Sermon Cloud

I Doubt that I Can Change

Many of us have uttered this phrase and many of us have heard it from others. 

As a pastor, I have heard it time and time again.

What you are really saying:

Personal Declaration, Philosophical Statement, Passively Surrendering

I am too weak

My problem is too big

I will not face the issues

I'm OK for the long run

I'm happy with where I am right now

Do you need to change? Why?

A) Deceitfulness of the Human Heart

Jeremiah 17:9 -- The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

B) Need for Meaning

Our meaning comes through a proper relationship with our Creator

Luke 2:10 -- And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people."

Revelation 4:11 -- "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

C) Desperation of Life

Job 5:17 tells us that "man is born into trouble."

Eccesiastes 2:22-23 - 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

D) Power of Sin

Romans 5:12 -- Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

HOW CAN CHANGE OCCUR IN MY LIFE?

The pattern of Christ's work is found in John 21:15-22

Confront the sin

Call for love

Confirm a following

Our doubt ultimately reveals 2 unreliable beliefs:

1. My sins and problems are too big.

2. God is too small.

2 Cor. 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Romans 1:16-17 -- 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."