Speaker 1: Most of your unhappiness in life, most of your unhappiness
Speaker 1: in life is because you listen to you instead of God.
Speaker 1: And when you do that, you tell yourself stuff all
Speaker 1: the time that isn't true.
Speaker 2: Just because you have.
Speaker 1: A thought doesn't mean it's accurate, doesn't mean it's true,
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's correct. A lot of things you think
Speaker 1: of are not right, they're not correct. A lot of
Speaker 1: things I think of aren't right, aren't correct. In fact,
Speaker 1: a lot of things I think are actually lying to
Speaker 1: myself rationalizing where we tell rational lies to ourselves. How
Speaker 1: can I be free from me? How can I be
Speaker 1: set free from me? And the way we're going to
Speaker 1: look at this is the truths of Romans eight. I
Speaker 1: have put them in a practical way of listing seven
Speaker 1: mental habits that you need to do that will help
Speaker 1: you apply the truth of Romans chapter eight.
Speaker 2: And so we're going to look at.
Speaker 1: These seven mental habits that explain the great truths of
Speaker 1: Romans eight. Romans eight is the greatest chapter in the Bible.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's the greatest chapter. They once stood
Speaker 1: a study of Bible scholars and said, if you could
Speaker 1: only have one chapter of the Bible and you're on
Speaker 1: a desert island, which one would you take? And about
Speaker 1: ninety percent of them said I'd take Romans eight. So
Speaker 1: this is a very strong passage. The first step in
Speaker 1: being set free from me is this, I must remind
Speaker 1: myself daily what Jesus did for me.
Speaker 2: That's the starting point.
Speaker 1: I got to remind myself every day of what Jesus
Speaker 1: did for me. What is salvation? What are the benefits
Speaker 1: of it? You see, we have a lot of people
Speaker 1: who saved. You don't act like it. They run around
Speaker 1: all the time filled with shame and uncontrolled thoughts and
Speaker 1: compulsions and fear and bitterness and insecurity. And they're believers,
Speaker 1: but they're not set free from me. And the first
Speaker 1: step is you've got to remind yourself what Jesus actually
Speaker 1: did for you. And this is how the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: sets me free from shame. Let's look at these verses
Speaker 1: Romans eight one to four. First, he says, so now
Speaker 1: there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: And let me stop there before we go any further.
Speaker 1: No condemnation means God doesn't judge you for all the
Speaker 1: things you've done wrong. If you've trusted Christ, because Jesus
Speaker 1: took all that judgment on the cross, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: to judge you. Because Jesus was judged, he doesn't have
Speaker 1: to condemn you. Because Jesus took your condemnation. He took
Speaker 1: your wrap, he paid your penalty, he did your time
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: This whole passage is talking.
Speaker 1: About people who've given their life to Jesus. This doesn't
Speaker 1: apply to you if you haven't made that decision yet,
Speaker 1: But if you've received Christ into your life, the Bible
Speaker 1: says you're under no condemnation. Now, notice it doesn't say
Speaker 1: that after I become a Christian, I won't sin, You're
Speaker 1: still going to sin. It doesn't say I'm not going
Speaker 1: to make mistakes. You're still going to make mistakes. It
Speaker 1: doesn't say I'm not going to fail and look stupid.
Speaker 1: You're going to fail and look stupid. It just says
Speaker 1: you're under no condemnation. In other words, you don't have
Speaker 1: to walk around with shame. You don't have to walk
Speaker 1: around with guilt because when Jesus Christ died on the cross,
Speaker 1: he not only paid for all of the sins you
Speaker 1: committed last week, last year, and your.
Speaker 2: Entire life he committed.
Speaker 1: He's already paid for the sins that you're going to
Speaker 1: commit tomorrow, next week, and the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: They're already paid for. Now.
Speaker 1: The next part of that verse says, for the power
Speaker 1: of the life giving.
Speaker 2: Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: God's Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the
Speaker 1: power of sin that leads to death.
Speaker 2: And what does that verse mean?
Speaker 1: The second thing I remember is that because I'm a
Speaker 1: believer and I have g says, I have a new power.
Speaker 2: In my life greater than willpower.
Speaker 1: You see, before you became a Christian, the only thing
Speaker 1: you had to use against your bad habits was sheer willpower.
Speaker 2: And how long does that work? Now? Very long, he says.
Speaker 2: Now there's a new power in you.
Speaker 1: And when you want to change things in your life,
Speaker 1: it's not just if it's to be, it's up to me.
Speaker 1: It's not just my own willpower. It is God's power
Speaker 1: in me. I have been given a power greater than willpower.
Speaker 1: We're going to look at this more in the next versus.
Speaker 1: Then the next thing it says, the law of Moses
Speaker 1: could not save us because of our sinful nature. Now,
Speaker 1: laws keeping God's laws cannot save you. Guy says, well,
Speaker 1: I know I'm going to heaven. You say, how do
Speaker 1: you know? It's because I keep the Ten Commandments? I say,
Speaker 1: name them. You don't not only not keep the ten commandments,
Speaker 1: you couldn't even name all of them. If I ask
Speaker 1: you to stand up right now, you couldn't even How
Speaker 1: can you keep them if you don't even know them all?
Speaker 1: By the way, keeping laws never works, why, it says,
Speaker 1: because of our sinful nature. Laws simply work on outside behavior.
Speaker 1: They don't work on inside change. God knew that laws
Speaker 1: couldn't save us. But God put into effect a different
Speaker 1: plan to save us. He said, his own son in
Speaker 1: a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful.
Speaker 1: And God destroyed sins control over us by giving his
Speaker 1: son as a sacrifice for our sins. In other words,
Speaker 1: he gave us the power to make those changes, to
Speaker 1: forgive us and the changes. And then it said he
Speaker 1: did this, Jesus died on the cross so that the
Speaker 1: requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us.
Speaker 2: What is he saying there that Jesus.
Speaker 1: Not only paid for all your sins, he did all
Speaker 1: the right things for you, those of us who no
Speaker 1: longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. Now,
Speaker 1: if you really are serious about changing your life for
Speaker 1: the better, you've got to start where God tells you
Speaker 1: to start.
Speaker 2: And God says you don't start.
Speaker 1: With your behavior, your actions, and you don't start with
Speaker 1: your feelings, your emotions. You start with your mind. The
Speaker 1: battle for you to be set free from me starts
Speaker 1: in changing your mind. Be renewed, be transformed by the
Speaker 1: renewing of your mind. The Bible teaches very clearly that
Speaker 1: the way we act is determined by the way we feel,
Speaker 1: and the way we feel is determined by the way
Speaker 1: we think.
Speaker 2: Now, the good thing about this is that.
Speaker 1: Now that you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: inside of you, and so you can ask him to
Speaker 1: help you put good thoughts in your mind. So now
Speaker 1: you're not just on your own. You're not just out
Speaker 1: here trying to think up by yourself. And what would
Speaker 1: be a good thing for me to think about? You
Speaker 1: can say, Holy Spirit, put good thoughts in my mind.
Speaker 1: That's the second thing we learned from Romans eight. I
Speaker 1: ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts. And
Speaker 1: if you ask him to give you better thoughts.
Speaker 2: Do you think he will? Of course he will. Of
Speaker 2: course he's going.
Speaker 1: To give you better thoughts. That's a prayer he's going
Speaker 1: to answer. I ask the Holy Spirit to give me
Speaker 1: better thoughts. This is the second key to permanent change
Speaker 1: in your life. Now, this is what it says in
Speaker 1: the next two verses, Verses five and six of Romans eight.
Speaker 1: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their
Speaker 1: mindset on what the nature that nature desires. But those
Speaker 1: who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindset
Speaker 1: on what the Spirit desires. Now, there's two kinds of mindset.
Speaker 1: There's the mindset of your old nature, and there's the
Speaker 1: mindset of the Holy Spirit. There's the mindset of the
Speaker 1: way I normally think about my life, and there's the
Speaker 1: mindset of how the Spirit sees my life. Which one's
Speaker 1: gonna be true the one that the Spirit says. So
Speaker 1: I have to choose between these mindsets. Am I gonna
Speaker 1: set my mind on the way I normally think about
Speaker 1: my life? Am I gonna set my mind on the
Speaker 1: way God thinks about my life? Now there's a big
Speaker 1: difference in choosing these mindsets, because if you choose one,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get one response, and if you choose the other,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get another. And the next part of the
Speaker 1: verse tells us what that is. The mind of sinful
Speaker 1: man is what that means. It's self destructive. Thoughts that
Speaker 1: you come up with yourself are going to tend to
Speaker 1: be self destructive. The mind is sinful man is death.
Speaker 1: But the mind controlled by the Spirit is what life
Speaker 1: and peace. And it's all about the mindset you choose.
Speaker 1: This is the Holy Spirit's answer to uncontrolled thoughts. What
Speaker 1: I do is I ask the Holy Spirit to give
Speaker 1: me better thoughts. And this is the principle of replacement.
Speaker 1: I want you to write this word down, replacement. The
Speaker 1: principle of replacement is anytime you want to change something
Speaker 1: in your life and you're serious about changing it, you
Speaker 1: don't resist it, you replace it.
Speaker 2: When you got something negative.
Speaker 1: In your life, you don't resist it, you replace it.
Speaker 1: Whatever if you focus on gets your attention. Whatever gets
Speaker 1: your attention gets you. Satan gives you ideas. Those are
Speaker 1: called temptations. Holy Spirit gives you ideas. Those are called inspiration.
Speaker 1: You get ideas. But the truth is you choose what
Speaker 1: you focus on. But now now that you're a believer,
Speaker 1: you have a helper, and you can say, Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: I invite.
Speaker 2: You to give me your ideas.
Speaker 1: And a lot of times the Holy Spirit, the God's
Speaker 1: Spirit will say to me, Hey, Rick, why don't you
Speaker 1: think about this instead?
Speaker 2: Good idea, and I just change my thoughts.
Speaker 1: Now, I would encourage you to invite the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: to have free access to your mind. You say, God,
Speaker 1: you have put your spirit inside of me. I give
Speaker 1: you free access to my mind twenty four hours a day.
Speaker 1: I invite you to suggest good thoughts. Why because they'll
Speaker 1: always be the truth, They'll always be right, they'll always
Speaker 1: be helpful, they'll always be pure. Those are the things
Speaker 1: we are to think on. So you invite the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit to put thoughts in your mind?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Because those who live according to sinful nature have their
Speaker 1: mindset on one thing, but those who live according to
Speaker 1: the Spirit have their mindset on another. And the mindset
Speaker 1: that I normally have leads to self destruction, and the
Speaker 1: mindset that God's Spirit gives me leads to peace. And
Speaker 1: I want peace in my life. Look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not
Speaker 1: submit to God's law, nor can it do so, it
Speaker 1: can't even do it. Those controlled by sinful name nature
Speaker 1: cannot please God. So why do you work on passing
Speaker 1: law when they don't have the ability to change it?
Speaker 1: To change, only God can change it. Change comes from
Speaker 1: the inside out. Third principle. Third mental habit. You're going
Speaker 1: to need to develop to apply the truths of Roman's
Speaker 1: aid in your life, and that is this, I realize
Speaker 1: I have a new ability to say no. I need
Speaker 1: to remind myself. I need to remember on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: I need to realize that now that I'm a believer,
Speaker 1: I have a new ability to say no to the
Speaker 1: things that are self destructive in my life. Now this
Speaker 1: is very important because before you became a believer, all
Speaker 1: you had was will power, and you lost most of
Speaker 1: those bad habits because lost to most of them because
Speaker 1: you don't willpower wears out.
Speaker 2: It's not enough.
Speaker 1: But now, with the Spirit in your life, you have
Speaker 1: a new ability to say no, a new power, and
Speaker 1: you need to learn.
Speaker 2: How to tap into that power.
Speaker 1: Galatians five point sixteen says this, let the Spirit direct
Speaker 1: your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of
Speaker 1: the old human nature. Now if I let the Spirit
Speaker 1: live through me. Does it say I won't have those desires?
Speaker 2: Is that what it said? No, it said I won't what.
Speaker 1: I won't satisfy those desires? I won't satisfy those desires.
Speaker 1: In other words, do I still have the same desires
Speaker 1: I had before as a Christian?
Speaker 2: Yes? Do I still have the same temptations? Yes? Do
Speaker 2: I still have the same urges and compulsions? Yes? Do
Speaker 2: I fulfill them? No? Why?
Speaker 1: Because I have a new power inside of me, And
Speaker 1: it's not just will power any more. Now this is
Speaker 1: the good news of Romans chapter eight. Look at the
Speaker 1: next verse, verse nine. But he says, you are not
Speaker 1: controlled by your sinful nature. You are now controlled by
Speaker 1: the spirit if you have the Spirit of God living
Speaker 1: in you. Anybody who does not have the Spirit of
Speaker 1: God living in them does not belong to Christ.
Speaker 2: And let me stop here and explain this.
Speaker 1: Some people mistakenly think that you get God kind of
Speaker 1: piece meal, that Jesus comes into your life at one
Speaker 1: point in your life, and then maybe a little bit later,
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit comes into your life, and then maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit later, you get the Father into your life. No,
Speaker 1: God is a trinity three and one When you got Jesus,
Speaker 1: you got all of God. God doesn't come into your
Speaker 1: life piece meal. When Jesus comes into your life, the
Speaker 1: Spirit comes into your life. When Jesus comes in your life,
Speaker 1: the Father comes into your life. When the Father comes
Speaker 1: into your life, the Spirit in Jesus, I'm in your life.
Speaker 1: You can't separate him. Now the question is does he
Speaker 1: have all of you and the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: You're going to be given more and more of your
Speaker 1: life to him, and then the more you give, the
Speaker 1: more power you have. But he says, because I have this,
Speaker 1: I now have a new ability to say no.
Speaker 2: Look at the next verse.
Speaker 1: So, dear brothers, you have no obligation anymore to your
Speaker 1: old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.
Speaker 1: This is how God sets me free from my compulsions.
Speaker 1: But I have a new power, a new ability to
Speaker 1: say no. Number four. The fourth fit mental habit I
Speaker 1: need to develop if I want to change my life
Speaker 1: is I need to turn my thoughts to God whenever
Speaker 1: I'm afraid. And this is how God spirit sets me
Speaker 1: free from me with the attitude of fear Romans eight.
Speaker 1: Look at the next verses, Verses fourteen to sixteen. For
Speaker 1: the spirit God gives you does not make you slaves
Speaker 1: and cause you to be afraid. Instead, the spirit makes
Speaker 1: you God's children, and by the spirit's power, we cry
Speaker 1: out to God, Father, my father. This is actually the
Speaker 1: Aramaic word abba. Abba is not the group it's It
Speaker 1: means daddy, papa.
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's dad, dad.
Speaker 1: It's the most basic intimate form of father, Daddy, Daddy,
Speaker 1: my daddy. We cry out to God, Daddy, my daddy, Papa,
Speaker 1: my papa.
Speaker 2: Ahba my Abba.
Speaker 1: God's spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that
Speaker 1: we are God's children. Stop focusing on your fear. Start
Speaker 1: focusing on your father. That's the antidote. Stop focusing on
Speaker 1: your fear. Start focusing on your father. Now, he says,
Speaker 1: the antidote to fear is two things. First, he says,
Speaker 1: the spirit that God has given you doesn't make you slaves,
Speaker 1: make you afraid, but he makes you God's children.
Speaker 2: Whenever you are afraid.
Speaker 1: The first thing you need to do is remember this
Speaker 1: whose family you're a part of. I'm a son of God.
Speaker 1: I'm a daughter of God. I'm a child of God.
Speaker 1: I'm in the family and families take care of each other,
Speaker 1: and there's family protection. You're a child of God and
Speaker 1: He's going to take care of you. And second you
Speaker 1: call out to your father. Now, what are you most
Speaker 1: afraid of? What are you most afraid of?
Speaker 2: These days? You know the number one fear people have.
Speaker 1: I know all the studies people say it's the fear
Speaker 1: of speaking in front of others, it's the fear of heights,
Speaker 1: or you know, the fear of new social situation. Actually,
Speaker 1: what I've found as a pastor talking to people for
Speaker 1: thirty years, the number one fear people have is the
Speaker 1: fear of being out of control. And when you feel
Speaker 1: your life is out of control, it creates enormous fear
Speaker 1: in your life. The Bible says that we should not
Speaker 1: be afraid, but we turn to God two Timothy one, p.
Speaker 2: Seven.
Speaker 1: For the spirit that God has given us does not
Speaker 1: make us fearful or timid. Instead, his spirit fills us
Speaker 1: with power, love, and self control. Now get this, the
Speaker 1: more controlled you are by the Holy Spirit, the more
Speaker 1: self control you're going to have. So if you are afraid,
Speaker 1: that's not from God. That fear is not from God.
Speaker 1: When God's spirit comes into your life, you're filled with love.
Speaker 1: I want that you're filled with power. I want that
Speaker 1: you're filled with self control. I want that. Okay, Holy Spirit,
Speaker 1: I want all you got fill me. The fifth thing
Speaker 1: we learned from Romans eight is about the end antidote
Speaker 1: to hopelessness, and that's verses seventeen and eighteen. And the
Speaker 1: habit I want you to learn to develop is to
Speaker 1: focus on the long term, not the short term.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: When you think in long term, you're able to handle
Speaker 1: short term pain a whole lot better. You're able to
Speaker 1: handle short term losses, short term failures, short term hindrances
Speaker 1: because you're thinking long term now. Romans Chapter eight, verses
Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen talks about focusing on the long term,
Speaker 1: and it talks about the promises of God. Since we
Speaker 1: are his children, we will possess the blessings He keeps
Speaker 1: for his family, and we will also possess this is
Speaker 1: really cool, We will also possess with Christ what God
Speaker 1: has kept for him. Did you know that the Bible
Speaker 1: says that when you get to heaven, you're going to
Speaker 1: get rewarded. You will be rewarded for how well you
Speaker 1: did with what you were given. What did you do
Speaker 1: with your time, What did you do with your money,
Speaker 1: What did you do with your influence? What did you
Speaker 1: do with your talents, your time, your talents, your treasure.
Speaker 2: This is called the stewardship of life.
Speaker 1: And God has put stuff in your hands and your
Speaker 1: steward of you're going to be evaluated on that in heaven,
Speaker 1: and your rewards will be based on that, and you're
Speaker 1: going to be rewarded if you're focusing all in short term.
Speaker 1: There's a one word for it. It's foolish. It's foolish.
Speaker 1: Number six. The sixth habit is to remind myself that
Speaker 1: God is good and in control. This is an application
Speaker 1: of what the Bible teaches in Romans chapter eight. Remind
Speaker 1: myself that God is good and in control. And you
Speaker 1: are mean to remind yourself of that over and over
Speaker 1: and over and over and over every single day. In
Speaker 1: verses nineteen to twenty five, Paul says, everything in the
Speaker 1: world is broken. Everything in the world has lost its
Speaker 1: original purpose. Everything in the world is suffering, everything in
Speaker 1: the world is in pain, and everything in the world
Speaker 1: is frustrated because sin broke it all down. Everything is frustrated.
Speaker 1: In fact, look at this verse on the screen verse
Speaker 1: twenty Everything created is subject to frustration, waiting to be liberated,
Speaker 1: set free from me, waiting to be liberated.
Speaker 2: From its bondage to decay.
Speaker 1: All of creation groans in pain like childbirth, and we
Speaker 1: groan inwardly. We're going, oh man, this is tough. This
Speaker 1: is hard, This is difficult. Why is life so hard?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: He says that the result of living in a broken
Speaker 1: world is pain, and the result of pain is bitterness.
Speaker 1: And we start getting resentful and we fail. Life is unfair. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: what else is new? Life is unfair because it's broken.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says in Romans eight that there are
Speaker 1: four things you need to remember to get over bitterness. Now, listen,
Speaker 1: pain in your life is not optional. But misery is
Speaker 1: pain in your life. You're going to have pain in
Speaker 1: your life. It's called life. Suffering in your life is
Speaker 1: not optional. You're going to suffer. Misery is Moaning is optional.
Speaker 1: Bitterness is optional, And you overcome bitterness by remembering four
Speaker 1: magnificent truths. In Romans eight, verse twenty six and twenty
Speaker 1: seven says this, the Holy Spirit is praying for me.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is praying for me. That helps me
Speaker 1: overcome bitterness because no matter what I'm going through.
Speaker 2: I know God's on my side. He's praying for me.
Speaker 1: It says here, the spirit helps a with our weakness,
Speaker 1: and we don't know how to pray as we should.
Speaker 1: But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us. Okay,
Speaker 1: the Spirit of God, it says, prays for us and
Speaker 1: even begs God for us with deep feelings that words
Speaker 1: cannot explain. God sees what's in our hearts, and the
Speaker 1: Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way
Speaker 1: that God wants.
Speaker 2: So when you're no matter what.
Speaker 1: You're going through, the first thing, he goes, you know what,
Speaker 1: right now, the Holy Spirit is praying for me. That's cool.
Speaker 1: Second thing, God is using it all for good. That
Speaker 1: second thing, I remember, God is using everything in my
Speaker 1: life for good. It's not all good, but he's using
Speaker 1: it all for good. The next verse says this, and
Speaker 1: we know that in all things God works for the
Speaker 1: good of those who love Him, who've been called according
Speaker 1: to his purpose. It's not all good, but God is
Speaker 1: using it all for good. God is good, greater than
Speaker 1: my problems. God is greater than my enemies. God is
Speaker 1: greater than my critics, And God is using it all
Speaker 1: for good in my life.
Speaker 2: Number three, God wants me to succeed. Did you know that?
Speaker 1: Did you know that God wants you to succeed? He
Speaker 1: doesn't want you to fail in your life. He wants
Speaker 1: you to succeed in your life. God is not against
Speaker 1: you if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, God
Speaker 1: is for you. The Bible says in verse thirty one,
Speaker 1: So what can we say against such wonderful things, about
Speaker 1: such wonderful things, all the stuff we've talked about, What
Speaker 1: do we say about all these wonderful things? If God
Speaker 1: is for us, who can be against us? Remember I'm
Speaker 1: in the family. My father is God, and so God
Speaker 1: wants me to succeed. And finally, number four, God will
Speaker 1: give me what I need. When I'm feeling blue and
Speaker 1: when I'm feeling bitter, I need to remember mind myself
Speaker 1: that God is good. He's in control, his spirit is
Speaker 1: praying for me. He's using everything for good in my life.
Speaker 1: He wants me to succeed, and He's going to give
Speaker 1: me what I need Verse thirty two. Since God did
Speaker 1: not spare even his own son, but gave him up
Speaker 1: for us all, won't God give us. Won't God, who
Speaker 1: gave us Christ give us everything else?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 1: He said, if God loves you enough to let Jesus
Speaker 1: die on the cross for you, don't you think he
Speaker 1: loves you enough to help you with your debt? Don't
Speaker 1: you think he cares enough to help you with your health?
Speaker 1: Don't you think he cares about you when your face
Speaker 1: breaks out? There is nothing in your life that God
Speaker 1: doesn't care about. I threw that one in because it
Speaker 1: seems so ridiculous. There is nothing in your life that
Speaker 1: God doesn't care about. Upset tummy. God cares about it.
Speaker 1: He knows every hair on your head. God will give
Speaker 1: me what I need. If God didn't spare a sun
Speaker 1: to solve my biggest problem, everything else is small potatoes.
Speaker 1: It's all minor to him. There is no big problem
Speaker 1: in your life. They're all small problems to God. Now, finally,
Speaker 1: the seventh habit destroys the seventh enemy, which is insecurity.
Speaker 2: Now. The fact is, when you feel insecure, it really
Speaker 2: messes up your life.
Speaker 1: And the worst fear that we have in insecurity is
Speaker 1: the rejection. Nothing hurts more than rejection. The one thing
Speaker 1: I can tell you this is God's never going to
Speaker 1: reject you. And the seventh habit is this trust that
Speaker 1: God will never stop loving me. Trust that God will
Speaker 1: never never stop loving me.
Speaker 2: I'm in the family. He cannot not love his family.
Speaker 1: He will never stop loving me Romans eight thirty eight
Speaker 1: and thirty nine in the chapter. Now, I'm convinced that
Speaker 1: nothing ever can ever separate us from His love. Death can't,
Speaker 1: life can't, The angels can't, demons can't. Satan can't separate
Speaker 1: you from God. Our fears for today are worries about tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.
Speaker 1: Whether we're high above the sky or in the deepest ocean,
Speaker 1: nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate
Speaker 1: us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ.
Speaker 2: Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 1: I may lose a lot of things in life, but
Speaker 1: I'll never lose my salvation. You can't lose it because nothing.
Speaker 1: Once you're in God's hand. He's not letting go of you.
Speaker 1: You may want to let go, but He's not letting
Speaker 1: go of you. You cannot lose your salvation. Now, my
Speaker 1: question is this, do you belong to Christ? Because none
Speaker 1: of these things are true in your life unless you
Speaker 1: belong to Christ. Do you have the Holy Spirit in
Speaker 1: your life? You say, well, I don't know. Well let's
Speaker 1: make certain of it right now. That's bow our heads
Speaker 1: and I'm going to pray a prayer as we close,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to ask you to pray it. Say
Speaker 1: this in your heart, Dear Jesus Christ, thank you for
Speaker 1: all that you did for me. Thank you that there's
Speaker 1: no condemnation in my life for all the suinin I've done,
Speaker 1: you took that condemnation. Thank you that you did what
Speaker 1: the law couldn't do. Thank you that you destroyed sins control.
Speaker 1: Thank you that you accomplished the law in my life.
Speaker 1: And my righteousness is nothing, but your righteousness is what
Speaker 1: ticket I get into heaven on. Help me to never
Speaker 1: forget what you did for me. And when I feel ashamed,
Speaker 1: let me remember what you did on the cross for me.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, I ask you to give me better thoughts.
Speaker 1: I want to switch mindsets. I don't want the mindset
Speaker 1: of self destruction. I want the mindset of life and peace.
Speaker 1: I don't want to think my old ways. I want
Speaker 1: to think your new ways. I invite you to put
Speaker 1: thoughts in my mind all the time.
Speaker 2: For they are the truth.
Speaker 1: And help me to remember and realize that I have
Speaker 1: a new ability to say no.
Speaker 2: Lord. I used to just.
Speaker 1: Have willpower, but now I've got spirit power. I'm not
Speaker 1: obligated to give into those compulsions anymore. That if I
Speaker 1: ask you for help, you'll help me and give me
Speaker 1: the strength to say no.
Speaker 2: Thank you, that no temptation is too strong.
Speaker 1: And when I'm afraid, help me to turn my thoughts
Speaker 1: to you. Help me to remember that I'm your child,
Speaker 1: and help me to cry out to you, Father, Daddy
Speaker 1: i'm afraid. I focus on my father, not my fears.
Speaker 2: And help me to focus.
Speaker 1: On the long term, not the short term. You know
Speaker 1: the pain in my life, you know the suffering. I
Speaker 1: want you to use it for good and I want
Speaker 1: you to use it for your glory. And I want
Speaker 1: to look and focus long term on eternity, not just
Speaker 1: to hear.
Speaker 2: And now I want to do the right thing, not
Speaker 2: the easy thing.
Speaker 1: And when I start to get bitter and I feel
Speaker 1: life is unfair, and when I feel hurt, help me
Speaker 1: to remember that you God are good, and you're in.
Speaker 2: Control, that you are praying for me. Thank you for.
Speaker 1: Doing that, that you are working all things for good.
Speaker 2: Thank you for doing.
Speaker 1: That, that you are for me, not against me.
Speaker 2: Thank you for that, and that you didn't spare Jesus
Speaker 2: and so you'll give us whatever we need. Thank you
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: Most of all, I thank you that you will never
Speaker 1: let go of me. You'll never stop loving me, You'll
Speaker 1: never reject me. Thank you that I cannot lose my
Speaker 1: salvation no matter what else I lose on this planet.
Speaker 2: That you will never stop loving me.
Speaker 1: If you've never invited Jesus Christ in your heart, Jesus say,
Speaker 1: I want you to be my lord, my savior. I
Speaker 1: want you to be the manager of my life. I
Speaker 1: don't understand it all, but I want to trust in
Speaker 1: you completely. Thank you for your grace to me. I
Speaker 1: want to love you for the rest of my life,
Speaker 1: and I ask you to accept me into your family
Speaker 1: by faith.
Speaker 2: In your name, I pray Amen Assas