Romans chapter eight. This morning, we left off last time together, Romans eight verses 12 to 17.
We, we got about uh three words into verse 12 of Romans eight verse 12, incredibly powerful treaty, the Apostle Paul, right.
Uh But it will be I trust familiar to you in a moment.
Uh in our scripture reading together, I’ll pick it up in verse 12.
If you do verse 13, in the odd number of verses, Paul, the Apostle says to the church at Rome.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh for as many as are led by the spirit of God.
That is the Holy Spirit. These are the Sons of God.
Oh God, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God, right?
Yeah, father, we pray Lord right now as we celebrate, not only our nation’s birthday, 147 247 years coming up uh this week.
But Lord, technically, until you call us home, you’ve called us to be representatives of another kingdom, a different kingdom.
One that is eternal and the message is eternal.
But Father, we pray that you would take the truth that the Apostle is communicating and God that it would transform our lives, that you would take these ancient truths, eternal truths and emboss them upon our hearts.
We pray Father God for that to happen. We ask it in Jesus name and all God’s people said, amen.
You may be seated church if you picked it up last time when we were looking at the opening throes of this study that is titled It’s Time You Quit.
Romans eight is all about that.
It’s all about what God has done, which makes it time for you and I to quit trying to pull things off on our own.
When it comes to our standing with God, God will not tolerate my friend, a legalistic religious approach to a relationship.
He’s not in that. And so as the Apostle speaks to us, he’s announcing to us that the benefits of being a child of God is not only that the Holy Spirit confirms that witness to us, we’ll learn later that we are recipients of all of the wealth of God.
We don’t know what that means.
I don’t care what somebody says on some program about, you know, prosperity and stuff.
That’s ridiculous to reduce your wealth in Christ, to physical prosperity in this world is a joke.
But when you begin to equate and understand what Paul is communicating to the believer that this world doesn’t last forever as it is that heaven is our home, that Christ is our Lord.
That when you and I technically receive the kingdom of God, there is the vast wealth of knowing God of having a 1 to 1 relationship with God and above all things.
And I love this the most that, that truth absolutely transcends any form of religion that we might try to produce and any form.
Thank God of legalism that we might try to create.
It’s all of that God is good and he’s given us so many precious things by which he bought you and I at the expense of his own blood.
Honestly, as Christians book of Romans, we should be the most free believers walking around today.
Please get this. Please please take notes and pay attention.
It’s time you quit, it’s time you quit trying to do this on your own.
We saw and we stopped right in the middle of it last time looking at this verses 12 to 14 and it’s this, don’t just do something, stand there, remember that?
Just stand there, see what do you want me to do?
Just stand there and the truth of God believer just stand in the very truth and that truth that once it takes hold of your heart as a Christian, you will be a biblically defined Christian.
And I want to make that clear today, you’ll be a follower of Christ and it all starts with this.
We stand in his debt. Remember that, that’s where we, we started and that’s where we ended.
We stand in his debt. Verse 12 announces to us therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Verse 13 goes on for if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
It doesn’t take a spiritual genius to figure that out.
The Bible is inviting us to live our new lives with God, with Him.
And it’s all about a life that is indebted.
Now to God, you want to be able to evaluate your own life and be able to say today, I am completely indebted to God.
The last thing you want to experience in life is that you and I find ourselves in some area independent from God.
And I know in a crowd or a group this size, a service, this size, there may be those sitting in here or maybe you’ve come for the first time, or frankly, maybe you’ve been here for a while and you haven’t gotten it yet that you’re still thinking that it’s something that you do that you add on to salvation.
It’s not that we are completely 100% indebted to God now, for all that he has done for us.
And because that’s true, there’s absolute freedom in that very important you and I are no longer Hallelujah under the command of the flesh.
The Bible tells us and announces to us that we have been set free from that.
So when we talk about being indebted to God, the more that we are indebted to God, the more free we are in this world and more liberated.
We are from the things of this life.
And in Romans chapter 13 verse eight, the Bible says, oh no man, anything except to love one another.
Now, let me just say this when it says knowing anything, it doesn’t mean that you can’t take out a loan on a house.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t take out a loan on a car.
Uh If you’ve got to do that and in this culture of ours, you, you probably do have to do that.
But when the scripture says, oh no one anything, it, it, it means that we are not to be indebted to someone.
Uh So for example, if somebody says here, I’ll loan you 1000 bucks but there’s a, there’s a hook to it.
You know what I’m talking about? Everybody. Well, here I didn’t, I loan you that money.
They are playing upon something that you and I handed to them.
And that is the power to control us when the Bible says don’t owe any man anything we’re talking about don’t owe uh in regards to what is known as an unsecured loan, you get that.
For example, if I, if I play that verse to my life, I can’t buy a house. That’s not true.
A home is a secured loan. That means if you don’t make your payments, what happens?
The bank gets your house, they come out ok? But that’s not what we’re talking about.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t bless your brothers and sisters when called upon it means this though, that we live in absolute freedom to the point that what I owe you is one thing.
Oh, and that one thing is everything, what I owe you is the love that Christ loves you with.
It’s the love that God loves me with. That’s what I’m gonna love you with. So, oh no, man.
Anything except this, which is the greatest thing of all to love you like Jesus loves you, man.
I tell you, that’s the challenge, isn’t it?
It’s not easy to love everybody coming into the parking lot leaving the parking lot.
You know, that’s true. You’re going to be tested, you’re going to be tested on all fronts and uh you, you to love one another and it’s a fun experiment, by the way, II, I saw it happen last Wednesday night as I was leaving driving.
You know, there seems to be this international rule.
It’s not written down, but when you’re leaving a congested area, uh people get into the rhythm of letting every other car go and then there’s that uh uh the other person that refuses to do that and you’ve seen that and I’m sorry, I, I don’t know if I’m having fun with it or if I’m carnal about it or maybe God is using me as an instrument to help them grow.
But it’s every other, every other. And then I see this guy just going like this.
And then so I just kind of want to get up there to just to kind of see what’s going to go on and I don’t need that spot.
I’m just the next car up, but they won’t give it up what’s going on.
So I will pray, Lord speak to them about loving one another.
We to prefer the other above ourselves, owe one another the love of God.
The debt that you are you and I are now living in and we will live out for all eternity is owing God all of our praise and worship and thanksgiving and adoration for who He is and the grandeur of who God is.
He’s absolutely amazing. And he purchased heaven for you and I with his blood, he’s invited you to come to heaven.
He wants you to know his son Jesus personally, you can’t buy that. You can’t barter for that.
You can’t make any deals. God wants you to come.
And the Bible tells us in Galatians chapter four verse 19, my little Children for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you.
And that’s where we ended last week at the word formed. We’re going to put that definition up there.
You’ll remember formed Morpho is the Greek word to shape sculpt form, mold chisel. God is chiseling you.
And I, he’s sending us until the desired image is achieved. That’s what God does.
And the work that he’s doing, it’s called sanctification. And the book of Romans is written to the Christian today.
Maybe you’re not a Christian today. And you’re wondering what are you talking about?
Well, there’s no way for you to understand what I’m talking about without God giving you understanding.
Paul is speaking to the Roman believers and he’s saying to the Christians, this is what God is doing.
He’s reminding you that you are to stand indebted to God in all things. And then that comes true freedom.
But this word formed is actually a biblical doctrine as I mentioned a moment ago that we experience every day as a believer and that is sanctification and it’s going to happen in your life every day.
Church family, listen today. There may be a bit of a reprieve from the dynamic of your life.
The pressures all of us are under and there’s things coming and you’re thinking, oh, you know, Wednesday’s coming and I got this thing or whatever it might be.
Just know this. Are, you don’t answer out loud. Are you a committed believer to the Lord Jesus Christ?
I’m not asking if you’re sinless, nobody’s sinless. But are you pursuing Christ?
The great truth about that reality is going to be lived out.
You can mark it and that will be, that there’s gonna be things that arise in your life that will demand or require chiseling by the master sculptor.
And that’s God almighty. And he will chisel on you through the hardships of life. Sanding, shaping.
What’s he doing that for? He’s making us like Jesus every day that you and I get up.
Oh, there’s nothing worse to see this.
Listen, there’s nothing worse than to see someone who’s been a Christian for 50 years.
But they’ve only grown at about maybe, maybe one or two or three years in spiritual development over 50 years.
Are you hearing me that is stunted, spiritual growth to say the least tragically, that might be too frequent.
What you want to do is you want to be a believer.
If you’re a Christian for 10 years, you want at least 10 years experience as being a Christian growing.
I like the high speed method.
I’m not a very patient person and when it comes to Christianity, Lord, I want you to do this now in my life.
So I kind of sense God speaking to me saying, are you sure I don’t want to be on the conveyor belt that goes, you know, a mile every 10 months.
I want to be on warp speed growth and development.
But you gotta put your mouthpiece in if you really want that to happen.
How bad do you wanna be like Jesus? I wanna be like Jesus.
Now, I don’t wanna be like me now, it doesn’t go well.
But when Christ begins to be formed in me, it’s through hardship and the Christian is the only one on the planet that can say God, I don’t understand God.
I’m weeping God, I’m hurting. But I know that you’ve got something good in store, you’re working something out and that is Christ will be someday formed in me.
There will be things that will come out of my life that will be honoring to the Lord God Almighty.
You guys as Lisa and I were aware as you are well known, we went uh for, we had less than an hour to go to a museum that was across the street from our hotel in Oxford England.
And I want to show you uh a few things and this is the Ash Museum and um let’s go inside because uh when you walk in and you turn left, these are not knock off.
These are the real deal. These are from uh either the Grecian Empire or the Roman Empire.
And it’s an absolutely fantastic uh museum if you ever go there.
But uh one of the key things for me is that there’s uh tablets that have come out of Babylon with Nezar uh stamp on it.
And he’s referencing Jerusalem, not Palestine, by the way, 606 BC, 606 BC.
He’s, he’s recognizing Jerusalem and Judah in the captivity of the Jews.
Next slide I got quite a few here. This is one of the ancient gods.
You can’t read the plaque, but this is one of the gods from the ancient ancient realm.
You would pray to these gods you would seek after these gods.
But what I want to point out to you is that this is a god.
But who made this God man made this guy next slide. Another man made God.
This is a huge relief. This is a part of it.
But these are various uh Greco Roman gods ascending to the heavens and going through the battles that they must go through to reach their liberty or their freedom.
But again, these various gods who makes them man makes them next slide. Here’s another guide.
I forget um trying to see who this is. Um It’s some giant, it says there.
But um he’s a God. He’s crafted by man. He’s chiseled by man. He’s sounded by man.
Next slide. That’s He’s the God of, of wine, of intoxication.
He’s the God of partying and he’s a big deal.
And uh so isn’t it funny if you want, if you want to get drunk and have a wild time?
But you’re religious, how you gonna figure that out? You got something wrong.
You got an internal based morality that God has built inside every human being that’s not acceptable.
God has written that truth on your heart.
It was in Adam and Eve and it’s in you today, you’ve been stamped by God.
But if you want to do this thing, what do you, what you’ve got, you’ve got to do something.
You got to figure out something to silence the voice inside of you. What do you do?
You take out a chisel, you get some, uh, a mallet and sandpaper and you make a God that allows you to get drunk and to get uh everybody drunk and you can all have sex together and do all these things.
This is Backus. Isn’t it interesting?
The gods that man makes will always sanctions what man wants to do, what to justify our religion.
I made this so I can do this so I can feel good about it all.
Remarkable. Next picture. Yeah, that’s just creepy. That’s from Babylon. I don’t like it.
Next, next picture, this is a great display. This is a great display. Pick a God.
No, no, that’s what it was about.
That’s what it’s about and, and whatever you worship, whatever you wanted to do, whatever you wanted to do.
Pick a God. And you can either put that God around your neck like a necklace or you could set the God up in like a niche of rock or a podium or a pedestal.
You could set the God down there and then that God gives you the thumbs up to do whatever you want.
How convenient is that church family? Think for a moment, we don’t carve things out of stone anymore.
We just put them on computer screens.
Are we traffic in the souls of men as it were or whatever it might be, by the way, just as a footnote, that’s got to be Captain Kirk’s Idol at the top, right hand, right.
A disk, right. Anyway, I just had to throw that in. That was amazing to me.
You guys, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter two verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ.
Jesus for good works. Listen, God’s got this. He made you to live a life in Christ.
That’s for good works. He said, Jack, I just thought you said religion. We, I’m not talking about religion.
I’m talking about a true Christian life that is filled with good works.
Did you see some of the good works today in the announcements?
You want to bring in stuff to help the kids back to school?
You want to get involved to save babies lives. You want to protect families. Oh, yes.
Yes, I do. I want to do good works. Pastor. Well, you know what to do.
Good works is not just limited to one area of life.
It’s not only that you help your neighbor with their trash cans.
It’s also you got to sometimes call your state senator and say we don’t want our kids taken from us.
That’s good works. Don’t parse it out, you can’t separate it.
But that verse in Ephesians two and 10 goes on, goes on to say which God prepared before Him that we should walk in them.
Everybody, are you guys awake? Look at this.
We are his Poe is the word in the Greek. God has written a poem.
Insert your name created in Christ Jesus for good works. That’s your mission. How do we do that?
What do we do? God, which listen, God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Whoever you are today.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has engineered your footsteps to live a life of good works that honors him because you are saved.
You don’t do that to get saved. You are saved.
Our community should know us by our good works.
Somebody said not too long ago that church, all that church does is stand up against stuff.
It’s all they are. They, they’re against things.
And I heard that and I told the person I said, listen, if you, if you know that person go back and tell them this, the things that we’re standing up against, they should be standing up against with us side by side, think about that.
When things are dangerous, we should stand up.
Isn’t it funny when you walk around buildings or are you in the elevator?
It says pull this alarm in case of fire. Can you imagine if there’s a fire?
Nobody pulls the alarm crazy.
You wanna be like that real joy, real happiness. The real life that Jesus gives us.
John chapter 12 verse 25 Jesus said, he who loves his life will lose it. Listen up everybody.
So pastor, this is kind of spooky. What are you talking about?
Jesus says, whoever loves his life will lose it.
In other words, if you live for your own pleasure, your own self seeking ways at the end, you lose.
Remember the sticker, he who dies with the most toys wins. Not true.
And he who hates his life or sets his life back as priority in this world will keep it for eternal life for anyone who serves me.
Let him follow me and where I am there, my servant will be also if anyone serves me, him, my father will honor.
That’s a pretty beautiful statement. Pretty crystal clear. I’m indebted to God.
Now you see this, if I name the name of Jesus, I’ve got to come before him and I, and I say, Lord, I’ve just read in Romans chapter eight, I’m indebted to you live your life through me.
I don’t want to live my life anymore.
I want to make sure that as of this moment moment I’m dead and you live in me, all of my interests, all of my demands and look, we all have them.
I’m concerned like you, I trust in the age in which we live in where people I think have emotionally based theology more than biblically based theology.
Well, listen, it manifests like this. And by the way, it’s extremely heretical.
It’s very demonic and part of its demonic trick is that you don’t realize this and it sounds like this.
You know, I feel that the Lord would want me to be happy. That’s demonic.
It’s not that God doesn’t want you to be happy. God wants you to have joy.
But see, when you break that down, see what, what do you mean? God wants you happy.
Well, I think I’d be happier with that, with that woman’s husband.
I think I would be happier if I just crushed that person at the company and had their job instead.
That’s, well, I know the Bible says this, but the Lord told me the moment you hear that you’ve got a wild one on your hands.
But listen, these people walk in and out of churches. Yeah. Not even saved.
They look to themselves for guidance. They’re indebted to their own desires.
They don’t have to be obviously evil and sensual passions and desires are outward displays of evil.
They can be internal, very immoral, but we want to be very careful.
Jesus is announcing to us a remarkable transformation of debt.
Uh I just want to read this to you. It’s a lengthy read.
I it’s important to me so I’ll be mechanical about it regarding you and I in our lives at this moment, in this age, our human body, these bodies that you and I have, they are a vehicle by which you and I do.
How about this? A will? Someone’s will is done through my human body.
Your human body in some way, shape or form. Think about uh do you remember Geppetto in Pinocchio?
And didn’t Geppetto make that guy? And he was, he was supposed to be the, the the little puppet Pinocchio.
You move him, can I submit to you?
And I know this is crude but there’s something manipulating you.
That’s something maybe that you’re aware of and it could be even be you your will.
My will manipulating me the decisions. I make the things that I do.
I’m the one doing it or there’s God that is moving you in life and whichever reality is being lived out in your life is going to be known by others.
It will be seen, it becomes obvious.
So you want to ask this question.
It’s, it’s uh many of you know, this, I’m sure if you’ve been around for a while reading books and all, where at what point does a man become a the old saying goes this way, which nobody knows what this means anymore.
But when a man, at what point does a man become a, a horse thief? Do you remember this?
So horse thief? Well, at what point does a man become a carjacker religion says when he steals the car?
Well, what’s that based on the law? But there’s something greater than that.
The Bible says, and over, over and over again, there’s something greater than the law of God.
It’s the law of life. It’s the law of liberty.
It’s the law of love that’s in Christ. Watch this.
There’s a carjacker or there’s a bank robber or there’s a horse thief.
But at what point are they, the horse thief or the carjacker or the bank robber, the answer is before they ever do it.
Now watch everyone, the religionist in the house, the legalist watching right now says that’s wrong.
I’m to be judged only by my actions. That may be true in a court of law.
But God transcends that friends. We’re talking about being true believers here, God doesn’t listen.
And I want to make this very clear. Yes, God cares about our actions.
I’ve already made the point to you. We need to do good works. That’s a given.
That’s a byproduct of really being a child of God that’s settled.
But after that, God is not looking to your good works to define your walk.
God looks on the inside and not on the outside.
And when God sees what’s on the inside, he sees that a man is a horse thief.
But long before the guy ever steals the horse, in fact, he steals the horse because he is a horse thief.
He’s a horse thief before he ever gets to the horse.
The horse probably saying, why is this guy coming over here?
It’s in his heart to steal it. And God says, I see your heart.
I know what’s in your heart and I wanna set you free from that kind of control.
Is that wonderful? I love the fact.
Listen, if you want religion, some something bless you, I can’t say God bless you.
If you want religion, you’re in the wrong place. Go to some other place.
But if you want to take God up on his challenge, who says to us, I want to know you personally like I spoke with Moses face to face.
I want to have a relationship with you like that.
And God does that in the word of God, the Bible.
That’s where you’ll see the face of God. The Bible, here’s a huge scripture read.
And uh you can follow along with me on the screens starting at Matthew 15 verse one.
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying, why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?
You got to mark that traditions of the elders. You can insert this.
Why do your disciples transgress the denominational uh rules and regulations of our denomination for?
They do not wash their hands when they eat bread.
Did these guys are these guys for real?
These are the sin sniffers and the fault finders of life.
Hey, you didn’t wash your hands. That’s against our denominational rules. What’s this?
He Jesus answered and said to them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition.
Yeah, you gotta love how he comes back and stuff like this.
For God commanded saying honor your father and your mother and he who curses father or mother let him be put to death.
Hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips.
But their heart is far from me and in vain, they worship me teaching as doctrines, the commandments of men.
And when he had called the multitude to himself, he said to them here and understand it is not what goes in the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man.
Then his disciples came to him and said to him.
Uh Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?
But Jesus answered and said to them, every plant which my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted.
Let them alone. Those three words out of the mouth of Jesus are terrifying friends. Family. Listen.
Do you know anyone possibly in your life that God is saying?
Let them alone, they know it, they know it, they’ve heard it, they know it, they won’t receive it.
This is Jesus speaking mild mannered, Jesus. This is Jesus, the lover of souls.
There comes a point when he says, let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind.
And if the blind leads the blind, they’ll both fall into the ditch.
And then Peter answered and said to them, explain this parable to us.
And Jesus said, are you also without understanding?
Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes out of the stomach and it is eliminated?
But those things which proceed out of the mouth, speak from the heart, they defile the man for out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, witness blasphemies.
Verse 20. These are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.
These guys who are saying, oh no, how could your disciples do this? You’re talking about a legalist friends.
You’re talking about people who say this is the way to heaven.
We’ll tell you how and this is what you’ll do.
Reminding yourself that we are indebted to God and no man.
I mean that humbly but directly, I’m trying to make it very, very clear.
We are so indebted to God that we so to speak, live on our knees and thanks and praise to him.
But listen, Paul the apostle taught us that no man on earth is worthy or able to judge us as we walk with Christ.
Think about that for a moment and I don’t have the right to judge anybody else for that matter.
But the point is this, I’m to live after God focused on God and totally indebted to God.
And if that really happens in our lives, I can eat a hot dog or fish taco without washing my hands.
I do not have to go through the five steps of ceremonial cleansings.
Are you with me and procedures to obtain a level of membership in my spiritual community?
Whereby now I can be the one who gets the badge and walks around saying I am more spiritual than you are.
Those are the traditions of men never become indebted to the religion of man.
And to that we would address the pathology of sin.
No, this and I’m gonna paraphrase this for time’s sake.
But the pathology of sin in this day and age in which we live in, it’s a very strange thing and what we see what’s going on in our world around us.
And that is that in the ancient time, first century church, there were the gnostics watch this.
The gnostics were a group of people who embraced heresy and the heresy was a lot many heresy, but one of them was this, hey, listen.
Um I believe in God, but here’s the cool thing about it because I believe in God, I’m good.
My body, my physical body, it’s just physical and everything physical is bad. Are you listening?
This is for real. I can do anything I want with my physical body.
It doesn’t matter because my, it’s all sin. But the inside of me says I’m good.
That’s called gnosticism. Physical is bad. Spiritual is good.
I’m a spiritual creature housed in a physical body so I can do what I want.
And then on Sunday ask forgiveness and then started all over again. On Monday.
That’s a form of gnosticism. You’ve divided two things.
Listen, no, there are no two things divided. You are literally one in the same individual.
The thing is that this body is now loyal to whatever I yielded to this makes sense.
It’s crystal clear. And so we want to make sure that we mark this well in our lives and understand this well in our lives.
Hebrews chapter chapter five verse 14 says, but solid food belongs to those who are of full age or mature.
That is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised here.
It is to discern both good and evil as you and I live in this life church family.
You and I, in fact, right before I came out here, I told Matt, I said, you know, after watching these announcements, there are so many different things that you can get involved in at this church.
We’ve only got a moment to announce part of them that you can point your faith in any direction.
If you go to this church and use it, use your faith in whatever direction and to not do that is to miss out on so much.
But know this God has called us to discern what is right? What is wrong.
What is good and what is evil? This is an important thing.
The second thing is this church family is that we are to stand in his life when verse 13 says at the latter end.
But if by the spirit, that is the Holy Spirit, you put to death, the deeds of the body, you will live and the putting to death of the deeds of our body.
Church family is something that you and I as a Christian deal with every day of our lives, every day, I get up and I meet me at the mirror or down the hallway or whatever it is.
And what am I supposed to do with me?
According to Jesus, I am to present myself to him uh and have that attitude of crucifying my flesh every day.
Now, I understand that that that kind of scripture quote doesn’t cause people to come to the church next week.
But the truth of the matter is if you want to live a victorious Christian life, we learn this that when you and I have appetites that are offensive to God, whatever those things are, we simply do this, Lord, God, I know that what I tend to do either by desire or by habit is, is an offense to you.
It’s, it’s, it’s sin, it’s sin. Lord. I’m asking you to change that in my life.
So hypothetically, are you doing, are you living in a way right now?
And you claim to know Jesus and maybe you do, but you’re allowing this, this idol that you’ve carved and polished and sanded in your life and it’s right there and you tend to go to it, especially when the temptation rises for whatever that might be and you go to it.
Do you understand that?
He’s asking you give that to me, many Christians suffer from spiritual development because they act as though they don’t have that issue.
So they don’t talk to God about it like, like we’re fooling them if you have a temper problem or maybe it’s possessions, bring that issue before you and God and say God, here it is.
It’s right there. A woman told me before service.
She says, I’m very prone to being anxious anxiety. And I said, were you here last Wednesday night?
Wow. She said yes. And I said, remember what Barry Maguire said?
No more anxiety. It’s a sin. We’re not to worry as believers.
We’re assuming the Godhead when we worry, some people think worries is some sort of virtue.
No, seriously. Well, none of you care. I’m the only one.
I have to carry all of this all by myself. You, have you ever heard of you?
He said, come on, what are you doing?
I’m you just, you know the old joke. I, I can’t tell a joke.
I’m gonna mess this one up.
But if there’s a guy who was very, very prone to worry, he went to a psychologist, the psychologist said, listen, you gotta get over this.
He gave them all the steps to get over worrying and he just couldn’t make it.
The guy would come in. His fingernails are almost bloody. Bite. His stomach is all the time.
The guy messed up visit after visit. The psychologist, man, we’re just going backwards. You’re not getting any better.
And then one day he comes in and he’s like, he comes in, he sits down, he puts his feet up.
Hey, how you doing, doctor? And he says, what’s, what’s gotten into you?
And he goes, well, he goes, I finally clicked.
He said, um, I found a guy, a neighbor down the street, we were talking and I told him about seeing you and that I’ve been worrying a lot and stuff and he said, boy, I wish I could help you with that.
And he goes a, a thought under my head.
He said, if I pay you 50 bucks a week, were you worried for me?
And the guy goes 50 bucks a week, I’ll worry for you.
And the, and the psychologist said, well, you know, can you afford that?
And he goes, no, he goes, well, what’s gonna happen when the, when you can’t pay the guy?
He goes, I don’t know, let him worry about it. That’s good.
In a spiritual note.
First, Peter 57 says, cast all your care upon God because he cares for you.
To stand in life. That’s the life of God.
And there’s life in that the Holy Spirit will not possess you and allow you to live a life that is not living.
He’s the life giving spirit. William Barkley puts it this way.
There is a kind of life which leads to death and there’s the kind of death that leads to life.
That’s a very simple biblical truth.
But the putting to death of these things of our lives, we put them behind that is by the Holy Spirit.
We don’t do that. We yield to him and he does it, but we must recognize that we must bring it before him.
We must bring it out and present it. Listen, whenever a man is in control.
Whenever a man is the one calling the shots, man will always frame himself in the place of God.
And when that happens, there’s a trail of crimes that are left behind when man controls James puts it this way.
Chapter four verse one, James says, where do wars and fights come from among you? Think about that?
When was the last argument you had? Think about what transpired, what was going on? Most arguments are absolutely silly.
They’re not even the point. It’s like a spark that lights a fire and the fire is more of ego in the individuals than it is the actual issue.
I’ve seen people get in fights over the stupidest things because they want to win dilla must create the argument so they can win it.
That’s the sickness. He says, where do wars and fights come from among you?
Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
You lust and you do not have you murder and covent and cannot obtain.
You fight and war yet you do not have.
James is talking about doing the things that man seeks to do in his own power.
Jesus is inviting you to come and enjoy his life, which is a full surrender of just quitting and letting him live his life through you.
It’s very, very powerful. I wanna read something to you. I wrote it.
If it stinks, I wrote it. If it blesses you, then it was from God.
There are fools today who seek to separate the life-giving Holy Spirit from their day to day thoughts and actions and yet claim to know God as an example.
It is the life giving Holy Spirit that is the genesis of the human being.
Remember we’re the image bearers of God. Are we not we? We’ve been creating the image of God.
But what has man done with that priority of God?
Somebody might say, but pastor Jack, that’s offensive to the fool.
True because the man or woman who sees themselves as the authority will always leave a wake of destruction and death.
Mayhem always follows the absence of God destruction, death and mayhem are the fingerprints that Satan leaves behind at the scene of the crime.
The same fool who says, I believe in God.
But as an example, supports abortion has been fully deceived. You think about this for a moment.
This is a perfect example. I’m not making a political statement.
You want to frame it as a political statement to make you feel better.
I’m not gonna let you do that. God, the Holy Spirit is the God of life.
The Christian should be the most lively person in the world.
Always seriously, don’t raise your hand. But let me test you for a second.
Don’t raise your hand. How many of you believe in God?
If you believe in God and the Bible and Christ and what the entire scripture tells us?
You should be completely thrilled. Ok.
That said when issues about parental authority, freedom, abortion, when those issues come up, you should be able to enter right into that issue with a biblical world view.
When you show up, you light up the whole issue and this political group is arguing about this political, with this group, about this political thing.
And when you look at it, it’s like, ok, forget the groups. The issue is a God issue.
Should parents have authority over their own Children? Do you think for a moment that that’s a political issue?
Come on, church, wake up. Do you think that’s political? No, you don’t. But guess what?
It’s too late. It’s already been taken from you. Do you hear me?
If you like it or not? If you understand it or not, it’s already been taken from you.
They’ve made decisions in the halls of power to redefine parental authority that should offend you.
I tell you what it offends God.
What offends God should offend me if I’m walking with him, what blesses him should bless me.
If God’s happy about this, I should be happy about it. I may not even understand it.
But God says this is my will.
This is what my word is and I must come to the conclusion.
I don’t understand how this is going to turn out.
I don’t see it but God knows all and I’m going to trust him and wait for the end.
That’s the best part about getting older. Seriously. No joke.
You become a, you be a Christian and you get older. It’s awesome. Listen, it’s not that true.
Gets truer. True is true. But you get to experience more truth and you see God move more incredible to live his life.
That’s his desire for you. And I, and when he says put the death is, it sounds violent, it is violent.
The word put to death in Greek.
It’s three words in English, put to death, but it’s one, it’s that to mortify, to cause death to occur.
Listen, this is what the Bible says about how you should treat you and I should treat me is to cause death to occur.
That sounds kind of final. That’s the point. Yes.
To have put something to death or someone to death.
But the thing is me, I’m to read the word and say God, your word is speaking to me.
I need to mark this verse and then I pray. You know, you guys listen, I know.
Listen, we’re all the same, we’re the same in this way.
You, you, you say, you say I’m gonna get up tomorrow morning and I’m gonna, I’m gonna pray and then you get up and you go to pray and you’re like, you’re like, it’s like a block wall.
Have you noticed that? It’s just like, it’s tough.
Hey, here’s how you break that dive into chapter one of any book of the Bible seriously and start reading and there’s gonna, there’s gonna be a verse that stops you circle it, pray it, pray that scripture.
Think about it, meditate on it.
Watch the prayer start and you’ll be shocked to see how in the world can Genesis, you know, 1 18 apply to my life today and it will pray the word of God.
And that word that gets in us transforms us from the inside out.
You already know all this in John chapter one verse 12.
John chapter one verse 12, the Bible says, but as many as received him to them gave he the right.
Some of your Bible say the word power to become Children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood.
Well, we were all born of blood. But he’s saying that’s not the point.
You’re not gonna go to heaven by being a blue blood, a royal.
It’s not your DNA nor of the will of the flesh.
That’s man’s decision making. No, nor the will of man.
But of God, that verse 12 says that God has given you and I the power to become Children of God, the right to become Children of God.
That’s a strong statement, church, but to as many as received him.
Do you guys see that on the, on the wall, on the screens?
Have you ever received Christ for real? Have you ever done that?
Have you ever said God, I’m receiving you now into my life.
I’m going to ask you to bow your head all of us now nobody moves.
I know I’m ending early but that doesn’t give you parking lot privileges.
Don’t move ushers, lock the doors.
I want those of you who are believers to be praying.
There may be a man or woman, boy or girl around you who, who may not know the Lord don’t interrupt them.
They may be thinking right now and you step right on their toe. I’m serious. It’s happened.
Don’t move pray, we need you.
But if right now you’re saying Jack in my life, I think I’m more of a religionist than I am one of a relationship with the Almighty God.
And I want to know Jesus Christ personally.
I want to know about this power to stand in his debt and to be freed by that debt, to live the rest of my life, indebted to his love, indebted to his care.
And I also want to know real life.
I have pursued men, women, money, drugs, power, position place.
I’ve acquired this or that and I have no life.
I keep going for the next golden ring and now I’ve got bags of them and I have nothing.
But today, maybe today that’s you in some way, shape or form. That’s you. Today.
I’m gonna ask you as we sing this song, I’m gonna ask you to come forward and I’m gonna pray for you.
I know that’s terrifying, but it’s only you and Jesus right now if you want today to receive Christ as Lord and Savior and or rededicate your life to him.
Now, as we sing this song, you come and stand in front of the stage on the floor and I’ll lead you in a prayer, but you come right now.
Oh, thank God. That was not my idea.
Clearly, father, we pray today for those that are standing in the things of their life that have brought them to this moment.
Father, we pray for those who could not even begin to articulate the pain, the hurt, the drama, sorrow that they’re going through.
For whatever reason we pray for those that are here right now that have tried everything in life and it’s all failed them, it’s failed them.
And we thank you God that those things did fail them to bring them to this moment in time.
We ask you father, that you would reach those who have come and seems as though they just live in a perpetual state of failure.
They’ve done this before, but nothing seems to change and they, they want you, but they lack the power.
And we pray for those who have come here at the end, husbands deciding to be men of God and to lead their wives and to love them as Christ lives his church.
So friends up front.
When you pray this out loud church family, you may join with them if you would like.
But friends, it’s not a magical prayer.
But if you mean it today will be the first day of your eternal life.
From this moment on if you mean it, your life will change.
You may or may not feel something today. It’s an irrelevant from this moment forward.
As the Holy Spirit moves into your life, he will begin to transform your thinking.
It’s going to be rough at times friends.
But that’s why he’s giving you the word of God.
That’s why this church is here to help you to point you to Jesus.
But together, let’s pray dear heavenly Father.
I come to you now and I give you my life.
I give you my pain, I give you my sorrow.
I give you my loss. I give you my family.
I ask you God to write my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Because today I proclaim Jesus Christ, crucified, buried and resurrected from the dead as my Lord and Savior.
I receive him according to your word in Jesus name.
I pray amen. God bless you.