Losing Momentum

ME

Tonight I want to talk with you about the subject of losing spiritual momentum. We’ve all had moments in our lives where we

ME

Illus.: A couple of years ago Julie, the boys and I were heading out on vacation. We packed everything up in our vehicle and were heading out for 4 days or rest and relaxation. The only thing was that we had to stop by a meeting that I had in Middle Tennessee. After that we were on vacation.

I went to the meeting, hopped in the car and we were ready to start our family vacation. We began by visiting Burgess Falls and going on a hike. After that we were gonna grab some frozen yogurt, then head off to the mountains of East Tennessee.

Julie got our her phone and helped us navigate to the forzen yogurt place in the town we were in. We were about to turn in the parking lot of the palce, when I realized that we were losing speed. I gave it more gas, but nothing worked. Something was wrong. The car finally shifted gears and we were back on the road.

WE

Have you ever been moving through life and you found yourself losing moment? You were moving forward, but something happened and you were no longer moving as fast.

Maybe it was a loss of moment in...

your marriage

your career

your fitness or dieting goals

your educational goals

your friendships at school

your social media presence

When this happens, our knee jerk reaction is to try harder. We try harder to be a better - spouse, employee, health junkie, student, friend, or social media guru. Yet, sometimes that doesn't work.

When it comes to our relationship God, many of us have experienced the same thing. We have found that things with God are no longer moving forward like they used to. We no longer are excited about the things of God like we used to be. We are no longer hearing from God like we used to. To be honest we've lost moment in our relationship with God and nothing is working.

So, what do we do when start to lose moment with God?

GOD

In we find John addressing that very subject. Here is what he has to say… [READ ] Here John reveals three powerful truths that all of us who lose momentum with God need to know. The first truth is...

Sin is the problem.

The reason that we lose moment with God is not as result of God moving or us not doing enough of the right things. It's a matter of sin in our life.

In v. 1 John writes...My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

So, right off the bat John tell us the that the thing hinders our relationship with God is sin. As a matter of fact he even shares that he wrote this letter so that these believers wouldn't sin. The bottom line is that sin causes us to lose momentum in our relationship with God.

Illus.: I love to go to the Alabama park and walk on the track. I usually take my phone earbuds and listen to a sermon or podcast. The problem is that I can still get a phone call that way. When I get a phone call I immediately slow down and lose the pace I had set.

The truth is - sin distracts us from God.

Why is sin such a problem? Is it really that big of a deal?

Notice, what John writes in v. 1 - “I am writing these things to you."

Here John is referring to what he had just written down in the proceeding verses in , where he talks about walking in light versus walking in the darkness. When we sin, we walk in darkness and we deceive ourselves. The problem of sin is that it separates us from God and then it blinds us to the fact that we are separated from God. Just like darkness.

Illus.: Last week when we talked about these verses I ask the question - have you ever been in a room when the power went out? What did you do? What happened to the conversations that were going on? Of course, you got distracted in the darkness and you became focused on dealing with the darkness.

The truth is that we all struggle with sin. The truth is that if you are not moving forward in your relationship with God. You've got a sin problem. However, there is hope. There is an answer to the problem of sin.

Jesus is the answer.

In v. 1 John also writes...But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Here John reveals that Jesus is our advocate with the Father. Basically John is using a legal term to express how Jesus is the answer to sin. Here John refers to Jesus as our lawyer who pleads our case before God.

Illus.: Has anyone had to hire a lawyer before? I had to hire a lawyer before concerning a family matter. We hired a guy who seemed to know what he was doing, but when we got to court and the guy had no clue what he was doing. So, we fired him and we hired a lady who took care of the matter in no time flat.

Many of us will try to plead our own case or deal with our sin by trying to be good or do good. Yet, all of our attempts fail. There is only one advocate who can plead our case before God. His name is Jesus.

That's not all in v. 2 john writes...He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

So, not only is Jesus our advocate but he is also our propitiation. The word propitiation refers to a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. So, Jesus death on the cross turns away the punishment that we were due because of our sin.

Illus.: Here is the picture that John is painting. You are in court for a crime that might get you the death penalty. Your lawyer is pleading your case for you. After all of his arguing the jury comes in that you are guilty. The judge slaps the gavel and says that penalty is death. Just when you think they are about to slap the cuffs on you, your lawyer moves you out of the way and takes the cuffs and your penalty himself.

Some of you here today have been trying to deal with your sin all on your own. You have tried to do good to outweigh it, but nothing seems to work. The reason is Jesus is the answer is sin. If you haven't placed your trust in Him, I plead with you to do so today.

Now it is not enough to just place your trust in Jesus, there is more to it. That's why John had one more thing to share with us, which is...

Obedience is the NEXT STEP.

In v. 3 John writes...And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Here John is breaking down the fact that a follower of Jesus who is walking in the light simply wants to obey Jesus. If we don't it's because we aren't following Jesus.

Illus.: I’ve mentioned in the past how Caleb would take off when he was a kid.

Why is obedience so important?

In v. 4-6 John writes...4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Here John unpacks two reasons why obedience is so important...

(1) Obedience shows us who really knows God.

Illus.: When my kids were younger they had a playroom upstairs, but every once and a while things would get rowdy when they have friends over. When that happens, I go to the bottom of the stairs and say - HEY! Do you know who comes to the door? One of my boys if not both. They do so because they know to obey me.

(2) Obedience shows us how to know God more.

Illus.: Share how when I was a kid I used to love to hang with my grandfather. If I wanted to play with the tools I had to follow the rules. As a result I learned more about my grandfather than I did about fixing things.

YOU

1. Some of us here today need to admit that we have a sin problem and that Jesus is the only one who can deliver us from it. [GOSPEL]

2. Some of us here need to make a step of obedience - following Jesus, baptism, joining a community group, serving with other believers. I want to invite you to indicate that on a connect envelope.

If we would trust Jesus to deal with our sin and simply obey Him, we would all find momentum in our relationship with God that we never knew was possible.