Overcoming Me Part 3

Preached by Jaren Singh on 1/19/25

Transcript

0:41

Yeah, let's get right into the lesson. We're in the third part of the Overcoming Me series. This is a little bit about where we've been, and then we're going to look forward to some of the stuff. We're going to make sense of a lot of it. We said in the first lesson that God has no problem declaring us free from sin before we learn to live free from sin. And we see that because Jesus says, if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. And yet, there's stuff that you wrestle with, that you've wrestled with, from the time you learned what sin was. There's stuff you wrestle with. I shared about me looking down on people and just feeling like I'm better. And my mom, when I was seven years old, a little bit even before seven, she wrote me journal articles or little journal entries just saying, you struggle to look down on the classmates of yours that cannot read. Fast forward, I've been a Christian most of my life at this point, and I still struggle with that. When we said God has no problem, that was the first lesson. The second lesson, we looked at this. I'll get you Sunday. That's fine. I'll send the slides. The second lesson, we said, well, what is he doing then? Well, we have the picture of the man who is bound to his sin, who cannot say no to sin. And that is the man that's black. And then at some point, this silhouette gets broken. And this is the conversion point, when you go from not being able to say no to sin, and we are filled with darkness, to then having the opportunity. I can say no to sin. I get converted. I get washed in the waters of baptism. And I'd love to be able to come out like the fully redeemed man who has no sin, who is full of all of this color. And yet, that's not. There's this process then, from the point when we go from lost to saved, and we're able to say no to sin, we are continuing to be changed, to be more in the likeness of the fourth one. When we get to heaven, we are going to have this glorious body, and we look forward to that. Amen. Until that time, we're in the middle of the second and the third, and we're trying to open up then opportunities for the Spirit to work in our lives. We're learning to feed the Holy Spirit. That is what, as we try to say no to sin, as we work to say no to sin, it's not going to be on our own power. It is going to be us learning to feed the Holy Spirit and these fruits of the Spirit until they fill to overflowing. Amen. That also means there's never going to be a point when, when is the Spirit of love going to be overflowing in your life? Well, not until you get to heaven. You're going to see there's, when is it going to be enough? I've loved enough. Well, not until you get to heaven. When are you going to have enough peace? Certainly work with me. Not until you get to heaven. When are you going to be this goodness that's just deep inside of you? Well, not until we get to heaven. And so from until that day comes, we're working, opening up opportunities for the Spirit to work in our lives. Amen. We're going to be, we're going to be in Romans 8 eventually. But I want to take a few minutes as we, as we look at the Holy Spirit, I want to take a few minutes to, to talk about who He is. And depending on your faith background, you probably brought in some preconceived notions to who the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit is, is done. And how do you identify it? I have to believe that this is probably in the Christian world, the most misunderstood entity of the Godhead. Like the Father, the Son, the Spirit, it's the most misunderstood is the Holy Spirit. I'm going to do a very incomplete overview and it's going to be, it's going to, there's going to be broad strokes and you're going to say, well, that's not, that doesn't fully fit. I'm going to do as good of a job as I can in a short period of time. And then we're going to get in to, with this understanding, what can we do with this understanding? It's, there's, there's deep, in my, in my spiritual journey, this has been the area since coming to Kalamazoo, where I've certainly grown in my understanding the most of the God, of the Father, the Son, the Spirit, certainly I've grown the most in my understanding of the Holy Spirit in the last five years. This is an area of deep confusion in my background, perhaps even disdain as I, as I looked at how it was portrayed in different faith backgrounds. You know, in practice, I grew up, this is in practice, and we'll talk about it. Maybe you grew up the same way. Sit with it before you say, no, I didn't. Sit with it. I grew up that the Godhead was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible. That the work of the Holy Spirit, it, it was understood, so it, as it was taught to me on Sundays, or even, even as we sat down, it was taught to me that the Holy Spirit's not limited to His work in the creation of the Holy Scriptures, but the practical work of the Spirit was, at least what it seemed to be, was limited to how, what it says in the Bible. I think this was done sincerely. I think it was done with the motive of helping people. It was done because Scripture is, we understand Scripture is mysterious in some ways, but there's, you can, you can, there's a handle on a lot of the, on a lot of Scripture as well. I think it was done to provide clarity on a topic where there was, and there is, just this lack of understanding in, in this mass view of Christendom. But I also think it intended to put a box on something that could never be kept in a box, that can never be kept in a box. You guys, you guys know this Scripture. This is Jesus talking. He's talking to Nicodemus, who comes to him at night, and he, at the end of him saying, like, you gotta be born again. He's like, what do you mean be born again? I can't go, I can't go into my mother's womb again. He's like, no, no, no, you gotta be born of water and the Spirit. He says, flesh gives birth to flesh, the Spirit gives birth to Spirit. Don't be surprised by it. Like, you're Israel's teacher. How do you not know this? And then he explains, the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound. You can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. That's mysterious, and if we're going to embrace it, that's a little bit scary for us too. That if we are going to be born of the Spirit, we make great plans. We just, we don't know exactly where we're going to be led. If we're going to be a church who embraces the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives, but certainly our collective lives, we have to, we, let's make plans. Like, let's make, I've been telling, how's 2025 going? I'm like, man, I believe we're going to have a great 2025. I think, man, this church is going to continue to grow. I think there's going to be many people who go from lost to saved because of the people in this church. Help them. I really believe that. We, and how are we going to do that? Well, we have some good plans. I just feel like, we make plans, and then I got to be okay with when the Spirit says, no, that's, that's, I have a better plan. I just don't want to fight against the Holy Spirit as he's moving in Kalamazoo. Amen? So it should be, it should be a little bit scary for us when Jesus says, wherever the Spirit goes, that's where the Spirit goes, and you got to be okay with it. And you're like, okay, but like, what's tomorrow going to look like then? You know, what is, what is it, what does that mean for me? And I think he's saying just, well, trust God today and we'll see tomorrow, you know? These are just a little bit, and this, I'll send this through thread. These are just a few of the titles of the Holy Spirit in Scripture and specifically in the, in the New Testament. But we need to be okay with two truths. One is that not everything we see on social media, not every faith background or every, every faith heritage, like the stuff, like people falling over, people doing miraculous healings, or people prophesying, like people speaking in discernible tongues, like not all of that. We need to be okay saying not all of that of the Holy Spirit, but also there's not a box on what the Holy Spirit is able to do. Like the, the frame is God is not going to go against what his Scriptures say, but after that, it's pretty wide open, because the Scriptures say some amazing things, and there's a lot of room. It's this Holy Spirit, he is the author of Scripture. He's a comforter, he's a counselor, he's like, he's our advocate, is even what Jesus says. He's the convictor of sin and the convictor of righteousness. He is, for the Christian, he is our deposit. Like if you have the Holy Spirit, this is, trust it, if you have the Holy Spirit, you, you cannot go to hell. You know what I'm saying? Like that, that's an amazing, like, trust that. He's our guide when we don't know where to go, and, and a great guide is going to say, this is where you're going eventually. How do we get there? Well, just follow me right now. You know what I'm saying? That's what, that's how I see the Holy Spirit moving. He is the indweller for those who are, who are true followers of his. He is our intercessor, is what the Bible says, when we are like praying, and we don't know what to say, and there's so much going on. It says that in some way, the Holy Spirit goes ahead of you. And it's like, you know, Jaron, actually, he's saying this, like, he doesn't have those words, but I'm, he's going to talk to the Father in a way, hey, help him with this. He doesn't know it, but this is what he means. He's the revealer of truth. It's like, trust it, that he's going to reveal truth. He's the Spirit of God, Spirit of life. He's our teacher. He is our witness. All of these are, are who the Holy Spirit is, and that's a really incomplete list. You know what I'm saying? This should, again, this should give us some, some great inspiration as we're like, how do we, how do we lean in? What does that mean? What does that mean for us? Well, I want to paint how big the Holy Spirit is, so that as we finish this lesson, you feel like I've got that coursing through my veins, if I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Uh, these words, um, in Hebrew, I'm going to butcher it, and then I might ask you to butcher it as well, so that we butcher it together. It's ruach. Can you guys say that? So now, now, now, if they're like, oh, you said it wrong. Well, my whole church said it wrong, so that's, you know, I'm, I'm part of my church. Uh, and then pneuma is, is the Greek as well. This is what, uh, these words mean Spirit. They're like the, the breath, like this is the, the energy or the power, uh, that, that comes out of, uh, in, in Hebrew, in the Old Testament, ruach is the, the, the word. In the New Testament, pneuma is, is the word. And so that's relevant because it says in Psalm 33, six, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath, by the, by the ruach of his mouth. And so this is, it's saying the Holy Spirit, it breathed everything into existence from nothing to something. Uh, certainly, uh, one of the, one of maybe the, I don't know, the, the, the greatest miracle is nothing into something. And the Bible says, God breathed and it happened. God spoke and it happened. That Holy Spirit that created all of this, that made all of this. And you can go through if you, uh, again, I'll, I'll throw some stuff on thread just to understand the, the majesty that we can live where we live, that it's like, it seems to be like there's, it's, you know, there's, there's no other way, if not, uh, by, by divine, uh, intervention or by divine desire, there's no other way that we could be here and be able to live and be able to breathe and all of that stuff. Everything has to fit perfectly. And it does. That Holy Spirit goes from creating everything, being in everything. It goes from that to the, what Jesus says, he says to his disciples, he said, I'm leaving you guys, but someone better than me, that's more able to help you is going to come. And that's the Holy Spirit in our lives. And so this, uh, you know, this spirit goes from creating, uh, creating the world to creating change in people's hearts. Uh, this is a rhetorical, like, which is more difficult than like to create change in someone's heart, to change someone's broken and hard heart, or to create the world. And I think a humble response is we can't do either. So we don't really know what's more difficult. You know what I'm saying? But understand this, the Holy Spirit, he is changing people's hearts every day. He is at work moving in people's lives to give up sin, to turn away from sin. And he does it, uh, for some, he does it right now. Like there's, there's people who I've talked to and I've sat with who were like, I've struggled. I struggled with drinking for years and years and years. There's a, there's a woman who she's like, you know what? Even on, when I got baptized, she said, I was, I was hung over. Um, and I was like, well, do you struggle with like, and she's like, yeah, I used to struggle all the time. Even through my Bible studies, I knew that Jesus was Lord. And then I got baptized. She said, I've never struggled with it since. And you're like, that's amazing. You know what I'm saying? But it's not more amazing than the man or woman who says I've struggled with drinking. I've struggled with lying. I've struggled with greed for years and years and years, but I don't struggle with that anymore. And when you ask them, they don't say oftentimes, that was just a sudden moment. Sometimes it is other times they say, you know, it's gradual over time, a great amount of accountability, a lot of prayer. God is moving and it's still right at my doorstep. But I continue to say no. And that is amazing as well. Amen. Uh, we're talking, we're in Romans five, Romans eight. Now you guys can get there. Uh, finally understand that the Holy spirit is changing people's lives every day. Uh, I want to be a part of it and you want to be a part of it and it's open for all of us. Uh, we're, we're here. This is, this is probably too difficult for you to follow along. Uh, but you can go to Romans eight or you can just listen in. It says those of us are those who live according to the flesh, have their minds set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death. But the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. Therefore, we have an obligation, but it's not to the flesh to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the midst deeds of the body, you will live. We read that and we're struggling with sin and yet there's hope. There's a great hope. And there's a great hope in the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that understand now that if you are in Christ, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the one that is coursing through your veins. And so can you say no to sin today by yourself? No, but the spirit says absolutely. By yourself, we are powerless to it. That's what it says. It says that you can't please, like if you're away from God, you can't please the spirit that you can't please God. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's living in you. You can please God. You can say no to sin. You can be an overcomer. These are a few, just a few as we try to separate, look at the scripture. This is all of the negative. Sometimes we use like the dark and the light and we can do that here as well. If you are living in the flesh, you got your mind on what the flesh desires. It brings death. It's hostile to God. It doesn't submit to God's power, principles, and impulses. It says it's not even able to. It cannot please God. Let's be real. Let's not paint our sin. When we say flesh, it's like our earthly nature. Let's not paint it to be like, ah, I struggled with it today. It's helpful to view it like this stuff, when I'm greedy, when I'm lustful, when I'm arrogant, when I joke, when I do these things, it's not like, oh, oh, shucks. Like, no, we got to sit with it, that this is, this, this cannot please God. This is me being hostile to God as I engage in these things. And then on the other hand, though, living in the Spirit is our minds are set on what the Spirit desires. It gives life and it gives peace. It gives life because of righteousness and it gives life through Jesus because of the Spirit. And so again, when you do good stuff, when you're, when you're loving, when you are selfless, don't say that, you know, I get frustrated in my heart of hearts when people share, and again, maybe this is a rant, but just hear me, when people get up and share and they're, they're sharing about their benevolence, oh, I gave this, and oh, we created it, and I just had it in my heart. I just wanted to do, and it's all about them, and they're sharing how God, like, God is doing something amazing, but they're bringing it all, oh, why do you serve? Why do you love people? Oh, it's because, you know, I just like to do that. Oh, it's, you know, it's someone's giving something to me. No, no, no, no, it's, this is because Jesus is living inside of you is why you can do that. Like, there's, understand, I, again, maybe I'm overstating it, or maybe I'm like beating a dead horse, but there's nothing good inside of me outside of Jesus living in me. You know what I'm saying? I really believe that. Like, if somebody says, hey, you're kind, certainly that's not me. If somebody says you do this, oh, you did great, like, even this, even now, like, we've, there's been feedback, like, oh, great lesson. I'm like, you know what? That's, that has to be Jesus working inside of me. I really believe it. There's nothing good when someone, why, why are you so giving? Why are you so loving? It's, it's not because you're a good person, because by, by ourselves, we just can't please God by ourselves. It's because of Jesus working in your life and working through you. So, so when someone tells you this week, oh, wow, that I needed to hear that. Oh, wow, great. Oh, man, thank you so much. When someone who's not in Christ, don't, oh, you're welcome. That's okay. Fine. Say that, but then give them a reason why, like, you're, you are giving life and peace because of the spirit that lives inside of you. You know what I'm saying? You are, you are giving life because Jesus rose from the dead. That's what you're doing. Amen. So don't sell yourself short. Don't give yourself too much credit either. It says in verse five, this, this word then that we're going to focus on, those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. And so we, we wonder then, like, how are we going to live in the flesh? Like what determines that? It's, it's where, it's where our mind is. It's, it's where your mind is, where your mind is bent, where, where you are, are pressing some of this, some of this view. And we're going to, we'll unpack it in just a moment. You, you wonder, man, I want to change. I want to be, I want to be different. It's not just actions. It's, this is what the, the Bible is saying. If you have your mindset on what the spirit desires, you're going to do spirit led things. If you have your mindset on selfishness, if you have your mindset on what you want to do, if you have your mindset on laziness, if you have your mindset on, uh, on, on status, if you have your mindset on, uh, on comfortability, all of those things are, are what the flesh desires. And so you're going to do fleshly things. If you have your mindset on what the spirit desires, you're going to do spirit led things. And so the, the idea or the question is where, where's your mind? Like, where are you bent, uh, on a day-to-day basis? Like we want to be, I want to do the right thing, but where does your mind bend? Like where, where are you leaning on a day-to-day basis? Uh, it says, if you live according to flesh, you'll die. But if by the spirit you put to death, the misdeeds you will live, like there's no way to put away the misdeeds if not for the Holy spirit working in your life, you know what I'm saying? Like, like make that very, there's no hope if not for the Holy spirit working in your life. Uh, and so you think about what does that mean then? Like when one of the gauges that I use for myself that I think it's a helpful gauge is what do you think about at night? And what do you think about in the morning right before you go to bed at night? Uh, good night, honey. Or maybe, maybe you don't say good night, honey. Maybe you just, you just close your eyes, whatever you say, a little prayer, but where's your mind? If your mind is, is set on spirit things, uh, that is great. But often our minds wander like, what am I going to do tomorrow? I'm worried about tomorrow. What about my family? I have, I have a, someone's sick or there's this issue. Uh, what am I going to do in the long run? Like, what am I doing here? Like this was a, this is a wasted day. You know, we have this, this apathy that we can fall into. Perhaps there's, perhaps there's no thought. Like, this is just the laziness of like, I did a bunch. I'm done. I'm done. I'm turning off. Uh, maybe when you wake up, boom, I woke up, I'm running. I gotta go. It's one thing. Another thing. Another thing. Another thing. I don't, I don't have time to think about anything. I'm, from zero to a hundred real quick. Uh, I want to, I want to ask though, like when, when you go to bed at night, where's your mind bent? Like if your mind is bent on spirit things, that's a good sign that you're, you're doing well. If your mind is spent, or when, then when you wake up, like where, where are you leaning? Like, is it just next thing, next thing? Or are you sitting with the Holy Spirit? This is, this is the battle that I want to, I want to welcome you to engage in this week. And we'll talk about a challenge in a moment. Um, we're working to become people who love what God loves. You know, if you love what God loves life, like this stuff is going to be easy for you. It's not like, it feels daunting, even as I'm preaching it. If I love what God loves, this is like, yeah, of course. You know, I, I, I don't think, uh, of course not, but I don't think in the morning, perhaps like after, I mean, Jesus, it's time on earth. Like he's walking with God. I don't think at night when he went to bed, I think he's like, man, this is the Holy Spirit. Like I'm listening to the spirit. Like I want to, I can't wait to wake up to help somebody. I can't wait to wake up to walk with my father. Like I don't got energy now. When I wake up, I'm walking with my father. I cannot wait. You know what I'm saying? When he woke up, I don't think it's, where am I going to get food for today? Maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes like there was a fleeting thought of like, how much longer am I going to do this? Uh, how much longer? God, you know, but then he's like, no, let me, I'm walking with my father. Like I, I had a thought and I'm walking with my father and this is now it all makes sense. You know, I, all of this, I don't think it was much of a struggle to do these things. Uh, but for you and I, yeah, it's a struggle. Um, I want you to do something that, uh, that is, it's different than anything we've done probably here. I want you to, uh, and just, just work with me, buy into the goofiness, buy into the little bit of weirdness. Uh, if you can, I want you to take out, uh, if it's take out something that you can write with, um, or take out, uh, if you're, if you're like, I don't have one of those, just take out your phone, uh, you write, write, write down some, some stuff here. Um, we're going to, we're going to say three prayers. Um, I'm going to go through the first one. I want you to pray it. We're going to take a moment. You're going to breathe and you're going to see what the Holy spirit is saying to you. And then we're going to come back together for a moment. I'm going to say another prayer, see what the Holy spirit is going to say to you. Uh, and then we're going to say, uh, a final prayer. Um, and this is all going to be individual prayers that you pray. You're not going to like, don't, you know, this is not like there's no right or wrong answer. Don't, you don't have to share your notes with somebody. Uh, even your spouse. I'm like that, you know, honey, what did you write? No, like that, that perhaps that's another time. Um, this is you and this is God. And I want it to be that. Okay. And so I want you to this first prayer. I want you to pray, Holy spirit, what is in me that grieves you? Holy spirit, what is in me that grieves you? Let's take a moment and pray that right now. And when you get your answer, just write it, write it down, finish up, uh, finish up writing. And then I want you to pray again with this thing that you have written down. Holy spirit, what do you want me to do about the thing in me that grieves you? Holy spirit, what do you want me to do about the thing that I wrote down inside of me that grieves you and write down, write down what he says. It doesn't have to be long. It can be a couple of words. And then the, the, the last thing is, uh, to ask again, Holy spirit, then this is your prayer. Holy spirit, whatever that thing is, the Holy spirit empower me to do it. And you don't have to write anything down for this one. Amen. Before, uh, before we close, I want to leave us with a, uh, a group challenge, especially as we battle through and like, what do we do? How do we lean in to the Holy spirit? I want us to fight at night and in the morning. And this is going to be a battle that, uh, I believe in the coming years in, in our lives, it's going to be one that that's, that's one probably every day. I really believe, I believe it's possible. And I want you to, but every, every night this week, before you go to bed, spend five minutes and think about spiritual things. Well, what spiritual things? And just God, this is your prayer that you're quiet with God. God, I want to think about spiritual things. Like, I want to think about your goodness. Maybe it's, maybe, maybe you're reading just Psalms. You're not reading others. I'm just, I'm reading through your goodness or I'm reading through your peace. God, it's, it's a prayer, but then it's you listening. Yeah. And then when you wake up, spend five minutes thinking of spiritual things, God, I'm hungry. God, I'm tired. I need coffee, God, but no, no, no. God, I want my sustenance from you. Like, let me understand what sustenance from you will look like today, God. These things are not overnight things. I, I, I, I hope, I believe you do. I hope you see, and we can really embrace that it's not on our, we have no power to overcome sin by ourselves. And so we're working as a group to lean into the Spirit's work as He helps us to overcome sin and understand the Holy Spirit is changing people's hearts every single day. Let us be, even in this next week, let us be some of the people that we can say the Holy Spirit has changed my heart this week. Amen. Awesome. You guys are dismissed. Please, parents, please pick up your children. Have a great Sunday.