Sometimes when I have a really crazy day at work, or a challenging day, or people problems, etc., I tell myself this, "if it wasn't for sin, I wouldn't have a job." I don't like thinking that, but sometimes the stuff I have to deal with in my own life and in working with other people just reminds me that sin is a reality in life. I would love to just preach a sermon and say, "if you sin, stop. Amen." That would be great! But here's the problem: it's hard to tell a person who has a sin nature and sometimes chooses to sin, even when they're Christians, to stop sinning. So what I want to do is tell you that sin is bad, and you shouldn't sin. But today, I want to focus a little differently. I want to focus on this idea that if you sin, have a short account with it. I don't encourage sin, but unfortunately, being who we are, it's inevitable. So, have a short account with sin, and I will unpack how to do that.

In James 1:13-15, James says, 'When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." When James says that God does not tempt anyone, that means you can't say, "God made me do it," or, "God put me in a position where I had to sin." That's not what you can say. You can say the devil made you do it you, but you're still pawning off and making excuses. That's what Adam and Eve basically said. But then James goes on to say that each one is tempted by his own evil desire. And he's speaking to Christians, which means Christians still have evil desires. He says, "he is dragged away and enticed," so he's talking about sin dragging us away. Unfortunately, we've all been caught and dragged away by sin. But watch this. Here he talks about the danger of having a longer account with sin. If you engage a sin, and you continue in the sin, here's the process. He says that after the desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. That means desire is a sin too. If you desire something wrong, that desire is a sin as much as sin itself. Because he says when desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. The moment desire conceives that's a sin and sin when it is full-grown gives birth to death. What does this say? The longer you hang on to sin, the more destructive it is in your life. Let me be clear, I highly encourage you not to sin. Let me also be clear, we all sin.

So here's the rub. When you sin, cut it off quickly. Have a short account with sin. If you don't, sin will give birth to death. You might say, "will I die?" Listen, I don't know. I'll let God be the judge that. I know in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 Paul said "hand that man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saved in a day of the Lord." In other words, what's he saying there? He's saying, take this guy out physically. So it could happen. But I'm saying it could lead to other kinds of death, perhaps death of a relationship, of peace, of satisfaction, of contentment. Do you want that? Remember that when you sin, that it has long-term implications. So have a short account with sin, apologize where needed, stop looking at what you're looking at, if it's sinful, and stop doing what you're doing. Whatever it is, stop it, before it leads to further damage, destruction, and death.

Father, we all sin, forgive us of that. And also give us the power to have a short account with sin. To repent of it, to turn from it, to stop it, so that it doesn't lead to further damage in our life. Help us have the power to do this, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Shorter accounts with sin. That's the goal of life. Thanks and have a great day.

We live in a day in which people do not have firm values and convictions. We have people that just want what they want. It doesn't matter their beliefs, it doesn't matter their convictions, they just want what they want. They will say whatever they need to say, believe whatever they need to believe, do whatever they need to do, to get there. We live in a day in which people lack convictions. So today, I want to talk to you about convictions.

What is a conviction? It is a concrete, immovable belief on a certain issue that you believe either this is the right way or this is the wrong way. It has the idea that you are absolutely determined and clear in your views on certain areas of life. In some areas of life that we talked about in our previous Life Lifter, you can have a personal conviction, but it's not an absolute conviction for everybody. Instead, here I'm talking about the convictions you have for your life. Do you have convictions in your life? Things that you will absolutely never do? Things that you will find acceptable to do? The Bible says having convictions will keep you from sinning.

I want to look at James 4:17. It says, "anyone that who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." Anyone who knows the good he ought to do—that is, convictions—and doesn't do it, sins. By the way, that tells us that there are sins of commission, sins that you commit, and sins of omission, sins of something you should do but didn't do. So sin isn't only something bad that you do, but it can also be something good that you withhold or don't do. Here's the point. It says when you know what to do, and you don't do it, it's sin. And here's the thing, we should all have convictions, and then our convictions should lead to actions.

So, do you have convictions? Do you live by them? Is there a line you will not cross? Or, is there a line that you write in pencil so that you can use an eraser to move it when it's convenient? It's really tough, isn't it? It's tough to maintain your convictions all the time. Perhaps its convictions like "I will not lie." That's hard. Or, "I will not steal". Or, "I will not talk behind somebody's back." We have to have convictions and we have to live those convictions. So what convictions do you have? Are you living them? I will tell you this: sometimes living with convictions is difficult in the heat of the moment, at least in the short term, but in the long term, it's the only way to live. So I hope you'll live with convictions and I hope you'll have good convictions to guide you.

With that, let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray that you'll help all of us have convictions, convictions based on the truth of the Bible, and that you'll help us live them out every day of our lives. Help us to have lines we will never cross. Help us to have convictions on the truth that we will only try to live by the truth and that we will not live in lies. And when we violate those convictions that we'd have very short accounts with them. And I pray that we'll have well-drawn lines, clear lines that we don't even flirt with. We don't even get close. We don't even tippy-toe over the line just to see what it's like over there, but that we will stay far away from them. I pray that you'll help us do that because we will live a more satisfying life in the long run even if in the short run, sin is pleasurable. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I hope you are a person of convictions and that people around you see it in your life. Thanks and have a great day.

A year ago, right around now, is when our church closed down because of COVID. We all shut down and everything closed. Boy, we did not realize how long we'd have to stay closed. We were closed for 17 weeks. We had so many different things and promises that if we did this thing or that thing now, we'd be all right. We're still dealing with a lot of that even now. I'm not here to relive the past, except to say that it's interesting that there has been so much back and forth since that time over the last year. Some people say you should wear masks all the time and others say that it's a grand conspiracy. Others say that COVID is a serious threat, while others say that lots of people survive it and it's not a big deal. There's a lot of back and forth. A lot of times, that back and forth can turn a little personal and a little tough.

Here's what I want to say (and this is something that I think the more you mature in your faith, the more you not only understand, but you appreciate and live by): some things in the Bible are black and white. It's always right, or it's always wrong. So much of the Bible is black and white. Jesus is God; that's black and white. He is God. It's black and white. If you don't think He's God, you have a false belief system. The Bible is God's word. It's black and white. Sin is wrong. It's black and white.

The Bible at times says there are some areas that are not black and white, and I am calling this little talk "Gray Areas". I'm calling it gray areas because there are certain things that involve gray areas. Should you wear a mask or not? Is it right or wrong? "Well, if you wear a mask, you're showing that you believe it's a government conspiracy and assault and bla bla bla", and then if you don't wear a mask, "you're a mass murderer! You're a killer!" There's back and forth and the rhetoric flows.

Maybe when it comes to something like masks—not the most important thing in the world—maybe we need to understand that there are gray areas. Where do I get this from? Romans 14-15 talks a lot about gray areas. I want to read the first five verses of Romans. I want you to take it in because when you read about it, you'll hear and understand what a gray area is. A gray area is not a moral thing. A gray area is things where, for one person it's one way, and for another person, it's another way. Neither is right and neither is wrong. It depends on where they are in their faith. So, let's read the verse from Romans 14, starting at verse 1: "Accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters." What are the disputable matter? Gray areas like we just talked about. After giving the principle, Paul explains, "one man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man whose faith is weak eats only vegetables" (there is a religious factor in that the eating of meat would be wrong). He goes on verse three, "the man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does for God has accepted him."

So what's he saying? No matter which way you are on a disputable matter, or, a gray area, it's okay. "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand." Then, in verse five, "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind." So, let's go easy on the gray areas. If you want to wear a mask, and you want to wear it to bed, and you want to wear it everywhere you go to, that's your choice. If you don't want to wear a mask, and you don't want to do all that, it's your choice. You can have your own convictions, and I suggest that you do. Let's just be careful about how we speak about others who don't. The world is going to fight and complain. Do you expect anything different from them? No. But in the church, let's be one. If you want to fight about masks, that's your choice. If you want to violate scripture, that's your choice. I just highly encourage you to have your convictions and stand by them, but don't judge other people who don't see disputable matters the same way you do.

Father, help us to be careful on disputable matters, on gray areas. Help us to never compromise black and white, right and wrong, and help us to know when disputable matters occur, have our own convictions, and be careful how we assess others' convictions who may differ. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Gray matters, disputable matters, they exist. don't dispute, disputable matters. Have a great day.

Today I want to talk to you about something that I know we all struggle with, and it's about being patient, specifically with God. We're going to look at Psalm 13 so we can gain a couple of 'truth nuggets' from this. Let me read this passage.

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."

There are three main points that I see here. Look at verse one: "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" What's he doing there? He's pleading to God. It's okay to feel the pain. It's okay to even have momentary fear within the circumstances. But cry out to God. Let him know where you are so that you can finally come to terms with that plea to God.

Then in verse two, there's something different. Then we ask God—we get more specific. He says, "Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall." Ask God specifically, just as Philippians says, "let your requests be made known to God."

Lastly, from verse three, is the truth about God. "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me." At the end of the day, regardless of what happens, remember what you know is true about who God is. Remember what you know about the truth of God, even when the prayer isn't answered, and even when things get even more difficult. Remember what you know is true about God. So for today, I want you to remember those three things. Plead to God, cry out to Him, it's okay to feel it. Ask Him specifically for what you need. And third, remember what you know is true about Him.

Let's pray. Father, we know that life can get very, very difficult, and sometimes, Lord, we just need that extra amount of patience because we know our time is not your time. I pray that whoever's reading this would just have that encouragement and they would have the courage to plead to you and to cry out to you to ask you specifically what those needs are. And Lord, that we would remember what we know is true about you, regardless of how the circumstances play out so that we may always be encouraged. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Today we're going to be dealing with the topic of trusting in God. I know that sounds like a big topic, but it's really about trusting in Him when we're dealing with life and things are completely out of our control. We're going to look at Psalm 131. It says, "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever."

I see three main things here. In verse one, he says, "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me." The author's being completely honest and humble. Be honest and be humble. Be honest that you can't do it. God doesn't want someone with all the answers who thinks they have it all figured out and they're just overconfident as a result. Be humble. Humility is recognizing that it's not all about you. My son, Eli, is my youngest of four. Because he's so short right now, when he goes to get a glass and get a drink or get a bowl for his cereal in the morning, he often has to ask for help because he knows he just can't reach it. It's okay to be humble. It's okay to be honest.

In verse two: "Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me." What's he doing there? He's talking about contentment. First, he says in verse one, be humble and be honest. Then, in verse two, he says to be content. I've composed and quieted my soul. I'm content where I am, just like a weaned child rests against his mother. It's just like that bond that a mother can meet the needs of a child and that child rests against after feeding. Then there is contentment and quiet. So be honest and humble, be content, and then lastly, be hopeful.

"Oh, my soul, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever." From this time forth and forever, be hopeful for what God has for you to come. How you ultimately trust God has everything to do with you and has nothing to do with you. You have to be humble. You have to be honest. You have to be content. You have to be hopeful. Ultimately, though, it is God in whom we trust.

Let me pray. Father, we thank you that we can solely trust in you, not having to look anywhere else. But Father, sometimes it's very difficult, especially when life gets out of control and things we just can't seem to keep a grasp on them. I pray that we can learn from this passage and that we can employ these things in our own lives, that Lord, before you, we can be honest and humble, Lord, that we can be content and we can be hopeful. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.