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Andy Stanley - Better The Banana King · Andy Stanley Sermons

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We are just days into a brand new year. You already know that,
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and most of us, I mean this is I include myself and this most
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of us want this year to be better than last year, and this year
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can be better than last year, but it's going to require some things from
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us. I mean, I think you would agree with that. If we
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just do what we've always been doing, we're going to get the same results
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a year after year after year. But there is a way to have a
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brand new year, I mean, a better year. But it's going to
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require a bit of honest and honestly awkward evaluation. It's going to require a
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bit of honest and awkward contemplation and even some honest and awkward transparency, perhaps
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with another person. So if you want this year to be better than last
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year, maybe even the year before, I want to ask you a question,
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and I want you to consider this question. And I'm going to ask
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you this question about four or five or six different ways so that it can
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kind of settle in over us as we think about having a better twenty nineteen
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than we did perhaps a two thousand eighteen. And here's here's the question I
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want to ask you as you think about entering a brand new year. What
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are you holding onto that's holding you back? What are you holding onto that's
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holding you back? What are you holding onto that, actually, if you're
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honest, has a hold on you? And what are you holding onto that
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has a hold on you that the people around you who love you secretly or
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maybe not so secretly, wish that you would let go of what's weighing?
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What is weighing you down because you refuse to let it go? What's weighing
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you down because you it's really up to you because you refuse to let it
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go. And initially you thought this would make your life better, but actually
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it's just made your life more complicated. What is slowing you down? What
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is slowing you down because you just won't put it down? What are you
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dragging around that slowing you down because you just won't acknowledge it and let it
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go? What are you holding onto? What are you holding onto that you
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kind of feel compelled to keep hidden. You just don't want her to ever
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find out. You don't want him to find out. You don't want them
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to find out. If your kids knew, you would just be humiliated if
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they found out. At work, if your friends knew, if he knew,
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if she knew, if your roommate found out, I mean, if
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they found out, you would be so humiliating. But you keep dragging this
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thing around, hoping nobody's gonna find out. And the truth is, come
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on, they know something's up, right. In fact, they've even asked
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you, and you're like, no, there's nothing, there's nothing going on,
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And unfortunately, you've had to essentially compensate for the fact that you're carrying
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something around that you don't need to be carrying around. You're compensating for holding
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onto something that you just simply need to let go of. Or let me
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ask it one final way, what are you holding onto that's making a monkey
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out of you? Because this is in fact how you trap a monkey.
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Let me make it to you can look it up later. You tie a
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large coconut to a tree. You hollow out the coconut, You place a
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banana in the coconut. The monkey sticks his or her hand into the coconut,
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grabs the banana and refuses to let it go. And you don't really
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trap the monkey this way. The monkey actually traps itself. But as you'll
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discover if you look this up, not all monkeys can be trapped this way.
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There's only a certain kind of monkey that can be trapped this way,
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the monkey that lacks the intelligence to let go of the banana. So the
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bottom line for today's message, if you have to leave earlier, you fall
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asleep, or your electricity goes off. Here's the bottom line. Okay,
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here it is. Ready, let go of the banana and run away.
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Okay, I would like for all of us at all of our churches to
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say this out loud together, Ready, let go of the banana. And
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it is that simple. Now, if you're not a Christian or not a
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Jesus follower, with the way you describe it here, if you're not really
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following Jesus, you're not a religious person. However you describe yourself. That's
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pretty much all I have for you. Okay, you can take it from
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here. You just got to identify what it is you're holding on, to
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realize that it's costing you at home, it's costing you financially, it's costing
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you in terms of what's happening to your body. I mean, you know
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better than idea. We know you know what's going on in your life.
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So the bottom line is you just need to let it go and you need
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to walk away. You take it from there. It's up to you.
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It's your life. And if you haven't heard me say this before, I
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just acknowledge what you already know, and that's I have no right in the
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world to tell you how to live your life. I don't have any authority
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over you, no matter how many verses I quote, or if I blow
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up and say I'm the pastor and God says, hey, I have no
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authority over you. Your life is your life if you're not a Jesus follower,
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So you just kind of take this practical application and run with it.
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Okay, But before you do that, I just do want to add one
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thing, and then I'll talk to those of us who are Jesus follower for
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just a second. I would add one thing. It's important to know,
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and I've kind of already said this, that it's possible whatever it is that
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you're holding on to that you're dragging around, you're not just hurting yourself by
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holding on. By holding on, you are actually holding off. By holding
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on, you are actually holding off the people who love you the most and
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the people that you love the most. And as I said, they kind
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of know something's up, and they may have tried to talk to you about
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it before and you got so defensive, and you got so defensive that they
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haven't brought it up. So you think they've forgotten it, or you think
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they don't notice it. They haven't forgotten. They notice, they just don't
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want to face your defensiveness. So as you consider, again, I'm just
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this is just suggestions. I'm not saying you have to do anything. We're
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just you know, you're just here, you're just watching. I would just
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highly recommend that if you realized over the course of the next few minutes that
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yeah, you're holding on something, holding on to something that's holding you back.
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For the sake of the people you love and for the sake of the
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people that love you, would you just let it go. And ultimately,
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of course, I would love for you to consider following Jesus because, as
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we say all the time at our churches, following Jesus will actually make your
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life better and it will actually make you better at life. Now, if
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you are a Christian or if you are a Jesus follower, there's more,
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okay, Because for those of us who are Christians, the problem with being
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mastered by anything, is that we already have a master. And we don't
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like the word master because it conjures up ideas and images of slavery. It
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kind of, you know, smacks of slavery. But let me just ask
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you a quick question, what do you call this? If this isn't slavery?
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Right? What do you call this? If this isn't being enslaved?
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If you can't let go, or if you refuse to let go, and
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whatever is in here is influencing and controlling your life and impacting your life and
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degrading your life and causing you to experience things you never intended to experience.
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And what started off as a pastime has become a pathway and now it's very
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difficult to let it go and walk away. I mean, if that's not
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slavery, what is that? So the interesting thing is for those of us
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who are Christians, and if you're not a Christian, obviously you can listen
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and play long and you know, take whatever parts of this year you like.
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The apostle Paul, who was a Jewish first century Jewish man who again
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became a Jesus follower. He was a Pharisee, super bright guy super smart
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wrote much of the New Testament because we collected his letters, or the first
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century collect and second century collected his letters, and they became part of what
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we call the Bible. And the Apostle Paul wrote a long extended letter to
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Christians living in Rome. Now, if you are living in the first century
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in Rome, that's not a safe place to live, okay. But there
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were Christians living in Rome. And as you know the story maybe from history,
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there were so many Christians in Rome by the early first century that Nero
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was able to blame the Christians for burning Rome. There were so many there,
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Christianity spread so quickly. So the Apostle Paul writes a letter to Christians
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living in Rome, and in that letter he addresses this dynamic, and he
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starts it off the way that he starts, or he starts as part of
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the letter, off the way he starts. Many of his phrases, he'll
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say something and then it will dawn on him as he's writing or as he's
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dictating. Wait a minute, I'm assuming that they know some things they may
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not know. So he'll say, you do know. Then he'll say some
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things and go, oh, you know, I'm assuming that they might know
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some things they don't know, so you do know. So we're starting in
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one of these parts of his letter where he's saying, hey, by the
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way, before I go too far, I want to make sure that we're
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all caught up. So it starts like this, He says, don't you
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know because he assumed that maybe they did, but maybe they didn't. Don't
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you know? And then he states something that's so obvious it doesn't even need
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to be said, but it sets him up and sets us up for where
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he's going. He says, don't you know that when you offer yourself to
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someone or something, when you offer yourselves to someone or something, When you
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offer yourselves to someone or something, when you offer yourself to someone or something
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as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey. That is,
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when you stuck your hand in there and get tied to rope, to
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chain to something, and you refuse to let go, you are obeying that
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thing. You are obeying that dynamic, that habit, that past time,
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that pathway, whatever it might be. And when you obey it, you
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make yourself a slave to it. Whatever you say yes to, or whoever
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you say yes to to the degree that they're controlling your behavior, that thing
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or that person has become your master. It's like, now if you're thinking,
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wow, I never thought of it that way. That's why he started
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off with, don't you know because we don't think this way. He's like,
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you need to think this way because in a minute, I'm going to
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challenge you to let go. But I want you to understand what's at stake.
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This is a big deal. He goes on. He says, whether
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you are a slave to sin, now, I'll explain that in just a
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minute, which leads to death, or to obedience to God, which leads
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to righteousness. Now, let me define sin for you, Okay, Sin
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in the New Testament is so simple to understand. In fact, it is
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so easy to understand that we almost don't want to understand it on purpose,
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because sin in the New Testament is anything that hurts you, and anything that
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hurts the youth beside you, and anything that hurts the US that you live
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with, and the US that you're raising, and the you that you married,
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and the you that you're dating, and the you that you hope to
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marry, and the U that you work with, even the US that you
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work with you don't know her name, you don't know his name, because
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they really don't do anything for you. Anything you do that hurts the us
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that you don't even know it is a sin. And here's why, because
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it's the verse that all of us have heard at some point. For God
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so loved all the us, for God so loved the world. And when
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you love someone and someone hurts someone you love, you consider that wrong.
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God says, I'll just put the S word on it. I consider it
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a sin. So when you hurt you, who God loves, and when
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you hurt the ewes around you that God loves, that's a sin. You
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don't even have a list. It is so simple, it is so compelling,
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and it is so demanding. So the apostle Paul says that whether you're
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a slave to sin, which leads to death, or obedience or obedience to
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God, which leads to righteous says, he's talking about any behavior that undermines
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you, or any behavior that undermines the yous around you. The easiest way
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to think of it is this, if it's not good for him, that's
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a sin. If it's not good for her, defer, if it's not
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good for you, it's just something you shouldn't do. And here's why he
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says, because sin leads to death. Now when you see this, I
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don't know what comes to mind. But here's what the apostle Paul means,
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because he teases this out and other letters that he wrote, that sin actually
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kills things. James, the brother of Jesus, would come around and say
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the same thing. Sin kills things. And now that we've defined what sin
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is, you know this to be the case because if you went through a
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painful, dreadful, long expensive divorce, somebody sin, didn't they. Now
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you may not be a religious person, but somebody did something to you,
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or perhaps you did something to them. You had a secret, you were
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unfaithful, you broke a wedding vow, you hurt them. That's a sin.
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Sin kills things. Sin kills relationships, Sin kills careers. Sin's what
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and who you see in the mirror. Sin kills your confidence. Sin can
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kill your health. Sin can actually kill your financial security. Right if you
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have a bad habit, or you're just irresponsible, or you just ignore what
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she said and what he said and all the good advice and just did whatever
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you wanted to do, right and you know what else sin kills. Sin
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kills your peace, And again this isn't even necessarily a Christian thing. Sin
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kills your peace with the other people that you've sinned against, and sin kills
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your peace with God because your conscience bothers you. And sin actually kills your
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relationship with you because again, of who you begin to see in the mirror.
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So, of course God, who has invited you to address him as
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heavenly Father. Of course, God who loves you so much he sent his
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son into this world to pay for your sins and you could have. Of
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course, God is against sin, not because he's against you. God is
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against sin because he's for you. And God is for the youths mind you,
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beside you, in front of you, and the us that you live
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with and work with all the time. Sin kills things. But and here's
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you know, here's the application part. Obedience actually makes things right, doing
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what's right. And we've all experienced enough of this to know how true this
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is. Doing what's right when it's hard. If I don't know if the
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last time you've done anything right that it was hard, you did something right
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and it cost you something. You did something right, and people misunderstood,
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but you knew it was the right thing. Doing what's right when it's hard
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is what makes things and what keeps things right. It's what makes things and
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keeps things right between you and God, between you and people, and between
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you and you, because there's nothing better in the world. And going to
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bed at night and laying up and look at the ceiling and saying, you
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know what, I don't know what's going to happen, but I did the
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right thing. And there are few things that will tear at your soul more
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than facing yourself in the morning in the mirror and going, you know what,
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I was a coward, I was a chicken, I deceived. I
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did the wrong thing to protect myself. And then you give yourself twenty five
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reasons why you needed to do that. But at the end of the day,
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sin has taken its toll on your soul, and so God, who
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loves you, through the words of the apostle Paul is saying, come on,
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Sin kills things, but obedience makes things right. Obedience to God sets
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things right between you and God, between you and others, and maybe most
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importantly, between you and you. So he says, But because there's a
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contrast here. But thanks b thanks be to God that though you because he's
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talking to Christians living in Rome, he's never even met these people, by
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the way, he's never even been to Rome that we know of at this
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point. These are just Christians that he knows lives in Rome. But thanks
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me to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, although in
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the past you had your hand in the bucket and you wouldn't let it go,
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Thanks me to God that although you used to be slaves to sin,
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you have come to not just believe, because believing doesn't make much difference.
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You have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now
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claimed your allegiance. And I love this phrase because in this simple phrase,
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pattern of teaching the apostle policy. And come on, I'm introducing you to
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or I'm inviting you into a brand new way of thinking about everything. This
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is a pattern for living. This is a new way of seeing the world.
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This is a new way of seeing yourself. This is a new way
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of seeing your family. This is a new way of seeing every you you
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are ever eyeball to eyeball with. This is a new way of seeing God.
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This is a new way of understanding forgiveness. This is a new way
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of viewing your stuff, your money, your time, your future, your
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career. This is a brand new pattern of thinking, and it centers on
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this very very simple, compelling, terrifying idea that we, because of what
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God has done for us, are to do for others. We are to
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do for others in essence what God has done for us. We are to
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treat others in accordance with the way that God through Christ has treated us.
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He says, it's a brand new pattern of living. And if you will
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embrace it, and if it will become your heart beat, and if you
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will move it from your head to your heart, it will change everything.
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And it will compel you to finally and at last, let go of the
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things that are that are keeping you back, to let go of the things
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that are weighing you down. Because this overarching command is tied to its extraordinary
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gift. We are to love because we are loved. And when that becomes
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the driving force of our life, anything, anything, anything, anything that
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I realize is not good for you, that's not good for him, that's
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not good for her, that's not good for me, becomes off limits.
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Obedience. This is what he's saying. Obedience frees you. Obedience to God
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frees you. It doesn't, it doesn't enslave you. Obedience to God frees
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you from the complications and ultimately the consequences of sin. Now Paul knows that
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we're reading this because you know, I'm kind of teasing it out and adding
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to it. But if you read it quickly, it's kind of like,
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Okay, I think I understand, but I have some questions. Paul's like,
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okay, oh I skipped apart. Do you not know? Now here
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we are again? Do you not know? Once again, I don't know
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if you know this, But if you don't know, you need to know,
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because if you know what I'm about to tell you, it is to
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help you understand what I've said so far. Do you not know, ready
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for this, that your bodies not your belief system? This is all so
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practical. Do you not know that your bodies are temples? In other words,
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he's writing, he's never met these people. He's like, you know
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what, they may not know. They may not know that their bodies are
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temples. Now, when you see this, you think one thing. But
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first century people, when they heard this read or when they read it,
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here's what they thought. They thought, My body's not a temple. A
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temple is a temple. A body is a body, and a body is
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not a temple, and a temple is not a body. Because they'd all
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been to temples. If they were coming out of a pagan background, they've
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been to temples many times. If they were Jewish, they had taken that
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long track or that long journey about fifteen hundred miles to Jerusalem. They come
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to the city of Erusalem, and there's a Jerusalem on the hill, and
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there on the hill, on top of the hill is this is the temple.
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And they went to the temple, and I mean it was holy,
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it was sacred for Jews, it was the most sacred site in the world.
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For Pagans, they had sacred sites that were extraordinary sacred. So when
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Paul says, don't you know, because they didn't know, don't you know
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that your bodies are temples, this was like, wait, wait, wait,
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wait, this doesn't even make any sense. A temple is a sacred
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site, a temple. This is how they thought in the first century.
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A temple is where heaven meets earth. If you want to know where heaven
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meets earth, Heaven meets earth at the Temple, the apostle Paul says,
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exactly, God has done something radically new, and from now on, because
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of what God has done, the person next to you is more sacred than
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any sacred site you've ever visited or have ever heard of. That the person
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sitting behind you is more sacred than the city of Jerusalem. To Jews,
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if the person sitting next to you is more sacred than the most brilliant and
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beautiful and glorious pagan temple ever built, or any temple that will ever be
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built, that suddenly God has done something so radical that people have become more
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sacred than sacred sights. Do you not know that your bodies are temples?
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Why? Because they're filled with the Holy Spirit who is in you. I
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mean this was breathtaking. I mean they had to set it down and think
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a minute, like, wait a minute, if this is true, then
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you are sacred, and you are sacred, and you're sacred, and you
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are sacred, and you go, yeah, yeah, I'm not sacred.
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You have no idea. I don't even have enough hands to tell you how
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many balls I'm hanging on to and dragging stuff around. And Paul says,
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wait, he misunderstood me. I didn't say you were sacred because of your
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behavior. I said you're sacred because of who lives inside of you, that
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you are surrounded, you live with, You date sacred. And he says,
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and here's the implication of that, And this is you again. It's
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that thing that, if it got from here to hear, would change everything.
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You would change our city. Once upon a time, it almost changed
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the whole world. He says, you are at the temple of the Holy
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Spirit. God resides in you. Oh and by the way, what is
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true of temples is also true of you. You are not your own because
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temples belong to the gods. The temple belong to God. And he says,
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because you're a temple, you are not your own. Now, in
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the first century, here's what they thought. Wait a minute, who whoa,
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whoah. This is starting to sound like the whole slavery thing again.
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He says, Yeah, that's where I'm going. You were bought at a
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price. This was so offensive in the first century. We colonialize this,
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but I'm telling you, first century it was more graphic than what we think
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of when we think of slavery because in the first century those many of the
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people who read this had owned or possibly still own slaves. People who read
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this had been slaves were now freemen. Some of the people who heard this
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were actually slaves. All of them had passed the slave markets in Rome,
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because Rome, the city of Rome, was constantly flooded with slaves from all
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over the world. And Paul says, as offensive as it sounds, and
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as terrible as it sounds, you need to understand that you don't belong to
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you. If you've placed your faith in Christ, you belong to him.
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You have been purchased with a price. Now again that sounds so offensive to
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us, but it's because we don't know what our price was that this is
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important. Little economics one oh one. I was a journalism major. I
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took no economics class. So if it doesn't rhyme, I don't understand it.
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So here's everything I know about econ Okay, economics one oh one.
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The perceived value of a thing is what it will bring. If it didn't
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rhyme, I don't understand it. So I had to make it rhyme.
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Okay, the perceived not the actual value, because there is no actual value.
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There's only perceived value. You know, water costs a lot more in
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some parts of the world than other parts of the world. Wwhi because of
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the perceived value of water. In fact, that's true of any product.
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The perceived value of a thing is what it will bring. That's how you
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determine what the price of something is, is what it actually brings. Perceived
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value determines the price that a person is willing to pay. So this isn't
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a truck question. What happens when things don't sell in a store? What
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do they do? The price? They drop the price. Why we're gonna
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keep dropping the price till we get to a price where people perceive that the
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price and the value line up. Now here's something that's amazing. You were
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purchased. There was a price put on you, and the price determines your
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value in the eyes of God. And the price that God paid for you
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and paid for me. It's right. This was his son and for these
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romans, and you know, reading this or hearing this read at first what
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was so horrifying and so demeaning and so undignified. Suddenly they sit up straight
22:55
and they think, I didn't know that. I'd never thought of it like
23:00
that that by sending his son to pay for my sin, he expressed a
23:04
value and placed a value on me that I can't even begin to imagine.
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You were purchased. You were purchased with the blood of God's son. God's
23:18
son gave his life. Don't miss this as you've heard it, But don't
23:22
miss it. God's son gave his life for you. Question what has the
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thing you're clinging to offered for you? What has the thing that you won't
23:37
let go of sacrificed for you? What price has this paid in order to
23:45
benefit you? The truth is it's costing you. So why this is Paul's
23:52
point? Why honor this? Why empower this? Why bow down to this?
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Why I make something that's actually hurting me and the people I love?
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Why allow it to be my master? You are not your own You were
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bought at a price. And then he gives us the punchline, the application
24:15
that, hey, if you don't hear anything else, don't miss this.
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Therefore therefore means, hey, in light of everything I've just said, whenever
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you see it, therefore you have to ask, what's it? Therefore,
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Yes, let's do that again. Whenever you see it Therefore you have to
24:27
ask, what's it? Therefore, yeah, okay, good, And so
24:30
you think he says therefore, in other words, a lot of everything I've
24:33
said so far. Therefore, in light of that, here's what I want
24:37
you not to believe. Here's what I want you to do. Therefore,
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in all your behavior, in all of your relationships, every decision you make,
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I want you to honor God with your behavior. I want you to
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honor God with your body. What does that look like? Very simple.
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We honor God by honoring those that God honors. You honor God by hon
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honoring those that God honors. And when you're hanging onto something, clinging to
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something that demeans you, that it creates a lack of dignity in you or
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expresses a lack of dignity or worth in other people, you have to let
25:12
that go because that's not honoring God with your body, and it's overlooking and
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missing with the incredible, incredible price that God paid for you so that you
25:19
can have a relationship with Him. Anything that gets in the way of my
25:22
love for you, anything that gets in the way of my love for you,
25:26
needs to be moved out of the way. And anything that gets in
25:29
the way of your love for other people needs to be moved out of the
25:32
way. It's in the way. So back to our original question and then
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we'll wrap this up. What are you holding onto that's holding you back?
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What are you holding onto that's holding you back from being able to have a
25:45
clear conscience with your father in heaven? What are you holding onto that's holding
25:52
you back from having the relationship you always dreamed of with your own children?
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What are you holding onto that's holding you back? Is it your anger?
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Come on, guys, well my dad was angry and his dad was angry,
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and I think it goes back to Adam. We just can't help it.
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We're just angry. Man. Well, how long are you going to
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drag this thing around? Because the people that love you most, and the
26:19
people who are trying to get close to you, they're ready for you to
26:22
let go of this. Is it a habit? You know what habit?
26:26
You know? Habits? Sorry, habits don't start as habits. Habit starts
26:29
is, oh that would be fun, Oh that would be nice. Oh
26:30
everybody else is doing that. It's just a pastime. And then over time
26:36
you realize it's a pathway and suddenly you're a slave, and you don't want
26:41
to spend another year being a slave to something that's weighing you down, right
26:45
it Maybe this is the hardest one. Maybe this is somebody. Maybe this
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is a friend. Maybe this is a group of friends. In fact,
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for some of you, it is a group of friends. And every time
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another friend or your mom or your dad, or your uncle or your aunt
26:57
or your grandmother sits you down tries to talk to you about your friends,
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you are so defensive and you look at her and you say, you are
27:04
so judgmental, and she's not being judgmental. She is using good judgment.
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And by the way, the people in your pack of friends that are dragging
27:11
you down, when their grandmothers sit down with them, they say they need
27:15
to drop you as well, because you already come on, come on,
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we're adult. You're just not good for each other. So come on.
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You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your father in heaven,
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you owe it to your future you to just let it go. Maybe it's
27:33
a form of entertainment. Maybe it's gaming. Maybe it's alcohol. Maybe you've
27:37
been ignoring your health, or maybe you're too into your health. Maybe your
27:41
family is competing with something you own. Your family feels like they're competing with
27:45
something that you do. And this is I know, I'm you know,
27:51
out there on thin ice. This may be something that you need to let
27:53
go of for now that you don't necessarily need to let go of forever.
27:59
Every season life requires different things from this. Right, many many years ago,
28:03
I used to run all the time. It was just really my only
28:06
exercise. And I ran a couple of half marathons. I know, you're
28:08
shocked, And after the second half marathon, I decided, well, you
28:11
know, I'm halfway there. I need to run a full marathon. For
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those of you who run, that is not a casual endeavor. That's not
28:17
fifteen minutes at lunch, you know, that's an hour and a half after
28:19
work. I mean, this is a big deal to train for marathon,
28:22
especially if you don't want to get hurt. And so I would get home,
28:26
pat everybody on the head after being at work all day, change clothes,
28:29
and run right out of my driveway because the neighborhood we lived in it
28:32
was a great place to run. And I'd run for an hour and a
28:33
half and I'd come home, you know, and you know, so daddy's
28:36
home. Oh, Daddy's gone, you know, Daddy's home. It was
28:37
it was you know. So one day, you know, our cul de
28:41
Sac was at the bottom of a long hill, so it was great.
28:42
You could I could finish, you know, dun da da da dun.
28:45
I could really you know, speed out. It was great. You know.
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One day I'm running down the long street to the cul de Sac and
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standing off, you know, right next to our brick mailbox is my son
28:55
Andrew. He's our oldest, but he was about this tall. He's holding
28:57
something. I can't tell what it is. I get down there and he's
29:02
got one of my T shirts. He says, Dad had brought you this
29:03
because I know when you come in you change T shirts. Yeah. Oh
29:08
exactly. In that moment, it was like, okay, come on,
29:14
come on, Andy, how important is this really? Well, I gotta
29:17
be able to say I did a marathon, So why well, so I
29:22
can say I did a marathon, I get a T shirt. I get
29:25
a T shirt. There's my little son, like, Dad, We're glad
29:29
you're home again for the second time that they didn't say that, So,
29:32
you know what, I realized, this is it for you. I know,
29:33
you're hating this illustration. Some of you is like, oh great,
29:34
I'm glad he didn't play golf. Right, So I bring that up all
29:41
the time. I tell Santra, I don't hunt, I don't play golf,
29:44
I don't fish. I mean, come on anyway, So and sometimes
29:48
she's like, maybe you need a hobby anyway, just kidd or some friends
29:52
anyway. My point is this, you know what, this may be something
29:56
that's actually a good thing in a different season of life, but right now
30:04
it's a hindrance and you kind of know it, and you've already had that
30:10
discussion and it's like, oh no, I don't want to keep talking about
30:12
that. But come on, you've been bought with the price. God loves
30:17
you, and he's inviting you to a way of life where you set down
30:21
every single encumbrance so you can be fully his because you already have a master.
30:26
Now, if you really want to get serious about this, which you
30:30
probably don't, but I just as long as I'm talking about it, let's
30:33
get it all the way to the pardon the pun, the finish line.
30:34
Right. If you really want to have an awkward but powerful start to this
30:40
year, just ask someone, am I holding onto something that's holding me back.
30:47
Because the people closest to you and the people that love you most,
30:49
they know the answer to this question. And if you're married, or if
30:52
you're engaged, or if you're in a relationship where you feel like it's moving
30:56
in that direction, am I holding on to something that's holding us back?
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And if so, just let it go, because you don't have any business
31:08
being mastered by anything or anyone. If you're a Christian, you already have
31:15
a master, a master who demonstrated, who demonstrated, didn't just talk about
31:19
it, didn't just believe it, a master who demonstrated his love for you
31:23
in this that while you were still hanging on to stuff that was holding you
31:26
back. Now, while you were still a sinner, while you were still
31:30
ignoring people and being unkind to people because it suited you and because it benefited
31:33
you, while you were still a sinner, Christ died for your sin.
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He gave his life for you, and then he's invited you to follow him.
31:45
If you're not a Jesus follower, come on, you should be.
31:49
Take a step, take a baby step, get some questions answered, read
31:52
a book, just come back to the church, just listen sign on again
31:56
and watch next week. Just take a step. You should consider it.
31:57
If you used to be a Christian, or used to be a Jesus follower,
32:00
you should reconsider it. You've lived long enough to know what I've said
32:05
is true that sin kills things. In fact, let's just be super personal.
32:09
If you had been following Jesus a year ago, three years ago,
32:12
five years ago, whenever it was, you may have avoided your greatest regret.
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If you have been following Jesus in that season of life, you may
32:21
have never stuck your hand in the jar and taken hold of that shiny thing
32:25
to begin with. So, in addition to letting go of what's holding you
32:32
back, I hope that you will take hold of the one who brought you
32:37
back and bought you back, and who will lead you to life that he
32:43
describes as abundant, extraordinary, and as the Apostle Paul would later write,
32:46
life that is truly life, but best down the road for now, here's
32:54
where we need to land. What are you holding onto that's holding you back?
33:01
What are you holding on to that's holding you back