Hey, man, welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
As you find your seats, we're going to sing song number 296 as our first song.
Song number 296, follow on, and let's all stand together, if you are able to, for song
number 296.
We're going to sing it on that first verse.
Down in the valley with my Savior I would go,
Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow.
Everywhere He leads me I would follow, follow on,
Walking in His footsteps to the ground, be one.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere, everywhere I would follow on.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on.
Down in the valley with my Savior I would go,
Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow.
With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear,
Danger cannot frighten me because my Lord is near.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere, anywhere I would follow on.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on.
Down in the valley or up on the mountain sea,
Close beside my Savior, my Savior, my Savior.
He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod,
Up to where they gather on the hills of God.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere, everywhere I would follow on.
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus.
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Dear God, my Father, we thank you so much for God for just allowing us to be here in your house this morning.
Lord God, I pray that you would please just bless every soul that's here.
I do pray that you would please also just bless our service, Lord God.
I pray that you would please just bless us, singing unto you, Lord God.
And I pray that you would also just be with our pastor,
be with him as he preaches your word unto us.
I pray that you would please just help him, Lord God, to preach what you want him to preach,
and guide him through the scriptures, bring to remembrance of the things that he has studied.
And I pray that you would please just be with us in the congregation, Lord God,
that we would take the sermon to heart, Lord God, and change the way we're living, Lord God.
I pray now these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
You maybe see the song number 397, Little is Much.
Song number 397 there in your hymnals is our second song.
You see it on that first verse.
In the harvest field now ripened, there's a work for all to do.
Hark, the voice of God is calling to the harvest calling you.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
In Jesus' name does the place you're called to labor.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
In Jesus' name does the place you're called to labor.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
In Jesus' name are you laid aside from service, body, wound, from toil and care.
You can still be in the battle, in the sacred place of prayer.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame.
There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go.
In Jesus' name.
Alright, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 197 singing as I go.
If you want to get that ready in your songbooks, 197.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Important information on there.
Of course, our services are as follows.
Sunday morning is at 1030.
Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock.
We are currently studying the book of Matthew on Thursday evenings.
We want to encourage you to be here for that.
We are a family integrated church, and so infants and children stay with their parents in the service.
But for your convenience, in case your children get a little fussy, maybe get a little out of hand,
you can take them to the mother baby room located in the back of the building.
Should your child need some diversion, of course there's changing tables, speakers and screens available there as well.
So you can still tune into the service and the preaching and bring them back in at your discretion.
And then you see the soul winning times and teams.
The list of expecting mothers, if you can keep them in prayer.
And then the important reminders there at the bottom.
Please make sure that you're supervising your children in the building.
No children should be in the mother baby room or any other room alone without their parents.
So please keep that in mind.
And of course, no men allowed in the mother baby room or in the women's fellowship restroom.
So men, if you have diaper duty during the service, you can utilize the restroom that's right here by the kitchen.
And if you need to take your kids out during the service because maybe they're being a little fussy,
you can utilize the foyer and there's a speaker and screen available in there as well.
So just keep that in mind.
Some of the upcoming church events.
Homeschool Park Day is on Friday, October 27th.
And then Melissa Pays Baby Shower is coming up on Sunday, October 29th.
Fall program begins on Sunday, October 29th as well.
And that's going to be exciting.
I want to encourage everyone to invite their family, friends, coworkers on that day.
We want to have a big day.
We actually want to break record attendance.
Our record attendance so far has been 168, not including the ordination that we had when we started the church.
And we had about like 200 people or something that day.
But we're not going to count that.
We're counting just literally people who have brought people to our church for a big day.
And so I want to encourage you to do that.
And we're going to have a first, second and third prize winner for those who bring the most friends and family members, coworkers.
Most visitors on that day will receive a prize.
And so we'll give you more info about the fall program as we approach that date.
And then the men's prayer night is coming up on Friday, November 3rd.
That'll be at 7 p.m. at the church building here.
And then one last announcement that's not on here is that the Christmas program practice will begin after the service.
I think they said about 10 minutes after the service and the last until about one.
Is that correct or twelve thirty? Yes.
Twelve thirty, twelve forty five is when it concludes. So if you could do us a favor, you can fellowship for a little bit in here.
But ten minutes in, we need to make our way into the fellowship hall because they're going to utilize the auditorium to practice for the Christmas program coming up in a few months.
And so keep that in mind. And then you see there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee.
Please make sure you're not loitering in the four year fellowship hall during the preaching service.
And then quiet time is this afternoon from three p.m. to four fifteen throughout the whole building.
Lights will be turned off. Get some rest before the p.m. service.
And then lastly, please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
And that is it. Let's go to sing our next song. One hundred and ninety seven singing as I go.
Song number one hundred and ninety seven singing I go.
We'll see you on that first verse. The trusting heart to Jesus clings. Sing it out.
The trusting heart to Jesus clings.
But at the cross of Calvary.
Singing I go along this road.
Praising the Lord.
Singing I go along this road.
Has lifted my loads.
The passing days bring many cares.
Fear not.
I hear him say.
And when my fears are turned to prayers.
The burden slips away.
Singing I go along this road.
Praising the Lord.
Singing I go along this road.
Jesus has lifted my load.
Tells me of my father's love.
And never slobbering I.
King above will all my needs supply.
Singing I go along this road.
Praising the Lord.
Singing I go along this road.
For Jesus has lifted my load.
When to the cone of grace I flee.
I find the promise true.
The mighty arms upholding me.
Will bear my burdens too.
Singing I go along this road.
Praising the Lord.
Singing I go along this road.
For Jesus has lifted my load.
Amen. Wonderful singing.
At this time our ushers will be receiving the offering.
And please turn your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
1 Thessalonians 5
The Bible reads,
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day.
We are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love,
and for in helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you,
and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,
and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake,
and be at peace among yourselves.
And we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,
comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
See that none render evil for evil unto any man,
but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing,
in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit, despise not prophesying,
prove all things, hold fast that which is good,
abstain from all appearance of evil.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,
and I pray to God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithfulness he that calleth you who also will do it.
Brethren, pray for us.
Read all the brethren with an holy kiss.
I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Let's pray to the Lord God.
I just ask that you would be with Pastor Mejia now.
Please strengthen him and please just fill him with your Holy Spirit
and bless the preaching to our edification.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, we're in 1 Thessalonians 5 this morning
and the title of my sermon this morning is
A Threefold Strategy Against Sin.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23.
It says, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,
and I pray to God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course the Apostle Paul, when addressing the church at Thessalonica,
is essentially saying that he wants and his desire and obviously God's desire
is that we as Christians would be sanctified throughout our lives,
that we would live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
and that we would be preserved blameless entirely.
He says not just in spirit but also in body
and he says the soul as well which I believe is used interchangeably
to describe the heart or even the mind.
And he says to be preserved blameless.
In other words, that we as Christians obviously want to live a life that's pleasing unto God
until the coming of Christ. Right?
We don't want to just have a short-lived Christian life where we're serving God
and then we just backslide, we get involved in sin,
we get involved in that which is displeasing unto the Lord.
We want to endure until the end. Right?
We want to please God and serve him and keep sin out of our life until the very end.
Now let me just say this is that obviously we understand that as Christians,
even though we're saved, it doesn't mean we're sinless. Right?
It doesn't mean that we're completely absent of sin.
That's actually impossible.
We're always going to sin this side of eternity and in fact the Bible specifically says
that there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
The Bible tells us that there is none that doeth good, no, not one,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So the Bible specifically teaches us that even though we are redeemed,
we're saved, we have eternal life, we're always going to sin this side of eternity
because we have these corruptible flesh.
We're in the presence of temptation, generally speaking in this world,
until the day that we die or until Christ comes back and redeems our physical bodies.
So even though we are saved and redeemed, we're forgiven of all sins,
sin is just something that we're going to combat all the days of our life.
So either you're combating sin or you're just allowing yourself to give into it,
you're allowing yourself to be overcome by it, to be run by it.
And so God's will for your life is not only that you believe right,
it's important that we have the right doctrine, it's important that you believe right,
but it's also important that you do right.
It's important that we believe right, but you know what,
it's just as important to God that you live right and that you do right.
Those should go hand in hand, one with another.
What good is it for you to believe the right doctrine,
understand all of the intricacies of end times Bible prophecy,
understand all the intricacies of the first principles of the doctrines of Christ,
but you're living a sinful life.
It's not pleasing unto the Lord.
God specifically commands us to be holy as He is holy.
This is a command from God and it's a battle that we're constantly going to have.
So even though you may not have outward battles at this time against others, against Satan,
maybe you're not in a season where you're battling particular people in your life,
you're always going to have this perpetual battle with your flesh.
And that is a battle that is a continuing battle this side of eternity.
You battled Him today.
You will battle Him tomorrow.
You'll battle Him throughout this week.
And from the looks of it, most people here won the battle,
at least that would come into church, right?
Because the flesh doesn't want to come to church.
The flesh doesn't want to come here biblical preaching
and do that which is pleasing unto the Lord.
So the fact that you're here basically shows that you've won that particular battle.
So it's always a good way to start off the week, amen?
Like if you want to guarantee yourself a good week of just victory over the flesh
and over the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
the best thing to do is start off your week in church,
hearing biblical preaching, singing the hymns, getting the fellowship in.
That way you set yourself up for success.
So He says there to be sanctified holy, meaning entirely, in spirit, soul, and body.
Now turn with me if you would to 1 John 1 if you would, 1 John 1.
I'm going to give you a three-fold strategy against sin this morning.
And the reason it's three-fold is because in my experience with me personally
and with Christians in general, often when Christians try to combat sin,
they end up becoming very defeated only because their tactic or their strategy is only one-sided.
They think to themselves, well, if I just read enough Bible, it'll keep me out of sin.
Or if I just listen to enough preaching, that's going to keep me out of sin.
And obviously that's one element, but people seem to forget the word mind, body, and spirit.
We need all three units to be involved collectively to defeat sin.
Now the one who should be spearheading the operation is obviously the spiritual, right?
That's the most important one.
Are you saying that the body should be involved?
Well, I mean, don't you know people out in the world who have overcome alcohol without God?
Triple-A is the thing when your car breaks down, right?
I forget which one.
Anonymous or triple-A, you know, whatever.
Whatever works for you, you know?
And, you know, they're free of...
...sense that has kept them from that particular habit, you understand?
And so it's important for us as Christians to implement all three of these
and attack all three sides or approach sin from all three aspects in order to gain victory.
Because I've met a lot of Christians that are just like, I don't know what's wrong with me.
I'm reading the Bible. I love the Lord.
But I just keep falling into the specific sin.
Is it because I don't love God or what is it?
Well, it's because you're not implementing this three-fold strategy against sin.
You've got to involve all three elements of your being in order to defeat and conquer a specific sin in your life, okay?
So this morning I want to address the fight against sin from the spiritual, physical, and mental perspective.
And in order to overcome a specific sin in our life, a sinful habit of sorts, all three aspects of our being have to be involved.
So let's talk about the first one.
The first one being the most important, which is the spiritual, okay?
Now let me just by way of introduction regarding the spiritual, let me just explain a couple of things here.
Because sometimes people get confused regarding this.
And that is when we get saved, the Bible specifically says,
The Bible specifically says,
So the Holy Spirit, His role in salvation is that when we believe on Jesus Christ, He indwells the believer.
But not only indwells Him eternally, He's actually used to regenerate the dead spirit that resides within a person.
Every individual without Christ has a dead spirit within them, okay?
And in fact, this is why the Bible says that people are dead in their trespasses and sin.
And Ephesians 1 tells us,
So if you believed on Jesus Christ for salvation today, if you're saved today, that means you're quickened.
You have a living spirit within you.
The whole world has a dead spirit.
People without Christ, they don't have a living spirit within them.
Their spirit is dead, it's been slain by the law, and that's a sermon in and of itself.
So really, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, who's sealed there until the day of redemption.
But you also have what's known as the new man, or the inward man, the new spirit, the living spirit within you as well.
So within Bruce Mejia, you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within me until the day of redemption.
But you also have the inward man who's alive as well.
And this is why the Bible says that the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Referring to the fact that the Holy Spirit bears witness with my new man that I am a child of God, I am redeemed.
And so that's important to note there.
It's not just the Holy Spirit that dwells within you if you're saved, it's also the new man, the inward man.
Now let me read to you a couple of verses before we get into 1 John 1 regarding the new man.
He says in Psalm 51 verse number 10, David's speaking here, a psalm of repentance after his adultery and murder.
He says here, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
So one of the most important things for you to do if you're going to overcome a specific sin in your life,
if you don't want to be characterized by these specific sins or sins that you may be struggling with,
is you've got to be renewed. Now what does that mean? You've got to be made new.
And a lot of times Christians, they fall into a specific sin and they're just like, I don't know how to get right with God.
I just don't know how to fix this. Well, you have to be renewed in the sense of you have to be determined,
okay, well, I've got to start again. Renewed means just to start again, to start new again.
And sometimes, and here's a really carnal example, but this is just an example that I know really well.
And that is when it comes to eating healthy or dieting. I don't really like to use diet because I don't diet, I live it.
But you eat a specific diet for whatever reason, you're trying to lose weight or you're trying to make gains or whatever it may be.
And you fall off the wagon. You go to McDonald's. This is a personal testimony, right?
And sometimes what Christians do is they fall off the wagon and they're just like, forget it. I'm just going to go all in.
And then they just go deep into sin. The cake and all that good stuff, they have Thanksgiving early type of a thing, right?
Because they just think, well, I failed, I messed up, you know, I might as well just go head first and just drown in the sorrow and pleasure of bad food, right?
And they excuse that. And that's happened to me in times past.
But what they fail to realize is that, you know, your life isn't characterized by just a failure, by just one bad day, right?
Just because you fell off the wagon and you had some terrible food, some double quarter pounder or whatever it may be, doesn't mean you just got to keep eating that every single day thereafter, right?
Be renewed. The next day say, you know what, I fell off, but you know what, I'm going to diet myself today and I'm going to, you know, fast or go run or cycle or do something to get this out of my system and start eating right from here on out.
And so a lot of times people just get defeated only because they don't realize the importance of just being renewed in the Spirit, okay?
Or today's a new day, I'm going to be renewed. I don't have to be characterized today by what happened yesterday.
I'm going to allow myself to be renewed, to be created within me a new heart and just get right with God.
So aside from being renewed in the Spirit, it's important that in the Spirit we also confess our sin, okay?
We're talking about the spiritual strategy against sin. You have to, number one, be renewed, but also confess your sin. What does that mean?
You know, when you commit a sin, it's important that you immediately just confess it before the Lord.
Keep short accounts with God, right? And you say, well, why? He already knows I did it.
Well, because God requires for us to come into agreement with Him that we've committed that sin, right?
I mean, you think of when Adam and Eve fell and they hid themselves in the trees.
You know, God came in the cool of the day and said, where art thou, Adam?
Now, did He say that because He just didn't know where He was at? He's just like, where's this guy?
What did He want? He wanted a confession from Adam. He wanted him to admit that essentially he sinned and that he disobeyed the Lord.
Well, in like manner on a day to day basis, even though we're forgiven of past, present and future sins, we still sin every single day.
And it's important that when we get right with God, when we are renewed in our spirit, that we just are honest with the Lord and say,
Lord, I've sinned in this area and forgive me. I want to confess and forsake this immediately.
You say, why is that important? Well, because when you accumulate unconfessed sin, you're on your road to backsliding.
And ultimately, you stay in that condition for a long period of time, eventually you'll be out of church.
You'll stop reading your Bible. You'll stop taking care of your spiritual responsibilities.
Why? Because sin chips away at a person bit by bit, little by little.
It's an incremental change that takes place over a long period of time.
And so anytime you see someone in church and then just all of a sudden they're out of church or they just stop serving God,
just just take a mental note. They were gone a long time ago because that sin, you know, was in that person.
They didn't confess that they didn't get right with God. They didn't renew their spirit.
And so they didn't keep short accounts with the Lord.
And it's for that reason that they allow that sin to fester and to grow and to get involved in other things.
And of course, the ultimate price would be death, according to the Bible.
And so it's important for us as Christians that we are renewed in our spirit.
But it's also important that we confess our sin.
You know, you sin against your spouse, aside from the fact that you're supposed to get right with your spouse,
apologize to your spouse, get right with your spouse, also get right with God.
Lord, forgive me because I've sinned, you know, and I've sinned against you.
I've sinned against my spouse and sinned against my children, sinned against my friend, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
And get it right. Keep short accounts with God.
Don't allow sin to just fester up and think, well, you know, this is just who I am.
And I'm just going to persist in this particular sin and whatever.
No, it's important that we don't allow unconfessed sin in our lives, that we get it right with God.
2 Corinthians, you don't have to turn there, chapter 4, verse 16 says,
For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Proverbs 28, verse 13 says, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper.
So don't be a delusional Christian.
You're involved in some sin and you're like, well, nothing's going to happen to me.
Nothing's happened to me as of yet.
God hasn't judged me yet.
Nothing's happened yet.
Well, you're just being delusional because God is just being merciful to you right now.
But there will come a point where it's going to come to a head and God will have to chastise you for that sin.
So it's important that we don't cover our sins thinking that we're going to prosper.
He says, But whoso confesseth and forsaketh, them shall have mercy.
So those have to go hand in hand.
It's not just a matter of confessing your sin, but it's also a matter of forsaking it as well.
This is what the Bible commonly refers to as repenting of it, right?
Turning from that sin, no longer getting involved in that particular sin.
Look at First John Chapter one and verse six.
It says, If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
What is this referring to?
Well, if you're saying that you have fellowship with the Lord, that you're right with God, but you're involved in some grievous sin, you're not doing the truth.
You're actually in darkness.
You're delusional.
You're lying to yourself.
It's not true.
Verse seven. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin.
You obviously know that we're forgiven of all sins past, present and future when we get saved.
But, folks, we accumulate spiritual dirt in this life as we walk on this earth day to day.
We maybe have a bad thought.
We say something wrong.
We do something that's wrong.
And so it's important for us to then walk in the light, confess our sins, get right with God, and he cleanses us from all that sin.
Verse eight says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
So that's a good verse for your sinless perfection crowd who wants to claim that as soon as they got saved, they just no longer sin.
They're not involved in sin, and they condemn everyone else because they're not as holy as as they are.
And everyone else falls short of the glory of them, not of God.
You know, according to the Bible, if we say we have no sin, we're actually a bunch of liars.
Why? Because at the end of the day, even when we clean up our lives, we're still going to sin.
Because at the end of the day, even the thought of foolishness is sin.
And there's instances when we sin and we don't even know that we're sinning because there's so many things in the Bible that we can sin against.
Obviously, what I'm referring to as far as the confession of sin is that which you know you did wrong.
OK, that which is clearly on your mind.
You understand you're fully aware that you're committing a particular deed that's not pleasing unto the Lord.
He says in verse nine, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
So there is a principle of daily confession of sin unto the Lord to stay right with God on a daily basis.
And it's a good illustration of this is what we find in the gospels when Jesus Christ is washing the feet of his disciples.
And I'm paraphrasing here, but you know, Peter is just like, not my feet only, but my hands and my head.
Or excuse me, he says, yeah, he says, not my feet only, but my hands, my head.
And then he the Lord basically tells them, well, if I made you clean, you're clean every whit.
In other words, I've already sanctified you. You're cleanse.
You don't have to be clean everywhere because basically you're already saved.
And the principle there that he's doing when he's washing the feet is basically saying that as Christians,
now that we're saved, we don't have to wash everything because everything's already been cleansed by God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
But we do have to wash our feet because it tracks in the dirt of this world, right?
You work in the world. You're around people who are not Christians. You're going to hear things that are unbiblical.
You're going to sometimes things seep through your eyes and ears that shouldn't be there.
You entertain thoughts. You entertain actions. You might partake of actions.
That is the dirt of this world. And it's for that reason that we need a daily cleansing of the feet, right?
The spiritual feet to stay right with the Lord.
Now go to James chapter 4 if you would.
Now let me say this is that the Spirit does not sin.
And in fact, the Bible specifically says, you're in James chapter 4.
I'm going to read to you from 1 John chapter 3 verse 9.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
And people like to take this verse to say that, see, there you go, you know, you don't sin. You can't sin.
But it says whosoever is born of God. And when we look at our being, the only aspect of our being that's actually born of God is our Spirit.
Our flesh is not born of God. Our flesh is still corruptible.
Our flesh is not going to be born of God until it's redeemed at the resurrection when we get our transfigured body.
So this is obviously referring to the Spirit that is sinless.
And this is why the Apostle Paul says, for in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
And he describes the battle between the flesh and the Spirit.
The Spirit wants to be subject unto the law of God and wants to delight in the law of God.
But then the flesh desires that which is carnal and fleshly and sinful.
And so the Spirit doesn't sin, but the Spirit does partake in the actions necessary to get you right with God.
To be renewed, to confess your sins.
Look at James chapter 4. He says in verse number 6, but he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
So according to the Bible, one sure way to overcome and defeat sin in your life is that you have to resist Satan.
And I'm not saying in the Pentecostal way or a Catholic way you're throwing holy water or something like that.
Resistance of sin from a Christian perspective is through prayer.
It's through quoting the scriptures.
It's through partaking in spiritual activities and not giving in to a specific temptation that Satan is throwing your way.
And here's the great thing is that when you resist the devil, eventually he does flee.
He'll just bombard you and bombard you and attack your thoughts and attack.
Use your temptations against you, your weaknesses against you, but you just have to keep resisting.
And ultimately, he gives up and he flees for a season.
But mark it down, he comes back.
We don't know how often, but he obviously is very much well aware of our weaknesses.
He knows what we're tempted with.
He knows our besetting sins, so to speak.
And so he will use those against us.
So it's important that we utilize the spirit to resist the devil, not your flesh.
All that Pentecostal stuff is all fleshly things.
You know, where you're fighting demons and doing whatever and you're casting holy.
Those are all fleshly things, carnal things that don't amount to anything.
They don't mean anything.
They're silly.
The spirit has to combat Satan, right?
The spirit has to resist the devil in order for him to flee.
It says in verse number eight, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.
So in the spirit, we need to make sure that we draw nigh unto the Lord.
Now, how does that look in a practical way?
Because I don't want to just tell you, hey, just get close to God.
And you're like, well, how do I do that?
You know, just do it.
Just get close to God.
That's the answer.
Drawing nigh to God requires, obviously, the most basic of Christian disciplines,
such as reading the Bible, such as coming to church.
And as I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon, you being here on a Sunday morning,
you know, that's a great victory right there because you are situating yourself
in a position where you're going to hear the word of God.
You're going to feed the spirit.
You're going to learn something.
You're going to be reminded of spiritual truths.
And in light of that, you kind of set yourself up for success in the coming days of this week.
Understand?
That's a manner of drawing nigh unto God.
But not just that.
Tomorrow morning when you wake up, read the Bible.
A way to set yourself up for spiritual success on a day-to-day basis
is that you are consuming biblical content, right?
Whether that's actually opening up the Bible and reading it
or listening to the Bible on the way to work at your home,
you have to consume the word of God.
It's important that you're taking in the Bible because the spirit needs the Bible.
He delights in the law of God after the inward man.
It's important that you're consuming large quantities of the Bible
in order to strengthen the spirit so that you can resist sin.
You know, if your spirit is weak because you're not consuming scripture,
you're not going to have enough strength to resist the devil.
You're like a pushover.
He's going to come through with his temptations and just push you over
because you have no strength to push back.
It's important you get that spiritual protein in, right?
Consuming enough protein in your spiritual metabolism
in order to be strengthened in the spirit to push back, to resist,
and then draw nigh to God as well.
So it's important that we pray.
It's important that you read the word of God.
Hey, it's important that you listen to godly music, right?
Hymns, whether that's you actually listening to the godly music
or how about this, singing godly music, lifting up your voice,
praising the Lord.
These are manners in which your spirit can get involved in the attack against sin
is that you have to situate your spirit in such a way
that he is renewed on a day-to-day basis.
You confess your sins on a daily
and that you're drawing nigh unto God through spiritual disciplines.
And I'm going to get into those disciplines in just a bit,
but those are the aspects that we need to take care of
from the spiritual perspective
as we need to be renewed, confess our sins, and draw nigh to God.
Now let's talk about the body, okay?
Go to Romans chapter 6 if you would.
The body is often referred to in the Bible as the members of our flesh.
And let me just make myself very clear is that
the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be, okay?
So the flesh can't obey God.
It doesn't want to read the Bible.
It didn't want to come to church today.
It's not going to want to get up in the morning and pray and read the Bible tomorrow.
It's rebellious, right?
It's carnal, it's fleshly, it's against the laws of God.
That's why it's important that the Spirit leads the flesh, you understand?
Don't try to make your flesh do what it's supposed to do without the Spirit
because you're not going to last very long, you understand?
You know, God commands us to be Spirit-led, the Bible says, right?
In other words, the spiritual aspect of our being
should keep our flesh in subjection and tell it what to do, okay?
Now, with that being said, how is the body supposed to get involved in order to overcome sin?
Well, I already mentioned the physical aspect of just resisting the devil,
praying through a temptation,
but here is literally the most practical way that the body should be involved
in the fight against your particular sin,
and that is remove yourself from the presence of temptation.
You have to remove yourself physically from that specific temptation,
and that's not a spiritual thing.
The spiritual thing is when your Spirit makes you do that, right?
Your body, anybody can do that.
People who are unsaved do that.
When you remove yourself from the presence of temptation, the cravings aren't there.
There's nothing to trigger the cravings to commit that particular sin.
Now, let's give a carnal illustration.
Let's talk about my sin, okay?
And as I'm joking here, I'm not really going to talk about my sin or something.
I'm talking about the sweets, okay?
You know, a besetting food sin, for me, is like cake, banana bread, you know, what else?
Nah. It's good.
Mine's more like bread stuff.
I mean, man, you guys are worse than me.
Churros are good, but I don't crave churros, you know what I mean?
What I like is just like sweet bread.
Man, you guys are all, you guys need to get out on the diet.
Yeah, yeah, conchas are good, yeah, those are good.
Just what? Muffins, blueberry muffins?
Let's just stick to blueberry muffins and let's just say banana bread and cake and pie, okay?
That's like my stuff right there, okay?
And here's the thing is that I don't really eat it very often because it's not in my house.
If it's in my house, though, I'm the boss.
So it's just like that belongs to me and I'm going to kill it all, okay?
Now, there's a person in our church who makes me banana bread every once in a while.
I'm not going to say who it is, but their last name is Hauk.
And whenever they make me banana bread, I'm like, you know, if I'm trying to be strict on my diet,
I take it home and I'm just like, man, I'm going to have to resist the devil tomorrow.
You know, like this is hard because I can kill the whole thing if I wanted to.
So typically, if I really want to be strict, what I'll do is I just won't take it with me when I go to work.
So I'll leave it on the counter, I'll go upstairs, and then in the morning when I wake up, I have a routine.
So there's specific areas in our house that I don't go through.
But there's certain things on the counter that I won't look at, and if I leave that there, I know I'm not going to eat it.
I know I'm not going to take it.
This may sound weird, but when I leave my door, everything is always on the right side.
Like my keys, shades, everything that I need.
And so I always have this habit of like backpack, keys, shades, whatever, and then I'm out the door.
But I never really turn this way to grab anything from the counter.
And that's where I put the banana bread.
So you say, well, what happens to the banana bread?
Well, my kids eat it.
And luckily, my kids will finish it so that when I come home craving that banana bread, it's all gone.
What am I saying here?
What I'm saying is that in order for me not to eat the banana bread, I can't see the banana bread.
And I want you to keep making me banana bread, by the way.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so I'm not preaching against you, okay?
In order for us not to give in to a particular sin, we can't be in the presence of that sin, okay?
And here's the thing is that every human being has what's called a will, and sometimes our will is strong.
But our will is very short-lived, though.
It's very strong, but it doesn't last very long.
So it's important that we pull that will out only in desperate times.
When you can't do anything about the presence of temptation, it's just there.
At that point, you need to kind of resist the devil and exercise your strong will to not give in to it.
But you can't live like that, though.
So if you're constantly exercising your will and you're just like, I'm just going to resist.
I'm going to go to the bar and I'm only going to have a Coke even though I'm addicted to alcohol.
It's not going to work.
Eventually, you're going to add something to that Coke.
And you're going to want to drink, if you're an alcoholic, that's how it is because you're in the presence of that temptation.
You understand what I'm saying?
So if you struggle with alcohol, keep alcohol out of your house.
That's a good way to just stop.
Here's another thing.
Stop going to places where they have alcohol.
Here's another thing.
Stop hanging around people that drink alcohol.
Why?
Because he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
And look, I'm more likely to eat something really bad if everyone's down to do it with me.
Right?
Like, you know, on a Sunday night, if I'm just trying to abstain from a particular food, but everyone's going to go eat that food and I'm already hungry.
And they're like, come on, pastor.
Come on.
For old time's sake.
I'm not going to be a stick in the mud.
I'm going to go do it.
Because it's easier to sin when you have a bunch of people sinning with you.
You understand what I'm saying?
So it's important that we're around the people that exhort us to do right.
So if you struggle with smoking marijuana, stop hanging around people who smoke marijuana.
You're like, yeah, but I live in a neighborhood where people do it.
Well, at that point, you know, you can't really do anything about that other than make sure you stay away from people like that.
You know, when you catch a whiff of that marijuana, use your strong will to resist it no matter what.
But stop hanging around people who smoke marijuana, keeping them around if you're trying to quit.
What I'm saying is, in order for us to defeat sin in our lives, the Spirit, yes, has to be involved in conjunction with removing our bodies from the presence of temptation.
Now, look, don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
We're always going to be in the presence of temptation this side of eternity.
But we can have little victories here and there, though.
You understand?
And so remove yourself from the alcohol.
Remove yourself from the person that's causing you to fornicate.
Remove yourself from that person who's tempting you to, you know, smoke cigarettes, to vape, to smoke marijuana, whatever it may be.
You know, get yourself around the people who are actually trying to succeed like you.
I would not be lifting, I'll be honest with you, initially, when I first started, I would not be lifting if I wasn't surrounded with people who were already lifting.
Because it helps, when I started lifting, it helps to kind of like talk to other people who are already lifting and they share their numbers and they talk about some of the things that they do.
Why? It kind of exhorts you to kind of stay on the path, right?
It's harder to win those battles by yourself.
You understand?
So a good part of that is just a matter of accountability.
Resist the devil.
Remove yourself from the presence of temptation.
Meaning, don't make provision for the flesh.
Now, what did I have you turn?
Did I have you turn anywhere?
Where?
Romans 6.
Okay, let's go to Romans 6.
Look at Romans 6, verse number 6.
It says,
Basically explaining our position in Christ and what that does is the fact that we are now in a position to actually overcome sin
and to be empowered by God and not to allow sin to reign over us.
And he says in verse number 11,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Go to Romans 13.
So we see here that God specifically commands us not to allow sin to reign over our physical bodies.
Even though our physical bodies are corrupt, even though they're carnal, they're not subject unto the law of God,
God commands our spiritual aspect to not allow sin to reign over our mortal bodies.
How was that done?
By removing it from the presence of temptation.
And look, this does apply to, it can apply to food in a sinful way if it's gluttony, right?
It applies to food, gluttony, it applies to alcohol, it applies to fornication.
Hey, it applies to pornography.
You know, if you struggle with this matter of pornography, it's probably because you're keeping it around.
And we'll get into the third aspect of how to overcome sins.
But you know, that's a major epidemic in the world in which we live because it's so readily accessible to the young people.
But at the end of the day, folks and young people listen to me and parents listen to me.
You know, if you don't want your child to develop a sinful habit of just constantly looking at porn,
you need to just remove their phone from them, first and foremost, because we live in a day and age where it's just on the phone, right?
But maybe you don't have parents who are strict with you like that.
Okay, then God is commanding you, young man, to subject your body and to be dead indeed unto sin to keep temptation away from you.
Maybe you need to turn in your phone to someone every day at a certain time,
whenever it is that you give in to that particular sin, to someone so that you don't commit that sin.
Keep that away from yourself.
You know, the Bible tells us that we should know how to keep our bodies in sanctification and honor.
Well, you should know how to do so.
And part of that is, you know what, maybe I need to turn in my phone to my mom.
Maybe I need to turn into my older brother.
Maybe I just need to not have a phone.
Maybe I need to have a Nokia or something, okay?
You know, be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God.
Keep temptation away from your presence.
It's the best way that you will overcome sin.
You know, there's a book that was out there, and it's not written by a Christian, but it's on the subject of habits.
Habit formation is called Atomic Habits.
And one of the things that this person said was that when you keep a specific temptation,
he doesn't use temptation, but let's say when you keep a specific temptation away from your presence,
you know, one of the reasons you don't commit that particular habit or whatever it may be is because you're just too lazy to go get it.
You know what I mean?
So it's just like, let's say I have a craving for banana bread or something, okay?
And it's not in my house.
I'm like, man, I really want it, but I don't think I'm willing to drive all the way to the store to go get it.
I'm just not going to have it.
So the harder you make it for yourself to give into that temptation, the better, right?
So maybe you need to take your phone and put it in a box and put a lock on it in a combination so that when you're tempted,
you're just like, well, I'm too lazy to even try to open up this box right now.
So, you know, hey, do what you got to do, though.
Look at Romans 13 and verse number 13.
It says, Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying,
but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
What does provision mean?
Don't feed the flesh.
If you're trying to overcome a specific sin and you're living like a defeated life,
if you're depressed and you're in anguish and grief because you're involved in a particular sin, well, stop making provision for it.
What is provision?
Meaning like you're providing the nutrients necessary for that sin to stay alive in your life.
You understand?
And, you know, there's something magical about this word.
That's that's literally what it means.
I remember I preached this sermon a while back talking about provision for the flesh and someone came to me like,
And someone came to me like,
No, no, no, listen, listen.
Pro-vision.
Pastor, pro-vision.
Remember that.
And I was like, all right, I don't know what that means, but it sounds good, man.
You know, I don't know if he thought it was just it just means like provision, like when you when God provides for us.
Right.
He's providing for our necessities.
That's what it means.
So when you provide when you're making provision for the flesh, you're providing the temptation for your flesh to give in and become defeated, etc.
David said, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.
I hate the work of them to turn aside.
What is he saying?
I'm removing temptation away from me.
OK.
And obviously, keep in mind, this is David.
So he's not being a holier than thou because we obviously know this guy had a problem with with, you know, lust and adultery and all that.
But, you know, we see here that he's actually doing something about it.
He's like, I'm not going to set wicked things before my eyes.
Go to First Corinthians Chapter 10, if you would, First Corinthians Chapter 10.
You see, it's important that we do everything that we can from a physical perspective to keep temptation out of our lives because the flesh is weak.
It's incapable of resisting temptation.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 26, you're in First Corinthians 10.
Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
OK.
And so Christians can often get caught up in this, you know, problem where it's just like, man, I don't know what to do.
I'm like, I love the Lord and I'm reading my Bible.
I'm praying.
I'm soul winning.
I'm doing all these things.
But I just keep becoming defeated with this particular sin was because your flesh is weak.
Your spirit is willing.
Your spirit is strong in a sense of, you know the Bible, you're reading the Bible, but you keep putting yourself in a position to commit that particular sin because the flesh will always be weak.
So in order to compensate for the weakness of the flesh, just remove the temptation.
OK, look at First Corinthians Chapter 10.
Before we read that, let me just mention this, because, you know, we talked about sins such as drunkenness, fornication, things of that nature, things, sins that people would commonly refer to as being like really grievous sins.
But you know, fear is also a sin.
You know, worry is also a sin.
OK.
And you may not be a person who is involved in alcohol.
You don't drink alcohol.
You don't smoke pot.
You don't do mind altering drugs.
You're not involved in fornication, but you might be just guilty of just constantly fearing, constantly afraid, constantly worried.
You're like, really, is that a sin?
Absolutely is a sin.
You know, in fact, it's one of the first people, it's one of the first people that got lists of people who are going to hell.
It says, but the fearful and unbelieving.
OK.
Why is fear a sin?
Because it's an absence of faith.
And now, which is not a faith, it's sin, the Bible says.
OK.
Now, we as human beings are just, you know, we are, we have that disposition sometimes where we just are naturally fearful.
OK.
You know, circumstances change.
You know, things change with finances.
Maybe you are struggling financially in your life.
Maybe you lost your job, you got laid off, whatever it is.
You know, things that cause us worry, you know, if we're not careful, that can cause us to become fretful and to be full of care and not exercise our faith in the Lord.
That's sinful.
OK.
Now, you say, what do I do about that?
Well, first and foremost, read the Word of God.
Whenever you're afraid, you know, God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a power, love and a sound mind.
So it's not God's will for you to just constantly be worried and fretting in your mind and what's going to happen tomorrow and I'm just so scared and I don't know what's going to happen.
No, God gave us a spirit of a sound mind.
This is a sound mind.
You know, just don't worry, be happy, you know.
That's a sound mind.
OK.
But, you know, your body, you can often subject your body to be in certain places and hear certain things that will just induce your fear.
Right?
And so it's just like, oh, no, no, I have faith in God as you're scrolling through the news and reading about the Amber Alerts and how it's going to scramble all your brain and do all types of things.
And, you know, as you're involved in every conspiracy that's out there, as you're just concerned with, you know, what's going to happen to Trump.
There's people that are like that.
You know what that does?
It induces fear and worry because you're setting your affections on things that you can't change.
You're thinking about things, structures and ideas and agendas that are out there that you can't change.
And all it does is induce fear.
It causes more worry and more fear so that when you read the Bible, you can't even pay attention how many verses you've read because all you do is thinking about what you're worried about.
And we've all been there.
Right?
Where we're reading the Bible is just like, oh, man, I can't focus.
You know why you can't focus?
Because you're too scared.
You're fearful of the future.
Okay?
And you're inducing your fear by allowing your body and your eyes and your ears to listen to talk radio, to listen to all the conspiracy podcasts, to just scroll through the news and look at all the ills and evils of this world.
I mean, there are accounts on social media only dedicated to fear mongering.
I mean, I saw this one account.
I don't know if it was like two weeks ago or something.
And it's this person who just, what they do is it's like a green screen type thing where like they're in the corner and they're showing a video behind them.
You guys know what I'm talking about?
And they're kind of just pointing to, you know what I mean?
And he's like a conspiracy guy.
I don't know what his name is.
But it's a video and it's just like, are these AI robots or are they real people?
And I don't know where it was, but it was like at some stadium.
And these people were walking around and they looked like robots.
But, folks, they're obviously, it's makeup.
You know what I mean?
They're people who just look like robots.
And they're like, oh, man, they're conditioning us.
Those are AI robots.
And they're trying to make it, I mean, the comment section was just filled with fearful people.
I said, why were you on the comment section?
Just laugh.
Just to see how gullible people are.
Because I grew up in the 90s and, you know, you can see what a movie robot would look like, okay?
And it's like, that's a person.
And, you know, they're just walking around.
And someone in the comment section with common sense said, you guys are weird.
This is a stunt promotion for a movie that's going to be coming out.
And people were like, no, it's not.
And they're just like, they're just getting on this person.
But they really, and the guy, the owner of this account, he's convinced that those are like robots.
But then a movie came out, I think it's called like The Creators or something like that, or Creator.
And it's the same exact, that's what it was.
It was a promotion.
But you know what?
That thing got hundreds of thousands of views, tens of thousands of likes.
People just worried about the Tesla bot.
You know, people were concerned about the Tesla bot.
Because they watched Terminator 2 like hundreds of times.
Most of you don't even know what Terminator 2 is.
Oh man, I'm getting old.
Okay, the young people are like, what?
You know, it's one of the most famous, you know, robot killing the world type movies, okay?
And so they're just constantly worried about, oh man, this is the end of the world and this is going to happen.
And they're just constantly fearful and worried.
And you know what?
I'm not downplaying the trial that you're going through, if you're going through a financial struggle,
if you're going through a health crisis right now.
I'm just saying, you're not making it any better by researching, you know, accounts that are simply inducing your fear.
Okay?
You know, it's at a time like that when we need to have the most faith.
It's during the most difficult times when we're really fearful that we need to increase our faith.
That means you need to be consuming more Bible, more preaching, stay off of the internet more than usual.
Why? Because we're fearful and we need to increase our faith in the Lord.
And so it's important that in order for us to defeat that sin of fear and worry, you know,
remove yourself from the presence of that podcast.
Delete the app if you have to, okay?
Well, I just got to know what's going to happen though.
Well, let me ask you this.
If your worst fear comes upon you, how are you going to be able to change any of that?
Can't change anything.
Just ride the wave.
So just read the Bible, win souls to Christ, love your family, serve the Lord, work, you know, pay your bills, and just leave it in God's hands.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10 13 says,
So according to the Bible, whatever temptation you face, there's always a way out, okay?
It's like, well, I just had no choice.
I have to give in to this particular temptation.
No, there's always a way to escape.
There's always a way to pray through it.
There's always a way to quote scripture, okay?
You know, the Bible says,
One of the greatest methods that you can use, spiritually speaking, to overcome and defeat sin is just memorizing scripture,
quoting scripture, reminding yourself of the faithfulness of God.
You know,
God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusteth in thee, okay?
And so go with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1.
Talk about the threefold strategy against sin.
The spirit has to spearhead the entire operation, be renewed on a daily basis, confess your sins on a daily basis,
and draw nigh to God through Bible and prayer and church attendance.
From a physical perspective, this is what the body has to do.
Remove itself from temptation.
Remove yourself from social media.
Remove yourself from your Facebook.
Remove yourself from the bar.
Remove yourself from your buddies that are causing you to be tempted to sin.
Remove yourself.
And then lastly is the soul.
Now, the soul is sometimes used interchangeably with the spirit,
but it's also used interchangeably to describe the mind and the heart, which is kind of like the seat of emotions, okay?
So the threefold strategy is the spirit fighting on those ends,
the body removing itself from temptation, and having the right things in the heart and in the mind, okay?
I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 4 verse 23 says,
Keep thy heart, keep meaning guard, with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
Okay?
So the Bible's commanded us, protect your heart, guard your heart, keep your heart, keep your mind.
Why?
Because once something goes into the heart and mind, it stays there, right?
You can never forget.
You can never, you know, get rid of something in your mind that's already gone in.
A song that you heard, an image that you saw, whatever it is, it stays there.
So it's important that we keep our hearts with all diligence,
meaning be disciplined in protecting your heart and mind from foreign things that can destroy you spiritually.
Look at 1 Peter 1 verse 13.
It says, Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind.
Be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So he uses this terminology of girding.
You know, in those days, they would gird up their loins when a man would go to work.
He would gird up his loins so he wasn't obstructed from positioning himself in a certain way.
If he had to run, if he had to jog, if he had to go somewhere, he would gird up his loins.
Well, here it says that we should gird up the loins of our mind.
What does that mean? Don't be careless in this world.
Don't just allow anything into your heart, into your ears and into your eyes, into your mind and into your heart.
Guard it. Gird up the loins of your mind.
And he says there, be sober, meaning, you know, don't be intoxicated.
Don't allow yourself to just be a casual drinker.
I'm just a social drinker. You know, I just have wine every once in a while.
Be sober. He says there in verse 14,
as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner and conversation,
because it is written, be holy for I am holy.
Go to Philippians chapter 4.
And folks, I know that this morning's sermon is not the most interesting sermon.
But let me just say this.
It's a very practical sermon that if you're going to last in the Christian life,
these principles need to be applied in your personal life.
Because what good is it for you to just believe all the right things,
but you just can't last in the Christian life because of some besetting sin?
It happens.
And so the practicality sometimes is boring in the Christian life, but I don't think it's boring.
I think it's necessary first and foremost.
And tonight I'm preaching on Christian superstition.
It's a fun sermon, so if you want to come back for some fun, you can come tonight.
I'll be talking about Christian superstition tonight.
But right now we're talking about how to overcome your sin of glutton.
Look at Philippians 4 verse 8.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,
if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
So the Bible emphasizes in a great manner the importance of thinking upon righteous things.
Why? Because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
So it's important that we protect our minds.
This is why God constantly wants us to saturate our minds and hearts with the word of God,
that which is virtuous, because at the end of the day,
we end up doing or becoming what we think about.
If I think about banana bread enough, which by the way I've been talking about this whole sermon,
so it just might be that I would eat it if it was in my presence, but guess what?
There's no banana bread here, so I can't do it.
So even though I'm weak in my mind right now and I'm craving banana bread, I can't do it.
It's not here. I don't know where to get it. Okay? Understand?
See, that's the body. That's the aspect of the body. Okay?
But here's the thing. The threefold strategy is that the mind has to be involved as well.
The heart has to be involved as well.
And here's where this comes in, memorizing scripture.
Now, there's different methods of memorizing scripture and different ways that people do it,
and I think whatever works for you, works for you, I think, as long as you're doing it. Okay?
Because there's instances in my life where I've literally taken chapters and just repeat chapters
and just memorized them like that, and that's worked for me.
But there's other instances where the way I memorize scripture is just by reading the Bible over and over again.
And when you read the Bible over and over and over and over and over again,
those concepts and the verses get kind of stuck in your brain and your mind. Okay?
And then it makes it easier to meditate upon those things.
Because here's the thing, folks, is that before an action is taken, you think about it. You understand?
And I'm not talking about the power of positive thinking either.
But there is something in regards to the way you think that determines how you act sometimes. Okay?
And so if you have a defeatist attitude and you constantly think about that particular lust in your life,
a thing that you covet, eventually, because you're entertaining that, you're going to end up giving into it.
But if your mind is filled with righteous things, righteous actions, then you're more likely to succeed in that area
because that's what you're thinking about. You understand?
And here's the thing, folks, is that if you got saved later on in life, your mind's been filled with a lot of filth, right, of this world.
And so now, you're like, well, you know, what am I supposed to do now because I got saved later on in life
or I didn't grow up in a Christian home. Well, here's the thing, start washing your brain, amen?
Even though a lot of those things you can't get rid of, you can file it away so far back into the recesses of your mind
that it's almost like it's gone. Because there's things in my life, there's events that happen in my life
that I literally do not remember at all until someone brings it up.
You know, someone will be like, hey, you remember this? I'm like, I don't remember that.
And they're like, it happened like this? And I'm like, no. But then they start giving more details, I'm like, oh, yeah, I just break down or something.
Because it's so far deep into the Rolodex, you know, into the filing system, the filing cabinet of my mind,
because I put it way back there. You say, well, what's all the way in the front?
The Bible, my family, righteous living, righteous thoughts, the ministry, things that are important.
I'm constantly thinking about these things, sermons and my job, everything I'm doing is all on the forefront.
So all those other things are like way, way, way in the back. So you may not be able to get rid of it entirely,
but you can file it so far back that it's hard to even bring back to memory, you know what I mean, unless someone triggers you or something.
So if you have a memory like that, by the way, for those of you who struggle with bitterness,
bitterness and anger towards other people, this is what you do.
You got to file that away as far back as you possibly can in your mind.
You say, well, how? By putting good things into your mind in large quantities.
So you can't really just like, I don't take a memory and I'm just like, all right, let me just file it out and just like pushing it back.
I'm like squeezing my brain to do it. What it is, is I'm putting, first of all, I'm putting a lot of good memories in.
I'm putting a lot of good thoughts in, putting the Word of God in. I'm singing hymns and songs and spiritual songs.
I'm working hard and making new memories. And so really that's, it just naturally goes back because I'm putting all these righteous things in.
So if you struggle with bitterness and there's things in your life that happen that cause you to be bitter,
you know, you need to start instead of talking about it all the time and just keeping it at the forefront of the cabinet.
Does anybody know what cabinets are here? Maybe I'm speaking.
You guys know what a cabinet is? A filing cabinet? You guys ever heard of a filing cabinet?
Okay, how about this? You know, on a computer, you know, on a computer you have a file, right?
And in that file, now we're talking, speaking my language, you know, you have a file and literally on a computer,
you can do like a file, until a file, until a file, until a file, until a file, right?
And this is one of my problems because sometimes when I'm making a documentary, I just create way too many files within a file.
And after a while I'm like, I don't know where that thing is, I'm like looking everywhere, okay?
So that's a better illustration there. What you need to do is just put that file all the way until a file, until a file, until a file, until a file, until a file,
to the point where you can't even find it. Hey, that bitterness you have against that person, whether they're right or wrong,
file that away so far back by putting good things into your brain that you just kind of forget about it.
Because what good is it worth constantly bringing those things up? It doesn't help your future, it doesn't help your family,
it doesn't even help your disposition in life, it makes you a miserable person, you know, it causes you to hurt,
it causes you to feel grief and anger, so why even entertain those thoughts? File it away!
Can't trash it, but you can set it so far back by putting the right things into your brain that it's almost as if you forgot it,
until someone just decides to just bring it back up again or whatever, okay?
And so it's important that we as Christians do that. So we can't get rid of the bad content that we put into our brains,
what we can do is fill our brains up with the right type of content in large quantities though, okay?
And I'm not just saying Bible content, you need to saturate your brain with good memories.
So what do you mean by that? Sometimes you just need to create good memories, new memories.
Like why have I had so many bad things happen to me? Then you know what? Stick around in church, get involved in church and create new memories.
Because honestly, even though I got saved at the age of 21, a lot of it is a blur because I have so many other saturated,
my mind is just saturated with Christian memories now. Even to the point where sometimes I'm like,
oh yeah, I grew up at this church, but I didn't grow up at that church. It just felt like I grew up at that church
because I've been a Christian and I've just saturated with my mind with memories.
I mean memories here at our church where I can't really recall things that happened when I was 17, 15 years old
because I think about the things that happened here. And so that has to be on purpose though.
I can't do that for you. People can't do that for you. You have to do it. You have to create those memories.
If you want to overcome a specific sin. See the mind has to be involved. Not just in memorizing scripture, developing godly habits,
but even in the way you treat the bad thoughts that you've had and where to put them so they don't resurface continuously.
Every once in a while someone might remind you of something and then you start seizureing and lose your brain and all that.
You just get all emotional, but just remove yourself from the presence of that person and then problem solved.
Stop hanging around the people that are constantly reminding you of what happened in the past.
I remember when you failed at this, it's just like, well, this is the last time we're hanging out.
Why don't we hang out with people who just constantly remind you of your flaws and stuff or even your sinful past.
You understand what I'm saying? I mean, there's people who kind of relish in that sometimes.
Like friends that you have or even family members where they see you succeeding in the Christian life.
You're kind of getting your life together. You're becoming a functioning member of society.
God is blessing you and they don't really like that. So what they have a tendency to do is kind of rub in your face,
yeah, but remember when we used to go out and do this?
And they kind of try to bring you down by reminding you of your past. Well, you know, get rid of those people.
I had a person like that tell me that, I don't know, a couple of years ago.
It was a friend who I had and somehow he found my number and he said, remember this?
And I just thought, actually, I don't remember it. I don't remember it at all.
And then when he finally reminded me and I remembered, I said, yeah, but that's when that's when we're really stupid though, huh?
Because we're like kids. He's like, yeah, but we're kind of like adults at that time.
I'm like, yeah, but we're acting like a bunch of stupid kids though, aren't we?
I've got a family now, man. I don't do that stupid nonsense anymore.
I just try to use stupid as much as possible in that conversation to let them know that I don't glory in that stuff.
And him trying to glory in it is just stupid to me.
When's the last time you talked to that person? That was probably the last time I talked to that person because I don't want to talk about that nonsense.
And so the mind has to develop these things.
And when it comes to Godly habits, as far as reading the Bible, praying, you just have to repetitiously do those things in your life till they become second nature.
And just as you remove yourself from the presence of temptation, making it hard to commit that thing, you have to make your Godly habits easy because we're lazy.
So we don't want to take the easy way out. Well, here's a good way to utilize that is make Godly habits easy for yourself.
You know, if you struggle reading the Bible in the morning, you just can't bring yourself to read the Bible.
Then put a timer on your phone or something in the morning where just Alexander Scorby just starts playing in the background.
Just force yourself to listen to that. Right?
If you struggle, you know, with praying in the morning, get an accountability partner to keep you accountable.
If you struggle soul winning, go soul winning on Sundays when you're already here.
And we'll get a bunch of people to peer pressure you into doing it to make it easier.
Make Godly habits easy. And when you do them, you'll do them so consistently that after a while, it's not like you have to make yourself do them.
It's like, this is just what I do.
Some of you have created the habit of coming to church so much that it's just easy for you to come to church.
It's like this. How many of you have ever driven a car, going to a destination, you know, a particular place that you always go to, and you get there and you're like, how did I even get here?
Like you switch lanes, you switch freeways, but your mind is on something else, but you're just like, well, I'm driving actually.
You guys know what I'm talking about? Because you've ridden down that road so many times, it's just kind of like second nature.
Well, that's how the Christian habits need to be. Well, then there's no heart into it. Of course there's heart into it.
And in fact, you position yourself to have more heart into it because you're not focusing on, all right, I gotta do this, I gotta do, I gotta read my Bible, I gotta pray, I gotta go to church, I gotta go to so many.
No, it's just natural to you so that you're capable of fulfilling those things by second nature.
These are the threefold strategies that we need to do as Christians to defeat sin.
Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
It's important that we conquer that specific sin in our lives. Doesn't mean you're going to conquer all the sin in your life, but you know what?
Those besetting sins that are causing you to live a defeatist life and have a defeatist attitude and are just weighing you down, this is what you need to do.
And you need to apply all three. The spiritual, the physical, and the mental. If you only have one, it's not going to happen.
You have to have all three. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you for the methods and tactics that you've given us this side of eternity to live a life that's pleasing unto you.
And we that name the name of Christ, you've commanded us to depart from iniquity, and so help us to do so on a day-to-day basis.
To die to self, to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh, to subject our bodies to do that which we wanted to do, but also to remove temptation from our presence so that we don't do that thing which is displeasing in your sight.
And we also pray that you help us, Lord, from a mental perspective to put in our minds that which is necessary to think about and to entertain godly thoughts, godly activities, or just normal productive activities that doesn't necessarily have to do with the Bible, but will also keep us from sin, Lord.
And I pray you help us to do so, and thank you so much for these promises. We love you and we thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
He rose a victor from a dark domain, and He lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Vainly they walked His bed, Jesus my Savior! Vainly they sealed the dead, Jesus my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph for His foes. He arose a victor from a dark domain, and He lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Death cannot keep His grave, Jesus my Savior!
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph for His foes.
He arose a victor from a dark domain, and He lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!