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The One Thing You Need To Let Go

Feeling disconnected in faith and life? Sometimes the one thing you need to let go of is the sin holding you back. Find genuine connection with God today.

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In our fast-paced world, it's easy to feel spiritually disconnected, merely going through life's motions. We often project a facade that betrays our true selves while sin distances us from genuine relationships with God and others. James Jansen's sermon explores how shedding sin—no matter how minor it might seem—can transform our relationship with God, offering a more authentic existence.

By honestly confronting the sin that resides within and actively choosing righteousness, we allow God's love to permeate every facet of our lives. This not only enriches our faith but also enhances our interactions with others. Tune into the sermon to uncover the profound impact of letting go of what's holding you back.

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We would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.

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Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
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  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

About Springhouse

If you’re looking for a church in Smyrna, TN that is focused on Loving Big, Living Truth, and Healthy Family, we’d love to connect with you. We offer a lively children's ministry, strong middle school and youth programs, and exceptional ministries for men and women of all ages. We partner with missionaries in the US and abroad, Isaiah 117 House, local retirement communities, and others for our outreach efforts.

Additionally, we are home to Springhouse Theatre, an award-winning theatre in the Nashville area. We support the Nashville theatre community and serve thousands of patrons annually. We aim to broaden our impact on culture through the arts and by building new relationships.

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Transcript
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Praise God. What a sweet spirit of

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celebration here in this house this morning, church. I'm so excited

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to, to join in with, just

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congratulating Hal Laughlin. He is he is the epitome of

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what it means to to see God's faithfulness in action,

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and a man of integrity. Man, I tell you what,

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I just hope that we can all, see that

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and and and see that bar that Hal has set, and say,

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Lord, let me, you know, achieve this one day.

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Thirty years of faithfulness and service to the

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Lord. So wow, what an incredible incredible thing. We are

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gonna talk about some things that might ruffle some feathers today.

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So we're gonna go from celebration to maybe, oh,

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maybe. But you know what? I pray that this morning it's gonna provide

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some freedom, in and amongst ourselves.

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It'll break some bondages that maybe we've been holding on to for

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a long time that I pray that the Lord is gonna use it

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mightily to to just set us free.

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Amen? Alright, so let me ask you something this

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morning. Have you ever felt like maybe sometimes you're just going

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through the motions? Just another day, one step at a

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time. Here's another day, so I'm going to go through it. This is what I

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got to do. Right? These are the things that I'm

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responsible for, so I'm going to step in and I'm going to do it and

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I'm going to perform it because that's what's expected of me. Like

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maybe there was a sometimes maybe there might be a different image that you're

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presenting to the world than what you're actually

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who you are on the inside. Right?

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I know I have. I have, felt that way a

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lot of times. I felt like I was living a lie. I felt

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like what I was allowing other people to see was

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not the real me. It was maybe this facade or

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this, act. And, you know, whenever

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I really came to the real moments of, okay

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God, you know, what am I doing here? Times

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of reflection of going deeper of who am I

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and who who do I want to be. Right? The Lord has shown me some

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things. I started to crave something

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real, something genuine, and I and I got real honest with myself.

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So today, we're gonna unpack a portion of scripture that cuts right to the

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heart of this very struggle. It offers us not just comfort,

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but a pathway to a deeply authentic and powerfully

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impactful life. It's out of the book of Romans chapter

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nine, just one Scripture. I'm not gonna make you read a

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whole bunch, so if you would stand with me this morning, and we'll

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all read it together. Love is

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to be sincere and active, the real thing

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without guile and hypocrisy. Hate what

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is evil. Detest all ungodliness.

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Do not tolerate wickedness. Hold on tightly

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to what is good. Amen. Lord, thank You for Your

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Word. Thank You for the truth of Your Word, God. I just pray that You

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would use it this morning to penetrate our hearts, Lord, that

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any hardness that's there, God, I pray that You would soften

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us and correct us, God. It's in Your name we

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pray. Amen. You may be seated. I

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love reading out of the amplified version of the Bible throughout this,

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teaching this morning. You're actually gonna hear probably four different versions of

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the Bible because I like to study, and I like to see

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what different, versions, say. And

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so, the Amplified, it just kinda goes a little bit deeper. It gives

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a little bit more context context, maybe some more explanation.

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And so that's, that's an incredible thing. It

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it says to, it says love

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meaning the real thing without guile and hypocrisy.

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And then whenever it says hate what is evil, detest all ungodliness.

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Do not tolerate wickedness. These are things that I think we

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need to think about. Right? So

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it's not just a a phrase, it's not just a verse in the Bible, it's

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not just a real feel good sentiment, it is powerful. It is

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something that we are to break down.

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So I believe there's three key parts to this

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verse. Love being the first,

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holiness the second, and righteousness the

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third. And as we break this verse

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down, we're gonna I'm gonna ask you some questions, and I want you

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to be real with yourselves before anything else.

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So dig deep. What's the one thing

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that you need to let go of? What's that one thing?

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This is our one thing conference. Right? So we're going to need to dig deep

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and think about what's that one thing in my life,

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and go more than just the surface, go more than just

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a vague word that encompasses a lot more

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whenever you really dive in, because I

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know that the Lord is bringing it to us right now. Even now as I'm

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speaking, I know that the Lord is bringing it to us. What's that one thing

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that we need to let go of? And the second question is what's the one

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thing that might be separating you from an even deeper,

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more intimate relationship with the Lord.

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Do you want an intimate relationship with Jesus?

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Yes. Your answer should be profoundly yes. So do you want

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an intimate relationship with Jesus? Yes. Yes.

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Yes. That is what we strive for.

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So let's start with the first part. Love is to be

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sincere and active. The word here in the

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original Greek is agape. Now I'm If

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you've been coming to church for a while or if you've been a believer of

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Jesus, you know that this agape love is the

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highest form of love. Right?

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It's not any you know, if we can forget about the emotional I I

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I Chelsea, I love those shoes over there. You are sporting them, girl. The

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I love Cole, that jacket, come on, man. I love that.

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Man, I I really love pizza. Pizza's good.

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I love it. As a culture, we throw around this word

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love like it's just kind of, you know,

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anything and everything. But agape

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love is so much different than that. It is sincere

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and active. Agape love is complete.

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It's willful. It's not just a fleeting feeling. It's a

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conscious deliberate choice. See, everybody, we

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have a choice to make. We can choose to love.

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We can choose to hate. But the one thing

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that we have is a choice. We can

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choose righteousness, or we can choose wickedness.

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These are choices that we're all gonna have to make. And one

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day, whenever we're standing face to face with the Lord, He's

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gonna ask us about those choices. He's gonna say,

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I don't I'm just I'm gonna I'm gonna think about this is what I think

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the Lord is gonna say. What have you done with the life

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I've given you? And then He's gonna say, what have you

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done with the life of my son

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whom I sent for you?

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It's a choice. We can choose.

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It's about actively seeking the best for another person

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regardless of what they deserve or even about how

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we might feel at the moment. Feelings are fickle.

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Feelings are caught up with emotion. So it

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doesn't matter how we feel, we are called to love

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regardless, called to put others before our

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own selves.

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Think about it. God's love for us, it's sacrificial.

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He came and gave His life for each one of us. It's

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unconditional. He loves us regardless

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of what we do. Does it hurt

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Him? Yes. But He's right there to pick us right back up, dust

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us off, and welcome us with a warm embrace.

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He loves us unconditionally. He

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is constantly pursuing our ultimate good

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even when we wander away. That's agape love.

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But Paul doesn't stop there. Remember, he

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says we ought to love what? Unhypocritically.

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Unhypocritically. The church has gotten a bad rap for

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being hypocrites at some point and sometimes. There's a lot of people who are turned

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away from coming to church because sometimes they see

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Christians doing one thing, saying one thing, and doing

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another. That's the definition of being a

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hypocrite. We're supposed to love unhypocritically

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without our desires, without something that, well, what's in

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it for me? Right?

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Let that go unhypocritically.

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Agape love is transparent. What you see is what you truly

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get. So why does this authenticity

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and love, why does it matter so much?

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Guys, we are people. We are hurt. We are broken.

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We can easily put on a facade.

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Right? And then also, we can easily be ones to determine,

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oh, that's fake right there. Right? That's why it's

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so important for this love to be authentically

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lived out step by step each day, because authenticity

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is the real currency

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as a believer. We

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have to live what we believe. And if we

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believe that he is who he says he is and he came

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and he set us free, guess what? We better live that

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way. We better let other people see that we

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believe that, and they better hear it coming out of our mouths

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because that's what's gonna bring them to make the choice to follow

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Jesus. Authentic

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love resonates. It transforms.

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That love, my friends, it reflects the very heart of God

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himself. We are his

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image bearers. So let's be honest with ourselves.

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Is our love always? That word always is bold

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for a reason. Is it always sincere and active?

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Is it always looking out for the best interests of others?

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Is it always authentic, genuine?

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And if it's not, what needs to change? What

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are the things that we need to course correct as

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we're living this life? It's a tough question,

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But honesty, that's the first step.

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See, honesty, it will go beyond

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what we do, what we say. It has to

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be the very first thing. Are we honest with ourselves?

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Am am I truly the person that I believe I

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am, the person that I am letting other people see?

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So here's our challenge this morning. Let's intentionally examine

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ourselves. Think about your interactions with your families,

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your workplaces, in your church communities, in your neighborhoods.

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Do your neighbors know you? I'm in

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a we're in a day and age in which, man, I don't know if the

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people across the street or to the left or the right if they know my

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name. Go bring them a

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meal, break bread with them, Go introduce yourself.

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Ask them about their life. Get

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real with one another. We are

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people. We are made and created to be personable, to

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be, interactive, to share with

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one another. God designed us specifically

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for community. And when we say we're a believer, we

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will live it out sincerely and actively

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pursuing God, pursuing his

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heart for others. If that means I'm gonna go bake some cookies and

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bring it to my neighbor because I don't know him, then that's what I need

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to do. Amen?

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Amen. So I want you to

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ask yourself, am I actively seeking the good of others even when

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it's inconvenient for me, even when it's

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challenging? I might have to go out of my way to bake those cookies

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and bring it over to my neighbor. I might have to set aside a

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portion of time to do this,

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but is that what you're called to do?

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Is that what's gonna bridge the gap between someone

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knowing the Lord and not? It could

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be the simplest of phrases. It could be one word

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that speaks to their heart that the Lord uses and says, come

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to me.

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Alright. Let's strive for that authentic

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agape love in everything that we do.

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Let's move on to the second part of this verse. Hate what is

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evil. Oh. Oh. Does anybody get chills when they hear that

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word? Hate. Gosh, I was always told

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whenever I was younger, don't hate. You should never have hate

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in your heart. I was always told

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that hate is not a good thing. It is

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actually the opposite of good.

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But the Bible says to hate what is

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evil. So it so we are supposed

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to have hate. Right? We are supposed to hate

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the evil. Right? That's what the Bible says.

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Hate what is evil.

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Listen to the strength of the original Greek word here. It's not just a

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mild dislike. It's an intense revulsion

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too. It's to detest, to abhor,

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to shrink back from. This is

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what the word hate means. It's

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a strong active rejection. We're

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not Or we are called as followers of Jesus to have a gut

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level disgust for evil, for wickedness,

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for the things that don't belong in the kingdom.

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Now, I'm not talking about people, because people will pick

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up this wickedness, and they will carry it, right, and

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they will live it out continually throughout their days.

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And we are not called to hate people.

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People are just conduits. People are shells,

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our bodies. Right? We are called to

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love people, see past what

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they do, the wickedness that is is produced

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in them and called to love them beyond it.

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To hate what the enemy is doing in their life

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is appropriate. To hate the evil that is

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plaguing this world is right.

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Love the person. God

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loves everyone.

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Evil here is ungodliness

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in all forms. It is more

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than just a word. It is more than just something that we do.

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It is anything in opposition to

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God, anything that opposes Him, His precepts,

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His Word, anything that is in opposition

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to God. So this brings

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us to a really important first question. What is the one

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thing that you need to let go of?

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What is the one thing that is in our hearts

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that is maybe it's something that we're doing. Maybe it's a thought

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process or an action. What is the one thing that we

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were called to let go of?

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First John one nine points us directly to it.

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Boom. Sin. Big, bold

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sin. I couldn't get the words any bigger than that on

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the screen. I wanted to make sure that

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it was as big as we can make it because it

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is the one thing that we need to let go

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of. Now, that is an all encompassing

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sin, and I pray this morning that the Lord

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speaks to each one of us and reveals what that sin

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is. What is it in the workings of

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our minds, our hearts, the things that we're doing

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when nobody's looking? What is that sin?

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God, speak to us. Reveal it to us. First

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John one nine says, if we confess our sins to Him, He is

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faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us

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from all wickedness. All of it.

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It seems so easy, doesn't it, just to to hate sin?

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Seems easy. Hate the sin

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out there. So easy to point fingers,

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to judge, to say, I can so easily see your

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sin and I'm gonna call you up out of it

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because I know that you're better than that. Right?

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How easy is it to point here?

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The sin that is in our own hearts, the sin that

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works through us in our minds, the sin that

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we're maybe afraid to share with anybody. How

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easy is it for us to do that, to succumb to that type

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of level? But that's

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what we're called to.

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The secret sin, that habit,

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that pattern of thought or action that we make excuses for, that we tolerate

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because it's not so bad, is it? It's not really

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so bad. Look at everybody else, they're doing it.

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We make excuses for it. We justify our actions and we

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say, you know what? I think God might be

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okay with it. I think I can probably get away with

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this. He sees

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everything. He knows us through and through,

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every fiber of our being.

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He knows every hair on our head.

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Why would we think that we can for one second get

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away with something from God.

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Remember what sin is? It's it's ungodliness in all forms.

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Anything in opposition to God. So if it doesn't line up with

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His Word, if it's not a characteristic of His

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heart, should we be carrying it? Should we be doing

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it? Or should we turn like the Bible

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says and run as fast as we can away from

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it?

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I pray that he's urging us in this way to

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hate the sin. God is calling

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us every day to

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come to Him at a deeper level. Lord, I

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pray that You would use this to flesh out any sin that

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still remains. The Word

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talks about in first John one eight, it tells us plainly

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that if we have no sin, we deceive If we say we have no sin,

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we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Remember

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what I said about being honest? The first thing

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is to be honest with ourselves, to be honest

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about the sin that we're carrying.

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Acknowledge the sin. We have to acknowledge

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it in our lives, acknowledge its grip

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on us, acknowledge what it produces in

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us, and turn and run from

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it. See, denial is not

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just a river in Egypt. Denial,

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denial I learned that from VeggieTales, by the way.

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Denial is pretending.

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It is pretending it's not a problem.

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That's our enemy number one, denial.

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Honesty first. Always. Honesty

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first. Second, we need to know God, know

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Him deeply. We need to know Him and and what

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He desires for us. Guys, if you have problem

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with coming to know God, pick this up

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and read it. His truth tells all

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about who He is. It shares stories of

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His goodness through and through. It is a

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book of His faithfulness in generation after

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generation. The

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Word of God is living and active. It's sharper than a double

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edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing of

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soul and spirit, joint and marrow. The word of

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God is our truth. It is

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the only offensive weapon that we have in this world,

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and it defends us from the fiery

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darts of the enemy. Pick up the word of God

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and apply it to your lives every day. Be

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in it and live through it.

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Amen? We need to know Him.

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Psalm 29 says, honor the Lord, you heavenly beings. Honor the

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Lord for His glory and strength. Honor the

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Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord

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in the splendor of His holiness. The splendor. What

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is that? The splendor of His holiness. He

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is holy, and that looks like something. That looks

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like this incredible gift that we

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have to worship Him. He is all

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encompassing. God is good,

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and His goodness will prevail over any wickedness.

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The more we know God, the uglier our own sin will inevitably inevitably become in

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comparison. See, when we come to know Him, right,

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opposition to God. That's that's something

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that doesn't agree with what I just read. This is

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the the splendor of His holiness is right here and so it does not

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line up with what is right here, what is what is going

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on right here.

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Spend time in His Word. Communicate with Him in prayer. Draw closer

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to His radiant light, and any darkness in our

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own hearts will become undeniably more apparent.

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It will be highlighted. This doesn't belong. This

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darkness that's in here, I need to get it out because

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I'm in here, because He's taking me deeper, because

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He's showing me the splendor of His holiness.

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Third, we must understand the devastating consequences

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of sin. Well, if I do this,

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it's it's not really gonna matter in the long run. It's not hurting anybody.

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It's not really, is it? The

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devastating consequences of sin,

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it enslaves us. Sin

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separates us from God. Sin ultimately

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destroys us. Understanding

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the true eternal cost of of sin should

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fuel our hatred of it. When we

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realize that as we walk in sin, we are

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walking continually down a path that

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is away from Him, that is continually separating

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away from Him. When we realize that, and

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that one day, we'll have to give an account,

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one day, we're gonna spend eternity either here

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or here, the eternal cost of what

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sin does in our lives.

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Then we might change. Then we might

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see this is more than just for the now, for the here.

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This is an eternal weight.

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Next is we must love God deeply.

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We must love God with all of our hearts. We are not our own.

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We belong to Him. He gave us the very breath of

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life, making you fit for Himself. Okay.

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Ephesians four thirty says this. Don't grieve God. Don't break His

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heart. His Holy Spirit moving and breathing in you is the

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most intimate part of your life, making you fit for

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Himself. Don't take such a gift

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for granted. I love the message

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version of the Bible. It really brings it to

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another level of who He is.

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If we truly love the Lord, we will hate the very sin that breaks His

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heart. So let's commit to doing some

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truly so honest soul searching today. Take David's powerful

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prayer and make it your own. Search me, oh

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God. Know my heart. Test me and know

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my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that

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offends you and lead me along the path

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of everlasting life. I pray

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that God will reveal that one thing that needs to

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go.

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Second part of this is to hold on tightly to what is good.

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To hold on tightly.

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It's God's goodness. God's goodness,

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his righteousness, his very character that we are called to

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cling to with all our mind.

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How do we cling to God's goodness? How do we know his

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character? Read the word. By passionately

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pursuing goodness, by choosing to cling to his righteousness.

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Wait. I think I did it.

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We are actively drawing ourselves closer to God, bridging the gap that

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sin creates and stepping into the fullness of relationship

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that he longs for us to experience with him.

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The one thing that separates us from an even deeper more intimate relationship with the

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Lord, guess what it is? Sin. Sin is a relationship with the Lord. Guess what

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it is? Sin. Sin

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separates us from an even more

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intimate deeper relationship with him.

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So how do we go about

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letting our love be sincere, hating what is evil

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and clinging to good,

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Fall down on our knees in prayer and say, Lord,

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you know what's going on in my life.

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God, I pray that you would root it out. I pray

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that you would give me people to come

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alongside me and help hold me accountable

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to show me these areas so I can

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depend on you, Lord.

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In everything that I do, not just in my words, not just

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in my deed book, God, in my very heart,

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that you would live through me, That I would be

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used for you.

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Love must be sincere and active,

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real in real tangible ways. We have to have

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a an intense hatred for evil

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starting with the sin in our very own hearts.

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And then we have to cling to good passionately.

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Pursuing his righteousness with all of our

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might. And remember, we

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don't have to do this alone. We don't have to do this in our own

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strength. Because Jesus left us with the

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Holy Spirit. Our helper. The one

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that walks with us through this life,

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we are called and empowered to do it in His

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strength, deeply rooted in

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the unshakable love of God.

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And with his hope that Jesus is gonna come back one

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day. He's gonna split the sky and he's gonna call us home.

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That hope at the forefront of our minds.

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So that one thing that we're called to let go of.

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Sin. I pray

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that as we've talked this morning that the Lord has

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highlighted what that sin is in each one of

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us. I know as I was preparing I

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was so hesitant to share what that sin

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is or was in my life, but I think it's

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necessary. I was

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called to the Lord when I was eight years old, led in prayer of

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salvation from pastor Jerry Bryant right down the road in

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Antioch at a church called the Vineyard Church. And from a

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very young age, I was in a family

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that pursued the Lord, was in church.

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We actually came here when it was Smyrna assembly. I was baptized by

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miss Margaret Mink in the in the old sanctuary.

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But something happened. I started to choose

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selfishness. As a freshman in high school, I

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started smoking weed and it separated

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me from the Lord.

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And I continued in this pattern, this

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sinful selfish behavior pattern over and

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over again for the next fifteen years,

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it separated me from my

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father. It put a burden on my family.

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It made me desire the things

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of this world and forget about the better things that

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he had for me.

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The Lord brought me out of that. And he drew

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me close to him. And I was able to see

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those patterns of selfishness. And I'm

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so thankful for it. If

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you're in a deep pit

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in your own mind or in entangled in some

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sin and you don't know how to get out of it,

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he is with you. He wants

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you to come close to him.

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To get rid of those things that the world offers

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and say, I have better.

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He is so much better. He

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is so much more. There are things

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that He has to offer that no man,

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no nothing in this world can give.

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So Lord, I just pray God right now that you would

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illuminate the things that don't belong God. That you would rise

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up an intense hatred for in us for those

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things that you detest, God.

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That you would fill us completely with the things that are good.

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Your goodness, your mercy. God, that

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we don't have to rely on our own

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strength. And that we don't have to

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once we rid of those things be empty, but we can be filled to

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your good. Let us

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cling to them with all of our might.

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I pray that you be glorified,

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Lord, and that we would begin

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to let go of that sin

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in Jesus name. Amen.

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Now, Stan, we're gonna finish with some worship.

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