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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Amen, let's go back to our seats Let's start our second service by turning our turning our name books to him number 22 Let's sing the song are you washed in the blood him number 22? Let's sing the song you you you you you Let's wait your everything door for the first series And I pray that your best also the same service I feel like you bless each and every part of our service from the convolution of singing From the preaching of the word and also the reading of the word Lord I pray that your best a fellowship and also give us good word for the this afternoon and For the soul winning and I prayed Lord that you would help us understand the sermon and remove the hindrances that we have and well I love all these things we were asking in Jesus name we pray. Amen On our second song. Let's turn to him number three Him number three that's saying the song Jesus In number three, let's sing the song Jesus paid it all Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh All right, everyone, let's take out our bulletins and welcome to the second service at Verity Baptist Church and Happy New Year And so let us count up salvation's but obviously we had the turning of the year So if you have salvation's from Monday through Friday anything before Saturday to report Anybody before Saturday? One. All right Two. All right. Anybody else? One. Two. All right. Anybody else? Everyone's like shy just hold it up with boldness, right? All right, so let me just put the lady anything for Saturday yesterday that I don't have reported anything that I'm not aware of anybody anybody Losing my voice. So anyways our total for 2021 is Seven thousand one hundred eighty five here as a church Which is just under a hundred forty salvation's per week, obviously fifty two weeks So seven thousand one hundred eighty five and then for all of our ministries We do have a total in Pampanga because we had a great week. So we ended with seven ninety I am still gonna have to wait to hear back from the other ones but seven nine thousand one hundred and thirty one combined Possibly more so great job everybody Great year. I believe that's our top year and you know Obviously things have been very up and down the last two years with there's times were so winning We'd maybe get 20 saved a week there and praise the Lord for that, right? But obviously now things are more open so things have been going really well recently So keep up the great work everybody great job this year and let's see other announcements quickly We do have a prayer meeting in two weeks We took a bit of a break because we had the anniversaries and Christmas and everything But in two weeks, we'll have our prayer meeting our monthly meeting and in four weeks will be our chess tournament so I think next week all list a website you can go to if you want to practice on a blitz game because as I said a blitz game a quick game is very different than a long chess game So you really need practice, right? And so we're giving you four weeks because we want to have a competitive Tournament where people are ready and at their peaks and everything. So that should be a fun time. I love chess Maybe not everybody does but you know Anyone who wants to play is welcome to obviously it's open for men and women boys and girls anyone who wants to play We'll have a great time. And anyways, we are in the middle of our New Testament Bible reading challenge And so we gave out charts last week. If you need one, let me know. I'll send it to the group chat I didn't do that yet But hopefully you started and there was two different schedules one of them gives you two days of grace period One gives you one day of grace period right? So if you're like man yesterday was New Year's I didn't do any reading I haven't done it yet today Well, then maybe you have to do the the nine chapters a day one So, you know, you're not behind schedule, right? But you still have time to catch up tonight after church if you get behind but it's just good at the start of a new year to get back in the routine of reading the Bible because I think for All of us it's very difficult during the holiday season Because when you have a routine going it's easy, but it's easy to once you get out of that routine It's tough to get back into it. So let's get back into it for January And as we said, we're gonna give you a prize if you do finish the New Testament in January And so on the back there is a place for sermon notes, and I believe that's it for announcements at this time We will have brother Marlon lead us in another song a Man that's turn our hymns to him number five. Let's sing the song when I survey the wondrous cross In number five Bay offers Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Let's take our offering Oh Oh Amen for scripture reading please open your Bible to the book of Philippians Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 And Philippians chapter 3 and is our custom wheel during the entire chapter Philippians chapter 3 3 please say amen if you're there Amen Philippians 3 verse 1 Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous But for you it is safe Beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision for we are the circumcision Which worship God in the spirit and rejoicing Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh? Though I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinking that he hath were of you might trust in the flesh I am more Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal Persecuting the church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless But what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ? He doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but done that I may win Christ and Be found in him not having mine own righteousness Which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made to inform wool unto his death If by any means I might attain into the resurrection of the dead Not as though I had already attained either rule already perfect But I follow after that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not myself to ever to have apprehended But there's one thing I do Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before I? Pressed over the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus But as therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in anything you be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless words we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which which walk so as you have us for an example For many walk of whom I have told you often and I'll tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and his glory is in their shame who mind earthly things For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ We shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like into his glorious body According to the working whereby is able even to subdue all things unto himself Let's read of God's word. Let us pray Lord God in heaven and thank Lord for the state you've given to us and a privilege would give us good weather for our soul Any later on and bless Lord be the preacher and the preaching of your word Lord the state. We love you All right We are here in Philippians chapter 3 and the name of the sermon is how to break addictions in 2022 how to break addictions in 2022 and so let me just give you a couple definitions of the word addiction or addicted and it says addicted Physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance and unable to stop taking without incurring adverse effects now Many times you think about being addicted you think of drug addiction, right? That's probably the number one thing you think about and it gives us an example there another definition here is in physically devote Enthusiastically devoted to a particular thing or activity example He's addicted to computers now being addicted is not necessarily a bad thing because our text verse talks about being addicted to the ministry and Paul is Complementing right so it's not necessarily a bad thing what I'm saying how to break addictions in 2022 I'm basically talking about breaking bad addictions bad habits and problems in your life, okay? Now here's a list of the top 10 addictions according to this website And there's also a lot of other ones you could think of these are not necessarily in order But one thing listed is drug addiction right another thing is alcohol addiction now We use the Bible word of being a drunk as being an addicted to alcohol, but it's essentially the same thing smoking parentheses cigarettes or tobacco gambling sex addiction social media video games food coffee Workaholic and of course there's any manner of things you could be addicted to I think these are kind of basically Making kind of an umbrella with categories for example I didn't read pornography addiction that has to be under sex addiction because that's one of the biggest addictions in this world. I would say There's other things that might not be listed here directly But they're probably underneath one of these things social media probably includes cell phones Which is one of the big addictions in 2022 anything online Facebook things such as that So there's a lot of different addictions you can look at now with this list some of these are inherently sinful For example the Bible condemns drinking alcohol I would say if you drink alcohol you sinned because the Bible says you should not drink alcohol It doesn't just say don't get drunk. It says you shouldn't drink it So if you drink alcohol, that's a sin a lot of these things on the list are not necessarily sins though I mean one of the things listed is food is it a sin to eat food well I would say no. I would say you need to eat food to survive however I do believe at some point you would cross a line Depending on how much you're eating and what you're eating if it's all unhealthy food We're basically you have an unhealthy lifestyle, and you're not protecting your body Which is the temple of the Holy Ghost at some point? I do believe it could cross over and you would say that it's a sin coffee I don't think drinking coffee is a sin I don't think drinking pop or having caffeine is a sin however if You're drinking like 10 cups a day and no cups of water a day at some point. I think you cross the line, right? Even when you look at something like smoking I don't know that you could technically say smoking one cigarette would be a sin Because it is unhealthy and that's the big argument our bodies of the temple of the Holy Ghost Well, there's a lot of things we do that are unhealthy that are not necessarily sinful in the Bible for example They eat cakes you know they eat things that are desserts. That's not healthy, but it isn't a sin however I don't know of any single person that only smokes one cigarette a year usually One cigarette means like a pack a day, right? There's usually no in-between what I'm saying is on a lot of these things that you might have an addiction on or a bad habit I I can't necessarily say where the exact point is where it's a sin But it's something where you're admitting. This is not good for me Right it's not helpful for me is being on Facebook a sin I don't know of any Bible verse that would say it's a sin to be on Facebook However if you're on for four hours a day it certainly does not benefit your life Right so we're talking about addiction. We're talking about things that basically have control over you You can't get rid of them It's a bad habit, and it's not helping your life, and I want to help you in this sermon here today Help you break your addictions Now there's what it says in Philippians 3 verse 18 For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things now The Bible speaks about their belly, and it says minding earthly things and the Bible is representing the earthly things here But it's using this example because all of us can relate to food Right and it uses belly to represent the things that you're bringing inside of your body now What is the biggest New Year's resolution every single year? something related to food Something related to diet right it's the biggest New Year's resolution right and look I think New Year's resolutions are good So I'm not criticizing that but it is the biggest one and see here's the thing the idea is this that Immediately when you desire something you immediately eat it you immediately drink it because your flesh desires it right now Look, I don't think any single one of us in this room 100% just eats what tastes the best to us because we know just Intuitively from experience that if you eat junk food you feel like garbage It's not good for you now. Maybe little kids in this room. They haven't figured that out yet Right the little kids in this room one years old two years old threes ice cream for breakfast yes Right, but we know that if you eat that sort of diet pop an ice cream for breakfast You're gonna feel like garbage during the day right it's not good for you And so I think all of us at least to some degree Deny what we want to eat something a little bit healthier, and that's a good thing to do But isn't it a hard thing to do you go on a diet, and you try to resist the cookies It's hard You try to resist the food that you don't want to eat, and it's hard you say What is that well it's basically an addiction where it's got a hold of you right now go to Luke 8 Luke 8 Luke 8 Now what I want you to do in this sermon is just kind of think in your head ahead of time About a couple things or at least one thing That you are addicted to that you would like to get rid of if you could press a button and no longer have a desire to do that No longer have a desire to eat that or drink that or no longer do this thing in your lifestyle if you could do it You would do it right I want you to think about that because I want to help you in this sermon break that addiction in 2022 I want to put you on that road where you can basically get victory in that way right point number one in our sermon is Admitting there's a problem you must admit. There is a problem before you can fix the problem Right Luke 8 verse 15 But that in the good ground are they which in an honest and a good heart having heard the word keep it and bring forth Through with patience the Bible speaks about people that hear the word of God, and it says they have an honest heart What is that called? It's called admitting that you're guilty Admitting that you have a problem right There's an organization in the u.s.. Called alcoholics anonymous, and I am neither Criticizing or promoting them. I don't know much about it But it basically tries to help you get over alcohol addiction and drug addiction and the first step that they have is we Admitted we're powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable and the first step to overcoming an addiction Is just admitting that you're addicted Now here's the thing about it being addicted Everybody else can tell if you're addicted to it because you're talking about it. You're thinking about it You're eating sleeping breathing it all day long But oftentimes a person who is addicted is not willing to admit it to themselves I know many people that used to be addicted to drugs and drinking alcohol And they would say that when they were addicted people told them and they didn't believe it. They said no no no I'm not a drunk I just drink you know from time to time to have fun to loosen up to socialize not a drunk though Right, but everybody else was telling that person. Hey, you know what you're drunk Right you need to quit drinking you need help But it doesn't matter how many people say it until that person individually admits. They have a problem Now I will say this as advice if a lot of people tell you something about yourself, and you don't realize it look They're probably telling you the truth if a lot of people have said it Right I mean if ten people come up to you and say you are the most arrogant person I've ever met look you need to look in the mirror and realize okay. It's probably true Right if people tell you if a lot of people tell you you're just a really lazy person You need to realize that even if they said it in a rude way. It's probably true It's one thing if one person tells you this, but if person after person after person comes up to you and says hey You're a drunk No, I'm not a drink. I just drink from time to time well obviously everyone else thinks you're addicted to it Right if somebody does come up to you and tell you tell you something you ought to be humble enough to at least Consider it in your mind and think about it The first step though to overcoming a problem is admitting that you have a problem right go to Hebrews 4 Hebrews chapter 4 Hebrews 4 You say brother Stuckey I cannot think of a single thing in my life that I have a bad habit or I have an addiction I can't think of anything. I need to change Okay, I'm going to try to get you to step one in this sermon Right because I I can think of things in my life that I should change I can think of things that you know what they Don't benefit me right because there are things that are just sins that you need to get rid of that thus saith the Lord But we also have many things in our lives that maybe they're not sins But they're bad habits or things that you could change and look I can look at myself honestly and say there's things that I would like to change about myself and The reason why I haven't changed them is because it's hard right There's things in our lives that you know what it would benefit us to get rid of them But we don't get rid of them why it's difficult if it was easy. You wouldn't be doing it to begin with right First step is admitting you have a problem Hebrews 4 verse 12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword Piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the Bible says the word of God is a way to get to the inside get to your heart and It basically has a way to convict you and reprove you and try to motivate you to make changes in your life But when that word of God comes on the inside you must be willing to admit. Okay. I'm guilty and not make excuses Brother Saki, I'm not gonna do the New Testament Bible reading challenge. You don't understand my schedule is too busy I don't have time. It's just I can't do it I would love to but I can't well, you're not admitting that you have a problem Right. It's just like the first step in making a change is just admitting that you have a problem go to James 1 James 1 I Would hope that everybody would be humble enough to admit that they have things in their lives. They need to change I'm not asking you to tell them to me. I'm not a Catholic priest. You don't have to confess to me your problems I'm just saying to yourself right individually to yourself. Can't you look at your life and think about things that are like, okay That's not a good thing. I should change this. This is a bad habit I'm sure if you're honest with yourself, you can think of things that you know what you could improve and If you don't need to improve at all, why are you here? I mean if you're just perfect and you don't need any help at all and your life's perfect Then you don't even need to be at church But I personally believe I need church. I Personally believe that I need this kind of preaching now It's a bit different for me because I preach the sermons but you know what when you write a sermon you're preaching against yourself Left and right is like ouch ouch It's like I get hit hard when I'm writing this sermon. It's like man. Wow, that's powerful, right? Look, I think we should be able to admit to ourselves that there are things that we could change and we should change to better Our life and I'm trying to help you become a better person in 2022 this could be related to health which is a common thing for resolutions It could be related to living a godly life. It could be related to a besetting sin that you have It could be related to you know Your mental well-being or emotions or whatever any manner of things but think of at least one thing That you know what you have an addiction or you have a problem that it's got a hold of you and you need to get Rid of it right James 1 verse 22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves for if any be I'll hear of the word and not A doer he is like on a man beholding his natural face in the glass For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner many was But who so looketh into the perfect law of Liberty and continue with therein he being not a forgetful here But a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed So the Bible speaks about is a man who looks in a glass What it's referring to is a mirror Okay, he's looking at a mirror He's looking at this glass and why is it that you look at a mirror? You look at a mirror to see if there's anything you need to fix Right many of us woke up this morning and we went in front of a mirror to kind of check You know if everything's right my hair is down my ties correct or whatever. You know, there's no problems on my shirt No stains. I mean you look at a mirror and see is there anything I need to make a change? Right now, let me ask you a question Let's say you're a man in this room and you looked in their mirror this morning and yet a big ketchup stain on your shirt All right. Let's say you had a white shirt on you have a big ketchup stain and you're like, it's not worth changing the shirt Well, why'd you look at the mirror to begin with then? Isn't the whole point of looking at a mirror to see if you have a problem? Wouldn't it be foolish to look at a mirror and see a major problem and just be like, eh I'm not gonna worry about it Right. The whole point of looking at a mirror is to make the change necessary and see the Bible saying that is how we are Spiritually speaking when the Word of God is preached We're bit what I'm basically doing is shoving a mirror in front of your face and say hey look at yourself and fix it Because it's up to you if you're gonna fix it All I'm doing is putting the mirror there and trying to show you. Hey, this is what you need to fix in your life. I Would hope that you could admit that there's some things right now that you could change if you had a Spiritual mirror in front of you and God was revealing how good you are all these different things I'm assuming I'm hoping you can admit that there's at least one thing I need to change You don't have to tell me what it is But I'm hoping that you can admit to yourself because here's the thing The first step is admitting there's a problem and I am willing to say even as the preacher of this church that I have areas In my life that are not perfect I'm I'm able to say as Paul the Apostle as we talked about in Philippians 3. I'm trying to press toward that mark You know what that means? I'm not at the top right now. I'm not at the top of the mountain I'm on that upward climb, but I'm not gonna claim that I'm perfect and I have no problems. I have areas I need to fix okay turn in your Bible to Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11 So step one is just admitting there's a problem now that's not that complicated is it I mean it's very simple Just admit you have a problem and you don't have to admit it to me Right. This is just you individually admitting to yourself Hey, here's an area of my life that I'm not perfect I need to make a change point number two aspire to change Point one is admitting there's a problem point to aspire or desire to make a change because you can admit there's a problem But not actually want to fix it There are people that admit they have problems in their lives But they say well I really don't want to fix it though and Just choose to just do the same thing notice what it says in Hebrews 11 verse 24 Hebrews 11 verse 24 By faith Moses when he was come to eat years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Now Moses was basically raised in royalty Right. I mean he was a Hebrew by birth Obviously at some point he believes and gets saved however, he's basically living the life of a king I mean he's living as world so he's got nice things, but he chose you know what I'd rather suffer affliction with the people of God Than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He said you know what I've got this problem in my life I'm not open about what I believe I need to just line up with God's people and whatever the consequences are I'll take them and he said you know what I'm gonna just admit. I'm not an Egyptian I'm not gonna fake it, but I believe in the Hebrew God Right he aspired to make a change in his life He said I am not content with just living here on earth and having all the nice things and living a long life I want to serve God and do right and he said you know what it might mean affliction It might mean problems it might mean persecution, but I want to do what's right What is that called? Inspiring to make a change in your life. I mean for a lot of people coming to this church Lining up with God's people it could mean persecution Right many people get persecuted for being on board with our church Persecuted by family persecuted by old church members. You know I'm not the most well-liked person in the Philippines Right I'm a hate preacher Because I'm showing people what the mirror is and people don't like that right Moses said you know what I want to line up with God's people and it says verse 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect under the recompense of the reward By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible And he said you know what I'm gonna forsake Egypt, and I'm going to serve God Okay, go to Acts 28 Acts 28 So You can admit that there's a problem you can realize there's problems in your life But instead of actually desiring or aspiring to make a change you can just say well I do have this problem, but my sin is not as big as somebody else's sin Or I do have this problem, but you know what I go so any I do more than most Christians Or I have this problem in my life, but it's just like my little thing to help me relax or whatever It's not good for me But but you know what I'm not gonna make that change see you can admit There's a problem without actually wanting to make a change Right you must be willing to make an emotional decision saying I want to make a change And look if you're not willing to make a change you don't want to make a change Then it doesn't matter if you admit. There's a problem. It doesn't matter if you look at the mirror It doesn't matter if you see the problem unless you actually want to make the change Unless you're willing to make that change now none of us like to make changes because it's hard It's not fun Look if I look at a mirror, and I see a stain on my shirt. Oh, I got to change shirts It's not like it's fun It's not like I want to do it But you have to do it because there's a problem, right? But spiritually speaking what a lot of people do is they just put a blanket over their head and just pretend nobody sees me Nobody knows Right like a little kid that gets in trouble And then they figure they'll just hide underneath a blanket and mom and dad don't know about it. It's like no we know Right you still got chocolate all over your face Right we know what you've been doing right you did exactly what we told you not to do right But see people do this spiritually speaking they basically hear the word of God And then they just basically try to prevent from actually seeing it It's like they got a mirror, but then they basically put something in front of it. No. No. I don't want to see And look this is why people don't like it like they don't like a church like this They would say they want to know the truth But the reality is they basically want to just pretend and just block it out So they don't see the mirror because they don't want to see problems Why it's not easy, and it's not fun to make changes. It's difficult Acts 28 verse 1 and when they were escaped then they knew that the island was called Melita and the barbarous people showed us No little kindness for they kindled the fire and received us everyone because of the present raining because of the cold and when Paul Gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire There came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand so basically a poisonous snake just gets a hold of Paul Okay, verse 4 And when the barbarian saw the venomous beast hang on his hand they said among themselves No doubt this man is a murderer who know he hath escaped the sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live So the immediate reaction of people is if a snake bit him He must you know be a murderer that deserves the death penalty right now later on which we won't look at They change and say he's a god You know sometimes there's an in-between position of not a murderer and not a god right like just a normal person That bad things happen to people that did nothing wrong Right, but that snake fastens a hold upon his hand and what the Bible says in verse 5 is and he shook off the beast Into the fire and felt no harm now I don't know for sure I would imagine though that if a snake fastened to your hand It's probably hard to shake off. I would say I've never been bitten by a snake, which I hope I never do Right, but I'd imagine if a snake gets a hold of you or an animal gets a hold of you I mean I can imagine a dog you know dogs You know I've been bit by dogs before and if a dog gets a hold of you It's hard to kick it off right I'd imagine the same is true with a snake But at the same time wouldn't be foolish to just let the snake hang out because you don't want to put in the effort to Get rid of it It's like oh man well all right and just go about your day Right obviously you got to shake off that snake Well the same thing is true for us Spiritually speaking we have addictions and things that have fastened themselves on us, and we're trying to shake it loose. It's hard isn't it? You must be willing you must aspire to shake off that beast it is not good enough Just to see the snake on you and to know you're addicted. You must actually try to shake it off Romans 13 Romans chapter 13 Romans 13 I Don't think most of us would want to say that we're addicted to something right. I mean it's got a very negative connotation We think of drug addicts and no I don't have an addiction to this thing It's just kind of but you know if we were honest with ourselves There are things that we are addicted to and what I mean by that is they have control over us And we do not have freedom from it There are things that are bad habits in our life, and we haven't kicked those things, and we don't kick them because they're hard right being free Means that you have freedom to make the choices you want to make But when you're doing things that you don't want to do all the time You're in bondage to whatever that is whether it's a sin or a bad habit or a bad activity or whatever and look there are Things that we are in bondage to there are things that we are addicted to that. We don't have control over them They have control over us, and here's the thing I hope You can admit that you have a problem in some area. I would hope that you'd aspire to change though I want to become a better person in 2022 than I was in 2021 I Mean isn't that a basic goal that you should want to have so in your head? What is that addiction that you have that you need to change? Romans 13 verse 12 The night is far spent The day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light now casting off the works of darkness is Like shaking off the beast right getting rid of that sin getting rid of that problem Getting rid of that addiction and the Bible says cast off the works of darkness And let us put on the armor of light and the indication is this if you are addicted to bad things It's going to prevent you from doing the good things This is why we need to get rid of the addictions because they're preventing us from doing things that are better If you spend two hours of your day on your cell phone just on Facebook No, whether or not that's technically a sin. I don't know but I can say this you could be doing better things for two hours I'm not saying it's a sin to be on Facebook. I have a Facebook account I respond to messages, but I would say that if you're on for hours and hours There are better things you could be doing with your time and what I would say is whether you believe it or not You are addicted to it Right I mean you're doing something that is not helpful for your life Obviously you're addicted to it It's something that's got control of you You don't have control of it Romans 13 verse 13 Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and oneness not in strife and ending There are certain things that are just plain sins drunkenness is a sin rioting is a sin and the Bible says you know We need to cast off these works of darkness then it says in verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof Now what does that mean make not provision for the flesh what it means is do not give yourself the opportunity To do wrong Don't put yourself in a position where you provide an opportunity you make provision for your flesh If you have an addiction or a problem you must remove the opportunity to do it It's not enough just to say well. You know what I'm just gonna be aspire to change and be motivated You must remove the opportunity Go to Leviticus 14 Leviticus 14 See point one is admitting there's a problem point two is aspiring to change point three is arranging to change Meaning you've got a real plan You've got a real plan of what you're trying to do Because look as I said the biggest New Year's resolution is related to diet I don't think there's any question. It's the biggest New Year's resolution people have look if your New Year's resolution in 2017 was to eat healthier and then lose weight in 2018. It's the same in 2019. It's the same 2020 It's the same 2021. It's the same, but it hasn't happened You need to change your plan You said better suck you I know I should read the Bible 2017. I'm gonna read the Bible in 2017 doesn't happen 2018 starts I'm gonna read the Bible doesn't happen 2019. I'm gonna read the Bible Obviously being excited about it's not enough It's not working You need to change something They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different results if it didn't work in 2017 if it didn't work in 2018 if it didn't work in 2019 2020 2021. Why would it work in 2022? I'm not saying this to try to make you feel bad because I want to help you make that change. I Want to help you get over this You say brother sucky. I don't need help Well, obviously you do if you're addicted to it and you can't change it and you want to change it. It's not working Don't be stubborn and say I'll just figure it out on my own Well, good luck then Right because I think that if you didn't get it done in five years or ten years or 15 years Then it's not going to be figured out on your own. You need to actually have a plan formulate a real plan Basically make not provision for the flesh don't give yourself an opportunity to commit that sin if you go on a diet in 2022 I'm trying to lose weight quit eating sugar eat healthy. No more ice cream. No more cookies But then in your house right now You've got Oreos ice cream chips ahoy Whatever the candy Right, and it's all in your house right now, but you're planning not to eat that Well, I'll be honest. I don't think you're gonna be successful in your diet You say why you're making provision for the flesh? What you're doing is forcing yourself to have to always emotionally make the right decision throughout the day here's the thing though if you go home and You don't have any junk food. It's pretty hard to eat junk food Right now, of course, it's possible to stop at a 7-eleven get junk food Obviously you there's still you know things in the way that could prevent you from having your goal But I'm just saying it would be easier if there's no junk food in front of you Everybody knows that if you go on a diet and for six days you eat really well But that seventh day you just blow it. Well, you just canceled out seven days of work Right, you got to remove the opportunity To make that decision you got to remove the junk food if you're gonna go on that diet and I use diet as an example Just because it's something we all can relate to and the Bible use that example with Philippians 3 but any addiction you have Right notice what it says in Leviticus 14 verse 33 and the Lord spake unto Moses and on to Aaron saying Leviticus 14 verse 33 and the Lord spake unto Moses and on to Aaron saying when he be coming to the land of Canaan Which I give to you for a possession and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest saying it seemeth to me it there it It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house now Let me just quickly give you a brief overview of Leviticus 14 because this is one of those chapters you read and you're like I don't know what's going on Okay I lived at an apartment a long time ago more than 10 years ago and I had a small little room that had a water Heater in it. That's all it had. Okay was a water heater. It's not a room. It's not a door I opened it was like a closet without any clothes. What's the point of opening it, right? Well, then all of a sudden I noticed one day that there was moisture underneath the bottom of the door and I was curious about it and then all of a sudden I saw you know Like, you know, I think was blue or red strakes on the bottom of the door and I was like, what is this? And I opened it and I'm like, whoa is a disaster now when I moved into that place There was no problem But then all of a sudden there's a massive disaster and what had taken place Was the upstairs water heater in somebody else's apartment was slowly dripping And it was dripping and dripping and I never noticed it because I never opened that door and it wasn't loud enough for me to Notice it now all of a sudden I got all kinds of mold and I have a plague in my house as the Bible is speaking about Leviticus 14 So this chapter has always been near and dear to my heart because I am the only one I know that is actually like lived Through a Leviticus 14 situation, but just similar sorts of things. Let me just say when you've got mold and things like that It's very dangerous for you Right people that work, you know around unhealthy unclean environments their whole lives they oftentimes develop diseases These are things they've learned especially, you know in the last hundred years about the dangers of being around mold and things such as that So I did what any Bible believer would do I started to really study Leviticus 14 Right. I can say that I memorized the last half of Leviticus 14 because I said I got to understand this Right and I went to my landlord and I eventually moved into a different place But this this is actually describing what I experienced and it's describing a plague in a literal house symbolically speaking a plague in Your house as in the temple of the Holy Ghost There is a physical and literal application there is a symbolic and spiritual application the Bible is trying to tell us a plague in your house an addiction in your house a Besetting sin in your house a problem in your house And what happens is this man calls the priest the spiritual leader and says hey, I think I have a problem Can you check it out for me? And then the priest is going to go to this house this literal house and check to see Does this line up with what the Bible says about a plague? What should we do verse 36? Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priests going into it to see the plague That all that is in the house be not made unclean and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house So the priest commands that they empty the house and that's basically what I do when I preach sermons I command you to get the sin out of your life Right empty the house get rid of the problem right remove the problems in your life And he shall look on the plague and behold if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes greenish or reddish which inside are lower than the wall then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and Shut up the house Seven days. So basically everybody's got to be removed for seven days because this house has a major problem in it This is the sort of house that gets condemned because it's a health hazard, right? verse 39 and the priest shall come again the seventh day and Shall look and behold if the plague be spread in the walls of the house Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city so Here's the thing about this You can have a plague in a literal house And you know what you can cover it up by painting and just make it look like it's new That doesn't get to the root of the problem though. The plague still exists They have to actually find out what is causing this plague and if they cannot remove that then they just merely got rid of the symptom It's like drinking water when you have a headache Right I mean, well that that would probably be the best thing I mean, it's like taking Tylenol or Advil or paracetamol or whatever when you have a headache, you're basically masking the problem What's causing the headache? It could be a lack of water could be a lack of sleep It could be a lack of diet But if every single day you're getting a major headache Then there's probably something that your body's indicating there's a problem and you got to get to the root of that problem Otherwise that problem might get worse Right It's the same thing with this house Well, basically you got to find out what the root of the problem is and get rid of that Otherwise, it's gonna keep springing up over and over again, right? What it said in verse 40 was Command that they take away the stones in which the plague is So get rid of this problem and cast it into an unclean place without the city So basically take what has the infection and remove it without the city way away from your house into an unclean place Right, the analogy I like to give is basically taking something worldly putting in the trash can take it into an unclean place without the city Right. That's the symbolic thing that the Bible is trying to reference here that we can illustrate from this We're basically find what the problem is and remove it far from your presence Otherwise, it's gonna keep springing up right But then notice this in verse 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within roundabout and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city Into an unclean place now in verse 41 It's basically similar to verse 40 But you're going to another extreme to really check if you still have a remnant of that infection Have you gotten rid of all the plague right? verse 42 and they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones and he shall take other mortar and shall plaster the house The Bible says here in verse 42 that you take other stones Clean stones and put them in the place of the stones you removed Okay, see many people aspire to change and get excited and try to make some changes, but they keep failing and This could be the reason why because they don't have a good plan Here's what I'm trying to tell you if every single night you watch movies for four hours and you say brother Stuckey I need to get a hold of this. I need to get rid of this If you remove that from your life You've got a place without stones left of four hours. What are you going to do with your time? You can't just remove the stones. You've got to replace those stones with something This is what I've I've heard called the replacement doctrine now. I understand there's a different replacement doctrine Being an IFB for a long time. I've heard this as replacement theology. This is like a different replacement theology. I Believe in both. I'm all for replacement theology, right? But basically when you get rid of something you got to replace it Right, and here's the thing if you as a Bible believe in Christian want to serve God You're probably gonna have to replace a lot in your life. You're probably gonna have to get rid of a lot You got to figure out what you're gonna replace it with because if you do not replace it with something You're gonna be sitting around looking at the wall. Just what am I gonna do with my time? Right, and you're probably gonna end up doing it again or doing something else that could be better could be worse You got to figure out what you're gonna do Got to have a real plan of what you're gonna do if you're getting rid of something, right? I mean if you if you spend 500 pesos a week on cigarettes I hope you get rid of that habit. You're destroying your health. You're wasting your money But here's the thing. You're gonna have 500 extra pesos per week Here's what I'm saying think about what are you gonna do with that money now a smart thing would probably be save up that money What I'm saying is you got to have a plan if you get rid of a stone if you get rid of something That is a problem or an infection. What are you gonna replace it with? Because they need the stones in that house for survival Right. So here's the thing. What I'm telling you is this when you're getting rid of something You also have to consider what am I going to replace it with? If you're getting rid of a bad habit that takes up hours and hours of your day You got to have a plan to replace it with something Right now I personally have selected a couple things, you know things I want to change and replace this year in 2022 and you know what if I'm successful I have extra free time You know what? That means I got to replace it with something right? Otherwise, I'm gonna be sitting around like man. What am I gonna do now? Right, you got to have a plan and if you don't have a plan you're probably gonna fail I mean if you need a bunch of junk food and your goal is to get rid of junk food in 2022 You're gonna have to eat something and replace it that Otherwise, you're gonna get very very thin. It's not gonna be healthy for you Right and look it's good to get rid of the junk food, but then you got to replace it with something right Turn to 1st Corinthians 16 1st Corinthians 16 One of the most one of the most direct applications would be if you get rid of worldly music How about replacing it with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? So you don't have to have the attitude Well, I got to just get rid of all this stuff and just live without it But you know replace it with something obviously in your flesh You have a desire for something replace it with something good take away the bad and replace with something good is what I'm saying It's good to have the attitude I want to make a change but you have to actually have a real plan of how to do it. Okay? 1st Corinthians 16 verse 15 1st Corinthians 16 verse 15 I beseech you brethren, you know, the house of Stephana said is the first fruits of Akkiah If they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints The Bible speaks about a household a group of people that addicted themselves to serving God Now look, of course This is kind of our goal in life to be addicted to serving God now I don't know whether or not God would look down at me or other people this church say you're a ministry addict, right? That's kind of the goal to become a ministry addict in 2022, right? Where you're just addicted to serving God you wake up You're like man. I want to pray and read the Bible and memorize the Bible That's what you desire you meditate on God's Word day and night. That's the goal. I Don't know if I'm at that level, I don't know if any of us are at that level, you know It's something we're striving for though to basically meditate on God even more every single day That's the goal to be addicted to the ministry. That's a good thing Right that God would say that about you that you're addicted to serving God. What a great testimony to be said about you Right being addicted is not necessarily a bad thing See you can get be addicted to something bad and replace it with something good and be addicted to that I mean if you're addicted to reading the Bible, we're basically you're reading and then throughout the day. It's just like man I I've already done my reading for my Bible reading plan. Let me just read something else. I love this It's awesome Memorizing the Bible man that memorization schedule and I already finished Psalm 23 through 41. I want to memorize more. That's great Right Look if you do that you memorize in a chapter outside of our schedule Let me know you're allowed to get you know, chip or candy for you No, you don't have to let me know I trust by word that you say that if you memorize extra You're welcome to get a prize That would be great if it could be said about you that you're addicted to reading the Bible addicted to memorizing the Bible Addicted to preaching the gospel everyone you encounter. You know what? They're gonna hear the gospel They're gonna hear it right when you see them, you know, you're say hey, you know, can I show you what the Bible says? I mean, that'd be a great thing Right being addicted is not necessarily a bad thing However, usually being addicted is a bad thing. I would say most of our addictions are Harmful, they're not helpful. Go back to Leviticus 14 Leviticus 14 Leviticus 14 This this is a basic problem people have with memorizing the Bible or I'm reading the Bible I should say People people that are saved every single saved person knows they should read the Bible. Isn't that true? Every saved person knows that Right when I preach the gospel Sometimes I talk to people when when they're struggling to understand About how salvation is free and how you don't have to do good works and I'll tell them, you know Let me give you three examples from the Bible of how easy it is to be saved Jesus says I am that bread of life getting saved is like eating a slice of bread. Is that easy or hard? easy Jesus said I'm the living water drinking water easy or hard Easy, right? I mean my daughter is less than two She's still one turning to this month in a few weeks, but she can eat bread or on her own She can drink water on her own now. Sometimes there's a mess afterwards, but she can do it on her own I am the door. Jesus said I am the door opening a door. Is that easy or hard? easy What about always being a nice person always patient never angry always reading the Bible always memorize the Bible They're like, oh that's hard I say what you think you should do spend an hour on Facebook or spend an hour reading the Bible an hour reading the Bible What do you do? I'm on Facebook, right? That's what they'll say right? Look it's hard to do, right? It's hard to do what we should do Right. We have to make a real plan if you're gonna read the Bible you say brother second I know I should read the Bible, but I'm not successful What's your plan to read the Bible? What's your plan? Like oh, I don't I don't know. I don't I don't have a plan. Well, that's why you're not successful I'm talking about a good old-fashioned Bible reading plan Right. We give you the January charts. You say why we want to make it as easy as possible to read the Bible You say brother sucky. I don't I don't need a Bible reading plan Well, look if you're successful in reading the Bible without a plan then you know what keep doing what you're doing Praise the Lord for that. I will just say I think there's very few people that are successful unless they live their life by routine That's how you're successful. I Have a Bible reading plan and it tells me every day. This is what you read right now I did a Bible reading plan in 2021 at the end of January I'll make a new one for myself the rest of 2022 and look That's what makes me successful because I have a chart and it's like, okay This is what I read today instead of waking up in the morning and saying what should I read? That's why you're not successful It's really that simple. You just don't have a plan And look if you're gonna be successful at any area you have to have a plan You want to be successful and work and be successful at your company. You got to have a plan. What's your plan? What are you gonna do to be successful you got to have a plan and if you do not have a plan You're gonna fail in whatever area of life you try Now the reason why people don't like using a plan is because they want to just kind of be stubborn and feel like oh I can just do it on my own. I don't need help. I've got it all figured out. Well, I hope you do I hope your life is just awesome in all areas But I would just say I try to live my life by routine and that's really what keeps me doing the things I should be doing Living your life by routine just a structured organized plan where it's basically like on Monday This is what I do on Tuesday. This is what I do. This is the time I wake up This is when I do my Bible reading. This is the time I work out. This is the time I go to work This is the time I study this that's how you're successful at anything And if you don't have a plan in any area unless you really really really enjoy that activity Then you're gonna probably fail at it I would say this, you know, even though I like to work out and that's really one of my big hobbies It's not if not my biggest hobby if I didn't have a structured plan I just I just wouldn't work out because it takes effort it takes time and it's very easy to be like I just tomorrow I'll just I'll just work out twice as long tomorrow and then the next day three times as long Well, I'll just run a marathon today You gotta have a plan to be successful Point number one you're in Leviticus 14 point one Admit there's a problem. I hope you can think of at least one thing you want to change point to Aspire to change not just realize it but want to make that actual change point three arrange to change meaning get a structured organized plan Now it could be if you've never used plans or tried to live by routine before it could be that you make a plan in A week later. You've got to adjust it a little bit Isn't that true when you make plans you make a plan try to be detailed and then you realize I've got to make some changes along the way, right But come up with some sort of plan. Otherwise, you are not going to get rid of that addiction. It's not going to happen, right? point for Assure the plan and what assure the plan means is basically provide backup. So your plan does not fail So basically formulate a plan and then basically fortify it strengthen it So it's a lot easier to follow that plan and not mess up. Okay, Leviticus 14 verse 43 and if the plague come again and break out in the house After that, he hath taken away the stones and after he hath scraped the house and after it is plastered So here the plague comes back they do all this they remove the stones the plague is back verse 44 Then the priest shall come and look and behold if the plague be spread in the house It is a fretting leprosy in the house It is unclean and he shall break down the house the stones of it and the timber thereof and all the murder of the house And he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place so this is basically symbolically speaking an example where you try to fix the problem and you're failing and This could be said about a lot of us with some of our addictions. We try to fix the problem. We're failing You got to take it to another extreme level and look sometimes you got to go to an extreme level It might be difficult to get rid of the problem. I'll give you an example my old preacher in West Virginia You know, he told this story about someone who was saying hey, you know what pastor I need help I need to get over this problem I have he's like I'm always driving to work and there's all these billboards and I just I Keep looking at those women. I'm trying not to lust after them, but I'm struggling with it I cannot control my eyes. I don't know how to do it. He's just like I'm going there It's just like I always look at I try not to I know I shouldn't and I always look at it the pastor said is there another route to work that you can go and He's like, yeah, actually I could go this this other route He said it would take me a little bit longer than pastor said go that route and then he did that and he fixed the problem Now here's the thing the quick route would be easier I mean it takes five less minutes, but the long route is what got the job done Here's what I'm saying. Make it change if you keep failing you've got to figure it out What are you doing wrong? You might have to go to a bit of an extreme to get right with God in that area or get rid of the addiction Look if somebody's a drug addict They're gonna have to go to extremes to get rid of that problem and I'm not an expert at this sort of stuff But when people are addicted to drugs with withdrawals and stuff like that, it's it's very hard for people You got to go to extremes and I don't even know all the answers to get rid of that addiction But what I'm saying is whatever addiction you have it's gonna be tough You're gonna have to cast off that work of darkness. You're gonna have to shake it off Shake off that beast you might have to go to some extremes You might have to really stop and literally just sit here and think in your chair for an hour tonight and just ask yourself What can I do to get rid of this? Because here's the truth what you're doing right now is not working as Long as you admitted that you're addicted to it to yourself. What you're doing is obviously not working now Look, I'm not just preaching to you. I'm not standing up here saying look at me. Look at how great I am I'm saying there's things that I want to change in 2022 that I'm addicted to Things that are bad habits things that are not good for me. And you know what? I'm struggling to get a hold of it I want to become a better person in 2022 now Go to 1st Corinthians 7. We'll close up. I Can say that for me personally when it comes to things I want to change in my life the biggest reason I want to change them is my son's about to turn four years old and It's just like I don't want him to struggle with things that I've struggled with my whole life things that I grew up with Things that I was around things that give me good childhood memories But things that at this point in my life, I'd say even though I have fond memories of these things I don't want my son to have that same sort of attachment And so I just think to myself my son's getting to the point. He's about turning about to turn four I mean he looks at everything I'm watching on YouTube He wants to be just like dad if I'm working out he's working out right beside me if he's around me and everything It's just like I need to make sure I'm living my life in a way as he tries to emulate his father Where it's a good example, and I was like man You know what there's a few things where it's like I want to cut them out now because otherwise this might get a hold of my son Right and look I would say that if you're a parent and you have kids whether you realize it or not your parent your kids Are going to emulate what you do? Right you know that they say with you know I'd say every parent tells their kids don't smoke don't drink But what they say is you know if the parent smokes the kids gonna smoke even if the parent says don't do this It's probably gonna happen Now there's exceptions my dad's father was a smoker and my dad Doesn't smoke he never smoked smoke when we were growing up. I think the big reason he made sure it's like hey I'm gonna have kids. I don't want to pass that on but here's the thing my dad Also knew that his father died in his 40s I never met my grandfather on my dad's side because he died at such a young age It's like that's the effects of being addicted to smoking cigarettes Right and my dad didn't want that to be passed on to us, so he's like and look as a parent That's honestly the biggest thing it shakes you into reality. I need to make changes It's like I'm okay with with having bad habits myself. I don't want to pass it on to my kids though That's the way that I feel I want to make changes in 2022 because I don't want to pass it on to my kids I want them to be better than I am And you know what I hope if you're in this room, and you have kids That's the way you feel so how do we assure this plan you say brother Stuckey? Okay? I do have problems I admit there's a problem I Aspire to change I've arranged to change. I've got a plan, but how do I assure that plan to make it work? Well the best way. I think to assure that plan is to get an accountability partner Someone who also is trying to make a change and Basically you confide in each other hey, this is the thing I'm working on this is the thing you're working on Can we work on this together? Can we be accountability partners you say brother Stuckey is this biblical? well have you read James 5 before confess your faults one to another and Pray for one another that you may be healed it is a biblical thing now of course we preach against confession But at the same time there's also a balance between we're not talking about confession But we are talking about having accountability partners can be a helpful thing It's like this in any area of life look you got a big exam you're studying for for college Why is it you study with other people because it's hard to be motivated on your own Right it's hard to be motivated to study for hours and hours, but if you have other people they're drowning in misery and Complaining and upset about it It's easier right Having an accountability partner will help you make a change now Let me read you a verse and then I'm going to spend a couple minutes Just kind of explaining this to try to help you out in 2022 first Corinthians 7 verse 5 It says this defraud ye not one the other except to be with consent for a time Let's talk about in a marriage in terms of a physical union That you may give yourselves to fasting in prayer and come together again that Satan tempts you not for your incontinency And so it talks about if you would make this decision to consent for a time It should only be if you're fasting and praying and it should be something that you agree upon because as husband and wife To become one flesh and so the purpose is for fasting in prayer and things such as that let me just give you a basic example if you decide as a guy that you're gonna go on a fast for a spiritual reason and you don't tell your wife and Then she cooks you a meal and you don't eat it and she spent time doing it Right You have to actually involve your wife in a decision like that because otherwise, how are you gonna go without eating food, right? If you're married, here's what I'm trying to tell you. Your accountability partner should be your spouse They should be it should be your spouse You say brother sucky. I'm excited. I'm a wife in here and there's so many problems in my husband I want to fix this is great or I'm a husband in here I want my wife to make some changes But but here's the thing point number one was on an individual level admitting you have a problem It's not about you telling your spouse what to change. It's about them admitting to themselves the things they need to change Here's the thing if your spouse makes one change for the better, even if it's not the top one on your list That's gonna make them a better spouse for you Right, I came up with things I told my wife I told my wife, you know what it's up to you what you pick Now look if your spouse opens up to you and says hey Can you you let me know what you think I need to work on? Well, then by all means you can have that honest conversation Maybe some people will do that. Maybe some won't but what I'm saying is this if you are married, it should be your spouse Sue become one now it's up to you what you want to do. You don't have to listen to me You don't have to take my advice. You can try to kick all these bad habits on your own and that's fine And I wish you success. I Have trouble thinking that you're gonna be successful though if you fail over and over again Right now I hope you are successful. I hope you prove me wrong and by all means Praise the Lord if you do I'm saying though an accountability partner is a biblical thing. It's actually a helpful thing We're basically you just admit say, you know, honey. This is something I want to work on. It's a change I want to make and then they also say that to you and then you can be accountability partners Meaning that you can kind of ask each other every few days How are you doing on that and look the path to success is probably going to be a lot of failures along the way If you kick a bad habit, you know what you're probably gonna fail along the way a few times Because if something's like an addiction or a habit you just do it without thinking It's gonna take time to realize. Oh, wait a minute. That's right. I shouldn't do it. I'll give you an example In college, I I made just kind of like a friendly bet with one of my friends We're basically he was addicted to drinking pop coke Coca Cola Pepsi, whatever you want to call it We call it pop in West Virginia, right soda pop coke, whatever and he was addicted to whether a coca-cola Pepsi or whatever And he just couldn't live without caffeine every single meal always drinking it So we made a bet and I said well all we'll see who can go longer me without food Are you without drinking pop and I won the bet and the reason why I won the bet is he? Accidentally drank a pop without thinking about it's like ah, I got you I won because just by habit just addicted He just didn't even think about his He's like best two out of three. It's like no I've gone long enough without eating. Okay so If you're addicted to something you might fail along the way but Two are better than one They have a good reward for their labor and a three four fold cord is not quickly broken now Here's the thing if you're not married or if you chose to do it with somebody else as an accountability partner You can go up to someone that you're very close friends with and say hey, would you like to be accountability partners? You know in this challenge because I'm challenging you to pick at least one thing you want to get rid of in 2022 a change you want to make and basically you can open up to one another here's the thing though If you are somebody's accountability partner do not repeat what they tell you That is very important. If somebody tells you hey, I've got this addiction Don't go around telling other people at church If someone says hey, I'm addicted to cigarettes, you know what I need to get rid of this Don't tell other people at church. Don't embarrass them. Don't shame them If someone tells you I'm addicted to pornography don't tell other people at church now that that's a sin But I'm not gonna kick somebody out of church for that sin because that's not something listed in first Corinthians You don't have to tell me about that, right? It's like if somebody chooses you as the partner and and they open up to you don't repeat To other people what they told you in confidence Privately because they're trying to get rid of the habit and you embarrassing them is not going to help them If somebody trusts you enough to pick you as an accountability partner do not break that trust Do not tell other people what it is now. Look I would say this Obviously you use wisdom somebody says I struggle with killing people It's just like brother Alex, you're my accountability partner. I murdered five people this month. Okay. Well use some wisdom We gotta go to the cops That person's a psycho. It's like that. That's a whole nother level somebody if somebody says something that's super criminal Obviously, that's a little bit different But if somebody just comes to you and says hey, I struggle with this sin. I struggle with this world enos I struggle with this bad habit. I struggle with not reading the Bible enough not, you know memorizing the Bible not praying Whatever it is, right. I struggle with being lazy. I struggle with Whatever it is. I struggle with a bad diet whatever they can fight and you don't embarrass that person and look I'm being honest that if somebody came to me and confided something in me, I'm not gonna repeat that even to my wife because There's really not a purpose for it If you confide in me, I'm being honest I won't repeat that to other people the exception would be if you tell me you're a murderer or pedophile then Yeah, then that's a little bit different But if it's just something you struggle with the sin it's just like you know what I'm not gonna kick you out of church because you struggle with this center this worldliness you're trying to Kick because the truth is all of us whether we admit it or not are addicted to at least a few things I'm willing to admit that I have bad habits. I do not want to pass on to my son I'm admitting there's a problem in my life. I have things that I need to change Right, and here's the thing if you're successful in 2022 and kick one bad habit 2023 you can take on another one. I Mean, we're in an uphill climb I mean if you're gonna serve God your whole life then it could be a slow steady growth of of Getting rid of some of the weights and the sins. I mean because the Bible says in Hebrews weights and sins Some things are sinful some things are just kind of weighing you down things that are not necessarily sinful But they're also not helpful Right and so basically getting rid of those problems and slowly making changes in your life Now the reason why this is difficult is because having an accountability partner you have to humble yourself That's not fun That's not easy to make yourself vulnerable where you admit. Hey, you know what people aren't aware, but I struggle with this and Look, it's up to you whether you want to do this or not. You don't have to I am participating in this I think it's a great thing having an accountability partner is biblical because James 5 Confess your faults one to another now. That doesn't mean confess to every single person at church You don't have to do that. But just having an accountability partner. It's gonna help you. Look when I was in college Me and my friends, you know, we would try to challenge each other working out and various things We're real close to one another look having other people Helps you get better having a workout partner helps you because you motivate each other So if you wake up and you don't feel like going to the gym Your accountability partners like hey, no, we're going to the gym. Remember we said 6 a.m it's like can I sleep today and it's like no because You got an accountability partner to help you The Bible says two are better than one and a three four fold cord is not quickly broken So first admit that you have an addiction or a problem next aspire to change Next arrange to change meaning make a structured plan a real detailed plan of what you plan to do Look, if you don't read the Bible on a daily basis, you got to come up with a plan to change that right and Assure that plan by basically Primarily having an accountability partner to help you with that and once again don't repeat other people's problems or sins I wouldn't want somebody embarrassing me with problems I have I wouldn't want them to repeat everything that I would say neither does anyone in this room don't repeat other people's problems But it's a good thing. It's a biblical thing for an accountability partner to help you make changes in 2022 let's close in a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us be here today and getting to see your word in this topic God and I ask you to help us to get rid of some of our addictions and some of our problems God help us to all be humble enough to admit that we have areas of our life. We need to change Help us to have that real strong desire and aspire to make a change God help us to really sit down and take time to arrange a change in our life formulate a plan God and and help us to be able to humble ourselves and feel comfortable with Assuring that plan with an accountability partner that will help motivate us in that goal. God. We just pray these things in Jesus name. Amen Amen for our last song let's turn to him number 64 Turn your hems to him number 64. Let's sing the song shall we gather at the river Lift up your voices on the first verse ready sing Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Amen we're dismissed You