Why Is It So Easy To Fail? (Pastor John Franklin)

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Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.
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It wasn't the type of people they were going to be. Today we're going to talk about a topic that's actually been kind of hitting home to me a little bit.
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How many of you have heard that phrase, God's not going to give you anymore you can handle? That is taken from this verse, out of context, that is taken from this verse, 1
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Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 13, it says, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
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God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
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And so many people of this world try to misquote that and say, see,
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God's not going to give you any more than you can do on your own. Guys, I'm here to tell you that's false.
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I can tell you from my own personal experience, even before I go to Scripture, God's going to give you more than you can handle.
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God has given me a lot more than I can handle, especially in the last few years. Because if I tried to handle it on my own,
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I wouldn't be here anymore. Right? I had my father -in -law pass, my mother pass, my mother -in -law pass.
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I had my wife almost die from COVID. God's going to give you more than you can handle.
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And when we look at this passage in context, which Wynton, be thankful you have a church and pastors and teachers to tell you to look at everything in context, what
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Paul is actually doing here is giving the Israelites, the people he's writing to, the
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Corinthian church, a warning from the Israelite history. Let's look at this in context. Go back to verse 1 for this.
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For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud. Talking about the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.
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They were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, the parting of the Red Sea. And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
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And they all ate the same spiritual food. They were given the manna for heaven. They drank the same spiritual drink for this drink from the same spiritual rock that followed them.
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And that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased for they were overwhelmed in the wilderness.
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Now, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were.
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As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 ,000 fell in a single day.
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We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents nor grumble.
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Man, that's a tough one. And some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.
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Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the age has come.
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Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. That verse that I first wrote, that 1
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Corinthians 10, 13, wasn't, oh, just be happy, God's not going to put more weight on you. It was a warning because these
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Israelites that endured all this saw God in action. Without a shadow of a doubt, the parting of sea where they walked on dry land.
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They were given manna from heaven where all they had to do was walk outside and food was there for them every morning.
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Yet they still fell into temptation. They still failed in sin.
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And Christians, we don't see like they did the acts of God today. One day we will, but we haven't seen that in a long time.
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The fact is, he's going to give you a lot more than you can handle. Because that's when you're going to realize you have to rely on him.
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In my weakness, he is strong, right? I can't do it on my own.
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That's why Jesus said, my grace is sufficient for you. And I think one of the biggest things we have to realize when we start studying this is there's a huge difference between testing and tempting.
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Those two words don't mean the same thing. Some of your translations may translate testing as trials in places, right?
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But there's a huge difference between those things. See, testing and trials, those build you up.
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Those give us an opportunity to see God working in our lives, to see the glory of God acting in our lives.
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That testing that I endured sitting in that hospital room day after day gave me an opportunity to see the glory of God work.
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The many of years that I've watched little children die of cancer. I'm going to admit that was a test on me.
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You've never seen that I'm thankful for you. But I've seen it more times than I can count.
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And I'm not ashamed to admit there was one point that I had to go to Pastor Jeff for counseling for it. Those are tests.
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They work on that sanctification process that God is making us more like him. That we see in James, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, or endurance as some translate it.
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And let that steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. It gives us that ability to face the next trial, that next test.
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Because when I see God is faithful in this little thing over here, I can see the next time when
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I'm facing a trial, I can see he's going to be faithful there. And the next time
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I'm a little bit stronger and I can see him being more faithful there. And each time it gives me courage to face those tests over and over again.
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And that's how that sanctification process works. Mature and complete, lacking nothing as James says.
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Because I don't need anything of this life, I need everything from God. Right? And that's why
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James says that we can count it as joy when we face those. I can sit here and have joy for the fact that Melanie had to endure that and I had to endure that, my daughter had to endure that.
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That sounds odd, doesn't it? I can count it as joy that I almost watched my wife die.
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That my 30 plus years in the medical field said that she should be a vegetable. And unfortunately she's under the weather today so she's not here today.
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But how many of you in here that didn't know her prior to COVID knew she almost died?
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That didn't know her prior? For those of you who came here after that or met us after that, you would have never known.
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But that was a test. That was a trial.
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It's different than a temptation. Me sitting in a hospital room every day, that was a test.
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That was a trial. The temptation was when my 30 years of medical knowledge said my wife was going to be dead.
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And that 30 something year old nurse would lean over her bed. Guys, you know what
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I'm talking about? That was a temptation. When she'd reach over to my hand and just kind of...
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That was a temptation. Right? That was an opportunity for me to sin.
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That was an opportunity for me to be unfaithful to the vow that I made to my wife.
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See, temptations break us down. Temptations corrupt us.
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I define a temptation as a situation or a circumstance where we have the choice to sin or remain faithful to God.
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Now don't get me wrong, temptation does not equal sin. It is the opportunity to sin.
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Just because you are tempted with something does not mean you're going to submit to that sin.
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Right? That's why Jesus, when he taught us to pray, taught us to lead me not into temptation.
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God, don't put me in the position that I'm going to be tempted lest I fail. Because that sin that creeps in with that temptation builds barriers between us and God.
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That sin that creeps in separates us from the love of the
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Father. Not that he stops loving us, but because I feel so guilty and shameful in my sin,
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I don't feel his love. And scripture says in Isaiah that he will not hear us if we allow sin to remain.
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It builds that barrier. So as we look at our stuff we're going through, we have to realize, is this a test where I can see
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God's glory in this work in me? Or is this a temptation that I have the opportunity to remain steadfast to God or submit to my flesh?
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And guys, sometimes it's easy to fall into that temptation, isn't it? I'm here as a pastor today.
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When did we finish? When did I become unofficially a pastor? I don't remember.
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He and I finished at MIT in 2016. I've been a pastor since 2016.
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Wow. That doesn't make me feel nearly as old as when I walked into a hospital room and told the nurse or the patient,
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I've been sticking people longer than your nurse has been alive. That one made me feel old. But guys,
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I'm here to tell you today, I struggle with temptation. Every single day.
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Some days I win the struggle, some days I don't. That does not mean
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God stops loving me. Right? What does the
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Bible say? Pick up our cross daily. So when I've fumbled and I've dropped my cross today, guess what
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I get an opportunity to do tomorrow? To pick up my cross again and follow
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Him. You see, it's easy to fall into temptation because that temptation is within us.
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James 1 .14 says, Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.
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I don't have to look anywhere but my own internal heart to find a temptation. That's not
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God tempting me. That's not Satan tempting me. That's not the demons tempting me. That's my own sinful desires are tempting me.
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And quite honestly, we need to quit trying to blame others for our temptations.
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We need to admit the fact that it is my own evil desires that want me to stray from God.
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Paul said to the Galatians, the Galatian church like this, For the flesh desires what is against the spirit and the spirit desires what is against the flesh.
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These are opposed to each other so you don't do what you want. Because God, I honestly will tell you,
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I promise you, I will swear on a stack of Bible, but you guys get the idea.
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I want to do good every day. But some days my anger gets a hold on me.
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Some days the lust of the flesh, the pride of the life, right? Some days that jealousy when
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I see people that have things that I don't have and I'm struggling to make what I do have work. It's hard not to fall into temptation.
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When things start getting tough at home, It's hard not to fall into temptation, to walk away.
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And say, I give up because it's my own inward desires that want to feed myself.
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Now you guys might be different, you might have, well I don't have any problem with that. But I would say, you're not being honest.
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Because what's 1 John say? If we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves but the truth is not in us.
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If we confess our sins, He's faithful and righteous, forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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If we say we don't have any sin, we make Him, we make God a liar. And the truth is not in us.
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Just because you choose to follow Christ does not mean you are going to stop sinning today. It may mean that you overcome a temptation today.
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But I promise you, no one is going to come along and you're going to fail. And for a lot of us, we use that as a reason to walk out the door and not come back.
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But we use it as a reason, I'm just going to close the Bible, I'm not going to read it again. We're looking for a reason to serve flesh.
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Rather than tools to fight the temptation. We say, oh that person offended me,
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I'm not going to go back to that church. But the problem is you don't go back to any church. And Christian, I'm here to tell you a little secret.
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You can't go to church as a Christian. As a non -believer, you can go to church.
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But as a Christian, you can't. Do you understand that? Because as a Christian, you are the church.
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The question is, are you one that's falling apart and breaking down? Or are you one that's actually sitting and living for the kingdom of God?
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And cleaning up your house to make it ready for Him to come back. So if you claim the name of Christ, you can run as far as you want.
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But you're still part of the church. See, you're not special.
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None of us are. We all have sin. And no matter how much
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I struggle with it, there's days that I fail. Paul did. What did Paul say? For I don't understand.
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I do the things that I don't want to do. And I don't do the things that I want to do. Paul, who wrote more books of Scripture than anyone else.
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Who God took from being a heathen, sinful murderer, into one that was preaching the gospel.
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And he still struggled daily with sin. So you're not special.
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Or like Pastor Jeff says, we all have the exhaust fans in the bathroom. And it's all for the same reason.
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And I will have to say here publicly, we need one in our men's room here. So all you contractors, figure out a way.
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But guys, we're not special. When you start saying, well, nobody understands my sin.
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Nobody gets me. Nobody understands my struggles. That's a bunch of bovine feces.
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What it's saying on top of our, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
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That means somebody else has already dealt with it. You think nobody understands your temptation.
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Nobody understands your secret sin. Somebody, and likely somebody in this room, has already dealt, has already walked through the same sin that you're struggling with now.
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You're just too ashamed to admit that you have sin. Or you're too prideful to admit you have sin, which by the way, that's a sin too.
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Right? But the beauty is, even with all this sin,
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Scripture says God's going to give us an out. Right? Every time that temptation is allowed in our lives, every time that we face that temptation,
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Scripture says that we are given an out. What does it say? Not common to man,
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God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. Which means the temptation that is facing you, you have the ability to deny that temptation.
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You have the ability not to sin that occasion. But with temptation he will also provide a way of escape that you will be able to endure it.
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God's going to give you a lot more than you can handle because that's the only way you're going to realize you need him. But that temptation that you're dealing with, that secret sin that you don't want to tell anybody about, he's giving you a way out.
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Be it calling somebody on the phone when the temptation arises. Be it going back to his word when the temptation arises.
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I've been on that phone call chain when we've had that alcoholic in the group that says, I can't make it from my work to my home without being tempted to stop.
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So Monday you called him, Tuesday you called him, Wednesday you called him, and every day somebody would talk to that person all the way home.
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God gives you a way out, Christian. Part of that may be in this family right here. Because even when
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I'm faithful and faithless, even when I'm sinful, even when I feel like I can't do it and I won't do it because I'm being stubborn,
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God is still faithful. Psalms 89 .32
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says, Guys, you may have to deal with some repercussions of your sins, but just because you sin doesn't mean
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God's going to stop loving you. Because he loved us even before, right?
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But God proved his own love for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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You can't get yourself cleaned up enough. That's why he loved you while you were filthy.
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And that's why even when you fall and stumble today, he's still going to love you tomorrow. That's the beauty of it.
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He's going to give us that out. He's going to remain faithful. 2
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Peter 2 .9 says, I promise you, all you have to do is call out to him.
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When whatever that is that is affecting your life today is just getting too much for you to bear, call out.
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What does it say? All you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Right?
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It doesn't matter what it is. He'll help you shoulder the burden, right?
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He'll give you that opportunity to follow him. But to fight that battle that rages within us, between that flesh and that spirit, we have to know the tools to use.
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We have to know to follow him and not myself. That sounds obvious, but sometimes
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I need to be reminded of that. Especially, again, I'm type A. I like to think that I know what
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I'm doing. I don't know if any of you other men or ladies think that. But you like to think that your idea is the best idea?
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Right? Sometimes it's not. And that's hard to say.
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Sometimes we have to know to follow him and rely on him. Joshua 24 says,
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Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods of your fathers and serve beyond the rivers in Egypt and serve the
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Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your father, served by the religion beyond the river, or the gods of the
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Amorites in whose lands you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the
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Lord. The first thing to find temptation is knowing who to follow.
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I have to choose to follow him rather than me. Because I can't follow my own efforts.
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Scripture says the heart is deceitful and wicked. Who can understand it? I can't follow my heart as the world tries to tell you to do today because it's deceitful and wicked.
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And it's going to lie to me as well as it is to you. And what it's going to feel today is going to change tomorrow.
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And for some people I've seen it change three times in less than 30 minutes. So I can't follow my own efforts because they're sinful.
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Jesus said in John 3, Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the spirit is spirit.
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And we just read in Galatians that those two fight each other. So if it's born of me, if it's born of the flesh, it's at war with the spirit.
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Romans 8 verse 5 says, For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit think about the things of the spirit.
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For the mindset of the flesh is death, the mindset of the spirit is life and peace. For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so.
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You want to rely on your own understanding? Scripture says it's unable to be in line with God.
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I can't rely just on the law. The law of God is perfect, right?
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But Scripture says I can't rely on it. Because it says in Romans 3,
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No one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law. Because knowledge of sin comes through the law.
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I can't rely on following the law because all that does is point out the fact that I can't do it.
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No matter how hard I try, I am going to fail. My class is getting ready to start a study series on the
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Ten Commandments. Guys, I can't go a day without breaking one of those. Much less the 614 of them.
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Char said she can't go an hour. All it does is point out my sin.
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Romans 5 .20 said the law came along to multiply the trespasses. Because the more you tell me
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I can't do, the more opportunity I have to do something I'm not supposed to. Right?
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Adam and Eve had one law and they couldn't keep it. So I can't rely on myself.
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I can't rely on the law. So I have to rely on God. The Lord is good and upright,
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Psalms 25. Therefore He shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them
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His way. He leads the humble.
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It means you've got to follow. It means you have to submit yourself to something more than yourself.
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And it can't be the doorknob. It has to be God. Some of you understand that reference.
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He teaches the humble. Which means the first thing I have to do is admit that I can't do it. Guys, you're struggling with temptation today.
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You're struggling with sin today. Admit you can't overcome it on your own. Scripture says that I am a slave to something.
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I'm either a slave to my sin or I'm a slave to God. I serve something. And I have to know who to serve.
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I have to know who to follow. The best leaders are those who know how to follow somebody. Not the person to get up and just yell and tell you what to do, but the one that knows how to follow somebody else.
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That's why Ephesians 5 says, Therefore be imitators of God as dearly loved children. God has to be our guide.
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Christ has to be our example. Galatians 5 .16
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says, Say then, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.
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In other words, don't let your mind control what you do.
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Submit to God and let Him control what you do. Let that Holy Spirit that's been awakened inside you lead you.
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1 Peter 1 .14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.
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Christian, you say you're in Christ. Don't be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. And guys, ignorance is not a bad word.
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Our society has claimed ignorance is a bad word. To call somebody ignorant is a bad thing. No, to remain ignorant is bad.
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Ignorance is just lack of knowledge. But Christian, you've been given knowledge. You know who to go to.
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Right? You know what to do. You're ignorant if you choose not to do it.
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Actually, you're stupid. If you choose ignorance, you already have the knowledge. Do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.
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But as one who is holy, who called you as holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct.
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For it is written, Be holy because I am holy. And guys,
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I can have faith in Him again going back to those trials that I faced before.
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Because He's already faced every temptation we have and He's overcome it. Said no temptation, right?
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Christ has already overcome all the temptations. Hebrews 4 .15
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says, We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tested in every way, yet we are yet without sin.
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When he was led into the desert for tempting, it failed.
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Because he was without sin. You may fail. That's okay.
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He hasn't. You have an opportunity tomorrow to do better.
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And I'm going to be short today. Wow, I am going to be short today. I'm going to get the musicians to go ahead and come up because I'm going to be closing soon.
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Guys, when you face that temptation, you have two choices. You have that choice to be obedient to God and succeed.
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And when that happens, we need to give thanks to God for it. For the strength to overcome it.
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For the wisdom and discernment to identify it. And for the opportunity to still serve
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Him today. And when you fail, and you're going to, we need to repent.
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We need to not let that just get us down. We still need to remember who redeemed us from our worthless way of life.
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Right? And I need to repent.
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And repent just doesn't mean saying I'm sorry. Repent means actively turning away and pursuing what is right.
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So you may fail today. Tomorrow get up and pursue what's right. You may struggle today.
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And I love Pastor Josiah brought this up. Struggling doesn't mean saying I'm tempted by something.
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Struggling means to actively fight against that temptation. So a lot of you that say you're struggling with your sin, you need to ask yourself, am
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I truly struggling with it? Or am I succumbing to it every day and just wallowing in my sin?
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But if you failed, ask for forgiveness. If we confess our sins,
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He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then stand up from there and pursue righteousness.
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Stand up from there and do what is right. As we stand up today, I want each of you to think about your temptations you faced this week.
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Were you successful and need to thank God for them? Or did you fail and stumble?
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And you need to come repent. And then get accountability to help you the next time you face that temptation.
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Get some of those brothers or sisters that can do that phone call chain if you need it. Seek out someone that has more wisdom and discernment than you.