Speaker 1: Now you've heard of the weapons of mass destruction, but
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about what the Bible
Speaker 1: teaches about the weapons of self destruction. There are things
Speaker 1: that you do to yourself all the time that dammage you,
Speaker 1: that hurts you, that cause you to self destruct, that
Speaker 1: caused you enormous stress, enormous pain, enormous unhappiness, and.
Speaker 2: Unneeded pressure in your life.
Speaker 1: And then I'm going to show you, from God's word
Speaker 1: in Romans chapter eight, how the Bible tells us that
Speaker 1: the spirit of God living within you can give you
Speaker 1: the antidote to.
Speaker 2: Every one of these weapons.
Speaker 1: Now, before we even get into the text, I want
Speaker 1: you to write these seven things down.
Speaker 2: It's not on your outline, so you're.
Speaker 1: Just gonna have to write it somewhere, scribble it over
Speaker 1: on the side. These are the seven weapons of self destruction.
Speaker 1: You can talk to any psychologist and they'll tell you
Speaker 1: that these are the seven things that mess up people's
Speaker 1: lives more than in anything else. And we're going to
Speaker 1: look at the cure for these weapons of self destruction.
Speaker 1: The first weapon of self destruction is shame.
Speaker 2: Shame.
Speaker 1: You cannot be happy and feel ashamed at the same time.
Speaker 1: When you feel ashamed, when you feel guilty, when you
Speaker 1: feel regrets, that just robs all your happiness. God doesn't
Speaker 1: want you to walk around feeling guilty. God doesn't want
Speaker 1: you walk around feeling shamed. God doesn't want you walk
Speaker 1: around with regrets. In fact, that's why I send Jesus
Speaker 1: on the cross to die for all of your sins.
Speaker 1: But shame is the first number one destroyer of happiness.
Speaker 1: The second weapon of self destruction is uncontrolled thoughts. If
Speaker 1: you don't learn how to control your thoughts, your thoughts
Speaker 1: will ruin your life because you say to stuff to
Speaker 1: yourself that causes unhappiness, causes grief, causes pressure.
Speaker 2: You must learn how to control your thoughts.
Speaker 1: The third weapon of self destruction is compulsions. Compulsions are
Speaker 1: those inner drives, inner desires. You can call them less
Speaker 1: you can call them habits, you can call them impulses.
Speaker 1: But there are those things in your life you feel like,
Speaker 1: I felt like I just had to do it, even
Speaker 1: though you knew it was wrong. I just had to
Speaker 1: do it. And those compulsions. You got to learn how
Speaker 1: to deal with those and how to fight that weapon
Speaker 1: of self destruction. Because if you do things by your compulsions,
Speaker 1: you'll mess up your life. The fourth weapon of self
Speaker 1: destruction is fear, and fear is an enormous destroyer of happiness,
Speaker 1: of potential, of God's purpose for your life. It will
Speaker 1: limit your life. You got to learn how to master
Speaker 1: your fears. The fifth weapon of self destruction is hopelessness.
Speaker 1: Hopelessness keeps you from keeping on. When you start to
Speaker 1: feel hopeless about anything, you get discouraged and want to
Speaker 1: give up. If you feel hopeless about your marriage, if
Speaker 1: you feel hopeless about ever getting married, if you feel
Speaker 1: hopeless about your finances, or you feel hopeless about your health.
Speaker 1: Hopelessness is a self destructive weapon that you use on you,
Speaker 1: and when you turn it inward, it robs you of
Speaker 1: God's plan for your life.
Speaker 2: Number six.
Speaker 1: Bitterness is a huge weapon of self destruction because life
Speaker 1: is unfair and we don't all get the same thing,
Speaker 1: and life is broken and we're stuck, and some people
Speaker 1: get better than you, and you get jealous and you
Speaker 1: get envious, and some people hurt you.
Speaker 2: You can either.
Speaker 1: Get better or bitter, and bitterness is a cancer that
Speaker 1: will eat you alive and will It's a poison that
Speaker 1: will eat you on the inside. You never hurt other
Speaker 1: people with your bitterness like you hurt yourself. You always
Speaker 1: hurt you the most. It is a self destructive emotion.
Speaker 1: There is no value to bitterness in your life. There's
Speaker 1: no value to holding onto a grudge. All it does
Speaker 1: is make you miserable. And the seventh weapon of self
Speaker 1: destruction is insecurity. You gotta deal with this one because
Speaker 1: if you don't learn how to deal with insecurity in
Speaker 1: your life, it's going to cause you to do foolish things.
Speaker 1: When you're insecure and you're trying to show everybody else
Speaker 1: that you're very confident, you'll say stupid things, you'll do
Speaker 1: stupid things. You'll pose And the only people impressed by
Speaker 1: posers are other posers. Okay, everybody sees through it. The
Speaker 1: only people are impressed by fakes are other fakes. So
Speaker 1: you know, when you're insecure, you can't hide it.
Speaker 2: You have to deal with it. Now.
Speaker 1: The classic passage on dealing with these weapons of self destruction.
Speaker 2: Is Roman seven and Romans eight.
Speaker 1: Now, at the end of Rome seven, Paul says this,
Speaker 1: look up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: He's outlined the battle going on.
Speaker 1: Inside himself, and he says, what a miserable person I
Speaker 1: am because I'm miserable. You know, as I said, all
Speaker 1: those things I want to do that I know are good,
Speaker 1: I end up not doing, and all those things that
Speaker 1: I don't want to do, I end up doing. And
Speaker 1: I'm really messing up my life. What a miserable person
Speaker 1: I am. I've tried everything and nothing helps. He says,
Speaker 1: who will free me from this life dominated by sin?
Speaker 1: Now he doesn't say what will free me? Because the
Speaker 1: answer to you, the problem inside you, the mess ups
Speaker 1: in your life that you'd like to change. The answer
Speaker 1: is not a pill. It's not a program, it's not
Speaker 1: a book, it's not a tape, it's not a seminar,
Speaker 1: it's not hypnosis. The answer is a person. It is
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and his spirit inside you. And Romans eight
Speaker 1: is the answer to Romans seven, that the spirit of
Speaker 1: God inside you gives you the antidote to all seven
Speaker 1: of these negative emotions. Now, what I want us to
Speaker 1: look at this weekend is how can I be free
Speaker 1: from me?
Speaker 2: How can I be set free from me?
Speaker 1: And the way we're gonna look at this is the
Speaker 1: truths of Romans eight. I have put them in a
Speaker 1: practical way. Of listing seven mental habits that you need
Speaker 1: to do that will help you apply the truth of
Speaker 1: Romans chapter eight.
Speaker 2: And so we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna look at these seven mental habits that explain the
Speaker 1: great truths of Romans eight. Romans eight is the greatest
Speaker 1: chapter in the Bible. In my opinion, it's the greatest
Speaker 1: chapter they want to to study of Bible scholars and said,
Speaker 1: if you could only have one chapter of the Bible
Speaker 1: and you're on a desert island, which one would you take?
Speaker 1: And about ninety percent of them said I'd take Romans eight.
Speaker 1: So this is a very strong passage. You need to
Speaker 1: take a lot of notes today.
Speaker 2: Number one.
Speaker 1: The first step in being set free from me is this,
Speaker 1: I must remind myself.
Speaker 2: Daily what Jesus did for me. 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 1: 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. You've trusted Christ because Jesus took
Speaker 1: all that judgment on the cross. He doesn't have to
Speaker 1: judge you. Because Jesus was judged, he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: condemn you. Because Jesus took your condemnation. He took your wrap,
Speaker 1: he paid your penalty, He did your time for you. Now,
Speaker 1: the Bible says that if I'm a believer, I belong
Speaker 1: to Christ. Look at that verse. There is no condemnation
Speaker 1: for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Circle the phrase
Speaker 1: belong to Christ Jesus. This old passage is talking about
Speaker 1: people who've given their life to Jesus. This doesn't apply
Speaker 1: to you if you haven't made that decision yet, But
Speaker 1: if you've received Christ in your life. The Bible says
Speaker 1: you're under no condemnation. I means God doesn't get mad
Speaker 1: at you when you sin. Did you hear that God
Speaker 1: does not get mad at you when you sin if
Speaker 1: you belong to Jesus Christ, because he's already taken the payment. Now,
Speaker 1: notice it doesn't say that after I become a Christian, I.
Speaker 2: Won't sin, You're still going to sin.
Speaker 1: It doesn't say I'm not gonna make mistakes. You're still
Speaker 1: gonna make mistakes. It doesn't say I'm not gonna fail
Speaker 1: and look stupid, You're gonna fail and look stupid. It
Speaker 1: just says you're under no condemnation. In other words, you
Speaker 1: don't have to walk around with shame. You don't have
Speaker 1: to walk around with guilt, because when Jesus Christ died
Speaker 1: on the cross, he not only paid for all of
Speaker 1: the sins you committed last week, last year, and your
Speaker 1: entire life he committed. He's already paid for the sins
Speaker 1: that you're gonna commit tomorrow, next week, and the rest
Speaker 1: of your life. They're already paid for. That's good news.
Speaker 1: That is good news. No condemnation. That means there is
Speaker 1: no reason for a Christian to walk around in shame.
Speaker 1: Because I stop and I remind myself Jesus paid.
Speaker 2: For all of my sins.
Speaker 1: He already knew before I was born, every sin I
Speaker 1: was gonna do, and He paid for it. Now, the
Speaker 1: next part of that verse says, for the power of
Speaker 1: the life giving spirit, that's the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit
Speaker 1: has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of
Speaker 1: 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 Jesus, I have a new power
Speaker 1: in my life, greater than willpower. You see, before you
Speaker 1: became a Christian, the only thing you had to use
Speaker 1: against your bad habits was sheer willpower.
Speaker 2: And how long does that work? Now?
Speaker 1: Very long, he says. Now there's a new power in you. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: a lot of Christians are still simply relying on willpower
Speaker 1: to change. They've never figured out how to connect into
Speaker 1: spiritual power, into the power of the Holy Spirit, into
Speaker 1: the power of Jesus inside you. He says, there's a
Speaker 1: new power in you. There's a new sheriff in town.
Speaker 1: And when you want to change things in your life,
Speaker 1: it's not just if it's to be.
Speaker 2: 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 the power greater than willpower.
Speaker 1: We're gonna look at this more in the next versus,
Speaker 1: then the next thing.
Speaker 2: It says the law of Moses could not.
Speaker 1: Save us because of our sinful nature. Now laws, keeping
Speaker 1: God's laws cannot save you.
Speaker 2: Guy says, well, I know I'm going to heaven. You say,
Speaker 2: how do you know? It's because I keep the Ten Commandments.
Speaker 2: I say, name them.
Speaker 1: You don't not only not keep the ten commandments, you
Speaker 1: couldn't even name all of them. If I ask you
Speaker 1: to stand up right now, you couldn't even How can
Speaker 1: 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. They don't change you
Speaker 1: on the inside. For instance, if I were to bring
Speaker 1: a pig out here, a big sow that had been
Speaker 1: rolling around in the mud and the dirt and eating garbage,
Speaker 1: and it stinks to high heaven, and say what is this,
Speaker 1: you'd say, it's a pig. Now I take that pig backstage,
Speaker 1: and I run it through a couple of car washes,
Speaker 1: and then I put it in a bathtub, and I have.
Speaker 2: Bath salts and perfumed.
Speaker 1: Soap SuDS, and I get it all cleaned up, and
Speaker 1: I brushed the you know, their teeth, the pig's teeth.
Speaker 1: And then I sprinkle some foo foo juice on it.
Speaker 1: You know some corral number five, you know that would
Speaker 1: be appropriate for a pig, okay, And I rub it
Speaker 1: down with oil of olet so its skin is just silky,
Speaker 1: silky soft. And then I tie a ribbon around its neck,
Speaker 1: and I put a bonnet on it, and and I
Speaker 1: put some eyeshadow and fake eyelashes on this pig.
Speaker 2: And I put a dress on it.
Speaker 1: And then I put some lipstick on this pig. And
Speaker 1: I bring this pig out, and I say, now, what
Speaker 1: is it still a pig?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: You may have spiffed up the outside, but the nature
Speaker 1: has remained unchanged. And this is what happens with self
Speaker 1: help programs, is that we spiff up the outside and
Speaker 1: we my sheer will powers say, I'm gonna take a bath,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get on some new clothes, I'm gonna change
Speaker 1: my behavior and all the outside looks different, but inside
Speaker 1: it's still the same nature. If you're gonna have radical change,
Speaker 1: transforming change in your life, it's got to change your nature,
Speaker 1: and only God can do that. No self help program
Speaker 1: can change your heart, which, by the way, is why
Speaker 1: I'm not a politician. I have zero faith in politics
Speaker 1: or laws to change human behavior. Why because it's just
Speaker 1: fixing the outside. You can pass a law that says
Speaker 1: nobody will be a bigot or a racist. Is that
Speaker 1: gonna change anybody's heart. No, Only Jesus can change that heart.
Speaker 1: And I have seen people come to Christ and they
Speaker 1: change from a racist into a compassionate person, and from
Speaker 1: a bigot into a loving person. Only Jesus can change that.
Speaker 1: If I thought you could change human behavior by laws,
Speaker 1: I'd be a politician, But there's no track record that
Speaker 1: it actually changes people. Only God can change the inside, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, is why we don't spend so much
Speaker 1: time promoting all political laws. You know, there are some
Speaker 1: Christians who think they're going to make the world a
Speaker 1: better place just by creating a law.
Speaker 2: Will people just break it?
Speaker 1: I mean, they want a law against this sin, and
Speaker 1: a law against this sin and the law against this sin,
Speaker 1: and the law against this sin, and the law against
Speaker 1: this sin. And they think that's going to change people. No,
Speaker 1: people just going to break the law you do. God
Speaker 1: has given all kinds of laws in his word, and
Speaker 1: you don't obey those, and you break them all the time.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 1: One of the things we know here at Saddleback is
Speaker 1: you don't expect somebody to act like a believer until
Speaker 1: he is one, because he doesn't have the power to change.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the ability to change. So passing a
Speaker 1: law that says everybody is going to be moral or
Speaker 1: everybody's going to do this, that doesn't change that's fit,
Speaker 1: that's cleaning.
Speaker 2: Up the pig.
Speaker 1: It doesn't change our nature. God put into effect. Notice here,
Speaker 1: so God knew that laws couldn't save us. But God
Speaker 1: put into effect a different plan to save us. He said,
Speaker 1: his own son in a human body like ours, except
Speaker 1: that ours are sinful. And God destroyed sins control over
Speaker 1: us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Speaker 1: In other words, he gave us the power to make
Speaker 1: those changes, to forgive us and to change us. And
Speaker 1: then it said he did this. Jesus died on the cross,
Speaker 1: so that the requirement of the law would be fully
Speaker 1: accomplished for us.
Speaker 2: Circle the phrase for us. What is he saying there?
Speaker 1: That Jesus not only paid for all your sins, he
Speaker 1: did all the right things for you, those of us
Speaker 1: who no longer follow our sinful.
Speaker 2: Nature but instead follow the spirit. Now, if you.
Speaker 1: Really are serious about changing your life for the better,
Speaker 1: you've got to start where God tells you to start.
Speaker 1: And God says you don't start with your behavior, your actions,
Speaker 1: and you don't start with your feelings, your emotions. You
Speaker 1: start with your mind. The battle for you to be
Speaker 1: set free from Me starts in changing your mind. Be renewed,
Speaker 1: be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Bible
Speaker 1: teaches very clearly that the way we act is determined
Speaker 1: by the way we feel, and the way we feel
Speaker 1: is determined by the way we think. For instance, if
Speaker 1: I'm acting depressed, it's because I feel depressed, and if
Speaker 1: I'm feeling depressed, it's because I'm thinking depressed thoughts.
Speaker 2: And if I want to get over.
Speaker 1: My depression, I don't force myself to change my behavior.
Speaker 1: That doesn't work, And I don't force myself to change
Speaker 1: my feelings you can't change a feeling. You cannot force
Speaker 1: a feeling. A guy says, you know, I don't love
Speaker 1: my wife anymore. So I said, well, okay, what are
Speaker 1: you going to do about it? Well, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to force myself to feel that I love her. How
Speaker 1: will that work? It doesn't work. You can't force a feeling.
Speaker 1: It's like telling the crying kid, now I command you
Speaker 1: to be happy.
Speaker 2: I try it, dad of you crying.
Speaker 1: You cannot force a feeling. In fact, when you try
Speaker 1: to force a feeling, everybody knows you're faking it.
Speaker 2: You can't force a feeling. You can't fight that feeling anymore.
Speaker 2: That that you're really old. Okay, you are really really old. Okay.
Speaker 1: Now, what you do is you change the way you think.
Speaker 1: And if you change the way you think, that's going
Speaker 1: to change the way you feel, and it will change
Speaker 1: the way you act. So if you say, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't have any feelings for my wife anymore, you
Speaker 1: can act your way into a feeling, and you can
Speaker 1: think your way into feeling, but you can't feel your
Speaker 1: way into feeling. If you start acting loving towards your
Speaker 1: wife and you start thinking loving thoughts toward you, right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you what. The feelings will come back.
Speaker 1: They will return. You act your way into a feeling,
Speaker 1: and you think your way into a feeling, but you
Speaker 1: don't feel your way into feeling. Now, the good thing
Speaker 1: about this is that now that you're a Christian, you
Speaker 1: have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and so you
Speaker 1: can ask him to help you put good thoughts in
Speaker 1: your mind. So now you're not just on your own.
Speaker 1: You're not just out here trying to think up stuff
Speaker 1: by yourself.
Speaker 2: And what would be a good thing for me to
Speaker 2: think about?
Speaker 1: You can say, Holy Spirit, put good thoughts in my mind.
Speaker 1: That's the second thing we learned from Romans eight. Write
Speaker 1: this down number two. The second mental habit to defeat
Speaker 1: the weapons of self destruction is I ask the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit to give me better thoughts. I ask the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit to give me better thoughts. And if you ask
Speaker 1: him to give you better thoughts, do you think he will?
Speaker 1: Of course he will. Of course he's going to give
Speaker 1: you better thoughts. That's a prayer he's going to answer.
Speaker 1: I ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts.
Speaker 1: This is the second key to permanent change in your life. Now,
Speaker 1: this is what it says in the next two verses,
Speaker 1: Verses five and.
Speaker 2: 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 a accordance with the Spirit have their
Speaker 1: mindset on what the Spirit desires. Now, there's two kinds
Speaker 1: of mindsets circle the mindsets. There's the mindset of your
Speaker 1: old nature, and there's the mindset of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: There's the mindset of the way I normally think about
Speaker 1: my life, and there's the mindset of how the Spirit
Speaker 1: sees my life. Which one's gonna be true the one
Speaker 1: that the Spirit says. So I have to choose between
Speaker 1: these mindsets. Am I gonna set my mind on the
Speaker 1: way I normally think about my life? Or am I
Speaker 1: gonna set my mind on the way God thinks about
Speaker 1: my life. Now, there's a big difference in choosing these mindsets,
Speaker 1: because if you choose one, you're gonna get one response,
Speaker 1: and if you choose the other, you're gonna get another.
Speaker 1: And the next part of the verse tells us what
Speaker 1: that is the mind of sinful man is what that means,
Speaker 1: it's self destructive thoughts that you come up with yourself
Speaker 1: are going to tend to be self destructive.
Speaker 2: The mind is sinful, man is death.
Speaker 1: But the mind controlled by the spirit is what life
Speaker 1: and peace. Okay I don't normally do this, but how
Speaker 1: many of you would like to have life and.
Speaker 2: Peace this summer?
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too, I would like to have life and
Speaker 1: peace of summer. And it's all about the mindset you choose.
Speaker 1: The economy may not change, it probably won't. Your problems
Speaker 1: probably won't change those ones that are persistent, but your
Speaker 1: mindset can change. And that's the difference between a life
Speaker 1: of self destruction or a life of life and peace. Now,
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.
Speaker 2: You replace it.
Speaker 1: When you got something negative in your life, you don't
Speaker 1: resist it, you replace it. You say, I want to
Speaker 1: stop smoking, you don't smoking. I want to stop smoking.
Speaker 1: I want to stop smoking. I want to stop smoking.
Speaker 1: It's like the frog and towed together, that story we
Speaker 1: read last week. I don't want to eat a cookie
Speaker 1: and I just ate one. I don't want to eat
Speaker 1: a cookie and I just ate one. I don't want
Speaker 1: to eat a cooking. No, because the whole time you're
Speaker 1: focusing on what you don't want and whatever if you
Speaker 1: focus on, gets your attention. Whatever gets your attention gets you.
Speaker 1: That's why if you want to break any bad habit
Speaker 1: in your life, the key is not to resist it,
Speaker 1: but to refocus. Whatever you resist persists because you keep
Speaker 1: focusing on it. Now, It's like if I'm flipping TV
Speaker 1: channels and all of a sudden there's something on TV
Speaker 1: that I don't really want to watch or I shouldn't watch.
Speaker 1: I don't sit there and go I don't want to
Speaker 1: watch it. I don't want to watch it. I don't
Speaker 1: want to watch I just flip the channel, I replace it,
Speaker 1: and the moment I replace it.
Speaker 2: It's gone. It has no grip on me anymore. So.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're standing in an airport bookstore and
Speaker 1: they've got all these girly magazines, and you're standing in
Speaker 1: front of you saying, I don't want to look at them.
Speaker 2: I don't want to look at them up. What do
Speaker 2: you do? Well, you don't stand there.
Speaker 1: You walk away, Okay, you slam the door if you want,
Speaker 1: don't want to get stung by the bees. You just
Speaker 1: get away from them, and you replace it with something else.
Speaker 2: Now, let's say.
Speaker 1: I had a big, fat, juicy donut sitting right here.
Speaker 2: Okay, I mean, and it's hot.
Speaker 1: And the glaze is just kind of dripping off the side.
Speaker 2: Now, if it's sitting here, I don't go.
Speaker 1: I don't want that donut, I really really, I'm just
Speaker 1: smelling it. Oh baby, old baby, that yeasty smell.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: Now what do I do? I just look over it
Speaker 1: down to you guys. And the moment I say you guys,
Speaker 1: I've lost, it's lost its grip on me because my
Speaker 1: tension has changed.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: As long as I resist the donut, it hadn't work.
Speaker 1: But the moment I refocus on something else, I don't
Speaker 1: even think about it anymore.
Speaker 2: Does that make sense? Okay?
Speaker 1: So I ask the Holy Spirit to give me better
Speaker 1: thoughts to replace the negative.
Speaker 2: Ones in my mind.
Speaker 1: Now, you choose what you dwell on. Satan gives you ideas.
Speaker 1: Those are called temptations Holy Spirit gives you ideas. Those
Speaker 1: are called inspiration. You get ideas, But the truth is
Speaker 1: you choose what you focus on. But now now that
Speaker 1: you're a believer, you have a helper and you can say,
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, I invite 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, Rick, why don't you think
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 2: Those are the things we are to think on. So
Speaker 2: you invite the Holy Spirit to put thoughts in your mind? 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. So, and that's why
Speaker 1: I said, you know earlier, we don't expect unbelievers to
Speaker 1: a like believers until they are. They don't have the power.
Speaker 1: Look at the next verse. The sinful mind is hostile
Speaker 1: to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor
Speaker 1: can it do so.
Speaker 2: It can't even do it.
Speaker 1: Those controlled by sinful nature cannot please God. So why
Speaker 1: do you work on passing law when they don't have
Speaker 1: the ability to change it? To change, only God can
Speaker 1: change it. Change comes from the inside out. Third principle,
Speaker 1: Third mental habit You're going to need to develop to
Speaker 1: apply the truths of Roman's aid in your life, and
Speaker 1: that is this. I realize I have a new ability
Speaker 1: to say no. I need to remind myself. I need
Speaker 1: to remember on a daily basis. I need to realize
Speaker 1: that now that I'm a believer, I have a new
Speaker 1: ability to say no to the things that are self
Speaker 1: destructive in my life. Now this is very important because
Speaker 1: before you became a believer, all you had was will power.
Speaker 1: Lost most of those bad habits because lost to most
Speaker 1: of them because you don't willpower wears out. 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 2: You need to learn how to tap into that power.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I could admit pretty
Speaker 1: honestly that before I had the Holy Spirit in my life,
Speaker 1: there were some things I just couldn't say no to.
Speaker 1: I didn't have the ability to say no to them.
Speaker 1: And you can call them compulsions, you can call them habits,
Speaker 1: you can call them urges, you can call them lusts,
Speaker 1: you can call them impulses, you can call them your
Speaker 1: old nature.
Speaker 2: But the truth is, there were.
Speaker 1: Some things in my life I just couldn't say no to.
Speaker 1: I had no ability to say no because I didn't have.
Speaker 2: All I had was willpower.
Speaker 1: Now now I have God's power, and he gives me
Speaker 1: the ability to say no.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse up here on the screen.
Speaker 1: Galatians five sixteen says this, let the Spirit direct your lives,
Speaker 1: and you will not satisfy the desires of the old
Speaker 1: human nature. Now, if I let the Spirit live through me,
Speaker 1: does it say I won't have those desires?
Speaker 2: Is that what it said? No, it says 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?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Because I have a new power inside of me, and
Speaker 1: it's not just will power anymore. Now I've heard people say,
Speaker 1: but why should I limit any desire in my life
Speaker 1: that seems natural? Why should I rein it in if
Speaker 1: it seems if it's a natural desire, Friends, not everything
Speaker 1: natural is good for you. I mean, I might naturally
Speaker 1: want to punch you in the nose. That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: I should do it. I have a lot of natural
Speaker 1: desires that I need to not fulfill. For instance, sometimes
Speaker 1: I have a natural desire to cuss people out on
Speaker 1: the freeway.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean I should just do it.
Speaker 1: No, just because it's natural doesn't mean it's good. Arsenic
Speaker 1: is natural, but you drink it and it'll kill you.
Speaker 2: A lot of.
Speaker 1: Natural things are poison So just because it says natural
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's good. There are things in my old
Speaker 1: nature that are very natural for me to do, but
Speaker 1: they're self destructive. I mean, people say, well, if I
Speaker 1: feel this way, why shouldn't I give into it? Because
Speaker 1: that's called maturity. Maturity is when you do the right thing,
Speaker 1: not what you feel like doing, because what you feel
Speaker 1: like doing isn't always the best for you, the best
Speaker 1: for somebody else, God's will or whatever. If everybody just
Speaker 1: did what they naturally feel like doing, nobody would go
Speaker 1: to work tomorrow morning. Nobody would go to work. If
Speaker 1: everybody did what they naturally feel like doing, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, every girl would be pregnant long before she
Speaker 1: got married. You got to realize that I have a
Speaker 1: new ability to say no. Now, this is the good
Speaker 1: news of Romans chapter eight. Look at the next verse,
Speaker 1: verse nine. But he says, you are not controlled by
Speaker 1: your sinful nature. You are now controlled by the spirit
Speaker 1: if you have the spirit of God living in you.
Speaker 1: Anybody who does not have the Spirit of God living
Speaker 1: in them does not belong to Christ.
Speaker 2: Now 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 into your life,
Speaker 1: the Father comes into your life. When the Father comes
Speaker 1: into your life, the Spirit in Jesus come into your life.
Speaker 1: You can't separate them. You can't divide them up like
Speaker 1: a piece of pie. So the moment you gave your
Speaker 1: life to Christ, Jesus, Christ put his self in your
Speaker 1: life in his spirit, the spirit of God, the spirit
Speaker 1: of the Father, the spirit of Jesus.
Speaker 2: It is the Holy Spirit. So you don't get God
Speaker 2: a little bit at a time. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Okay, God, the Holy Spirit doesn't come in in the
Speaker 1: later point. He comes in and you get all of
Speaker 1: God when you give your life to Christ. Now the
Speaker 1: question is does he have all of you and the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. You're going to be given more
Speaker 1: and more of your life to him, and then the
Speaker 1: more you give, the more power you have. But he says,
Speaker 1: because I have this, I now have a new ability
Speaker 1: to say no. Look at the next verse. So, dear brothers,
Speaker 1: you have no obligation anymore to your old sinful nature
Speaker 1: to do what.
Speaker 2: It begs you to do.
Speaker 1: This is how God sets me free from my compulsions. Before,
Speaker 1: when I would have felt compulsed to do something, compelled
Speaker 1: to do something, I didn't have anything except willpower to
Speaker 1: stop myself. Now I've got a new power inside me,
Speaker 1: and I don't have any obligation anymore to listen to
Speaker 1: my old nature. Now I've heard people tell me, oh,
Speaker 1: I can't tell me. People who've had an affair, committed adultery,
Speaker 1: who told me I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't help myself.
Speaker 1: I just had to do it. I just felt compelled
Speaker 1: to do it. Well, now you have a new help
Speaker 1: to stop you. And when somebody says I'm a Christian,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't stop myself, they're lying. They're lying because
Speaker 1: they simply didn't call on the power that was there
Speaker 1: available to them, and they didn't rely on the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit in that moment of temptation.
Speaker 2: Compulsions.
Speaker 1: You know you can ruin an entire life with one
Speaker 1: second of compulsion. Just go ask A bunch of the
Speaker 1: politicians had scandals this last year, spent decades building a reputation,
Speaker 1: and in a moment of compulsion, lost it all.
Speaker 2: Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Speaker 1: But I have a new power, a new ability to
Speaker 1: say no. Number four, the fourth mental habit I need
Speaker 1: to develop if I want to change my life is
Speaker 1: I need to turn my thoughts to God whenever I'm afraid.
Speaker 1: That's the fourth antidote to these weapons of self destruction.
Speaker 1: I remind myself every day what Jesus did for me.
Speaker 1: I ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts.
Speaker 1: I realize I now have a new ability to say no,
Speaker 1: and then I turn my thoughts to God whenever I'm afraid,
Speaker 1: whenever I'm afraid. And this is how God Spirit sets
Speaker 1: me 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 aba. Aba is not the group. It means daddy, papa.
Speaker 1: It's dad dad. 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, ah Ba, my abba. God's spirit joins himself
Speaker 1: to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. Now,
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I wasn't very fearful at all.
Speaker 1: I really had almost no fears as a child and
Speaker 1: was pretty reckless and had a lot of fun growing up.
Speaker 1: But sometimes as a young child at night, if I
Speaker 1: heard something that was kind of scary and I was afraid,
Speaker 1: I would always cry out to my father. I say Daddy, Daddy,
Speaker 1: and he could hear me from my room in our house,
Speaker 1: and my Dad would come and see me. Now, when
Speaker 1: I was afraid, I never called out for my mom.
Speaker 1: And the reason why is I knew my dad was stronger. Now,
Speaker 1: my dad wasn't a big guy, but he was very
Speaker 1: strong because he was a hard worker, and I knew
Speaker 1: he could take on anybody. And so I'd say Daddy.
Speaker 2: Whenever I was afraid, I would cry out to Daddy.
Speaker 1: This is exactly what God tells you to do when
Speaker 1: you're afraid. Stop focusing on your fear, Start focusing on
Speaker 1: your father.
Speaker 2: That's the antidote.
Speaker 1: Stop focusing on your fear, start focusing on your father. Now,
Speaker 1: he says, the antidote to fear is two things. First,
Speaker 1: he says, the spirit that God has given you doesn't
Speaker 1: make you slaves, make you afraid, but he makes you
Speaker 1: God's children. Whenever you are afraid, the first thing you
Speaker 1: need to do is remember this whose family you're a
Speaker 1: part of. I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter
Speaker 1: of God. I'm a child of God. I'm in the family.
Speaker 1: And families take care of each other, and there's family protection. Now,
Speaker 1: let's say you grew up in Chicago or in New
Speaker 1: York City and your family was a part of the
Speaker 1: family okay, the mafia family.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: And you're walking down the street as a kid, okay,
Speaker 1: and somebody starts to assault you and you stop me.
Speaker 1: He says, oh wait, just a minute. Do you know
Speaker 1: who I am? Do you know who I am?
Speaker 3: My father is Guido, and Guido works for Bruno, and
Speaker 3: Bruno is the Copo de Capo de Capo de capo.
Speaker 1: He will make you an offer you can't refuse. Are
Speaker 1: you sure you want to touch me because I'm in
Speaker 1: the family, And hey says, well, on second thought, you
Speaker 1: can have your money back because the family protects you. Now,
Speaker 1: when you start to be afraid, God says the first thing,
Speaker 1: he says, Wait a minute.
Speaker 2: Do you know who my father is.
Speaker 1: My father is the creator of the universe. My father
Speaker 1: is God. I'm a child of God. I'm in the
Speaker 1: family God takes care of his kids. And then I
Speaker 1: cry out to father, Father, would you take care of
Speaker 1: this fear for me? Will you handle this one for me?
Speaker 1: And my heavenly Father says, of course, I'll handle it
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: Go back to sleep. You don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2: I'll take care of you.
Speaker 1: When you were afraid, you remember whose family you're in.
Speaker 1: You're a child of God. You're not a slave. You're
Speaker 1: a child of God, and He's going to take care
Speaker 1: of you. And second you call out to your father. Now,
Speaker 1: what are you most afraid of? What are you most
Speaker 1: afraid of?
Speaker 2: These days?
Speaker 1: You know the number one fear people have. I know
Speaker 1: all the studies. People say it's the fear of speaking
Speaker 1: in front of others, It's a fear of heights, or
Speaker 1: you know, the fear of new social situations. Actually, what
Speaker 1: I've found is a pastor talking to people for thirty years.
Speaker 1: The number one fear people have is the fear of
Speaker 1: being out of control. And when you feel your life
Speaker 1: is out of control, it creates enormous fear in your life.
Speaker 1: And the longer you feel it's out of control, you
Speaker 1: start thinking I'm out of control. And then you start thinking,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm losing my mind, and you start feary. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm going crazy, maybe I'm going insane. You've all felt
Speaker 1: this at different times in your life, so don't act
Speaker 1: like so self righteous everybody. I think I'm losing my mind.
Speaker 1: I think I'm going crazy. I'm afraid I'm going nuts. Now,
Speaker 1: let me just put you at ease. You're not going
Speaker 1: crazy because crazy people don't fear that. Crazy people are
Speaker 1: very happy to be crazy and don't care. The very
Speaker 1: fact that you are afraid you're going crazy means you're rational,
Speaker 1: so you're not crazy. You're not going crazy. The fear
Speaker 1: that you're going crazy shows that you're very very rational.
Speaker 1: Crazy people aren't afraid of being crazy. So I want
Speaker 1: everybody to say this, I'm broken, but I'm not crazy. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's say it a loud together. I'm broken, but I'm
Speaker 1: not crazy. Let's say it again. I'm broken, but I'm
Speaker 1: not crazy. That's some of you are afraid to say it.
Speaker 1: So let's say it again. Okay, ready, I'm broken, but
Speaker 1: I'm not crazy. Everybody's broken. I'm broken, you're broken. The
Speaker 1: person sitting next to you is broken.
Speaker 2: We're all.
Speaker 1: Nothing is perfect in this world, but you're not crazy.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that we should not be afraid, but
Speaker 1: we turned to God. I remember one time in northern California.
Speaker 1: It's a year I got married. At the end of
Speaker 1: the year that I got married thirty six years ago,
Speaker 1: my health broke and I began to develop a fear
Speaker 1: that it's never going to go away, that my life
Speaker 1: is over shoot. My life hadn't even started, hadn't even started.
Speaker 1: But I was afraid, this is the end of my life.
Speaker 1: I'm never going to mount anything. Nothing's going to happen
Speaker 1: in my life. God isn't going to use me. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be an invalid my entire life, and on
Speaker 1: and on and on. And I was filled with these fears,
Speaker 1: and so we took a month off from work, and
Speaker 1: Kay and I went to northern California, where my parents
Speaker 1: lived out in the country in the Redwoods.
Speaker 2: And while we were there. One day, I got up
Speaker 2: in the morning and.
Speaker 1: I was so depressed because these fears were just clawing
Speaker 1: at my mind all the time. And the phone rang
Speaker 1: and my mom picked it up and shed it decay
Speaker 1: and the man said, is this where Rick Warren is staying?
Speaker 1: And they said, yes, Can I talk to him? She
Speaker 1: said yes. She hands me the phone. This guy says, Rick,
Speaker 1: we've never met. I don't know you, you don't know me.
Speaker 1: I'm calling from San Diego, but I heard that you
Speaker 1: were going through a tough time, and I just want
Speaker 1: to give you a verse. And it is this God.
Speaker 1: It's two Timothy one seven. God has not given us
Speaker 1: a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and
Speaker 1: love and self control.
Speaker 2: And he hung up.
Speaker 1: That verse changed my life. Here it is on the screen.
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.
Speaker 2: Now get this.
Speaker 1: The more controlled you are by the Holy Spirit, the
Speaker 1: more self control you've got to have, You're gonna have,
Speaker 1: You're going to have.
Speaker 2: Now get this.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are afraid of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't want to be filled with the spirit.
Speaker 1: Fill the spirit that'll turn me into some nut I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be some religious fanatic. I'm gonna be like some
Speaker 1: of those people on TV saying, Babe, you know out
Speaker 1: foul spirit of nicotine, you know, And I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: falling over backwards, and I'm gonna be you know, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna lose control.
Speaker 2: Actually it's the exact opposite.
Speaker 1: The more you have of the Holy Spirit, the more
Speaker 1: self controlled you are. In fact, God does not give us,
Speaker 1: it says, a spirit of fear. 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.
Speaker 2: I want that. Okay, the only spirit I want all
Speaker 2: you got film me.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make me some nutcase. It makes me more human,
Speaker 1: It makes me more natural, It makes me more loving,
Speaker 1: It makes me more in self controlled, mastered by the Master.
Speaker 1: I can master anything. Throw it at me. I can
Speaker 1: handle it. Why because I can do all things through Christ,
Speaker 1: who strengthens me. So the spirit in me doesn't make
Speaker 1: me a lunatic or religious nut. To be filled with
Speaker 1: the spirit makes me more self controlled.
Speaker 2: And believe me, brother, you need more self control.
Speaker 1: The more spirit controlled I am, the more self controlled
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: Number five and three more. Let's move these real quickly.
Speaker 1: The fifth thing we learned from Romans eight is about
Speaker 1: the antidote to hopelessness, and that's verses seventeen and eighteen.
Speaker 1: And the habit I want you to learn to develop
Speaker 1: is to focus on the long term, not the short term.
Speaker 1: Focus on the long term, not the short term. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a very famous study done by Harvard University, very
Speaker 1: very famous study that found out that figured out that
Speaker 1: the more long term you're thinking is the more successful
Speaker 1: you're going to be in life. The shorter term you're
Speaker 1: thinking is the more failure you're going to be in life.
Speaker 2: People who fail at life have short term thinking. They're
Speaker 2: only thinking about today.
Speaker 1: They're only thing about here and now, the only thing
Speaker 1: about what feels good to me right now. But the
Speaker 1: longer term you think, the more successful you'll be in life.
Speaker 1: In fact, the longest term thinkers are those who are
Speaker 1: most successful in life. Now, as a Christian, we can
Speaker 1: win this one hands down because when we think in
Speaker 1: terms of long term thinking. We call it eternity because
Speaker 1: we're not just thinking about life here on this earth.
Speaker 1: We're not thinking about forty fifty years ahead. We're thinking
Speaker 1: about trillions and trillions and trillions years ahead. And living
Speaker 1: in light of eternity is the key to being the
Speaker 1: most successful you could possibly be thinking in long term. Now,
Speaker 1: when you think in long term, you're able to handle
Speaker 1: short term pain a whole lot better.
Speaker 2: You're able to handle.
Speaker 1: Short term losses, short term failures, short term hindrances because
Speaker 1: you're thinking long term. Here at Saddleback, we went fifteen
Speaker 1: years without a building. A lot of pastors would have
Speaker 1: given up not having a building for fifteen years. Saddleback
Speaker 1: groot over ten thousand people before we built this building.
Speaker 1: But it didn't bother me because I was thinking long term,
Speaker 1: of in spending my entire life as a pastor of
Speaker 1: one church. So fifteen years, so what that's just fifteen years.
Speaker 1: I was thinking long term. And while you're thinking about
Speaker 1: today and this week for your life as your pastor
Speaker 1: who loves you, I'm always thinking ahead for your life.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about what are you going to be at
Speaker 1: the end of the year. What are you going to
Speaker 1: be at the end of five years. What are you
Speaker 1: going to be at the end of ten years. It's
Speaker 1: called decade of destiny. And that's why I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: how to help you become all God wants you to be.
Speaker 1: I'm doing some long term thinking for your life and
Speaker 1: going where do I need to take you so that
Speaker 1: you'll be what you want to be and what God
Speaker 1: wants you to be in ten years.
Speaker 2: Most people aren't thinking that.
Speaker 1: The whole society teaches you to think short term, and
Speaker 1: we'll look at that when we.
Speaker 2: Get to the world now.
Speaker 1: Romans Chapter eight, verses seventeen and eighteen talks about focusing
Speaker 1: on the long term, and it talks about the promises
Speaker 1: of God.
Speaker 2: The next few verses.
Speaker 1: Since we are his children, we will possess circle the
Speaker 1: word will. That's a promise that's in the future.
Speaker 2: It's not now. Doesn't say we do possess, we will.
Speaker 1: It's a long Since we are his children, we will
Speaker 1: possess the blessings He keeps for his family, and we
Speaker 1: will also possess this is really cool. We will also
Speaker 1: possess with Christ what God has kept for him. Did
Speaker 1: you know that the Bible says that when you get
Speaker 1: to heaven, you're going to get rewarded. You will be
Speaker 1: rewarded for how well you did with what you were given.
Speaker 1: What did you do with your time, What did you
Speaker 1: do with your money, What did you do with your influence?
Speaker 1: What did you do with your talents, your time, your talents.
Speaker 2: Your treasure. 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.
Speaker 2: But not only that.
Speaker 1: The Bible says you're going to be rewarded not just
Speaker 1: for how well a steward you are. You're going to
Speaker 1: be rewarded for what Jesus did.
Speaker 2: Did you know that?
Speaker 1: Look at that verse again, it's says and also we
Speaker 1: will possess with Christ what God has kept for him.
Speaker 2: Did you know that?
Speaker 1: The Bible says that in heaven we are going to
Speaker 1: co reign with Christ. We're going to be heirs with Christ.
Speaker 1: From the Father, We're going to co reign with Christ.
Speaker 1: Thes is way for me to explain that is imagine
Speaker 1: in heaven this giant theater sign like a big Vegas
Speaker 1: sign that's flashing. That says, now starring for eternity, Jesus
Speaker 1: Christ co starring your name.
Speaker 2: That's what it means to share in Christ's glory. You're
Speaker 2: going to do that in heaven.
Speaker 1: So you need to focus not on your little pity,
Speaker 1: petty pain right now, but on the long term benefits
Speaker 1: of doing the right thing and sharing.
Speaker 2: In glory forever.
Speaker 1: Notice it says the rest of that verse, for if
Speaker 1: we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.
Speaker 1: I consider that what we suffer at this present time
Speaker 1: cannot be compared, in other words, of small potatoes with
Speaker 1: all the glory that is going to be revealed in us.
Speaker 1: To us, he said, yeah, you know what, it's not
Speaker 1: always easy living for Christ. It's not always easy doing
Speaker 1: the right thing. It's not always easy making the moral decision.
Speaker 1: But the benefit long term is going to far outlast
Speaker 1: the pain. You need to focus long term, not short term.
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. This
Speaker 1: is how God sets us free from the self destructive
Speaker 1: weapon of bitterness, or remind myself that God is good
Speaker 1: and in control and you are I need to remind
Speaker 1: yourself of that over and over and over and over
Speaker 1: and over every single day.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't have time to get into this.
Speaker 1: But in verses nineteen to twenty five of Romans, Chapter eight,
Speaker 1: Paul describes how sin has damaged the world. If I
Speaker 1: got into this, a sermon would be twice as long.
Speaker 1: We don't have time to get into it, so let
Speaker 1: me just summarize. In verses nineteen to twenty five, Paul says,
Speaker 1: everything in the world is broken. Everything in the world
Speaker 1: has lost its original purpose. Everything in the world is suffering.
Speaker 1: Everything in the world is in pain, and everything in
Speaker 1: the world is frustrated because Sin broke it all down.
Speaker 2: Everything is frustrated. In fact, look at this verse on
Speaker 2: the screen, verse twenty.
Speaker 1: Everything created is subject to frustration, waiting to be liberated,
Speaker 1: set free from me, waiting to be liberated from its
Speaker 1: bondage to decay. All of creation groans in pain like childbirth,
Speaker 1: and we groan inwardly. We're going, oh man, this is tough.
Speaker 1: This is hard, This is difficult. Why is life so hard?
Speaker 1: Says the environment is groaning. I think earthquakes, and I
Speaker 1: think you know, hurricanes, and I think all the wacky weathers.
Speaker 1: There is the environment groaning because it's broken, and we
Speaker 1: grown in pain because relationships are broken.
Speaker 2: And lady, you're going to.
Speaker 1: Find out that this Holy spirit groans in pain for you.
Speaker 1: There are three groans in this chapter. Now he says
Speaker 1: that the result of living in a broken world is pain,
Speaker 1: and the result of pain is bitterness.
Speaker 2: And that's a self destructive weapon.
Speaker 1: When I look out and I go, he's got a
Speaker 1: nicer house than I do, she's got a better job
Speaker 1: than I do.
Speaker 2: How come her kids are like that? How come my?
Speaker 1: And you start comparing and you start getting envious and
Speaker 1: you start getting jealous, and then people hurt you and
Speaker 1: you get bitter, and you get grudges and you get resentful.
Speaker 1: That's a pain that's going to eat you up. You've
Speaker 1: got to learn how to deal with that weapon of
Speaker 1: self destruction. And the way you do it is remind
Speaker 1: yourself that God is good and in control. That God
Speaker 1: is good, is in control. The result of living in
Speaker 1: a broken world is pain, and the result of pain
Speaker 1: is bitterness, and as a result, we get bitter inside,
Speaker 1: and we start getting resentful and life is unfair. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: what else is new? Life is unfair. It's 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.
Speaker 1: Now listen, pain in your life is not.
Speaker 2: Optional, but misery is.
Speaker 1: Pain in your life is You're going to have pain
Speaker 1: in your life. It's called life. Suffering in your life
Speaker 1: is not optional. You're going to suffer.
Speaker 2: 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: You write, write that down. The Holy Spirit is praying
Speaker 1: for me. That helps me overcome bitterness because no matter
Speaker 1: what I'm going through, I.
Speaker 2: Know God's on my side. He's praying for me.
Speaker 1: It says here the Spirit helps us 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. God's
Speaker 1: praying to himself. He's talking to himself about you. He said,
Speaker 1: how does God talk to himself? Oh, you don't ever
Speaker 1: do that. You talk to yourself all the time. When
Speaker 1: God talks to himself about you, that's called prayer.
Speaker 2: Okay, the spirit of God.
Speaker 1: It says praise for us and even begs God for
Speaker 1: us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God sees
Speaker 1: what's in our hearts, and the spirit speaks to God
Speaker 1: for his people.
Speaker 2: In the way that God wants.
Speaker 1: So when you're no matter what you're going through, the
Speaker 1: first thing he goes, you know what, right now, the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is praying for me.
Speaker 2: 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 greater than my problems.
Speaker 1: God is greater than my enemies. God is greater than
Speaker 1: my critics. And God is using it all for good
Speaker 1: in my life. Number three, God wants me to succeed.
Speaker 1: Did you know that? Did you know that God wants
Speaker 1: you to succeed? He doesn't want you to fail in
Speaker 1: your life. He wants you to succeed in your life.
Speaker 1: God is not against you if you're a Christian, if
Speaker 1: you're a believer, God is for you. The Bible says
Speaker 1: in verse thirty one, So what can we say against
Speaker 1: such wonderful things, about such wonderful things, all the stuff
Speaker 1: we've talked about?
Speaker 2: What do we say about all these wonderful things?
Speaker 1: If God is for us, who can be against us? Remember,
Speaker 1: I'm in the family. My father is God, and so
Speaker 1: God wants me to succeed. And finally, number four, God
Speaker 1: will give me what I need. When I'm feeling blue
Speaker 1: and when I'm feeling bitter, I need to rememb mind
Speaker 1: myself that.
Speaker 2: God is good.
Speaker 1: He's in control, his spirit is praying for me. He's
Speaker 1: using everything for good in my life. He wants me
Speaker 1: to succeed, and He's gonna give me what I need
Speaker 1: Verse thirty two. Since God did not spare even his
Speaker 1: own son, but gave him up for us all, won't
Speaker 1: God give us? Won't God who gave us Christ give.
Speaker 2: Us everything else? Wow? He said, if God.
Speaker 1: Loves you enough to let Jesus die on the cross
Speaker 1: for you, Don't you think he loves you enough to
Speaker 1: help you with your debt? Don't you think he cares
Speaker 1: enough to help you with your health? Don't you think
Speaker 1: he cares about you when your face breaks out? There
Speaker 1: is nothing in your life that God doesn't care about.
Speaker 1: I threw that one in because it seems so ridiculous.
Speaker 1: There is nothing in your life that God doesn't care about.
Speaker 1: You got upset tummy? God cares about it. He knows
Speaker 1: every hair on your head. God will give me what
Speaker 1: I need. If God didn't spare his son to solve
Speaker 1: my biggest problem. Everything else is small potatoes. It's all
Speaker 1: to him. There is no big problem in your life.
Speaker 1: They're all small problems to God. Now, finally we come
Speaker 1: to the last habit you need to develop. These are
Speaker 1: all mental habits. You need to take this home. Write
Speaker 1: it down, put it on your windshield of that windshield
Speaker 1: so you can't see it right. Put it on your
Speaker 1: mirror in your bathroom. Put it on your refrigerator, put
Speaker 1: it on your visor in your car, so every day
Speaker 1: you can remind yourself to practice these seven habits that
Speaker 1: defeat the habits of self destruction and the seventh habit
Speaker 1: 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. Many of you have experienced rejection. You felt
Speaker 1: it from your parents. Why can't you be like your
Speaker 1: sister or your brother? You felt rejected by kids on
Speaker 1: the playground and they made fun of you and they
Speaker 1: made up names. You felt rejected by a boyfriend or
Speaker 1: a girlfriend. Maybe you've been rejected by a spouse, and
Speaker 1: nothing hurts more than rejection. But one thing I can
Speaker 1: tell you this is God's never going to reject you.
Speaker 1: And the seventh habit is this trust that God will
Speaker 1: never stop loving me. Trust that God will never never
Speaker 1: 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 away. Whether
Speaker 1: 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 of sudden 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, for they are
Speaker 1: the truth.
Speaker 2: Help me to remember and realize that I have a
Speaker 2: new ability to say no. Lord.
Speaker 1: I used to just have willpower, but now I've got
Speaker 1: spirit power. I'm not obligated to give into those compulsions anymore.
Speaker 1: That if I ask you for help, you'll help me
Speaker 1: and give me the strength to say no. Thank you,
Speaker 1: that no temptation is too strong. And when I'm afraid,
Speaker 1: help me to turn my thoughts to you. Help me
Speaker 1: to remember that I'm your child, and help me to
Speaker 1: cry out to you Father, Daddy. I'm afraid to focus
Speaker 1: on my father, not my fears and help me to
Speaker 1: focus on the long term, not the short term. You
Speaker 1: know the pain in my life, you know the suffering.
Speaker 1: I want you to use it for good and I
Speaker 1: want you to use it for your glory. And I
Speaker 1: want to look and focus long term on eternity, not
Speaker 1: just to hear. And now I want to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, not the easy thing. And when I start
Speaker 1: to get bitter and I feel life is unfair, and
Speaker 1: when I feel hurt, help me to remember that you
Speaker 1: God are good and you're in control, that you are
Speaker 1: praying for me. Thank you for doing that, That you
Speaker 1: are working all things for good. Thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2: That you are for me, not against me. Thank you
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: And that you didn't spare Jesus and so you'll give
Speaker 1: us whatever we need.
Speaker 2: Thank you 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.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your grace to me.
Speaker 1: I want to love you for the rest of my
Speaker 1: life and I ask you to accept me into your
Speaker 1: family by faith.
Speaker 2: In your name, I pray Amen.