WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Holt. 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. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.679 All right, so today we're going to talk about identity. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:33.119 And so, really, Romans, you guys, Romans is the is the revival book. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:40.159 Romans is practical theology 101, 201, and 301. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:45.520 You could do a lot worse than knowing Romans inside and out. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:52.719 That is the New Testament book that sets the pace for all other books. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:54.000 I mean, really, Galatians. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:59.119 For example, the book of Galatians is a cliff's notes of Romans. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:08.879 In other words, the stuff that you're reading as we go through Romans verse by verse is catalytic for all other theology in the Bible. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:15.120 And so what we've talked about in chapters three through five is our justification in Christ. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:22.879 The fact that we no longer have sin reigning in our bodies positionally. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:34.079 But now, from chapter six till the end of the book, this two-thirds left of the book is very, very practical about how you live that out. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.200 So justification, chapters three, four, five. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:40.719 Now, six on is about sanctification. 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:45.680 And just so we understand our terms here, justification is just as if I've never sinned. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:51.120 That is that when you give your heart to Christ, you receive the righteousness of God. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:52.560 You don't have the righteousness. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:55.200 If you had the righteousness, then the law would have been good enough. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:02:06.159 But the law was given to accentuate our own unrighteousness so that we were set up by God for the righteousness of Christ that came through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:07.359 And so we have that. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.520 But now the sanctification process is how do you live that out? 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.360 How do you make that practical? 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.319 It's not good enough to have the head knowledge. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:20.000 God wants us to have heart transformation in our lives. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:21.280 And He's given you a new heart. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:26.240 And the last time I talked was just two weeks ago, because I was in Florida last week, I told you about you being given a new heart. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:27.439 We've all been given a new heart. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.199 When you're born again, you get a new heart. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.080 You get a new operating system. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:45.840 So I was in a discussion with Liz yesterday about this old operating system that came from her mom that used to be in my office with the screen and everything. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:46.879 And she said, Where is it? 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:47.680 I said, I don't know. 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:48.879 I think, I think you have it. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.639 I think Jay Emmin might have it. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.719 Because we need to get some stuff off of it. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.759 But I'm not operating on that operating system. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:57.680 That operation is 10 years old. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:02:59.439 Got a new operating system. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:11.360 Well, think how slow all your work would be if you're trying to do current data, current speed on an old operating system. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:20.960 Well, some of you are still operating in the old operating system, and what Romans 6 is saying, look, this is the emancipation proclamation. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.280 It's a new day. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.000 Drop that, bury it, man. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:30.000 Bury the old operating system and resurrect this new operating system. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:30.800 You already have it. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:31.919 You already own it. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:32.879 You already paid for it. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:34.479 I should say he paid for it. 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.479 You got it free, but it's still our choice. 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.000 That's really important. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:41.599 It's still our choice. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.639 It's our choice which operating system we're gonna run from. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.120 So here's what we're talking about in Romans 6 is your identity in Christ. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:04:00.560 Your identity proactively, by a choosing of our of our mental state, to live out what's already true about every one of us in this room. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:06.080 So look at Romans 6, and I covered some of this the last time, but pick it up at verse 6. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:21.600 Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be slaves in Christ. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.800 Your identity is not that you are in you. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:27.759 You are in Christ. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.079 That's going to be repeated ad nauseum for the rest of the book of Romans. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:33.519 In Christ, in Christ, in Christ. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.360 And so if you finally say, Well, I can't do anything in what you're saying, Steve, I can't change. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:38.879 I've always been addicted to that. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:40.079 I've always never changed. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.680 That's because you're thinking in you. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:49.519 You're thinking about the old operating system, and the Lord is saying to you that in Christ, all things are possible. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.800 In Christ, you can move mountains. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:55.759 And some of you have some pretty massive mountains. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:03.040 And I want to say here today that when we have prayer at the end, if you've got a mountain in your life, you need to come up and get prayer. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:09.040 Because you're not supposed to isolate yourself and try to move mountains on your own. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:16.160 You need the community, we need the body of Christ, we need bloodstained allies in our life to enable us and empower us. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:20.000 It's true of us, but we need more of us to move mountains in our life. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:25.839 And so he's saying, look, you are no longer a slave to sin, and you have a new identity in Christ. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.360 Well, how does all this work? 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.199 I love what Evan Hopkins says about this. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:32.399 It's really good. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.399 So listen to this. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:47.680 The trouble of the believer who knows Christ as his justification is not sin as to its guilt, but sin as to its ruling power. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:06:04.480 In other words, it is not from sin as a load or an offense that needs to be freed, for he sees that God has completely acquitted him from the charge and the penalty of sin, but it is from sin as your master. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:13.040 To know God's way of deliverance from sin as a master, he must apprehend the truth contained in the sixth chapter of Romans. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:31.439 There we see that what God has done, not with our sins, that question the apostle dealt with in the preceding chapters, that was three, four, and five, but with ourselves, with us, the agents and slaves of sin. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:43.759 He has put our old man, our original self, original operating system, where he put our sins, and that is on the cross of Christ. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:49.759 So Romans 6 is the emancipation proclamation. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.839 But it is a fight, man. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:55.360 It is a battle. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:09.199 When the soldiers hit the beaches in 1945 at Normandy, more men died from that point to VE Day. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:17.439 Because even though the back of the Nazis had been broken, you still had to fight for the ground that was already yours. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:36.000 When Abraham Lincoln made his proclamation, the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the next two years were the bloodiest of the Civil War because that old system, that old way, fights back. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:44.160 And those men and women, though they were free positionally, were not free experientially yet because we still had to fight that war. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:45.839 So we are in a war. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:51.279 And that war begins with men and women who know their identity in Christ. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.199 Knowing that you've been crucified with Christ. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.600 Know that you're not a slave anymore. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:58.079 Say I'm not a slave. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.399 Say I am free. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:02.800 I have a new heart. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:04.959 The old heart is dead. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.279 The new heart is alive. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.040 That's who we are. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.959 We're not just crucified on the cross and staying there. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:17.040 We're raised from the dead through this work of Christ in our life. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:18.240 So here's my thesis. 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:29.759 My thesis is this unless the fierce, passionate desire for intimacy with Jesus is greater and deeper than the fierce, lustful desires of the flesh, you will live a half-hearted desercer. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:39.279 So we can talk to the cows come home about all the sin and all these issues about sin, but that's not what he wants us to focus on. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:50.559 He wants us to not focus on the inward, but on the outward of what Christ has done through us and through what he's done in us, men and women, to work through us, is that you are free now. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.799 You are walking in the freedom that we have in Christ. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.480 That's the emancipation proclamation. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:02.240 You could put, you could put Romans 6 and Galatians 5 side by side. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.639 It was for freedom that Christ set us free. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:09.919 Because what Galatians is, is a cliff's notes of Romans. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.120 So this is about emancipation proclamation. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:14.799 Now listen to what I'm gonna say next. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:16.240 It's really important. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.600 You gotta quit listening to yourself. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.600 You gotta quit listening to yourself. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:31.519 And I know what you did this morning because I'm up here, I'm a professional Christian. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.320 Okay, I get paid to be a Christian, okay? 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.120 Um and I listened to myself this morning. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:38.879 I can tell you what I thought about, man. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:40.559 This is this is hard work, man. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.840 But here's what you do you wake up in the morning, oh man, I heard a noise in that engine yesterday. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.480 Oh man, I gotta do that presentation on Monday with my director. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:51.519 He's not gonna like it. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:52.080 I know he. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:59.360 Man, you haven't even gotten your feet on the flipping carpet yet, and you're already just down in the dumps. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:01.600 That's because you listen to yourself too much. 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:07.600 I wanna say today, let's let's start learning and growing and preaching to ourselves. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.919 Preaching, I'm in Christ. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:12.320 That presentation's gonna go great. 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:16.399 God's gonna take care of my car, I'll take it in, it'll get worked out. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:21.600 And because when you start thinking that way, solutions come a whole lot faster. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.720 Because you're lining your mind up with the mind of Christ. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:30.000 You know that the mind of Christ is thinking about you? 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:38.320 There's a pipeline to you that if you'll pray and if you'll preach to yourself, he'll start giving you divine downloads. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:44.639 He will speak to you in visions, dreams, the word, he'll speak to you, but you gotta preach to yourself. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.559 And so here's the deal. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:59.519 The deal is that Romans is about having such a fierce, passionate desire for Jesus, which is greater, has to be greater, than a fierce, passionate, lustful desire for the flesh. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:01.039 That's the wholehearted life. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:08.240 So instead of focusing on how we're missing it, we're missing it, we're missing it, rather focus on God, stir me up. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:09.600 God, I need an awakening. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.759 We're talking about America, I need an awakening. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:15.840 We're talking about the government in Washington, the government in my heart needs some work. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.159 And so I'm asking you, God, to come and increase your government in my heart. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.120 I'm a citizen of the kingdom, I'm a king and a priest. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:26.159 Revelation 1.5, Revelation 5.10. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:30.080 We are a kingdom of kings and priests. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:31.519 We're not slaves anymore. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:32.879 You're not a slave anymore. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:37.360 You are a king and a priest, and you have victory and you're alive in Christ, right? 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:38.159 Amen. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:39.840 So look at now. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:41.279 Verse 7. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.399 He who has died has been freed from sin. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:49.279 Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:54.000 Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.320 Death no longer has dominion over him. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:02.799 For the death that he died, he died for sin once and for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:03.440 See what he's doing? 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:07.440 This is this is this is genius, man, I guess because it's it's God's word. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:17.919 But this genius the way he's thinking, he's saying, look, I know that if you sit there and you think about your life being free from sin, you'll think about all the sin that you're not free from. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.840 So don't think about that. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.720 What I want you to think about is what Jesus did at the cross. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.240 Because nobody can debate that. 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:27.759 It's past tense, man. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:29.279 Okay, it's history. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:34.799 He died on the cross for the sins of the world, and he was raised up on the third day. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:40.720 He's saying, look, quit focusing on yourself, focus on the cross, and then identify with that. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.960 So you may be all messed up, and some of you are. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:47.440 I mean, some of you really messed up. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:53.279 I mean, Satan, dominions, and powers have been ruling in your life for a long time. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:54.080 You know what that is? 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:55.200 That's a demon. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:57.360 That doesn't mean you're demon-possessed. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:12:58.799 I'm not saying you're demon-possessed. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:10.559 I actually don't believe that a Christian can be demon-possessed, but you're demon influence because even Jesus acknowledged that the ruler of this age is ruling over the world today. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:16.799 So he came with a kingdom, an ever-increasing kingdom, that would continue to enlarge. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:18.159 And it is. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.600 And you can focus on, you know, Islam's growing. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:23.200 Islam is growing. 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:28.720 Any place where the kingdom of God is growing, Satan is on the loose. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.080 He's ticked. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:35.200 You start doing what we're talking about here, it's gonna be warfare, man. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:36.720 It's gonna be a battle. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:40.240 So he's saying, look, right now, I want you to understand what happened at the cross. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.679 And I love, man, I love Colossians 2. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.519 I love Colossians 2. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:49.039 Jot that down, Colossians 2, 13 through 15. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:53.279 Write down Colossians 2, 13 through 15. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:54.559 Let me read it to you. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:14:23.279 And you being dead in your trespasses, he has made a lie together with him, having forgiven you all your sins, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against you, which was contrary to you, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.279 He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:49.440 So it's this idea of a victorious, a victorious chieftain, a victorious general coming into town with all trailing or all the captives of the enemy that they've conquered, that when we start to preach to ourselves, it releases the power of principalities and powers and dominions over us. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:54.080 So that's why in some cases we need to say, devil, get out of my life. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.679 No, I'm not addicted to porn. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:02.240 I speak to that spirit of pornography in the name of Jesus, and I tell you to leave. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:03.919 You have authority to do that. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:06.480 You gotta preach to yourself, man. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:10.960 You gotta take authority, you gotta believe it, and it's a mental thing. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.039 It's a mental thing. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.840 But you I like what John Wesley said. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.519 Preach it till you believe it. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:20.080 Preach it till you believe it. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:20.799 You may not believe it. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:21.200 I don't know. 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:23.759 I'm like, well, just keep preaching it. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.679 And make, if you're married, make your spouse worried about you. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:30.399 I think he's losing his mind. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.279 He's always, he's always talking to himself. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.360 And then when she says that to you, or he says that to you, you say, No, I'm preaching to myself. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:40.080 I'm not talking to myself, I'm preaching to myself. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:47.360 Because if she can hear it or he can hear it, you know the devil can hear it, and he does not want you to believe the authority that you have in Christ. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:52.080 And that is the reality, folks, that you have that authority and you have that power. 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.799 We all have that in Christ. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.399 That's good news. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:57.360 Right? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.200 Verse 11. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.840 Likewise, you also reckon. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.519 Now, circle reckon. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:11.840 If you're a circler or a writer in your Bible, I want you to circle reckon, and I want you to right above it, renew my mind. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:13.120 Renew my mind. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:14.559 I need to renew my mind. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:23.360 I need to reckon myself dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:24.960 So you have to renew your mind. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:32.480 It starts in your mind with you believing that you're alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:39.600 Now, what I did is under reckon, I circled that, and then I drew an arrow down to verse 13, present. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.039 You see the word present. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:44.399 I'm in the New King James Version, so it may be a little different in your Bible. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:49.919 You see present, and I've put, I've put an arrow down, I circled present to that, because this is what it says. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:56.879 Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:19.039 Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under it. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:28.480 He's saying, look, you you've got to renew your mind, you've got to reckon yourself dead to sin but alive to God. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:41.200 But then the action, the action is that you then present your members as instruments not of unrighteousness, but righteousness. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:43.440 So it starts in the mind. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.880 You have the mind of Christ, he downloads information to you, which he's doing right now for us. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:56.240 That's the reason we come to church, that's why we're here, is to get revelation from God that you can renew your mind. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:07.200 I promise you, church, you show me any man or woman of God that has years of victory in their life, they'll tell you, I have to constantly renew my mind. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.960 I have to constantly read I have to constantly preach to myself. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.359 Because if I don't, I go, I just I go into bad stuff, man. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:22.400 That's why you've got these preachers and stuff that have had great ministries and fantastic uh victories in their life. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:32.480 They quit preaching to themselves, they quit renewing their minds, and what they started doing is if you don't renew your mind and present yourself to righteousness, you will present yourself to unrighteousness. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:33.759 You just will. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:45.279 You'll become mean-spirited, you'll become angry, you'll become frustrated, and I can't tell you, I'm old enough now to tell you a lot of my friends that I used to run with. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.599 I can't run with them now. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:55.599 I mean, where they're at in their lives, somewhere along the way they got tired. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.200 You can't get tired. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.359 You're not allowed to get tired. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:00.319 Okay? 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:05.279 I mean, you can get tired and rest for a day, but then man, you gotta pick it up again. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:06.240 This is a war. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.240 Can you imagine those guys? 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:13.440 Remember in Band of Brothers, that that that that group, if they had gone in and said, I'm and that was a big day, you know. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.680 Hey, we hit the beaches and we made it. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:16.640 It's awesome. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:18.799 Let's break out some French wine. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:20.480 Let's take it easy for a little while. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.079 We'll pick it up in a few days. 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.240 That's the way a lot of people live the Christian life. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:27.599 No man, the Nazis are not done with you yet. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.400 The demons are not done with you yet. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:34.240 Matter of fact, they're more angry than ever because you're starting to live this stuff. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:35.759 You come to the road. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:38.480 You gotta fight. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.720 And so the battle is renew your mind. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.279 Preach to yourself. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:45.440 Alright? 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:47.039 Good stuff, man. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:48.400 I'm preaching good stuff. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.880 I don't know if you understand what I'm doing, but I'm giving you, I'm giving you some good stuff. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.559 So there you go. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:57.039 Verse 12, therefore do not let sin it rain. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:57.759 I already read that. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:58.640 So verse 15. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:19:59.200 What then? 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.319 Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace? 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:03.200 Certainly not. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:16.319 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey the key word, you are that one slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to death. 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.160 Look, you're gonna be a slave. 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:20.319 Everybody here is a slave. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:29.599 You're either a slave under the government of the kingdom of God, or you're a slave under your own, self-identifying government. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:34.000 And just just let's think logically, which one's gonna work out better? 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.359 So we seek first the kingdom, all these things are added to you. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:42.720 You seek everything that's added to you first, and you don't get the kingdom, worry. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:48.000 We can have victory and joy, or we can have worry and anxiety. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:54.160 And no nation of the world is on more drugs, more antidepressants than Americans. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.559 Man, we set the record. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:06.240 21 million Americans last year in major depression in their life. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:10.880 Though, and I'll bet you at least half of them say they're Christians, if not more. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:12.640 We don't know how to live this stuff. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:18.240 Folks, you come to the road, and we know how to live this stuff. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:26.400 And you represent the road when you're out there, you represent Jesus when you're out there, you represent the kingdom of God when you're out there. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:44.640 Get it, get it, because I believe that we should be the most generous, the most loving, the most bold, the most kind people in this entire city because we have an increasing government of God working over us, and that's the kingdom of God coming. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.480 Let's advance it, let's advance it together. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:51.440 I love this little phrase. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:52.799 You know, you've heard it before. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.480 Sow a thought, reap an action. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.359 Sow an action, reap a habit. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:06.880 Sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:08.559 That's what Paul's saying. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.160 He's like, look, you've got to renew your mind. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:13.039 You've got to reckon yourself alive in Christ. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.599 And then present yourself alive in Christ. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:24.079 Verse 17, but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:33.039 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:47.599 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:49.599 You see, you're gonna be a slave of something. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:51.680 Let's go after God's path. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.559 It's the road less travel. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:01.279 It's the way to joy, and really it's the way to happiness. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.160 Do you realize that you are born for war? 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.880 You are wired for conflict. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:12.799 Every one of you in this room, men and women, you're you're wired for conflict. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:17.359 Just make sure your conflict is with the right enemy. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:20.079 You see what happens with old soldiers. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:26.640 We were we were we were flying back from Florida and we looked at our tickets, and oh no. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:36.640 I don't know what it is in the airline industry that if you've got two people who get their tickets and they got the same last name, that they have to put them as far apart from each other as possible. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:38.000 It's crazy. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:42.880 But anyway, in this case, they put Liz right behind me. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:49.119 So when I got on, I looked at Steward as I said, that lady behind me is my wife. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.799 Her seat is right behind me. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.319 Don't give her ice. 00:23:58.480 --> 00:23:59.279 Get it? 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:01.359 That's what she'll do. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:05.039 I just go, ah! Alright. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.119 You're wired for conflict. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.519 Just make sure your conflicts with the right enemy. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:10.240 Alright? 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:13.839 But anyway, right next to her was a Navy SEAL. 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:17.119 We found out through conversation with the Navy SEAL guy. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:22.640 And I said, What's the hardest thing for you since you've retired from the Navy SEALs? 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:31.759 And he said, Well, I'm not, I don't, I sometimes it's hard for me to know what I'm living for because it was so clear back then. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:37.039 I knew who the enemy was, I knew what I was supposed to do, and sometimes that's hard for me now. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:40.319 And I said, Church, that's that's hard for all of us, right? 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:44.480 You gotta know who your enemy is, you gotta know who the battle is with. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:46.799 Don't be surprised when it's hard. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:49.759 Don't be surprised when conflicts come. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:52.640 But put on the new self. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:54.720 Put on the new heart. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:58.079 Put on the resurrection power of Christ. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:05.279 Thank you for listening to the Born for War podcast. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.880 We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:14.880 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:16.000 God bless.