Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore
-True story chronicling the lives of the two authors. Ron Hall is a wealthy arts dealer in Ft. Worth, and Denver is a homeless man in the same city who spent most of his life as a modern-day slave. Challenged by his wife’s call to serve the homeless, Ron forges a deep friendship with the hardened Denver. The book is a great challenge to all of us to really dig in our cities, know the homeless, and make an impact for the kingdom that is coming.

Getting the Blues by Stephen J Nichols
-Half history and half spiritual commentary, Getting the Blues traces the birth and rise of the blues out of the Mississippi Delta and uses that history to explain the importance of a theology of suffering in understanding our salvation.

I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski
-A book all about my favorite movie (though one that I am slow to recommend…).  It’s basically a series of interviews, fun facts, and anecdotes about the film.

Tim Keller’s Galatians Bible Study
-Probably the best Bible study that I’ve ever done. Keller raises great questions and inserts challenging articles to help each of us see the idols in our lives, how we strive after “works-righteousness” over and over again, how we abuse community, etc. I recommend it to everyone.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” –Job 1:21

Sin runs so much deeper in my soul than I ever allow myself to believe. I am far more wicked, far more idolatrous than I am willing to admit. The last several months have been served to deepen my understanding of the nature of sin- how at the root of each and every sin is some lie I am believing about God/Christ/the gospel and how each sin is an act of worship, an idolatry, of something other than the one true God who gives to each of us life and breath and movement. Yet, even in this deeper understanding of the nature of sin (I am not merely lying; I’m saying that I would rather deceive than follow You. Why? Because I trust that your love & acceptance is more important, concrete, and satisfying than others’ approval), I fall abysmally short of a Biblical understanding of sin.

David Powlison calls us to ask, “Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear, and delight?” & follows by telling us that “the deep question of motivation is not ‘what is motivating me?’ The final question is, ‘Who is the master of this pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior?’ …People do not have needs. We have masters, lords, gods, be they oneself, other people, valued objects, Satan… Who other than the one true God, is my god?”

Powlison and Paul David Tripp both help to expose the overwhelming prevalence of idols in our hearts. Not only are idols these things that I give myself over to in obvious sins, but anything that I think that I need in addition to Christ. Powlison says, “’Need’ categories tend to replace biblical categories- idolatry, desires of the flesh, fear of man, etc.- which relate the heart immediately to God.”

The gravest danger in meeting “needs,” including our own (and especially in sharing the gospel), is that “change” may come through changes in externals rather than conscious repentance. For example, for someone who feels like a failure or who is bound in legalism or who is deeply aware of his or her need for love and acceptance, our sharing of the gospel may go something like this, “God accepts you just as you are. He has unconditional, never-ending love.” There is a ring of truth to this statement, but it falls so short of the true & complete gospel (and is anything less than the complete gospel a gospel?). The truth is that, instead of serving the true Christ, the god I worship is the approval/respect of people, both of myself & others. I am an idol-worshiper. I am not ‘motivated by a need for security/love/acceptance.’ I am motivated by a lust for security/love/acceptance rather than ruled by the one, true Lord.

Powlison writes, “The Gospel is better than unconditional love. The Gospel says, ‘God has accepted you just as Christ is. God has ‘contra-conditional’ love for you. Christ bears the curse you deserve. Christ is fully pleasing to the Father and gives you His own perfect goodness. Christ reigns in power, making you the Father’s child and coming to close to you to begin to change what is unacceptable to God in you. God never accepts me ‘as I am.’ He accepts me ‘as I am in Christ’… The true gospel does not allow God’s love to be sucked into the vortex of the soul’s lust for acceptability and worth in and of itself.”

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” –Matthew 6:25-26, 31-33

What, if it was taken away from me, would cause me to question Christ? What prayer, if it was never answered, would make doubt God’s goodness? What would happen to me if, like Job, I lost absolutely everything? How would I respond if I no longer had a house to live in? If everyone I knew suddenly despised me? If I lost a hand or my ears & couldn’t play music anymore? If everyone I knew and prayed for turned away from the faith? If I never saw fruit from ministry again? Where would my faith be then?

Is the one true God my God, or do I replace him with things I that I think “I need”? Is Christ truly enough for me? I am always making a choice. Every decision I make is either a choice to believe the gospel or to believe a lie, to glorify Christ or to give myself to an idol, to live in freedom or bind myself again to slavery…

This is why we must so disciplined in “preaching the gospel to ourselves.” When we grow impatient with someone, we must call ourselves to remember how Christ was & still is with us. When we struggle to meet with God, we must call upon the Spirit to enable us to remember what Christ went through to meet with us. When we judge someone, we must call ourselves to remember and be thankful that God withheld judgment from us before He called us to himself…

I am learning that the answer to all of these is an ever-deepening understanding of the gospel. When I am tempted to sin, when I don’t want to pray, when I wallow in guilt, when repentance does not come easy, etc. the answer is always to pray & ask the Spirit to humble me & remind me of the liberating, saving gospel…

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Artist Certified Units in Millions
BEATLES, THE 170
BROOKS, GARTH 128
PRESLEY, ELVIS 120
LED ZEPPELIN 111.5
EAGLES 100
JOEL, BILLY 79.5
PINK FLOYD 74.5
STREISAND, BARBRA 71
AC/DC 71
JOHN, ELTON 70
STRAIT, GEORGE 68
AEROSMITH 66.5
ROLLING STONES, THE 66
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE 64
MADONNA 63.5
CAREY, MARIAH 62.5
JACKSON, MICHAEL 61.5
METALLICA 58
VAN HALEN 56.5
HOUSTON, WHITNEY 54
ROGERS, KENNY 51
U2 50.5
DION, CELINE 50
FLEETWOOD MAC 48.5
DIAMOND, NEIL 48.5
KENNY G 48
TWAIN, SHANIA 48
JOURNEY 47
ALABAMA 46
GUNS ‘N ROSES 43.5
SANTANA 43
CLAPTON, ERIC 42.5
JACKSON, ALAN 42.5
SEGER, BOB AND THE SILVER BULLET BAND 41
MC ENTIRE, REBA 40.5
PRINCE 39.5
SIMON & GARFUNKEL 38.5
CHICAGO 38
2 PAC 37.5
FOREIGNER 37.5
DYLAN, BOB 37
BACKSTREET BOYS 37
STEWART, ROD 37
NELSON, WILLIE 35
DEF LEPPARD 35
MC GRAW, TIM 35
BON JOVI 34
COLLINS, PHIL 33.5
TAYLOR, JAMES 33
KELLY, R. 33
QUEEN 32.5
DENVER, JOHN 32.5
DOORS, THE 32.5
SPEARS, BRITNEY 32
BOSTON 31
MATTHEWS, DAVE BAND 31
PEARL JAM 31
DIXIE CHICKS 30.5
RONSTADT, LINDA 30
PETTY, TOM 29
OSBOURNE, OZZY 28.75
PETTY, TOM & THE HEARTBREAKERS 28.5
‘N SYNC 28
BOLTON, MICHAEL 28
LYNYRD SKYNYRD 28
MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER 28
MELLENCAMP, JOHN 27.5
MANILOW, BARRY 27.5
BOYZ II MEN 27
EMINEM 27
SINATRA, FRANK 27
BROOKS & DUNN 26.5
ENYA 26.5
JAY-Z 26
JACKSON, JANET 26
BEE GEES 26
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL 26
HILL, FAITH 25.5
CREED 25
ZZ TOP 25
VANDROSS, LUTHER 25
NIRVANA 25

David Platt: SBC Pastors Conference 2009 from Todd Thomas on Vimeo.

Just a few highlights of the past two weeks:

* I gave my two major talks- One on how being in community helps us deal with sin (June 11) and another on how to deal with sin in our own lives (June 16). Thank you so much for your prayers. I think both talks sparked some good discussion and, if you would like, you can follow the links to read my notes & outlines to each talk.

* Haley Long, a girl from UNA that became a Christian a few weeks ago after she & I’d worked through what the gospel really means, boldly shared her new faith with her mom and, by the grace of God, also led her to the Lord.

* Our students have been learning that the root of every sin is an idolatry in our heart (Ezekiel 14) that comes about because we forget or disbelieve something about God. For example, we’re learning that lying is ultimately saying, “I’d rather deceive than follow God.” Our sin goes deeper than we think.

* In light of that, many of our students have also really seem to be grasping the concept of our “position in Christ”- who we are in Him & the fact that nothing can change that- and wanting to deal with their sin because they know that, in Christ, they are completely known and completely loved. We are far more forgiven than we think.

* Two of the small group leaders I am leading have had opportunities to share their faiths with their co-workers, as have many people on Beach Project.

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. It is so encouraging to know that we are being prayed for & to share such incredible news. Three quick prayer requests:
1. That I will remember that my primary work is in prayer & live like it
2. That my men will be full of faith & faithful to the men entrusted to them
3. That everyone on Beach Project who is not a Christian will leave as one (esp. Caleb Brown)

God bless you all,
Matt Francisco
480 Santa Rosa Blvd
Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” -1 Peter 1:18-19

What a summer it’s been, and we’ve only been on Beach Project for 3.5 weeks! God has been very much at work down in Ft. Walton. Thank you so much for your prayers thus far for the 120 students (including 46 Samford students!), and I ask that you would continue to especially pray for these students for the next seven weeks while they’re down here. Here are some of the highlights:

• Three students on our project have become Christians since coming down here- David, Stephanie, and Hayley, with whom I had the great privilege of explaining just what Christ’s life, death, and resurrection means for us. Please pray that they would continue to grow to understand the depths of the gospel and what it means for them.

• Students from every campus are encountering God in His Word. It has been so encouraging to see how excited they have been to read the Bible on their own, to really discuss what they’ve been learning, and to engage in authentic, vulnerable Christian community.

• One of the major things we’ve been trying to teach is how people, until they see the grace of God as truly free, either approach God like the “younger son” in the Prodigal Son story, running after all the world has to offer, or like the “older son,” outwardly obeying, but secretly only wanting the Father’s things (For more, please check out the book we’ve been studying- Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God).

• This has led to many students seeing how, even as Christians, they have so often tried to “earn” God’s favor instead of trusting in the perfect record of Christ. Since then, they’ve been truly learning and growing in how to truly fight to believe the freedom we are promised as God’s children, purchased by Christ’s sacrifice & resurrection. These have been some of the most encouraging conversations I’ve ever had.

• All of our student leaders, and especially my three guys- B Land, Jared, and B White, have been incredibly faithful to pray for, think for, love, and serve the men and women in their small groups.

• In crazy economic times, God has provided jobs for all the students of our Beach Project as well as the 80+ students on another Beach Project sharing our hotel.

I cannot thank you enough for all your faithful prayers and support. I have no doubt that God is using you mightily to impact eternity as we are down here this summer. Please continue to pray for us, for my two talks (On how to deal with sin personally, and how to live in Christian community) coming up, that God will continue to bring students to Himself, and grow us all in our understanding of Him & passion to follow Him.

God bless,
Matt Francisco
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Repent
*Identify your idols

*See _____God as God & sin for sin_______

*Develop _____godly regret______ (2 Corinthians 7:9-10)
“If your sin is small, your Savior will also be small. But if your sin is great then your Savior must be great.” –Charles Spurgeon

Believe
*In Christ- his work, his faithfulness, his power, his love

*You are ____the sons of God & the bride of Christ_______
(1 John 3:1-2; Galatians 4:5; Eph 5:25-27)

You are __completely known________ and _____completely loved____

Fight
*Respond to the Spirit’s resistance (Romans 13:14; 2 Cor 10:3-5)

*Learn how ___your flesh works______

*Apply yourself to the means of grace

-___pray_____, _______find Scripture_____, ___find people____

Repent
*Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight? To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance? …What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you an acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success? Why do I have such strong feelings of despair (or fear, or anger) when this or that happens? What are the inordinate desires that are being frustrated? What are the idols and false beliefs behind them?

*What is the lie that I have fallen for? (James 1:13-15)

Believe
*What is the truth to counter that lie? Who am I in Christ?

(Good starting points: you are forgiven- Colossians 2:13-14; you are accepted- Col 1:21-23; you are loved as sons- 1 John 3:1; you are free- Galatians 5:1; Christ will complete his work- Phil 1:6; Christ loves you as His bride- Eph 5:25-27)
Fight
*When am I most susceptible to this sin?

*What are the ways that I begin to make concessions?

*What can I pray? Who will help keep me accountable?

Romans 6:3-12; 8:1-3

Dr. David Martin Lloyd-Jones- society with two sets of people analogy… You still obey those who oppressed you before because you don’t really know who you are, you don’t really understand what it means to be free, don’t really understand the new rights & responsibilities that come with being “free.” Though their status had legitimately changed, they couldn’t grasp it. And so they acted as slaves…

My prayer tonight is that you, Christian, would stop acting like a slave when infinite joy is offered to you, that you would, in the freedom that we have in Christ, learn how to deal with the “sin that so easily entangles us,” rejoice in the work of Christ in you, and grow to “be holy as He is holy.” My second prayer is that you, non-Christian, would see that you are trapped in the things that you think are going to free you. You fear that if you trust Christ completely that He will abuse you or He won’t satisfy, but my prayer is that you see that living for love or status or popularity or any number of things is slavery, that you are in bondage to it and, though a call to come and die may look to you like slavery, the fountains of joy in our God never run dry.

We, both Christians and non-Christians, find ourselves so often trapped in the things that we think are going to free us, but we make ourselves slaves. Let us follow the Master who laid aside the all the privileges of his being, became a servant, and denied himself that we might be set free! Why wouldn’t you offer yourself to the only Master in the universe who has already offered himself to you?

Now, tonight’s talk is entitled “Repent, Believe and Fight,” and it is, more or less, meant to be the duct tape that pieces together the massive pieces of spiritual knowledge we’ve been looking at the past few weeks- Matt’s talk on the two sons & Chad’s talk on identifying idols were, in large part, meant to focus our eyes on our sin, see its ugliness and make us wrestle with it; Ryan’s talk on our Position in Christ was meant to root us in the fact that we are children of God, holy and dearly loved, regardless of our performance either good or bad; I spoke on Importance of Community as a large piece of helping us “fight” our sin, once we have recognized them, repented of them, and been reminded of who we are in Christ. This talk is primarily meant to help you process, help you piece together what you’ve been learning so that you may equipped to really deal with the sin in your life.

Even repentance is the grace of God. Take heart: The reason that you see the sin you may want to ignore or despair over is because God wants to free you from it so that you will be closer to Him!

A husband & wife will ultimately only enjoy each other if their affections are not competing with outside influences, so God is, by grace, helping us to be rid of these things that take our eyes off him.

So we are led to repentance because we are called to be holy as he is holy, but ultimately because there is a longing in us to be with, near & like Christ

What does it really look like?

Repent- Taking ownership & seeing God for God & sin for sin

Identifying Idols
“…that most basic question which God poses to each human heart: “Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?” Questions… bring some of people’s idol systems to the surface. ‘To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance? …What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you an acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success?’ These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors. [This bears] on the immediate motivation of my behavior, thoughts, feelings. In the Bible’s conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question: who or what “rules my behavior, the Lord or an idol?”
— David Powlison, “Idols of the Heart and Vanity Fair”

If anything but Jesus is a requirement for being happy or worthy, that thing will become our slavemaster.

NEVER FAIL TO ASK YOURSELF THE “WHY” TO UNCOVER YOUR UNBELIEF
Ex. I was really impatient and snapped at Tim when he was telling such & such
-My time is valuable & shouldn’t have been wasted
-My time is my own & that I’m the best judge of how it should be used; Tim is not worth my time
-I don’t trust in God’s sovereignty over my time, don’t love others because I am not really secure in how much Christ has loved me

ALWAYS GET TO THE HEART!

See God as holy
Sin is not judged by virtue of how “great” or “small” it is, but the greatness of the One who is sinned against. If I spit (sin) against a rock… a friend… my parents… the President… the God who created, sustains, & governs the entire universe, whose holiness & goodness is infinite

Sin as infinitely worthy of punishment
See that as I much as I hate child prostitution & it makes me want to vomit, as my fists close in rage against those who perpetrate it… God infinitely hates each sin, even those that I ignore, dismiss, or overlook, more than I hate child prostitution… And it is not that he is overly harsh, it is that He is infinitely more holy, more just, and more good than we are…

Godly Regret
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 => To feel sorry, to feel grief or guilt or regret over a past sin is not the same as repenting. Vaguely feeling rotten is not repentance

OWN IT! This is no one else’s fault. In godly regret, we do not blame shift nor merely beat ourselves up over consequences. Think LaTarian Milton.

1. Worldly regret is when you feel sorry for something you did because it starts to backfire on you and leads to humiliation or punishment. It’s the reflex of a proud or fearful ego. Pride will always regret making a fool of itself. And fear will always regret acts that jeopardize comfort and safety. So feeling sorry for something we have done is in itself no sign of virtue. But godly regret is the reflex of a conscience before God.

2. Godly regret is owing to God’s Word putting its finger on sin in our lives. Worldly regret is owing not to God’s Word but to the attitudes of men whose praise we don’t want to lose. We can feel extremely sorry for something we have done if we detect that the people around us think it is stupid or silly or reprehensible. The word of man not God becomes the criterion of guilt.

Sin poured on Christ on the cross for my sake

It was your sin- it was my sin- that put Jesus up on the cross. He had to die to pay its penalty. Let us never forget that. That God is so good that “his eyes are too pure to look upon evil”- He must punish any & every sin.

➢ Meditate on the fact of Christ’s death to pay for that specific sin

If you don’t see the gap between your sinfulness & God’s holiness, then the “good news” isn’t really all that great. “If your sin is small, your Savior will also be small. But if your sin is great then your Savior must be great.” –Spurgeon

Abhorrance of sin & a desire to change

This isn’t me lying, this is me saying, “I’d rather deceive than follow you. “

We begin to abhor our sin, shudder at the thought of doing it again, shudder at the thought of ever having done it…

Repentance is experiencing a change of the mind’s perceptions & purposes, rather than mere sorrow for sin or mere improvement of behavior. We turn from something and turn to something. An idol cannot be removed; it can only be replaced. The design of the human heart is that we would worship something, but only one thing can satisfy. So we ask God to turn us from the idols of our hearts, to…
A “godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to salvation”

Ultimately, we chase after idols because we don’t truly understand or trust who God is & what He has offered us

But now, take heart, not that your sins are not real, but that your sins are real, and your Savior is real and He is infinitely greater…. We glance at our sin & gaze at the cross.

Believe

Satan: If he cannot keep you from regretting your sin, then he will do his best to keep you from enjoying your forgiveness. He will try to keep you in bondage to guilt.

Remember that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free” Christian, live in that freedom! You are free from guilt & shame because sin & death have been defeated!

Trust in Christ- sufficiency, love, faithfulness, power
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is SO important! If we fail to remember this step, we will do one of three things in our attempts to repent- all hopeless, despondent, and guilt-ridden: (1) Grow into a prideful older brother- pleased because we’ve done a better job covering our sins than someone else; (2) Grow despondent because our “record” doesn’t seem to be improving; (3) Give up altogether & revert to slavery as a younger brother because you failed to understand what true freedom is.

“Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons, much less secure than non-Christians, because of the constant bulletins they receive from their Christian environment about the holiness of God and the righteousness they are supposed to have. It is our insecurity regarding our acceptance with God, which is the reason we make idols. We look at our knowing of him (which fluctuates so much) instead of his knowing of us, in Christ.” –Tim Keller

Romans 8:1- Good Will Hunting
-Just like Robin Williams keeps pounding into Matt Damon “it’s not your fault,” so we need someone to pound into our hearts “there is no condemnation.” We know it to be true, but it has not changed us because we don’t ultimately believe it!

We are the sons of God (Pres. Obama’s daughter-it’s ridiculous for us to think we could be found guilty and sentenced)
We are called to “be holy as I am holy.” This is an impossible task, but our faith is not in who we are & what we can do, but in what Christ has already done. He has purchased for us the righteousness of God, so when we call us, children of God, to be holy, he is not calling us to be something that we are not- he is calling us to be something that we are! We are not adulterers, we are not slanderers, we are not cheaters, we are not liars, we are not gossips, we are not the boastful… we are the children of God.

We are the bride of Christ
Not only are we his children, but he has called us his “bride” (Isaiah 62)- Say a rich man earned his riches through his intellect and hard work, and then marries- how did the wife gain wealth? By marriage. Because of what he had done, but it’s just as much hers now. His past is tied to hers, his present is hers, and his future is hers. That should give us great courage, because our Groom is headed to glory…Not only is everything he has yours, he rejoices in you BECAUSE HE HAS SET HIS LOVE UPON YOU AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT.

The Fisher King- when you know that you are completely known & completely loved, you are completely changed- the old is gone, the new has come. You cannot go on living the same. Though from time to time you may forget, ultimately, the more you realize the implications of that love, you are changed.

Without understanding your position in Christ, you will always think and feel that your relationship with God has to do with what you do and not what Christ has done- the great and central thing is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how much his heart is set on us.

It enables us to say with Paul in 1 Cor 4… I don’t care what you think; I don’t care what I think. I only care what the only Voice I care about says about me… And he has already declared his love on me- the courtroom is empty!

As Satan comes to accuse you, apply & remember these truths! There is no condemnation for you! God, who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it! It is by God’s grace that drew you in, so by God’s grace you will stay with him.

FIGHT

Because you know who you are, because you know that nothing is too hard for God, because you know that God will ultimately win, delivering all of us & all the world from sin & death- we fight!

Listen and respond immediatiely to the Spirit’s resistence (Rom 13:14; 2 Tim 2:22; 2 Cor 10:3-5) &Focus on the Lord and be consumed by him – worship-
In the gospel, we see that Christ has died for us and valued us not for what we bring him. We are of no profit to him! We have been loved for our own sakes. And to the degree we see that in gospel faith, we respond in kind. Now we can serve God not for what he brings us, for we already have everything guaranteed, but for who he is and what he has done for us. Finally, we can love God for who he is.

Understand how the flesh works
When are you most susceptable to this sin?
What are ways you make concessions / “compromies” with your flesh / the sin?

Apply yourself to the means of grace
Pray – ask the Lord for a hatred of this sin and a greater love for Christ (Ephesians 3:16-19), for wisdom (James 1:5), for protection (Ephesians 6:13-18)

Find verses that speak to this particular sin (or it’s righteous counterpart) – memorize and meditate on them. Renew your thoughts according to God’s Word (Rom 12:1-2)

Find a brother in Christ who can encourage and challenge you in this area of sin.
-Bold & broken hearted in bearing one another’s burdens (Gal 6)

Give thanks to the Lord as you experience vistory, understanding that the Lord is at work in your life, enabling you to resist the sin

All of Life is Repentance
Luther’s First thesis, “ When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance. “ All of the Christian life is repentance. Turning from sin & trusting in the good news that Jesus saves sinners aren’t merely a one-time inaugural experience but the daily substance of Christianity. The gospel is for every day and every moment.

It is a privilege to dwell among other Christians, because Christ lived amongst enemies.

We were created to need others
(Genesis 2:18; Mark 14; John 1)

“Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggles, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day, you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We have a near infinite capacity for Self-Deception

Satan is the Great Accuser, Deceiver, Distractor, & Confuser.

We are so good at convincing ourselves that

1. What we’re doing is not sin (1 Samuel 15, Romans 1)

2. That our sin is acceptable because of the good we’re doing (Acts 5)

3. That we deserve God’s blessing (Luke 15)

4. That our private sins won’t hurt anyone else (Joshua 7)

Take heart! You’re worse than you think you are, but Your Savior is greater than you think He is!

“The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation… The goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We need others to remind us of who we are in Christ

What does spiritual community look like?

We live as one body with one goal: to see Christ glorified in our lives and in others (1 Corinthians 12)

It is found and fought for.

Our community consists not in who a person is, but in what Christ has done for each of us (Acts 21; 2 Timothy 2:10)

Dealing with Sin Together- We are called to…

Confess Our Sins to One Another (James 5:16)

Be Bold and Broken-Hearted in Bearing Each Other’s Burdens (Gal 5:24-6:4; 1 Peter 4:8; Matthew 18:15-17)

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” –Ephesians 5:25-27