BREAKING FREE Week 1

Message by:
Pastor Terry Crawford
Covenant Church
Shepherdstown, WV

WHY DO I DO WHAT I DON'T WANT TO DO?

I. THE PROBLEM

Romans 7:15-16
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

Mark 14:37
"The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

II. GOD’S PROMISE

John 8:32
"Jesus said, `...When you know the Truth, the Truth will set you free."

Behind every self-defeating behavior is a lie that I'm believing.

Over the summer we're going to expose and uncover and challenge the untruths and faulty misconceptions and misperceptions that keep you hung up, that keep you bound, that keep you from being unloosed. I believe it's going to be a liberating series. Jesus said "When you know the Truth, the Truth will set you free."

III. THE PRESCRIPTION

a. ACKNOWLEDGE the root of my problem.

I John 1:8 (Living Bible)
"If we say we have no sin we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth."

If you'd go to Alcoholics Anonymous the very first step of AA is "Admit that I'm powerless to control my situation and my life has become unmanageable."

John 8:34
"Everyone who commits sin is its slave!"

b. BELIEVE that Christ can change me.

Romans 7:24-25
"Who can free me from this prison...? I thank God there is a way out through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 8:2
"For the new spiritual principle of life in Jesus Christ lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin..."

"The truth will set you free."

John 14:6
Jesus said "I am the Truth".

c. COMMIT all I am to Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17
"When anyone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!"

You say, "If I become a Christian, won't God make me a fanatic?" No.

II Timothy 1:7
"The Spirit God gives us doesn't make us timid; instead his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control."

d. Move from Trying and Trusting.

2 Cor. 3:17
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

Today I commit to:

Admit the problem of sin in my life to myself and God.

Trust Christ with my life.

Encourage someone in my life about the freedom in Christ.