The Remnant Church
Leave It Behind - Todd Blanton
Well, hey, welcome to the remnant, it's still weird. All right, I'm gonna try to talk. You know when I get distracted. I would just turn it down to start, I think. Hey, my name's Todd, I'm pastor here. I'm really excited to see you guys at the end of the year. The timing works out close to us. We got to do right before Christmas. Then Christmas, we did three services in eight days. Isn't that wild? Woo, all right, yeah, heaven, that's nice. So, here we are. We're about to close the new year. You guys excited? No, you're not, clearly, clearly. I often wonder if it's the weather. I got a message today. I'm gonna throw them under the bus a little bit, but one of our pastors was like, "Hey, the worship team's being weird today. "I'm just telling you now." Because they get mopey with the weather. Typically, I'm here, I got here a little late today, this morning, wrangling my daughter. So, my guess is if they who get on the stage and get to sing might feel a little mopey, or tired, or out of it, or drained, you might too. You know, it's cool, and something that I wrestle with a lot. I'm a pretty passionate guy, which means, let me say it in a non, I don't know, in a non-good way, okay? Me, good speaker, emotions, right? I can be very driven by emotions, emotional. I don't know about you. The problem, and the problem with that is, if you do that, you're on a roller coaster all the time, okay? And a lot of times, what I've learned is, people don't wanna be on roller coasters. So what, either you are on the roller coaster, so if it's bad weather, or you're sad, you're down here, right? And that's some of you. Like, I'd be happy if they entertain me and make me happy. We got a long ways, it's winter's just here, so we gotta figure that out. But also, some of you decide, I'm not gonna be controlled by emotion, so I'm just going to be angry, right? You don't say that, but you choose that. And there is something to changing the way the outward looks, in order to get the inside to match. Sometimes, you get what I mean? Sometimes you gotta act like you wanna be here, in order for you to actually get to the point where you wanna be here. Make sense? Now again, guess, you're special 'cause you came, and you're already here, so you clearly wanna be here. I'm obviously talking about the people who are here every week and go, "Oh, I gotta do this again." Right? Speaking of which, we invite them. Some of you guys invite your guests, and you do that, like, super happy thing during the week, and then when they show up, you're miserable, and they're like, "I don't understand why you, "why'd you invite me to this misery trap?" Right? All that to say, if you choose to stay in, oh, excuse me, mopiness, if you choose to stay in, I'm tired, if you choose to stay in that, right? You're gonna stay in that. But you have the option to say, "I'm gonna choose to be present, "I'm gonna choose to, this is big." Instead of waiting for someone to make you happy, you become the person that makes other people happy. You know what I mean? End of sermon, I'm just kidding. Anyway, help me out, okay? 'Cause I'm trying to turn on this new leaf of joyfulness. I don't know if you've noticed, you probably have it, it's a slow rise, but I'm trying. So, when I come up here, and you guys are not helping me, it's almost like the happier and joyful I get, the more you go down. So, I don't know, it's like a teeter totter, let's all just equal out, okay? 'Cause you don't want me to go down here, right? So, I need your help, help me out. Anyway, but this is interesting, and this is not even in my notes, it's a natural segue to the topic today. With the new year, I have noticed, and I'm not kidding, since probably December, I've noticed that you guys, 'cause I get to be up here once we can kind of see you, interact with you, body language is real, right? They say, what is it, 90% of communication is on verbal. So, I get to see you guys, and there's a difference between, in December, holidays, really, no Thanksgiving, through now. And that is backed up by science. So, I'll explain, we're about to close the new year. Who here's going to a party or something, getting together with someone? Who here just is again, being moping, doesn't wanna raise their hand in the air? You fibbers, four of you raise your hand, okay, who's sitting alone eating ice cream? Okay, I'm just trying to find out what the rest of you're doing, 'cause you're doing nothing. This is so perfect, this fits the topic so well. We're about to close the new year, so new year's Eve's coming up, and people all over the world are gonna be celebrating. They celebrate the occasions with parties, and countdowns, and streamers, and funny little hats. And the reason being, the idea is, it's a new year, and honestly, when I think about growing up and doing new years, I don't know about you guys, you're not really thinking about the past year. A lot of times, say, I'm celebrating the year that happened, we got through another year. No, you're looking ahead, right? There's some, 'cause there's supposed to be this idea of hope. There's newness coming, and it's exciting, and what's gonna happen, and et cetera, et cetera. And I was kind of like, you know what, what's, is there any scripture that's kind of joyful? This is not a concept, but this is, I thought this was pretty cool. Psalm 6511, listen to this, in the context of a new year, you got that? You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance, I like that. You crown your year, when I first read it, it was the idea of, at the end of the year, I don't know why I thought it that way, because it's new years, and kind of, put the final touch on the year, right? You crown the year with your bounty, but it could also go for the next year. You crown the year with your bounty, meaning, it's fancy words, you are going to bless the socks off of us with all your goodness in the coming year, right? I can already tell you don't believe that, that's good, that's okay, and then he goes on to say, your carts overflow with abundance, you have so much to offer us. Then, listen to this, in Lamentations, which is very weird that there's actual, joyful section in a book called Lamentations, which means crying, okay? Lamentations three, 22 through 24. Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish. For his mercies never end. Listen, this is truth. They are new every morning. Some of y'all need to believe that this morning, right? They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, yeah? Jingle bells, yeah. I say the Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him. He is faithful, I'll put my hope in God that what? His mercies are new every morning, that I can get a new start, that even though I mess up, I get a new chance that, you know, he is my hope, he has the power to do that, so I'm gonna put my hope in him. That's good. Make it end right there, New Year's, right? Exciting, but, oh, you don't nod there, Moby. I know you, you, right? That sounds joyful, and I kind of like that, and it would have been a cool message if we just talked about how great things are gonna be in 2025. But here's the thing, we don't usually feel this way by the end of the year. So it's this weird mix, it's kind of like a movie. On the one hand, there's these parties going on everywhere, all over the world, and yet, according to most studies, globally, not just in the United States, depression rates are the highest during the holidays, and listen to this, they peak on New Year's Eve. You don't believe that? I got one guy, he goes, mm, yeah, they peak on New Year's Eve. How wild is that? During a time of parties, festivities, celebrations, people overall are more depressed, and in fact, if you can quantify that at all, on New Year's Eve, that doesn't mean you're all the most depressed, but depression rates are highest, they peak on New Year's Eve. That's odd, except I can relate to that. Emma messaged me this morning, which I appreciate 'cause she knows me. And she said, "Hey, I know the New Year, "she knew nothing about this message." She just said, "Hey, I knew the New Year, thank you." Well, it's rough for you, and then she gave me an encouraging verse, right? And the reason that she did that is 'cause she knows, and I've joked about this, talked about it. I have never enjoyed celebrating New Year's, ever, okay? This, since I've been at this church, one time there was a church-wide party, and I sat at home by myself, and was complete content. I don't look at the clock, I don't watch the ball drop, it's just another day, that's how I like it. I'm gonna tell you why, I'm gonna start with depression, right? To me, and this kind of, this reveals my eorish tendencies. The end of the year doesn't make me think of all the things to come, it makes me think, oh my goodness, another year of my life has passed, and I only have so many of those left. I hope I didn't depress you, okay? But that's where I can sit, and because of that, I'm like, why am I gonna celebrate this thing about time passing? Oh, great, another percentage of my life is gone. That's terrible, don't think that way. But I can understand it, and there might be, for me too, the idea of, and I don't know about you, it's kind of, it gets stuck on unfulfilled goals. Or for me, it's not necessarily that, I'm pretty driven, so I try to go for goals, but it's more of like my personal struggles that I'm still dealing with, right? I start at the end of the year, I'm gonna dominate this, whatever it is. And then by the end of the year, I'm like, I don't think I've changed at all, in this area. Overall, I think that's what the issue is with most people that struggle with depression or to struggle with sadness at the end of the year, and probably is behind this kind of global phenomenon of highest depression rates during the time when it's supposed to be most joyful. Dreams that started at the end of the year maybe didn't happen, and now I'm talking and bringing it back to us. People recognize and feel the passage of time. And then you kind of feel stuck. I hear this all the time, right? You look at the year and you get really sad because you're like, has anything changed this year? I'm in the exact same situation I was in before. You're stuck in the same patterns, some of you're stuck in the same addictions, right? That could be drugs. That could be other things, alcohol, pills, the things that you hide, that you tell yourself aren't a big deal, and then at the end of the year, you're going, you know, that was a bigger deal than I think? 'Cause when I stack up the days that I spend, drunk or high or with a body, a different body in the bed, or arguing with the spouse, or being hateful, or whatever these things are that you feel stuck in, it can all of a sudden go, what's wrong with me? Maybe the year started with loneliness for you, and it ends with loneliness, right? And so you say to yourself, this is it, this is my entire life, maybe you got a marriage issue, I'm miserable in my marriage, and you're like, this is the year, I'm gonna try these new things, and maybe you did, but guess what? And then you say, I'm gonna stay awake during sermons, and then you don't, and it's the end of the year, and you never did it at the beginning, and Todd's gonna come find you. See how I slipped that in there, okay? I have to stay awake, so do you, okay? 'Cause I'm sleepy too, all right? Though I take it as a compliment, I must have that smooth, velvety voice. (coughs) Many times people struggle with the idea that they're the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning, or their situation is. Here's the thing, and this is something that's so important. Christ is the embodiment of hope, right? Think about it, he comes in and he says, the way that you lived your life, the hopelessness you're in, the darkness that you're in, the brokenness you're in, the death that you're in, even you realize they're not. I have come to restore everything that was lost. God says that over and over and over in the Bible. Look, new things are coming, look, I'm gonna restore it. Look, even when we mess up, he says, even though you have messed up, I'm paraphrasing, but it's numerous times, you have sinned against me that if you are my people, I will still come to you after a time, and I will restore the things you've lost, right? Even in the moment of darkest loss and hopelessness on the cross, he died, imagine being there and following him and believing that he was gonna restore your people, and then he's dead, and then guess what? Three days later, he comes back to life. He is the embodiment of hope. In him is the promise of real change and hope for a brighter future. Both for us individually in our struggles, I know you're zoned out, I've always said this though. This is why I'm not a great pastor, what I'm about to say. This is still joyful, but I am gonna say this. I had a conversation with the Random House guys the other day. I would rather you leave and not come to church than come here and make it ordinary and come here and fall asleep and come here and act like it's nothing. Because it goes back to, if you do that, one, you're playing a game because it's not valuable enough to you to be here, but two, you're spreading that to other people. If I'm up here falling asleep, Sydney, do you wanna pay attention? No. It ties in. This has to be real. And I'm talking to the Christians in the room, I'm talking to remnant people. They tend to think I'm only speaking to guests. I don't know why. Hey church folk, you need to wake up and recognize that this thing that you've dedicated your life to is either real or it's not. And if it's not, what are you doing? You're doing this because your mom or dad told you to, because your wife makes you, because your husband. See, I'm telling you, and I shouldn't say that as a pastor, that is insane. It is insane to say that I believe in something and I believe it brought me life and it's gonna give me eternal life and that God is still gonna move in my life today and then he's a God that restores and he's a God of miracles. And yet I'm going to fall asleep or I'm gonna not pay attention. I'm gonna be on Facebook. All these things that you do, why does that happen? The same reason you end up depressed because somewhere along the lines, this just became a thing you do. And then we wonder sometimes why the church, the modern church is not, although it is growing, right? Don't listen to him. Nothing's gonna overcome God's church, but why people don't listen to us. (silence) One of the things that I really want us to, I wanna grasp personally, I really want all of the Christians in this room to grasp is that it's not a game. This isn't some sort of philosophy. There's a real promise here. Christ did not say, here's a story about a guy who didn't die to inspire you to live a better life. That's how a lot of people today take it. This is an inspirational story to inspire us to live a better life. It's not true. A man, God, came down, taught us how to live, perform miracles, died on the cross, and you ready for this? Was physically race from the dead. You don't like that? That's uncomfortable for you? That's what happened. And with that is the promise of the miraculous in our lives. We have to grasp these Christians that following Christ is not an empty philosophy, but a real power, that the Holy Spirit promises real power and real change, and that we have the opportunity, and we see this in Scripture, at any time, any time in your life to start over again. New beginnings every day, over and over and over. You're the liar, you're the addict, you're the cheater, you're the angry person, you're the liar, right? You're the lazy, you're the fake, you're the hateful, it can change. Not next week, not three hours from now, right in this moment, you can say, "Lord, I'm done with this, move in my life, "and help me move forward in newness." He did it over and over and over again. He doesn't quit, he doesn't give up on you. Here's this quick story. Go read about Peter and the Gospels. That guy, it's the craziest thing, the things he did. God never gave up on him. It promises real power and real change. We have that opportunity any time to start fresh over and over, but in order to make change, we have to acknowledge the problem. See, that's the thing. A lot of times, we want to look forward, right? We want to sermon on how to make life better. How to get to where we're going, better marriage, better finances, whatever you're trying to get. Here's the thing I got to tell you, and I thought about that. It'd be a good time for it, Ryan, right? You think it'd be a good time to get some tips, Todd's tips for the new year, right? However, it hit me for myself. In order to even get a plan, we have to let go of the thing that's been holding us back. And here's the real hard part. You ready for this, Jericho? This is a really hard part for people. In order to do that, you'd have to acknowledge the problem, because see, the world doesn't want you to acknowledge the problem. They want you to distract yourself. They want you to read the book. They want you to make excuses. That's the big one. I hear this in church. Christians are some of the worst people at apologizing. Here, you ready? This is a bonus. Do you want to know what an apology isn't? I did it because XYZ, and because this, this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and I did it because of this, and it was okay, but I'm sorry. You know what I say when people do that to me? Well, I don't forgive you. I'm like, oh my gosh, why? Well, I can't forgive you if it wasn't wrong. 'Cause what you just told me was all the reasons why what you did was okay. You understand? Oh, I got some of you, you don't like that. If you start with justifying when you apologize, are you really apologizing? You can't be, because what you're saying is, here's why what I did was okay, but I'm sorry. And you throw that in because you're supposed to. You get the same reasons some of you are in this building. You're supposed to be 'cause you're a Christian, but you're not really here. I'm still joyful. We have the opportunity anytime to start fresh over, but in order to do that, we have to acknowledge the problem. We have to acknowledge the situation we're in. We have to acknowledge the habits that we've developed, and the sins we continue to get stuck in. This is something that's not even some popular. You have a terrible marriage, and you might be the better spouse. I believe it, you're good people. I look at you, you're all handsome and pretty. I bet you're the good one, okay, genuinely. You want to know something crazy? You can't change them. You can't change them, but you spend a lot of your time trying, don't you? Here's the thing about God, and it drives people crazy that are close to me. I grasp this part easy, right? I struggle with him having patience with me, believing that. But here's the thing. God, this is what God says to us over and over. Well, they did this and they're doing that, and he says, okay, I'll get to them. Let's talk about you. If you have a marriage and your spouse is 98% of the problem, guess what? Without your 2%, you'll never be 100. We don't want to acknowledge that. We don't want to accept that Christ is always, right? He feels mercy for us and grace, and he's patient with us, but he won't let us stay in the same place, because the goal is to become more like his son. Some of you all, and I say this every week, and that's the problem. I think I need to leave for like six months, right? Go around and preach the other truth. I thought about this, and then I realize I'll get fired. But I thought about going away, right, and then coming back and all of a sudden, you guys will hear me again, or you'll never want to hear me again, because you realize what you got used to, because you're not, you know, all my little sayings, all the things I do, you won't be, right, like this. It won't be the same old thing anymore, because the reality is, the things that I say over and over are because God tends to say I'm over and over, because we tend to not listen. We have to acknowledge the situation and the habits we've developed and the sins we continue to be stuck in. This is harder to do than we're willing to admit. Pet peeve of mine. And in general, if you're close friend of mine or relationship with me, Jericho can tell you this, he knows this, right, excuses. It sounds mean, him and I have debates on this, right? He calls them reasons, right? I call them sometimes excuses, right? And in vice versa, I can do the same thing. And it's okay to tell people reasons, but that should be an invitation that they ask for, not something you just throw out. You get what I'm saying? Excuses are a wall, I've said this before. And excuses mean, you're not allowed to come in, you're not allowed to be upset, here's my excuse. Reasons are, here's the door to my heart if you want to know why I did what I did, but it doesn't, I don't think it justifies it. Do you see what I'm saying? It's an invitation to step in, whereas a wall says you're not allowed to say anything because I have a good excuse. Man, it's like two or three sermons in here for the new year, you're welcome. This is harder, the reason I'm bringing that up is because it's hard for us to admit that we're part of the problem in any situation. And a lot of times that's because you want to know why, I'm going to give you some grace here. Some of you have very low self-esteem for lack of a better word, you do. You've been beat up by life, right? Have you ever had this thought of like, listen, I can't hear another negative thing about me because if I do, I'm gonna break apart, right? You know what I mean? And I get that and that's a real thing and I'm not saying that, but what happens is that's a trap because people around us have beat us down, we start making excuses and then we're this in this little box. And guess what happens if you stay in a little box for a year? You're not gonna change. You're gonna be in the same situation that you're in. It's hard to admit to ourselves that our situation, sometimes we just don't want to look at how bad things are. Maybe you're a person, it's like shut down. You're like, oh my gosh, why don't I feel anything? I'm just giving these, right? I'm shut down and you don't want to actually deal with the situation that's keeping you there. You don't want to deal with the situation that's making you feel that way. I see that in marriages a lot. There are marriages that on the outside, everyone thinks are great, but if I were to read the mind of the spouse, they're absolutely miserable. And the problem is, is that out of a desire to, it starts with love. I don't want to be negative and I want to be loving, but what ends up happening is you just ignore it. Here's the thing, ignoring it, I take a plant, right? And it's weak and it's dying. Some of you, once you like plants, right? You're gonna tell that I don't, but the analogy works. I can water the plant, that takes work, right? I'd have to acknowledge I didn't do a great job. Or I can just say, no, no, I forget about it, don't take care of itself. What's gonna happen if I come back to that plant in a couple months? It's dead. Will you be so afraid to make things worse that we don't want to acknowledge what it is? It means looking in the mirror. It's an analogy we use around here a lot, right? Some of you would rather walk around with a big old booger on your face than look in the mirror and admit, I got a booger on my face. I know that's gross, but it was intentional. Here's the thing, before we go on. We're getting ready for a new year. You've lost some hope. You beat down, you've given up. You're stuck in the sin. That's a big one too. And you think you're gonna be joyful as a Christian while you're living in sin? Sorry, that fish can flop around on land all day long and say, I'm gonna be happy, but it's still gonna suffocate. You're not meant for it anymore. To have something new in your life means we have to leave the old behind, right? Sometimes they have something new, we have to leave the old behind. I have two sections in the gospels that I think about genuinely all the time, all the time, these two stories. I think about them all the time. And interestingly, I think they kind of fit this idea. All right, if you return to me to the gospel of John, starting in chapter five, verse one. John, the gospel of John chapter five, starting in verse one. Jesus is going around healing people. Now, in order for you to understand this story, there was some superstition. There was a pool, okay? And this pool, there's different reasons. But people began to think it had miraculous powers. So every now and then, the water would get ripples in it. And people believed that if they could get down there and touch that water while it's rippling, that there was an angel that touched it and they would get blessed, they would get a miracle, they would get healed, okay? Sounds crazy, but is it? You ever taken that coin and thrown it into wishing well? Right? So we didn't make a lot of money off of those, by the way. And the Jewish people who believed in God got swept up in the same thing. And they just took it and said, "Oh, it's one of God's angels." They added something that wasn't in Scripture to the story. Now listen to this, okay? Jesus comes up on this. After this, a Jewish festival took place and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. By the sheep gate in Jerusalem, there's a pool called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades, that's what holds up things. Within these lay a large number of the disabled, blind, lame, and paralyzed, here we go again, right? That's why they're there. One man was there, now listen to this, who had been disabled for 38 years. Let that sink in. That's almost double my age, right? One man who had been disabled for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, this is so, I genuinely think about this all the time. All the things he could say to this guy, this is what he says, do you want to get well? Not why are you here? Not, man, you want a bath, you look gross, not are you sad, he says, do you want to get well? Sir, the disabled man answered, oh, remember what I said about excuses and reasons? Sir, the disabled man answered, I have no one to put me into the pool and the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, someone goes down ahead of me. Get up, Jesus told him, pick up your mat and walk. Instantly, the man got well, picked up his mat and started to walk. This is a man of faith, supposedly, all right? Boy, it wasn't at the temple. He wasn't, you know, from what we see, maybe he did, he wasn't praying, he wasn't trying to love people, he was sitting in his situation. There's some clues here that I think are very telling and I think are really good for us and I think you're ready for this, this is still joyful, but I think this is a shoe that fits a lot of you in this room today. What happens after 38 years of the same thing? You think he was pretty happy, Jase, you think he was happy? No, he wasn't, he probably wasn't, right? What can we tell about how hard he was trying based on the excuse, do you think he was still trying to get to the pool, wake up, no? He may have it first, right, he tried to roll down there, tried to crawl, it doesn't matter, but over time, instead of seeing a situation, and what's crazy about this is even if he believed even if it was true, what he said wasn't true, but like this idea is magic water. It's right down there. If you told me, if I truly believe the reason I'm not getting healed is because by the time I get there, someone beats me, if you know Todd Blinn, I don't have hands left, okay? I've stubbed my way to that, I'm gonna do all kinds of tricks, I'm gonna roll down the hill and like lay by it, until I can, I'm gonna beat the people that get there. But here's the thing, he just came up with an excuse to justify not moving. Listen to this. What happens when you're in the same situation, and this is a warning, and this is the part I said, you never take ownership of what you can do, you start to look out and you start to blame other people. And what happens when you blame other people for a long time? I'll tell you, you become bitter. It's their fault, I'm here. It's their fault, listen to this. I have no one to put me in the pool, no one cares. When I'm coming, someone goes ahead of me, they're selfish, they don't care about me. He's found a way to put himself in a box that it's everyone else's fault that he's in this situation. To the point, right, that he's not even going to God. Which is why the question Jesus asked him is the question, that's why I love him. Some of you all think he would come up and go, hi, boo, boo, boo, boo, and pick you up and dance, or no. He starts with the truth in order to give us grace. Do you even want to get well? It's a question as we go on the topic today, you want change, you say you want it, you're miserable 'cause the end of the year is, is here, you're stuck, you're sad. Let me ask you a question, do you really want something to change? Not the idea of it, everybody wants the idea of let's say a better marriage, I'm going to pick easy ones. Everybody loves the idea of not being addicted to that thing on the computer screen you're looking at when no one's looking. Everybody loves that idea, until you realize that in order to do that, I have to what, make change. Change is not easy. Change is not fun. If it was, no one would be stuck in anything. When I see this, I think of this all the time, when I'm in a situation I'm upset, I love the people I'm close to, they ask good questions, and this is something that the Lord's put in my heart. A situation happens, I can get better, I can get upset, but where I typically always end when I'm in my throw in my fits mode, is God essentially saying to me the same thing, ready and I'm going to explain it to us. He says, do you want to get well? And I'll say of course, God. He says, how come you haven't done what I told you to do? And then I'll come up with all the things I have done. You ever do that? Well, I did this and I did this and I did that. Yeah, but have you, before you give up on me, before you assume I'm not coming through with my promises, have you done everything to the best of your ability that I've told you to do? Did you go right when I told you to go right and turn left when I told you to go left? And guess what that answer is for me every time. Nope. See, people tend to get depressed, this is scientifically back too, when they feel powerless. If you feel powerless, stuck, that's when you lose hope. That's when you become bitter. And Jesus just comes in and he starts with the question that gets to the core of your heart and here's the thing. God's asking you the same thing today, whatever it is, do you want to get well or are you just like the idea of it? Are you willing to let go of the excuses? Am I? Am I willing to let go of that old thing to have something new? Stockholm syndrome, you heard of it? You haven't heard of that, you're a nurse. Ready? If I'm incorrect, someone's gonna tell me if I'm wrong here, right? It's the idea that like captors that would take people, whether in war, like I capture you and I put you in my house and I like, you know, you're a prisoner. But over time, you begin to almost love me and trust me, even though I'm not really doing for your good because over time, right, it just becomes the normal. And you start to have sympathy for me. We kind of have that situation in our lives. We get stuck in these situations so long that even though they're not good, they are at least familiar and comfortable. You ever done that? Have you ever done something? Maybe some of you are in that addiction. Now, you hate it, but you go back to it and you say why? And it's because at least you know what that is. That bottle's always there. Those pills are always there. Even when my wife's not there, that bottle's always there to help. When my husband's not there, right? Even though this is there. When it doesn't matter. When I'm feeling lonely, that body's there. I might have a terrible marriage, but it could be worse. I love this section. Like some people in the room, I wonder if some of you get upset at this section and think it's me and I guarantee it. I guarantee some of you in this room would go, that's really mean that Jesus did that. I think it's the most beautiful thing he could possibly do. Because he could have just came up, like imagine, touch, walk away, he's walking. He gets to the heart of it. It's bigger, it's bigger than even his situation. Do you want to be well? Or have you given up all hope of joy and hope? Do you want to get well? Because being well is not always going to be comfortable. All right? Another section, kind of ties with that. Interestingly enough, it's in the same section. Or the same gospel. Gospel of John, chapter nine, starting at verse 35. If you're close to me, I guarantee you've heard me say this all the time. This one blows my mind too. It's so deep. God uses it to convict me, to make me think. I think it's so powerful. The gospel message is in this. Ready? Jesus, I gotta set it up. Jesus heals a blind man, blind from birth. He heals this guy. Now what's crazy is these people, the Jewish people had kind of developed this almost mythology that if someone was born with a disease or born with something, right? Then either they sinned in the womb or their parents sinned went down into them. Like they deserved it. They came up with a reason to justify. This bad thing happened instead of accepting man. What a broken world. They said, their parents must have did something that's their fault. He comes up, he heals this guy. It's a great story. You need to go read it because this guy is the most sarcastic guy in the world. If you like that, go read it. 'Cause when he talks to the Jewish people by the way, when this guy started to make change in his life, his family left him, go read it. They turned on him. He didn't have his church family anymore, right? Don't leave this, I don't know what I'm saying, don't leave around that. But you get what my point is, like there was a cost here. Anyway, he even got thrown out of the temple. He couldn't go back, starting verse 35. Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out and when he found him, he asked, do you believe in the son of man? Who is he, sir, then I may believe in him? Wow, wow, is that? This man followed without even knowing the end, without even knowing fully who Jesus was. Who is he, sir, I may believe in? Jesus is, you have seen him. In fact, he is the one who is speaking with you. By the way, if you've been here the last few months, we talked about the son of the man, the Messiah, right? I believe, Lord, he said, and he worshiped him. Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind. Can I paraphrase this for you? I came here to see to help those who don't know the way back to me. I'll come to them when they can't come to me. When they acknowledge that on their own, they're helpless and they need a Savior, I'll come to them. But the people who say that they're good on their own, that they got it, that they can see that they're good people, they can stay in their situation. The people that think they got it figured out, I'll let them figure it out. Some of the Pharisees, these are religious leaders who are with him, right? By the way, on the outside, they did have it all together. These people were good, we would be like, oh, that's a good guy. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, we aren't blind too, are we? If you were blind, Jesus told him you wouldn't have sin. But now that you say we see your sin remains, that's deep. Because remember, this is in the context of what Jesus said when he said, those who see will become blind, he goes, if you could admit your problem, I could help you. But because you say you don't have one, I can't help you. You see what I'm doing here? And I know it's not specific, it doesn't directly correlate, but there's a correlation that in order to receive change, in order to, you have to invite God into a situation, stay with me, in order to invite him into a situation, you would have to admit that there's a situation to invite him into. You get what I'm saying? If I lose you? I'm gonna move on real fast, stay with this. Ephesians chapter four, 17 through 24. Ephesians chapter 24, I'm sorry, chapter four, 17 through 24. Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord, you should no longer walk as a Gentiles do, that means unbelievers. This is Paul writing to the church in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous, bitter, and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with the desire for more and more. In their bitterness, they just gave themselves a way to what? To sin, to brokenness, to addiction, to living like the world lives. But that is not, listen, I don't care if you've been a Christian for two months, three months, six months, 10 years. Listen to this. That is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him or taught by him as the truth in Jesus. To take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by lying desires, your desires lie to you sometimes. To be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. There's a lot to that paraphrase. Stop living like the world. See, the world tells you when you're lonely, go find a body. The world tells you that when that guy tells you, hey, I'm gonna be with you someday and we're gonna work it out and blah, blah, blah, blah, and help me use you or that girl does it to sometimes, right? That you can say, I'm not gonna do that. See, the world tells you to turn to that bottle, to those pills. The world tells you there's no place to go. The world tells you to just ignore, to dull the pain, to turn away. The world tells you to give up on your spouse. The world tells you to just get by, to distract, medicate. Maybe if I take enough pills. And what we end up doing is compromising when we begin to act like the world. And what Paul's saying is, stop acting like the people that don't even know God because their thoughts and their ways are futile. Meaning it doesn't lead anywhere real. They might get temporary relief. They might temporarily overcome something, but it won't last. He says, you know Christ. So take off the old self. Take off those old patterns. Listen, I told this about the old jackets message. If you want, that's gonna be hard sometimes. Remember we use this in that same section. To take that off is hard. It's comfortable. People are gonna question you. Why are you doing this? But you have to what? Let go of the old to have something new. And some of you all try to come to church once a week and put on the new Christian jacket over top of your big old nasty world jacket, right? Even if it's a cool jacket, like the one I showed you a few weeks ago. You have to take it off to be renewed. The spirit of mine's put on the new self. Listen, I could preach, even the jackets message was over this if you wanna find that it's online. But the main point I wanna say today is this. In order to put something new on, you would have to acknowledge that the old is hindering you. You'd have to acknowledge that whatever, that you, you are doing something that is like the old you, like the world. You'd have to acknowledge that there's a need for new, right? You don't go buy shoes, well, some of you might, right? When they're brand new and if your shoes never got stuff somehow or magical, you wouldn't need to buy new shoes. You buy them when you look down and go, these things are old, I need a new pair. And what I think so powerful here is there's this, when you look at all of these sections, there's an active part that God does give us free will, even believers, and he says, "I want you to trust me in faith." Which means it's active. To be renewed means starting, right? If we look at this section with admitting that the parts of us, that the, excuse me, means admitting that there are parts of our lives being run by our old self. And that's hard, sometimes, like there's parts of me, this is so hard to admit that are no different than I was 10 years ago. And I can get discouraged in that sometimes, right? Like, ah, thank God he's patient with us, right? 'Cause if he tried to change everything at once, my head would explode. But, that shouldn't be, there should be a step forward. And a lot of times, we don't wanna let go of that. Like I mentioned in that, in that jacket, there's some correlation here. But it's a little different, because it's not just about putting an old jacket, it's like, in order to put on an old jacket, you would have to admit that you're being run by the same old corrupted patterns. To put on something new, we need to take off something old. Which means you gotta admit it's old, which means you gotta admit it's a problem. So my question to you today, new year, and then you can go to sleep. Everyone in this room, this question is for every one of you, 'cause we're all human and we all have an area in our life. Sometimes it's a sin and it's me, you know what I mean. I don't even tell you. And sometimes, we're being sinned against, but we've just accepted it and we've lived in this old way, hear me, what's hindering you? Are you sad? What's, let's start with the question of what's hindering you? Some of you might go, oh, what's hindering me is I'm lonely, okay, that's fine, let's start there. Let's start with one that seems like it's not you. This is a hard one. There's a lot of things I could say here. Are you lonely? (sighs) Is God still good if you never get married? Is your faith in God for who he is, or is your faith in the God that gives you what you want? Have you actually followed God? I want a good godly woman. I hear this from guys all the time. I'm be like, dude, I don't say it to you. Like if you want me to tell the truth, it will, but here's the truth. I'd be like, I wouldn't want my good godly friend that's a girl to date you. Now that sounds hopeless, but it's not because I'm seeing where you're at right now. That could change, and ladies, that's the same for you. Why would I send one of my good guys to you? Because you're still hanging around with all those old guys. I want a good guy, that's funny. That's like, you need to quit fishing at the same old pond then, right? I'm gonna eat some nasty fish 'cause I'm used to that fish. At least I'm used to it. It's nasty fish, right? I don't fish, what's a nasty fish? 'Cause people eat catfish, carp, there you go. Man, that's the most awake you've been, Blake. Carp, right? Some of you all eat a lot of carp, what's a tasty fish? Salmon, I hate fish, right? Some of you want some salmon, but you're just fishing where the carp is. If you ever seen a carp, it'd be cool if I had a fish or they're nasty. Don't do it, Zach. (audience laughs) Right, and this, you have to, what's hindering you? Your marriage is rough, okay, okay. My husband's a jerk, he's a monster, and that's true. Listen, that's true, that's true. And God, are you doing what God told you to do? We can start all the way from, are you still, you know, first Peter three, ladies, I got a message, a series coming for you, just you, right? I haven't done that in a while, but it's coming just for you ladies. We'll see if you show up any time after that. It's not all bad. But first Peter three is really powerful. I'm gonna paraphrase, and it says, wives submit and follow your husbands even when they're not following God. (whistling) That's nasty, I don't like that. Does that mean you follow him in the sin, no? But it means you give them the honor and respect that their position is due, not even because they deserve it, but because God does. That's hard, are you doing that? If the answers, no, then you can't really say, well, goodness gracious, right? 'Cause you're not true, I guess you could, but you're not really trusting him. Men, your wife is mean to you, cruel to you. I'm using marriage 'cause I don't typically use that one and then I'm trying to relate it to you. Single people, I'll come to you easily in a second. But guys, some of you got some mean wives. By the way, you think you're hiding it? We know she's mean, we just don't say anything. You ain't our business, right? Here's the thing, are you loving her as Christ loves the church? Are you loving her? Do you carry weight? Do you carry weight? You want the crown, but no weight? You wanna be the king, but not rule? You don't wanna love her? How does Christ love the church? Let me tell you what Christ loves me. When I mess up, he treats me like I haven't, over and over and over again. He doesn't put my value on my actions, but my value's on my identity. Can you love your wife when she's unlovable? Because that's, thank God he loves me when I'm unlovable and thank God he loves you when you're unlovable. Because if not, what are you doing? Here's what you're doing, do you wanna get well? Single people, I'm gonna say it. Some guys, okay, it can be women too. You're single, addicted pornography. Addicted to it. Let that sink in. You think you're just gonna magically stop when you're married, you're crazy. Because what you've trained yourself to do is to get a type of love that is all about you. I could go into some weird science with that too, that you can look this up, no one's gonna believe me, but pheromones and things, they pick up on that. Look it up, there's been some studies saying they can pick up on that stuff. What's hindering you? Are you angry? Are you bitter? Okay, so the question is, have you forgiven? Well, I did, but I'm still mad. That's a choice every day. Doesn't mean you gotta be in a relationship with them, but can you let go of wanting bad for them? That's hard, not because they deserve it, but because you remember what you deserved and what God gave you. Because forgiveness or history, it becomes a root of bitterness in your heart. Unforgiveness becomes a root of bitterness. Sometimes we have to have a plan, and we think we have to have a plan to move forward to overcome the thing that's holding us back. So like you came here today, right? If I put New Year's message like, "Cool, he's gonna tell us how to have a good year." Can't do that until we acknowledge what's keeping us here. What's the thing keeping you in 2024 that kept you in 2023, that kept you in 2022? What's the thing? Some of you, it's more insidious. Are you Phariseeical? Are you self-righteous? Why is my faith so dead? Are you self-righteous? The truth is oftentimes the first and maybe hardest step, listen, it's to let go of the thing stopping you from moving forward. I used to do this training back when I was athletic, and it's called a, it's a speed parachute. You've ever seen those? You put this parachute on, you run, and all the ideas, it holds you back. You get used to running with that weight, and then eventually you let it go, and you're gonna fly. You get what I'm saying? Some of you all are running with a parachute on all the time, and you're wondering, man, why can't I win this race? And it's because, race, you're still holding on to this thing that you've been holding on to for two years, three years, four years, five years, and you've justified yourself just like the man at the pool that it's not your fault. And maybe the situation isn't your fault. That wasn't that man's fault, he was born lame. But it's your fault, right? It's your, you're the only one who can answer this question, do you wanna be well? Why can't I move forward to the new, what's my plan? Let go of that 75-pound backpack you've been carrying. To do that, we have to, this is a hard one too, admit our sin sometimes, our habit, the issue we have. Usually, what stops us from admitting that, you're ready, is pride and fear. Did you know fear and pride are often connected, the most prideful people are usually the most fearful? (inhaling deeply) They put up pride to protect the fear. I don't wanna let anyone know that I'm scared, so I act like I'm not scared of anything, that I'm perfect. We have to let go of the illusion of control. We may have to let go of the outcome. You have a bad marriage, you got the mean husband. Are you willing to live this year and say, no matter what happens, I'm gonna walk forward, even if he, right? I'm gonna follow the Lord, even if he's not, vice versa. I'm going to be a good man and a good husband, even when she's not. I'm gonna trust God and be a man who deserves a good wife, even when I don't have one. I'm gonna change patterns. I'm going to admit that I have an addiction. I'm going to admit I'm an alcoholic. I have to actually go to someone and say, I'm an alcoholic, but you don't want to. You ready? Because you're afraid and so you don't wanna be well. We have to let go of the outcome to whether before we can, we can get to the plan. Are you willing to admit what's holding you back? If you wanna have something new this year, some of you need to, before we get to that, you wanna know what your first step, some of you need to do. How this all ties in, you ready, Brie? I'm not even this at you, but I'm just saying your name. You might have to go apologize. Some of you need to go apologize. No excuses, no justifying. You need to go apologize. I'll let that sit there for a reason. That's the first step, right? Can you do that? Can you say, oh, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be a better, let's use the spouse. I'm gonna be a better spouse. Can you go admit to your wife that's been mean to you? I'm sorry that I haven't been doing what you needed me to do. I'm sorry I haven't loved you well. Can you go to your husband and say, I'm sorry I haven't respected you. Can you go to your friends and say, I'm sorry I've been hiding this? If you wanna grow, if you want something new this year, you have to be willing to let go of the old part. You gotta leave it behind, guys, it's time. Let's not worry about taking steps yet. Let's stop, we're at, let's take that backpack off. Let's take that off and look at it and say, I am done with you. Today is the day that I am done with you, and then we'll come up with a plan of where to go from here. Some of you all want the plan and you don't have the capability and you don't have the capability because you're weighed down to even follow a plan. We gotta admit it. And here's the beauty. God loves us so much that He's right there saying, "Do you wanna get well, and what does He do?" Even after the excuse, He still healed them. But how many years did that guy waste sitting at a pool that couldn't lead to life instead of going to the God of the universe that can change it like that? If you wanna have something new, you have to be willing to let go of the old. You need to acknowledge the parts of you that are hindering your relationship and your well-being. You have to admit, acknowledge, repent. That's what repentance is, it's just saying, I know this is wrong, sometimes we don't wanna repent because we don't wanna let it go. And if you don't wanna let it go, fine. If you wanna stay here in 2024 and that same thing that's hindering, if you wanna sit in that, then you can. Yeah. But if you wanna move, if you wanna be well, then you gotta admit the problem. Whatever that isn't, like I said, sometimes the problem's just admitting my marriage isn't great, I gotta admit that to myself. Let's just say that. I'm not taking care of myself. I'm bitter, it could be that. I gotta admit, I'm a grumpy, bitter person. Bull's down to, you have to admit you're blind if you wanna help to see. Who's playing music today? Can you come up? She's like, yeah, thank you. Listen, there is hope in a new year. It doesn't have to end with sadness over the same old stuff. We have to be honest with ourselves and with God about what's happening before we come up with a plan to change. You hear that? We have to be honest, I know you're distracted. People are leaving, they run away at altar time, it's scary, all right? We have to be honest with ourselves and with God about what's happening before we come up with a plan to change. You hear me? You cannot have a plan to change if you can't acknowledge there's something that needs to change. What do you need to change? Every one of us in this room have an area in our life that we could take a step and be better in, okay? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to admit it today to acknowledge it so you can what? Not because you can shame yourself, not so you can sit in misery and self-hatred but so that you can what? You like that, yeah? Leave it behind. Leave it in 2024 and move into newness in 2025. If you're sad right now when I'm saying this, if you're mad, you know why that is 'cause you're in that little box, that little bitter box, and you don't wanna believe that it's possible to have hope that there can be change, it is possible. It's possible. Whatever it is, maybe it's just depression. Some of you're like, the thing that's hindering me is I'm depressed. Listen, I don't have the step but the step might be to say, "Lord, I've tried everything else. "I acknowledge it to you. "I'm gonna do everything I can "in the midst of this depression and trust "that at some point somewhere this is gonna be lifted for me. "Can you admit that? "Are you willing to do that? "Do you have a goal? "Do you have a dream? "Do you have a desire for real change? "Are you willing to admit the reality of your situation "in order to get there?" Right, if I wanna lose 100 pounds, I'd have to acknowledge that I need to lose 100 pounds. You see what I mean? Sometimes people don't wanna do that. 'Cause it's scary. Are you willing to leave that part behind even if it's comfortable? You're the liar? You're the deceitful person? I know that's embarrassing, right? I get it. Are you willing to admit that's what you are to say, "Lord, I've been doing this so long as it's become a habit. "I'm done, I repent, I change. "I admit that it's a problem." I'm just trying to get it to relate, right? It can be big or small. I'm the guy or girl that falls asleep during service every week. Can you admit that's a problem? I'm serious, right? It seems silly, but maybe that's a step that's hindering you. You're my faith is dead. Nothing matters when God's going, "You can't even stay awake." And it's just symbolism, right? I'm not really offended. Just heartbroken, I'm just kidding. "Are you willing to admit the reality of your situation? "Are you willing to leave that behind?" If so, you can get ready for something new. God is the God of new beginnings. On day one, things might look really, really dark, but on day three, when that stone rolls away, here's hope. What does it say? What did I say? And, you know, lamentations, I left you with that. He says, "Because of the Lord's faithful love, "we don't perish for His mercies never end. "They are new every morning. "Great is your faithfulness, God. "You are faithful to me even when I'm not faithful to you." Are you willing to do that today? If you're in the room and you don't know God, you want to know Jesus, you got to admit that you need a savior. The Bible says if you confess with your lips and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ, died and was raised from the dead. If you confess to your lips and believe in your heart, that that's true, that He died for your sins, that He's real and when He did, if you're willing to admit that out loud, you will be saved for eternity. There's a bigger issue here, right? Your eternal destination, it's a real thing. Don't say I'm a pretty good person, I kind of like God, have you done that? If you haven't, do that today. Let today be the start of your new life as a new creation in Christ, it's exciting. He does crazy things, I'm telling you right now, if you knew me 10 years ago, 12 years ago, you'd be like, what is that guy doing up there? I still do that, but it was worse. He can do it, he can change it. Whatever you do, don't leave the same as you came in. There's people up here, this time is for you and God. What do you need to leave behind? What do you need to acknowledge before the Lord? It can happen. Acknowledge the problem, invite him into the situation, prayers real, ask God to move in your life and see what happens. You ready? The miraculous is gonna happen. I'm telling you, that's what He does. Whatever you do, don't leave the same as you came in, because if you do, you're choosing to.