WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.879 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.160 For more information on our church, please visit Grand Parkway.org. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.599 You guys can be seated. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:12.160 My name is Lance Williams, and I'm the Spiritual Formation Pastor here at Grand Parkway. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:15.759 It's my my privilege, excuse me, my privilege and my pleasure to be before you. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:16.879 I always enjoy preaching. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.480 Uh this week is kind of special. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:24.320 Uh your your bulletin would seem to indicate that we'd be in the lesser-known book of Habakkuk. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:33.039 Uh actually, we're going to be in the much uh well much beloved chapter of Romans 8, and we'll be in verses 9 through 11. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:37.520 Uh, if you don't have your Bible on the end of your road, there's a Black Pew Bible you're more than welcome to use. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.039 Just ask your neighbor to pass it down. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:50.159 We're gonna be on page 944 of that Bible in Romans 8, 9 to 11, where yes, we'll be talking about putting the spirit back into spiritual life. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:53.119 Putting the spirit back into spiritual life. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.359 Uh this week was rather weird for me. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:01.679 Uh last week we all know was Easter, and we had three services, and so I came to the first two services and they were great. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:05.120 And then many of you, this is odd for me, asked, Hey, were you here on Sunday? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.079 Yeah, I was here. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:18.319 Uh, except during the second, the actually the third service, uh, when I normally teach up at the 11 o'clock hour, uh, what was weird for me that day was that I went up there on Easter Sunday, and uh there was uh one person there, Squadoosh. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.319 It was like, all right, he was just carrying his Bible around. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.680 He wasn't sitting down, he was waiting for me to show up to say, You're dismissed. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:24.959 Go enjoy the day. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:33.120 Uh and so that was weird, and I was kind of like, all right, Lord, hey, I'm I'm happy to prepare, I enjoy the preparation, but I'm also happy to not do this right now. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.200 So I said, Lord, would you what would you have of me? 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.480 And he said, Go to the hospital. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:37.120 Uh okay. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:39.280 It's not really normally what I would do on a Sunday morning. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:43.280 So I came down, talked to Neil, and I said, Hey man, uh, somebody's in the hospital, I'm gonna go visit them real quick. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:45.200 He's like, Cool, uh, enjoy yourself. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:48.560 Which by the way, Neil will be back next week, and we'll start a new series. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:02:06.000 But uh so I went to the hospital and uh visited with a friend in there and a patient, uh someone that goes to our church on a regular basis, and we were just sitting there chatting, and the doctor was in there, and he was doing his business, and he kind of overheard our conversation and figured out we were Christians, and then figured out I was a pastor, figured out the patient was in ministry as well. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:08.560 And he just kind of sat around, he just waited for us to quit talking. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:14.319 He just uh had this one question, he said, uh, well, I can't tell you yet. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.800 I'm gonna tell you later. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:19.520 I was gonna tell you now, but I'll let I'll leave you hanging. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:21.199 But it was an interesting conversation. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:25.599 Let me just say this, because it'll be kind of the the thread through the rest of the sermon. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.680 It's not often that a doctor stands still for 30 minutes. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:34.000 I'll just say that. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:40.639 That the Holy Spirit became present uh all because Christians were there and available. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.639 And it wasn't just me, it was everyone in the room praying and being present. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:03:05.439 But that was something that was weird, and then I had a couple of different meals with people that go to our church this week, and it was almost like there was this theme coming over me for the week as I looked uh towards the weekend and even to today, and that theme was this: man, we Christians, maybe just we Baptists, we have a low view of the Holy Spirit. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:17.680 We have an ignorant view, we have a low view of the Holy Spirit, and the theme that I kept thinking about was that we marginalize our spiritual lives due to ignorance. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:29.840 You know that's one of the biggest tools that the enemy has is to keep us ignorant, is to keep us lukewarm, to keep us satisfied with so much less than what God wants to fill us with. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:38.800 We have marginalized our spiritual lives, and so that's why today we're gonna talk about putting the spirit back into spiritual life, because once that happens, we can never go back. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:41.919 We can never go back. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:46.159 Francis Chan wrote a book called Forgotten God. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.759 Kind of a weird, weird title to a book, but it's all about the Holy Spirit. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.000 And it's entitled Forgotten God, and he says this in the introduction to that great book. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:04.080 He says, If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God's kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churches to ignore the Holy Spirit. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:12.639 The degree to which this has happened is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:18.399 The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God's word completely. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:34.879 If that's you today, if you have become a believer, maybe years ago and you've lived a life that's become so satisfying, something's missing, that you've become cynical and jaded towards God's church, towards God's word, welcome. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:36.399 Welcome. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.000 I'm glad you're here. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.160 Today is for you. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.000 If you're a Christian that's been living a full life, welcome. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:45.279 Glad you're here. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:47.600 Today is for you. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.319 As we look at what it means to put the Spirit back into spiritual life. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.439 Again, we're in Romans 8, and we will start in verse 9 to 11. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:08.560 And uh as we read these three verses, it'll kind of we'll kind of fill out uh what it means through the rest of the chapter chapter later on. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:11.519 But Romans 8, 9 through 11 says this. 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:16.000 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.639 If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:29.199 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:41.680 And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his spirit who dwells in you. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:47.279 Now we look at that, and before we get to our main points, we look at that and we ask, who is Paul talking to? 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:59.920 Because right there, those first two words in verse 9, he says, You, however, he's talking to Christians, and he's making this giant contrast to what nonbelievers look like. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:07.279 I know it's a genius statement to stay, but let me just say it right out that Christians are not non-Christians. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:16.560 Now, I say that because I think we've muddied the waters a little bit in our Christianity, that Christians can sometimes dabble in non-Christian things, and that's okay. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:19.839 And well, we're all just sinners and we're all just human. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:27.920 But let me just say that Paul is going to write to us starkly, clearly, and say, You, however, what is he contrasting against? 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.160 It's right there in verses 7 and 8. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.079 It says, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:38.160 For it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.240 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.680 Three things of a non-believer that that's you and that's me, if Jesus doesn't intervene in our life. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:53.120 We're hostile to God, we don't submit to his law, and we cannot please him. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:19.839 Now I tell you all that because it's gonna it's gonna, again, be the thread to which the rest of the sermon comes into, not to discourage you, because if you have a true picture and grasp on hostility, your lack of a desire to submit to God's law, and the reality that you could never please him, that makes you all the more grateful for a gracious God who intervenes into someone like someone like that. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.680 An amazing truth that kind of gets us pointed in the right direction. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:32.160 Yes, that's who Paul is talking about, believers, in contrast to non-believers. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:36.639 Uh, and the whole way that any of that happens is that the spirit. 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:48.560 It's not that just that Jesus paid it all, but it when in the process of him paying it all, he gave promises that the spirit's coming, the spirit's coming, the spirit's coming, and oh, by the way, it's gonna be better for you. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.399 We believe that in the church, don't we? 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:54.639 Three of us do. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:57.600 I should have said amen there, maybe four. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:58.959 Okay, my bad. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:00.560 Sure we do. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:01.360 Sure we do. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:03.680 It may not be as evident, but the spirit comes. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.360 The first point in putting the spirit back in our spiritual life is that the spirit is a homemaker. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:12.319 The spirit is a homemaker. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:20.639 Now, you just got into your mind uh some domesticated spirit that's at home, pregnant, barefoot, baking cookies. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:22.480 That's not the spirit. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:26.079 I'm making this as a point because it's familiar. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:31.839 Most people, especially people in my stage of life, we know what it's like to have a homemaker in the home. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:37.200 If we're blessed enough to where our wife is able to stay home, it's an unbelievable blessing. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.120 And my wife does a lot of different things. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:40.639 She works outside the home. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.399 Uh, she's a reading interventionist and does a lot of different things. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.039 Uh, but more than anything, she's a homemaker. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:53.519 She's a home, she manages the home, she does a lot of different things in the home. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.080 Uh, let me give you a few of them, not any that I could list. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:00.080 And as I was listing these, I just overflowing with thankfulness to my wife. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:06.320 I texted her yesterday and I was like, hey, I don't think about this enough, but thank you for all that you do. 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:08.879 Some of Melissa's tasks as a homemaker. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:10.960 She plans meals gluten-free. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.639 She cooks meals gluten-free. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.399 By the way, some of you will say to me, I'm sorry this isn't gluten-free. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:19.519 Don't apologize to me. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.879 That's like music to my ears. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:22.559 Give me all the gluten you got. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:23.440 Okay? 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:33.600 She plans meals, she cooks meals, she cleans up the meals, she cleans the house, she does laundry, she organizes the girls' rooms, she gives them different uh-sized clothes when appropriate. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:36.720 She does grocery shopping, she communicates the needs of the homes to me. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:38.240 Those are just tasks. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.440 Now just think about the relational tasks with the girls, Reese and Ellie. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:44.399 She disciplines them. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:49.600 I mean, from two rooms away, she hears something's going on and she disciplines them. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.080 Uh, she wipes their noses when they're sick. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:54.799 She loves the girls in the way that they need it. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.639 For Reese, you gotta be gentle. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:58.960 For Ellie, you can't be gentle. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:04.960 She gives baths, she blows bubbles, as Ellie likes to say. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:15.919 She slides down slides, she pushes the swing for hours upon hours, and when things are off in the slightest manner, with the slightest little nuance, she knows. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.759 She steps in and she deals with it. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:30.399 Now, when we think of homemaker, we could think of an apron and some cookies, but the reality is she is so important to our home. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.840 She's the glue that kind of makes it all work. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.559 I'm not I'm not available to do all of that. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:38.240 And so she does, and she loves it. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:39.919 It's a joy for her. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:42.240 She's a homemaker. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:50.879 It reminds me of the Holy Spirit because verse 9 tells us that you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:59.039 If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, that word dwells in you is a Greek word okeo. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:03.120 And it comes from the Greek noun oikos, which means house. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:08.000 So there's this verb of making a home inside of someone. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:14.879 Oikeo to inhabit, to dwell, with no intention of moving. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:21.039 He didn't come and bring a bunch of extra boxes just in case you kick them out one day, as if you could. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:27.279 He comes and he makes his home inside the life of the believer. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.399 He's a homemaker. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:33.919 He, just like my wife, he disciplines children. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:48.000 He disciplines the inner child inside of each one of us that demands for the more comfortable road, our selfishness, our pride, whatever rises up in us to demand for more of what I want. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:50.320 He disciplines that. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.440 He renovates the rooms of your heart. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.360 An unbelievable truth. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.120 Man, does he clean. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.759 And not only does he clean, but when the slightest little nuance is off in you, he knows. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.879 And he steps in and he deals with it. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:18.879 And not with an iron fist, but with a comforting arm around you. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:27.120 That's what Paraclete, that's what the Holy Spirit is to come alongside you, to comfort you, to guide you, to be your advocate. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.440 He knows where that room is in your heart that you don't want to let him into. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:32.799 He knows where it is. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.879 He knows what you keep in there. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:37.360 And he knows the combination to the locks. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:39.200 He'll let you have it. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:44.320 Also you can go in there every once in a while to figure out, man, it is dirty in here. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:47.360 I wish I want to go be back in the presence of my God. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.799 He's different than everything else that you put in your body, however. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.120 Everything else you put in your body is temporary. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:02.240 Food, temporary, drink, temporary, medicine, in another couple of hours, you're gonna need all that again. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:10.320 The only thing that gets put into your body, the Holy Spirit, that has permanence is the Spirit. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.519 And he only does this to believers. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.159 What an unbelievable privilege. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:23.679 And John 14 through 16, he kind of, Jesus gives this great, unbelievable understanding of the Holy Spirit. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.480 He just says, Hey, the world is not going to receive him. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.440 They can't receive him, but he'll be in you. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.960 He'll dwell in you, and I'll be with you forever. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.200 What an unbelievable promise. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:38.639 What an unbelievable privilege. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:44.799 Dwelling implies three things intimacy, permanence, and privilege. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:52.159 He dwells, he homemakes, and he makes his home inside of a believer. 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:56.639 That's what it means to live in the spirit, right there in verse 9. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.120 He says, however, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:05.679 And he's just trying to tell all of us that in the flesh is no longer a way of life. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:12.639 This habitual yearning for whatever the flesh yearns for, no longer a part of the believer's life. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:22.159 Instead, because Christ lives in you, because the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart, now you live in the Spirit, in the realm of. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:28.639 You dwell with Him, and you walk, excuse me, you walk in His ways. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:31.440 Unbelievable promise. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:35.200 Spirit's a homemaker, but that's not all He is. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:41.120 And certainly for us men, that may be hard for us to understand because that's not normally who stays at home. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.840 The women that stay home, they're like, oh man, I just got a new purpose for what I'm doing tomorrow. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.000 Not only is he a homemaker, but he's also the giver of life. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:58.159 If we're going to put spirit back into our spiritual lives to renovate us and rejuvenate us, the spirit gives us life. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:10.639 Right here in verse 10, he says, But if Christ is in you, and he is, and although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:18.000 The NIV, I believe, probably has it right here where he says, Your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:22.080 Now, this is where my conversation with the doctor picks back up. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:32.559 Because when we're sitting there and he overhears us, and I'm a pastor and he's in ministry and he just kind of lingers around and he says, Hey, I got a question for you. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:39.039 And pardon my ignorance, but what do you think about this prominent speaker? 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:40.639 What do you think about him? 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.799 And I said, I'm I can't talk right now. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:47.840 I'm gonna let the diplomatic one talk, the guy that's underneath a drug-induced stupor. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:49.759 I said, Why don't you let him talk? 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:57.039 And I just gotta lay out of this one because if I do, it's not gonna be good, and you'll be mad at me, and I'm just gonna lay out, just let the diplomatic one go. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.440 So the diplomatic one goes, and he says, Well, he's positive. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.559 People need to hear that. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:01.759 He speaks to that audience. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:03.360 I was like, way too diplomatic. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:04.639 I can't hold it in anymore. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:05.679 All right, here I come. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:09.200 So I come out from the side of the hospital bed and I said, He's a joke. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.960 And he goes, I like your answer better. 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:26.799 And here's why I said, I don't mean to be a jerk and I'm not trying to be harsh, but here's the reality that God is gonna hold me and him and anybody else that stands up on a stage like this and teaches the word of God doubly accountable. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.720 Once for me and once for his hearers and my hearers. 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:32.639 Wow, okay. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:35.440 And so the Bible says, hey, you don't want to do that. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.159 And if you do that, you're gonna get judged double. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:44.399 So you probably want to think real hard and long about being a teacher. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:47.120 And so that's why I come down hard on him. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:53.279 And so, but the reality is, more than that, I said, his message is only half the gospel. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:17:00.639 I said, you can't ever appreciate Easter without, and I'm talking to him on Easter, and I didn't say it quite this eloquently. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:04.079 I wish I would have, but now that I've thought about it, I'll tell you more eloquently than I told him. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.440 I said, you can't appreciate Easter without Good Friday. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:11.039 You can't appreciate resurrection without the cross. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:21.839 You can't appreciate all the things and all the blessings and all the promises that God gives believers without fully understanding your depravity, your sinfulness. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.240 That's the reason why I read to you verses 7 and 8. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:31.599 Your hostility, your disobedience, the reality that in your heart you can't please God. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:38.799 And yet God looks at us and he says, You, my enemy, I love. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:46.480 You who are hostile to me, who spat on me, who beat me, I love. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:49.599 Now that's a different kind of God. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:55.680 Because what my doctor friend said, and we were just talking, and I told him what I thought about that, and I said, Well, what do you believe? 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:00.880 And he, uh, well, mm-hig higher power. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:02.079 That's what I believe. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:04.559 Okay, there's a lot of uncertainty in that. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:05.759 I'm not really sure what to do with that. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:06.480 Higher power. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:07.759 What was your tradition of faith? 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:09.440 He's like, Well, I'm a Hindu. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:10.799 I said, Oh, okay. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.000 I just got back from India. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:12.720 I I I know. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.720 I was just telling him all about India. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:16.480 And talk to him about that. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.039 See the sovereign God just kind of working out this plan. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.359 I was supposed to be up here teaching, went to a hospital, ended up talking to a doctor who's Hindu. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:24.559 I went to India. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.079 Too many things going the right way. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:36.640 So I sit there and I'm we're sitting there talking, and he goes, Yeah, I just think, you know, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, it's all the same. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:40.000 It's all about it's all comes down to basically the same morality. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:41.519 And I was like, time out. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:46.240 If you think Christianity is about morality, then you're right. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.559 But let me tell you something. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.240 Christianity has never been about morality. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.799 Christianity has always been about life versus death. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:02.799 I said, dude, I didn't get a class today, so you're gonna get all my words. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.599 And he did, and he took them, and he was excited about it. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:12.400 But we talked and talked and talked about life and about death and about resurrection. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:21.279 If there's one way to appeal to a man's pride in evangelism, in witnessing to your neighbor who I just happened to run into, just start appealing to his pride. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:27.039 I said, Hey man, you might be the most educated person in this room, but you're real uncertain about your faith. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:34.799 You might be the most medically educated person in this room, medically powerful person in this room, but you can't raise somebody from the dead. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:38.000 Only God can do that. 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:41.680 Only He has the power to give life. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.920 That's what Jesus came for. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:47.119 He said, I have come to give life. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:51.119 And so it implies that we're dead. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.720 Paul would expound upon that in Ephesians 2. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:58.559 He says, You were dead in the trespasses and sins. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:04.000 Ephesians 2, 3 says, You were by nature because we were dead and we followed the ways of this world and our flesh. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:11.119 Ephesians 2, 3 says, you were by nature children or objects of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:17.279 And I said, Hey man, God raises people from the dead all the time. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.039 It's not about morality, it's about death to life. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:24.799 Something you can't do, something I can't do, something only God can do. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:31.279 And he looked at me and he said, I have never heard that before. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:40.799 Now, this is a man who, although claims to be a Hindu, also grew up going to a Catholic school for nine years of his life. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:46.000 But more than that, he's been practicing medicine here in Sugarland for I don't know how long. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:49.599 He's a younger guy, maybe a few years, five, maybe ten. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.720 And no Christian has ever said to him that he's treated, hey, this is all good. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:56.319 God's gonna raise me up one day. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:57.200 What? 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:14.799 No Christian has ever preached to him the gospel in such a way that he would say, it's not about morality, it's not about the golden rule, it's not about doing better, it's about living resurrected and life to the full. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:16.640 Wow. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:22.799 I said, man, here's the deal: the God of the Bible is true, the God of the Bible is powerful. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:29.119 I said, you can have all the Hindu gods that you want, but the reality is they are all sufficient in Jesus. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:36.000 Whatever Vishnu and whatever all these other gods that he started naming, I said, the reality is, I said, that reminds me of Paul when he went to Athens. 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:37.920 He said, There's an altered and unknown God. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:39.279 His name is Jesus. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:41.119 The same thing for you. 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:47.119 This Jesus who was raised from the dead came to give life. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:51.200 I said, He was the promised new covenant. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:22:01.759 When Ezekiel said, That I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give You a heart of flesh. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:10.400 And the doctor said, I said, I said, look, I said, here's the reality is that every person apart from Christ has this stony, stoned heart. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:12.880 It's just hard. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.039 He goes, hang on, you're wrong. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:17.359 It's like, how are you gonna tell me I'm wrong about Christianity? 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:18.400 What are you talking about? 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:24.000 He goes, no, if I go down to the OR and I open up somebody's chest cavity, there's a beating fleshy heart in there. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:27.759 And my heart broke a little bit, but it also excited me. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.720 And I said, You are so, like I'm in my mind, I'm going, you're so honest. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:32.160 I love this guy. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:37.920 And I said, Let me just appeal beyond your empiricism and your sign, your science. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.319 Because now you're gonna have to start looking into the spirit world. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.079 I'm not talking about the literal heart. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:45.279 I'm talking about what God says your heart is right now. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:50.960 As a non-believer, as a believer in Hinduism, it's stony. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.279 It's like limestone. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:54.319 You're not getting into it. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.279 The only way to get into it is to break it and remove it. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:08.000 And God puts in a heart of flesh that's moldable and malleable, like clay and the potter's hand. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:17.839 He can form you and mush you into his hands and push you towards where he wants you to go and how he wants you to be. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:21.359 Instead of cold and stony hearts, that's what he puts in us. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.000 And he says, Man, I've just never heard any of this. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.880 And I got excited, but also my heart broke a little bit. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.920 Because I was just trying to tell him it's not about morality. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:42.160 It's not about morality, it's not about doing good, it's about resurrection life, which kind of leads us to my last point, and that is this. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:55.359 If we're going to put the spirit back into our spiritual life, not only does he dwell in us, not only does he give us life right there in verse 10, that our spirits are alive because of his righteousness. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:02.160 It kind of ties right back in here with verse 11 that the spirit has given us resurrection power. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.759 Not just life, but the power that comes along with that life. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:09.839 Right there in verse 11. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:10.720 Let's read it together. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:20.640 He says, If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:24.640 Through his spirit who dwells in you. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:30.720 There's no doubt that he's talking about your actual body will one day be resurrected. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:31.920 That's our true hope. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:40.960 Not escaping this place and being in heaven with Jesus forever, although that's true, but escaping this place, we will still look towards our body. 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.440 Being raised up. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:58.880 That's the promise, that's the hope that the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, that power, which is pretty powerful, I can't think of anything else that's more powerful besides raising dead people to life, now lives inside of you and me. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:06.799 If Easter isn't real, if resurrection isn't real, Paul will tell us that our faith is pointless. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.680 It's futile in 1 Corinthians 15. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:14.799 Instead, the Bible says that this power is in you. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:17.359 You know that, don't you? 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:19.119 Yes? 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:20.640 Sandy knows? 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.759 This is the QA portion of our sermon. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:25.039 You know that, don't you? 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:32.319 Yes, because now this is the reason why I'm kind of emphasizing that, because the world around us is waiting for us to speak up in our faith. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.519 And if we can't do that here, we'll never do it out there. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:40.559 What's holding you back? 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.039 You're afraid of what everybody else is going to say? 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:51.839 What's holding you back from killing that sin that you don't want anybody to know about? 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:56.640 What's holding you back from going out and reaching your neighbor? 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:03.279 Not because you've planned it and that you're going on a mission trip, but because you're just being instant, in season and out of season. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.039 You're just being obedient. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:12.880 And that sin that so easily entangles us, we've just kind of managed along and said, I don't want to deal with you right now. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:16.799 You go to that room, I'll lock you up, and you'd be like my little pet. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.519 You can come out when I want you, but you stay over there. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:25.680 Like my little dog named Baxter, who eats our food off our table when we're gone, I found out. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:30.240 But what's holding us back? 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:40.319 Romans 8.13, if we don't understand that the resurrection power of God is in us, then we'll never be obedient to this verse, uh, verse 13. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.079 Where he says, For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:48.480 But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:53.680 He's saying, Hey, kill your sin, kill your flesh, put it away. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:58.079 Don't just manage it and put it in a room and lock it up for later when no one's looking. 00:26:58.319 --> 00:26:59.279 Kill it. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.759 Because if you don't, you're gonna be like the Israelites who were supposed to go into the promised land and kill everybody. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:07.519 And they didn't. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:10.559 They were more gracious than what God had told them to be. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:17.440 And years later, those people they were supposed to take out ended up being their demise. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.599 That's a picture of our sin. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:27.680 If we don't kill it, if we don't handle it now, we'll be reaping that later. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.440 But what's holding us back? 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:39.839 What I love about this doctor friend of mine that I can't wait to follow up with is that when I was started talking about power, I said, Hey, man, I got power you you've never even dreamed of. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:43.599 I mean, I don't normally say that, but apparently it was right to say in the moment. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.599 Because he just said, like what? 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:46.720 Isn't that great? 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.559 I mean, it's just beautiful honesty. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:49.440 I love that guy. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:50.880 He says, like what? 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:52.640 And then I shocked him with my answer. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:55.200 I said, Well, I can pray. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:58.559 And he said, looked at me like, what? 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:01.200 And I was like, I know, I can pray. 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:06.799 So the second thing is that I've been adopted by the God of the universe as his son. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:12.079 And that's his son, and that's his daughter, and you aren't. 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.200 And I don't tell you that to be in your face. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:22.880 I tell you that to just say, this lie that you've been told that we're all in, that we're all children of God, is a lie. 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:29.599 And instead, the Spirit gives us power only to those whose He's adopted. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:34.720 Only to those who say, That's my son, that's my daughter. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:40.559 That's specific, which means intentional and purposeful. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:44.720 And to us as believers. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:49.440 This resurrection power, I told him, number one, I can pray. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.200 And then I wish I had my Bible in front of me, but I didn't. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:59.279 But since I did over the week, here's just some promises of power out of just Romans 8. 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:00.880 There's about nine or ten of them. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:02.000 I want to just come up on the screen. 00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:05.119 Let me just read the scriptures that go along with these. 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:10.400 Power inside the believer because of the Spirit's indwelling presence. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.720 Number one, you got power over condemnation. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:18.559 Verse 1, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.079 Good news. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:25.440 That guilty feeling you got in the back of your head, not from Jesus. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:28.319 There's no condemnation. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:29.920 It's unbelievable power. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:38.640 He says in verses two, verse two, you got power over the law that God has sent his son to fulfill the requirements of the law, to give you power over sin and flesh. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.440 Verses six through eight, we've read, but I want to read it again. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:43.119 This is what he's freed us from. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.759 He's given us power to please God. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:52.160 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:54.720 See how it's about life and death? 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:00.160 Peace or anxiety? 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.240 War within your soul? 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:08.079 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.039 Indeed, it cannot. 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.000 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:15.519 And then he says, You, however, you can please God. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:17.759 That's unbelievable power. 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:19.039 I'm not talking about power. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:24.079 You go around and you're just pointing at people and they're raising from the dead and you're just waving your coat and people fly over. 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:25.039 That's not power. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.680 It's just power to pray, power to please God. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:29.680 I now get to be obedient to him. 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:36.079 That inside of me, this Holy Spirit has changed me so much from the inside out that now all I want to do is love him. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.960