LED - Week 6: Power to Live
Tim Ross | February 6, 2022
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Transcription
This weekend, my assignment is to talk to you about the power to live, how the Holy Spirit gives us power to live the lives that He has called us to live. There's a passage of scripture that I believe is going to be significant for you all to have an anchor, literally something deep on the inside of you that will help you understand and navigate how to live your life. Now, I'm telling you upfront, the first point of this particular message literally is going to feel like the last time I was with you. How many people listened to power over sin? You heard the message when you listened to power over sin. Great.
I'm starting off this message reiterating something that I taught in that particular sermon, but I think this is going to be good for us all. Galatians chapter number five, starting at the 16th verse. Here's what it says, "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. The Spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting." Let that marinate. They don't fight sometimes. They are constantly beefing with each other. They are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
When you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Notice there's two big old buts in here. This is the second one. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against these things. That's just good stuff all by itself. Let’s pray over the words, shall we? Holy Spirit, give us the power to live right. Amen. I've told you before that I grew up in church. 46 years I've been in church. For the last 26, I've been a believer of Jesus. What's interesting is that living right is a constant fight. What I believe in more than anything is the practical application of how to take Scripture and apply it to our lives. I do not like hype or I should say, hype is cool if it's grounded and founded on the truth. Hype is useless if when you walk out, you can't even apply what you heard to your life. I'm not here to have church on the weekends.
I'm actually here to leave a deposit on the weekends so you can walk out of here and actually use something that grounds your life. I heard preaching and teaching all my life about you need to live right, stop sinning, you need to holy ghost, you need power, power to live right, power to walk right, power to talk right. Some of these same people couldn't walk two, three steps without falling over. Couldn't get four sentences out of their mouth without cussing. Couldn't stay faithful to their spouses. Couldn't get their money out the offering. For all of that high church we had and how much you sweated out your suit preaching the sermon, how come you couldn't do none of it? Don't talk about it. Be about it.
When I gave my life to Christ, I gave my life to Christ in my parent's church, God's Way Holiness Fellowship Church January 14th, 1996. January 15th, 1996, I started reading a Thompson Chain-Reference King James Version of the Bible. All them chunky. It's literally like reading King James is like offloading in the desert in a Honda civic. It's just it hurts. It's just painful. That's why I switched to the NLT. It hurts. What I became aware of is if you would literally just read your Bible more than you talk about it, it will literally change your life. There's a reason why He wrote it down. He wanted you to read it not just go discuss it all the time.
It's not a oral tradition that's been passed down. God over 1500 years took 40 different writers to compile 66 books that have been canonized for our consumption. If we literally just read it, it will do something to you. If you talk about it more than you read about it, it won't have any effect in your life. I have three points to this message and they're basic because warning alert, I'm basic. If you're visiting for the first time, I'm so basic because I want you to get it. I'm giving you these three points. This is power for you to live. Three things that I want you to understand. I could literally do 15. Don't have time. Three things. You all ready? Point number one, please write this down.
I put this all in first person because I want you to have it in first person for yourself. It's not me talking to you. It's me talking to me in front of you. Write it down for you. My flesh and the Holy Spirit are constantly fighting. [chuckles] The first thing you need to know if you're going to really have success in power to live right, to live by being led by the Holy Spirit, the first thing you're going to need to know is that my flesh, your flesh, and the Holy Spirit are constantly fighting. From the time you gave your life to Jesus to the time you take your last breath, your flesh and the Spirit of God are going to be fighting each other. Now a lot of times when we say that, we all think about big sins as if there's a difference.
Well, my flesh is not fighting my Spirit because I am being faithful to my spouse and I haven't stole any money and I haven't backbitten anybody, which I love the word backbite.
It's just I'm a literalist and I be like, "Man, got savages in the kingdom. Be out here biting backs." Sorry. It's just something in my head, it's the way I see stuff. It's weird. The flesh and the Spirit are constantly fighting. When you become self-aware of that, you can be led to live a lifestyle that's righteous.
Just by being aware of the fact that, "Oh, this flesh is never going to line up with Jesus, I can come to prayer tonight, get filled with the Holy Spirit, slain, speak in tongues for an hour, get up, and still want to punch somebody. Got it." That's deliverance right there. Just you walking out knowing that. Whatever I came out of before I gave my life to Jesus, the altar call did not include somebody with glasses working the altar ministry with the Men in Black wand that zapped you from all of your past where you're like, "Whoa, amen, it's just Jesus. Can't remember anything past this altar call, wow, Lord's good."
Galatians 5;16. Thank you, Paul, for being just honest. "I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then, only then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." I don't even have to operate in the Spirit to know you have a sinful nature that craves something that's the antithesis to what God wants you to do. Don't even have to ask you that. Don't have to go into the Spirit, don't need no discernment, no word of knowledge. Somebody over here in this area. All of us. Everybody back here, me, forward, everybody got something that's making you do that Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal lean. Everybody in here got a bend, lean something towards. Everybody in here.
We're all in the same playing field now. You've been saved 45 years, you still got something. This person been saved 45 minutes, they got something. So equals the playing field. Nobody in here could be like, "That's not me anymore." Your flesh is rotten. If you don't believe that your flesh is rotten, don't shower for five days. You won't need to get to the fifth one. Don't put on no deodorant. No makeup. Just chill out for five days in your natural state. Before the fifth day comes, here's what you know, I am rotting. I'm currently decaying in front of people. I have bacteria that's pretty funky. Let me get this 48-hour deodorant back home. The sinful nature wants to do evil, point blank period.
Evil is whatever evil you're predisposed to. It's just whatever you're into, that's what it is. Which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants, "and the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But," there's that first big but, "when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses." Paul is writing to the Galatians because he's trying to let them know that you are in a dispensation of grace, and you are not under the law. Well, the law stops you from the acts of what you were doing.
The Spirit wants to stop you from the thoughts that leads to the acts of what you are doing. You can go back into the Gospels where Jesus says, "Hey, you've heard it said that a man should not commit adultery on his wife, but I'm coming to tell you that whoever looks at somebody lustfully has already committed the sin of adultery in the heart." Because it's going to always happen in your head and your heart before it comes out in an action of your body. Here's something I've synthesized from my 24 years of being in counseling and therapy. Whatever doesn't come up and out of your mouth through words will come up and out of your body through actions. Write that down, it will save your life.
Whatever doesn't come up and out of your mouth through words will come up and out of your body through actions. You show me somebody that's domestically violent, I'll show you somebody that cannot articulate their anger. You show me somebody that cheats on their spouse, I'll show you somebody that cannot articulate their need for attachment and their trauma of abandonment. You show me somebody that is jealous all the time, I'll show you somebody that cannot articulate their insecurities. Anything that's happening in an action is an action because they don't have words. I can guarantee you, if you can confess it and say it, you will mitigate your chances of actually doing it.
But if you cannot say it, I can almost set my watch, "Oh, he going to do that." We got all the evidence that he's doing it but he don't want to admit that he's doing it, which means he's going to do that. You have to confess it. Oh, I wish I had time. This is not in my notes, Genesis chapter number 3. The first question that's ever asked by God is a therapist question. "Where are you?" Notice it wasn't, "What have you done?" Because what you do cannot be uprooted if you don't know where you are. "I struggle with porn." Great. Where are you right now? Because until you can tell me what you are, we can't stop what you're doing.
You're only doing this to medicate something that you can't talk about. Nobody's an alcoholic because they just like alcohol. Nobody's trying to savagely brutalize their kidneys because they think it's fun. Nobody's doing cocaine in a trap house because it's fun. They're medicating trauma and pain, and because they cannot articulate it, they're doing something about it. You can't binge-watch Breaking Bad in three and a half days and tell me that you ain't covering something up. You are trying to distract yourself from something. You don't want to deal with something. "I'm about to watch every episode in three days." What is it? First question He asked Adam, "Where are you?"
Second question he asked Adam was, "Who told you that? Where are you getting your information from?" Adam deflected both times, "Well, I heard you was coming so I hid," "That's not what I asked you." "Well, I hid because I was naked." "Who told you you were naked?" "The woman you gave me." Let me tell you something. Eve gets a bad rap but out of those two, Eve did the right thing. God went straight to Eve after Adam deflected. He said, "What have you done?" She said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate it."
She was the only one that told the truth. This is why I believe-- No, theologians. Don't come after me, theologians, but I believe the reason why sin was not attributed to Eve is because she was actually self-aware enough to know what she did. Scripture goes on to say Eve was deceived, but Adam is the one who sinned because any time you cannot admit what you're doing, you are in sin.
That was cold. We're constantly boxing with our flesh. Agreement? Cool. Point number two, please write this down. When I follow my flesh, it's clear. Now, you might be wondering, if you're talking about power to live right, why are you dealing with--? Because you need to know the opposite so you know what the truth is. When I follow my flesh, it's very, very clear. I don't have to worry if I'm living in sin, living in it. I'm not talking about you struggle with something. I'm talking about your mail comes to your sinful nature. You don't have no mail in your spiritual inbox, but you've got a pile of mail in your sinful-nature inbox. When you follow your flesh, it's clear.
The evidence of what you're doing with your life appears very quickly. You don't have to really spend a lot of time in prayer, like, "Lord, show me where I'm--" No, just sit up and just think about the last 72 hours, "What have I been doing with my whole life the last 72 hours." It'll be very, very clear if you've been following your flesh or following the Spirit. Paul, give us a list of some things that would cause us to understand that we're following our flesh. This is what he says in Galatians chapter number five. I think this is starting around the 19th verse or something like that. It's going to pop up on--
Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Five and 19, that's where it starts. [chuckles] Hey, when you're out here with no Bible in front of you, you are walking by faith. I'm going to just tell you that right now, but shout out to my tech team. They are doing a great job. I love you guys.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Here's the first one, sexual immorality. [laughs] Oh, first, if you want to know, if you following your flesh, check with your genitals. I know that sounds shocking, but I'm going to tell you right now, you're either going to be led or driven. [chuckles] I'm going to let that marinate. We out here in Corinth, all of America's basically Corinth. This is the most sexualized country I have ever been a part of. Well, I've only been a part of this country, but we wile out here in these streets, everything is sexual. You can't do nothing without it being sexualized. This is the most sexualized culture I have ever-- it's just ridiculous.
Everything. When I tell you everything, and I'm talking about when you don't want to know, someone must tell you, "Just want to let you know. I like doing it this way." I'm like, "I'm ordering a burger. I just want to slice tomatoes on my burger and potato bread. I'm at Muya. Why are you telling me?" Sexual immorality. You can go back to a message I did in the accept the vow series. It was week number eight. I actually did a whole message on sexuality. I'm not going to exhaust that here, but Leviticus, 18, 17 heterosexual sins. One homosexual sin, one sin about having sex with animals. That first thing on the list is all of that. If you want to know if you are following your sinful nature, check there first.
Then, let's go from there because if the body is leading you in those ways, you don't even have to ask, "I wonder if I'm in the Spirit right now." Any sexual activity outside of the bond of a man and a woman in the union of marriage is unprotected sex. That's your public service announcement. Figure it out. Oh, I know that one's going. Oh, that one's crispy. I'm going to just let that sit real quick. I know some of you all living together and trying to figure it out and still praying and coming to church and all that kind of stuff. I'm telling you right now if you can't control that, you can't control nothing. It's the gateway drug. Impurity. I don't need to elaborate on that. [chuckles]
Lustful pleasures. You would think, "Isn't lustful pleasures the same as impurity, the same as sexual immorality?" No, these are all different things. Check the comas. Here's the thing. This is not an exhaustive list. I was in Australia once. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I was in Australia and I preached this message. I can't even remember the message I preached. All I know is probably about 37 People gave their life to Jesus. After it was over, everybody was coming up to say thank you, and because I'm coming from a different country, everybody's appreciating me. There's about eight people here waiting for me. They're not getting in line. They're waiting until I'm done with all the line, and then they want to talk to me.
Everybody's like, "Thank you so much, oh my God. Gave my life to Christ. Oh, Jesus, and I love your accent. Okay. Thank you, Jesus." It's great. These people standing there chilling and so I walked over there. "Hey," gave them all a hug, and this guy was like, "Yes, funny stuff. I don't know if I heard a sermon or if this was a standup routine." Might as well been at a comedy show. I didn't actually hear you preach against sin, so I doubt the validity of anybody that came to this altar to give their life to Jesus." I was like, "Oh, I thought you just wanted to compliment the message. You are clearly mad at me."
I said, "You doubt the validity of the people that gave their life to Jesus?" He was like, "Yes, because you didn't preach against sin. You didn't call out anybody's sin." I was like, "Do you know how long the sermon would be if I had to list every sin that could possibly be in this room? Do you know how many subcategories and nuances to people's dysfunctional behavior there is?" I said, "It seems like you don't trust that the Holy Spirit could convict somebody of sin and that you actually need to help Him make people see the error of their ways." Now, this dude was smarter than me. His mind was like a steel trap. He quoted. When I tell you he quoted book chapter verse, at least 45 scriptures from memory.
"Here it says this, [unintelligible 00:26:25]. He wrote it all." I was looking for my Bible to thumb through it like, "Slow down, sir. You're good. I can't keep up. I only got this sermon for today. I wasn't prepared for a debate." When he got done, I said, "Man, it seems like we're both passionate about reaching people, but we just have a different way that we go about it." I said, "I wouldn't want the enemy to get a victory here. Since we're brothers in Christ, can we pray together?" He said, "No." I said, "Got you. You old religious Pharisee. Your insides is full of dead men's bones."
I didn't say that out loud, but I thought it, loud. Okay. Obviously, he was the leader of that whole little clan of eight. Nobody had ever done that before. He does this and everybody was like, "We usually just debate people and they get mad and we think we won. He wants to pray. We're not going to pray?" This dude does like this. The rest of them are like, "He already has his hands out. We must grab them. I guess we--"
I prayed this prayer and hugged all of them, except for him, because he still had his arms folded. That was the end of it. This is not an exhaustive list. I'm bringing that whole thing up. The Holy Spirit can convict you. I promise you He can convict you. The day I gave my life to Jesus, there was no sermon preached. Praise and worship was going on. Nobody had preached a sermon. There was no alter calling. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins. He don't need a list. He just needs to speak to you. If you want to know, [chuckles] Paul wrote some things down. The next one, idolatry. Do you know how many idols we have in America?
Do you know how many of these idols have seeped into the church? Do you know how many people have more fidelity for the flag than they do their faith in Jesus? 2020 taught me that. Sorcery, we got witches and warlocks in the church. Anytime there's a apostolic house, which this is, a weirdo show up. Apostolic and prophetic ministries attract weirdos. People that just come in, "Mm-hmm, I'm a prophetess. I got a word." "Okay. Tell me." "No, no, no. I need to share it with the whole congregation. Here's my card." "No, fam, that's not how we're set up here. You can tell me. If the Holy Spirit bears witness in me and then gives permission to share it, I'll share it." Because outside of relationship, no one's getting on this platform to say nothing. That's my stewardship responsibility, but I'm telling you, the prophetic, you're talking about dabbling on a line between authenticity and witchcraft. People would lie to get money and to get people and to get title and to get prestige and to get open doors and all that kind of stuff. I was once on a Instagram live talking to a young woman who claims she was a witch and loved Jesus. She was like, "Yes, I just use it different. I just be out there helping people in my own way."
Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, after about 25 minutes, I was like, "Would you be opposed to backing off the witch language because I believe God gave you a gift, but you're actually on the dark side of it." The reason why she felt more comfortable on the dark side of it because she was wounded by the church, and church-hurt people usually wind up in some type of sorcery. [chuckles] Hostility. I'm moving on. It’s hostile nowadays. Listen, 2020 and '21 taught me everything I needed to know about about these next several ones, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, and division.
Now, I thought dissension and division were the same thing. I had to look both of these words up in the Greek. The difference between dissension and division is dissension is actually the type of-- what it means in action is to divide. Division is actually hearsay when you are trying to use dogma and or doctrine to break up the body. Introducing all this new stuff into theology and just trying to break up the body and cause division, two different types of division. Once again, '20 and '21let me know how many people were led by their flesh in the church. The amount of quarreling, the amount of outburst of anger, staggered me, the amount of division, the amount of hearsay. It was staggering to me.
It just lets you know how susceptible we are. These are good people that I know love the Lord, but their timeline didn't show it. These are good people, praying people, love the Lord, but you cannot watch CNN and Fox news and still be in the Spirit. I'm not saying you can't watch it at all. I'm saying you can't have it for 144 hours, 24-hour news cycle, that's all you watch, and still come out okay. I keep going back to this because I saw so much of this there. I realized in the summer of 2020 how many people were pastored by Sean Hannity, and Rachel, I think Rachel Maddow who's at MSNBC. Oh, that was their church.
They came here on the weekend to see if I aligned with their church doctrine. Then, they found out I was in that book.
They found out I wasn't watching the news, I was reading it, and it wasn't the LA Times and it wasn't New York Times and it wasn't Dallas Morning News. It was Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, first and second Corinthians, putting in that work. They couldn't take it and they left and we bid them ado. If you ever want to know if you in the flesh, check that list as a starter. I'll say this before I move on to the third point. I found this out as a young adult pastor. I have never seen a generation of people have to read their specific version of seeing before they agree to stop doing it. "Where does it say specifically that I can't do this?" I'm like, "Well, that's actually a subcategory of this."
"But where does it say because if it says it, I'll do it." No, you won't. If the subcategory has to be so nuanced that it says not just forgive people and pray for those that despitefully use you, but forgive your daddy that left when you were eight, was petty, never gave you child support, you tried to reconcile but he didn't, and now you're still holding a grudge, but he went to jail and he came out and he's trying to reconcile and you won't talk to him or give him the time of day, even though he's trying to pursue whatever relationship he can salvage at this point, Tasha. If you waiting to read that, be petty, you're never going to get out of that.
Let this be a guide that you don't want to ever be in a situation where you are being driven like that. Now with all that being said, let me give you the antithesis so you can know how fun it is to live right. Point number three, when I follow the Spirit, it's clear. It's very, very clear. This is what it says starting at the 21st verse. Actually, 22 and 23, but, there's your second big but, all of this happens, but the Holy Spirit does it this way. Here's what he says, "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There is no law against these things." Run it back and leave it up for me.
Listen, it said fruit, not fruits. You don't get to pick some of these. "I got love." No, no, no, no. "I got nothing but love, but God working on me in the patience area." You can't take one without taking all. Here's how you know. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Oh, this is so good. Here's how you know you're doing this right because it feels like you're dying. You know you're doing it right when you are loving people that you know yow want to smack. That's how you're doing it right. You know you are doing this right when you have joy when you're just like, "I'm not just in a good mood," but you realize that happiness is conditional but joy is unconditional. It comes from knowing who you are and who you are in Christ.
"I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart. I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay." You all remember that? That's not coming from bank accounts. That's not coming from promotions. That's not coming from the type of car you drive. That's not coming from wherever your relationship status might be right now. That's coming from the fact that I'm in relationship with God, and I can actually integrate the negative realities of my life by not going, "Yes, God is good but--" No, it's God is good and I'm broke. God is great and my marriage is in a difficult spot. God is so amazing and my kid's going crazy. God is amazing, I just got laid off.
That's joy anchoring you. It's attractive when a person shows up with Godly joy because other people start going, "How are you going through all of that and you still smiling?" "Oh, you're one of those people you're just up in the clouds and you're not grounded in reality." No, no, no, I'm more grounded in reality than you might think. It's just that the joy that I have that comes from the Holy Spirit keeps me with the right perspective. This is why Paul was writing happy letters in prison with his back split open. All the wounds on his back hadn't healed yet, here he go with a pen. Count it all joy.
Hey, you all, don't worry, be happy. That's not what he said. That's Bobby McFarland. Patience, anybody need it? That's not coming from you. It needs to come from the Holy Spirit. If we talked about the power of the Holy Spirit in fruit instead of just saying gift.
This is why I think the Lord has lined up this series where the gifts is way down the street. Not even close to talking about the gifts yet because I want you to have the Holy Spirit that helps you with your everyday life. Patience for all my control freaks in the room. How many people in the room you a control freak you? Like, I said 12." "Why did you put the napkin like that? Oh my God. Put the napkins like this." We need prayer. Patience. Kindness. Can you imagine if that came back to the body? Kindness. Oh. If you had that good old Holy Ghost kindness, your enemies wouldn't know what to do with you.
I be making people so mad being so nice for no reason. On the inside, I be like, "Do you know I'm from the hood? I will--" "Do you know I could put a rusty fork through your trachea right now? I'm as gangster as I've ever been son." Praise the Lord.
"Oh my God. You're amazing. Can we get a hug?" Why? That kindness is not coming from me. It's coming from Him. I know when it's flowing because I'm dying on the inside like, "God, let me get them one time. Son, let me get this fool." The Lord's like, "Be nice." I'd be like, "Hey, no worries. No, go ahead."
I'm talking about Holy Spirit, everyday life. I was in-- Oh, I'm feeling the heat come up right now even as I talk about it. I got to wrap up. I remember being in the airport. I fly a lot. I'm executive platinum and other executive platinum, too. When you get to executive platinum, against your best wishes, you do get slightly bougie. You got to struggle with a spirit of entitlement. You're like, "I'm first." You got to humble yourself. We're all in line and this little girl with her little Starbucks walked in front of me, connected eyes, and cut in front.
I'm telling you, I feel it right now. I almost snatched. I'm telling you all some practical stuff. I had to literally get over myself. I'm like, "Why am I mad that we are going on the same tube? She's one body in front of me. Why am I so--" Because I'm petty and my sinful nature is alive and it's constantly fighting with the will of God. This should have never bothered me. The moment I recognize it, I'm like, "Lord, thank you. You're amazing, and so is this little girl in front of me, just please endow her self-awareness, in Jesus' name, Amen." Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. That has to do with tone for all my people that pop off at the mouth. "No, you ain't going to just talk to me that way."
Bite that fruit, be gentle. I know I'm in here. Some of you spouses, you're just reckless with your mouth. You apologize all the time but you don't let the Holy Spirit lead you to be gentle. It's time for you to stop apologizing for saying something you didn't mean and allow the Holy Spirit to catch you before you say it. Not to come back with them "Well, the Lord spoke and I guess--" No, you know you're doing it right when that gentleness comes out and it's like, "Hey, we're having a misunderstanding and I need to cool down because you know how my sinful nature is."
"I struggle with rejection and I came from an environment where everybody in the house yelled so anytime your voice goes up, it just triggers me, and God's working on me. Holy Spirit's working on me and I set up a counseling session too."
That's how you're going to live right. The last one is self-control. I'm glad he put it last. Love starts it, self-control ends it. The Holy Spirit will give you self-control. The reason why I didn't snatch that little girl's hair. I would love to take credit. The Holy Spirit is like, "Sir, let it go." Last couple of years has put people in a pressure cooker. You got to have some self-control. Let it go. I go to Beth Marie's and I get the pecan praline ice cream, a whole pint. After 6 spoon fools, the Holy Spirit's like, "Put it back." I'm just telling you the way He talks to me. I have an inner fat kid named Buddy and--
I do. He lives on the inside of me and he will give me diabetes right now if I let him. Self-control, I'm trying to listen. I know I'm using a lot of humor, but I'm trying to put this in a practical way. I could shout this at you, "And the Holy Ghost is going to use you and the Holy Ghost's going to give you the power to live, and the Holy Spirit's going to let you walk right, and the Holy Spirit's going to let you talk right, and the Holy Spirit's going to let you be right. The Holy Spirit's going to make you move." I could do it. Telling you I could do it. Learned from the best, I could, but you won't remember it. Have some self-control and you'll live right.
I'm telling you, I want you to be aware that your sinful nature is at war with the Spirit of God. It's never going to stop until you die. There's a whole bunch of stuff that you can mark as, "I'm really in my flesh right now, I'm listening to too much secular music. I'm watching crazy stuff on TV. I have not been in my Bible. I have not had a devotion time. This is out of whack right now. I'm leaning way more this way than I am this way." If you walk in the Spirit and you let the Holy Spirit lead you and guide you, He will lead you to your Bible. He will lead you to repentance. He will lead you to apologize. He will lead you to go home when you want to stay out. He will lead you to drink water when you want to drink soda.
I'm talking about basic stuff. [chuckles] I'm talking about every day rhythm of life. If the Holy Spirit can get you on the small things, you will never have to worry about falling into a big thing.
That's enough. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What's the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? My hope and my prayer is that there is something, whether you're in this room or watching online, that there is something that the Holy Spirit is tapping on the door of your heart of. There may be some things He's already pointed out, and I'm telling you if He's pointing it out to you, you have no idea how loved you are [laughs] because God only corrects the people He loves.
If you feel no conviction, if you're like, "Nah, this ain't for me. I wish so and so was here to hear this message," I'm scared for you because the Lord convicts us of our sin because He loves us and He wants us to live a life led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't want you to see Him as a person that you just use for supernatural activity. The supernatural activity is getting you to live right on a day-to-day basis. When you yield to Him in those subtle ways, I guarantee you, you'll never have to worry about falling into big failures.
With every head bowed and every eye closed, I just wonder what God may be saying to you through this message that will help you apply the fruit of the Spirit to your life in a way that perhaps you've never entertained. Holy Spirit, I thank you so much for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters. God would you take this message and give us the power to live, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name, amen.
