Teach n, Talk (2)

Intro

It is the second Wednesday of the month so it is our teach and Talk night

I have only gotten to do this one time because of snow and because of not being here

And you are all sitting evenly distributed for a reason

We are going to be talking about something that I know that all of us can relate to

That being take the first 5ish mins introduce yourself

with the topic we are talking about this is going to require some honesty and vulnerability

even more so its going to require you to be a little seriousness

Because today what we are talking about

How to deal with our sin cycles

Real quick, How many of you have ever sinned?

And you don’t to raise your hand for this next one

But I think if we are honest there are sins our lives that we more than once

And maybe we have even created a habit of them

Maybe its that happens when you see a certain person

Maybe its something that you believe about yourself or other people

Maybe its something that you are tempted by that you like, and you know you shouldn’t

There are all sorts of sins right

Here is another question for you

How many of you have ever committed a sin before

And you have said to yourself “Why do I keep doing this?”

Or maybe you’ve said “I shouldn’t have done that”

And so we are going to talk what are some practical things that we can do when we find ourselves in those moments

And even more so what are some things that we can remind oursleves with

Just like last time. I am going to share

And then you are going to have some opportunities to go through some questions

So the first thing that I believe we can do

1. Your power isn’t enough

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

One thing that I think is super important for us to admit with our struggles

Is not only that they exist 1.

But that we can’t do it on our own

How many of you if your’e honest

You hate asking for help?

I think for many of us this is where we end up at

Because this is what our world in many ways tells us to do

I just need to work harder

You are struggling in this way, be better

We even do it in Christianity

We start to get that check list mentality

alright well if I am Christian

I need make sure I don’t do this, and I don’t do that

And there is some truth to that in many ways because we are called to reflect Jesus and He was perfect

However can’t do it in our own power

In this scripture Paul is talking about his struggles, his pains. things that he is going through

And I love it because he says that he begged for the Lord to take it away, but the Lord says

“My Grace is all you need, My power works best in weakness”

I love this because the Lord is telling Paul

When you can’t do something it give me the opportunity to show hoe powerful he is

Our weakness gives us the opportunity to lean on the one who can truly help us

And so I say that to start us off to encourage you

If you are struggling with a sin

1. there is hope

And 2. there is someone who can help you

There is someone who has the power to overcome it

*Preface before questions. be respectful of each other and what is shared*

QUESTION TIME

2. Use your tools

Psalm 119:9–11 “How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. I have tried hard to find you— don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Some of you already memorized this scripture

And I love it, because it speaks exacty for our topic today

David is talking and he asks the simple question

How can a young person stay pure??

Or in other words. how can somebody stay away from sin

Or eliminate sin struggles

And he makes it clear

One of the greatest ways for us to do it is by hiding his word in our hearts

knowing scripture

memorizing it

knowing what his word says about who we are and our lives

Let me give you analogy that might help you out

How many of you like Iron man?

Iron man is one of my favorite super heroes

You wanna know why?

He has no super powers

He is simply a normal guy

Yeah he’s a genius billionarie, also true

But you know he doesn’t have super speed, he cant shoot lightening bolts, he isn’t genetically enhanced

So how does he fight

He uses his tools right

He has suit, and the various gadgets

And attachments

He got his sunglasses

Hes got Jarvis right

like he uses his tools that he has in his tool belt

Shamless batman plug to. reason why I love him

I say that about them because the same goes for us

You and I don’t have the power like I already shared

But God did give us access to his tools

He gave us acess to his word, and a connection of prayer

I am going to honest with you. there are times that i don’t always use it either

There are times that I Forget to use those tools in my tool belt

To deal with sin patterns in our life we need to be honest enough to say that we can’t do it on our own

But we also need to use the tools that God has given us

Thats why we say it so much at church

Not to grill you, not to sound like we know everything

But because we need it

QUESTION TIME

3. Eliminate triggers

Matthew 5:29–30 “So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

How many of you like apples

I love apples

Maybe you have experienced before

But There are times when you get an apple

And there is big old nasty part

Or maybe a big bruised part

No if you are any normal person what do you do with that part?

You cut it out right

And we do that right not because the entire apple is awful right there is still goodness in it right

There are parts of it that are healthy

But this parts we shouldn’t keep

Our lives are the exact same way

Jesus is talking in this scripture about parts of our lives that cause us to sin

and He uses this extreme analogy

If you eyes causes to look with lust gouge it out

If you hand causes you to sin cut it off

Jesus is saying for us to self in this passage

But is using this extreme example to make the point that it extremely easy for us to get attached to things that cause us to sin

And guess what if that thing is making us do it. we need get rid of it

Now our brains can instantly go to the extreme things

Oh dont alcohol, get rid of it

Oh don’t do drugs, stay away

But I believe this applies to all the sins our lives

our anger

our resentment

our jealously

However I want to take this idea one step further

because I don’t think Jesus is jesus is just telling us stuff we shouldn’t do, but I think he is also

Telling us to get rid of the things that trigger us to sin in the first place

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT???

If you struggle with alcohol, maybe you should stop hanging out at the bar

If you struggle with wasting on your phone, but some screen time timer on your phone

If you struggling with being adult websites that you shouldn’t be on put website blockers on your phone

If you got a problem with Cussing maybe turn off Kendrick and Travis Scott for a little bit

The point is there are real steps you can take to able to help with your spiritual commitments

And I say that because too many of us think we can throw up a 30 second prayer but not have any real rhythms in place to protect our commitment

When we do this we fail

Its like praying to arrive somewhere safely and then texting and driving the whole way there

Its like praying to lose weight and then hitting the McDonalds drive thru every morning

What do you expect

I don’t say that to beat you up.

I say to hopefully push you towards taking some practical steps to draw closer to Jesus

QUESTION TIME

4. Don’t fight solo

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.”

How many of you guys like or play Fortnite

For those of you that don’t know Fortnite

Which I feel like all of you

Fortnite is a battle royale

Which means that you are a game with a whole bunch of other people and you have to be the last surving person or team out of everyone else

If you survive past everyone else. you win

Now like said there are different very variants of the game

you can play by your self of you can play

Duos

Trios?

Squads with 4 people

Now why do I say all of this

I say this because everybody knows that when you with other people

There always that one person in your squad who doesn’t stick with the team

They are off doing their own thing

Trying to find loot somewhere

Or they are always the one that goes in guns abalzing

They think they can clutch up in every situation, and they fail

and this is not just in fortnite

This is in every scenario

Anybody a ball hog when they play games????

Why do I say all of that

Because we are supposed to be team players in these but it also applies to real life

God did not create us to go through life alone

We are not supposed to be able to figure it out by oursleves

God gave us other people for a reason

And the Bible shows us that as christians we should be able to lean on each other

We all have bad days we all have struggles

we can’t be too prideful to come to one another

Because guess what when we do add someone else we become stronger.

So what does that mean for you?

Find someone in your life that you can go to

They help you stay away from sin

And that can help strive after Jesus over and over

QUESTION TIME

HAVE A STUDENT END IN PRAYER

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER AT TABLE