Just This Once

Introduction:

Whats up Inverted Youth?!

*explain sermon series title*

Who remembers what was talked about on sunday?

“Hidden things”

“Access is not enough”

That sermon was great but I want us to go deeper

Illustration:

Who here has watched “Mean Girls”?

Can someone tell me what it was about?

I remember that there’s a character named “Cady” that becomes very mean overtime

Let me ask you guys a question:

Have you ever done something just to fit in?

It could be as small as laughing at a joke you shouldn't have

Maybe it was a “small lie” you needed to tell

Maybe you commented on something you wish you didnt

Some of those things paints you to be a specific person in that moment and we would never realize it.

But whenever we do any of this theres this one truth

Nobody plans to become someone they don't recognize

So when we look at the movie “Mean Girls”, we see that Cady doesn’t just wake up and say, “I want to become fake and mean.”

It started small.

Janis and Damian encourage Cady to infiltrate a group called “The Plastics”.

This was a group that was just full of mean girls

But she joined so she can gather information on group.

But slowly as time passed she started to walk and talk like she was a “Plastic”

And all of this happened overtime, she didnt realize it but slowly she would compromise one value at a time.

It wasn’t one giant decision. It was a hundred tiny ones.

Cady Thought, maybe just for this lunch ill do this

Maybe just this once ill lie

Maybe just this once ill insult this girl

Every “Just this once” became easier for the the next one to be done

The Compromise happens one step at a time.

I feel like most people and especially christians can fall into this trap.

[Jas 1:14-15 CSB] 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Talk about verse relevance

Thats why tonights message is called “Just this Once”. Because thats how compromise starts.

Thats how the prison doors open for us

Before we know it we are trapped and behind bars.

So before we dive into this sermon im going to go through it with you guys using 3 main ideas.

For those of you taking notes you can write these down now or as we go on, but its this:

The Lie: “It’s not a Big Deal”

The Shift: You Start Changing

The Reality: You’re not Who you Were

1. The Lie: “It’s Not A Big Deal!”

This is the first step into the process of getting us into the prison of sin.

Its the small subtle moments we dont necessarily pay attention to

This is where the Enemy loves to attack from

When we think of spiritual war, that word “War” makes it seem a lot more violent than it really is in terms of how plain it is.

In one sense it is violent in the way its dangerous and can harm us, but its not a loud type of violence.

Most of the time the enemy uses isolation is the stepping stone.

Think of it this way, Lightbulb in pitch black room analogy

So in isolation, the darkness has room to spread and grow

But in once the light is introduced whether through confession to one another or in repentance to the Lord and giving it to God, the darkness is consumed and is unable to the same grip it has had on you

[Pro 14:12 CSB] 12 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

Now this verse speaks a lot to the paths we take as people, whether we learn to listen to God or to ourselves when we make decisions for whats next in our lives

but I feel like this also can speak to the idea of sin creeping in to our lives

When we look back at the “Mean Girls” example, we see how Cady slowly made compromises to her integrity.

She would have moments when she would wrestle with doing something like lie or comment something bad to someone, and in her mind she says to herself “its not a big deal, im just trying to fit in”

Before you know it, she opens that prison door in her life and then she shifts……

2. The Shift: You Start Changing

This is where everything from the first point becomes amplified.

You begin justifying your actions

You downplay the seriousness of your actions

You frequently make the wrong decisions

If you didnt catch yourself in the first round, you REALLY need to catch yourself here before its too late.

[Rom 6:16 CSB] 16 Don't you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey -- either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

In this scripture we read “you are slaves of that one you obey”

Has anyone ever tried to stop doing a bad habit and failed horribly?

Tried to swear less

Tried to stop eating bad food

Tried to pull back bad attitude

This is where we’ve no longer just opened the door to the prison, but instead we walked into it.

At this point you’re surroundings begin to look different

People recognize more of the changes in you

The thing is we dont realize this but now you’ve become a slave to those habits.

It feels impossible to stop those habits because you’ve created a reliance on them because they appeared to help you in one situation or another,

This is a dangerous place to be in because we dont realize it but we start to forget that the habits are truly bad

Before you know it, the prison becomes your reality…….

3. The Reality: You’re Not Who You Are

Now you’ve completed reached the end of this evolution of yourself.

It started with the Lie

The Lie became easier in time

Now you live by the lie.

Have you ever met someone, or even done this to yourself at one point, but you started to believe the lies?

At this point its even more difficult than ever to snap out of it.

The Lie became so prominent in your life that now everyday you rely on it and even believe in it.

You not only walked into the prison, but now youve closed the door behind yourself.

A lot of people in this stage end up with a huge and problematic feeling of depression and loss.

This is the point where now you wake up in the morning, you look at yourself in the mirror, you remember the mistakes from last night, and you know in your mind you need to stop, but you just dont.

You’ve accepted that the prison of your lie is now your reality.

But let me tell you something this is itself a complete Lie.

You believe your identity is wrapped around what decisions youve made and what prison cells you’ve chosen, but thats a lie.

But you’re so consumed by this prison that you dont even care to find the jey and exit, you’re comfortable.

You made friends that validate the lies

You validate the lies to yourself

But now you’ve lost the person you once were/or you prevent yourself from seeing the person you can truly become.

[Rom 7:19 CSB] 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

This is the apostle Paul writing to the Romans and hes openly admitting that theres a lie that hes battling with.

Paul calls it a “thorn in his side”

Could be physical or spiritual

But listen, if you feel like there’s no hope and you’re beating yourself up, this is the greatest apostle to ever live, the man that singlehandedly propelled the early church into fruition

This leads me to my final point.

4. But there’s Hope

Maybe you’ve found yourself in one of these stages. If it was the first one, then i urge you to turn away now and save yourself heartache

Maybe youre in the second one, you’ve caused/felt pain or youre trying to ignore the habit, i beg of you to catch yourself now before it becomes worse and run to the father

Maybe you’re here today and you’ve completely found yourself in the last stage.

You’re no longer who you were

you dont recognize yourself anymore.

You feel helpless and lost

You live with regret and shame

Listen, The apostle Paul admitted he had been a slave to his lie, he was so sucked into it that before he become an apostle of God he was known as the “Murderer of Christians”.

But you sit here and you ask me

“David, wheres the hope in all of this?”

And you might expect the answer “Jesus”

But in reality this is the truth.

I have good news for you:

You can be saved even just as you are right now

But you dont need to stay stuck.

The word of God makes it clear to us how we can truly experience this hope.

So lets go through how we can move forward into freedom, how we can steal that prison key back from the devil and be set free.

And to make this as easy as possible, I made this a simple step-by-step guide for you to be able to follow along and actually put into practice these things.

Step 1 Give your burdens and your life to God:

[1Jo 1:9 CSB] 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The bible teaches us that we give our lives to God by believing in our hearts and confessing with our tongues that Jesus died the death we should have died for our sins.

This should be our first step to finding hope if you do not yet have Christ in your life

For those of you who have already given your life to God but youre trying to break free of whatever prison it is that you’re in, this is what you do:

Still confess to God, and Repent again.

This is the first step to being cleansed from anything God does not want within us.

But for anyone who has not given their lives to Christ yet, I will give an opportunity for you to do so at the end of this sermon.

Step 2 learn about what God thinks about you now as a child of God:

[Rom 8:1-2 CSB] 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Now that you’ve stepped into the Grace of God, God does not look at you with condemnation or shame.

When God sees you now, he sees his son Jesus instead.

Elaborate on the beauty of that

[Rom 6:6-7 CSB] 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin.

Since you’ve taken that first step to Jesus, This verse shows us what happened.

The moment we accept Jesus into our lives, our slate is wiped clean.

Every wrong thing you have done, every hurt, every pain, every sin no longer appears on your record.

God who is the righteous judge and jury of the universe no longer holds you to your crimes.

Even in the prison cell you got yourself into no longer exists to him.

God instead sees us for our potential. He sees Jesus, his precious son being beaten and tortured on our behalf instead of our wrongdoings.

Once you receive this revelation of salvation, that sin is now powerless. You have the authority to walk out of your prison cell with those keys.

[Psa 34:18 CSB] 18 The LORD is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.

God is now your comforter, you can rest in him. The doom and broken heart you had is not alone anymore. God sees you. He Loves you so much. And he just needs you to know that.

[Jhn 1:12 CSB] 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

You are a child of God. If you said yes to Jesus you’ve now been adopted into God’s family. He is now your heavenly father.

Its amazing to think about how the creator of the entire universe finds joy in just having us trust in him.

Go into how he was your only father growing up

So now step 3

Step 3 Find someone who can hold you accountable:

Talk openly about these verses

[Jas 5:16 CSB] 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

[Ecc 4:9-10 CSB] 9 Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. 10 For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.

Step 4 Learn to Fast to build discipline for stronger - but not permanent - self discipline:

Explain fasting and its role in building discipline in believers

Longevity is a result

Motivation vs discipline?