WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.359 Well, turn your Bibles this morning to Galatians chapter 5. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:05.440 We're continuing our study. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:11.519 And today we're looking at freedom from the flesh in Galatians chapter 5. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:18.000 And so, just if you're joining us for the first time or have been here, we've been through Galatians 1 through 5. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.960 And the quick recap, Galatians chapter 1 is all about the freedom of the gospel. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:30.399 And then he goes into Paul's story and tells us how the greatest missionary that's ever been freed was freed. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:37.920 And then we jumped into Pastor Dave shared with us the freedom in facing problems and not walking away from problems. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.520 And then we looked at legalism and how it tries to creep in. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:47.280 And then we looked at the freedom that being heirs of Christ makes us family. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:51.920 And last week we looked at the freedom we have because of what Jesus has done. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.079 It says we love because He's first loved us. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:55.359 We have the freedom to love. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.240 And so this morning we're going to be looking at the flesh. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:02.159 Well, I had a picture that I want to share to you of a bull moose. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.760 If they got that picture, you can see that it's coming up. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.239 Big animal right here, right? 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.680 A bull moose is a herbivore. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:23.359 But when it comes to the flesh, in the summertime, a bull moose can consume anywhere from 50 to 70 pounds of food. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.159 Do you know what kind of work it takes to eat? 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:27.680 I said he's a herbivore. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:29.599 They're not talking about other animals. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:36.560 What kind of work it must take to eat 50 to 60 pounds of bark and leaves and shrubs and grass? 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.159 Can you imagine? 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:44.000 So when we talk about flesh, I want you to get the picture of this bull moose because I'm going to tie it in in a little bit. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.799 But they put in a lot of work to feed that flesh. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:50.799 Galatians chapter 5. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.040 And I want you to turn over to Romans 8 as well. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:57.680 Keep your finger there, and we're going to be looking at two different passages. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.120 But keep that moot. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:00.799 I want you to keep that there. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:04.480 And we'll be looking at a little bit of it later. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:10.159 The first thing this morning that we see in Scripture is this in Romans. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:15.039 We're going to go back to Romans 7, 22 through 24, is a mental contrast. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:21.680 When you think about the flesh and the spirit, there's this mental warfare that's going on. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:31.439 And know this that the strength of any enemy, knowing the strength of any enemy, is necessary for us to know how to win a battle. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:33.199 Romans 7, 22. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:33.919 Look at what it says. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:44.960 Paul said, For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another war law in my members, my flesh, warring against the law of my mind. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.400 And it brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my body. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:56.159 He says, Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:59.599 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:02:59.919 Okay? 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.879 And I want you to go over to 2 Corinthians for a moment. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.360 We've got to unpack a couple of things so we can move forward. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:07.520 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:17.360 And I want you to see what's said here about this battle between mind and or between flesh and spirit. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:20.719 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3 through 5. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:27.680 It says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:39.120 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.199 Listen to this, bringing every thought, that's key. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.719 Underline that word thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:52.560 And so we see here it's talking about mental warfare. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.159 And this is what Satan does. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:56.800 He wants you to think I'm too weak. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.039 He wants you to think I cannot win. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:02.639 He wants you to think there is no hope. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:10.400 And so in Corinthians, Paul says, you have to fight against those thoughts, the battlefield in your mind. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.080 And so he says, fight against all. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:20.720 In Philippians 4, 6, Paul says, Don't be anxious in anything, but with prayer and supplication make your request known unto God. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.759 And then he gives us a list of things to think. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:25.759 Strange, right? 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:27.920 Don't be worried, don't be in a struggle. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.040 The battle's here, but you need to think different. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:35.439 He says, think on these things, which are things are good, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous praise. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:39.759 And he goes down a list of thoughts for the battle. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.000 He says, think on this instead. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.480 Freedom, listen, church, from the flesh starts with a thought. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:50.560 God can is a thought. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:52.480 Say this: God can. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.240 The mental contrast that we see. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:59.920 And so Romans chapter 8, again, go back over here to verse 5. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.920 We see the passions of the mind. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:04.319 Look at verse 5, Romans 8. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:11.439 For those who live according to the flesh set, key word there, set their minds on the things of the flesh. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.600 But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.240 So he says, they set their minds. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:19.759 That's important for us to understand. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:20.959 It's about a setting. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:22.480 What are some things that you set? 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:24.079 Think about it in your home. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:26.160 There's some things that you set. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.000 You set your clock. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.920 You set an oven temperature. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.879 If you're like me, you've got it wrong before in burnt pizza. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:35.120 You set the wash machine. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:36.879 You set the sprinkler. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:41.920 If you're like me, you set the sprinkler wrong sometimes and it goes off and you get a big bill. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:43.920 But there's a setting. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:50.800 This action, the setting is done of your will to accomplish something that you want done. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:52.560 Now I want you to think about something. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.319 What are you passionate about? 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:00.720 What you're passionate about is things that you will make up your mind to do no matter what. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:05.360 As I was typing this, I was sitting there and I was watching Callie. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:10.079 She's my daughter, and she's in track. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.680 Well, we had just finished a whole week of vacation Bible school. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.399 We just went to camp the week after that. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:23.920 And it's Monday morning, and Callie is getting up without anybody telling her to get up, and she's getting ready for the day. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.879 And I'm sitting there and I'm typing this and I'm going, wow. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.720 You know, I felt like human jello after teen camp. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:32.319 I'm just gonna be real with you, okay? 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.240 I felt so worn. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.959 And I know this about my daughter. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:43.199 Track practice is coming, and I believe she looks like she doesn't want to go. 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:44.000 Y'all with me? 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:46.800 Ever see somebody in the house that looks like they don't want to go? 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:47.360 Right? 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:50.879 Like she looks like she's in a bad mood at the air. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:53.920 She does not look like she wants to go. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:54.399 Alright? 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:56.240 And she's getting ready. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:57.600 And I know this. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.920 Callie loves to sleep in. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.240 Like it's one of her favorite pastimes. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:05.439 If she has an opportunity to sleep in, she'll take a nap. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:07.519 Like my boys, they won't take a nap for nothing. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:08.639 Couldn't pay them. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:09.120 Alright? 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.040 Callie will take a nap for fun. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:16.079 Like it just sounds like if there's some room between 5 o'clock and 7 before bed, she might take a nap. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:25.279 And so I know that she loves sleep, but her passion drove her to get up to set something in order. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:28.399 She's up, and the rest of the house is out cold. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.279 So this is what I what I'm seeing. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:38.079 What we're passionate about will set our mind to, and it's a choice, a daily choice. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.720 Now, I want you to know about the mind and the power of your mind. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:41.839 I read this this week. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.000 The human mind contains 86 billion neurons. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:53.360 Each neuron forms connections with other neurons, making the possibility of over one quadrillion connections. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:59.600 The human brain can generate 23 watts of power, enough to power a small light bulb. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:10.000 The electrical impulses travel from cell to cell at a speed of 268 miles per hour, meaning that you have endless capability in this mind. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:15.360 You hear terms like, I've got a child who's strong-willed, right? 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.399 Or you hear things like they've lost their will. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.480 I want you to hear me, church. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.519 Your setting is up to you. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:27.120 The setting that you place your mind in is up to you. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:32.080 Colossians 3.2 says, set your mind on things above and not things of the earth. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.320 This is what I know, the mind can be set and it can be reset. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:41.200 If you think about your life, you're probably different from one you once was. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:46.639 And there may be some things that you're different from ones you once was because you said, I need a reset. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:50.879 I don't want to be like that anymore, so you changed your mind in some way. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:54.480 You said, I'm not gonna go down this path anymore, so I need a reset. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:57.840 Maybe you were dating and it was going real bad, and you said, I need a reset. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:01.200 And you said to your mind, I'm not gonna keep going there. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:03.919 And aren't you glad you didn't? 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:04.960 I hope so. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:07.360 You better look at that person next to you and smile. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.919 And so it's about a setting. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:11.600 It can be set and reset. 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:13.039 I have a choice. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.759 God did not make one robot. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:17.600 We have a choice. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:18.480 Not one. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:21.200 I want you to look at your neighbor and in your best robot voice. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:23.360 I want you to say, not one robot. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.000 If you didn't do it, you need to. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:26.639 Okay, wake up. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.080 I'm gonna give you one more chance. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.600 Not one robot. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:32.159 Oh, that got better. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:33.919 Some of you were a little stuffy this morning. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.679 I'm glad you got into church. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Church is about all of us, not just me. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:38.720 Here we go. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:40.240 There you go. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:40.799 Thank you. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.080 That's enough, Darren. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:45.120 Uh, verses six and seven, I want you to see. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.679 And in Romans chapter eight, we're still there. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:48.639 It says this. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.240 For to be carnally minded, that's the flesh, is death. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:10:00.879 But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:04.960 For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:12.639 So then those who are in the flesh, hear this, those in the flesh cannot please God. 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:16.320 Someone in the flesh cannot please God. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.200 Uh, point B this morning is this the pathways of the mind. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:22.320 There's two paths there's a flesh and there's a spirit. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:30.960 Now, some people want to compare these in a way to say that the spirit is invisible things, and the flesh is more what is concrete, what I can see. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:35.440 And others say, well, the spirit is like the logic, and the flesh is about feeling. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:44.000 And I want to propose to you from the scripture what it's saying is that one that you're feeding is feeding for life. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:46.960 Another that you're feeding is feeding for death. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.200 This flesh, we live in a physical world. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:50.559 This world is gonna die. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:55.200 So whatever you feed for this life is eventually gonna come to its physical end. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.840 So as much as I feed for this, it ends. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:04.960 And everything that I feed in my spirit, heaven is a spirit realm where we'll be spirit when we leave this body. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:09.919 Our spirit goes to heaven, and so everything we feed of the spirit goes on for eternity. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:14.159 And so this pathway is about what are we feeding? 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:22.000 And it says that the carnal mind, the word carnal is defined as enmity or animosity. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:27.440 James 4, 4 says, friendship of the world is enmity with God. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:29.679 Animosity, it's an opponent. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:32.320 The carnal mind is an opponent. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:39.759 When we get in that flesh mind, it's the opponent of God manifesting itself in us. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.159 Y'all ever had some opponents, some fights? 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:44.240 One day Heather called me. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:49.360 And uh, as often would happen, and she said, Rick, I don't know what's happening upstairs. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.720 It sounds like there's a helicopter in the bathroom. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.320 And I'm like, what? 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:59.279 And I said, Okay, and can you give me some more information? 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:01.279 I need to know how to attack this enemy. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.559 And she said, you just need to come home and see what's going on. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:12.639 So I come home and I open the door, and sure, I'm telling you, I'm like, what is in there? 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:14.639 I'm like, you want me to go in there? 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:15.679 You're crazy. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:22.559 And so I'm listening, I kind of pop open the door, and I'm telling you, it swarms, swarms of hornets. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.960 And I'm like, all right, so how do I deal with it? 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:25.840 She's like, I don't know. 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:26.960 You need to deal with it though. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:32.000 And listen, husbands, you're right, like baby says you gotta take care of something, you gotta take care of it, right? 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:34.720 I have no training for hornet fighting. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:35.919 Literally, okay. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:39.840 All I know is I'm a married man and I gotta take care of business. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:45.039 So I say, I said, I need you to go to the store, get me some raid cans of hornet spray. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.840 And uh I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna get ready, okay? 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.679 So she came back, she had the cans, she left, and I suited up. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:58.960 I had full-on black armor, for real, because you know, other colors wouldn't work against these sorts of all the way, feet all the way up. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:02.000 I had a hooded sweat, I pulled down the hood, I had goggles on. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:07.200 There was just a piece of my lip that was showing, and I went in and I went in kung fu ninja. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:10.480 And they were coming at me, dive by. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:11.519 They had a plan. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:12.960 Back and forth. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:14.320 They were all over the place. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:18.000 217 of them things I killed. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:21.679 I counted because I was that impressed with myself. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.600 I did not get stung one time. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:27.600 They were coming at me. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:28.240 It was crazy. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.120 It was the craziest two minutes better than the roller coaster, I think. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.720 It was really fun. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:41.200 So I told Heather, listen, baby, I might not know what I'm doing, but I get I get points for fortitude and trying. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:42.159 You know what I'm saying? 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:43.519 Uh man, are you with me? 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:48.159 If you're willing to do something even when you don't know what you're doing, look, I'm look, I'm hand clapping you. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:49.919 I'm glad that you're trying. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:51.600 And so, this is what I know. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.120 I had an opponent. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.440 There was an opponent coming at me. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:57.840 It was animosity, and I had to do something. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:58.960 I had to make a decision. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:06.559 Either we're gonna live in this house and stay there with hornets, I'm gonna pay somebody a bunch of money, or I'm gonna take my life in my own hands. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.480 Y'all see what choice I took. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:14.399 So, listen, this is not the the goal is not to hate the physical world. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:18.320 The Bible says we live in the world and we're not of the world. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.799 We live, we have this existence that's gonna happen. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:25.679 The Bible says if if we're if we have a good life, we're gonna have three score and ten years. 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:29.360 We're gonna live in this world, but we're not of it. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:33.440 The idea is not that I would hate the physical world. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:39.360 The goal is to make everything physical that you do to the pure delight of a loving God. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:43.519 And it's setting my mind a certain way for that to happen. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:47.600 You know, David shared with us in Psalms 23 a way that he did it. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.320 He said, The Lord is my shepherd. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.240 And he says, Me makes me to lie down in green pastures beside still waters. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:56.159 Listen to this, leads me. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:00.159 We're talking about pathways, leads me in paths of righteousness. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.279 It's a setting. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:06.080 And David said, My setting is that I make the Lord my shepherd. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:09.840 When the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want for this flesh. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.600 And he'll lead me, and I'll follow that setting for my life. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:19.200 And in Proverbs, it went this way: Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, you know it says, Trust in the Lord with all my heart. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:26.399 Lean not into my own understanding, but all my ways acknowledge him, and he will direct my pathway. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:31.759 And so it's a setting to trust him as Lord. 00:15:32.639 --> 00:16:02.159 Um, when Heather and I first got married, this idea of ministry was coming up, and I uh we had I had a good job, she had a good job, we were doing what you do as newlyweds and kind of making a life of things, but I knew God's will was most important in my pathway, and so we made a decision, we changed a setting, and we said, God, if this is what you have for us, then we'll go. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.120 So we left family, we left two good jobs, and we went off to Indiana. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:14.960 And what I'll say about that as a young person, maybe you could say, maybe you're just good and naive enough as a young married person. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.519 You hadn't lived enough to learn. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.960 And maybe that was true. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:25.919 And so we followed God and we spent 10 years there, and then one day we took a missions trip to Alabama. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:29.120 He said, What would make you go to Alabama on a missions trip? 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:34.960 Okay, and so we came here and we brought 17 teenagers and we weren't here two days. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:42.000 And the pastor of the church and David Wilson asked me for a meeting and said, What's your five-year plan? 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.679 And I'm like, Everything's good where we're at. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:48.240 Everything is fine where we're at. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:50.559 In fact, it's like the best it's been. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:55.200 And and they said, Will you pray about coming here to this church? 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:57.600 And I thought, what in the world? 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.120 Now, a conversation me and my wife had always had was this. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:02.960 I don't I don't have a resume. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:04.240 I've never written a resume. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:05.839 I don't even, you know, I don't know where I started. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:06.799 I had to Google it. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:08.799 Resume, how to make a resume. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.359 But this is my my idea, Heather. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:18.480 If God wants us to ever move, then God will present us with an opportunity, and we've said that through ministry. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:21.519 Until then, we're here to do what God's called us to do. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:29.279 Well, that opportunity came, and I went upstairs to Heather that night after I talked to Danny and David, and I said, we have something to pray about. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.039 And she said, Oh no. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.599 She said, We're moving. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.039 I said, We haven't even prayed. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.839 She said, I know we're moving, I know how God works. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.039 I said, I said, we can't sell our house. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:50.799 There's a bad market, you know, and and that there was too much good, I was too good of a prophet on that. 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.319 Two years we didn't sell. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.839 Uh, but David said to us in this meeting, it's no big deal. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:57.839 You'll just move in with me and Christy. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.400 I'm like, I haven't even met Christy. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:01.839 I've been here two days. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.319 You want grown people just to come move in your house? 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.240 I'm like, I got three kids that are gonna terrorize your home. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:09.680 That's gonna be a plan. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:12.880 And I'm like, wait till I tell Heather this. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:18.640 And so I told her, and and let me tell you what I'm getting at. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:24.079 My setting was I will follow God no matter what it takes. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:26.480 And I promise you, church, that's my setting right now. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:33.039 If God calls me anywhere, I'm going because I know there's peace in that setting, and follow him as my shepherd. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:38.160 And so we came, and God has worked out so many things that we had no clue about. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:39.920 No idea. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:45.279 But it was because we had a setting that our pathway would be God's pathway. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:50.400 Second thing I want to tell you about this morning is this the motive contrast. 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:57.440 So we look at our mind and we have a setting that we get to choose. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.279 It can be set and reset. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.720 But what about our motive? 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:02.240 Romans 8, 8. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:08.559 It says again, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.799 And I want you to see, go to Galatians with me. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:16.240 I want you to see what Paul was trying to teach here. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:19.759 16 through 18. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:33.279 He says, I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:38.720 But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:44.319 And he says at the bottom of verse 21, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:52.079 And verse 8, again at the back, Romans 8:8, the back part of it says, In the flesh, hear this, we cannot please God. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.000 Two verses, it's really important. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:20:01.440 If you take notes, write down the word two or write down the number two, two verses in all of Scripture state this phrase. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:03.359 We cannot please God. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.079 I think it's important to pay attention to that. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.319 Two verses, we cannot please God. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:15.039 If there were Emmanuel husbands, two specific things that said Benji, there's two things that cannot please Sarah. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.720 I bet you pay attention, wouldn't you? 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:19.200 Those are two I'm not gonna mess up on. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:24.799 In the flesh, it says, verse 8, in the flesh we cannot please God. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:29.920 And then Hebrews 11, 6, it says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:31.279 Impossible. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:35.119 And so without faith is referring to a lost person. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:40.559 Everything that a person without Christ does in their life doesn't amount to anything. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:51.039 All the things you can heap up, all the philanthropic things, all the giving away, you could be martyred, and it does not please God without a relationship with him. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:56.799 So the first thing Hebrews is talking about a person without faith, until you have a relationship with him. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:11.200 And then it says, living to the Galatians, what Paul and Romans, Paul is reflecting on the limits of the law, but then he's saying, if you live in this flesh, remember he said you cannot change and then want to go back to the flesh. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.640 He says, if you're gonna live in this flesh, you cannot please God. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.039 Why would you go back to bondage? 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:21.359 He said, I came to give you freedom from the pl from the flesh. 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.480 And so a person can't be bound in sin. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.079 And then let me show you. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.640 He gives a list in Galatians 5, verse 19. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:32.079 We're gonna look at it. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:39.839 He says, How do you know that a person has walked themselves into flesh bondage? 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.400 How is it clear that somebody's living this way? 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.559 This is important for us to look at. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:49.119 These are clear markers that a person is living in their flesh. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:50.160 They're bound. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:54.799 And I'm gonna explain in a minute that that word the bondage part, the bound part. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.400 But look at these things he says. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:56.880 He lists. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.599 Now, these are the works of the flesh, they're evident, he says. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:15.839 Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfishness, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:18.799 So he gives four categories of sin. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:20.000 I'm going to go over quickly. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.240 The first one is sins of impurity. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:30.240 Then the second stage there is sins of idolatry, then sins of ill feelings, and the last one is sins of intoxication. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:33.759 But the first he goes over, he says there are sins of impurity. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:43.519 And what Paul is putting out there, and it's interesting, Paul and Jesus, whenever there's a list of sins, they both start with sexual sins. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.200 Always list them first. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.640 And he uses two words here. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:54.640 The first is for immorality, and that word covers a multitude of any kind of sexual sin. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:57.920 And then he lists out fornication, sex before marriage. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:04.480 And listen, students, that includes pretty much anything that you can't do in front of grandma. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:06.160 Parents, are you with me? 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:12.720 You might be able to get a kiss on the cheek in front of grandma, an arm on the shoulder in front of grandma, and feel okay. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.000 But I bet you're gonna feel a little weird if you do a whole lot more. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:17.759 I hope you will. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:20.799 Some of you adults are like, that's kind of weird for me. 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:22.079 And I'm married. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:22.559 Okay. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:29.440 He says, fornication, and I just need you to understand that includes all types of perversions. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:34.480 Okay, not every affection is a good affection right now. 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:40.880 And he uses the word after that pornea and promiscuity, and it's a major problem, church. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:42.240 It's a major problem. 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.319 Then he uses the word adultery. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:47.920 Adultery violates God's plans for purity in marriage. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:51.680 It degrades a person, and so does the pornea. 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:54.000 It degrades people made in God's image. 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:59.599 And I was thinking through this, and you know, I I've got a daughter and a wife. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.119 And they're not somebody's object. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:08.400 And they were made in God's image with a purpose and plan for this life. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.519 Nobody's somebody's sexual object. 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:20.079 Yet, I read these numbers to you before, but I think it's important and sobering that we hear them. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:32.160 Yet, when you hear that pornea, 55% of married men and 25% of married women in a survey mark that they watch pornography monthly. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.440 42 million websites. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.640 There's 40 million US viewers. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:46.319 All of my youth ministry years, 17 years with students, nearly every single student will see. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.160 So parents, I know this is sobering. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.799 The average age of pornographic viewing is 11 years old. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:55.519 Guy and girl across the board. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.319 So the things and the safeguards that you're doing, you better do them and you better be strong about it. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:09.759 And the one you think it would never happen to, I can promise you, I got people, niece, I got people in my family that it was shocking to me younger than this. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:10.720 Okay? 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:11.599 It happens. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:18.880 57% of pastors reported pornography addiction is the most damaging issue in the congregation. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:23.039 The immorality nightmare is alive and fighting your home. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:26.640 It's fighting somebody next to you, someone you know. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:27.839 So hear me. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:29.839 We have to guard. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:31.279 We have to guard. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:36.000 One of every three men and every six women sees an extramarital affair. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:42.079