Breakthrough - Pastor Dave
We live in a society obsessed with alleviating symptoms and not addressing underlying issues.
If you only address the symptom, the symptom returns.
Whether you realize it or not, we all have some level of soul sickness. And we are all in need of a Breakthrough, somewhere in our lives.
Romans 7:15-20
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
“Sin is the culpable disturbance of Shalom” – Cornelius Plantinga, American Theologian
Shalom is the Hebrew idea of divine peace, balance, and wholeness; A state in which nothing is missing and nothing is broken.
God wants you to live life to the full and anything that prevents you from experiencing that is sin.
I John 2:15-17 [The Message]
15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity
15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity
A vice isn’t an isolated occurrence of sin, it’s a whole sin system; a pattern of behavior or a tendency cultivated over time through repeated actions that ultimately become responsible for a person’s character (distorting, warping, and misshaping it).
A vice is a perverted pursuit of a good thing.
John 8:34
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
John 8:36
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus wants to set us free, not just from the guilt or shame of an occurrence of sin, but from whatever sin system we are caught up in.
Ephesians 4:21-24
21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Jesus wants to set you free, and you can’t be free without the power of Jesus. But Jesus won’t set you free without your partnership in the process.
You overturn a vice, not by directly uprooting the vice itself, but by pursuing its counter-virtue. And like a vice, a virtue must be practiced to establish its permanence.
Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
Faith is about more than just escaping Hell. It’s about removing the obstacles that are blocking us from the peace, balance, and wholeness we’re made to live in.