Logan Williams- The Monster of Self

Well, thank you all for showing up today. We have an amazing opportunity to hear from one of my close brothers, one of my close friends. We've done ministry together all over the place. He is the lead of our prison ministry. Come on up here, Logan. This dude, the Lord has just poured out over and over and over into his life. God has just an absolutely amazing testimony. I love this man to death, but you guys are going to be blessed to hear from him today. So let's give it up for Pastor Logan. To start? No video? Good morning, everybody. So good to be with you at Life Fellowship Church up here at the North Campus. I just love, love your church. I love coming up here. Just the environment, the atmosphere, just the staff and the volunteers have created here. It's just amazing. And you guys are blessed and it's so good to be here. I just want to honor Pastor John and his wife, Jen. Pastor Jen as well there. I met Pastor John in 2017 when I was in the Collin County Jail waiting to go back to prison for the fourth time and he brought the Life Fellowship service into the jail. I fell in love with Jesus. I fell in love with Life Fellowship. I was like, man, I don't know when I'm going to get out, but when I do, I'm going to go find that Life Fellowship place. And I'm so glad that I did. And Pastor John has just been the guy that has just believed in me, poured into me, encouraged me. He's just such a loyal, amazing. You guys have some amazing pastors here and I just want to honor them. Also want to honor Pastor Chris and Tatum Lindbergh, our lead pastors and also our new executive pastor, Pastor Trent Wood. Man, we are embarking on a new season at Life Fellowship. I am super excited and our best days are ahead of us. I have my beautiful wife here with me this morning. I want to honor her for putting up with me. It's not easy. And I'm just going to jump right in the message here. James chapter 1, verses 12 through 15 is going to be a perfect setup for this. And I love that we can just stand on the faithful word of God because this discussion today is going to be hard. It's going to out some of us. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be challenging, but that's a good thing, right? It's a good thing. So James 1, 12, it says this, God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. And remember when you're being tempted, do not say God is tempting me. God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires

give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. Father, I just want to ask you to be in this space with us today. As we look at our sin, I just want to take the weight of needing to deliver a message that just makes people feel good. That I could just point to the faithful word of God that shows the danger of our sin, the danger of entertaining our sin, the danger of acting upon our sin, while at the same time, on the same canvas, being able to point to the goodness and mercy and grace and the love of Jesus Christ. So let us, God, just let us open our hearts today and we just invite you in to do what only you can do. In Jesus name, amen, amen. And so as I was preparing for this message, it was, they're kind of like, hey, a few months out you're going to be in this spot. And in this spot, the series is called How to Ruin Your Life. And then they give me a title for the message that Pastor Chris is going to be preaching. And his title is How to Build a Cage You Can't Escape From. But like, you don't have to use that title, but that just kind of gives you context. And I was just thinking, man, like, I know how to do that. Like, I have experience with that. Twenty-five years of drug addiction and crime and sexual sin rebellion, like I've learned firsthand. But the underlying theme, man, that I think that needs to be our story, right, as born again believers, is this fighting for our faith all the days of our lives, that we could walk consistently in this faith and fight for our faith on the mountaintop moments when things are good and in the valleys when things are bad, that we would be people of God, that our faith wouldn't be hinging on feelings and emotions. we would just be tossed about because you know you see that a lot just in america um let's churches like let's just stroke your ego let's just tell you everything you want to hear and as long as you feel good when you leave here that then we've done our job and i i just don't want that i just as we grow in our faith what i hope is that we become a people of god that that we can walk consistently in this faith during the good times and during the bad times that our faith is the same that should be the goal right that should be our goal our overriding goal because you know on mountaintop moments god's good yeah he's great he's graceful he's done all these things we give him all the glory and praise but when things suck and go off the rails guess what he's still good he's still graceful and we still don't deserve the grace that we're operating in and so that we wouldn't be just people that are marked by these extreme ups and downs

like on like on one hand i love jesus you know as long as everything is good you know the wife's happy the kids are happy there's money in the bank nobody's got cancer but then we you know we get the phone call uh and then the other side of that coin is you know i don't like god anymore i'm never going back to that church a lot of bunch of hypocrites that we get out of that mindset you know because we know all these people right that we could just become like paul who said hey i've learned to be content in all circumstances you know shipwrecked in prison he you know full belly empty belly does not matter my faith is not hinging on how i feel my faith is in the finished work of jesus christ and what he did on that cross and in that empty tomb in the best days of my life and check this out even on the worst days of my life like that's that's because we are a force to be reckoned with when that becomes our story we are and so that should be our goal and so how do we get to this place as people of god living out this content faith um and what we're going to look at today is what i believe could be the biggest setback the biggest hurdle in our faith journey capital the biggest someone who will have you constantly having to recalculate your faith time and time again and yes i said someone and and surprisingly this morning we're not talking about devils demons the enemy spiritual darkness we're just not we're not talking about that this morning but what we are talking about this morning is that someone that is going to have you recalculating your faith time and time again is that pretty little thing looking back at you in the mirror every morning it's you we're going to look at the monster of self you me us the damage and the danger of what happens when we get in the way of what god wants to do in and through our lives and i know some of you are thinking i already know hey actually logan that anything that's evil is from the darkness because ephesians 6 says that like i know that and if you know me like ephesians 6 first peter 5 8 and 9 like we're going to talk about that all the time our battle is not against flesh and blood it's against the rulers of darkness it's against the principalities in a realm we can't see fathom or imagine first peter 5 8 and 9 i say it all the time pastor john just said it he's not a little devil with his pitchfork trying to make you bad and drink more and smoke more and cuss more but he's trying to devour you he's trying to get you away from the herd and devour you and so but what i'm also learning in my own faith journey what i'm also learning in my own faith journey is that so often that demon that we can't possess or that demon that we can't rebuke off of our life it's because in reality it was never a demon to begin with it was you it was me it was us it was it was the sin that i acted upon it was

the damage that you caused it was the darkness that we entertained and i hope and pray that we can just have an honest conversation with ourselves today and not get offended by that because i as i was preparing this i could already feel the way like there's going to be people that might get offended by that but if we can't church just take a moment and step away from feelings and just try to get to this place and be like man could it be could it be that that demon i've been trying to rebuke off my life is just me like is it possible that i'm the reason for this season in my life and so my hope and prayer today is that we could just be honest in that right under this banner of grace mercy and love that jesus died for us to walk in and so what i want us to see today and be challenged with is how can we leave here today and not allow ourselves to fall victim to the same things in the character that we're about to talk about today that's the hope like that's been my prayer all week and so when i began to think about this like who in the bible felled the monster of self um it was pretty evident pretty clear that that we're going to talk about uh king david today and he was one of the powerhouses of the bible he was uh the lineage of jesus goes back to him even people that aren't in the faith know know about david and goliath he was anointed from the very beginning kings were scared of him kingdoms were scared of him he had brass he had boldness he wasn't scared of anything he was deemed a man after god's own heart But what we also learn from the story of David is that there was a moment that he lost sight of his calling and David became his own worst enemy. And if you've grown up in the faith or spent any time at all in the Bible, you already know what I'm going to talk about. It's 2 Samuel chapter 11. It's the story of David and Bathsheba. And so what you're going to read in those 27 verses is a life that completely comes unraveled. Completely comes unraveled. And so today we're going to do a flyover of this because we don't have time to read all 27 verses and get to where I need to go today. But I just want to say every time, and I learned this from your pastor, and I'm sure you've heard this, but anytime we do a flyover, like go home and read it for yourself. Go home and fact check.

Like don't just take people's word for it. I've heard him say it a dozen times in Acts 17. Paul commends the Bereans because not only did they receive his message with eagerness, but they went back and searched the scriptures and fact checked everything. And I'm sure you've heard him say that as well. So do that. If you're looking for a scripture to read this week, read these 27 verses. It's the story of David and Bathsheba. And so David was anointed king in Israel in 1 Samuel chapter 16. He was a young shepherd boy, Samuel the prophet. He went to Jesse's house. He lined up all of his brothers that looked like Greek gods. Surely it's one of them, but it wasn't one of them. And he's like, so you got another son. And Jesse's like, well, yeah, but I mean, it's just David. And he's just out there watching sheep. He's real young. And he's like, that's the one. That's the one God wants. And man, that just gives me some hope, right? Like he's just out watching sheep. And God's like, that's the one I want. Like he can use anybody. He can use you. He wants to use you. He wants to use me. He wants to use us. He can use anybody. And so he gets anointed king. He's out watching sheep, but he catches wind of this 10 foot Philistine giant

that's shaking his fist at the army of God. And he gets frustrated. He gets mad. He goes down to the front lines, you know, and everyone down there shaking in their boots. And he rolls up and says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that would defy my God? And so you see that even as a boy, man, he wasn't scared of anything. And everyone's like, man, you can't do anything. You're just a boy. And he's like, bro, I just killed a lion and a tiger and a bear trying to attack my sheep. And you give me a couple of rocks and a slingshot and it won't be any different here. And he does that. He goes out and he sinks a rock into the 10 foot Philistine giant's head. He goes up. He gets his sword. He cuts his head off. And the second that head hit the ground, man, the praise and the fame of David just exploded. Everyone loved him. They're like, wow, who is this kid? Like they're chanting his name. They're loving him so much so that even King Saul got angry and jealous. And so that'll take us to the second Samuel chapter five, where he gets anointed king and everything in this snapshot is great. He has favor on his life, anointing on his life. He did this thing to the Philistine giant. Everybody's talking about him. I mean, he wasn't scared to approach anyone. He didn't matter if he was outnumbered 10 to 1. Like there wasn't a king in the Bible with more blood on his hands than King David. Like he was not scared to be a man's man. Um, but what we see in that moment is that David does what we all have a tendency to do.

And that's why I love, I love the word of God, man. Like David fell to the same thing that we all do. David got lax. Okay. Isn't that what we do? We find this place that God has us operating in. We sense the favor on our life. God's blessing things. Doors are flying open. Bills are being paid. Life's happening. Everything's great. And, and we do like the people of God has always done. All right, God, I'm good. I don't need you anymore. And we wouldn't just come out and say that, but that's what our actions show. Sometimes that's what our life would represent sometimes. Which takes us to 2 Samuel 11, where David is supposed to be out fighting with the Kings. Says that in the scripture, he's supposed to be out, but he's, he got lax. He got content, the bad content. And on this particular day, it says he had just woke up from an afternoon nap and was walking around on the roof of his castle. Now I just went and researched and I found at least five verses in Psalms where it says that he got up early in the morning to seek God. I rise before dawn early. I will seek you. There's at least five. I found five. There's at least five. Now he's sleeping late.

He's taking afternoon naps. He's supposed to be out fighting. He's just gotten really lax. And so he looks over the edge of the castle and he notices a beautiful woman bathing. And he inquires about her. He sends for her. He brings her to the palace where he sleeps with her and gets her pregnant. Anybody here remember the Maury Povich show back in the day? Anybody? Jerry Springer. Yeah, it gets Jerry Springer real quick. So he gets her pregnant. And the problem is, is that Bathsheba is the. of Uriah the Hittite, which is one of his great warriors. So David's in a bind. And he does what we always tend to do when we get in a bind, he starts covering up his sin. Because that's what we do, right? How can I make this thing go away? So plan A is I'll have Uriah come home from the battlefields, and surely while he's home, he'll go home and sleep with his wife. I mean, who's not gonna go sleep with his wife if you haven't seen her in a long time? So that'll be a perfect plan. He'll think he got her pregnant, even though I know I'm the baby daddy, but I'll get away with this thing. But what he didn't take into consideration was Uriah's dedication to the Lord and the Lord's army.

And he's like, man, I can't sleep with my wife while my men are out there fighting and sleeping in tents, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'm not doing that. And so David's like, dang, we need another plan. Because that's what we do, right? We don't repent in that moment, we just come up with plan B. Plan B, so what's plan B? He's like, I know, I'll get him drunk. Guys, this is King David, the greatest king of all time, anointed and favored by the Lord. And plan B is I'll get him drunk so he'll sleep with his wife and cover up this thing that I've done. But even drunk, Uriah's dedicated to the Lord and his people, and he doesn't sleep with his wife. So now he needs a plan C. And plan C will ultimately work for David, but it would be the detriment of his life from this day forward. And what he does is he writes a letter to Joab, who's the commander of the army. And he says, send Uriah to the fiercest part of the battle, like where everything's happening, arrows are flying, all that's going on, and then just back up from him so that he'll be killed. And let me just remind you again, this is God's favored person, the greatest king of all time.

And I need you to back away so Uriah will be killed. Guys, no one is immune to the self monster. No one is immune from that. So Uriah delivers this letter to Joab, not knowing that it's his death sentence. And Joab does what David says, Uriah dies and so do many others. And it looks like David's plan C finally works. He takes Bathsheba to be his wife. She bore him a son. It looks like he's gonna by the skin of his teeth get away with this thing. But then there's this tragic sentence at the very end of verse 27 that I hope somebody hears today. Through your tunnel vision, through the sin that you're entertaining. And it says this, after all this at the end of verse 27, it says, but this thing that David did displeased the Lord. But this thing that David did displeased the Lord. Guys, that's not something that you want said over your life. And listen, I just feel like somebody needs to hear this today. Like you may have everybody fooled. You may have the person that you're laying next to at home fooled. But you need to know that we serve a holy and sovereign God who knows all of it. He knows the thoughts.

He knows the garbage that you're looking at. He knows the things that you're acting upon. He knows the sin that you're entertaining. He knows the messages that you're deleting. He knows the bottles of vodka that's in your house. He knows whatever you've got hidden in your closet. He knows all of it. And even though it seems from the outside that David got away with this verse 27, but this thing that David did displeased the Lord. He saw, we cannot hide anything from the Lord. We may have everybody else fooled, but we ain't got God fooled. And so what I want us to see in this chapter 11 is that not one time in those 27 verses where you see devils, demons, the enemy, but what you will see over and over again is the monster of self. Verse one, David remained in Jerusalem. Verse number two, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. Verse three, David sent someone to find out about her. Verse four, David sent messengers to get her. Verse six, David sent word to Joab, send me Uriah the Hittite. Verse 13, at David's invitation, he ate and drank with him and David made him drunk. Verse 15, David wrote, put Uriah out on the front line where the fighting is the fiercest, then would draw from him

so he will be struck down and die. Verse 27, David had her brought into his house and she became his wife and bore him a son. And then verse 27, but this thing that David did, not demons, not the enemy, this thing that David did displeased the Lord. So we can gather from these 27 verses that the monster of self completely destroyed this anointed king. And that's what I love about the word of God, man. And I hope we can just get out of this mindset that we're just gonna read the Bible because we're supposed to read the Bible. But when we read the Bible, what I love about the Bible is that thousands of years later, as unfortunate as it was for old King David, we have an opportunity as the people of God, especially those who are on the brink, looking over at Bathsheba or our version of Bathsheba, whatever that sin is, entertaining that sin, wanting so badly to do this thing that grieves the heart of God. We have the opportunity to look into these 27 verses and allow the Holy Spirit to. reveal, how is this becoming my story? How did David fall to this thing? And could it be that I'm falling to the same things? Could it be that I have heart emoji eyes? Could it be that I have tunnel vision? Could it be that I'm not listening to the counsel of others

because I want this thing so bad? And what my prayer has been, man, all week is that we could look into this and take practical things where this could not be our story. And what I hope and what I pray is that will cause some of us to step into some freedom as we leave here today and say, wow, man, you almost got me, almost got me. But after I heard that story, I'm gonna apply these things in my life. And that's a whole concept of today is to look at some practicals to fight against the self monster. And I just believe that there's gonna be five quick takeaways and we're gonna get through them quick. But if we can apply some of these to our lives, we're gonna see our sin different. We won't act upon it. And I just wanna say this too. When we look at these things, they're gonna seem super elementary and super simple. But if we can just take some steps toward them against, especially for those of us that may be on the edge, looking over, thinking about doing that thing, whatever it is, it could just be that today be the day that you say, man, I almost did that thing. I was on the path to destruction. I was in the process of building a cage I couldn't escape from and I didn't even know it. But now I see and I'm gonna apply these things. So hopefully we can all walk into some freedom today. And with that said, let's look at these five takeaways.

They'll be on the screen. I'm gonna get through them as fast as I can. Number one is wage war on your sin. You can see that about David. He did not do that. He did not wage war on his sin and this is a tough one because we live in a world that just glorifies our sin. We live in a world that thinks it's okay. Hey, if it's not hurting anybody, then it's okay. And we live in a time, we talk about sin that just kind of seems old school and for grandma's church. But listen, if we're gonna be a body of believers walking in this content faith in all circumstances on the mountaintops and the valleys, not building cages we can't escape from, we have gotta be a people of God that hate our sin. Anything that's not of the Lord that rears its ugly head, we have got to cut that thing off at the root. And we see in the story of David, he had a lot of unchecked sin that led to this event happening. In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 17, there's a law put in place for the kings. And in the Old Testament, God's like, hey man, I really wouldn't do kings. They're gonna be screwed up, flawed up, messed up just like everybody else. And everyone's like, well, we want a king. And they're like, all right, we'll go get you a king. But here's some rules for the king.

And in Deuteronomy 17, 17, it says, the king must not take many wives for himself because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And David would have known that scripture by memory. And when he was anointed in 2 Samuel chapter five, it says in that chapter, he took many wives and many concubines. Uh-oh. So you can begin to see right there at the beginning of his kingship, he had this sin that was unchecked. He had this sin that he acted upon. He had a sexual sin that birthed at the beginning of his kingship and now it's starting to rear its ugly head. And that's the danger of unchecked sin, right? The danger of what happens when this becomes our stories, it grows and then it grows and then it grows. Eventually, you might not be there yet, but eventually you're gonna act upon it. And it's so dangerous because let's be honest, when it first like rears its little head, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, right? It's like, that's no big deal. This is just something I'm struggling with. Like, I don't need to tell anybody about that. Or maybe way back here, he got away with it. Nobody caught me, he didn't catch me. And then fast forward a few weeks, he got away with it again.

Then fast forward, he got away with it again. And maybe you're sitting here today and you'd be like, man, I've been doing this thing for years. It's no big deal. And I'm telling you, man, there is a day coming. There is a waterfall coming. You can start here with God walking this out. And then you do that little thing. It doesn't seem like you're very far from God because you're not. You're just, you know, but then as you walk that out, as you walk that out, you look up one day, you're miles from apart from God and you don't even realize how you got there. And then here comes all the sin. It just rears its ugly head. We've got to sever that thing off at the root. So how do we do that? Cause it's one thing to say, yeah, I need to cut that thing off. But how do we do that? What are some practicals? Go to the word, 2 Corinthians 10, five. I'm not going to read it all for time's sake, but it says, take every thought captive to obey Christ. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? And it is. You know, I was sold a bill of goods all my life that I thought if I thought something that I acted in sin, and that's not what the Bible's teaching.

What Paul's teaching us is that when this thought comes into our Genesis three head, because I know we all go to church every Sunday, but we all have the thoughts, right? Have you ever had like the ID channel thoughts about someone where you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that just flitted through my brain. I'm the only one. Okay, well, I'll confess, but that's not a sin in itself. It's what do we do with that thought? So when you have this moment, when you want to. Tell a little white lie to get out of the pickle that you're in? Or you want to do this questionable shady thing in business so that you can make some money? If you keep looking at the opposite sex for too long, it's not hurting anybody. Look how beautiful she is, look how beautiful he is. No one has to know. When you want to tell that person what they want to hear, even though it's not true, so that they'll like you. When these thoughts come into our brain, what are we doing with those thoughts? And according to Paul, we have to take those thoughts captive and say, God, you know, I want to do this thing. God, you know, my eyes are looking too long. God, you know, I want to cheat on my taxes because we in the mud. I want to get out of the God, you know, I want to do this. And God, I want to give that to you. God, that's a that's a powerful prayer to pray. Jesus, in a very blunt way, tells us in Matthew 18 verses 8 and 9, he paints on a picture how we're supposed to be are sending it. And it says this, if your hand or foot causes you to sin,

cut it off and throw it away. It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It's better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. Now, we know that Jesus did not mean that in the literal sense. Are we to all be sitting here looking pretty funky, all of us, myself included, deformed, looking like pirates. We did not mean that in a literal sense. But what he's pointing us to is a reality that unchecked sin is going to end in disaster. There's a train wreck coming like that sin that you think is no big deal. That sin that you got away with. I'm telling you, there's a moment coming that it is going to absolutely rock you to the core. And so if that means cutting off your hand so as to not get to that place and absolutely cut that sucker off, do whatever you got to do because a train wreck is coming. He says it's better to do that than to wind up in a cage that you can't escape from. And he's painting on a canvas this hatred that we've got to have for our sin. This hatred that we have to have for our sin, it will birth a monster. It may be a year down the road, two years, but there is a train wreck coming. Second takeaway is be where you're supposed to be. Sounds simple, right? Again, super simple and it is. Again, super simple and it is. More times than not, sin happens because you're at the wrong place at the wrong time. I can just look back at all my decades of drugs and crime

and all the stupid decisions and crazy stuff I did because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And we see it in the story of David. He's supposed to be out fighting with the kings, but instead he's walking around bored after a nap looking at naked people take a shower. And you begin to see in this moment what happened. He has this unchecked sin. He's in this place that he shouldn't be. And what does it do? It opens the door to sin. And you begin to see now how they all start working together. All five of these takeaways are going to start working together because the reality is if David would have been out fighting like he was supposed to fight, he would have never seen Bathsheba taking a bath. He would have never inquired about her. He would have never slept with her. He would have never killed Uriah if he had just been doing what he was supposed to do. Like be where you're supposed to be. Do what you're supposed to do. Husbands and wives, get your butt to bed at night. Lay next to your spouse. If you have a hard time clicking on things that grieve the heart of God, leave your phone in the kitchen. Cut that thing off. Don't go to bed angry. Angry with your wife. I'm counseling a handful of men right now. They're, yeah, man, we're just arguing. We're just not on the same page. And so, yeah, I'm just sleeping down the hall in another room.

Bro, I'm just going to tell you, if you're alone and you're a man and you're in a room and you're full of bitterness and resentment and feeling like a victim and you got a cell phone in your hand, that is breeding ground for the enemy. I'm just going to tell you, lay next to your spouse, man. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. Don't let the sun go down on your anger and give the enemy a foothold in your marriage. Fight for your marriage. Don't burn off, man. Be present. Be who you're supposed to be. Do what you're supposed to do. Young people in new relationships. Ask yourself the question, do I want God's favor on my relationship? Do I want his blessing on my relationship? Am I willing to do relationships like God designed them? Because it's pretty rare, to be honest. But if that's the truth, don't put yourself in situations where temptation will get on you. Don't put yourself in those situations. Don't be snuggled up in the dark watching Netflix, chilling. You're going to put yourself in a situation where temptation will rise up. And I know you're saying, well, but we love Jesus. And I know I'm not saying you don't love Jesus. I'm just saying that there are moments where the sin of our flesh

is going to scream louder than the voice of that sweet Holy Spirit. And if we're not in those situations, then that can't happen. us fight for your purity fight for your relationship with God some I lost my place for a second so I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to start over I'm just kidding all right third takeaway and I love this one I'm so thankful for this in my life heed to good advice and others warnings he took good advice and others warning in other words when David asked about Bathsheba hey who's the hot thing down there taking a shower and he gets a question back to his question no and the master was like hey isn't that the wife of Uriah the Hittite like red flag okay isn't that thing you want to do dishonest isn't that business deal that you're thinking about kind of shady isn't that thing not representing God well isn't it risky to go out drinking five nights a week like these when you get asked those questions red flag warning sign David should have heeded to that but here we go again he has unchecked sin all the way back to the beginning he has wives he has concubine he has a sexual sin that's driving him now he's in the wrong place at the wrong time he sees this naked woman that's beautiful the scriptures say bathing before him he has a sexual sin that's driving him and we can see in the story that he gets tunnel vision doesn't he the heart emoji eyes are so blinding to him that he fails to see the reality he fails to hear the reality that hey man she's off limits this thing is off limits but he failed to see it you know and I just want to paint on a canvas this imagery because I believe many of us are in this place again this is King David if it can happen to the man after God's own heart it can happen to any of us well none of us are immune and we're either in this place or some of us are dangerously close to this place we're so blinded by our sin we're so blinded by Bathsheba we're so blinded by that thing in front of you ain't listening to nobody you don't care about nothing you just want that thing that's in front of you and this is where we have to have good faithful brothers and sisters in our corner that will call our butt out when our tunnel vision is louder than the reality that's in front of us gosh we need these people inside

note to that don't don't get mad when they do because how many times do we say oh man is someone calls you out and you're like well I just don't like him anymore cuz he's judging me nah man he's saving you from a train wreck bro we need these kind of friends I got I want the kind of friends that are like hey hey not only is she off limits but if you do this thing bro I'm gonna whoop your butt that's the kind of friends we need not the friends that are like well she is hot bro and you are the king cuz we've all had those friends we don't need those friends we need the ones that are gonna call our butt out every time do you have these people in your life that is the whole purpose behind the men's ministry on Tuesday nights and the women's ministry on Tuesday nights at 630 if you're not attending that it's up at the new church in hell and it's it's amazing we also have it in McKinney if you happen to live in McKinney that's the whole purpose of overcomers on Monday night at 630 in McKinney like get these people around you that's the whole point of it that like when you show up there you will get surrender you will have these people that care about your life more than they care about your feelings we've got to have this in our life because alone we're just gonna build a cage that we that we can't escape from because we are all bent towards sin okay no one is immune like the deck is already stacked against us so we've got to do everything that we can to fight against that and having good godly brothers and sisters around us I'm so thankful for that in my life for takeaway real quick nothing from the Lord is done in secret this is a big one that has just spoke to to Jocelyn and I over the course of the past few years working with recovering people watching people destroy their lives relapsing on drugs destroy their marriage this underlying this understanding this idea that it's okay because it's not hurting anybody that mentality and we've come to learn that God is in nothing in the darkness that's secretive right when we're hiding things God's not in that I don't care what it is and you can justify it up and you can Christian ease it up but I'm just going to tell you God's not in the darkness he's not in the darkness and we see that in the story of David what does he do he

immediately begins to cover his tracks right if you're covering your tracks okay if you're covering your tracks for any reason sin is lurking like why are you covering your tracks David knew what he did was wrong and we might have that thing in our life it may seem innocent it may seem like no big deal but again if you're hiding something sin is lurking listen I know this is going to kick some people in the teeth but if you can't hand your phone to your spouse and not get high blood pressure to where your hearts about to blow up sin is lurking sin is lurking I'm so Thankful that Jessalyn knows everything about my phone. In fact, when I came back from my horrendous drug episode before I came back and just dove in here, man, I had so many contacts on my phone. Drug dealers, people buying drugs, crazy women. And I was, I didn't think I had the power myself to go and I was like, here, just, if you don't know them, delete and block them. I'm trying to flee from that stuff. And so I'm so thankful she knows everything about my phone. And so when she picks up my phone today, I don't have that. Oh gosh, please don't open Safari. I mean, we laugh, but how many of us feel that pressure right now? If you're deleting messages from the opposite sex, sin is lurking. Yeah, but she's just an old high school friend and she's married. Well, then why did you delete it? Guys, anytime you delete something because you don't want, I don't care what it's for,

you're leaving the door open for the enemy. If you turn off your location or your Life360 app so no one can see where you are, sin is lurking. If you find yourself justifying your actions in the dark of night because it's not hurting anybody, sin is lurking. Guys, God is not in the darkness. God is not in the secrets, dangerous, dangerous territory. We've seen that in the story of David in the fifth takeaway is this, God will always give us a way out. It's a sad tragedy to see in those 27 verses at the very beginning when David wakes up from an afternoon nap, mind you, if he would have taken that thought captive when he saw the good-looking woman taking a bath, if he had gone, God, man, what am I doing? I'm a king, I'm out beating up Philistines. What am I doing here? I'm gonna go back out and fight. If he would have done that, if he would have gone back to the battlefield, like that was a way out, right? That was a door that God gave him that he could have walked through, but he chose not to. And then you fast forward when the messenger says to him, hey, isn't that the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Another red flag, another open door, she's off limits. He could have walked through it, but he didn't. Even after the deed was done,

God was still giving him a way out. He was still giving him a door. What's the way out? David could have gone to Uriah and been like, bro, I've done a horrible thing and I need to ask for your forgiveness and I need to ask God for your forgiveness. Like that was a door he could have walked through, but he didn't. Instead he chose to kill Uriah. And moment after moment, chance after chance, door after door, David just made another way. And again, I just wanna remind you again, this is King David, a man after God's own heart, God's chosen and anointed. And this tells, I just wanna say it again, this can happen to any of us. This can happen to any of us. But I want it to be said here today, if you're a born again believer, empowered by the Holy Spirit, God will always give us a way out of our sin. He's not just gonna sit there and go, oh, that sucks to be Morgan. Sorry, that sucks to be Brandon. Sorry. He's always gonna give us a way out. And the more, but the more we see those doors open, but refuse to go through them, what happens? Doors get smaller, doors get smaller.

And the voice of that sweet Holy Spirit gets quieter and quieter and before we know it, we're not hearing anything from God anymore. And that door's so small, we have no idea how we're gonna get through that thing. But it doesn't take away the reality that God is giving us a way out of our sin. First Corinthians 10, 13 says, "'No temptation has overtaken you "'that is not common to man.'" God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape so that you will be able to endure it. So there's God's word right there that we can lean on. He's telling us, he's telling me, he's telling you that when that sin is entertaining you and you get this tunnel vision, we have got to, by the power of the Holy Spirit, lean into this word, listen to good godly advice and go, God, where's this door? I have to walk through that because this is about to end tragically. It isn't just so true, man. I look back over at my life, all the destruction, the drug abuse and the darkness and the prison and the crime and the sexual sin and all these, there were moments that I would be so mad at God for allowing these things in my life to fall apart.

God, why would you allow this to happen? Why would you allow me to do this? But now I can look back at that and I can see door after door after door that God was giving me. Run, flee from it, it's gonna end tragically. But just like King David, I became so tunnel vision and so entrenched in my sin. And I didn't have good godly friends to say, hey, Logan, pull your head out. And I acted upon it. I built a cage I couldn't escape from. The doors have become so small, I couldn't even see them anymore, but it didn't take away from the reality that time and time again, God gave me a way out, but it was me who chose the sin that was ever before me. And so I was thinking about how do we close a message? like this because I feel like you know it would be nice if we all took notes and said hey Logan those are good five takeaways and we're gonna go out from here and we're never gonna fall to the monster of self but I that would be awesome if that was our story but I just feel like there's some people in here today that they're like hey man that sounds great but I'm David I've acted upon that sin I'm picking up the pieces now what does that look like for me it's too late for me I've already acted upon this and I want to speak hope into that because we have something that King David didn't have you know what it is the grace and the mercy and the blood and the power of Jesus we have that yeah but you don't understand what I bring into this church bro guys you don't understand what I brought into this church in 2021 listen to me if you're here and you've you've bought into this lie that I've did this thing I acted

upon this thing I'm picking up the pieces and hopefully one day God will love me when I'm a when I when I clean myself out listen God will meet you right where you're at he is not waiting on some future better version of yourself listen God loves you and he forgives you and the cross of Christ saves you redeems you restores you he's not mad at you he's not disappointed in you he's not waiting on you to clean yourself up the cross is big enough for anything that you bring in here and if it's not if you've got something that's bigger than the cross of Christ then Jesus died for nothing even those who looked over the edge even those who saw Bathsheba even those who took Bathsheba even those who killed Uriah and it's covering up those tracks the grace of Jesus is big enough guys he loves you so much and I know we're out of time but I got this revelation if you can just give me two more minutes he gave me this revelation of his love for us recently my wife and I we're gonna be married four years in July beautiful thing but we're old right we're not old old but we're not having kids old okay so we're not having kids but we had puppies we have a pitbull female we bred our pitbull we had seven little puppies everyone's like you're crazy you're gonna have puppy madness in your house dude we loved it but I'm like babe we're keeping one we're not gonna have craziness in our house we'll keep one so she picked out this blue female she wanted to keep but but we have to keep them for 14 weeks with their mother before we give them away and over time there was this little runt dog man this little boy and he was small and he was getting pushed off the the milk and he was he just looked sad he just looked worried he just he really truly was the runt like in all aspects he got the low end of the gene pool in every way we named him Bruce and I think there's a pic there he is if you'll see like he's super bow-legged he runs like this he got the low end of the gene pool you can't see it but like one eyes looking at you and one eyes looking over but as I'm having these moments with him feeding him he would sit right here like I just fell in love with his dog fell in love with his dog and I'm like babe we're gonna have to keep Bruce and I but my point is I love this dog now this dog

he almost bit my finger off at Thanksgiving I'm we're feeding him the turkey skin and he like to the bone blood everywhere he didn't do it on purpose he chews up our shoes he poops all over the place he chews up the couch I'm a frugal person he just made the dog food bill double right all these things but I just love him I don't know what I just love him and the thing is he likes my wife better than he likes me he ignores me but you know what man sometimes he chooses to look my way sometimes he he'll come and crawl up in my lap and in those moments man I'm just so happy that he's in my lap in my lap that he that he that he chose me and you know what I'm not doing I'm not saying hold on Bruce man you just chewed up the shoes you bit my finger off you just pooped everywhere I'm just grateful that he's right there you've been ignoring me but isn't that like us and God we're down here on his in his beautiful world that he created making messes ignoring him but God is just loves us and when we choose to look his way he's not saying hold on remember last week when you when he made that mess remember last week when you ignored me do you remember up he's not doing that man so I feel like there's some some of y'all are in here and you've entertained this sin you've done this thing And you feel so much shame and guilt that you can't even approach God And and maybe you're not sharing that with anyone But maybe it's been a long time since you've just crawled up into God's lap And I'm and I want to tell you today that he wants you to crawl up in his lap so bad If this is just me with a little dog This is God Almighty who is nothing but love and he just wanted me to tell you guys that it's that times a million His love for you. He is not holding anything against you He's not just up there tolerating you. He's not just mildly disappointed in you He loves you and he just wants you to look his way And so we're gonna have a prayer team up here. I want to give you guys an invitation Maybe for the first time in a long time So just come crawl up into God's lap man

Because he wants it so bad We need to have that revelation in our heart And if you're here today, and you've never you're away from Jesus You've never called upon his name Romans 10 says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved If you've never done that, it's just that simple So we want to give you an invitation to do that as well So let me pray for us. There'll be a prayer team up here. Heavenly Father. We love you. We thank you for Thank you for life fellowship God, I thank you for every person that came in today I thank you for the women that just got back from the reflect God. I remember my The game-changing experience I had on the men's version of my Retreat and God, I just pray blessings over them. I just pray blessings over these Babies these these these families God that that you brought in here God We are just so in awe of the church that you are assembling here God And we just give you praise and glory and we just want to exalt your name for that today God And Father I pray man that There would be no condemnation But that but that we're conviction lands God that that people would respond that people would listen to this story of David and Bathsheba and examine their own lives and That they could use these takeaways to guard against the monster of self That could keep them from doing things that grieve your heart God, I pray that these seeds land on fertile soil and I pray that you would make the increase And I pray that maybe some people in here today haven't Haven't even felt worthy of praying or haven't felt worthy of approaching you because of how they've been living God I pray that you would give them the same revelation you gave me That you just love them You're not holding anything against them and that they could walk out of here today in freedom knowing that That they can just approach you at any time

That that's the reason you died Jesus was to tear the veil so we could come into your presence at any time and God we thank you For that and if anyone's here today, and they are away from Jesus You Can just repeat this after me just We're just gonna repeat Romans 10 Jesus. I call on your name to be saved. I May not understand it. I may not can explain it I might not even believe it, but I'm holding you to your word Jesus in your word says anyone who calls upon your name will be saved and I'm doing that right now I'm saying I'm a sinner and I need you Jesus Come into my heart come into my life change me Make me new I Confess with my mouth that you're the Son of God and I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead Now we'll walk with you for the rest of my days in Jesus name Amen Amen amen Me and I'm gonna You