[MUSIC PLAYING] [CHEERING] Thank you. Wow. Thank you. I greatly appreciate that. My wife really should be here
to receive that applause, more so than me. I mean, she's the one that had
to live with me for 40 years. So you know, we got married on
June 13 in Southern California. I had not lived here yet. And it-- on that day--
usually, summers and so are like 75 degrees. It was over 100 degrees there. So sort of like here. You know, the last
couple of days, there's one dominating
thought that I have had, not even related
to my anniversary. But it's been, I'm
just thankful to God that somebody invented
the air conditioner. I don't know who that was. But he should be canonized a
saint or something for that. I don't know how people
lived in this kind of heat without air conditioning. I know you get used to
it, and it's a dry heat. But you know, so
is a blast furnace. So I'm just really grateful
that we have air conditioning. Right now, we're in
a comfortable spot. And let's get our hearts
on fire, all right? [APPLAUSE] Let's turn to
Colossians, chapter 3. I've always been amused by the
story of the man that was hired to paint a church building. Pastor hired him to do it. The man took paint and
proceeded to paint the building. But he knew, even
from the beginning, he did not have enough
paint to finish the job. So added paint thinner. And painted, and
he ran out again. And he added more thinner,
and he painted some more, and ran out. Added more thinner, and he put
a very thin veneer of paint across the whole building. Well the next day,
after he was done, a rainstorm came
through and just took all the paint-- washed
it all off the building, which is very disappointing to the
pastor of that church, who came to him, and like
only a preacher could do, put his finger in the man's
face and said, repaint and thin no more. [LAUGHTER] That's a pastor's joke. Repaint and then no more. It's also a dad joke. Father's Day is next week,
so I can get away with it. You know what, though? We often try to cover up,
with a thin coat of religion or morality, our lives. But at some point in
this Christian walk, we have to learn what it
is to break bad habits. Everybody has bad habits. And there are some bad habits
that are pretty harmless. I think biting
your fingernails-- it's obnoxious. But it's pretty harmless. I know somebody's
going to come to me and go, no, research
has been done. And you know, Dr.
Fauci has found-- I don't know what it is. But I think it's a pretty
harmless bad habit. There are even some bad
habits that are endearing. I knew a cute gal one time that
when she laughed, she snorted. And she was always
embarrassed by that. But we all thought
it was just cute. It was endearing. It was her, and we
didn't mind that. But there are other
bad habits that are very serious, because they
become addictive behaviors. They become life
dominating sins-- alcoholism, substance abuse,
pornography, uncontrolled anger can dominate a life and
ruin a relationship. Something you'll
discover about sin-- sin never seems irresistible until
you want a break from it. Then you discover
that certain behaviors have a very strong grip,
a very strong pull. You sort of feel like the guy
who tried to drain the swamp. And he kept taking water, out
and more water kept coming in. And he kept this
until he discovered that swamp was being Fed
by an underground spring, and that he would
never successfully be able to empty at all. Well, in this
little series, we're going to take well-known
titles of films and give a scriptural bent
to an underlying issue. And this is Breaking Bad Habits. You know, it's unfortunate. But New Mexico is known, h
and internationally, because of that series Breaking Bad. Oh yeah, Albuquerque--
Breaking Bad! And it's like really? Of all of the reasons you
want to remember a town, it's for the bad underbelly
of a drug culture? I would love it
if our community, our spiritual
community in this town, were known for breaking bad
habits, and we would see and they would see that
victory is ours in Christ. Now this brings up
an issue I just want to address as we get into it. And just fair warning-- I'm not going to exaggerate
this passage in its entirety. There's too many verses. I'm going to barely
skim the surface and extract some
major principles. But brings up a question. Why is it that we are tempted? Or let me reframe it. Why does God allow
temptations to occur? Or maybe a better
way even to put that is, why does God allow the
temptations to be so strong? I mean, he is God. He is all powerful. Certainly, he could,
if he wanted to, dial down the
temptation in our lives, or maybe dial up our ability to
handle them to overcome them. But he doesn't do that. He lets us face
them full strength. Now you need to know
something about this. I don't want this to
get away without saying, God never tempts us to sin. So you can ever say
well, it's God's fault. It is never God's fault. It is
always a choice that you make, even if that choice has been
made to the point where you are controlled by that activity. God is never to blame. The Bible says
clearly, in James 1, let no one say when he is
tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be
tempted by evil, nor does he tempt any man. However, God gives lead
us into vulnerable places. I think we would all admit that. The Bible says Jesus was
led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted by the devil. Jesus taught us to pray,
lead us not into temptation. So he doesn't shield us from
the temptations of life. So why that? Is there anything good
that could come out of these temptations to sin? Actually, there are a few good
things that come out of it. First of all, temptation
tests our loyalty. You really can't
say you love someone unless you have made
hard choices in regard to that someone. So saying no to
temptation is a way to confirm your love for God. God allows them, I think,
because he wants our passion for him to be greater
than our passion for sin. So temptations test our loyalty. There's a second benefit. They transform our lives. And really, I think
that's what God is getting at when we are
allowed to face situations that are highly tempting to us. God is taking us
there because he wants that to be a
point of transformation. He doesn't just want to
deliver us from something. He wants to deliver
us to something. And then, not only that, but
temptations teach us things. They teach us lessons. And one of the biggest
lessons to learn in temptation is a thing called
grace, God's grace. Aren't you glad for God's grace? Because we deal with sin. We deal with temptation. We deal with habits. And I love what
Paul said in Romans. Where sin abounds,
grace abounds much more. And Paul even talked about
his struggle with an area where he prayed three times. And the Lord finally said,
my grace is all you need. It's sufficient for you. So there are upsides to us. But what I want to do is,
looking at Colossians, chapter 3-- we're going to
take a pretty sizable chunk of text-- is I want to give you three
steps, three key steps into break to
breaking bad habits, three key steps to
breaking bad habits. Notice, I did not
say three easy steps. And that is because
they don't exist. There are no such things
as easy things to do. But these are three
general and key principles. And the first step to
breaking a bad habit is, you and I, we need to think clearly. Verse 1, if then you
were raised with Christ-- notice this language. If then you were
raised with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ is, sitting at the
right hand of God. Set your mind-- notice that. Think clearly. Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the Earth. For you died, in your life
is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is
our life, appears, then you also will
appear with him in glory. If you're going to
do anything in life, you have to first
learn about that thing. If you're going to
be an artist, you have to know
something about color, and palettes and
techniques, styles. If you're going to
be a doctor, you need to know something about
the human body, hopefully a lot about the human body. If you're going to
be a car mechanic, you need to know something
about engines, right? You need to learn. So it is in spiritual life. Learning always
comes before living. Doctrine always
comes before doing. If Satan can keep
you ignorant, Satan can keep you impotent
in your spiritual life. That's why, every time
we gather together, we say open your Bible, and let's
read, and let's consider. Even though you may have read
that passage several times before, we get refreshed
with the knowledge of God. Now there are several spiritual
realities that are listed here. And these are things
we need to know. What is that spirituality? Well, here it is. Let me sum what we just read up. You died. You were raised. Your life is now hidden
with Christ in God. And when he appears,
when Jesus comes back, you will appear
with him in glory. Four realities-- you died. You were raised. Your life is hidden. When he appears,
you'll appear in glory. Now those are truths that
are positional truths. You have haven't actually
experience them in actuality. They're not literal. They're all about
identification. You died spiritually. You are alive spiritually. They're positional truths. You might say this. Life is what you're alive to. So a child will come
alive when you tell him that you're going to take
him on a trip to Disneyland. Really? When? A young teenage
boy will come alive when you talk about the cute
girl he likes at school, or the car that he
wants to drive soon. A girl, a woman might come alive
when you talk about fashion. I'm speaking in generalities. Forgive me for that. Or a man might come alive if
you talk about golf, or camping, or sports, whatever it might be. Question-- what made
Paul come alive? Jesus. Exactly. And that's not spiritual talk. He actually did. He wrote in Philippians, he
said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And look at verse 4 of our text. When Christ, who is
our life shall appear, we shall appear
with him in glory. So there are certain things
we need to know and set our minds on them. Basically, you need
to know two things. You need to know,
number one, you're dead. You go, I am? I'm dead? I didn't even know I was sick. How can I be dead? Well, you're dead
to the old life, the old you, the old manor
of life, the flesh life. The flesh doesn't dominate. It shouldn't dominate you. You say yeah, but it does. I have bad habits. But you need to
know positionally that you're dead to that. The old Skip died
and was buried-- you might say publicly
executed, publicly buried on the day I was baptized. That's what that was all about. That was a declaration, public
declaration, demonstration that the old life had passed. I was dead to it. I'm alive to something else. Now this is language that we
even use in relationships. I'll pick one, because
I know of this situation where, in a Jewish
family, a young man gave his life to Jesus Christ. And when that man
converted to Christianity, his father said to him,
son, you are dead to me. That doesn't mean you
are actually dead. Doesn't mean you
are literally dead. But it does mean
positionally, you are dead. The relationship between
father and son has changed. So you need to know
that in God's mind, he thinks the same way. You are dead-- not
to him, but you are dead to the old way of life. That's how he sees it. And that's how you
and I need to see it. Romans chapter 6,
verse 11, Paul writes, therefore reckon yourselves
also to be dead to sin but alive to God. So we're dead. Second, you're alive. You say, well now I'm
confused, because you just said I was dead. I did. But you're also alive. Look at verse 1. If then you were
raised with Christ-- that's resurrection. Seek those things
which are above, where Christ is sitting
at the right hand of God. Jesus conquered death
by resurrection. It is that resurrection
power that you and I identify with for power
to overcome bad habits. He was raised. You were raised. So you're dead,
and you're alive. You are both dead and alive. Remember the old westerns? They put up posters,
wanted dead or alive? Gods poster is wanted
dead and alive. I want you dead to the old. But I want you alive to this. The trouble is, many Christians
live an in between life. You might say they live between
Good Friday and Easter Sunday. They're sort of dead to the
old, but sort of alive to God, if something else isn't around. They're not really
enjoying full victory. So the first step to break a
bad habit is to know truth. No truth. Now I know that perhaps,
some are listening to this. And you're thinking this, maybe. Well, this is just words. To write a letter and say
you're dead, you're alive-- that's just semantics. Well, I beg to differ with you. It is so true that God
reckons it as fact, and the problem is
you and I don't, OK? So here's an example. Let's say a child is
adopted from one family and taken into another family. Now when he is
adopted, that doesn't change the way he looks. His appearance is
still the same. His activities and
actions may, for a time, still be even the same. But he's in a new family. He's been adopted. The Bible tells us we are
adopted into God's family. Everything changes. Might not feel like it. You might not look
like it outwardly. But an adoption has taken place. Now let's press the
analogy a little further. Let's say that young man
was adopted from one family into another, and the family he
came out of was a slave family. Let's say he's in
a part of the world where slavery still exists,
and he is adopted and put into a royal family,
a family of kings. Well, he may not know it. But he has a great
inheritance now. He has new relationships, and he
even has power at his disposal that he may or may
not realize right now. But it is a fact. So knowing this,
knowing that we're dead and alive and hidden
and will be in glory, we need to think clearly. And a couple of words
I want you to notice-- verse 1, he says if
you then were raised with Christ, which is a fact. You didn't know that. Then seek those things which
are above, where Christ is, sitting at the
right hand of God. Verse 2, set your mind
on things above, not on things of the Earth. Here's what I want
you to see here. You don't get it from a
typical English translation. But in the original language
that it's translated from, the Greek language, those
two words seek and set, set your mind, are imperatives. They're commands, right? It's a command to do something. But it's a present
active imperative, which denotes an ongoing practice. So a full translation, or
an accurate translation, would be seek and
keep on seeking. Set your mind on and
keep setting your mind on those things which are above. The language speaks
of persistence. The language speaks
of not giving up. So in the context of
what we're talking about, make a mental determination
that you will not wallow in your past defeat. Well, but I've fallen down, and
this habit gets the best of me. And I keep blowing it. Keep seeking. Keep setting your mind. Don't wallow in past defeat. Make that mental determination
that you will seek, and that you will set your mind. But I failed. Hey, you want to know
something really cool? Albert Einstein was
kicked out of school. you say he was? Yeah, can you imagine
kicking Albert Einstein? I'm sorry, kid. You can't handle it. Albert Einstein's teacher
said that he lacked interest in his studies. Probably just meant the
teacher was a bad teacher. Albert Einstein lacked
interest in his studies. So he was kicked out of school. Later on, he tried to
attend another school in Zurich, Switzerland. But he failed the entrance exam. Love that. Albert Einstein failed. So he got a job in a
boarding house as a tutor, until he was fired. Failure after failure
after failure-- but the rest of
the story, right? E equals cm squared
later, guy's a legend. Because he kept seeking. he kept setting his mind. He kept getting up. He didn't wallow in past defeat. Satan-- you got to know
something about Satan. He always lies to you. He lies on a number of levels. First of all, he tries
to get you to indulge in the temptation, the habit. He knows that's your weak
area, and he says go ahead. Everybody does stuff like this. It'll just be one more time. God will forgive you. Just don't worry about it. You're a good person. Go ahead. So you do it. And then as soon as you
do it, his second lie is, I can't believe
you just did that. What a horrible
Christian you are. God's not going to forgive you
if you keep just coming back for this stuff. Or he'll say this-- you
will never break free from the chains of this habit. You are going to be
stuck in this forever. So let me give you a
little tip, a hack. The tip is to think
of the end game. While you're fighting the battle
here, struggling with the habit here, think of the end game. Seek those things
which are above. Set your mind on things
above, where Christ is. That's heaven. Well why should I
think about heaven when I'm struggling on Earth? Because that's where
you're going to spend the bulk of your resistance. So one of the
helps is to realize you are created as an
eternal being, even in the midst of the
struggle, for another place. That provides a certain
kind of impetus for you. So think clearly. Here's the second key step
to breaking a bad habit. After thinking clearly,
act decisively. Verse 5, therefore--
and this is what I love about Paul's letters. There's always a therefore. He's so practical. He'll always teach us
things, tell us doctrine. But in his letters,
he says therefore, because he wants
you to apply it. And he does here. Therefore, put to
death your members, which are on the Earth-- fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire and covetousness,
which is idolatry. Because of these
things, the wrath of God is coming upon the
sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once
walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves
are to put off all these-- anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since
you have put off the old man, with his deeds, and
have put on the man, who has renewed in
knowledge, according to the image of him who
created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, city,
and slave or free. But Christ is all and in all. Therefore, is the elect
of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness,
humility, meekness, suffering. Once you've pondered
your position, now you need to
practice your position. That's the second
part-- act decisively. Once you've fallen down,
once you've determined, I need to get up, now get up. Now get up. Somebody once said, the longest
journey you'll ever take is the inches from your
head to your heart. That's where you move
from the thinking part to the conviction
part, from just I know certain facts, truths. But now they really
become a part of me, and I really believe them. So the longest journey
you'll ever take is the inches from your
head to your heart. I agree with that, but I
want to add something to it. Once it's in your heart,
it's got to move your feet. So our theology must
eventually become our be-ology. It's who we are. It's what we do. Or maybe better put, our
theology needs to become our knee-ology, where we
pray about it, surrender-- I'm convicted by this, Lord-- and then our be-ology,
where we're walking in this and acting decisively. So what are we to act on? How are we to do that? Well, verse 5, put to death your
members which are on the Earth. Verse 8, put off all these--
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, et cetera. Verse 10, put on, and a
list of behaviors are given. So put to death,
put off, and put on. All of these are commands
that involve our what? Our will, our will, our
decision, our choice-- which shows, me just
by the very language, it shows me there's always
an element of self-control when it comes to
breaking bad habits. Self-control. You say well,
that's the problem. I've done this so long,
I've lost control. This is why we need
to act decisively. And if you need help, get
help to act decisively. I heard about a preacher
who was pulled over for speeding-- not me. [LAUGHTER] Though I have been,
but it wasn't me. And this preacher was
pulled over for speeding. And the officer
said what officers do-- license and
registration, sir, right? So the guy, pastor, gives him
his license and registration, but tried to play
the spiritual card. So handed him the documents, but
then said, Matthew chapter 5. Blessed are the merciful. They shall obtain mercy. Cop said, yeah, OK. Thanks. Goes back to the car. Writes him a ticket. Very courteously hands
it to the offender. And when he hands him the
ticket says, oh, by the way, John chapter 8-- go and sin no more. [LAUGHTER] See dude, it's not on me
for giving you a ticket. It was your foot on
that accelerator. You made that choice. That was your control. So why should we
act so decisively? Because your choice
can become your habit. And then your habit can
become your addiction. And your addiction can
become your lifestyle. Did you know that
we rewire our brains by consecutive, consistent
behavioral patterns, where pretty soon the behavior
becomes chronic? Hard wired, and
that has to change. So go back where it says, in
verse 5, therefore put to death your members. Put these things to death. So here's the solution
for your flesh. Ready? Kill it. Say that to your neighbor. Kill it. Yeah, that's what
you've got to do. You can't compromise
with the flesh. You can't say this. OK, this is a real
struggle with me. I'm going to taper down. No, kill it. God's answer is
always the cross. It is to die. Let me remind you of something. See if you remember
this from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
chapter 5, Jesus speaking. If you're right eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out and
cast it from you, for it is more profitable for
you that one of your members perish than for your whole
body to be cast into hell. OK, was Jesus clear or not? And if your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from
you, for it is better than one of your members perished
than for your whole body to be cast into hell. You go come on! That's gross! That's the intended effect. The intended effect is for
you to hear that and go, that's gross. Because that's how we
should think about sin. It's gross. It's so destructive. It should shock us. Now when Paul says put
to death your members, or when Jesus says
cut off the right hand or pluck out your eye, he is not
advocating amputation surgery. Because the problem is
never the hand or the eye. The problem is always the-- always the heart. There are societies today that
if you get caught stealing, they will cut your
hand off, to this day, in the era in which we live. It's called Iran. That's what they
do with thieves. They cut off a hand or a finger. Common practice. I heard about years ago in
England, that they did this. It was brutal back then,
even in Western culture. And one man was a
pickpocket, a thief. He was caught. They cut off his right hand. He was caught again for doing
it again, because he still had a left hand. That cut off his left hand. He kept stealing. You say how could he? He pickpocketed
it with his teeth. Now that could be legend. I don't know. You might look it up on Snopes
and go no, a fake story. But the point is, the problem
is not the hand, right hand or left hand or eye. The problem is in our hearts. So the point of this, and
the point of what Jesus said, is that we should deal
radically with sin. Cut it off. Put it to death. We should deal
radically with sin. We should cut off
opportunities immediately. Listen to what Paul writes
to young Timothy, a man who is tempted by the world. Flee youthful lusts. Flee. Means run. Sometimes the best way of
escape is your own two feet. Joseph found that
out when Potiphar's his wife grabbed him and
said, come to bed with me. And it says, in the book of
Genesis, he actually ran. He streaked out,
because she was still holding his clothes his robe. And he just ran out
of the house naked. But at least he ran. So when you're in a temptable
position, here's a tip. Get up and get out. Sometimes, the best solution
to temptation is evacuation. Just walk away. You say it's so rude. You mean, I get up? Just stand up and walk? Yeah, be rude. You have my permission. Be absolutely rude if it's
going to keep you from falling. [APPLAUSE] Now, just go back, and we're
just going to brush over this. But Paul tells his audience
to break bad habits in two categories. He has to lists. Did you notice that? He has a list of
sins in verse 5, and another list of
sins in verse 8 and 9. It is not an exhaustive list,
and Paul has many such lists in his writings. I'm not going to take the
time to hash through them. But I do want you
to notice a pattern. The first list, in verse
5, is what we feel and do. The second list, in
verse 8, is what we say. The first list, in verse
5, is about perverted love. The second list, in verse 8
and 9, is about perverted hate. The first list deals
with sensual sins. The second list deals
with social sins, what G. Campbell Morrigan
called sins in good standing-- stuff that people do, and we go
everybody says that, does that. Now just take a quick look at
this description once again in verse 5. Fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire, covetousness, and then, verse
8, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language
out of your mouth-- that to me sounds like
90% of our entertainment. And I'm being conservative
in that estimate. If you think of what-- this
stuff that we expose ourselves to, we are on, in the
entertainment world, we're in sensual overload. I'm not going to overstate
this when I say this. Most people, or it's possible
for the average person today to get more sensuality
in one evening than their grandparents got
in their entire lifetime. And because it's so prevalent
and inundated so much, we become numb to it. It's really-- it's like so what? And then, in verse 8
and 9, anger, wrath, blasphemy-- that's like
that's like a routine tour of social media. So here's a tip if
you struggle in any of the areas of these lists. The tip is to keep
as much distance-- one is to run away. But now keep as much distance as
you can between you and the sin you struggle with. Keep as much
distance as possible. Yeah, It's not always possible. You can run away from things. But you and I live in this
culture, this sensual oriented, secular culture. So we're exposed to a lot. So keep as much distance as
you can from that temptation, that point of weakness. Solomon wrote to his son,
in Proverbs chapter 1. Said if sinners entice,
you do not consent. Do not walk in
the way with them. Get new friends, son. Then in Proverbs chapter 5,
he talked about a prostitute-- because they were
prevalent back then-- the lure, the temptation
of sexual misbehavior. And he says to his son,
remove your way far from her and do not go near
the door of her house. Don't even walk down her street. Don't walk by the magazine rack. Don't get on your computer when
you're alone at a certain time. Don't have that conversation. Keep as much
distance as you can. I read just two days ago
something that fascinated me, and I wanted to
make application. Archaeologists, in
digging up the tombs of the pharaohs in Egypt, have
found that with the pharaohs, they often buried grain
for the afterlife. That was their belief. So you have grain
in a tomb that's been there for 4,000 years. So the fascinating thing the
archaeologists discovered is when you planted
some of those seeds, you expose them to
sunlight, you expose them to nutrients and
water, they grow. So you have seeds for 4,000
years gave no evidence of life at all. But under the right
conditions, they sprout. Now here's how I
want to apply that. You and I, all of
us, have all sorts of dormant, sinful proclivities
just under the surface-- all of us. Keep them buried. Don't excavate them. Don't let them out. Don't expose them to
nourishment, nurturement. Keep them down. Now that's the put off part. Let's go to the
positive really quickly. Because he says, in verse
10, and put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge. And this is Paul's language in
a couple of different places. Put off the old. Put on the new. And he says, you put on the
new man, renewed a knowledge according to the image
of him who created him. Now the language here
happens to be a picture of a person changing clothes. A soldier would put off his
clothes and put on his armor. After the battle, he
would put off his armor and put on his clothes. So this is stuff
we do every day. We put off our PJs. We put on our work clothes-- at least that was the
way it was before COVID. [LAUGHTER] And then you put off
your work clothes and put on your workout clothes. Then you put off your workout
clothes and put on your PJs again or whatever. In this case, put off
the grave clothes. Put on the glory clothes. Put off-- look at
those old behaviors as like grave clothes. They're just dead, filthy. When Jesus got up from the
grave, when he rose again, he left his grave
clothes in the tomb. He left them behind. So what Paul is doing by this
is turning a defensive position into an offensive position. Because the best way to
deprive your old nature is to cultivate the new nature. You could be all
engrossed in here I am! I've got to fight
this temptation. I got to say no. So here's this
temptation I'm facing. Here, get a little closer. Yeah, OK. Yeah, that's bad. I don't want to do that. Maybe I'll step
away a little bit. I'm going to fight it. Best way to fight it? Get engaged in something
totally different than that. What if you spent most of your
time walking in the Spirit? If you walk in the Spirit
of most of the time, you won't be having
to battle the flesh. You won't be dominated
by the flesh. Walk in the Spirit, Paul
said in Galatians 5, and you will not fulfill
the desires of the flesh. So it's like this. What's the best way to
take air out of a bottle? Well, I mean, you could
come up with a fancy device that attaches to it. It's like a vacuum. It sucks all the air out. Look at this, man. Cost me 10 grand to make this
machine and suck the air out. I have an easier solution. Just put water in that. Just pour water into that jar. The air has to leave. So be filled with the
Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. So think clearly. Act decisively. I'll give you a third,
and a real quick one. Live countably. Live countably. Verse 12, or verse 13-- bearing with-- now I'm
going to emphasize this-- one another, one another,
bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint
against another, even as Christ forgave
you, you also must do. But above all these
things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the piece of
God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in
one body, and be thankful. Notice the one anothers. And again, I'm not going
to delve into this text and exegete it all. But I want you to
notice the one anothers. Because the context
here is the group. OK, now we're in
a group right now. We're all in one
group in this room. And there are our
brothers and sisters who are outside, even though
it's hotter than blazes, outside in the amphitheater. God bless you guys. I hope you're doing OK. We're in this group. News flash-- ready? Every person sitting
around you has struggled or is struggling with
something, some bad habit. Every one of us has
or is struggling. Now do you realize the enormous
potential then that's here? It means sitting around
you, you have encouragers. You have reinforcement. You have support. You have mentorship. You have life
examples, what to do and what not to do, all
here-- the one anothers. Now I'm leading
somewhere with this. Here's another tip in
overcoming bad habits. Some habits becomes so
bad and so prolonged that they become besetting
sins, life dominating sins, addictions. And to fight those addictions,
you cannot do it alone. You need the help
of other people. If you keep lying to yourself
and saying, I can do this. I can do this. I'll never do it again. How many times
have you said that? It's because you
can't do it alone. You weren't designed
to do it alone. Solomon said two
are better than one, because they have a good
reward for their labor. If they fall down, one
will help up his companion. But woe to him who is
alone when he falls. He has no one to help him up. And though one may be
overpowered by another, two can withstand him. So invite accountability. Hey brother, I'm
struggling with this issue. I wanted to confess it. I want to get it out, and I
want to make you aware of it. Because I have a hunch you
can help me through this. And by the way, do you
know that just confessing that will steal some of the
power of that temptation away from you? I've discovered that. When you just admit, man,
I struggle in this area, it helps to loosen
the power over you. Now the result of doing
this, of standing together, of supporting each other, of
breaking bad habits, is peace. Let the peace of God
rule in your hearts. Don't you want that? Don't you want the ahh feeling? It will be yours when
you're on the other side of this gripping habit. Listen, I don't want to-- I want you to hear me. You'll never be sinless,
but you can sin less. The habit doesn't
have to control you. So I love that we're ending
on that note of peace. And I love that the
power comes from Jesus and his resurrection. So I guess, to sum it
up, I want to plant a picture in your mind. I think we need to learn
the lesson of the dog. I love dogs. I've had nine dogs
in my married life. I've had plenty more
as a single person and growing up with my
family in California. But over the years, I've
taught the dogs a simple trick that many of you done. If I want my dog to learn
this, I'll have him sit. And I'll sit, and he'll sit. And I have a treat, right? Maybe a chunk of meat,
maybe a kibble or whatever. I put it down on the floor,
and I put my hand out. And I go no, no,
because the dogs that I have are ready to grab it. No, sit. No, stay. Now that dog, if it's
going to have victory, you tell me what the
dog-- what does the dog look at to gain victory? He looks at me. If the dog looks down at
the kibble, game over. So-- and I've noticed this
with a variety of dogs. For that dog to not
be tempted, the dog is always looking at
the master, always looking at the master, eyes
connected to the master. And then when I say OK, whoom,
it vanishes miraculously. It's over! Gone! Our key to victory is always
keep our eyes on the master. Always keep our
eyes on the master. Set your mind on things above. Seek those things
which are above. [APPLAUSE] But Skip, I've failed. Seek those things which
are-- but I've failed. Set your mind on things above. Father, thank you
for what is above, for who is above us, who
is above our situation, above our struggle. You know that we are but dust. Your word tells us
you know our frame. You remember that we are dust. And how grateful we are that
your grace overflows our sin. And that brings us
a level of peace. I pray, Lord, that
we might apply these not simple but
life-giving principles, that we might see victory. In Jesus' name, Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you $ this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
