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Choosing the Spirit Over the Flesh
13 Plays24 days ago
In this Ministry Moment, we will be talking about the importance of choosing the Spirit over the flesh. Every day, we face a choice: to follow our own desires, emotions, and temptations, or to be led by the Holy Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit, we are strengthened to overcome sin, make Godly decisions, and live a life that pleases God. The flesh may lead us away from God, but the Spirit leads us into victory, peace, and purpose.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Ministry Moment. We are very glad you're here today. Amen. You know, we love to just have the opportunity to dive in the Word with you and just practical applications of the Word of God. Get your Bible yes ready.
00:00:14
Speaker
get Yes, get your Bible. Take a note. Go back. At the end of this program, it's always good to go back and to check it out for yourself. Yeah. And we were just talking. So if you're newer to the things of God and you're just learning, I KNOW MY HUSBAND LOVES THE KING JAMES VERSION, BUT IT'S WRITTEN IN OLD ENGLISH. SO I LIKE THE NLT BECAUSE IT'S IN MODERN ENGLISH. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TRANSLATE IT FROM OLD ENGLISH TO MODERN ENGLISH FIRST. MAYBE WE NEED TO COME UP FOR OUR OWN TRANSLATIONS. YEAH. WITH THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPREIT. YOU KNOW, HEY, YOU KNOW, I KNOW THIS IS, I'M NOT i'm not SURE IF THIS IS OUR SUBJECT, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE BIBLE, SO MANY, KNOW,
00:00:54
Speaker
version, you know, and some of them was translated because of they want to make money. Some of them who translate the Bible, they don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't know anything about the Holy Spirit. They just did it because they feel good. So my focus is not bad. You got to be careful.
00:01:14
Speaker
But the only person who can teach you What is in the Scriptures, the meaning of the Scriptures, it is the Holy Spirit. So before you open your Bible, before you pray, before you read your Bible, before you study your Bible, ask Him, the great teacher, to teach you His words. He knows everything that He put in the book.
00:01:39
Speaker
e You know, John, you know, the Isaiah, all of that are just writers. They wrote what he told them. So that's the reason I'm going to challenge you. I'm going to encourage you.
00:01:53
Speaker
You may be saying, oh you know, i don't understand what I'm reading. Of course. a Human mind cannot understand the Scriptures except you receive a revelation from the Spirit.
00:02:05
Speaker
And guess what? The one that knows how to help you ah comprehend the Scriptures, it is the Holy Spirit. that sort So, don't don't push Him out. Don't neglect the Holy Spirit. Just ask Him.
00:02:18
Speaker
Very simple. Say, Holy Spirit, help me to understand this verse today. And He will teach you. Trust me. And He's awesome. Yeah. Well, and if you want to do a deeper dive have access to lots of versions, blueletterbible.org is one of my favorite sites because you can go back to the original language. You can look up the Hebrew and Greek word, and they have a lot of translations on there. So it's a great tool if you're studying word. And I speak Hebrew, you know. Good for you. Baruchata Adonai. That's Hebrew. Okay.
00:02:55
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's Hebrew. You know, I learned from... ah All right, so I know i know that's Hebrew. So just who i mean I think I sound like a Hebrew, right? Kind of. Sure. Okay, all right. So we're good. All right, thank you. I believe. And your life is about to go to another level.
00:03:15
Speaker
You know, that God loves us so much. And he's his dream for every single person, for you, is to have a a beautiful life. When I say beautiful, I'm talking about a life with meaning.
00:03:30
Speaker
And you live a life of purpose. ah you you You are on top of ah every situation. yeah You know what I'm saying? You're always in charge of anything that to do with about your life or things around you.
00:03:47
Speaker
that's what God made you for you to be the governor of your territory, yall your area. You need to know your role in the kingdom of God.
00:03:59
Speaker
You know, God never gave birth to losers. Do we agree? Yeah, absolutely. Do you agree with me? just agree. He never gave birth to losers.
00:04:10
Speaker
He gave to a birth to victorious. Yeah, and and I think too, just to your point, is that no matter what the situation is, God always has a purpose and a plan, and sometimes it's easy. for us to get so discouraged where we are. But remember, everything that God put in the Bible, they weren't just nice stories to read. Even the Old Testament, we're supposed to learn from from what's in there, right? So, you sometimes just take a step back instead of saying, oh, I know the story. Remember, when Joseph got thrown into prison,
00:04:46
Speaker
Look, he had been sold into slavery, and then he's thrown into prison, and he had had this word that, like, everyone was going to bow down to him. was going to be this great ruler. Well, it looked like the exact opposite happened. The opposite, yeah. But do you know in prison, and even when he was serving as a slave, he never got discouraged. He never stopped serving God. Amen. But he put his hand to what was in front of him.
00:05:09
Speaker
Listen, in prison, He put his hand to what was in front of him, and the favor of God came upon him and lifted him him up into a place of leadership in prison. Amen. Right? ah So many of us would be so quick to get discouraged. Or what about Paul when Paul got arrested, right? I'm sure that Satan was like excited about like this. He's stopping this amazing, apostle and then he tries to kill him in a shipwreck but God's like I'm going to use that to bring the gospel and convert an entire island to Christianity right so you see that no matter what's going on don't get discouraged because nothing the enemy can do can stop the plan of God if you will just keep holding on yeah by faith to what was spoken, to what God has for the purpose of your life. No matter what situation you're in, no matter where you are, God will use you and there's nothing that is too great for God. God is not shocked by anything that happens.
00:06:07
Speaker
Right? is now And he has a plan for you. So I just wanted to encourage you with that. Don't get discouraged no matter how bad you think your situation is. um Sometimes we make our situation in our minds so horrible. But if we take a step back, I mean, I don't know about you, but I have never been stoned to the point where people thought I was dead and just left. Right. That's never happened to me. So I'm doing pretty good.
00:06:32
Speaker
Right. i No, I agree. I'm umm i'm listening to you. Ah, this is so powerful. You know ah know, if you go back to the, the from the the Scriptures, you know, the the Old Testament to the New, you're going to see, you know, ah you're going to see the hand of God in everyone's life. Yes. You know, and, you know, God is a god is ah an investor.
00:07:05
Speaker
He poured into your life to make you like Him, and He has made you like Him to begin with anyway. And we we it that's that's the reason why we are saved. Jesus came to bring us back to our first position You know, ah that place of ah power and authority so we can govern, so we can dictate things that happen around us.
00:07:34
Speaker
We should never, I don't believe that Christians should be, you know, ah should be under or should be so subject to every situation.
00:07:44
Speaker
I don't believe that. Because the new creation, the new creature that God made by, that came alive, from the resurrection is superior to Satan, is superior to sin. That's not sin. that's that's if That's what the Bible says.
00:08:05
Speaker
Now, I know some people say, oh, we are human. Who told you that? What did you get that from? The man that was a human died.
00:08:17
Speaker
The Bible says that. Jesus died. The Bible says your own nature has died with Him.
00:08:27
Speaker
It was buried. And on the third day, God brought Him back to life. That is a new creature. So your own nature has died with Christ. So don't bring it back to life.
00:08:43
Speaker
And no wonder that the Bible says, Paul said, when I came to you, you know, sometimes people don't want to some people they don't want to grow in the things of the Spirit. They just want to, they love drinking skim milk. You got to choose some, so you guys yeah you have you need to break some bones your teeth Well, they don't want to grow up and yeah use their faith on their own. They want someone else to always pray for them, someone else to always encourage them, someone else to always teach them the Word. yeah um but And we need pastors and we need that that leadership, but the Bible says you don't need any man to teach you. Why? Because you have the Holy Spirit. The holy Spirit. You have the best teacher on earth, right, living on the inside of you, and He can open up the Word. Now, we need those other things, but we can't rely on them. We have to have our own relationship with Jesus. That's why, you know, that's why James said, look, faith without works is dead, because if the faith that, the words that you've heard, if you just hear them, and it doesn't impact your life,
00:09:44
Speaker
you're not a doer of the Word, then it's pointless. man Jesus said it's like building your house on sand because you have no root, no foundation, so you can't weather those storms. You have to learn how to be able to stand on your own to weather the storms. if you want to know, see, the Scripture was given so we can locate ourselves in the Bible.
00:10:05
Speaker
Now, if you go the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 alone, that chapter yeah tells us that anything that these you know people went through, then they came out victoriously. yeah yeah So that tells us why why why God gave us ah those ah testimonies. so so we so we saw you So you can know for yourself that no matter what you are going through, you are not subject to none of these noises around you. Well, and I love that it says in Hebrews 11, going into 12, it says, Now seeing that you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
00:10:51
Speaker
I'm going to paraphrase. Don't be so easily um pulled away by sin. You know, there's a reason the Bible calls it a fight of faith. it is It's a fight of faith. You have to put effort in.
00:11:05
Speaker
Paul talks about, you know, how he trains himself just like an athlete does because he wins wants to win a prize. In other words, if you're just complacent, you're not going to be in first place. You're not going to do everything God's called you to do. If you're not fighting, if you're not advancing, look, the kingdom of God suffers violence, right?
00:11:27
Speaker
That means you got it violence is coming against you. You got it. that means but Wow, I'm excited for this. so see im Okay, oh let's go, let's go. Sorry, sorry. the violent who? That's us. We're supposed to be violent in the realm of the spirit, not in the natural. The the violent take it by force. Because remember, Satan goes around like a roaring lion looking at who he can devour. In other words, who is not going to fight me? Who is going to allow me to take ground? That's why the Bible says give no place to the enemy. That's your responsibility. i You have to fight. and give no place to the devil. He's already defeated. Yes. And you know, that is that you you have to make up your mind. What do you want? That's that's the question i always ask my myself. Why do I really want in this life? yeah
00:12:18
Speaker
You know, do you like the condition of your life? Do you like how things are going on in your life? Or do you want to see things get changed in your life?
00:12:28
Speaker
This is an honest question. Are you enjoying your life? ah you Are you living out the life that Jesus brought to us? If you find yourself that things are not where you really want them to be, you can change it.
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah. You can make a difference. Yes, and and remember, that the Bible says the mercies of God are new every morning. So, it doesn't matter what happened yesterday, grab hold of that scripture in Isaiah, old things are passed away because it's true.
00:13:03
Speaker
When you accept Jesus, and here's the thing, you know, sometimes people say, oh, you repent once and then. No, live a repentant life. Be quick to repent because God's mercies are new every morning. man So, if you make a mistake or you're not where you want to be, you wake up and you decide. All right, look, look, look there that's a powerful statement. Let let let me teach you something.
00:13:24
Speaker
It's number one reason why the blood of Jesus is sealed upon the mercy seat, so you can have mercy every day. amen Remember, The air that we breathe is full of sin.
00:13:37
Speaker
We buy from sinners. Everywhere you go, you're going to see somebody who's not living right for Jesus. So, we are in contact with, you know, they ah the sinful or atmosphere everywhere we go.
00:13:51
Speaker
So, it is the blood of Jesus that has, because of the blood of Jesus upon our lives that separates us from you know the sinful atmosphere. That's why we bring the light, to make changes. yeah The blood of Jesus upon the mercy seat for you, for us. So, you are no so remember, I think because of lack of understanding that sometimes people a lot of people struggle to understand the Gospel. yeah The Gospel has brought to you, okay, a perfect, a beautiful life in Christ Jesus.
00:14:29
Speaker
The new creation that you anyone can become or you have become is not subject to sin. yeah The Scripture says sin Listen to this, Book of Romans, chapter 6. It says, Sin shall have no power over you.
00:14:51
Speaker
So, why does the Bible say that? Why did the Holy Spirit mention that and from the Scripture? Because you are not subject to sin. you k you Why? Because you have righteousness on the inside.
00:15:03
Speaker
you have a life that is superior to the life of sin. yeah So and many are subject to sin and because they're not living out the the like the righteous life that God has given to them. and Many people are so conscious about their sinful nature. You're right. Well, and even look at Jesus when He was looking at the Pharisees and the sinner, right? And He said, you know what?
00:15:31
Speaker
I prefer this sinner here because they've come truly repentant and instead of the Pharisee who came with this righteous attitude of I'm doing everything right. No, God wants us to have a soft heart, a heart of repentance. That does not excuse sin, but what it says is if you make a mistake, you come to God with a repentant heart.
00:15:51
Speaker
He is quick to forgive. And I love, here's the thing, God hasn't changed. He was the same in the Old Testament as He is in and the New Testament. And I love, this is one of my favorite verses, in the book of Jonah.
00:16:03
Speaker
Remember after novi Nineveh did not get destroyed, he was not happy. And jo this is what Jonah says, Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager. Listen to this. God is eager to turn back from destroying.
00:16:31
Speaker
people So, in other words, God doesn't want to destroy people. He's eager to provide forgiveness. He's eager to forgive you. And that was true in the Old Testament, even more in the New Testament, it be because now we're under the blood of Jesus. So, when He sees us, He doesn't see us. Our sin's been cleansed by the blood. But even in the Old Testament, David,
00:16:52
Speaker
he had an affair, and then had a man killed on purpose, but he repented. His heart was right with God. He got his heart right. God forgave him. So no matter what you've done or where you are, just decide. Amen. Okay, Father, I thank you. Your mercies are new. I repent. I turn away. All right, let me ask this question, though. I feel like I need to ask this question.
00:17:16
Speaker
who Who should, you know? I i can't ask myself that question. All right, ask yourself. Are you going to answer yourself? Holy Spirit is going to answer us all of us. What is repentance? What is the meaning of repentance?
00:17:28
Speaker
Very simple. It's not hard. You don't need to beat yourself down to cry over, you know i know what I'm saying? It's very simple. Question, do you really want to change?
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah. If you really want to change, change the way you live your life. Yeah, because repentance is not saying I'm sorry. It's turning away with it. It's turning away from how you used to to the new life.
00:17:57
Speaker
Okay, very simple. it is Now, somebody say, oh you don't know what I'm going through. It's hard for me. let me i have good news for you. That is the reason why we have the Holy Spirit.
00:18:10
Speaker
See, god God is awesome. He knew that you cannot repent or live a life of repentance by your own strength. yeah And He gave
00:18:23
Speaker
us the Holy Spirit, who helps us. That's His ministry. He's the only one who can direct or give you wisdom and empowers you so you can live a life of righteousness in Christ Jesus. yeah So, anything... is See, if you are living your life outside of Jesus,
00:18:47
Speaker
you will never see victory in your life. You've got to be in Christ Jesus to experience the victory. Amen. you know You know, I thought about another Scripture says, if if any man sin, listen to this, if any man sin, we have a lawyer before our Father.
00:19:09
Speaker
I love that. yeah That means that sin is not part of it. It means that if in case this happened to anybody, It says, if any man sin, we have an advocate before your Father which is in heaven.
00:19:26
Speaker
So, sin is not compulsory. You don't have to sin. yeah You don't have to do this nonsense because... Well, something I have also observed my life, most of the time, when we don't spend time with Him, or we don't read the Bible, we don't...
00:19:47
Speaker
ah ah practice or do spiritual things, that's when we walk away from, you know, we begin to s sin against Him. You're absolutely right. Yeah, that's to the cure for a life of right or ah righteousness and stay in that relationship, stay in a relationship with Him 24 hours a day. When you pray, you got to pray. You have to read the Bible yeah and let Him speak to you. Whatever He asks you to do, get it done. You know, I love about Mary.
00:20:22
Speaker
Mary came to the disciple or at the wedding when you know Jesus turned dirty water to wine. If you didn't know, that water is not clean water. It was the foot washing water, right? Yeah. yeah You got read it.
00:20:36
Speaker
It was of the...
00:20:40
Speaker
And they drank it. and yeah Oh, blessed Jesus. Yeah. So Jesus knew his son, Jesus. Okay, um Mary. Mary knew Jesus. Okay. And she said to them, he knew that these people are religious people. They like to argue.
00:21:03
Speaker
That's the reason, because if you read your Bible, they the religious people love to fight for no reason.
00:21:13
Speaker
And Mary knew them because according to the Old Testament, they they are so religious. as ah where he She knew that Jesus was going to ask something crazy, you know, that is not normal to the mind.
00:21:26
Speaker
But in the spiritual realm, it's correct. So she said, whatever He asks you to do, do it. Don't argue, don't debate, just get it done.
00:21:40
Speaker
and thank God. I believe that Mary was type of the Holy Spirit. He said, whatever Jesus asked, get it done. So, you see, and when Jesus came, He asked them, He gave them instruction, and they did it. What happened? A miracle happened.
00:21:58
Speaker
Wow, that's what happened with with us. Yeah, well, and I love that Paul also gave very clear instructions along the same lines in Galatians 5, he says, so I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
00:22:13
Speaker
Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is the opposite of the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the nature, ah the sinful nature wants. So, it says they're in contrary to, the right? They're in fighting with each other because they aren't compatible. You can't have both. That's why the Word of God is so important because the Word of God goes in and it separates what's of the soul and what's of the spirit. You need that. The Holy Spirit does the same thing. He gives you desires for the things of the spirit. And when you follow him, you'll end up where you're supposed to be. Amen, amen.
00:22:55
Speaker
And then it tells you, look, you can tell, you can look at a person just like you were saying, you can see their fruit. Verse 22, but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit. In other words, if you're a person who is being led by the Holy Spirit, your life is going to show this kind of fruit.
00:23:13
Speaker
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then verse 25 says, since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our life. Amen, amen.
00:23:32
Speaker
Wow. wow let the Holy Spirit lead you. Yes, He's the answer. He's the answer. You know, can I say one more thing? Yeah. Because sometimes I hear people quote this, where Paul says, oh you know, why is it that I do what I don't want to do? And you know you know what I'm talking about Yeah. People will quote that and say, see, sometimes we just do what we don't want to do. But, you know, it keep reading.
00:23:56
Speaker
Don't pull that scripture out. Read what he says next. He says... Thank God the answer is Jesus Christ. So he said, in other words, the answer to not living in that sinful nature, not doing what you don't want to do all the time is Jesus. jesus He wasn't saying, hey, we just keep living that way. He said, no, look, I've been through that too, but now I have Jesus, so I don't have to live that way. And and that's a Pastor Chelsea paraphrase. But go read it for yourself. You know, I think the more you the more you read the scriptures,
00:24:30
Speaker
the more you don't want to sin. yeah You know what I'm saying? iss like It's like you don't want to offend God. You don't want to bring anything that, you know, it's like not nothing like, wow, the love of Jesus. You don't want to do anything to make, to hurt His feelings.
00:24:50
Speaker
So the cure for a life of sin especially for those who we that have believed the gospel is to stay in constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God, you're always in a place of peace, blessings only.
00:25:15
Speaker
Now, I'm not saying that you may not you may not face any challenge, that the enemy will try his best to discourage you or to make you feel like, you know, your life, you are living empty life. No, that's the reason why it is a fight of faith. You got to stay in the game.
00:25:32
Speaker
Okay, the Holy Spirit came to help us so we can live a life of victory. So you have to let Him lead you. You have to let the Holy Spirit guide you in the way that you should go.
00:25:44
Speaker
So I'm going to encourage you. Maybe you are going through a lot since January, things that you have prayed. Nothing manifests yet.
00:25:57
Speaker
So doesn'st mean that means that, you see how how many days i ahead of you before the end of 2020, 26? twenty six yeah You got a long way to go. So don't be discouraged.
00:26:08
Speaker
For those who are dealing with a sinful act, just repent. I ask a question, do you want to keep doing what you've been doing?
00:26:20
Speaker
Do you like it? The wages of sin is death. yeah Just be honest with yourself and ask. Put aside your pride. Sometimes pride can be on the way that people don't want to repent. Amen. You're right.
00:26:33
Speaker
Cast out that spirit of pride. Just humble yourself and say, Father, I did it wrong. Forgive me. And call up upon the name of Jesus, and He will forgive you. And ah if you walk if you are living, you are walking in the Spirit, again, that's that's what the Bible says, if you we walk in the Spirit, we will now fulfill the loss of the flesh. Yes.
00:26:57
Speaker
Simple. That's the cure. And the good news is, he says, if you sin, we have the lawyer with the Father to forgive you.
00:27:08
Speaker
So, I want to encourage you. The time is right for you to and go to your daddy and through the Holy Spirit and pray. Just repent.
00:27:19
Speaker
yes If any man sin, we have you have the lawyer who is de defending you. It's one of the reasons why we have you have the blood of Jesus upon the mercy seat for constant forgiveness and cleansing.
00:27:31
Speaker
So and be excited about your life. square your shoulder and um and be excited about your life. but Now, if you don't know Jesus, if you are not born again, you are in a mess.
00:27:45
Speaker
for now. But the good news is that the Bible says, Whosoever call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus went to the cross in your place, so you don't have to go, you don't have to be subject to sin, so you can live a life a life of peace, a life of righteousness. So, you must submit your life to Jesus for you to experience the beauty of this kingdom, and the Holy Spirit has come,
00:28:10
Speaker
and speaking to you now is asking you, let me come into your house. Let me help you to live this glorious life in Christ Jesus. So be encouraged.
00:28:21
Speaker
Your time, your best days are ahead of you. And I pray that the Holy Spirit touch your life in a special way. And I'm excited to see what God is about to do with you. Amen.
00:28:37
Speaker
We believe this message has been a blessing to you. John 3, 16 says, for God so loved the world, and that includes you. The miracle of Jesus's death brought salvation to your doorstep.
00:28:50
Speaker
If you're ready to receive it, let's pray together. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. I believe with my heart that God raised him from the dead for my justification, and I confess that Jesus is Lord over my life.
00:29:07
Speaker
I receive righteousness into my spirit. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving my sins. Jesus didn't wait for people to come to him. He went to them. thanks to you, our partners, so do we.
00:29:22
Speaker
You've helped take church beyond four walls and into real lives. If you're not giving monthly yet, join us. Let's keep going where Jesus