NorthBridge | February 15, 2026 | How To Stop What's Stopping You (Part 1)

Because what we have to remember is this, the thing that's stopping you, Jesus died for that. The thing that keeps getting in the way, Jesus took that on him at the cross. The elephant in your room, Jesus came to deal with that. So let's not make him out to be a liar. Let's not lie to ourselves. Let's address this by bringing these things into the light. And when we do that, we'll have a better appreciation, a better trust, and a better following of who Jesus is and trusting in everything he calls us to do because we understand that everything that gets in the way, Jesus came for that. [00:55:31] (38 seconds)  #JesusCameForThat

We don't function very well if we can't fill in the gaps of our story to bring us a reality that allows us to move forward. So we do this to give ourselves a reason and an explanation to the story that we're actually experiencing. Now, mostly when our brains do this, this is completely fine. It's good. It's at the very minimum, it's innocent. It's not a big deal. But the problem becomes when our brain does this and there's actually something detrimental to our lives and we're not addressing it. We just don't admit what's actually going on because our brains start filling in the gaps that tell us a lie. And when we do this, you know what we're doing? We're actually in denial. [00:30:16] (36 seconds)  #StopTheDenial

It's not that to walk in the light that you and I have to live perfectly. It's that by walking in the light, it allows sin to be seen, admitted to, and dealt with. And this is vital for every person as we try to know and follow Jesus. And in that process, this is where the beautiful sanctification happens with Jesus that we give our lives over to him as we follow him in the light. Those things that stop us, they'll be seen and we address them and we deal with them together as a community of believers trusting and following Jesus, and Jesus cleanses us from those sins. [00:46:29] (36 seconds)  #SanctifiedInTheLight

And one of the things that we can do in our denials, we can just say, well, it's just a little baby elephant. Like it's not that big of a deal. It it causes a little bit of an issue, but it's not a big deal. But what happens to baby elephants? They become full grown elephants, and they cause a lot of damage. We have to address these things. What's the things that's stopping you? And the things that are stopping you right now, it might be something that everybody around you already knows that you're dealing with because you can't hide it. [00:50:29] (28 seconds)  #DontIgnoreTheElephant

So tell someone that you love and you trust someone who won't look to justify what's stopping you, but to help you be cleansed from it through Jesus. Because the church is meant to love each other to get rid enough to get rid of the things that are stopping us from following Jesus and living up the purpose he's given us. Because this is the reality of our lives and this is the one thing I want us to walk away with is our lives move forward when we bring our sin to the light. [00:54:20] (27 seconds)  #ConfessForCommunity

You're not living the reality of what your life really is. If we claim to follow Jesus, but we live our lives in the dark and we hide these things in the dark that are we're struggling with and are stopping us. If we keep just you know ignoring the sin in our lives, we are lying to ourselves and living in the dark and denying the reality of what's going on. Why? Because the way we act, the way we live is evidence of what we truly believe. [00:41:36] (26 seconds)  #ActionsRevealBeliefs

It's not that we just aren't without sin. He's not saying that here. We all struggle. We all stumble. We're all gonna mess up in our lives. This is the reality of what it is. We're gonna break that what what God calls us to do because we're broken sinful human beings. That's not the reality. We can't just pretend like I don't have any sin. It's not that we don't sin. It's the fact that we deny that we have sin in our lives. That's the real problem. [00:45:25] (24 seconds)  #StopDenyingSin

This is just a hard truth from John. He's he's saying, Jesus came to die for your sin and my sin. And so if we just keep denying that we have sin and we just live in this denial, we hide these elephants in the darkness. What he's saying is we make Jesus out to be a liar because if we claim to have no sin, then what did Jesus come for you and me for to begin with? Jesus came to be the sacrifice for your sin and my sin. So let's stop denying that. [00:49:25] (27 seconds)  #JesusPaidForSin