I'm not getting better | Michael El-Takrori

verse 15 verse 15 Romans chapter 7 it says this Paul's writing he says I do not understand what I do for what I want to do I do not do but what I hate I do and if I do what I do not want to do I agree that the law is good as it is it is no longer I myself who do it but it is the sin living in me for I know the good itself does not dwell in me that is in my sinful nature for I have the desire look he goes if he goes at it again I have the desire to do what is good but I can't carry it out for I do not do the good I want to do but the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing say that five times verse twenty-one verse twenty-one next verse next verse next verse so I find that this law is at work although I want to do good evil is right there with me for in my inner being I delight in God's law next verse next verse but I see another law at work in me waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me what a wretched man I am you came to church to be encouraged right what a wretched man I am who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord so then I myself in my mind I'm a slave to God's law but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin okay I'm gonna I'm gonna title the today's message if you're taking those we want to encourage you to take notes it's our culture here at Church LV the title of today's message is I'm not getting better I'm not getting better man like that sounds a little bit negative the reason I titled it that is because when we go into 20/20 if you ever find yourself saying those words either under your breath or to your face in the mirror I'm not getting better I'm not getting better I want you to remember the last experience of the decade and that we opened up Romans chapter 7 and then we're later about to go to Romans chapter 8 and I want you to be encouraged that you are not alone in the Battle of this life to overcome what is trying to overcome you I'm not getting better let's pray in the atmosphere Jesus we love you we thank you for your favor your grace your love and I think God for all that you're gonna do in our hearts this morning I pray you to speak to each and every one of us do what only you can do and let's change the human heart we love you and praise you in Jesus name everybody said amen amen take take a seat take a seat so mom my wife um she said I've been married two years are you gonna talk about your wife again absolutely this she's everywhere I go okay like she's I wake up she's there I go to work she's right there so I saw all I got but my wife said something to me a couple of days ago that or a couple weeks ago it almost made me cry made me cry on the inside it was one of those compliments that was kind of like backhanded like it was positive in the beginning and then got negative real quick like like like has anybody ever told you like like you're like man you're such a great hard worker you're like awesome yes think I means a lot you look tired today you're like what like somebody looks at your outfit and they're just trying to compliment you they're like man that outfit is so simple today I love your choice of simplicity and you're like man I spent two hours on this outfit so backhanded compliment so she said something to me that was kind of sad she said Michael she said she was laughing she's like Michael she said you get so passionate about stuff right and then she was like and then you don't and I was like what'd you say she said you get passionate about stuff and then you don't I could have gotten mad at her I didn't get mad at her because if I could be very honest with you it's very true in my nature I am a guy that gets passionate about the most random stuff I'll commit to it I'll study it I'll do my research I will go out of my way to get whatever it is I want to get like our first major purchase when we got married two years ago it wasn't a new dryer it wasn't a new washer it wasn't a new TV it was something that I wanted to purchase that I had to convince her for three weeks to purchase it was a $600 camera a canon g7x I told her I was gonna vlog and I was gonna make videos and I was gonna document our marriage and when going at Disneyland and going out of town and I was gonna capture it take 4 K video HD pictures I was gonna buy a book on Etsy make a book for our children to see when they grow up they can look at our pictures I'm young married couple they can take our video put it in a music video if they ever get famous it could be a flashback I had this whole picture in my head I said babe $600 can I get this camera she was amazing and she said yes so I bought the camera I looked at that camera yesterday there is absolutely nothing in the camera there's nothing you know why I use my iPhone like a regular human you know I only want to get started on my gym memberships this is a new phase I've been in is we are considering not getting a child but we're considering praying about fasting about getting a dog not a cat a dog you know what I mean and so I've been just overwhelmed like I hear chip row laughing over here he has a goldendoodle that's like our dream dog a goldendoodle have you heard of this it's a golden retriever and and a poodle they become one golden doodle come on somebody golden doodle but my new phase is there something kind of greater than a golden doodle it's called a burner doodle it's a Bernese Mountain Dog mixed with a poodle they're a little more chubbier than a golden doodles a little more cuter and the only girl I'm consistently texting in my phone besides my wife is a 65 year old woman from Utah sending me pictures of the future puppy I will get in the summer because she is trying to sell me a $2,000 bird I do it up but I know my nature I'm super passionate about I mean I got 30 pictures of my future child in my phone right now then I find myself just kind of just yeah dying out not getting asked passionate like like what I do with Berner doodles we do with change a lot of times we are very pumped about change we're very pumped about in becoming better we are we want to go into 22 2010 discipline and we find ourselves along the way kind of letting our passion die out a little bit and we find ourselves not committing to the thing we said we were committing to Paul is describing in Chapter seven of Romans a very real in condition and it's the condition in you and I that is a paradox within who we are now what we want to do we do not do and the very thing we do not want to do we end up doing has anybody ever not done the thing they wanted to do I'm the only one okay cool he's describing something so real and so pervasive in the human condition what I want to do I don't do I am a paradox I am a human contradiction I am NOT committed when I say I'm gonna be committed and here's what's so crazy Paul is talking about a condition he's experiencing twenty years into pastoring he's not talking about pre Jesus tendencies he's talking about I have a relationship with Jesus and I find myself being very fickle at moments it's very discouraging it's really it's really discouraging because what Paul describes here is the exact opposite of what I thought a Christian was before I became a Christian I thought Christians were people who do what they want to do and don't do what they don't want to do come to find out we're all in the same club together we bought the t-shirt like like everything he described is everything we're not looking for in a future spouse nobody on their first date is going hey so tell me about yourself yeah you saw I saw the good I want to do I don't do and and then the bad I don't want to do I kind of end up doing and you're like awesome let's marry each other nobody does that nobody nobody's political campaign is hey guys look at all this stuff I'm gonna do but bye-bye like year one I probably won't do it I won't carry it out nobody we don't matter of fact we don't even like following and at moments we kind of throw stones at spiritual leaders because they're not adding up to the the perception that you have for them you're putting them on a pedestal so when they slip up you go oh my goodness I don't want to follow that no more what we actually don't like following people who are fickle and I'm not talking about being somebody that's not a good leader that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about I'm frustrated because everything I want to be is every Paul is not describing but it's also encouraging it's encouraging to me because it's the Apostle Paul saying this the Apostle Paul might like like it's it's it's it's he's he's a preacher 4:20 Paul okay like like by the age of five he would have started learning the first five books of the Bible what were you doing at five by the age of 10 he would have picked up on the mission of the the the the detailed tradition of the Jewish law he would have be gonna study that by the age of 13 he would have packed his bags moved to a great teacher gam allele to study under the greatest rabbi of his day he was a committed follower of God of the Old Testament he knew his Bible might I say he was knocked off a donkey by Jesus he heard the audible voice of God he was a pastor planting churches he was twenty years into pastoring and he was struggling that's encouraging to me I remember in high school when somebody was struggling on a test like your friend that did it encourage you but when the smartest person in class was struggling you were like ooh I feel good today like like before we get encouraged by what Jesus is about to do I think there's something encouraging about knowing what men and women of the Bible could not do like like Abraham lied about his wife after he was deemed righteous by God like like Noah became best friends with two giraffes and God helped him get through a flood and he got drunk after God delivered him what oh yes in the Bible that the prophet Elijah was a prophet and suicidal what you could see what God's gonna do and you still want to leave bro yeah you struggle in what David was a man after God's own heart and he committed adultery after he was declared a man after God's own heart the disciples fell asleep on Jesus after Jesus washed their feet Peter saw Jesus walk on water Peter Peter denied Jesus three times Michael are you telling me a bunch of problems of people in the Bible yes because I want you to be encouraged at Seven Hills and at Green Valley you are not alone in your struggle that God chooses us despite of us and that if you have fallen short of the glory of God welcome to the club you are not alone we are in this together come on somebody we're not alone so we're in this struggle or in this battle it's discouraging and encouraging because Paul is describing it like I would go on public record to say this at the age of 25 I am absolutely embarrassed by the elementary adolescent desires I still battle with within my heart yeah embarrassing like like if you talk to sixteen year old Michael you know the picture I had of myself at 25 if you asked me well are you gonna be at 25 I want you to picture this person right here Bishop TD jakes and Dwayne the rock Johnson becoming one person that's who I was supposed to be disciplined committed anointed favored but I I'm embarrassed like like I love Jesus more every day I love my wife more every day but if I could be very honest with you there's areas in my life where I'm like god I thought it would be way further along in the Christian journey than this what is happening to me I'm embarrassed if you go into my plans right now on my YouVersion Bible app I am simultaneously doing 15 plans that I am not completing are they letting this guy preach yes and the two I've completed was a five-day plan in a three-day plan that's on top of this story what I what I want to do I don't do and the very thing I tell you I'm not gonna do give me five minutes I find myself like a little bit fickle now what we do with that tendency a lot of times we kind of do the wrong thing we do one of two things we either try harder or we aim lower so some of you in 2020 your your your mantra is like um oh this is gonna be my year I'm gonna try harder and that's a noble that's a good but how did that work that for the previous year we try harder we try harder and we try or some of you you honestly just so discouraged you're like honestly 2020 I know it's the Eurovision its clarity but like honestly I just hope I wake up you know I'm saying like I hope I I hope I don't I don't want to lose weight I just hope I don't gain weight like I'm aiming low and we we build ourselves up right that's like the tendency we're like we're like let's do this I'm gonna do this another round another go I'm up and then I go down and it's like alright let me do that again and if I'm not careful even as a preacher I will give you another principle with the name Jesus on it you'll try to implement that into your life you'll try it it won't work out for you then you'll be discouraged you'll walk away not from Jesus but by something that didn't work that the preacher gave you and you are more burdensome and you are more discouraged and you're like man I don't think I could do this might as well just give up yeah they aim lower you try harder what what pause about to describe here in Romans chapter 8 and we're gonna go there in just a little bit it's so profound and it literally is the answer of how you and I really change but before we get to the beginning of Romans chapter 8 we have to get to the end of Romans chapter 7 and the end of Romans chapter 7 is Paul coming to an end of himself if we're gonna tap into a Power greater than us we have to come to an end of ourselves yeah over 40 times Paul will use a personal pronoun in Romans chapter 7 I myself me my which is to say that the power that you and I need to overcome is not found within ourselves he says what a wretched man I am who will deliver me deliver me not what will deliver me not what new diet plan will deliver me who will deliver me I need something greater than myself I need someone greater than myself what a wretched man I am wretched come to the end of yourself rent in the original language that's almost like a cuss word he's so overwhelmed by his powerlessness he says what a wretched man I am I can't do this on my own I'm coming to an end of myself and you know what coming to an end of yourself that's offensive a little bit and aah Paul in Romans chapter 1 he will say I am not ashamed of the gospel that word a shame can also mean I'm not offended by the gospel why would he not be offended by the gospel because the gospel is offensive he just chose not to be offended by it like like in a day and age where people are moral and religious the truth that only our righteousness can be gifted to us fully is offensive because we want it we want and we want to show the muscles of our morality and we want to feel better than the person sitting next to us then Jesus shows up on the scene and he levels the playing field and he says even your good works are like filthy racks to me and you need righteousness that is fully gifted to you that's offensive I want to earn that thing a god I could do something right he says no it's offensive to the modern notion that humanity is innately good that the good within ourselves is enough but it took a spotless sinless son of God to die for us that's offensive it took God taking out his son to take care of you and I this is offensive to Americans yo we love our autonomy so looking at an American and saying hey man you must surrender your way for God's ways or you won't tap into this Power greater than yourself you're saying what no I got this I'm gonna do this on my own effort it is absolutely offensive what a wretched man I am so we got to come to an end of ourselves as we come to the end of 2019 we gotta say emphatically God the power that I'm looking for does not come from my effort it comes by your grace and grace alone by your power and power alone I need you Jesus so Romans chapter 5 we'll talk about the grace of God Romans chapter 6 well we'll talk about the fact that does grace enable us to sin should we keep on sinning so grace may increase Paul says by no means we are those that have died to sin how can we live in it any longer jesus paid a price died to death once and for all and the life he lives he lifts to God in the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus in Romans chapter 7 he's going to talk about do we still keep the law to get right with God and he makes the notion nah we can't we need God and in in Romans chapter 8 is the emphatic answer to how in you and I can change in our day and age are you ready for it oh no I said are you ready for it okay Seven Hills you ain't ready all right you ready all right Romans chapter 8 Paul is about to give the answer he says emphatically therefore there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus in Christ I'm frustrated because I wanted Paul to give me a practice I wanted him to give me a new way of living but instead he gives me a position one of the Paul's favorite descriptions of a believer in the New Testament is not a Christian is not a follower of Jesus it's somebody who's in Christ in Christ your life in my life when we receive and believe the grace of God for our life God puts us in his son we are imputed righteousness he takes our sin our life is hidden in Christ so when God the Father looks at you and I he doesn't see our mistakes he doesn't see our past he doesn't see our frailties he'd say he sees his perfect son we're in Christ man it's such a gift it's been imputed to you is they submitting this is why it's good news good news is not just meant to be clap that it's meant to be embraced it's meant to be experienced your life in my life if we made him the Lord of our life is hidden in Christ our position changes we are not what we do we are who God says we are we are not what we've done we are who God says we are this is revolutionary friend this will change your 2020 if we wake up actually believing this position we have in Christ oh my god I don't feel like in I'm in Christ stop the madness I don't feel like waking up some days but it doesn't make me less human I'm in Christ yeah like that can't be taken and we say a lot of things in Christianity that to be honest man it's just theologically incorrect we say things like I'm off with God you ever find yourself saying that I'm off with God are you a light switch like like is that how it works so you're honored with God or off with God you're not a light switch you're a child of God what are you what what are we talking about when he puts the light on we're on we didn't earn our way into righteousness we can't unearth our way out of righteousness oh you ain't catching it this morning how do you get right with God by a gift by grace so what makes you and I think that sin gets us out of that place we are giving more power to sin in our day and age than we are the grace of God I am standing up here today testifying that is grace his real it is true it is consistent it is audacious it is amazing it is crazy it is love it is awesome come on somebody oh I'm not off with God him I'm on with God I need to get right with God what are you talking about you've been made right the Bible says he who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God once he makes you right you cannot be wrong again you are right come on somebody I'm about this I'm far from God oh okay oh so you can outrun the omnipresence of God now right ouuuu same bolt now aren't you so you that fast I want somebody to hear this today maybe you do feel far from God you don't have to pack up your bags write a letter buy a cheap flight on spirit to get back to God you don't got a jerk you don't got it you don't got a journey back to God you don't have to pilgrimage back to God that's that's the Old Testament where they have to go to the city they have to pack up their bags we don't got to pack up our bags the Bible says goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life so all I got to do if I feel far from God it's turned he's right there Oh God you were with me in the valley you were with me in the mountaintop I can't out send your grace I can't I'll leave your embrace what this is what we're gonna have to fight in 2020 you are a child of God you are in Christ you are righteous and we gotta embrace this friend we got to embrace this i if so if you're not catching it let me let me just let me give you this example let me give you this example this year I got one of the greatest things I could have ever gotten and it wasn't a burn a doodle it was an executive carts at Costco yeah I'm grown now what adulting in the house were you shop at Costco I feel it's great it's an executive card it was it's black it's a plum it's my black card Costco is a absolutely incredible if you've ever been to Costco you get $1 churros free samples it's spacious you get bulk items that you don't need for a two-person household and you buy stuff you don't were actually need but it's amazing the carts are massive the deals are amazing so I have access to Costco I have access to this spacious place called Costco listen if I spend my 20 20 and for the sake of this illustration let me just use a place Walmart if I use my 20 20 shopping at Walmart come on somebody low prices but it comes with a price Walmart sois mark I could spend my entire 2020 just camping out on Walmart being frustrated that I'm not experiencing my membership in Costco I'm so frustrated and me shopping at Walmart does not make me a non member of Costco I'm just not utilizing the access that's been granted to me but here's what we do don't we we're spending a lot of our Christianity and if I can get honest I'm spending a lot of my Christianity in Walmart frustrated just like man I wish I could have a churro right now like I wish I get some free samples my goodness this great value don't feel great it keeps breaking on me and we envy people with the car to Costco not realizing we have the same access and we look at Christians experiencing the goodness of God and walking on victory and we're like how can I live like that I'm envious of that I actually want that and all I got to tell you today is you got access to that utilize your membership utilize what's been granted to you you can enjoy your membership in Christ man it's not taken from you and I it's not taken from you and I piano could come up I'm almost done here alright I want I want us to change in 2020 right we got to understand our position we got to understand we're in Christ and what Paul tells us is one of the great perks of being in Christ one of the great perks of being made right with God and fatica Lee he says there is now no condemnation like in the original language that's in Phatak in the original language that's like he's yelling at you there is no condemnation that none no not less condemnation not a little bit of condemnation to keep you in check sometime he says there is now no condemnation there is no guilt or shame that can be present in your walk with God it is an irrelevant voice it has longer a place in the equation of your Christianity there is no condemnation none it's absolutely gone what's condemnation condemning shame it's the voice you and I hear when we fall when we stumble when we don't do what we want to do it's the voice that tries to preach a sermon to us trying to remind us who we were they call you a man of God what look see wow that experience I told you it wasn't real I told you it wouldn't last I know you better work your way back to God you better not you shouldn't you it is it is condemnation listen condemnation is stealing our joy in God condemnation is keeping us in a cycle now that's what condemnation does like if you and I want to overcome what's been overcoming us we got to know how to deal with that lying voice from the enemy that tries to preach a sermon to us that is not true anymore condemnation is the enemy trying to give you an ayah verdict that we already won we already won the case we don't we're not arrested no more we're not incarcerated no more we're free condemning shame it whispers to you and I you talked to us it keeps us in a circle it here's what it does here's what it does it keeps us looking at ourselves you got it you got to get right you got to get right you got to make sure okay you didn't read your Bible in three days you better you better go a week straight so you feel good about it you haven't been to church in three weeks you better come to church to appease your conscience you better you but and you look inward but what do we just learn in Romans chapter seven there's no power within ourself and so the enemy is strategic he tries to get our eyes back onto our self I'm telling you what there's there's moments I'm preaching up here and I am hearing that voice as I preach no I'm not I'm preaching to you I'm supposed to be the minister or that youth pastor or the preacher and I'm hearing this voice oh you also you so you gonna fight with your wife before church that's that's what you're gonna do there's so many times I just want to stop and be like you know what devil if you're gonna talk to condemnation you remind the devil what Jesus has done for you I know what you're saying I don't gotta listen to that voice any longer I am the righteousness of God my frailties don't disqualify me my inadequacies don't take me out I am the righteousness of God [Music] grateful that there is therefore now no I in here I in here coz coz coz coz if we're gonna be the people God has called us to be in 2020 we're not looking at ourselves no condemnation has no place in our life we're in Christ Jesus the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 5 those who are led by the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires that word set literally means preoccupied but listen when you and I are born again our lives are supposed to be preoccupied with Jesus the whole goal of a fall in the Roman letter is he's trying to get our eyes off of ourselves cuz there's no power within ourselves and he's trying to put our eyes on Jesus he's trying to get us to look up he's trying to get us to look at his goodness to set our minds on the things of the Spirit you know what the Holy Spirit does in our life he lifts up Jesus to you and I went come on when the enemy tries to lift up himself to you and I when the enemy tries to stand up like the Giant the Holy Spirit lifts up Jesus so we see him for who he really is I'm in the realm of the Spirit I'm in the sphere of the Spirit I have a new position and a new reality and a new playing field it was some of your like but I'm not preoccupied with Jesus I know I know but the Spirit of God in you if the Spirit of God that that seed of faith within you I know it's preaching sermons to you saying come back to Jesus that's why you come to church cuz you want to worship Him using yourself feel something different it's because that see the faith in you wants to come alive again come on there see the faith then you want them want to follow Jesus the Spirit of God will beckon you and I the Spirit of God will draw us to himself [Music] I know it's in there you better follow that voice you better follow that voice it's trying to get you to see Jesus friend Mike what about disciplines what what about habits what about consistency I believe in all of that stuff but Billick disciplines were never supposed to replace the goal they were supposed to serve the goal and the goal is to see Jesus and that changes everything for you and I so when I pray I don't pray to appease my conscience I pray because I have a relationship with God in heaven I don't come to church to try to get my church attendance up for the year I come to church cuz we lift up the name of Jesus I don't go to small group just to add another thing on my schedule I go to small group cuz I want to talk more about Jesus I want my life that reminds me of blood Christ Jesus I read my Bible the reason I read my Bible I'm not trying to get more biblically literate trying to get more Jesus literate because the whole book points us to Jesus all testament to New Testament Genesis to Revelation it's all a goal to point us to the Son of the Living God the answer the author and finisher of our faith we need him we need to see him for who he is can I get an amen in the house at 7 Hales come on I in here I in here I end and I'm gonna pray for us this morning I want to I want to describe to you what happens Eugene Peterson in the message paraphrase puts it so brilliantly and I want us to read this scripture if it could come up on the screen chapter 8 verse 12 he says so don't you see we don't oh this old do it your life one red cent there's nothing in it for us nothing at all the best thing you can do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life God's Spirit beckons come on somebody there are things to do and places to go there are things to this resurrection life you receive from God is not a tip timid grave tending life it's adventurously expected greeting God with a childlike what's next dad what's next pops God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are father children [Music] we're distracted by Jesus I'll tell you what at the end of 2020 people will recognize the change that's happening in your life the whole was different about you and you you're not gonna give they're not gonna look at them and say I did keto no you're gonna look at them and said I just been distracted by Jesus and when you and I are distracted by Jesus we serve better we love better we're a greater friend we weren't we were more lovable we we act like the Son of God we act like a daughter of God we're distracted by him we are engulfed by him it changes us and by the end of 2020 you'll look at your Spotify playlist or your Apple music playlist and you'll go tank I listen to a lot of Hillsong this year and I didn't even know it I think I just love the presence of God and cardi B goes from 5 on your list to 25 on your list and you're like I'm making progress in this house I'm looking more like Jesus [Music] here's the resolution and I'll pray for you 2020 don't try to change stop it don't do it look to Jesus and he'll change you this is what separates us from psychology psychiatry counseling good works this is what separates us from good education this is what separates us from good degrees this is what separates us from a good workout we have a new position in God He loves us we're in relationship I'm getting better because I'm distracted let's give God one last title prize

Channel: ChurchLV

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Length: 34min 56sec (2096 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 30 2019