The Holy Spirit in the Life of a Christian - Pastor Jeff Schreve

[Music] freedom it's such a wonderful thing you know the bible makes it clear that christ came to set us free and he gave us his holy spirit so we could live in freedom freedom from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin i'm pastor jeff shreeve and this is from his heart and we're in a series called the unknown god discovering the person and power of the holy spirit we're going to be in romans chapter 8 today as we study a very practical message on the work of the holy spirit in the life of a christian [Music] myself if you have your bible please turn to romans chapter eight romans chapter eight we'll have scriptures up on the screen but it's just so much better if you follow along and you have your bible right there you can look at the verses how many of you have ever been to new york city can i see your hand you've been in new york what a cool place you know anybody who who visits new york for the purpose of sightseeing there's one place that you have to go you have to go to the statue of liberty i mean that's just common fair for those people who are visiting in new york because in the new york harbor there is this statue the statue is 151 feet tall and sits on an 89 foot pedestal you've seen this statue of liberty if you haven't there it is it's lady liberty the symbol of freedom with her torch and with her law of liberty as she raises up the torch of liberty the law of liberty and on her feet is a broken chain signifying there is no more slavery just liberty and on the pedestal are written these words give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free the wretched refuse of your teeming shore send these the homeless tempest toss to me i lift my lamp beside the golden door very poetic language but i love the fact that the statue of liberty is that symbol of freedom now the statue of liberty is a good picture of the lord jesus christ he is the one who gives freedom he's the one who bought our freedom and he says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest and i will set you free scripture says if the son shall set you free you shall be free in deed now when it comes to freedom and really experiencing freedom we have trouble as christians really experiencing that we talk about freedom and we can say yeah there's freedom it's talked about in the bible it was for freedom that christ set us free but when it comes to living it out we have trouble you know why we have trouble we have trouble for two reasons we have trouble number one because we have an enemy external to us an enemy jesus said he's the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy he wants to steal away your freedom he wants to kill you and destroy your life he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour so we have this enemy the devil who is out there but we also he's the external foe we also as christians have an internal foe the internal foe is the flesh it's that part of us that wants to do evil that wants to go his own way her own way and do her own thing his own thing and so that part of us makes the freedom that the lord wants to give us it makes it practically a challenge and a struggle now god has given us his holy spirit to help us in the struggle with freedom so that we can really experience what god has for us we've been in a series for the last several weeks on the holy spirit the unknown god discovering the person and the power of the holy spirit and today we want to talk about this subject the holy spirit in the life of a christian very practical as to how the holy spirit works in the life of a christian jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free now some of you are here and you know what freedom is not really real for you in terms of your experience because you're addicted to alcohol you're addicted to drugs you're addicted to facebook you're a dick ouch that one hurt and it's like man i was doing pretty good with alcohol drugs but facebook did you have to say that some of you're addicted to pornography some of you are addicted to public opinion you're constantly checking to see uh you know like the politician what do the polls say about me today god wants to break us free from those things those sins which so easily drag us down that the enemy uses the enemy within the internal foe you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free romans chapter 8 is one of the great chapters in the bible it speaks of freedom in christ you know really uh we were talking before the the service and and josh uh lawrence said to me he said oh i was quoting romans eight he said oh you're quoting uh that's romans isn't it i said yeah he said romans is the hardest book to understand and i said i know it really is because it's so deep and dense and and you you go through there and you're like oh man i'm just two verses and my brain is is fried but but here's kind of how romans is set up especially in the middle part of romans you have romans chapter 6 that tells us we're dead to sin that's wonderful we're dead to sin as christians we're alive to god romans chapter that that's on paper then romans chapter 7 says you know what but here's the deal you still really struggle with sin as a christian paul said the good that i want to do i don't do but the evil that i don't want to do i find myself doing wretched man that i am who will set me free from the body of this death so romans 6 hey on paper it's good you're dead to sin alive to god romans 7 but it's like yeah but man i sure don't feel dead to sin and romans 8 says the key to walking in victory is the power of the holy spirit the holy spirit is mentioned four times in romans one two three four five six seven seven chapters the holy spirit's mentioned four times and in romans chapter eight the holy spirit is mentioned 18 times 18 times it's life in the spirit you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free so let's hear some truth from the lord today romans chapter 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death for what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh god did sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the requirement requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit two truths i want to share with you today truth number one and these are our freeing truths and if you know the truth the truth shall make you free jesus said first truth the lord jesus sets us free from the penalty of sin free from the penalty of sin for the law verse 2 of the spirit of life in christ jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death you know before jesus came on the scene before he became a man and lived the perfect life and died on the cross and rose again from the dead there was a law that was working in the universe it was the law of sin and of death and that law was in effect the moment adam and eve sinned in the garden when they sinned then then death came the law of sin and of death and the law of sin and death says this if you sin the soul that sins shall surely die that's the law of sin and death and god gave his law to his people the ten commandments and the the law of moses he gave that to us to show us what was right to show us what was wrong to show us what to do to show us what not to do not to us not to make life harder it's this is the way to live this is the way to life it's like a street sign that says which way to life this way follow these rules and these principles and you will experience life but all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and you know what's so amazing it just typifies the way man is when god was with moses or moses was with god i should say on mount sinai and god was giving him the ten commandments written the scripture says with the finger of god the people were at the base of mount sinai and what were they doing they were fashioning a golden calf to worship so as god is giving the law they're breaking the law that's the way man is the law of sin and death the law of sin and death the soul that sins shall surely die now the law rightfully condemns us because we're sinners and the law says hey you sinned you're condemned you are judged you you are under judgment for that sin it's so strange when you think about it see the the law is really like a thermometer it just registers conditions it just tells you how how high your fever is it tells you how sick you are that's all the law does the law is kind of like a mirror it just shows you here's the picture here's what you really look like now anybody knows if you're sick you don't get better from a thermometer you you take your temperature to see how sick you are or if you're getting any better but the thermometer doesn't help you at all it's just like if you have a dirty face the the mirror doesn't help you clean your face you know nobody pulls out a compact says man my face is so dirty well sorry about that i'll go on this side i i'm gonna rub my face with my compact no you don't do that the mirror doesn't help clean you up it just shows you how dirty you are so the law all it does it's the law of sin and death what the law could not do the scripture says weak as it was through the flesh what the what can the law not do it can't save you it can't forgive you it just shows you you're sick pal you have a fever of 180. it's off the chart you're so filled with sin and sickness and because of that you're condemned the soul that sins shall surely die now what did god do god sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh he put on flesh and blood just like you and i have the great eternal god became a man and he went up against the law of sin and death so think of it this way some of you guys that like to watch ufc and and these fighting uh shows and things like that you know it used to be everything was in the boxing ring but now we don't really do boxing as much as we do the octagon you get in the octagon and you can't get out of that thing and it's two warriors in there well here is the battle of the ages it's the law of sin and death that had been in existence since adam and eve sinned in the garden and here is the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus and jesus went up against the law of sin and death in the octagon and they were duking it out and man it was some kind of battle because before jesus entered into the octagon he was praying in the garden and he was sweating blood and he was praying father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done and he went into the octagon and he faced off with the law of sin and death and he defeated the law of sin and death and the way he defeated the law of sin and death is he took all the sin into himself all of your sin and all of my sin and all of the sin of the whole world that was ever committed he took it into himself the sinless son of god became sin for us and because he became sin on the cross he took all of god's condemnation and all of god's wrath and all of the judgment that was due you and do me that went on jesus and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus because the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death hey the law rightfully condemns us but the savior graciously takes away all our condemnation because he took all of that into himself and he defeated the law of sin and of death and he can pass on the victory to you and to me so i don't have to stand condemned i don't have to feel like oh i've blown it so bad god must hate me i know that the judgment is awaiting me because i did x y and z no all of that has been taken away and there is not one spot there is not one uh drop of condemnation for those who are in christ jesus now if you're not in christ jesus you are condemned you sit here today you watch on television listening on live streaming on radio you are condemned if you don't know the lord jesus christ you know there's in greek literature there's this thing called the sword of damocles and it's a story about a king and above his throne there was a sword that hung over his head and it was hanging by a thread and at any moment he was so afraid that the sword was going to fall on his head hey that's the way it is for every person who is outside of the lord jesus christ there is god's wrath and god's condemnation if john 3 36 the wrath of god the scripture says for those who don't believe it abides on that person it's the sword of damocles that's hanging over your head and if you don't get saved one day that sword is going to fall upon you and god doesn't want that that's why jesus came he said i defeated the law of sin and death i'm offering it to you if you'll just come to me then you can be in christ jesus and then there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus and the sword of damocles goes away and now god just has his hand over you his hand of love his hand of blessing his hand of good things as the little song says i'm my beloveds and he is mine his banner over me is love boy wouldn't it be great to trade out the sword of damocles and god's wrath for god's blessing and god's love and god's favor that's available to anyone who will come to the lord jesus christ there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus so the lord jesus has taken away the penalty of sin and the way he took it away is by receiving all the penalty for your sin and my sin that's why on the cross the last thing second to the last thing he said was this it is finished tetelestai i've paid it all it's paid in full that's a marketplace worth means paid in full and whenever when it's paid in full you don't have to keep paying on it you know if you buy a car and you have uh buy it over three years you make payments every month hopefully and then at the end of the 36 months you make that last payment and they send you something that says paid in full something to that effect you don't owe any more on this car so buy another one you know that's how they like to do us but i don't know anymore on my car debbie's car because it's paid in full you know when churches uh pay off all their debts oftentimes on a building they'll have a note burning and it just shows this is paid in full that we own this outright we don't owe any more on this that's the way your salvation is it's paid in full god doesn't require anything more of you there's nothing to add to what jesus did on the cross and there is therefore now no condemnation there is no penalty for your sin or my sin it is totally taken out of the way so here's the thing how many be honest how many of you who would say i'm a christian would also say but man there's some things in my past there's some sins in my past maybe my recent past and jeff i'm just i'm really struggling with guilt over this of what i said here and what i did here and oh what i did last summer oh my goodness it was so terrible so bad in this sexual sin and i had an abortion and i don't want anybody to know but i know god knows and i'm so guilt-ridden over that how many of you have struggles with guilt anybody honest enough to say that you do almost every hand goes up you know really when you think about it is that coming from god has he not said there's no condemnation but i feel so guilty i feel so condemned where is that coming from it's coming from the devil it's coming from the devil who's the accuser of the brethren who wants you to feel guilty and condemned and like you're in god's dog house and and man his hand of wrath is still upon you and and he doesn't really love you anymore that's all coming from the enemy the truth jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has whipped the law of sin and death in the octagon and now it's been taken out of the way so that's the very first truth the lord jesus sets us free from the penalty of sin second truth the holy spirit sets us free from the power of sin there's the penalty of sin jesus took that away when he died on the cross and rose again from the dead and when i put my faith and trust in jesus then god wraps his gavel concerning me and says jeff shreve not guilty not guilty you can go now everything has been paid your debt has been paid paid in full and we don't do double jeopardy here so you can never have to pay for that again we burned the note you are free free and clear wonderful that's the penalty of sin but god doesn't just end it there he also frees me from the power of sin through the holy spirit verse 4 he says as an offering for sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit you walk according to the spirit and when you walk according to the spirit the requirement of god's law god's law is good god's law isn't bad it's good but the problem we have with god's law is we can't keep it it's a good law but god i just keep falling short of it that's why it says in romans 3 23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god we should fall short of the standard we miss the mark constantly but god's law is good so the lord has taken the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death and now i can fulfill according to verse 4 the requirement of the law and i do it according to the spirit now that is really really important the power of the holy spirit now remember this you do not have the power to overcome the flesh the scripture says in verse 5 for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh and those who are according to the spirit the things of the spirit for the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward god for it does not subject itself to the law of god for is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please god so here you have a person and they want to please god say you have a christian this person who is is in christ put his faith and trust in jesus christ and here i am jeff shreeve a christian and my desire is to please god and how am i going to please god well i'm going to please god and i'm going to fulfill his law and how am i going to do it i'm going to do it through gritting my teeth and through trying harder and harder and harder and your the law says that you shall not commit adultery and jesus upped that when he said if any of you looks on a woman to lust for her he's committed adultery with her already in his heart and so every guy in here is saying well you know i hadn't i hadn't committed physical adultery but as far as spiritual as as far as lusting after a woman there's not a guy on the planet who would dare stand up and say i've never lusted for a woman in my life nobody would say that except a liar he's got a problem with lust and lying because every guy that's that's a struggle in a guy's heart and so how how am i gonna how am i gonna fulfill this commandment of god this is just this is the will of god the scripture says in first thessalonians chapter four your sanctification that is that you abstain from sexual immorality and lust is sexual immorality and so how do i fulfill that well i just gotta try harder i just gotta grip my teeth harder you know there was a monk very famous monk who lived in the 1500s his name was martin luther and martin luther was a guy who wanted to try so hard to please god but he was trying in the flesh and those who are in the flesh romans 8 verse 8 cannot please god but he was trying so hard you know what he would do he would fast 10 days 15 days in a row saying god look what i'm doing to try and please you when it was freezing cold outside he would go spend the night outside to show god god this is what i'm doing i i am trying to beat myself into submission he would literally beat himself black and blue trying to conquer the flesh and the deeds of the flesh and the lusts of the flesh but you know what willpower can't beat sin's power willpower can never beat sin's power i don't care how strong your will power is you can't beat sin's power the pharisees had turned in the days of jesus they had turned judaism into rules everything was about rules and they were the ones that kept the external rules and they said well see i'm not doing this and i'm not doing that and i'm not doing the other and the apostle paul as he went through the ten commandments he said honor your father and mother well i i always do that uh don't lie i never do that don't commit adultery i would never do that he just was ticking him off i'm doing pretty good externally and then he got to the one that says and you shall not covet he said oh because although he wasn't doing those things he wanted to he wanted to i'm not committing adultery but in my heart i want to i'm not stealing but in my heart i want to i'm not an idolater but in my heart i want to i want to to love money and do all those other things you got this thing inside it's called a flesh and the flesh wants to do what the flesh wants to do it doesn't want to obey god it doesn't want to subject itself to the law of god it wants to do what it wants to do what the flesh wants to do is when someone hurts you and you hurt back somebody insults you i'm going to insult you back you say something mean to me i'm going to say something mean to you and i'm going to add a little stink to it i mean i'm going to increase it a little bit because i'm going to get you out i'm getting you back that's all the flesh the deeds of the flesh are evident the bible says in galatians immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy outbursts of anger disputes dissensions factions carousing drunkenness and things like these all that stuff that messes up our lives those are the deeds of the flesh that's within every christian it's the old residual adamic nature that the lord rendered powerless at the cross but he didn't render the old nature speechless powerless you don't have to obey speechless and it barks out orders and it barks out commands and you want to do those things because there's still a pull towards sin that's where the holy spirit comes in you can't in and of yourself defeat the flesh and overcome the flesh but you can cooperate with the holy spirit to overcome the flesh in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit now he goes on to say in those verses that we read about the flesh camp please god the flesh doesn't submit itself to the law of god the the mind set on the flesh is death and then he says in verse 8 however you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of christ of god dwells in you but if anyone does not have the spirit of christ he does not belong to him and if god if christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness but if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you then he who raised christ jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who indwells you verse 12. so then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you are living according to the flesh you must die but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live for all who are being led by the spirit of god these are sons of god so what does all that mean it means this if you want to have victory in your life freedom to live the way god intended you to live so you the chains aren't around your feet and you're constantly falling to the same old sins and you're never able to rise above if you want to have real freedom it comes when you cooperate with the holy spirit so what does it mean to cooperate with the holy spirit well it means you yield to the spirit's leadership that's one of the first things that it means you yield to the holy spirit verse 14 for all who are being led by the spirit of god these are the sons of god so you let the holy spirit lead you you say in your life it's not i but you bow your knee and say but christ it's christ who's going to lead christ by his spirit i'm going to follow him and i'm going to let the holy spirit sit in the driver's seat of my life i'm giving up the steering wheel of my life to the holy spirit i'm going to let him lead that's how you cooperate with the holy spirit second way you cooperate with the holy spirit is you make necessary changes as you obey the holy spirit this is key and critical necessary changes as you obey see to willingly follow the holy spirit that carries with it the idea of obedience you're going to do what he says because he sits in the driver's seat just like if you get in my car and i'm driving you're going where i'm driving right now you can say jeff i don't want to go there but if that's where the driver wants to go that's where you're going and when the holy spirit sits in the driver's seat of your life then you're going to go where he goes now if you don't want to go there you can pitch a fit and you can tell the holy spirit get out i don't want you to drive i'll you can grab the wheel people do that all the time in the christian life no no holy spirit i want to do this i want to go there hey we're passing up the strip joint i want to go there let's pull in here but if by the spirit you're putting to death the deeds of the body you will live and so how i grow as a christian how you grow as a christian is you have to cooperate with the holy spirit say holy spirit you lead me and whatever you ask me to do i say yes let me tell you how this works how it worked in my own life 17 year old kid hear the gospel understand that jesus died for me that it's personal and that just believing in jesus in my head believing in jesus like i believed in george washington that's not cutting it that's not having a personal relationship with god that he wants to me to not just know about him but to really know him and so all alone in my bedroom down on my knees 17 year old kid convicted by the holy spirit of god that i was a sinner and i was lost and i needed the savior i said jesus save me and i surrendered to him and he saved me and i was at that night on a monday night in january of 1980 i passed from death to life i went from being in adam to being in christ and there is therefore now no condemnation and all my sins past present and future were taken away at that moment on that monday night that's what justification is that's what romans 8 1 says and so all of christ's righteousness was transferred to me and all of my sin was transferred to him and all of my future sin was transferred to him see some people have trouble with that they say well i know god forgave all my sin when i got saved but then i've sinned since i said well when he paid for your sin on the cross it was all future sin right none of us were around when he died on the cross so every sin that he paid for him across his future so when you received him he covered all your sin past present and future and that's what happened for me and so the holy spirit of god came to live inside of me and then he began to work on me and here's how god works on a person he doesn't show him everything wrong in his life all at one time that would be overwhelming he doesn't do that think of it this way when god delivered the people out of egypt that was a picture of salvation that was a picture of justification they didn't do anything for that other than take the lamb and kill the lamb and put the blood on the doorposts and on the lentil and you could kind of see the bloody cross there that was on their door and god says when i see the blood i will pass over you and god delivered them through from egypt through the blood of the lamb that's salvation they didn't do anything for that but now sanctification the second phase of the christian life when i live it out that's pictured in the old testament by going into the promised land they had to do something for that you know what they had to do when they went into the promised land they had to fight through the power of god but they had to fight they had to march around jericho and they had to fight when god broke down the walls they had to go up against ai they had to go up against the philistines they had to go up against the inhabitants of the land and so god would say now we're going to fight this group and now we're going to fight that group and some of the guys in the promised land they were giants some of them had iron chariots and there's certain sins that are tough to defeat just like there were certain groups of people in the promised land that were tougher than others so the lord comes in my life 17 years old and he says jeff we got to work on you because you've been a solid idiot for 17 years and you've been doing your own thing you've been walking by the flesh and so now we've turned you around so now we got to work on you and let's work first of all on your x-rated mouth i said all right lord let's work on that i was a foul-mouthed guy and so the lord began to work and he would begin to convict me and when things would come out of my mouth that were filthy the lord would stab me in the heart so to speak and say you're mine you belong to me and so none of that stuff and we're going to change this he began to work on what came out of my mouth second thing he began to work on was my partying and drinking with my buddies and the lord said we're not going to be able to do that because you can't be a witness for me if you're doing that stuff so i said okay lord and so the lord said you're gonna need to get some new friends to hang out with on friday and saturday it's like lord i really like my old friends he said you can still keep your old friends but you can't keep your old friends on friday and saturday night you got to get new friends for friday and saturday night your friends are fine for lunch because none of my friends they weren't they didn't drink at lunch you know and so uh so i can hang out with them i could play basketball with them i could do stuff with them during the day at night when they were out clubbing and drinking and that kind of stuff i couldn't do that so yes lord i i'm following you and then he said to me jeff you have some magazines in your closet that are filthy and i said god those are hidden you're not supposed to know about those and nobody's supposed to to know about those he said let's get rid of those and the flesh within me said i put my foot down now we're not going to do that all right it's cleaning up your speech and not going out with your friends on friday and saturday night i've i've kind of kept my peace but now you're getting personal and see the flesh really likes the flesh and so there's a battle within and the holy spirit is saying you obey me you obey me i'll give you power but you have to obey yes lord yes lord and for most guys and i'm like most guys lust is is goliath and so you have to face him you have to go up against him and you're not able to whip goliath in and of yourself but you can whip goliath in the power of the holy spirit and that's how you yield yourself to the lord i talked to a man not too long ago been in church his whole life and uh i said to him because he was just struggling so much i said have you ever do you think you've ever really surrendered your life to christ or is it all just in here you just know things about him but you don't really know him and as we talked more he said you know i don't think i've ever really surrendered my life to christ you know he had been a member of a church and got baptized when he was a kid but there's a big difference between getting baptized and really receiving christ and so in my office he prayed to receive christ now listen i can't tell if it's ever real for somebody that's a personal thing i don't know i know what they say but i can't really know for sure and it's like i always tell people hey if you really meant that prayer then the lord really came in well i told this friend i said okay now here's what you need to do you need to start saturating yourself with the things of god you need to start seeking the lord you need to start coming to church you need to get involved in a small group you need to start coming to thursday man up and he said i'll do it i'll be here you can count on me and in within two weeks i never saw him again never saw him again what happened if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live he wasn't i don't know if he meant it or not it didn't look like he meant it but he was definitely wasn't cooperating with the spirit if you want to grow you have to cooperate with the holy spirit of god and you have to remind yourself of the truth of the truth what is the truth verse six for the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace you know why we have such trouble with sin as believers because sin has an appeal sin has pleasure within it but it's a temporary pleasure it's a passing pleasure it it's like eating i i have a a good friend of mine who is lactose intolerant but he likes ice cream and he knows if i eat this ice cream it's going to taste really good and i'm going to pay for it for hours and hours and hours afterward i'm going to be sick all night that's the way sin is it tastes really good going down until you have to deal with the aftermath of it there's a big price tag with sin what do i have to do to have victory in my life i have to remind myself of the truth that the mindset on the flesh is death and the mindset on the spirit is life and peace and if i want to experience life to the full if i want to experience peace if i want to experience joy i'm never going to experience that by going the way of the flesh because the way of the flesh it's a one-way ride that goes all the way to the pigsty and that's where it leads every single time i was so blessed to hear on facebook jared bayless testimony that he shared on wednesday night at fields of faith and he just talked about how the lord came into his life and changed his life and and i loved what he said about his life before christ he said i was living for just a paraphrase for sin and self and partying and chasing girls and drinking and and getting into drugs and and here it is uh he said that all seemed fun until i went home at night and i would be in my bed and i felt such guilt and i felt such shame and such condemnation it was misery that's what sin does that's that's where that's where it is you look at people who are miserable in life they're not miserable because they've been following after christ they're miserable because they've gone the way of the flesh the mind set on the flesh is death but the mindset of the spirit is life and peace so i have to constantly remind myself when i'm tempted okay am i going to choose death or am i going to choose life where does this thing lead it might give me temporary pleasure this bowl of ice cream sure tastes good but i'm lactose intolerant and i'm going to be paying for that and i don't want to go there lord i want to go your way i want to go your way you remind yourself of the truth you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free let me close with this story i was a freshman in college and my roommate todd he was my drinking buddy he was my basketball buddy he and i decided to room together at ut before i became a christian we're all set up and then january of 1980 the old jeff shreve died and there's a brand new jeff streav and he's in the process of the lord making me uh the person he wants me to be and we're fighting these battles and we're taking these cities in in my promised land so to speak and i'm changing and here it is todd never signed up for that that i'm getting the apostle paul as my roommate uh what's up with this you know and so he's pledging a fraternity and he's uh drinking all on the weekends and and they would have these big frat parties and stripper parties and all this stuff that that he would tell me about and i remember one saturday morning he had been out late late late and i had been with some christian friends on friday night and i remember waking up and there was such joy in my heart and i woke up and i just raised my hands to the lord as i got up and just said god thank you thank you for loving me and for changing me and for saving me and i looked over and there was todd and he was hungover and as jared said deep down guilt-ridden and shame-filled and feeling condemned that's the difference between the life and the mindset on the flesh versus the mind set on the spirit god wants to give you a life full of joy and peace and love and power if you'll cooperate with his spirit he'll set you free set you free we've been talking about the holy spirit today about who he is and what he does and the big question is this does he live in you have you received the gift of the holy spirit you see the holy spirit comes into your life when you turn from your sin and surrender your all to jesus the one who died for you and rose again maybe you're saying well jeff i really don't know how to do that i want to do it but i don't know how let me help you let me lead you in a simple prayer and you can ask the lord to come into your life just pray with me lord jesus i need you i know that i'm a sinner and i'm lost and i can't save myself but jesus i believe you're god in the flesh i believe you died on the cross i believe you rose again from the dead and lord right now i ask you to forgive me of all my sins come into my life be my lord be my savior holy spirit live inside of me i surrender my all to you lord and i promise to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer and mean it the lord will come in by his spirit and your life will never be the same i would love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that god is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer with me to receive christ to save your lord please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to god and you're important to us and we're here for you [Music] [Music] from you

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

Views: 2,771

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: Y2sQXImE564

Length: 46min 21sec (2781 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 30 2020