember there was one night, I was holding our little baby girl, and I felt this sudden pain in my chest. I just caving in. I'm like, what is it happening?

I was like, it's love. I instantly felt the limits of language. I was like, there's no song there. I'm like, that about sums it up. Like, there's no word that you grab it. I was like, this is so crazy. You've done nothing. You're nothing but noise and need. And yet I would instantly die for you. Even that sounds cheap. And I remember thinking, I wish there was some way to get into this little brain what's exploding in this father's heart. I just wish you understood how cherished you are. And in that moment, I felt like God just snuck around and said, Ben, do you think your capacity to love your child supersedes my

capacity to love you. And I had to repent of an unbiblically low view of the love of God. Oh, the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. Fight the battle here. If you hated me, let's say your goal was to destroy Ben Stewart. Let me tell you how to do it. You take in your hands the face of one of my little kids and tell them I don't care about them. I'd be better off if they left. You'd take it. You'd take in your hands the face of one of my little kids and tell them. I'd be better off if they left. You tell them to go find life somewhere out there in the streets. You'll unleash a fury in me.

And let me be clear, family, that is what the enemy is doing to you. Father doesn't love you. Look at what you've done. Forsake the stream of living water and go find broken cisterns. Fight that lie from hell. Fight to believe that the love of God surpasses all understanding and all of our sin. Because let me tell you something, the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of that glory and that grace.

And that's the end of it honestly. The best defense against our sin is a good offense. That I'm going to enjoy the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's what we're meant to do. How did Romeo get rid of Rosalind? How did Romeo get rid of Rosalind? Do you know who remember Rosalind? Shakespeare.

I'll summarize. At the beginning, Romeo is pining away for Rosalind. Oh, Rosalind, I miss Rosalind, I want Rosalind. And it goes on for so long, it starts to annoy his buddy Benvolio. And so Benvolio tells him, dude, I'm going to take you to a party, and there's going to be like a thousand girls there hotter than Rosalind. It's a rough translation, okay, but just read it. It's there.

And Romeo says, the all-seeing sun has ne'er met her match since first the world begun. There is no one hotter than Rosalind. But then he goes to the party, and he sees Juliet. And that night, he sneaks into her yard. And goes, but soft, what light through your window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon, which is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid are far more fair than she.

Rosalind, who? The Puritans used to say it this way. How do you dislodge a beautiful thing from the human heart? You replace it with a more beautiful thing. Use that same mind and affections and will to chase knowledge of God, to stir affections to God, to run hard after God. That's what you are made for. Augustine, one of the greatest thinkers, probably second only to the Apostle Paul, was a sex had it. scared to let go of his comforts, but knew he had to because of Christ. And when he finally did, he wrote in his confessions, how sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys I once so feared to lose.

You drove them from me. You who are the true sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place. You who are sweeter than all pleasure. Father, thank you that you don't want to shame us because of our sin. you want to set us free. And you don't offer us just discipline. You offer us love.

And I pray God that we would forsake our broken cisterns because we have a fountain that will never run dry. We're grateful, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor, thank you. I feel like this is genuinely a holy moment that God wants to do a work in someone's life. There's something that is time to step away from,

and there's a savior to run toward. And so I'm just going to ask very, very point blank. You just heard a masterful theological sermon on how we do spiritual war against temptation. We have to admit when and where we're tempted. And many of you know right now there is something in your life, there's a stronghold. You keep going back to the same old thing.

And you know there may be something very, very extreme that is your next step. it may be that you confess it confess your sins to one another pray for each other that you may be healed it may be that you get rid of that phone that you keep going back to you like literally you can't have a smartphone you need a dumb one it's what you need it may be that you need to check yourself into rehab it may be that you need to reach out to someone else and help ask them to help you be apart help you get over or whatever it is and move on so let's just call it what it is right now If there is something in your life that you know is not honoring God, you want to step away from it and step toward Jesus, would you lift up your hands right now and say, God help me, God help me, God help me, lift up your hands right now.

God help me. Let's up your hands and say yes. Online, you can just type in the comment section, God help me. I need to get through this. And Father, I pray in the powerful name of Jesus that God, you would give us the resurrection power, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. God give us that power to overcome the temptations of the evil one. if we need to die to the sin, we die to it. If we need to flee from it, we flee from it.

If we need to confess it, we confess it. God, whatever you call us to do, give us the courage and the faith to obey you and the power to overcome the temptations of the evil one and to honor you as you empower us to live a life that reflects Jesus. As you're reflecting in prayer right now, some of you, it's going to be time to take a very real step. God has spoken to you and now respond to what he's saying to you. As you keep praying today, there's some amazing news. There are some of you that God brought here for an even more special moment. That even long before you were born, God knew this would be a moment. If you are real honest about

your spiritual condition, I said, where do you stand with God? You might say, I'm not sure. You might try to say, I'm trying to do the good things and try not to do bad things, but I end up doing the bad things. Scripture tells us that every single one of us has sinned. We've all fallen short of God's standard. You know it, you do things like, why do I do that? You feel guilty, you feel dirty, you feel ashamed. But the good news is, scripture tells us that if we confess our sins to God,

he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Some of you right now, you are what the Bible would call like dead in your sins. What do we do? We step away from them. Old school theologians would call that repenting. We turn away from that which is lower. We turn toward that which is higher. And we call on the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is the sinless son of God who is perfect in every way who died on a cross. He paid the penalty for our sins and God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter how dark your life is, how bad you've been, how ashamed you are. Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven.

And more than that, you would have the spirit of God move into you. You would be new. The old would be gone and you would be completely new today. Wherever you're watching, those of you that say, that is me. This is your moment to step away and say, yes, I turn from my sin. Yes, I surrender all of my life to you, Jesus. Be the savior of my life. Be my Lord. If that's you today, wherever you're watching from and say, I'm ready. Jesus, I give you my life. I forgive me of my sins. I step away. I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our churches and say yes. Praise God. And we have people today saying, I surrender to Jesus and all of our churches as we have people

calling on his name online. Just type in the comment section. I'm turning from my sins and I'm turning toward Jesus. I'm turning toward Jesus. Would you pray with those around? You pray, Heavenly Father. Forgive me. of all of my sins, save me. Jesus be my Lord. Be first. My redeemer, my king, my savior. Fill me with your spirit.

So I could walk according to your word. So I could know your love and show your love. My life is not my own. I give all of it to you. In the name of Jesus, I pray. All God's people said amen and celebrated new life in Christ. The angels in heaven rejoice and we praise God for new life in Christ.