Control Your Self, Week 2

Tim Rivers | February 25, 2024

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Transcription

If you're glad to be here, give God some praise in this place. Come on now.

I'm so glad to see you. Isn't the weather nice? Yes, one week we're freezing, and then the next, you really have to have like four or five different closets just to keep everything readily available, but I'm so glad that you're here. If you are visiting with us, we want to say Welcome to Embassy City Church. We're delighted that you're here if you're watching online or in the overflow, thank you so much for being here. Division of our church is come to know God, grow in faith, and go change the world. We believe that God has a plan for every single person, and we pray that if you are here and you're a part of embassy C, that you feel that you know that you're loved, that you're cared for, and we prove that by having hug time. I mean, how many places do you go and you get to hug somebody for 60 seconds? Some of y'all are like, I don't like hugs. Don't invade my personal space. I'm going to catch you though, but so delighted that you're here. Well, we're in the second week of our series called Control Yourself. I should have named it. Control Yourself has a little more punch to it, but we're going to continue to serve. But before we do that, I would be remiss if I didn't stop to celebrate the 74 people that were water baptized last week.

Oh, come on. Somebody ought to give God some praise.

74 people we're public with their faith. That's a lot to celebrate and I just want to say if you are part of the 74, how proud we are of you, how glad we are that you've done it and that you are a part of the family. And here's the thing, we don't want you to stop there, but this is the beginning of a journey for you as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and we want to be there to help you take that journey. We talked about it in the video. My embassy.com will help you get started on just the foundational elements of the faith. We want to help you grow in your relationship with God and everybody say amen. Amen. One more thing that I want to cover, something that is not as joyous, but Tim Ross, his father passed away yesterday and so our condolences to the family, we are sad with them. Death is never an easy thing to grapple with, and so we are as the body of Christ and as this church surround them with love and with prayers. The only thing that is different in this case is that as a believer we don't weep as those who have no hope,

But we know that he's in a better place. In fact, he's in the place that he's been striving for his entire Christian life and we who remain are we just can't wait to get there. And so we love you Ross family. We're praying for you and we're with you in your sadness and we're with you in your celebration of Daddy Ross going home to meet Jesus. Amen. Alright, grab your Bibles. We're going to First Corinthians chapter 10, the book of First Corinthians, chapter 10. Now I got my props up here, which my heus is about to go down. When somebody has props, they're really trying to get a point across. You know what I mean? All right, one Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 13, one passage of scripture. Here's what it says, no temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But somebody say, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Let read it again,

No temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to men. That right there, I ought to make somebody shout because whatever you're going through is not unique to you. When I say temptation, however many people are listening, that's how many different versions of temptation are out there in the minds of people? Well, nobody deals with what I'm dealing with according to scripture. There is not a single temptation that is not common to men. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. My title for the day is, there's a Way Out.

Oh, thank you Lord. There's a way out. Now remember, I gave y'all an advisory warning last week, and in case you weren't here last week, I got to cover it again. We rate this sermon series G four growth Warning, the following is only intended for maturing audiences, viewer and listener discretion is advised. Spiritual growth may occur. Like I said last week, we're going to be all in your

Business,

So if you're opposed to growth, you may have to wait for the next sermon series, but that's going to grow you too. So you stuck. There's a way out. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. Thank you for drawing us into your house. I pray that in the next few moments as we get into your word, that you would give us ears to hear, a heart, to receive a mind, to understand what the spirit would say to us. Help us to walk out here different than the way we walked in. We give your name, the praise, the glory, the honor because you are worthy of it in name. And everybody say amen. Amen. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, I don't know what you're dealing with. I know

What you're dealing Jesus old. But there's a way out. There’s a way out. Look at your other neighbor and say, neighbor, some of y'all must be dealing with some stuff. If that's all it takes, say neighbor. I don't know what you're dealing with. I don’t know what you're going through, but I promise you, there's a way out. And if you believe that, give God some praise.

I want to quickly recap last week. Last week, the title was, the Struggle is Real. And what we talked about is we looked at Romans chapter seven, and then we looked at James and we talked about what happens in our lives, what leads us to sin, what the progression is that leads us to actually sin. And what we discovered from James is that first it begins with a desire. And oftentimes those are not evil per se. They're natural desires, but those desires then are attacked and tried to be manipulated by the enemy and it turns into a temptation. If a temptation is not dealt with, then the temptation leads us to conception, which means to be impregnated with sin. And then once sin has its way, it brings forth death and we call that the consequence. Now, I want to give you this definition of temptation because I think it will help you identify what a temptation actually is. A temptation is an invitation to satisfy your desire outside of the boundaries God has set. Lemme say it again. Temptation is an invitation to satisfy your desire outside of the boundaries God has set. Remember we talked about this in regards to hunger. Hunger is a natural desire that you have and if not satisfy you will starve to death. I was going to say die, but starve sounds better. What the enemy tries do in your life is use your natural desire of hunger and try to get you to fulfill that with 55 count wings. You know were full at 10, but now you're finding fulfillment and satisfaction and something

That is a natural desire but not has become a temptation for gluttony. We talked about this. Well, you have a natural desire. You have a sex drive that is a natural desire given to you by God. You have a need for intimacy. It's not good for man to be alone, right? It's given to you by God. That desire becomes the temptation when the enemy tries to convince you to satisfy that desire outside the confines of marriage. And if it's not dealt with at the temptation, then it leads to sin in your life. Now, temptation often has an external influence, so I want you to get this material. Temptations have no power without immaterial desires. I'm going to say it again. Material temptations, things that are outside that are external have no power without immaterial desires. Now, I want to explain this because this is for all the theologians and nerds that are going to be listening to any nerds in the house. Yeah, where you at?

I will nerd out. I want to nerd out for a minute, okay? Because it's very important for us to understand the essence of our self. We've been talking about control yourself, but it's important to understand what the self is comprised of. And in theology there's a term, it's called the constitutional nature of man, the constitutional nature of man. And what we mean by constitution is the makeup or the structure or the things brought together to make the thing. When we read the scripture, what we have to understand is that you as a person yourself, you are made up of three constitutional elements. Number one, you have a spirit. The word spirit in the Greek is the word pma. It means breath. It's the part of you that we cannot see. I look at you and I see your physical body, but your physical body is a representation of the invisible you.

Does that make sense? Yes. So we have a spirit, it's called the numa. It's called the breath. Then we have a soul. And the Greek word for soul is the word ske, which is translated to the word psychology or the psyche. It means the mind will and emotion. It's also in scripture referred to as the heart. When the Bible talks about the heart, it's not talking about the muscle in your chest that's pumping blood. It's talking about the very center of who you are. So when we talk about the soul, it's talking about the mind will and emotions of a person of the self. And then the third aspect, the element is the body. And the Greek word for body is the word sarks and it means flesh or earth suit. It's also where we get the word sarcasm from. So sarcasm literally means fleshly and carnal. It ain't in my nose, but some of y'all are like, oh, sarcasm is my language. Well, now you know what it means

When you put these three together. It's called a trichotomy, a trichotomy or a tripartite. It means three parts in one thing. Now, this is very important to understand, and we see this example in the creation of mankind. In the very beginning when God created man, the Bible says that he formed man from the dusted ground. So man was a body, he had a form, he had a material nature to him, but then man with a body was just a corpse. Until the Bible says that God breathed into man the breath of life, the breath is the pma, it's the spirit that entered into the man. And when it entered into the body, then the body became a living soul. It has now a mind will and emotions. So even at the very beginning we see these three different parts. The spirit, the soul, and the body. It's a trichotomy. Now, why am I talking to you about this? Why I'm going to tell you all this Greek stuff because it's very important to understand that you yourself is made up of both material and immaterial things. You have a material nature and then immaterial nature. You are not just the physical makeup, but there is something inside of you that no one sees that is animating the outward.

Our makeup is such that we are made both of physiology and psychology. We have a body that you can touch that you can hit, but we also have feelings that you can touch and hit. You. Remember when you were in school, sticks and stones make break my bums, but nerds would never hurt me. And you're crying while you're saying it. You're trying to convince yourself that just because I've got a body, but you can attack my body, but you can't attack my mind, that's a lie, right? In fact, a lot of times the immaterial words hurt worse. Our makeup is such that the physical is a reflection of the spiritual. Our invisible nature directs our visible actions. Our immaterial nature controls our material bodies. This is why it's very important what you think about because what you think about eventually will become what you do. That's why the Bible says be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? Renewing of your mind. Redirect your mind because whatever you think about it eventually is what you're going to do. Lemme say it like this. Your physical actions are proof of your spiritual influences.

One more time.

Alright, I'll do it one more time. Your physical actions are proof of your spiritual influences. When you do something in the natural, it is an indication of your spiritual condition. This is especially true of temptation and sin. Here's what we know. The only reason that Satan was able to convince Eve to partake of the fruit is because he knew that there was an immaterial desire within Eve to satisfy the self, the flesh. And so he played on that by using something physical to appeal to something that was invisible. And because Eve didn't cut it at the thought, it worked its way out in the deed. Simple deeds are the result of a sinful nature that desires to appease the self. Now in 2024, we hear all this news about how there's good in everyone. That's a worldly concept.

That's a worldly concept because according to the Bible, there is nothing good in us. The unregenerated man, the unregenerated self, the unregenerated person, the one who does not have God. The Bible says that we are born into sin shaping in iniquity. The scripture says that it is within the heart of man and the psyche of man and the soul of man and the center of the man to do evil from his youth. It is since the fall of mankind. Everyone who was born after the fall is born into the abyss of sin and misery. That's right. In other words, if the unregenerated person cannot resist temptations to appease the self

Preach

Sin in the Bible says it like this, that you are a slave to sin. Oh Lord, did you know a slave has no option? A slave has no option but to do the bidding of the master. And Paul says that when you were born into the world, your sinful nature given to you by the rebellion of Adam and Eve is causing you to be a slave to sin. Meaning that whatever temptation was there to appease your flesh, you fulfilled it. Prior to being saved, we had no choice but to give into our sinful desires. Temptation is like a door that leads nowhere. It is like a door that leads nowhere, but without Christ, we are dead in our sins and trespasses. So we give into every temptation. As a person who is not regenerated, who does not have Christ, we are zombies. We are dead inside, therefore, we follow after dead things.

That was good. The wages of sin is if you are dead, if you have a dead nature, you follow things that lead to death.

Without God. We have no self-control. Instead, we are controlled by self. The problem is the unregenerated self is a slave to sin. Sin is by definition choosing your self rather than God. That's the definition of sin. The definition of sin is missing the mark. It's that what is the mark? God. So when we sin, we are choosing ourselves rather than God. And here's the thing, I want to break this down. The reason why temptation to sin is appealing to the self is because it provides momentary satisfaction. The reason why people sin is because it feels good. For a moment, y'all looking at me like I'm crazy. I am not going to get up here and tell you sin don't feel good. If sin isn't pleasurable, why do people sin? I love torturing myself. No people sin because it feels good. You can read about this in Hebrews. It's talking about Abraham. The Bible says that Abraham chose to follow God rather than the temporary satisfaction of sin. Sin appeases your appetite for a moment. You can't tell me that the first bite that eve took of that fruit didn't taste good, and the Bible doesn't give us all indications of how she reacted. But there was something within Eve that was like, you know what? I've been watching this fruit.

It looked so delicious. That's what the Bible even says, that it was good to look upon. It was desired to make one wise and it looked like it tastes good. So she already, in her mind, was drawn to it. Then when she finally took the Fri, whatever that fruit was, an apple, we always like to call it an apple. Maybe it's the crunch. The crunch of said Adam, honey, boo, listen, listen, listen. Now I know why God told us not to eat of this fruit. It is literally the best. Try it, try it, man, you are right. It must have tasted good, good enough for Eve to share it with Adam.

Unless she was trying to pull a prank on him. Try this one. No, no, no. It was pleasurable. It tasted good. You can't tell me that Samson didn't enjoy his rend DeVos with Delilah. He kept going back, bro, you are not that dumb. What's your power? You told her it was tying you up and she did it. One plus one equals two. This is a trap, right? But it must have been pleasurable enough to keep returning. You can't tell me David wasn't up there with his rooftop view talking about, I know I'm not supposed to be up here, but no, I can't do this. That's the trick of sin. People don't go to parties because they don't feel good. I hate this. People do it because momentarily it meets a need. It is satisfactory. It is meeting a desire. But the tricky part about sin is that sin provides pleasure for a moment, but it's poisonous fruit. It just takes a minute for the venom to start affecting your body. Sin leads. This is an economic term, but here's the thing about sin. Sin leads to what economists called diminishing marginal utilities. Diminishing margin utilities means is that more of something becomes less valuable and satisfactory.

Alright, let's use our chicken wings because we've been on the chicken wings. When you eat your first chicken wing, garlic, Parmesan dipped in ranch, don't ask me how I know extra crispy fries, extra seasoning. I've seen him do it. The first one is so delectable because it's satisfying. You need hunger. The second one is so good. The third one is like, okay, by the time you get to number 15, it ain't as satisfying as number one and two. So here's where sin starts messing with us, because by the time you get to 15 and it don't taste the same as number one, I wonder what it would taste like if I added this. What we start doing is adding

Stimuli

To try to get the same reaction as we did from the first one.

So it starts off with, I need coffee. You know what? Let me just put a little bit of this stuff in it to knock off the edge. Now I'm taking the coffee out and it's just that. And now I'm doing it all day and there's a temptation to gratify yourself and it's like a door that leads to nowhere. So what ends up happening is we get a temptation that seems innocent enough and we're like, I think I'll take that door. You get to the other side and you realize that led nowhere. That had no effect on me. Okay, well let me just take a hit of this Mary Ana to help me go to sleep. It's a desire I needed. Well that didn't work. Alright, well lemme take it up a notch. Lemme take some shrooms. Well, that didn't do what I thought it would do, and the enemy is tricking us and he's keeping us in a cycle of walking through a door that has no actual result. So we went from marijuana to shrooms. Well, lemme try crack cocaine. Some of y'all like that escalated quick and then now we're giggling. But we got people,

They didn't plan on being hooked on heroin. They started off just smoking cigarettes every now and then. But because they got into a cycle of walking through a door where they have no self-control, it just leaves them to keep walking through the same door and they're in a cycle now of walking through a door because they feel like they have no other option. And it just leads to emptiness. People don't end up going to the Amazon trying out a wise cup talk about it, right is a progression. And the unregenerated person is in a cycle of walking through a door that leads to nowhere. When you try to satisfy yourself, yourself will let you down every time. Yourself will not take care of you long term. So when we just are following the passions of ourselves, the un regenerated man has no other options. We just see one door and without Jesus, we keep walking through that same door and we're in a cycle of just walking through a door, walking through a door because we feel like we have no options and we're just like the woman at the, well. Remember the story, how Jesus is with his disciples and he says, Hey, listen, I must need to go through Samaria. And they're like, what? He's like, go get some food for me. I'm going to go chill at the Well, Jesus, that doesn't seem normal.

Jesus is like, no, I got some business to do. So Jesus goes and he hangs out at the well. And while he does, there's a woman that comes up with a bucket. She comes to draw out water in the middle of the day, which was suspicious at that time. And Jesus says, yo, can I get some water? And she's like, listen, what is a Jew asking a Samaritan for water for? And Jesus is like, listen, if you knew who you were talking to, you would ask for me and I would give you living water. She says, well, what's this water that you speak of? We've had this well for a very long time. And then Jesus, he gets down to the meat of the matter because she gives him something that's immaterial. She's dealing with a thirst and she's trying to satisfy her thirst by continuously walking to the well, drawing out water in her own power, trying to quench her thirst in her own power. And it only lasts for a moment, but it leaves her thirsty enough that she has to keep coming back to the well. Jesus knows that this is not the problem. This is a symptom. This is an analogy of what's really going on in the heart. So Jesus goes, Hey, won't you bring your husband?

She said, I don't have no husband. I'm a strong independent woman. I don't need no man in my life. I can carry my own bucket, draw my own water. I got my own job. I pay my own rent, got my own car. Jesus, you got that right and the man you are with, ain't your husband. She's shocked what Jesus revealed something to. He says, you've been in a cycle trying to satisfy yourself with relationships because you have a natural desire for intimacy and you have an open door for relationships. So you keep walking through, Hey Jeremiah, Jeremiah leaves. Hey Jedediah, he leaves. Hey Obadiah, and he's gone and you keep walking through the same door expecting something different to happen. Well, Jeremiah didn't work out, so let me try and he didn't work out and she's in this cycle of walking through the same door having no option because she ain't got Jesus. Jesus says, listen, you've been walking through the same door, through the same temptations. You feel like you have no other option, but Jesus said, I'm not going to leave you walking through the door expecting a different result. So you know what Jesus says? Jesus says, you have an option. Now you've been drinking from this well, which has not satisfied you, but I come to give you another option.

I come to give you a way of escape. I came to give you another door. Jesus said, listen, you can continue to live your life walking through the door of self-satisfaction because you lack self-control. You're just trying to appease yourself. But because of your sinful nature, you don't even know that you have an option. But when you meet Jesus, Jesus shows you a way out. Some of you know what I'm talking about. You wanted to get free, but you didn't know how to get free because there was no other door. But when you met Jesus, Jesus said, I'm making you a way of escape. When a woman encountered Jesus, Jesus unveiled to her adore that she didn't even know existed. This is the power of the Holy Spirit. When you are saved and you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit isn't on you to make you jump higher and worship, run the aisles faster, do the Hucklebuck. That's not what the Holy Ghost is for. The Holy Spirit opens up your eyes, free you from the chain of selfishness and lets you know you got a way out. You don't have to live your life. Keep walking through the same cycle of the same problem, doing the same thing, going to the same party, expecting it to be something way, some way different in your life going through the same. Jesus shows up and he says, listen,

There's a way out because here's how Paul writes it in Ephesians chapter two verse one, and you were dead in the trespass and sin in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the heir, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all, somebody say all we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature, children of wrath

In the rest of mankind like the rest of mankind. By God. Somebody said, but God, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming age he might show the I miserable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. This is the power and the purpose of the Holy Spirit. God has given you the Holy Spirit so he can convict you. When you want to walk this way, he'll convict you and say, don't do it. And then you'll say, holy Spirit, I want to do it. And he says, no. Look to your right. There's another way out. You don't have to keep going to their apartment. Well, what's my way of escape your apartment? We like to overcomplicate the escape route. We think that God has got to somehow open up the windows of heaven and we walk up summit celestial staircase to heaven. Now, the way of escape is actually pretty obvious to the one who has the Holy Spirit.

One Corinthians 10 13, no temptation has overtake you. That is not common to man. You're not the only one who's been tempted with lust, which you don't know. This is a different kind, maybe a different person, but it's the same kind. But God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape. The Holy Spirit will not stop you from sinning, but he will show you the way of escaping. I need the Holy Ghost to grab me and body slammed me and drag me. Nah. This is called self-control. As believers, sometimes we don't want to be responsible for our actions. The Bible didn't say that He won't let you be tempted. He will let you be tempted. But with every temptation, every single temptation, he provides a way of escape. He provides, I need to give y'all some Greek. The word escape is the Greek word. It literally means walk out is a compound word and it means to walk away. It means to exit. Take the exit. So what? Your temptation is not unique to you, but God has given you the Holy Spirit so that you can see another way out and we like to overcomplicate things.

You're on the computer. You're about to go to that website. God, what is the way it escaped the power button? Well, they keep sliding into my dms. The temptation is too hard. Black. Black. Well, they keep coming to my cubicle. Human resources. Well, I keep spending all my money, savings account, cd, put it in something where you can't even get it out. God has from the very beginning, always provided a way to get out. Well, what about Adam and Eve? I got you. Adam and Eve. There's a tree in the midst of the garden. God says, don't eat thereof. He's like, the temptation is too strong. God, what's the wave of escape? Every other tree, literally every other tree, don't eat of this one fruit. The way of escape is right in our face. The problem is when you lack self-control, you try to control yourself, but self-control is not you trying to muster up enough power to control yourself. Self-control is when you relinquish power and control to the Holy Spirit. Can I keep teaching? Yes. One Corinthians chapter 10 13, God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with every temptation he will provide the way of escape

Definite article, the meaning that there is a consistent way out of every temptation. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. How do I get out of myself? I get to him. How do I escape? Every temptation I get to the way Jesus.

Sometimes we feel like the Holy Spirit has to pick us up and pile drive us into the ground so we can't get to the party. They keep bugging me to come roll through. What's my way of escape your mom's house? We try to overcomplicate this's. Easy. As a believer, every time you are tempted to sin, there is a way out.

The question is, do you choose yourself or do you choose the spirit? Romans eight, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit for to set the mind on the flesh is death. You keep walking through there, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot. You don't even have an option. Those who are in the flesh cannot. Somebody say cannot, cannot. Please God. You, however somebody say me.

Are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Give some more Bible. I'm glad you asked. Luke chapter four, Jesus gets baptized, comes up out of the water. What happens in that moment? The Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove in the presence of all people. Then he is led by the spirit into the wilderness where Satan begins to tempt him. Jesus could have turned stones into bread and it would've satisfied his hunger for a moment, but it would have derailed his purpose for eternity. Jesus could have taken a selfish route, but because he was already filled with the spirit, he chose not to satisfy his flesh, but he chose to rely on the spirit with every single temptation. Hear me believer, you have a way of escape. We're going to talk about this next week, how you actually walk in the spirit because if you don't walk in the spirit, you will constantly be in a cycle of walking through a door that leads to nowhere. Why am I teaching you this? Because I guarantee you, throughout this week when the temptation comes, the Holy Spirit going slap you upside your head and tell you there's a way out and it probably isn't as complicated as you think

I am struggling with. We like to a lot of times think about these egregious sins, right? Adultery, drugs, lascivious lifestyles. What about your anger? What about your envy? Those are all deeds of the flesh. According to Galatians chapter five, the next time you see somebody, your competitor, their business is doing great, yours is not, and you feel that rage of anger and envy and you wish your building would burn down in fire, so like that's extreme, but some of y'all look convicted. How did he know I was?

I mean, acts of God, right? Instead of being jealous of their business, why don't you pray for it? That's the way of escape. We try to make sin these things that we would never do. I would never murder anyone one, but I've coveted it. I've appeased my flesh in other ways and in every one of those scenarios there is a way out. You don't have to tailgate them in anger, but they were in the left lane driving the speed limit. Lord, help us, help them. Take the wave of escape. Go around them. You see how practical this actually is? The Holy Spirit will convict you. He will not condemn you, but he will convict you. Condemnation comes before Jesus and we don't like to talk about guilt as an emotion that you should feel, but you're going to feel guilt without Jesus when you realize the gravity of your sins and that's going to motivate you to ask, what can I do about it? Jesus takes away the guilt and replaces it with conviction. Conviction is a work of the spirit. Condemnation is a work of the flesh.

That's why the struggle is real, right? Because you can be saved and walk through that door. You're not going to be perfect. You're still going to do some stuff, but if you have the Holy Spirit, every time you do it, conviction, that's why your face looks different and people start going, what's wrong? What's happening? What's going on? Other believers will start realizing like, yo, you're not looking right. No, I'm good. Conviction of the Holy Spirit. Take the wave of escape. Don't live your life in a cycle of walking through a door that leads nowhere. Take the wave of escape. Why should I take the wave of escape? Because it leads to life, and the Bible says, peace. Some of y'all are troubled and don't live life because you're walking through the wrong door. Control yourself by giving yourself to Jesus. Give control of yourself to the Holy Spirit so that he can direct you. Are you going to be perfect? No, not as long as you got you. I don't know what my problem is you, but the more you walk in the spirit, the less you walk in the flesh, the more you increase in peace, the more you increase in love. Instead of taking the route of complaining about your 3-year-old,

Realize that they're three years old. What's my way of escape, Grandma?

Yeah, I literally was thinking about that family and do that, right? Go on a date, man. Go do something nice, but how about you start speaking? Children are a blessing. Blessing is the one whose quivers full. Take the way of escape. Don't keep walking through that door. There's a way out. Take it. Dear Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice, because of your sacrifice and you ascending up into heaven and allow for us to participate through the power of the Holy Spirit in the resurrection of our death here on earth. We come alive when we accept you and the Holy Spirit comes into our life. I pray that we would live our lives alive, that we would choose the wave escape even this week, Lord, as we go about our business, as we go to work, as we go to family, I pray that we would lean into the conviction of the Holy Spirit and that we would choose to relinquish control of ourself to the spirit so that we may walk in victory in life and in peace. Oh, you're so good to us to provide a way of escape. You do not leave us in our depravity following the passions of the world, but you set us free so that we may walk in victory. Help us to lean into this. We give you the name, the praise, the glory, and the honor because you're worthy of it. In Jesus' name, everybody say amen.