Same old, same old. How many of you feel like your life is just the same old, same old from time to time? Everybody? Absolutely. It's just same old, same old. For those that were not here Wednesday evening, we finished a Bible study and all the adult small group study classes had done this particular Bible study. Brenda, Kelly, Andy and Krista had done it. Everyone that came on Wednesday night sometime in the last few months had done this Bible study called the armor of God and so Wednesday evening we kind of culminated that and brought you together and and I showed the a very short segment of the video and it's the lady that was in the black lady that was in the war the war room is the one who done this Bible study it's Tony Evans' daughter. And the final session was kind of like a closeout session. And in watching that session in my office on Wednesday, and I told them this on Wednesday evening, it was the opening. It had nothing to do with the Bible study that spoke to me, but it was the opening, just the words that were scrolling the screen during the opening of this Bible study that spoke to me. There were nine words And they were associated with the text of the study, which is, you know, the armor of God. And the fact of the matter is those nine words that were associated with the text of that study should be the essence or the spirit, the core, the heart of the Christian-Walker relationship for anybody in this room that names the name of Christ. And I just can't get them out of my mind, I couldn't get them out, you know, and God has given me the message this morning surrounding that because most Christians I know, most Christians I know, not all but most, never put it all together when it comes to the essence of those nine words. They just never put it together. Those nine words were salvation, faith, trust, truth, freedom, overcome, stand firm, victory, and peace. Most Christians never put all that together in their Christian walk. They don't have victory. They don't have peace of mind. They don't stand firm in the face of, you know, the enemy. They just never get it all put together. Some of them never ever get salvation put together. For instance, they didn't have a clue, but they don't understand what it means when we sing, Jesus paid it all. Many Christians, there's people in this room that don't understand that. You sing it, but you don't understand what that really means. Jesus paid it all when he said it is finished on the cross. You still don't understand what that means in the fullness or the holiness of all the fullness of everything that comes with it is finished and Jesus paid it all. You don't comprehend that. And in turn, you don't understand salvation. You can't have or experience freedom. And you will never have victory until you understand that. Most followers get saved, trust Jesus, and then their life is just the same old, same old. Never changes. No change. There is no change. I asked Jesus to come into my heart, I went to an altar, I prayed, but life never changed. I'm still involved in the same old junk, I have the same old problems, the issues of life are always there, and there is no change, there's no freedom from sin, there is no victory over sin in your life, drugs are still prevalent in a lot of people's life, their finances are still horrible, There's no peace in the decision-making process as to what God has called you to do in life. Do you realize not every calling is pastoring a church? Some callings are being business people. Some callings are being a nurse. Some callings are being a school teacher. God places you in an occupation, but you don't have any peace about that because you didn't consult God in those decisions. And sometimes you're not even happy in life because you're not doing what God called you to do. And so just life continues on, same old, same old. And my concern as a pastor is really, we have all these different Bible studies on Wednesday evening, and I preach all these different series on Sunday mornings. You know, we've gone through brand new, we've gone through stronghold, but it seems as if most Christians just struggle. And the stuff that we've went through, the material, you've listened, but your life didn't change and you're just the same old, same old place that you were or you've always been. There's no change. And it is because maybe, just maybe, we believe a lie. And that lie is, and I talk to and counsel a lot of people, and my two ears hear a lot of stuff. And one of the overwhelming observations that I have is we believe the lie that people can't change. I can't change. I can't get it all together. I can't do what God wants me to do. I struggle. And the enemy's punchline is people can't change. You can't make your life be happy. It's, you know, that Chicken Little, the sky is falling attitude. It's never gonna be perfect this side of heaven. That is correct. You're never gonna be perfect this side of heaven. But you can live a victorious, happy, spirit-filled life that no matter what comes, no matter what storm hits you, you have victory in it, you have happiness because you know this is not the end. This is the dressing room for the end. And those of us that put our hope in this life, and don't get the words to the song that was sang, it is well with my soul, and the curtain's gonna roll back one of these days, and you're not looking forward, so many Christians live in fear of death. You can't threaten me with heaven. And I hope that's your thoughts too. You can't be threatened with heaven. I don't understand. That's the essence of it. And so I hear husbands say from time to time, well, my wife will never change. I hear wives in turn say, my husband will never change. I've heard parents say, my son or my daughter had been that way their entire life. They'll never change. They'll never experience victory in that area of their life. I hear kids say, my dad's always been that way, he's always going to be that way, and he'll never change. I hear that. And what I'm glad, folks, is that folks never gave up on me. And more so than that is, I'm glad, not I but Christ, but God never gave up on me. And I see, see I changed by the grace of God. Not because of people's prayers. And I believe God can change anyone at any time. And it can be miraculous or it can be a slow, steadfast, you know, happening. But I believe God can change anything in your life. And nothing is impossible with a God that I know that parted the Red Sea and can do whatever He wants with our life, no matter what your situation is. And He allows a lot of stuff because of of the fall of man, yes, to take place, we're always going to have issues of life, but God can change your situation. God can change your situation. And if you are a Christian here this morning that is mired in discouragement or in defeat, there is hope. And if you're a single parent or a widower or someone that is mired in loneliness and hopelessness, there is hope. I don't care what it is. I can't get a job. There's hope. There there's always hope. I seen Chastity this morning. I remember when she had no hope about a job. And now let her tell you what God can do in your life. I watch what God can do in people's lives that says there's no hope and there is hope because our God is a God of change. We, you, we, I say we and you, we have to realize God is in the life changing business and life doesn't have to be the same old same old and the fact of the matter is that we don't have to live a life of fear. We don't have to live in hopelessness. We don't have to live bound up in sin. We don't have to be to the place that there's never any victory in our life. There's no faith that God's going to make things well. There's no faith that God can do the impossible. There's no faith that God can't provide the finance to do what God wants to. Our God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He can finance what he wants done. My faith isn't in you to finance it, my faith is in God to provide and use you to do it. Because there's a God in heaven that's bigger and has a bigger vision for what Big Branch Church can be than what I do. And the fact of the matter is we have to get to the place that, well, I'm just worried if God can or God loves or if God cares and I feel like I just need to get saved again because obviously it wasn't good enough the first time. Well, that's the craziest thing I ever heard of. And the fact of the matter is, but I'm here to tell you that the essence of those nine words and our Christian relationship with the Creator is described by those nine words. We as Christians have got to realize that our salvation was paid for and it's finished. And by faith, we just have to believe that. It doesn't make sense. I can't comprehend it. But it's grace. And the fact of the matter is, we have to understand and trust that God's Word is true. And we have to understand that the truth of the Word of God brings about a freedom, brings about the fact that we can overcome things in our life that are problems, and we can stand firm in the face of the enemy, and we can have victory, and we can have peace. Your life doesn't have to be in turmoil 24-7-365. It doesn't have to be that way. I can tell you it's found though in not you, it's in Christ. It's not I, it's in Christ. And it's not believing the lie that I can't change or my situation can't change. It's hard to change. I sit here and it takes, you know, the struggle is real, obviously, and we struggle with change in our lives and we struggle with our Christian walk. Everybody in this room that struggles from time to time with their Christian walk and faced with what the enemy throws at us. Life in general is not easy, but you can change. I look over there, I see Brittany here this morning. She's a changed person. I look at Bill Moore, he's a changed person. I look over here and see you all, I could go through and name everybody throughout this room. And there's a change that comes over you, and it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of you that changes it. But we see so many people that never have that life change after they trust Christ as their Savior. And Christians, ten years later, and their testimony is still one of fear, still one of struggle, still no victory. And people say they are followers of Jesus, and yet they never have life change. Same addiction, same sexual perversion, no standing firm in the face of the enemy. No, I have overcome this issue of my life. I don't have any peace. I still struggle. And I just don't have hope. I'm mired in defeat. So we believe the lie, I can't change. I believe. The number one reason is we do not understand the essence of the gospel or salvation as truth. The gospel seems to be a paradox to most people, or you say, what's that mean? There's inconsistency. Most people think the gospel is inconsistent, or there's a contradiction about it, and you get saved And you're supposed to change, but you don't have to change in order to get saved. And you change, but you can't change yourself. And I can even make it confusing trying to convince you what the truth is. But there's this ideology of, for instance, we say, well, the day Jesus died is Good Friday. That sounds like a paradox to me, just in stupidity. Why is it good that he died? You know, we look at it, it's confusing. Why is that good? Because it's the day that Christ died for you, and why did he die for you? So that you, who can't save yourself, can get saved, and there's a change over you. That's the essence of it. Now, follow this. The gospel is all about change. and all about him coming to earth to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. We can't change our situation when it comes to going to heaven. Religion teaches you can. Religion teaches that you can build a ladder. I'm climbing Jacob's ladder. You've sang that song before. You can climb a ladder from Jacob's ladder. You can go find it and climb it from now on and you're not going to climb your way into heaven because it's not based on what you do. It's based on what he done. It was finished. And you're just believing it by faith. The essence of salvation is by faith. And you say, well, how did that work? Well, he came to earth, he died, he paid a price for our sins. And that price was accepted by God and we could be set free and be changed and changed into the likeness of his son. And when you understand that, when you by faith comprehend that Christ paid it all, and there's nothing you can do except believe that and you fully understand the gospel in the fact that Jesus paid it all and he said it was finished on the cross, then faith becomes real to you. And when faith becomes real to you, freedom comes alive. Because it's not based upon your doing something. You're set free in the fact that He paid it and you just believe it. I'm not talking about freedom to do whatever you want to do and run wild with your Christianity and live like hell on Friday and Saturday and come to church on Sunday. That's not the freedom I'm talking about. I'm talking about the freedom that looses you from the fact that Christ paid it all and you want to live for him because he died for you. And there's freedom in that. There's freedom in it. And the fact of the matter is, the black and white pages of this book become full living color when you understand the gospel in that aspect. And peace is real. I think people that struggle with death struggle with salvation. Because there's a lack of trust. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to be on the next boatload. But I can tell you folks that are on the next boatload have a peace in it because of their salvation. They can't be threatened with heaven. It doesn't mean that there's peace about the situation. It's peace with the hereafter is taken care of. This place is just a dressing room. And when we get to the place that we understand our salvation and faith is made real and freedom becomes alive, then standing firm becomes easier in the face of the enemy. And victory is not out of reach because it's not based on you, it's based on what He done. And when victory becomes in reach and trust becomes a fact because truth becomes a fact and trust and faith become ways of life to us. It's the essence, those nine words are, of our salvation. Galatians 2.20 becomes understandable. I wanted to put that up there. We've been talking about not I but Christ. for 24, 26 weeks, I think. 24 weeks, I know for sure. Michael may have did a couple there in between. But I want you to look at what it says. And it says, I am crucified with Christ. He took our sins and crucified on the cross. He paid for our sins and took them. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I. Read that. I live, but not I. What's that? But Christ liveth in me and liveth through me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. That's us. We're in the flesh. We're sitting here this morning. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith. By faith in what? By faith, by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's grace. He gave you eternal life. and paid for it. And when you look at it from that aspect and you get to the place that you see it in that, not I but Christ, and then you're not frustrated. He even goes on to say in that passage, he says, that I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And I do not frustrate the grace of God. These people that How many preachers do we know that frustrate the grace of God? They frustrate it with a million other things. You've got to attend church, you've got to give, you've got to live right. You're frustrating the grace of God. All of those are good and righteous things and we ought to do them, but they have nothing to do with the grace of God and providing for your salvation on the cross. It frustrates the grace. It's things that we as Christians should live, but it goes on to say, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain. Righteousness doesn't come by the law and you living out all the 613 laws, because I'll promise you, you can't live them all. You can't even live the Ten Commandments. You can't. It's impossible. And with that said, righteousness comes to you because it's imputed in you. When Christ died and you accepted what he done on the cross, he just put it inside of you as righteousness. It's there. And think about the Apostle Paul. and most of you have been in church, some of you may have not been in church very much, but the Apostle Paul wrote thirteen, some think fourteen, I believe fourteen books of the New Testament. And you think about it, he was a murderer of Christians. He literally was involved in the murder of Stephen, and he was persecuting Christians and locking them up. Those people that had seen Jesus die on the cross, Those people that believed Christ was the way and had seen him be resurrected, Paul was locking them up because they believed Jesus was the way to heaven. The way, that's what they called it. He was literally a murderer. You want to know what happened when he met Jesus in Acts chapter 9? What happened to him? He meets Jesus on this road, he's traveling, persecuting Christians. And you know what happened? He changed. That's what happened to Paul. He changed and he did this 180 turnaround. And it even says in that passage, if you go look it up in Acts chapter 9, it says, you go on to where you're going and I'll tell you what I want you to do. And I promise if you'll listen after you trust Christ as your savior and you'll go on about what you're doing, he'll tell you what he wants you to do. He'll do it through the Word of God. He'll do it through the preaching. He'll do it through your friends. He'll do it through all these different things. And you say, well, how could Paul write, you know, and how did that happen? Listen to what he wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. He said, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, if you've asked Jesus to come into your heart and you're in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things are passed away and behold, all things have become new. All things have become new. You say, how could he write that? Because it happened to him. He did a 180. He knew that the Holy Spirit of God could change him. It did change him. It changed him life when he met Jesus Christ. And it changes our life. And because it happened to him, he went from persecuting Christians to being one. And he went from this radical person that was fighting Christianity to a new change, a new creation. Old things had passed away and all things. I mean, a radical change took place in Paul's life and he wasn't the same old, same old. Christ came to live within him and everybody in this room. You say, well, I don't need to change. I'm perfect. You hypocrite liar. All of us struggle with things in our life. All of us want to, most of it happens to you just getting in the car going home. I wish they'd hurry up. I wish they'd get out of my way. I wish they'd turn their signal on when they didn't turn their signal on. I wish they'd slow down. Look at that fool. You can watch TV every evening around six o'clock and you're thinking the stuff you shouldn't. Just the news is enough to drive most people crazy, especially during the year before presidential election. We all have our issues, and what is the impact, though, of not understanding the gospel and this change that takes over us? What is the impact of believing the lie, I can't change, they can't change, that situation can't change? You give up on people. That's what happens. You give up on people. You walk away from people because you're convinced yourself that they'll never get saved. I'm telling you, there's a gentleman that comes here week in and week out. He's been coming here for the last five, maybe eight years. He's unsaved. And I'll never give up that he can't get saved. Never. I just I believe that God's going to save him. I'm I'm going to hold Jesus to his word. It won't return void. I believe that's going to happen. But God can do it, but we give up on people because we just convince ourselves that'll never change. My husband will never quit those bad habits. That sin, I'll never quit that sin. I can't do it. I'll never overcome that addiction or that alcoholism. And you give up on your marriage. You give up on yourself is what happens because you believe a lie that you can't change. And you walk away, you settle for this way of life. It's the way it's just supposed to be. And I guess this is best as it can get, or the best I can expect. And I guess I'll just hang on. I remember my grandma, great lady, she'd say, I'm just hanging on until Jesus comes. Well, let me tell you something. Jesus did not die, get buried, and rise on the third day for you to just hang on. He didn't. And for us to say that there's never going to, no salvation, no faith, no trust, no freedom, no overcome, no stand firm, no victory, no peace. What's that impact? Because you settle for less than what your life on this earth can be. You settle for less. You settle for the fact that it's never going to be any better. And I guess I'll just hang on. You don't have to hang on. The resurrection was a victory. The resurrection, life can have its victories. It's not all perfect, but we can have our victories. And faith leads us to a place of hope, and hope leads us to a place of overcoming. And overcoming leads us to a place of standing firm in the face of the enemy, and sin, and steadfastness in the face when he comes and tries to convince us to do things that we know we should not do. And having peace about it, and no fear, and no fuss, and no confusion. We're an overcomer, not a hanger-on-er. Don't settle. It doesn't have to stay the way life is. It doesn't have to. And that is the glorious hope of Jesus and the resurrection. And when you trusted Christ, that hope is instilled in you. And because He lives, we live. And because he was free, we are free. Jesus was dead on Friday, but he was alive on Sunday. How's that for change? And it's not something that's conjured up by man. And it's not man-made. I'm not talking about Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking. And I'm not talking this morning about some prosperity gospel. I'm not talking this morning about some faith that say it and believe it. I'm talking about a faith in a risen God that's able to do anything, can change our situations, and make our life with freedom. with freedom and happiness and victory. We've got to believe that. There's a truth to power of positive thinking, yes. There's a truth to the prosperity of the gospel. There's a truth in having faith and not speaking words that are negative all the time. But there is a life that we Christians can live by faith in the power of the resurrected Savior, a belief in the gospel, the death, the burial and the resurrection, whereby things don't have to be the same old, same old. They don't have to be. Your life can change, your marriage can change, your finances can change, your attitude can change, your outlook can change, your health can change, your circumstances can change. And it's all in not I, but Christ. Jesus makes a difference. Every time I think about this topic matter, and I go to those nine words, I go to a story in John chapter 11. And if you know what that story is, there was a friend of Jesus who had died. He had been in their home. His name was Lazarus. And his sisters was fussing, to be honest with you, Mary and Martha got upset because he didn't come because they knew he could have fixed it. They were mad. They even voiced it. If you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died. I could hear them. If you'd have been here, he wouldn't have died. And they both said the exact same words to him. One met him on the road as he was coming to town, and the other one said it once he got there. Lazarus had a big problem. He needed to change. He was dead. That's a pretty big problem. Change always starts with a problem. You got a problem, you're dying in your sins, you're not saved, you need a change. You have issues, situations. This room is full of everyone, people that have a problem with this flesh that we live in. We have to accept and understand that, that there's a constant need to change things in our life and look more like Christ. I don't know anyone that doesn't need to look more like Christ. And you say, what's that called? It's called progressive sanctification, if you want to get deep. We all are progressively changing to look more like Jesus. It's a never-ending process. But the fact of the matter is most folks, same old, same old, but you don't understand my situation is too bad. Really, are you dead? Lazarus was dead. You say, but my situation's gone on too long. It's not going to get any better. Really? Lazarus stunk. Jesus waited on purpose, I believe, two days before he even went there. And when they got there, Mary and them both said, if you'd have been there, he wouldn't have died. Now he stinks. It's too late. See, the Jews believe the spirit left the body after two days. There was no hope. So it's too, my situation's gone on too long. Is it stinking? Not too long. The fact of the matter is, Lazarus couldn't change his situation if he would have. And the majority of the time, the mess or the problem or the situation in your life, the thing that exists, whatever the problem is, this mess, you can't fix it or you already would have. Because your desire is to fix whatever's wrong in your life. If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit of God, you have this intimate relationship with Christ, you want to be more like Christ, and you would fix it if you could. And Mary and Martha would have fixed Lazarus' problem, Lazarus would have fixed his own. But most of the time, we can't fix our own problem, because if we could have, we would have. And you know, you want to know You want to be able to fix whatever the issues of life is, and yet you know what made the difference in Lazarus' life is the same thing that will make the difference in yours, and that's Jesus Christ. Jesus changed Lazarus. And if there is ever going to be a change in your life, a change in your marriage, a change in whatever your situation, it's going to take a Jesus intervention. And I'm not talking about a one-time intervention where I went to the altar 25 years ago and I asked Christ to come into my heart and that should have fixed it all. No. I die daily. Not I, but Christ. That Christ that lives in me and through me. Progressively, never ending. It's always going to be a different change, a different intervention. And you may have made the mess. I hear people all the time, I made this mess. Okay. And there's something you may need to do to help fix the mess. That's okay too. But I promise you that it will take Jesus and his help to get you through it and out of it. Jesus is always needed to help. Always. You know what's funny about that passage of scripture in John 11? I had to go look this up this week because I'd heard it, but I didn't believe it. John is the only writer of the gospel that recorded Lazarus' recitation. It wasn't a resurrection because John dies again. If it was a resurrection, he'd have never died again. Really, he just brought back to life. Not only was the only man brought back to life, he's also the only one that died twice. Think about that one. But the thing that John was the only one... 35 miracles we know of in the New Testament, if you are to count them. We believe there's a lot more, but we know of 35. They were recorded by people that seen them happen in the Gospel. John only talks about seven. of those miracles, and he's the only one that writes about Lazarus' resurrection. I don't comprehend why. But I have a belief that it speaks of fear. I think maybe it talks of unbelief and skepticism. Because what if you went on record and told of that account I'm just going to put you at a place that other people are not at. I think there was skepticism. I think there was a fear. There was this belief that I can't change, that that really didn't happen. And the fact of the matter is, when you look at that account of what transpired there in Lazarus's death and resurrection or recitation, Lazarus was a problem. Because here's this dead man. That's now walking around alive. And if you recorded it and wrote about it. Then you become a problem to the Jews. Think about. In that account, and I'll close, the one thing that you can appreciate about that passage, you need to go home this afternoon and read John 11. I don't have time to tell the whole story. But in that passage, the beauty of it is Jesus called Lazarus out by name. Just like he called Peter out by name, and he had forsook him and run on the seashore. Do you realize if Jesus would have said, just come forth, every dead body that was anywhere within distance would have came forth? That's who He is, He's God. But He called Lazarus out by name. I ask you this morning, is He calling you out by name? Is there an issue in your life where you can't change? See, Lazarus was proof of a change, Lazarus was proof of the power of God, Lazarus was proof. That he was the son of God. There was which? Doctors and that had copied some of Jesus's miracles. And nobody ever raised anybody from the dead. And Lazarus was the proof, and John wrote about it. Because John identified with the fact that I know what happened, I seen it with my own two eyes, I can change. John didn't believe the lie, I can't change. Your life doesn't have to be the same old, same old every day. Salvation, faith, trust, truth, freedom, overcoming, standing firm, victory, peace is within reach to everyone in this room. Not I. but Christ that liveth in me." You see, the contradiction, the paradox becomes when we try to do it ourself. There's a follow-up to this that I'll be speaking on in a few weeks, that another lie that most of us believe is, I got this. I got this. Kelly, I didn't have it till this morning. She sat there and I wrote it down. Everybody wants to believe I got it right. I can handle this that she made those words. I got this. It's a lie. Because it's not I. It's Christ that's got it. I asked you this morning, is he calling your name? He called Lazarus by name and changed his life. He was dead and he was risen. You're dead this morning in your sin and you know it. If you've never trusted Christ, you know you're on your way to hell. And I'll promise you, I know God well enough that He's calling you by name right now. You're here this morning mired in whatever it is He's calling you by name. Because old things are passed away, all things become new. You can have victory. You can. It takes some work, some power in prayer, some time on your knees, some time spending alone with God, but things can change. That's my wife. She put up with my foolishness for years. But God changed me. All her complaining didn't. Uriel's prayers changed things. It's a God that is able to fix even Lazarus in a grave close. And I've got to close. You know what, though? I read that account this week, and there's Jesus. He walks up and he tells them to roll the stone away. Now, why did he tell them to roll the stone away instead of just speaking and it happening? Why did, when it was all said and done, here comes Lazarus out in all these clothes, if you've ever seen a mummified body, here comes Lazarus in all these clothes, and they tell, Jesus says, unloose him. Why didn't he just walk out without the grave clothes on? Think about that. You ever think about stupid stuff? I do. That's just the way my mind works. I think about stupid stuff like that. I think Jesus knew that in this life we're going to need the help of others. He could have spoken to Stonewalled. He could have spoken when Lazarus came out. He wouldn't have had those clothes on. I think he let others be involved because sometimes in our life there's things that we can't handle by ourselves. Others have to help us with it. It's called accountability. It's called connection. It's called community. We can't live life on our own. Let's stand.