Being cut off from the source of life is a dead end life. Church, it is so good to be with you today. Marsha and I love you.
We're usually at the 11 o'clock at the Lawrenceville campus right up there. We kind of adopted our old group of friends up there and we are so proud of Pat. Pastor Jason and what God is doing in the life of this church. Aren't you grateful to God? Come on, give it up.
Yay, God, that we get to be a part of a move of God, thousands coming to Christ and being baptized and God's transforming us. So let's jump in. I got a question. How many of you could use some help? I mean, I mean the H-E-L-P, real help.
Hang on. Let me give you what I mean. I got some examples. I wrote some of this out.
This might be what you would say. Oh yeah, need help. I'm in heavy financial debt.
I need help to rethink money. I, yeah, I mismanaged money. I need more.
I overspend. How do I get out of debt? Need help.
my marriage is a little rough. Getting along with our different personalities, the kids, work, budget, schedules are so demanding. Sometimes I feel like we stir more resentment than joy. Could you use some help? I'm single and trying to date in a world of sexual temptations.
I need help. And by the way, where are the sane, solid, soul, healthy people of character? I need help. Parenting is endless decisions, demands, and drains.
This ungodly culture is really hard on kids. I need help. My work is uphill hard. There's just so many problems, so many conflicts.
I need real answers. I need help. My school is uphill hard.
I just want to quit. This class is hard. Friendships strained. Sometimes feel so alone. I need help.
Sometimes I'm so distracted by worry, anxiousness, uncertainty, fear for the future. I need help. I lack discipline.
I just lack discipline. I need help. I've got this thing. I've got this thing that masters me like food or alcohol or overspending or I don't know like a lazy streak or anxiety or sexual temptation or people pleasing or social media junkie or jealousy or porn or my family baggage and if I could just get free I'd be a way better person I'd have a way better life I need help I often feel empty in my failures but even in my success I need help. So let me ask you again, after all the examples, how many of us could use some help?
Come on. We could use some help. And here's the good news.
Jesus comes along in a world that needs help. And he says, I'm bringing you help. I'm bringing you.
holy help. Jesus is bringing us holy help here and across the campuses. Welcome. God is offering you holy help.
And I want you to say it with me on the count of three and make sure you get the P in there at the end of help. Jesus is giving us what? One, two, three, holy help.
Which means Jesus is giving us his word, the truth, how life was designed and how you walk life out. It is God's holy help, his teachings, his commands, his insight, the Holy Spirit. teaches us the word of God and Jesus is saying, look, I've come to give you help, holy help. And the Bible addresses everything we just summarized so that we can make good, godly, holy decisions. You might want to write that down.
What are we talking about today? Making good, godly, holy decisions. In a world of deception and lies and twisting the truth to make something that is obviously evil, wrong, unwise, stupid into something that, oh, this is awesome. In other words, worshiping God on Sunday.
Fantastic. Worship God in song and in giving and honoring him and the teaching. But then, when you leave here, go worship God Monday through Saturday in your decisions. Your decisions are an act of worship.
And Jesus is saying, I have holy help for you. So I'm telling you, that's where we're going today. It's going to transform your thinking.
It's going to transform your living. So lean in. Do what? Lean in. Tell your neighbor, because I don't know if they're getting it.
Tell your neighbor right now. Lean in. Come on now. Lean in.
And we're going to start with flowers. See, this past August, Marsha and I celebrated 42 years in our wedding anniversary. Come on, baby.
And I did the husbandly thing. I bought 42 roses. Come on. Here's a picture.
I put them, I brought them home. I made one center vase of a bunch of them and then three other ones and put them throughout the house. And in fact, when I, when I put them in the vases, what, what did I put?
What is the next thing I put in the vase? Water. Yeah. Because water, water is, well, water is life giving.
You know what? Like seven to ten days in, they started to wilt. About two weeks in or so, I mean, they were dead. Throw them away. They sold me dead flowers.
How many of you ever bought cut flowers? How many of you ever bought cut flowers for any occasion? You might as well walk to the counter and say, I'd like to buy some dead flowers.
Hey honey, look, I bought you some dead flowers because that's what they are. Cut flowers are dead flowers. Oh, they bloom for a moment, but they're going to die. If you want living flowers, they have to remain planted.
Remain what? Plant. See, they got to stay in the soil where they get the nutrients and then they will bloom and then re-bloom and re-bloom.
Let me just put this on the screen. Being cut off from the source of life is a dead end life. It's death.
And that's true for more than flowers. You get your life. Cut off from God's word, God's wisdom, God's ways, God's thinking. You get your life adrift from the truth of God and the truth of life.
The thing that gives you life. And you are nothing more than cut flowers. Oh, and they look good for a moment. So many people say, yeah, I sin, but it doesn't matter.
Look how blooming. Yeah, give it a little while. In fact, we just need to let the weight of this sit in our soul.
So I want you to watch 20 seconds of a clip. What happens to a cut flower? Oh, they bloom, they bloom, they're beautiful.
But what really happens? Because the same thing keeps happening to our lives. It's why we ask for help. So just sit in these 20 seconds because this is what really happens to cut flowers. Well, no wonder we say I need help.
No wonder. Things are wilting, things are dying, things are not going well. And by the way, this is bigger and beyond flowers. Maybe you're like, well, I don't like the flower conversation. I can do better.
Maybe you like machines and engines and cool things like that, because I do. I love cars. I love motorcycles.
I love engines. I just think it's awesome. Even when you get your tractor, your lawnmower, like, listen, I'm going to do better for you than that.
I told you. Travis bring your toy and Travis is going to bring the lawnmower out. Light it up guys.
Light it up, Travis. Bring it out here. Let's give it up for Travis.
Come on. Travis dad. Yeah, living that dad life, baby.
It's good? Is it good? Yes, sir. It's my baby.
It's your little baby, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you are looking the part, my friend.
Thank you, thank you, buddy. Is this? Yeah, it's pretty good.
It's cheap, actually. Pretty inexpensive to dress this way. Yeah?
Yeah, yeah. You know, get some calf-high black socks, some brown sandals, and a golf shirt, because you never know when you're going to get the call from your buddy. Yeah.
And you just go. And the hat. It is you.
Yeah. Well. Little glasses.
By the way, men and women. You can get this outfit on Amazon. It's all one little price. It's the Travis package.
Eight bucks. Eight bucks. Eight bucks.
It'll be great. So you're into this. How many of you, like, you just love engines. You love cool stuff like this.
In fact, you love doing your lawn. Who are the lawn people? Like, you love to cut your lawn.
Feels good. You enjoy doing it. You love driving your tractor. Man, when you get done on a hot day, you look it over. You're like, man, this looks good.
And really, on a hot day, on a hot day, what you need is. What do you got over there? Water.
Yeah. A water. Yeah. We're going to say water.
I understand. I don't want to know what you drink. Stick with the bit. No. Okay.
Very refreshing. The bit is water. Man, water is life giving.
Water is fuel to the body. It is what to the body? Fuel.
Fuel. Now listen, listen, Travis. Yeah.
I'll tell you something. Y'all listen in. I know.
I got a pro tip for you. I know. All right. I know how this engine stuff works. It's got gasoline.
Gasoline is fuel. Yeah, it is. You know what? It is such a hassle.
Going to the gas station with those stupid little red gasoline cans, which are supposed to work and they don't. EPA, Green, messed with that stupid thing and Nova's gonna be better. It's not gonna leak mine. You can't buy one that doesn't leak.
And that stinks in the car and it stinks. And then you get a home and you try and drive it. Oh, you got to be fueled. Oh, you got to be fueled and poured in. I got a pro tip for you.
Yeah. If this is fuel to the body. this needs fuel.
Let's skip the hassle. This stuff is readily available. Listen, pour it in. Come on. I mean, I need this pretty well.
So I, you know, I don't want to argue here. This is your point. But I'm no expert, but I feel like it's not a great idea.
You're right. You're not an expert. So thank you.
You can leave. I'm teaching. I don't, I've had, you brought your toy out. Just say thank you to Travis.
We appreciate you. Just head your way. Cause listen, Travis, Travis doesn't understand what I'm doing, but you will.
And I'm going to show you what to do. You ready, man? Listen, what you do. Don't, don't.
All you gotta. in fact, listen, kids and students, all kids and students go home today, put the hose in your parents'toys in their tractor and fill it up, put it in their cars and fill it up because because this is fuel to the body and this needs fuel. So pour it in, save the hassle. And I can't wait to see what happens on social media in the next several days.
And how many of you parents are going to stop your kids from doing that? How many, how many, all the smart ones. You know what you're going to say to your kids?
Pastor Kevin sits on the throne of lies. Name that movie, huh? Just pulled that out. Like Pete, what Pete K is saying is ridiculous.
He took something designed to fuel the body, then twisted the word fuel for something that needs gasoline fuel, called it fuel, fueled the same thing. He took something good, misused it, misapplied it, and he's going to destroy our engines. This is ridiculous.
We all know that pouring water into an engine is like pouring water over matches and then trying to light them. The very essence of a combustion engine is that it's an explosion that drives it. You're diluting it. I start this up and the water in there will destroy this. I want you to see something.
Put it here on the screen. Pouring the wrong things in is a dead end life. It's death. And that's not just true for engines. That's true for your whole life.
Single life, married life, family life, financial life, career, relationships, your moral life, for your soul. So let me give you a summary. What have we said so far?
Being cut off from the source of life is a dead-end, empty life. And Jesus teaches, I will give you holy help for you to remain planted in the soil. The Bible, God's word, the source of life, so you bloom repeatedly in life. God's word, wisdom applied to life. What else have we learned?
Pouring the wrong things in. is a dead end, empty life. And Jesus teaches, I will give you holy help for you to pour wise things into your life.
So your life runs like a top notch engine without breaking down. It's God's words, wisdom applied to your life. See, Jesus offers holy help. And throughout the scripture, scripture reinforces that we were given scripture, God's word. These aren't just the writings of man.
See the commands of God, the teachings of God, help us understand the design. of God, just like the design of a tractor. If you know how the engine works.
You would pour in gasoline. To pour in something else is to destroy it as if you don't understand the design. The Bible is God's wisdom for how we are designed and how we work and what gives you life.
So look, I want us to take some time. In fact, Holy Spirit, would you just help us see? Bring weight to your word.
Break through the dullness and deception of the world in which we live. Look what scripture tells us about scripture, God's holy help and wisdom. Love God, your God, with all your heart, with your whole heart.
Love him with all that's in you. Love him with all you've got. This is from Deuteronomy in the message version. commandments, right? These what everybody?
Commandment that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are sitting at home or, or walking in the street.
Talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. In other words, make sure that this gets in you.
This is life. He goes on. Here's another one from Psalm 119. Your word, your what everybody?
Your word. This right here. Your word. Oh, when you speak, oh God, your word is what?
It's a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I mean, how can I see in a deceived dark world? How can I discern what is good and what is evil?
How can I know how to walk in such a way and not pour water in my gas tank and destroy the very thing you created me for? How can I remain planted and not cut off? Well, your word, that's the light.
Jesus replied in John 14, 23, anyone who loves me will what everybody obey my teaching. I couldn't hear you. Will what obey teaching? I mean, if you say you love him, that's how he knows. It goes on.
There's more scripture. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires. Pause. The evil, the what?
Evil what? You do understand that just because you have a desire does not make it good. We live in a culture that says if you have a desire, it's good, it's you, and it defines you.
When in fact, many of our desires defile us. Destroy us. There are evil desires and there are good desires.
So as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. In ignorance? Yeah, before you understood what is good and evil, what is true and lie, what gives you life and what brings you destruction and death.
Life to the full, life empty, not just here but for eternity. Now that you understand it, you're no longer ignorant. So as obedient children, you're not conformed to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
You don't keep living like you used to when you come to faith in Christ. But just as he who called you is what, everybody? Holy.
So be what? Holy in all you do. We're called to be holy.
For it is written, be holy because I am holy. He, the holy God, has called us to be holy like him because all the life is in being holy. and make every effort, Hebrews 12, to live in peace with everyone and to be holy without what?
Holiness. Without what? Holiness. Can't hear you. Without what?
Ah, without holiness. No one will see the Lord. Sometimes just sitting in the wisdom and the weight of scripture.
And we can bring this cut flowers, tractor, all that list of scripture together in a story. And often I'll tell the story. But today I want us to read it. We're talking about God's word. I want us to read the whole story in John chapter eight, this segment.
So just stay engaged. Lean in. Tell your neighbor again, lean in, lean in. Here we go.
I want us to walk through the whole thing. The teachers of law. the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.
They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such a woman, capital punishment. Now, what do I, what do you say?
Oh, hang on. They were using this question as a trap. As a what?
Trap. In order to have a basis for accusing him, for accusing Jesus. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. And when they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let anyone, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
No one, sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. A man and a woman were caught in adultery. They took something beautiful like sex.
Life-giving. And then they redefined it. Like putting water in a gas tank and saying, this will give us life. And they were caught.
For reasons we don't know, only the woman was brought. Either because the man was fast and he got away. Or they were just male chauvinists. Because listen, they didn't care about the truth.
They were trying to trap Jesus. They don't like Jesus. Jesus is messing up their system. Jesus is calling them out. Jesus is too kind and compassionate.
He's bringing stuff that they don't understand. So they're about to take care of that. See, the trap is this.
If Jesus being a Jewish rabbi. If he agrees, yes, the Mosaic Law applies, and we should exercise the capital punishment and have her stoned, which is throwing off stone until she dies. It's a horrific way to die.
Yeah, go ahead and do that. If he does that, he loses all the crowd's support because he's leading with mercy and grace. And that'd be great for them. And by the way, if he does that, he's in trouble legally. Because they are under Rome and Roman law.
And in Roman law, only the Romans. can play out capital punishment. It's illegal for anyone else.
So if the Jews did that, if on Jesus'command, well, he would be in trouble legally and they would love that. On the other hand, the trap being that if Jesus said, well, you know what? I care about that woman.
I'm going to have compassion on her. Then Jesus denies the Mosaic law and undoes his position. as a holy Jewish rabbi, and they'd be happy with that. Either way is fine.
Listen, they don't care about the holiness of God. They don't care about the justice of God. They don't care about the circumstances of the woman.
What they care about is taking Jesus down. And what's interesting in the story, and we we don't have time for every detail, but he kneels down and he starts writing as if to say, well, we don't know why lots of people write what Jesus was writing. They say, oh, here's what Jesus, nobody knows.
This is, nobody knows. What was he really doing? Nobody knows, but it's enough maybe to say that he was declaring to the rest of the crowd, I'm not engaging the debate on your terms. And then they kept questioning.
So he stood up. He said, he who is out sin, let him cast the first stone. By the way, the mosaic law. There was a requirement for two witnesses who actually saw the sin. Those two witnesses had to be in this circle.
And they had to literally be the first two people who cast stones. Nobody else could cast a stone until the two witnesses. did.
And in the Mosaic law, you could not be guilty of the very sin that you're condemning. Now, it doesn't mean you don't have any other sin in your life. You just couldn't be guilty of that. What likely happened is those two walked away. They realized the weight of the moment and that they were condemning themselves and they were hypocrites.
And as they walked away, then everybody else had to walk away. Or as some would interpret it, everybody was aware of their own sin and said, okay, we're out of here. He got us.
But what's beautiful about the moment is Jesus removed the crowd that was condemning. I want to give you a thought in this. Jesus rescues from the judgment of the crowd. Write it down.
Get it in your head. Get it in your heart. Jesus removes the judgment of the crowd.
Stay with me. We live in a world of people who are happy to judge us. Crowds of people are judging us. And listen, you are not condemned because people gather and condemn you. You are not condemned by them.
And Jesus will remove that crowd. Let me say something more. It is not the purpose of the church to gather around people and condemn them.
That is not the purpose of the church. What Jesus does is he removes the crowd and the condemnation and the shame that everybody else is casting on you so that you and Jesus are standing there face to face. It's a holy moment.
You're going to have that moment in this conversation if you're willing, because then Jesus says, where are those who condemned you? And she says, they're gone. And he says, neither do I condemn you. Now, Jesus could have because he stayed and he was the only one who was all holy and the only one who could cast the stone. And he said, I choose not.
Are you kidding me? I mean, this is Jesus rescues from deserved condemnation. Jesus exercised divine mercy and grace.
Mercy is when he withholds what we deserve. She deserved death. And grace is when he gives you what you did not, did not deserve.
It's when he gave her forgiveness and freedom and a new life. Listen, men and women, Jesus steps in, he removes the crowd and all the shame and condemnation. Let's get rid of the crowd.
And you You have a one-on-one conversation with Jesus. And he says, listen, you have condemned yourself. You are guilty, but I choose not to condemn you.
I've come to give you life church. We ought all celebrate what Jesus has done for us. Yay.
God. Yay. God. Yay.
God. And listen, if you don't know Jesus, this church is not here to condemn you. You already know you're condemned. This church is to let you know Jesus chooses not to condemn you when he could have. And you think, oh, that's the end of the story.
It is not. Jesus rescues her from poor judgment. Go now and leave your life of sin. Jesus rescues her from herself.
Stop. Making ungodly, unholy, stupid decisions. Time out.
How many of us will own, we have made stupid decisions before? Just look around. You're not alone. This is a group thing.
Put them back up. Now put the other one up. Now put your foot up. I mean, just let's count fingers and toes.
We're all there. It is the equivalent of moving from planted to cut flowers, from putting gasoline in to putting water in and destroying the very things and the design and the way they were made. Sexual sins, all sins are unholy.
They will cut you off from being planted in God's word and wisdom. And Jesus is saying, look, I've made you holy. Watch this.
Let's go back to it, guys. I want to see. No, flip back. I want you to see this.
Right here, Jesus makes you holy. You are made holy when he forgives you and restores you. But then he says, now go live holy.
He didn't make you holy, and now you go back into the sin. He doesn't just clean out the engine from all the water, do a rebuild, and then you go pour water back in. You are made holy to now go live holy because now you know what gives life. Here's what holiness does. Now, guys, you can go to that line.
Holiness is a life planted in the soil of God's wisdom. Holiness is pouring the right things into your life. Holiness is good, godly judgment in a world of deception and lies. Holiness is freedom.
Holiness is help in a sinful world. Now, just leave that there, guys. Take a picture. Write it down.
Snap a picture of this right now, wherever you are across the gap. Listen, you have got to go sit in this because this is not limiting your joy. This is your only path to joy. This is not how you undo a good life. This is how you get a good life.
The Holy Spirit of the living God is called our helper. and John 14, 26. And Jesus says, when I forgive you and restore you, I will send a helper. You get holy help, not just the word of God, but the Holy Spirit of the living God in you so that you can. walk out life and be holy as he is holy. Can I get an amen?
Thank God. See, listen, the Pharisees were self-righteous, harsh, and arrogant. Stay with me. However, the woman was not a victim.
She was a sinner. And I need you to see something. You cannot practice sin and then pray it into a blessing.
Your prayer life. is not to take open, consistent, abiding sin, and then keep praying that God will bless. A prayer life is to talk to God before you sin, in the midst of temptation, to give you the strength and the wisdom to see it and stop it. We got quiet. So how?
Go now and leave your life of sin. How? Let's spend a couple of minutes on this. On the how.
Be a student of God's word. See, when we gather like this, this is teaching to be a student of God's word. You go to the freedom groups and then the freedom conference, it's to be a student of God's word. We are in...
small group, when you're in some Bible study, when you're reading scripture on your own at home, when you listen, when you're at home, pick it up and read a verse, read a segment, read a chapter. And when you get done, what do you do? Practically, what do you do?
Just ask, ask this every time. time you get done reading the Bible, ask, what do I need to stop? What do I need to start? What do I need to continue? And then do it.
Don't make it more complicated. Oh, I can't figure it out. Oh, yes, you can.
What do I need to stop? Say it with me. What do I need to what? Stop. What do I need to start?
And what do I need to continue? And then do it. In many respects, it's no more complicated than that. So let's practice it. We got a couple of minutes.
Let's practice it. Let's take John, Matthew chapter 15. Jesus is speaking. He says, for out of the heart. Come evil thoughts. Remember, we talked about evil desires.
There are things that in our heart that we twist because our desires work against the wisdom and the will of God. And then it becomes evil. For out of the heart come evil thoughts. Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
These are what defile a person. They're not giving you life. They're taking life. They're destroying your marriage, your family, your kids.
They're destroying your career, your morality, your finances. Deceived, deceived, deceived thinking and acting just leads to death. It's nothing more than cut flowers and water and a gas tank. So let's just own it.
How many of you can be tempted again? We've asked this, but I just want to see. Because I want you to know, my hand is up, and then this hand is up. I'm not standing up here teaching as if I have authority from a perfectly pure life that has never faced temptation.
I wish that were true. It's just not. I have plenty of temptation.
Battle sin. The only one I'm willing to talk about is food. I twist the truth about food. To satisfy my indulgences. See, food, like water, food is a very good thing created by God.
And then food becomes more than fuel. Food becomes fun. Food becomes indulgence.
Food becomes spectacular because some is good, a lot is better. Sugar is good, but more sugar is better. So in this past year of succession, I've... I've indulged myself. It's been fantastic.
In fact, at one point, Marcia got a little bit upset. I'll explain. Who understands why?
I like crumble cookies. I get on that. I like them.
They're made in heaven. I tested them. I checked.
They're made in heaven. Often we travel by a crumble cookie spot, and when we travel by, I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I'm defined by my desires.
then they must be good. That's sarcasm for those who can't interpret. So we go get crumble cookies.
I mean, I like a lot of them. I mean, that chocolate chip cookie. Jesus, that is good. I mean, if I were Jesus, I would come to earth during this time just to enjoy it. Not back there in the old.
So Marsha asked me, how many calories are these cookies? And I said, 250 calories. And they are just so you know, I looked it up. And then by the end of the day, she came back. She was ticked.
She said, you lied to me. How did I lie? I only lie when it's convenient. What do you say?
See, you lied to me. This is a thousand calories. I said, no, it's not.
I looked it up. It said 250 calories. She said per serving. I said, exactly.
A quarter of a cookie is a serving. I said, that's not my problem. That's yours. Okay. That's just your interpretation.
If you wanted to eat more than a quarter, you should have said something. Now, I can't figure out how I gained 15 pounds in the last year. Can anyone, how many of you think you know why I gained 15 pounds?
How many of you think you know? Okay, there's dumb ones still sitting there. I'll help you out. How many of you think you know how I gained 15 pounds in the last year?
Okay. You can make the connection between my sins and my condition. And I can make the connection between where your marriages, your finances are, and your family. Your character, your career, and your spiritual life. Can you?
It is absurd to think that I consumed that much sugar. And was going to have no consequence. So I've had a coach for a while now, a health fitness coach.
I pay him and I hate him. He thinks he's the word of God to me. You know what? I have to stop, start and continue. He said, man, you got to stop this stupid sugar stuff.
So we're going to be off sugar for a while. You got to get off this processed food. You got to start eating healthy. You got to continue the six miles a day, but add to it. Listen, when you get in scripture, you read the word of God.
When you get done, you say, well, I need to start. What do I need to stop? What do I need to continue?
We can take examples. Let's highlight a couple of these. Okay. Murder, slander.
Slander is malicious. about somebody else for the sake of taking them down. And man, I'm telling you, when you don't, how many of you know people you don't like? You just know, I'll own it. You have people, I got two.
You have people in your world, in your work, in your relationship, you have people you don't like. And you know what, we slander to take. Take them down.
It's a sin. It'll undo your life. It doesn't help you.
You gotta get away from it. But we love slander. We love gossip. We love talking about people.
We love taking them down. They deserve it. It feels good. Listen, if you don't stop slandering your spouse when you're with your friends, that marriage is never gonna get healthy.
It destroys marriages, families, friendships, companies, and churches. And we just justify that slander and gossip. Oh, we love to get in the drama. I mean, would there ever be, is there a television show that doesn't have slander and gossip woven in?
Because we just get in it. Listen, it makes great TV. It's a horrible life. Don't murder. Now we get it.
The real thing, murder. But Jesus talks later in Matthew five, he says, don't even use anger and rage. Get a hold of, get your rage surrendered under the Holy spirit, your helper quit justifying the way you are short with your spouse or your kids.
Quit letting temper control you. Get this under the Holy Spirit because it's eating away. You're going to end up like cut flowers.
You can highlight a couple of others here. Adultery, sexual immorality, fornication. The word fornication. is literally the Greek under sexual immorality is talking about sex outside of marriage.
So what scripture has taught us is really clear. Sex is a gift from God. Like water is to life. Sex is a gift from God. But when we take that gift and we misuse it, use it and then we misapply it and we redefine it.
We destroy the very gift of God by we twisting the truth. Listen, sex is a gift from God. It's beautiful and it's holy.
And he was very clear. It is beautiful and holy between a man and a woman who are married. Period. End of conversation. Everything else is sin.
Everything. And since we don't like it, we're like, well, I'm going to get my crumble cookie. And imagine coming over here and pouring the water into the gas tank. And then it runs rough. And then it breaks.
And I say, what a piece of junk. I will never buy from this manufacturer again. I cannot believe it. Why? I'll never buy that again.
We violate the design of God, and then we get angry at him when life doesn't work, which is sort of insane. Look, I'm not condemning anyone. I'm clarifying the blame is not God's. It's on us.
We're not victims. We're sinners. And we have desires.
They do not define us. They defile us. Get them under the Holy Spirit. There are things you need to stop, things you need to start.
Stop living together if you're not married. Stop sex outside of man and woman and holy marriage. Fight the pornography addictions. Quit living by the world's standard. Adultery, bring an end to it.
Sexual sins, and you get life to the full. So you cannot practice sin and then pray it into a blessing. And I've listened to people sit in counseling with me, practicing sin, and then tell me how it's a blessing. And God's in it. He is not.
We can list others, theft, false testimony, in other words, quit lying. See, when you cheat on a test, you steal a grade. When you lie for your friends, you steal from the truth.
When you don't do your full work, but you take your full pay, you're stealing from the company. See, we can go on and on with this clarity of God's invitation to live holy as he is holy because he gives holy help. If we had time, I'd get into instant gratification and our finances.
Oh my goodness. If we feel like we have a right because of, well, you know what? I need this. I deserve this.
So overspending. can I say one word? Amazon.
Does that wrap it up? And consumer debt, justifying. In the end, Jesus said to the woman, neither do I condemn you. And he gave her freedom.
And then he said, go now and leave your life of sin. Go live freed up. Praise God by the power of the Holy Spirit. to help her in us.
We're not only made holy, but we can go live holy as he is holy. So I'm going to ask the campus pastors to come. Pray over us. And then you're going to go.
So go and leave your life of sin. Amen? Amen.