Thank God for The Gum

Amen. Amen. Amen. [music] This is a great crowd.

I'm pretty excited about this. Um so, thank you, Jesus. Right. >> We uh this is a great weekend.

There was an amazing um worship thing last night at at Boulder Creek Coffee. These guys were rocking at the the house. It was beautiful. Um I am the uh on Sunday mornings, okay?

I love Sunday mornings, but on Sunday mornings, I'm the janitor. Um, I'm cleaning up. I'm the setup guy. Um, I'm getting stuff set up in the childcare.

I'm I'm the door greeter and I'm the preacher. Uh, and I'm free. I don't get paid anything for it. So, but it is my uh my favorite day.

A couple weeks ago, I'm out there sweeping up the cigarette butts and stuff and this message came to me. And um, so when [clears throat] you're out there, I look at it differently. When I see a cigarette butt on the ground, I'm sweeping it up. So, we meet for people online in a rehab facility that during the week and then on on the weekends or on Sunday anyway morning, they let us use it, which is a blessing because it's [snorts] set up like a church.

It's just perfect, right? And uh every one of those butts is someone who's here on a Saturday night, okay? Someone who's here fighting a fight, coming back from something. Okay?

um warriors, okay? And it's it's to me it's very beautiful. But then sometimes you're out there sweeping and you come across a little white thing, okay? A zint pack.

Okay. It's called zint. All right. That comes in a little copen.

So Joe there [laughter] he did you bring him originally, Todd? Okay. So Joe, I think three weeks ago was his first time or two weeks ago and and he's up there talking and and uh [snorts] and I got to know him some and hug hug on him and love on him. But um then last week he comes and he shows me his impact and he goes four days without smoking.

Okay, so it's growth, right? That's progress. And then every once in a while though, you come to the gum and uh you you one of the things I learned is if the gum comes up to easy, great. But if not, don't try to pull it up because what ends up is the sticky part and then it's going to get on someone's shoe again.

Okay? But to me, thank God for the gum because all of that is growth. All of that is is is people growing. And that process of growing and sins being removed from your life and becoming more like Jesus is called sanctification.

The Bible calls it sanctification. And so, we're going to study sanctification today. Um, it's where the Holy Spirit is working in you to make you more and more like Jesus. Galatians 5:16-1 17 says this, "I send I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." When you we get saved, we're supposed to allow the Holy Spirit in and and what's going to happen if you if you really laid down your sin your sins and you ask for forgiveness and God forgives you and the Holy Spirit comes in is the Holy Spirit is going to begin to convict you on things. Okay? You it's just going to prick your your conscience.

When we're supposed to as Christians begin a process where Jesus cleans us up to where eventually we look more and more like Jesus. The longer you've been saved and spending time with Jesus, the more you should look like Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:19 says, "Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are of his.

And let everyone who knows who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. We're not supposed to sin." Okay? We're supposed to begin a process of cleaning that up.

My what I look out though when I see in the church today a lot of times is when sin is talked about, it's only talked about God's forgiven you. Okay? So, you've got Johnny who truly has a a salvation moment, he comes, he he lays it all down, this sin, this thing, he lays it down and then he goes and he gets baptized. If you ever seen anyone get baptized, man, when they come up out of the water, there's a smile on their face.

They just feel free. They feel alive. I'll never forget the smile on Caitlyn's face when we baptized her. And Johnny's excited.

My new life. I'm free from all this. And then two or three days later, Johnny's beginning to have the same flesh patterns, the same struggle that he was having before. Okay.

And he he and so he's he's wondering. So he goes to church and and and the church tells him, "Oh, yeah. You're you're saved. Don't worry about that."

you know, they don't they don't talk about sin. All right, we got to talk about this. We're not if we don't talk about sin, then people are left to find out from the world what's right and what's wrong. Okay?

Um, and because of that, there's very little difference between a Christian and a non-Christian in the world. Same divorce rates. Um there was a study in 2024 by the Barner group about porn use in in the church and same same usage of porn. Um basically okay and and and one of the stunning things in that because I I wrote a book and I I paid for that study so I could get the facts right.

But one of the stunning facts that came to me was this. 49% of the practicing Christians. So they broke it down. practicing Christians, people come to church like you guys and people who just identify as Christians, okay?

And uh of practicing Christians, 49% of them are comfortable with their level of porn use. That's that's not God-honoring, man. There's no way you can look at that someone's daughter someone's uh child, and think that that's okay. It's just not okay.

Okay. So, but Johnny's not getting his answers. No one talks about the wages of sin. No one talks about how how you're supposed to how this struggle works.

Okay? And so, Johnny's left to do everyone is around him saying up nice. They sing their happy songs. There's no difference in their life Monday through Saturday, but they look good on Sunday.

And then Johnny thinks, "Well, I guess I guess I just have to hide it." And then Johnny hides it. And then the devil has a way to attack him. Okay, that's not how God did it.

Okay, if we don't talk about it, the world becomes the authority. All right. Uh the world will tell you that something like masturbation is healthy for you. Okay?

And you're saying, "Brian, you can't say that word in church. You can't talk about that stuff in church." You know, if we don't talk about it here, where are we going to talk about it? Okay.

We going to leave it to Dr. Oz to determine what's what's the spiritual, you know, thing, Oprah? You know, we got to talk about these things. All right, here's a clue.

If you're doing something in the dark, if it's something that you wouldn't want your mom to see you doing, you're probably doing something that you shouldn't be doing. Okay, it's it's an easy test, you know, would would I invite mom to do this? Okay, [sighs and gasps] and some people struggle. We all struggle in different areas, okay?

There's not a one of us in this room that doesn't have some struggle. Some are are strongholds. Some are a little bit lighter. Some are dealing with attitudes.

Some are dealing with true stronghold sins. Okay? But you've got to remember that you are a child of God. And so you have God's help.

We got to call on God to help us with this battle. It is the Holy Spirit who cleans you up, not you. Okay? We got to cling closer to God.

As a child of God, you've got a strong advocate. Philippians 1:6 says this, "Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Okay? He's beginning the work and he's going to keep doing the work.

But you do have to bring it to him. Okay? You have to bring it into the dark. And it's an ongoing process.

As soon as you clean up one area, God's going to point out something else. Okay? Maybe you got a an anger issue and then and then God you get you get better at that and then you realize you've got pride. Okay?

There's always going to be looking for something. Philippians 2:12 and 13. Let me pop there. 12-13 says this.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but how much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. This is not saying you will get saved by your works. This is coming from the point of you're already sa saved.

Now you're going to work out what that looks like as a new creation in Christ. Okay? You're working out your salvation. Okay?

Because even when you get saved, there's still flesh patterns that have happened your whole life. There's still struggles that have happened your whole life. You know, there's still habits and stuff that have happened your whole life. And all although technically you could get saved and just immediately change completely, it's just I've not found that to be the case in my life.

I I've been a work in progress for 30 years. And and and I'm a different man now than I was even a year ago. God continues to work on me. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I'm so thankful for the gum. I'm thankful for the growth. Okay? I'm thankful for the fact that God continues to work in me.

[clears throat and cough] But keep in mind the last part of that message there. It is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Okay? It's the Holy Spirit that's going to help you do this.

You're not strong enough to do it on your own. Some things are easy. When I first got saved, I used to cuss a lot and then and I just stopped cussing. Like I don't ever remember saying, "Gosh, I need to stop cussing."

It it just it just fell away. But then other things like pride or arrogance or you know deep hurts and wounds from my childhood that were still affecting me took years to unwind. All right? And that's a beautiful thing.

It's called the Holy Spirit because God wants to make us holy. He wants to grow us and get us to be looking like more like him. Okay? The sanctification is the process of cleaning us up.

It's a partnership with Jesus. And and the end result of the Holy Spirit working in your life is the fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace. I'm in a place now where I'm more joyful and more peaceful than I've ever been. And and um but but it's been a 30-year process.

You know, I learned slow. I don't know. But um but but and God will do the heavy lifting at the beginning. If you ever teach a kid how to change it when they're little, they're five, you're trying to teach him to change a tire.

The guys will know what I'm talking about. The nut is on too hard. You have to you have to help it get it started. And then the kid can finish the little bit of it when he's five.

But, you know, when it gets a little older, he can change it. No problem, right? He's strong enough. He can he can undo it.

When you first get saved, man, go to God and draw on him. He will help you. He'll do more work early on and then slowly get the hand off. He It's a process.

He's training you. He's growing you. It's beautiful. Just like you would bring up your child, he's going to try to bring you up in the same way and grow you.

He's going to work right where you're at. Um, and the process never ends. You see, growth is life, man. If you're not growing, you're dying.

And so, this process called sanctification, let's let's talk through it real quick. It starts almost always of course you get saved but then after that the process starts with a conviction of the Holy Spirit. Okay. The Holy Spirit pricks you in some area.

Now it's a conviction not a condemnation. All right. The devil will condemn you. The devil will judge you.

The devil actually doesn't do that at first. The devil is trying to convince you everything looks devil's going to look pretty upfront and then as soon as you do the thing, see you're you're you're that person. you're this, you're that. Okay, that's judging and condemning.

The Holy Spirit convicts. It's it holds up the character of God and it says, "Dude, you know better than that." You know, it's that inkling you get when you know you shouldn't be doing it, but you you're wanting to do it. You know what I'm talking about, Jen?

And so, and we've all been there. All right. When the Holy Spirit points out something to you, you've got to name it. Name it.

Okay? He points out pride. God, you know, I I have an issue with pride. Um, the Holy Spirit is a helper.

John 14 26, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as a helper, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said unto you. So, he'll bring up all things. He'll he'll point out what he wants you to work on next.

Name it. Write it down. And then your second step, you take it to the Lord in prayer. All right?

You got to take it to the Lord in prayer. God, please help me. I I I'm so prideful in this area. Lord, please help me.

I have so much anger in this area. Lord, please help me. I have so much lust in this area. Okay?

The stronger it is, the the stronger the stronghold is, the more you have to take it to the Lord. Okay? You've got to lay it down in there and focus on God. The f the process of of focusing everything in your life towards God is called abiding.

All right? And Jesus talks about it in John 15 verses 1-5. It's focusing on him first. You're not in this battle alone.

So don't try to fight it alone. Invite God in. It's a partnership. Okay.

Jesus says this in John 15 verses 1-5. He says, "I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.

For without me you can do nothing. Nothing, man. Nothing is nothing. So let's break that down a little bit.

Verse two, he says, "Every branch that has no fruit, he will bear away." This sin, this struggle, this stronghold, whatever it is, God is God wants to take it away. All right? He wants to remove it.

Some are stronger. They're strongholds. Drugs, alcohol, some of the things that that these warriors over here are dealing with. Um, some are some are less, but but whatever the Holy Spirit is convicting you on, that's the thing to start on.

All right? Don't don't try to come up with things that are wrong with you. That's often the devil pointing out it. Let the Holy Spirit convict you.

When it does, you know, then take it to God. Name it. Focus on God. Um, we have to have an urgent seriousness about taking these things away.

After you take it to God, the next thing is to stop doing it. You you attempt to stop doing whatever that thing is. All right? It's an actual thing.

I'm I'm going to get serious about this. Um, you can't get there's a phrase, you can't get a little bit pregnant. All right? You have to be very careful.

You have to try to put it away completely because if you dabble with it, it can come back. Okay? Whatever it is, it can come back. You're going to be tempted.

All right? Lust, addiction, some of these things are are actual dopamine addictions. They're hard. Okay?

Um, an addiction to porn is not that much different than an addiction to drug or alcohol. It's it's very addictive. Okay? It's hard for people to to get out of it and you have to you have to try to just completely eliminate it.

James talks about the process of how the devil sneaks back in if you don't eliminate it. James 1 13-15. This is how it works. So people think the Bible is some archaic thing.

It doesn't apply to today. This is how sin works every time. All right. [sighs and gasps] James 1:13-15.

Where am I? Okay. Let no one say he is tempted when he is tempted. I am tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. When you start making excuses, you may even think, well, God's kind of telling me to do that. You know, I some one lady wanted to cheat on her husband because she met the guy at church. So she was like, "God's telling me to, you know, do it because she met him at church."

No, no, no. That's not God. That's your justification of God. Okay?

God does not tempt as the devil who tempts. Okay? Um not God. So never blame him.

But here's where it starts. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fullgrown, brings forth death.

It starts with a small thought and then you dabble on that thought a little bit. Okay. And then eventually it becomes hold. So Betty and Lou are not in a happy marriage right now.

And Betty goes to work and she's really upset. And John is at work. He says, "What's wrong, Betty?" You know, and so Betty just dumps it all on him.

All the anger she has towards Lou. And and John is sitting there and he's comforting her or whatever. Okay, seems harmless, but Betty shouldn't be confiding that stuff with another man. All right, a couple days later, Betty starts noticing.

She's thinking about John a lot. Okay, now it's mulling over in her mind. Okay, she may even start noticing when he walks by. Wow, he's, you know, cute.

You know, eventually an opportunity will come up for the two of them. And what happens that day didn't start that day. It started weeks or months ago. Okay?

But that's how it works. And and as soon as that happens, death to a marriage, pain for the kids. It is not okay to keep sinning. It is not okay for the church to tell people it's okay to sin because Jesus took care of it.

Okay? We are supposed to be cleaning up. God does not love sin. God hates sin.

People say God doesn't hate anything. That's absolutely not true. God hates sin because sin hurts his people and sin is bondage. Okay?

You think you're free to sleep with anybody because you know you you you've got grace. No. Issues will come up from that. Okay?

The thing you think you're not bothering anyone because you're doing it quietly in the room that no one's noticing, you're you're separating yourself from God. Sin is not something we should be embracing. But that's how it starts. It's a small thing and then you feed on it.

The thing to do is nip it right in the bud. Once you get to the point where you're justifying it because before that moment happened for Betty and John, okay, she was starting to justify why he's better for her than him and how she deserves one of the big lies in the church today is that God wants you happy. Well, happiness is the the grade by which I'm going to determine if this is a right move for me or not. That's not It's not the happy spirit.

It's the Holy Spirit. Happiness. God wants to bring us joy, which is deeper than happiness. Okay?

It's joyful. It's deeper. [clears throat] So, nip it in the butt immediately. If you've got a a a porn problem, as soon as something pops on your screen, say it's a underwear model uh ad or something, you you immediately pop the eyes.

just move right past it. Okay, there was me me and Ker and I think it was a football game or something we were watching and and there was this evil like it's some some horror movie coming out and the ad was almost evil and Karen's like turn it off turn it off because it looks so bad. You don't even want to don't even let it get in your mind, man. Just just pop the eyes, pop the mind, just say no, okay?

Do not embrace it even a little. So you name it, you pray over it, and then you stop doing it, and then you screw up because that can happen, okay? You can slip up, especially on things like um anger and and things like that. It it's really easy to slip up, all right, because the devil wants you to slip up.

the thing that really annoys you is gonna keep happening, you know, and and so you're like, and um supposed to be gentle, loving, can't be like that, you know. Um so, so what happens when you slip up? You know what you do? You repent.

You ask God, you say, "God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." You know what he's going to do? He's gonna forgive you over and over and over again.

It's like this. Think of When a baby is first trying to get its first steps, right, and it's toddling and then it falls, do you sit there and say, "Sinner, [clears throat] baby." No. You're clapping.

You're cheering because the baby is trying to do something that you know it can do. Okay? God's not going to allow you to get tempted beyond what you can bear. But but he knows you can do it.

And and and he's he's I forgive you. Okay? And then you quit again. And you do it again.

Okay? and and you may slip up multiple times. Keep repenting, keep rising, keep quitting, and eventually it becomes easier and easier, becomes less and less, and soon you have victory in that area, okay? And then the Holy Spirit's going to point something else out to you.

All right? Which is beautiful. And then you keep getting to grow. All right?

And God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 10:13. I just quoted it, but 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man." So, you may think right now you're in a struggle to put down something to put down something that's you're really battling with it.

You're not being tempted beyond what you can bear. The Bible says it, okay? God will make a way of escape. He will make a way for you to bear up under it.

He will bring people into your life. He will bring uh accountability partners into your life. And the bigger the stronghold is, the more you may need help. All right?

Accountability is a big piece of this process. Um Alcoholics Anonymous has had a huge amount of success and the first step is is naming it. I am Brian. I'm an alcoholic or whatever.

Okay? It's n it's bringing it into the light. It's when the sin is kept in the dark. When when when who was the example?

Johnny early on who's who all of a sudden struggling with something and he goes to church and no one's talking about it and Johnny's stuck just kind of hiding it because that's when it's in the dark. That's when it can have power over you. That's when the devil can still mess with you. Bring it in the light, man.

We are supposed to be there for each other to affirm each other, to love each other, to to build up each other, and to be open and honest. If you've listened to my sermons for the last six months, you pretty much know all the bad stuff I've done because I keep I I I use my example first. Um, so get an accountability partner. James 5:16 says, "Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another."

That's what I want this church to be. I want us to be, and I think we are. I think this is a beautiful little church. It's like a family, man.

We're we're we're we're we're becoming more and more after this. We've got uh we've got a fellowship uh lunchon in there, okay? We all sit around and eat together. That's when you really get to know people, right?

Sitting around and eating. Um the Bible says two are better than one. Okay? You get a good return on your work.

Where two or more are gathered together, there God is. That's that's why accountability partners, your husband, your wife should be an accountability partner also. Okay? open up on our sins, open up on what we're doing wrong to each other because none of us are perfect.

Not a one, okay? Not me, not anyone. We all have things we're we're dealing with. They're just different things and none are tough.

None are worse or better. There's there's no judgment here. They're all struggles. To God, all sin is sin, man.

It's still a separation. He's not sitting there because you're struggling with something that's bigger by the world's standard of what's bigger that this other person. It's the same thing to God. I'm just as guilty of this sin as that sin.

And you know, there's no difference to God. So, he wants to clean us up from all of it. Um, but you're not alone, okay? Jesus is there to help you through the Holy Spirit.

You've got friends here that you can find accountable. You may have to lose some friends. All right. When you do trip up, when you do slip up, look and see, analyze it a little bit.

Why? Why did I slip up? Okay. Gosh.

And then you notice, man, every time I'm around Billy, I not you, Billy. Of course, that name just came to me. All right. Every time I'm around Sam, uh, I I I slip up and do this.

Well, maybe time to to put Sam away as a friend for a little while. Okay, but you might say, "But but I know God wants me to reach him." Not necessarily. Okay, not everyone is your responsibility.

>> God is a huge God and he can bring someone in to help Sam in that area. If Sam is someone who trips you up, maybe God wants you to clean you up in this area so that Sam gets motivated to then change. And and that separation is critical. We got to set boundaries around some people and it can hurt some people.

You don't want to let go, but you got to let them go. If they're bad for you, you got to let them go. Okay. Um, set the boundaries, release them to Jesus.

I love doing that for you. You're you're praying and you're saying, "God, I I I I have to I have to uh let this relationship go. Lord, please be with Sam. Please heal Sam."

you know, work in Sam's life. All right? And then you turn back to Jesus and you abide in him and you stay in him. Um, and it listen, it can be anything.

I This cell phone will give people dopamine hits. All right? There can this there are people that can't go to sleep until 2, three in the morning because they're on this thing. that you need to shut that off.

Okay, listen. They have flip phones now. Go cold turkey and get a flip phone. Okay, I'm just saying you need to put this stuff down if you want if you can't control it.

Okay, if social media, you're all on social media. Shut it off. Okay, get off of it. But but I get so much man.

There's a deeper issue there. Okay, you're getting something from it that you don't need to be getting from it. Go to the deeper issue and then ask God once again. Bring it to God.

Name it. God, why am I seeking validation in social media? God, what what deep hurt do I have? You validated me, Lord.

Why am I still here? God, please help me in this. Okay? And he will begin to help you.

So, you name it. You take it to Jesus. You stop it. And then you focus on God.

Where God grows, sin slows. Okay? Pray hard. Name it.

and abide in him. John 15 and we'll wrap with this. John 15 verse four and five. I'm gonna reiterate what Jesus says here.

Abide in me and I in you. Jesus through the Holy Spirit is the one who's going to clean you up. Okay? You have to be a partner.

It's not He's not going to chew your gum for you. Okay? But but thank God for that, right? That he's going to come in and help you.

He says, "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." I am under the deep conviction that Brian Pear at 60 truly is where I am because of Jesus and I truly really can't stay here without him. Okay? I just can't.

I'm not I'm not that strong. Okay? He has me in places that I've never experienced stuff and and I need him. And he says verse 5, "I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me though you can do nothing." So as these things fall away, as you begin to do this process and God begins to take things or move things out of your life, celebrate those victories. Okay.

One of the neatest things is the accelerate, right? The last Wednesday of the month, isn't that? I mean they are they are getting little um tokens for three months sober, six months sober, nine months sober and and and everyone is cheering and congrat it's it's it's it's a microcosm of what it's supposed to be like. I was blown away the first time I went to one of those and um I think it's just a a beautiful thing.

Celebrate the victories because they are victories, you know, [music] and and have gratitude. Okay. A benchmark of a godly man or woman is gratitude. Acknowledging that God is the one doing it.

[music] Acknowledging how great he is. Just being humble and grateful to the Lord Jesus [music] Christ for all that he's done. Um, so [music] as we're about to go into a a song here, I just ask [music] you to to kind of contemplate certainly while I was preaching, something must have pricricked your your your [music] heart. Something that God is telling you you need to work on next.

I I want to want to challenge you after after we leave here, name it, [music] okay? If you want to lay it down here, all right? But name it, take it to the Lord and then move forward removing that thing from your life because God is there to help you. Okay?

It could be what's it could be what stronghold is it? Is it money? Some people are so torn up over money. They're so anxious.

They they they [music] think everyone's going to assume they're so worried about it. That's a stronghold. You got to you got to move that. There's a reason why you're trying to control [music] that situation.

Okay? control is always because of some hurt that you're trying to protect instead of bringing it into the light. All right? [music] Anger, pride, whatever it is, validation, okay?

Whatever it is, lay it down. [music] And then we're going to sing a song of thankfulness to our Lord because we love him. All right. Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so much.

>> [sighs] >> uh as we go into this song, Lord, of gratitude. I just I just I just I'm so [music] thankful for you, Lord, to help me through these these messages and to uh what you're doing in this church and what you're doing in this in this community. [music] Lord, I just I'm very thankful for you and uh this humble church here lifts [music] your name up high in Jesus name. Amen.