Walk This Way: Death That Brings Growth with Pastor Micah Williams

Well, good morning. Good morning.

Good morning.

Good to see you all this morning. I'm glad to see you all this morning on a spring forward Sunday. Some of y'all think you're at the first service. Welcome to the second service. Amen?

Alright. My name is Micah Williams. If I have not had the pleasure of meeting you, I get to be the lead pastor at a church called Unity Church that we planted a year and a half ago. Now it's good to see y'all again. Yeah.

Yeah. Then we have seen the Lord do an incredible work in our neighborhood, an incredible work at our church, bringing people to come to service, making having people make incredible decisions of of intentionally following Jesus and big decisions for their life. Right? And we have also seen in a year and a half, a hundred and forty six people make a decision to follow Jesus, which is incredible. Like like, he is worthy of all of our praise, truly.

And what we have seen is the words of Jesus ring true in Luke chapter 10 verse two when it says it like this. Jesus said, he told them, the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. We have found these words to be true in our neighborhood, that the harvest is abundant, that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We got a lot of people who are hungry for the word of God.

We have a lot of people who are hungry to grow in Christ, but we need more laborers and more workers. And that's why in the video that you guys saw last week, we are starting the Unity Leadership Institute. Right? Where yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's it's pretty exciting. Where we'll be able to run a one year internship raising up leaders, workers for this plentiful harvest where we'll be able to develop them and deploy them into the harvest so that they may know more about Jesus, they may look more like Jesus, and then go out to others to reach other people for Jesus. We are incredibly excited. I thought it'd be like maybe one person, maybe just my mom filled out an application.

We've seen 12 people be interested in in being an intern at uni, which is crazy. Right? So so we are very, very excited for that. Be praying for us, and we just cannot, from me, on behalf of All Union Church, express our gratitude for you all partnering with us to see this thing come to fruition that we might be able to raise up the leaders in our church that will impact our neighborhood and our city and beyond. So that is what is going on at Unity Church, but today, we are gonna be in Colossians chapter three verse one through 10.

If you all can turn with me there, if you have a copy of the scriptures. Colossians chapter three verse one through 10. Colossians chapter three one through 10 and as I was praying over this message this week, looking over the message this week and seeing what Paul was having to say to this church in Colossae this week, it reminded me of a story from when I was in high school and we discovered we had mice in our house. It was a terrible morning. I remember it like it was yesterday.

We're getting ready for school, everybody cooking in the kitchen, and scurrying across the ground comes a mouse. Everyone jumps on the counter, a table, chair, my dad's crying, right? Like like everyone is up in arms. There are mice in our house. And so we had to figure out how do we get rid of the mice in our house.

We can't catch them with our hands, but we could catch them with what we got, these sticky traps. Right? They're they're like a syrupy like a substance where you put them in the corners under the couch, and the mice, they scurry around, and they get stuck in the trap, and then you can go and dispose of them later. So we set up these sticky traps all over our house. We're so excited.

We're like, man, we're gonna find mice on the sticky traps. This is gonna be great. We wake up the first morning and are incredibly disappointed because there are no mice on the traps. But there was something on the traps. There were mice tails on the traps, mice feet on the traps, but no mice.

And so we do what any logical person would do, we Google it. Why are there tails in the mice feet on the traps, but no mice? And Google says that when mice come and they get stuck on the trap, they understand that their end is probably near. Their predator is on the way. And so they have two choices.

Either they can stay on the trap or they can gnaw off their own feet and tails that are stuck on a trap in order to escape and so that they might actually live. They can gnaw off parts of their body so that their whole body might be saved. And Lord Church, this morning, I'm here to let you know that this is what Paul is telling the church in Colossae. That not that they should gnaw off their hands and their tails, but he's saying that you must be willing to put to death parts of your flesh in order so that you might be able to truly live. You must be willing to put to death the sinful parts of your life so that you might be able to grow and look more like Jesus.

And the bottom line here today is this, that we must put to death our earthly nature if we truly desire to live. We must be willing to put to death our earthly nature, our sinful nature if we truly desire to live a life in the fullness of Christ. We see this in our scripture today in Colossians chapter three verse one through three. Paul writes, so if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

So Paul is telling this church, seek the things above. Set your mind not on earthly things, but on things above. Why? In verse three, he says, because you have died. Please hear me when I say this.

If you are a believer, if you are a Christian in this room, you have died. Every follower of Christ has died. We once were dead in our sin. We once had our backs turned towards God. But God in all of His love and His grace and His kindness towards me and you said, I don't wanna stay apart from you.

I don't want you to die and rot in your sin. So in John chapter one, it said that he took on flesh and dwelt among us. And and he walked this life perfectly sinless in the form of Jesus. And there Jesus, he went to the cross for us because the punishment for our sin is death. But Jesus said, I will take the punishment for your sin, and there he went to the cross.

He died for our sins on the cross. He didn't stay dead. He rose to life again. And but before Jesus was crucified, he told all of his disciples that if anyone wants to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. So Jesus says, anyone who truly is a follower of me, anyone who truly is my disciple is someone who has denied themself, taken up the cross which he died on and followed me.

So for us as believers in this room, to be a believer, that means that we have to die to our old selves. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 17 says it this way. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and see the new has come. If anyone is in Christ, the old self has passed away.

This is dramatic language that Scripture uses. It's not just, oh yeah, I came to Christ and I just started going to church a little bit more. It's not there there's nowhere in scripture you're gonna find someone say, yeah, I just came to Christ and I just told I just was nicer to my sister and that was it. Right? It is a dramatic difference.

You come to Christ, you die to your old self, and you begin to live a new life in Christ. And this death isn't something to mourn, it's actually something to celebrate. Because those who die with Christ, it says in verse three that their life is hidden with Christ. And in Colossians verse three verse four, it says chapter three verse four, it says, when Christ, who is it, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Those who have died to themselves, we will one day appear with Christ in perfection where there's no more tears, no more pain, no more crying, no more heartache because we have died to ourselves.

And now when he comes again, when he returns, he will return. We will appear with him in glory. It's marvelous. It's something to celebrate, but yet me and you, we both know that there's still a tension that we live with today. We've been saved.

We await glory, but yet we still must live in this broken world full of sin. We still must live with this tension of our earthly nature still wanting to do the things that you know you should not do. We still live with the tension of a broken society around us that is constantly telling us that the sinful ways of life is actually the best way to live your life. We still live with this tension that theologians call the already but not yet. We we already have this relationship with Christ, but it hasn't yet been fulfilled in full glory and full perfection yet, and so we live with this tension that I believe makes sense to us when we read Proverbs chapter 26 verse 11, where it says it like this, as a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.

And for many of us in this room, we have died to a sinful and earthly pattern of our lives, but yet we find ourselves returning back to like a dog returning to its vomit, we find ourselves returning back to our old sin, our old habits that were against the ways and the words of God. It's important to note here that just because we have died to our old way of life doesn't mean it doesn't still exist. Just because maybe you used to be found at the club every single night of the week and you say, man, I died to that way of life, Doesn't mean all the clubs closed. Just because maybe you had a history of of being an alcoholic. And you said, man, I died to that way of life doesn't mean that the liquor stores don't still exist and people still don't sell alcohol at restaurants.

Just because you've died to a life that was addicted to pornography doesn't mean the websites or the magazines don't still exist. And if they still exist, then that means that there's some level of temptation that still exists in your life to go like a dog returning to its own vomit back to your own sinful habits. Paul knows that this is a fact, and that's why he writes this in verse five through 10 of Colossians chapter three. He says, therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, God's wrath is coming upon the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

But now put away all the following, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your creator. Paul says, put these things to death. You have been raised to walk in newness of life found in Christ, so then put the old ways, your sinful habits to death, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, greed, which is idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying to one another.

And I'm here to let you know just in case you think that that was just sin for them and not for us, this was prevalent to the church in Colosse. I'm telling you right now, Ward Church, these sins are still prevalent in Northville. They're still prevalent in Farmington Hills. They're still prevalent where I am in Detroit. If they were prevalent in the church in Colossae, I promise you, they are prevalent here at the church in Ward.

Paul is saying put these things to death. Right? And and Paul isn't the only one. This passage isn't the only passage we see about the seriousness of our sin. But don't you remember Jesus when he was talking about if our eye causes us to sin, to gouge it out?

If if our hand was causing us to sin, to cut it off. And Paul is talking here about sexual immorality. And I believe you could apply that passage to this right here. No. Jesus wasn't talking about physically mutilating your body, but He was talking about taking a serious approach to your sin, that if it was leading you astray and away from the words of Jesus to living a full life, an abundant life that he promises us and your sin is getting in the way, then you have to be willing to put it to death, to cut it out, to gouge it out.

Are we that serious about our sin? I I met a man a few years ago who was, amen, every single time I turned my TV on, I was tempted into sexual immorality. I was tempted to think thoughts that I shouldn't think, and I kept going through the cycle over and over again. I thought that I was gonna be strong enough to overcome it myself, and I said eventually I just had to cut it off. And so he went to his window in his apartment and just threw the TV out the window.

Are are you that serious about your sin though? Right? I got friends that say, man, every single time I scroll on social media, I'm tempted in sexual immorality, so I just deleted my whole profile. If you want to get a hold of me, write me a letter. Right?

Like like like they were that serious about their sin because they said, I don't want anything to get in the way of me closely following after Jesus. When when it comes to greed, Jesus tells us in Luke, watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of his possessions. Are are you that serious about your greed? Are you that serious when you look at your money? Does does your money do you have your money or does your money have you?

Does does your money tell you what to do? Does your money tell you what job you need to accept? Do every single time you get a paycheck, all you think about is what it's going to do for your life and your comfort and your desires and your want. Are you so serious where you're saying, you know, I'm just gonna set it up where a certain percentage goes out of my check before I even see it. I'm just gonna determine this morning that I'm gonna be the most generous person that I can be instead of the greediest person that maybe I am.

Are we that serious where we're willing to cut it off before it even goes through our hands? Are we that serious when it comes to filthy language and slandering? Where we say, man, every single time I get on the phone with that person, we are always talking about him or her. We're always talking bad about them and gossiping. Maybe I next time we get on the phone, I say, look, unless it's a prayer call, I don't know if we can keep calling.

Are are are we that serious about it? Every time you watch that TV show, you always find yourself saying words you didn't mean and and being less patient with your children or your husband or your wife or your friends and your family. Every single time you do it, maybe you say, I need to cut it off before I can see the season three finale. Right? Right?

May maybe I need to put it to death, and I don't know what happened in the end of the murder mystery. I don't know. But are we that serious that we would put it to death before we even can figure out what happens at the end? Right. And Paul says it this way in in verse seven.

He says, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. He's saying, church, don't you remember that that used to be your lifestyle? Don't you remember how empty your life felt when you chased after those things? When when money was your idol? Don't you remember that you never actually felt all the love when you were knee deep in your sexual immorality and you you never really felt that satisfied in any of your relationships?

Don't don't you remember that you actually never grew in love for other people when all you did was slander them and gossip about them and and have rage about what they decided in the church function? Don't you remember that your life used to be that way? Don't you remember how you used to walk? Why would you ever wanna return back to your old vomit? Put it to death.

And this is the death that ultimately brings life. This is the death that ultimately brings growth. When we die to our sin, when we bring it and lay it at the feet of Jesus, you will find in your life that you'll start growing to be more like him. You'll start growing in your love for him. You you'll you'll find a new burst of patience.

Something special happens when we lay our sin at the feet of Christ and trust in his blood for the forgiveness. So put your sin to death. Put your sin to death. And maybe some of you, you're here this morning, and maybe you've been finding out that maybe you've been struggling in certain areas of your life. You've been coming to church for a while, and you've maybe been finding that you haven't been growing in the ways of Christ.

You find that you keep doing the things that you wish you couldn't do. You you you maybe you read your scriptures and and and you've been coming to church more and you try to do more attendance and you play more worship music and you're trying as hard as you can to look more like Jesus, but maybe can I propose to you this morning that your growth in your Christianity, your growth in your Christ likeness may not be amount of the bible that you're consuming? It may not be linked to the amount of worship music that you're listening to. Maybe you're stagnant because you're dealing with unrepentant sin. Maybe you have been finding that when you look in the mirror, you haven't been looking more like Christ because you have some hidden sin in the dark corners of your heart that is preventing you from growing to look more like Christ.

And and I'm not just talking about the scriptures that I read. I'm talking about the life that I know. If I could just be honest with you all about fourteen or fifteen months ago, a couple months right after we launched Unity Church, I was in one of the difficult most difficult seasons of my entire life. I I was more depressed and anxious. I I I would go to my Bible reading times.

It would just feel stale, and and and and I would go to my prayer times, and and I would be left wondering if if if God really wanted to talk to me and he was even there. I I was irritable and and grumbling. I I would look at people coming in on a Sunday morning and and I would have no love for them as I was looking at their faces. I was in a spiritual drought. I I said, Lord, what's going on?

And through much prayer and counsel in the scriptures, I just realized that that I I was just dealing with sin in my life, that I had this sin of pride in my life, that I thought that that that maybe there was somewhere deep in my heart that I thought that maybe I could do this church planting thing, and I was good enough to do it. There was the sin of envy in my heart. Looking at all these other church plants, well well well, why do they why do they have so many people? Well well, why is God doing all of that in their church planet and not in ours? I I I was I was looking at these people with with jealousy, and then there was slandering that came on my lips of, well, they're not doing it the way that we are doing it, and and their way isn't the right method, and and they don't really know how to do it like us.

And and I was dealing with all of this unrepentant sin, and I was miserable. I was dealing with these sins that I had when I was in high school, in middle school, and I was miserable when I was walking that way. But when I brought it to the feet of Jesus and said, I've got sin in my heart. I'm trying to run a church by my own strength. I'm envious of what other people are doing and and how other people are operating and what you're doing in their ministries and not mine.

And I promise you, when I really recognize my sin and really brought it before Jesus, I found more freedom, more life, more growth, the abundance of life that Jesus talks about in John 10. I said, Jesus, I don't want to hold on to these things. I need your help to put them to death. That is the death that brings real life and real growth. And so my challenge to you is to put your sin to death.

How do you do that? I got three simple things for you, three r's and I'm in my seat. The first one is recognize. Recognize your sin and oftentimes and when we're just in our flesh, it's easy to be blinded to our own problems and our own sin. So pray and ask God.

May maybe you need to just sit with this scripture verse one through 10 and read it when you get home and just say, holy spirit, open my eyes to the ways that I've been sinful. Open my eyes to the ways I've been living in sin. Maybe the sin that I've been harboring in my heart. Help me to recognize my sin. The first r is recognize and the second r is repent.

Say, Jesus, I I I now see that I've been living in this way. I now see that I've been acting in rage or or or greed or sexual immorality. I repent of this sin. Help me to figure out what serious steps I need to take to cut it off. If there's a place I need to stop going, if there's a if there's something I need to stop saying, if there's something I need to stop watching, would you help me to cut it off because I'm serious about my sin and I'm serious in growing and having life in you.

I repent of my sin. I do a one eighty and I turn towards you to live this life. I wanna not walk that way, but walk this way in your ways, Jesus. Repent of it. And then the third r is then refocus.

Jesus, help me now not to just repent and turn from my sin, but to refocus my gaze on you, which brings us back to the beginning of Colossians chapter three verse one through five, where it says, so if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature. As I've been praying for you all this week, in the most loving way possible, I believe that Paul had a deep love for this church in Colossae, and I have a deep love for you, Ward Church.

Put your sin to death if you truly wanna walk in the fullness of life in Christ. Let me pray. Lord, you are good. Your words are holy and right and just. Thank you for your grace towards us.

Right now, I pray supernaturally, holy spirit, would you help us be able to look rightly in the mirror at our souls and see where our sin is? Help us to recognize where we have gone wayward. Help us to recognize where we have been disobedient to you. Don't just help us to just sit with it and say, man, I've been dealing with this sin, but then help us to repent of our sin. Help us to confess our sin to one another.

Confess our sin to you and then turn from our sin. Help us to put our sin to death so that we might be able to walk life fully in your ways, Jesus. Your words are life giving. They are true and they are good. Help us to walk in them and live our life according to them.

And then help us to refocus. Help us to set our minds on things above and not on all the problems and the brokenness and the sin of our life and the earthly nature that we're tempted to go back into. Don't let us return to our vomit, but help us to see it what it for what it is, as disgusting and evil. Help it to be repulsive to our souls and help you to be what is most pleasing to our souls, what we desire more than anything else, to live according to your ways, your will, and your word. Jesus, we cannot do this in our strength.

So holy spirit, would you empower us? Help us to reflect this week and see a real life change. Help us to recognize, repent, and refocus. And Lord, I cannot wait to see what you do in the hearts and lives of your children here at Ward Church. We love you.

I pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.