WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:30.480 So if you guys would just turn your Bibles to Romans 8, we're going through the book of Romans for you that are guests with us today. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:46.640 And we were in Romans 7 last week, and it was Donald Gray Barnhouse, the great pastor and writer of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who said every Bible, if you were to drop it, should open up to Romans 8. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:51.920 It's probably one of the greatest passages in all, greatest chapters in all of the Bible. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:01:02.240 You could argue many different ways, but I think you'd find most scholars and commentators would say Romans 5 is at least in the top five great chapters of the Bible. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.560 And if you get a hold of Romans 5, it will set you free. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:17.840 I've known many, many friends of mine who've memorized the entire chapter because they struggle with shame and they struggle with condemnation and they struggle with legalism in their life. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:28.079 This is, I'm gonna call this the freedom in the spirit, or principles, or the job description of the spirit, whatever you want to call it, but it's about the freedom of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:35.120 So look back at Romans 7 with me, because I think it sets up Romans 8 so well. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.480 Look at verse 21. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:40.400 We talked about this last week, but I just want to hit it real quick again. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:51.599 Paul is talking about how much he struggles with legalism, how he struggles to try to do the right thing through religion, but he's unable to do it. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:52.719 Verse 21. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:16.319 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.159 Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.599 And so, church, a lot of people struggle with shame. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.400 A lot of us struggle with a religious spirit, a lot of us struggle with condemnation. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:30.319 We compare ourselves with others. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:34.800 We we spend more time looking around than we do looking up. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.120 And because of that, we have this shame thing. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:38.719 And everybody struggles with shame. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.439 Shame's part of the fall, shame is an issue. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:56.319 And so what that then hap, what then happens in our life if we don't deal with that is we start having panic attacks, we start having anxiety attacks, we start having mental disorders, we start moving toward addictions to medicate those issues in our life. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:59.439 And Paul is saying, look, I'm trying to be good. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.879 I'm really trying to be a good person. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:11.199 I know as a Pharisee of Pharisees what goodness looks like, but I just have this battle going on and I can't seem to get set free. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:19.280 And then in verse 25, he is set free, and he says, This is this is his salvation, I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:23.439 So then with the mind I myself served the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.159 So what he's about to do right now, he's gonna say, This is how I did it. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:32.960 This is how I found out that I was free from the law of sin and death. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:37.759 This is how I found out that I didn't have to have panic attacks anymore or anxiety. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:45.039 I mean, if anybody in the Bible had panic attacks, it might have been Paul before he came to know the Lord, and it definitely was Peter. 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.719 I mean, Peter must have been having them all the time, you know. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.360 So he is, he's just setting us up. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:55.280 This is a setup for Romans 8 about the Spirit. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.360 This is about the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.840 And church, this is the problem in the church today, is the forgotten Trinity. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.479 The forgotten member of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.199 We got a lot on the Father, we got a lot on Jesus, and then we forget about the Holy Spirit. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:28.160 And that's why I think Jesus, in his last week, what we call Passion Week, we just passed, you know, through Passion Week, and we had the triumphal injury on Sunday, and then we had a Seder, and then we had Good Friday, and then we had the resurrection day on Sunday, and it was a it was an exciting week, and I talked about the kingdom of God, kingdom of God. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:38.720 You remember what I said is that when that last week came, Jesus shifted in his teaching from just the kingdom of God to the Holy Spirit is coming. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.600 The Holy Spirit is coming, John 14, 15, 16. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:43.600 He's talking about the Holy Spirit coming. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:48.399 And here's what he says to the disciples just before he's to ascend to heaven. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:53.040 He says, If you love me, keep my commandments. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:05:13.040 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he might abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you, and he will be in you. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:15.680 I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:16.959 That's in John 14. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.079 So he's saying, look, you can't do it alone. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:24.560 You can't do it even with a relationship with the Father, you can't do it with a relationship with me. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.279 You're gonna have to have power from within. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:37.519 And it's in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, he says, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and that word is dunamis, and that's the root word in the Greek for dynamite. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:40.000 So we don't talk about superpower. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:43.199 The Holy Spirit is God's superpower. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:50.720 In one sense, he's really God, and he really wants us to have intimacy with him, but on the other hand, he gives us power. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:57.519 You can have power to do what you naturally can't do. 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:10.720 I mean, I can't explain it except that on Thursday, that in the fall of my freshman year, I had zero interest in anything to do with God. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.800 I mean, people that shared their faith, I had so many people sharing their faith with me. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:21.680 I mean, I must have been the project of Campus Crusade for Christ and Marinantha and Inner Varsity and Navigators. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:23.839 Get Steve Holt. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:31.600 So it's like I met people like four laws, uh, steps to God, bridge to God, all these things. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:46.079 But then on Friday, after having a little bit too much to drink and being with the wrong people, I knelt down and I gave my heart to Christ in a chapel at Georgia, and all I can tell you is that I woke up the next morning fired up for Jesus. 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:48.959 That's the Holy Spirit. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:50.959 I didn't have the Holy Spirit before. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:53.920 I was full of religion, man. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:56.639 I had religion oozing out of my ears. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.199 I had religion oozing out of my belly button. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.240 I was a Lutheran man, and my dad was a pastor, right? 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:08.079 So I had been catechized and baptized and everything. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:09.600 But I didn't know Jesus. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:10.800 That was the only problem. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:13.600 So the Holy Spirit came in and gave me a desire. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:18.319 So Romans 8 is how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:19.600 It's how to walk in freedom. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:24.399 So I'm only gonna go like halfway through, and then next week we'll get in the second half. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:30.959 So I'm gonna give you five thoughts about the job description of the Holy Spirit in your life and in my life. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.800 So you understand, 7, chapter 7, everybody look at it again. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:39.519 21 through 24, that's the setup for 8.1. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:48.480 You gotta get, because remember, there's no chapter titles when he wrote this, so this was all a continuous, extemporaneous letter inspired by the Holy Spirit. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:52.240 8-1, he says, therefore, so it's therefore. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:57.519 And the therefore is what he just said, therefore there's no condemnation. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.879 The reason he says that is because he had so much personal condemnation. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:02.160 Paul must have had that. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:16.800 And now he's set free, verse 25 of chapter 7, he's set free through Jesus, to those, and this is this is the real important means by which we have no condemnation, who are in Christ Jesus. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:18.240 In Christ Jesus. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:19.040 Circle that. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:26.720 You have to be in Christ Jesus, who do not walk, circle walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:28.639 So, men and women, this is important. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:34.000 This is gonna make no sense in your life if you're not in Christ Jesus. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:40.639 If you're in your flesh, then you'll go, there's no way that can happen because there is no way it can happen because you're not in Christ. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.679 And the only way you're in Christ is to walk in the spirit. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:50.720 It's not a run, it's not a 100-yard dash, it's a walk. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:52.480 It's you walk in it. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:54.960 So you need to rest sometimes. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:00.399 You need to take a day off, not from the Lord, but from work and all the activity you're it's a walk. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:06.480 It's learning to have a personal intimacy with being in Christ. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:07.679 That's the point. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:08.960 So here's the first point. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:16.399 The first point is that the freedom of the Spirit breaks the power of shame and condemnation. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.320 It has the capacity, if you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we'll talk about how to do that in just a moment. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:29.679 But the filling of the Holy Spirit breaks the power of shame and condemnation. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:30.639 Well, how does it do that? 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.320 Well, that's what he's going to talk about. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:39.039 But in my opinion, from experience, is that it's all rooted in identity. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:53.919 If your identity is being successful, if your identity is being beautiful, if your identity is being rich, if your identity is having a lot of kids, if your identity is having a happy family, guess what? 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:59.279 You're gonna have condemnation and shame on a regular basis because it didn't always work out for you. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:01.039 I mean, we had seven kids. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.360 I know what having kids is all about. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:05.600 I know what parenting is all about. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.919 And it was hard enough getting married. 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:09.600 And then we had kids. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:31.120 So you work hard to have a happy family, you work hard to have a happy marriage, but if you're not looking up in the process of that battle that you're in, and you're looking more out through comparison or whatever the standard is that we have, it's the same thing as religion, then there's a lot of condemnation and shame in that. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:35.600 And so at some point we've got to figure out what Jesus says: seek first the kingdom of heaven. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:40.320 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:44.399 So we work hard here, but we look for the power here. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:45.919 The power has to come from me. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:53.919 So, first of all, freedom in the spirit, walking in the spirit breaks the power of condemnation and shame. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:03.919 Verse 2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free of the law of sin and death. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:13.279 So, number two, when you walk in the spirit, when you're in the spirit, the spirit breaks the power of sin and death. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.279 It breaks the power of sin and death. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.159 Remember what the power, you know what the power of sin is? 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:19.840 It's the fear of death. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:21.919 The power of the fear of death? 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:22.559 Sin. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:27.039 We never saw that more conclusively than during COVID. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:31.919 I've never seen so many people fearing death, freaking out. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:33.279 And some of you did that. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:33.919 I know you did. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:38.000 You know, and if you didn't, if you say you did, you lie, because I know you did. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:39.679 But there was people freaking out. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.679 We do anything they tell us to do. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:46.000 And one thing I loved about the road is we've got a lot of smart people here. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:55.759 We got scientists, we've got doctors, we've got researchers, and we dug in and we go, wait, that dog doesn't hunt. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:57.919 And we started figuring out a few things. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.399 This is more about control than health. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:04.879 So we we informed all of you, and we were the smartest church in town. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:16.399 And we we saw through our protocol that we developed, not Fauci, Fauci's making money, man, off all the stooges out there that do what he says. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:23.360 But we started our own protocol, 3,000 people healed in El Paso County through our protocol. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.440 That's called being smart, man, and that's also being filled with the Spirit. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.919 So we don't have to fear death. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.519 We can walk with new life in Christ Jesus. 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:34.799 That's exciting, right? 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:36.240 Isn't that exciting? 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:38.960 Isn't that really exciting? 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:40.399 I think it's exciting. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.600 I think it's a good thing. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:43.840 So there's a new law. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.480 The old law is dead. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.360 The new law is the spirit of life. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.399 That means the spirit of, it means what it says. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.480 It's the spirit of life in Christ Jesus living in you and me. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:06.960 It's his spirit living internally, transforming us from the inside out, not from the outside in. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:13.919 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:18.320 So you can't do it, you're unable to do it in your own power. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:23.679 The Spirit was given to give us the power to be able to follow the Lord. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.799 God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:42.240 He condemned sin in the flesh, verse 4, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:49.919 So what he's saying here is that Galatians says that anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:55.759 So at the point where Jesus, Jesus was immortal because he had no sin. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:57.120 He was immortal. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:58.000 No sin. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:13.519 But then when he was raised up on the cross, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, the sins of the world, our sin, flooded into his system, and in some mysterious way he became a sinner and he had to die. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.759 He took on all of our sin. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.840 But he didn't stay there. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:23.840 He rose again on the third day and he conquered sin and he conquered death. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:35.440 And so what Paul is saying is if you'll receive that, if you'll believe that, if you'll realize that Christ was the righteous requirement of the law, you can be set free. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:36.960 Set free. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:38.399 So that's number three. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:42.480 Number three is freedom in the spirit fulfills the law. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:46.399 Freedom in the spirit fulfills the law. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.320 So now what you couldn't do in the flesh, you can do in the spirit. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:51.919 That's pretty cool. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:59.120 So from time to time, we hear phrases like a person was, they say they were born gay. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:04.240 Or they were born addicted. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:06.080 Born to this, born to that. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:11.039 And it's kind of an excuse to get people off the hook, and I always say that's true. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:12.320 Absolutely true. 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.000 You were born that way. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:16.480 And I'm a born adulterer. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:23.759 And I'm a born fornicator, and I'm a born legalist, and I'm a born lawbreaker. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.200 Left to me, man, not good. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:28.799 Not good. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:31.440 But you can be set free in Christ. 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:33.519 Because we're all born sinners. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:37.440 It's just that people's predisposition and those sins are different, but it's still sin. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.360 And so Christ comes and he sets us free for what we could not do, he does through us. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.039 That's the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.159 So how do we do that? 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.559 How do we make that happen in our lives? 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:51.519 And that's the big six million dollar question. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:52.879 Look at verse five. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:58.720 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:04.960 But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:11.360 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:18.240 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.519 So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:28.799 So in other words, it's it's a renewing of our mind every single day. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:36.639 And we did not plan this, it was not in our strategy that we were launching Empower You when we happened to be in Romans 8. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:38.320 But that's what empower you is about. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:42.639 So empower you is gonna be one of those means where you can renew your mind. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:50.960 Where you can go into the internet and you can go there and you'll get stuff on spiritual warfare, you'll get stuff on the Bible, you'll get stuff on basic discipleship. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:52.960 And then I've gone, I've done a podcast. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:17:03.600 There's a podcast there, and I've interviewed some fairly famous people, and we're gonna be interviewing people along the way who are men and women who are in the arena. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.759 That's kind of what the podcast is about. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:09.839 They're in the arena, bringing their Christian faith into an arena. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:16.960 It might be media, it might be sports, it might be politics and the gamut, because we believe so strongly. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:19.680 I believe they talk about the seven mountains. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:22.240 I think there's 13 mountains. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.160 There might be 25 mountains. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:33.359 But the point is that God's called you as a kingdom of God, ambassador, to bring Christ wherever, whatever work you have, wherever you are, bring Christ there. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:40.480 Be a citizen of the kingdom through the governor of the kingdom empowering you to be a kingdom revolutionary. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:54.400 So when Great Britain took over Hong Kong, when Great Britain took over the Bahamas, when Great Britain took over Singapore, the king or the queen at that time didn't go to Singapore or Hong Kong or the Bahamas or wherever it was. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.759 They sent a governor, right? 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.440 There was a governor sent there. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.640 Well, that's that's true in the kingdom of God now. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:05.200 The governor, that's what Jesus is saying in John 14. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.240 He's saying, look, I'm sending my governor. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:13.519 Let him rule in your heart, and he will administrate the kingdom through you. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:18.720 He will be an ambassador for me as a for the king here on earth. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:22.000 And so what we're doing, gang, is we're colonizing the earth. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:31.119 And that's just not that's not just in having a lot of kids, and that that can help, but I mean, planting churches, bringing the kingdom into your area of work. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:37.519 You're colonizing, you're bringing the kingdom there through the governor empowering you, the Holy Spirit. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:43.599 That governor working through you enables you to do what you couldn't do, but you have to renew your mind. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:48.559 This is the most powerful computer in your study. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:53.119 It's not the one on your desk, it's not the one on your lap, it's right here. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:19:03.759 And we and we don't even know the capacity of what we could do through the power of the spirit if we renewed our minds every day. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:09.839 So people come into the road from time to time and they say things like, Are you a spirit-filled church? 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.079 And I always answer the same way. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.640 Well, yesterday we were, and the day before we weren't. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:18.240 Because we think that the spirit-filled life's a title. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:22.880 It's not a title, men and women, it's a function, it's a verb. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:25.039 Okay, it's not a noun. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:26.400 Spirit-filled. 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:31.839 No, to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a daily decision that we make. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:36.720 If my wife was here right now, you could say, was Steve filled with the Holy Spirit on Wednesday? 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:37.680 She might say no. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:41.599 She knows, man. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.200 Holy Spirit and Liz. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.720 Sometimes I think they're the same, same people. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:49.519 Okay. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.160 I know she thinks so from time to time. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:56.640 Right. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:02.079 There she is. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:03.519 There's a beautiful woman. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:04.559 There she is. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.920 She's waving. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:08.079 She's she's pointing at me. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.960 If you want to hear from her, come to Taco Tuesday on Tuesday for the women. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:14.160 That'll be awesome. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:21.519 But really, the filling of the Holy Spirit's a renewing of the mind. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:22.480 That's what he's saying. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:34.799 If you set your minds on porn, if you set your minds on riches, if you set your mind on being something really special on this earth, and that's your goal in life, you're gonna have enmity with God. 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.160 It's gonna be really rough for you. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:43.359 But if you seek first the kingdom and you renew your mind with the kingdom, God's gonna get you where he wants you to be. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.200 I mean, I think godly ambition is a great thing. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:48.319 Go for it. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:49.200 100%. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:55.359 But do it in the power of the Holy Spirit by letting God guide you in that. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.640 Verse 9, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.279 Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he's not his. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:11.039 So what he's saying here is that if you have to be a believer, you have to put your faith in Christ to have the Holy Spirit. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.480 So some of you in this room, you're not a believer yet. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.440 You're a believer intellectually, but you're not born again. 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:18.880 You say, Well, are you a Christian? 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:23.519 They say, Well, I'm not a Buddhist and I'm not a Hindu, uh, so I must be a Christian. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:36.240 No, if you don't have a passion for the things of the kingdom on a fairly regular basis, I'm not saying there's not ebbs and flows with everything, but if you don't have a pretty consistent passion for the Lord, you're not born again. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.400 You don't know the Lord yet. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.480 And you ought to settle that one really soon. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:41.839 It's really smart. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:43.839 Really smart to settle that. 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.680 Settle it today. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:54.400 If you sometimes struggle with whether you're going to heaven or not, that means you're lacking assurance of your eternal destiny, you're probably not born again. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:56.079 You don't have the Holy Spirit yet. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.599 I'm telling you, man, on Thursday, zero desire for God. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.960 On Saturday, totally sold out to God. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:06.160 There's no explanation except the Holy Spirit enter my life. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:08.960 So you say, Well, I don't know, man. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:10.880 I just never have had it. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:12.319 I never have gotten it. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:13.759 Well, then get it. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:15.599 Get it now. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.279 Come up front at the end of the service and pray with someone. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.640 Receive Christ into your life, and you'll get born again. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:29.440 And then suddenly, and it may just be a little bit, but that little bit will become more and more and more, and you'll get hooked. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:39.920 And you'll get hooked and addicted on Jesus because he loves you so much, and you are created for a relationship with him through the Holy Spirit that begins to start setting you free. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.119 And you'll go, man, I tried, I've tried this, this, and this, and it never worked. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:53.759 And then suddenly you're seeing the shackles, the bondage break off because it's the Spirit of God released in your life because you're allowing him to do that. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:54.640 Isn't that cool? 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.079 Fantastic. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:05.359 And if Christ is in you, verse 10, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:18.319 But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:25.920 Number four, the filling of the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit, the freedom of the Spirit gives you life and health. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.240 Physically, mentally emotionally. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.559 He says, gives life to your mortal bodies. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:35.519 That resurrection, dunamis, dynamite power brings health. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:36.799 And here's how it works. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:41.200 You show me a man or woman that can't forgive. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:45.119 And I'll show you a man or woman who's got a root of bitterness. 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:51.519 You show me a man or woman who's got a root of bitterness and keeps keeps fostering that, I'll show you someone who's gonna die early. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:53.839 They're killing themselves. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.559 They're living under death, man. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:02.000 But when you learn to give it all over to Christ and you start to forgive, you get healthier. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.519 And you start having godly relationships, you get healthier. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:11.519 You start having the ability to break off condemnation and shame in your life, you get healthier. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:16.079 That's why the best-looking women and the most handsome men are at church. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:18.160 They're not at the bar. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:23.680 Don't listen to any, especially recently, don't do any of those Budweiser commercials. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:29.839 I don't care how many horses and Clydesdales they run across there. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:31.440 They got some problems over there. 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:32.079 Okay? 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.960 But the reality is it's only in a commercial where there's good-looking women at the bar. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.839 They're at church and they're getting better looking all the time. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.160 And the men are getting more handsome. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:50.400 Because you follow Christ, it gives life to your mortal body. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:53.839 You become a forgiving person, you become a loving person. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.200 It's supernatural. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:56.400 Hello? 00:24:57.039 --> 00:24:57.920 That's good news. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:58.799 That's good news. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:24:59.440 All right. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:00.799 Verse 12. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:02.960 Just go ahead and write this down for number five. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:04.480 Spirit of adoption. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.200 You've been adopted into a new family. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.759 You have the spirit of adoption through the power of the Spirit. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:16.240 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.680 So you know who paid that debt? 00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:21.599 Jesus did. 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.079 You don't owe the flesh scrap. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:26.000 You don't owe nothing to them. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:27.599 The flesh is dead, man. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:28.240 It's over. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:29.519 Christ paid the debt. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:31.519 Here's where you have a debt, though. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.160 The debt is this: to live according to the flesh. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:36.799 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:41.839 But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.440 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:50.480 We have a debt to Christ for what he did in our lives. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:26:08.000 And we walk and we live in the power of the Spirit, because, verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:10.960 So, how many of you remember the movie Ben-Hur? 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:19.680 There's this really cool scene in Ben-Hur where Charlton Heston is floating on this scrap of wood and he saved the life of that senator, that Roman senator. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:21.279 Remember what the Roman senator did? 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:23.599 He said, I make you my son. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:27.680 And he gave him, if I remember, I might have pierced his ear with an earring. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:28.960 It gave him a ring. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:31.279 He's now the senator's son. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:34.559 Folks, you have been adopted into a new family. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:36.799 You've got a new ring on your finger. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:42.960 You've got a, you guys that have pierced ears, you can get a new piercing because you're now adopted with Christ. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:47.119 If you have tattoos, you should have one about Jesus on it or something. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:48.640 But you're adopted. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:50.000 You're adopted. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:51.839 You're a son and a daughter of the king. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:53.440 Can't get out of it now. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:56.559 So as I said to my kids, can't get out of it. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:57.359 You're a Holt. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:01.440 Dad, you're this past. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:02.400 You've been here forever. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:03.359 Everybody in the city knows you. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:04.240 Da-da-da-da-da. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:05.359 And I said, Too bad. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:06.079 You're a Holt. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.240 You're adopted into our family. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.440 You'll always be in our family. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:10.480 You can't get away from it. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:11.839 We're always for you. 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.039 And you remember, you probably did this, you guys and your families, when you raise your kids. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:18.960 Kids come back from something. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:25.440 You go, we go, yeah, I heard, yeah, Johnny said this and Susan said that, but holts don't do that. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.319 Holts don't do that. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:30.559 We're better than that. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:42.079 So you're adopted into a family, and Jesus is your is your brother, is your father, and he's given you his spirit. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:47.759 And he says here that we can say daddy, we can say Abba Father. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.279 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we're children of God. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:55.119 And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:58.799 If indeed we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:02.799 So Revelation 1.6. 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:06.880 Revelation 5.10 says you are a king and a priest. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:08.640 You're heirs of God. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:11.119 So you serve a king. 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:14.240 You know the king. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:16.160 He's your dad. 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:18.720 But he's also your king. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:23.039 And you have the same power. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:29.359 You see, I think Jesus ministered out of the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:33.119 And then he was giving us his spirit to empower us. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.440 We can do the works of Christ. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:41.279 And he even says in John 14, we can do greater works than he did because he goes to the Father. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:43.519 So we have this power to heal the sick. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:45.519 We have power to cast out demons. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:47.440 We have power to preach the kingdom. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.960 We have power to walk with integrity. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.640 Thank you for listening to the Forn for War podcast. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:02.319 We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:08.319 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steveholtonline.org. 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:09.359 God bless.