Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Denying Worldly Lusts Pt.3

Great job of dealing with the four fundamental areas of our doctrine. Amen? Good job guys! It's always some good ministry they bring us. It's exciting making our selves ready for the coming of the Lord. Praise God. We don't know how it's going to come. We may go the way of the grave. We may be changed in a moment at the last trumpet. The thing that we do know is, Jesus is coming back real soon. Praise God. Get ready. Amen?

I told you this morning that we were going to share a letter from Pastor Charles. Let me just go ahead and read it as it is.

My Beloved Apostle and Grandpa in Christ,
Greeting to you in the name of our God, the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I just wanted to say, "Hello," and to let you know since you ordained me on the 12th of August 2001, God has done and continues to do a great work in my heart. I'm confident that He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. I do praise and thank God for giving me a loving and spiritual parent who I can learn from and submit to and follow after as they follow Christ. I had all along been a spiritual orphan and an outcast until I met you through Pastor Ronnie and Pastor Tony. My life has never been the same and I give all the glory and honor to God for His loving mercies, His kindness and His grace for me. I cannot properly express in words how God has transformed my personal life, my home and my ministry since God drew me to Calvary Temple. I'm greatly humbled, blessed and overly grateful to be part of the Calvary Temple family.

Since you left Kakamega, the Lord has continued to do wonderful things in my life, in my home and in the flock over which God has made me overseer. God is enabling me by His grace to feed His flock with His Word without compromise. I pray that God will continue to help me be faithful and strong, courageous, humble and holy so that I may not be cast out having preached to others.

I'm currently doing a series of teachings on the "Building of Broken Walls" out of Nehemiah. Discipleship Training is picking up well with 61 children. The work and needs are overwhelming, but thank God it's not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit. His grace is sufficient and our God will supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Without Him we can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. We need your continued prayer and support to enable us to build the broken walls of our lives.

Right now we have some pressing physical needs. We need writing tables, desks for the pupils. Most of them are forced to kneel down and use the sitting benches as writing tables. We're looking for construction in an extension to add to the classrooms to avoid the direct sunlight, rain and wind, curtains to partisan the classrooms and the sanctuary to help avoid distraction. The current P.A. system has died. Parents and faithful members of the flock continue to contribute books, time, energy and money to make this biblical vision and mandate a reality. Some have volunteered to teach and to help out in many other ways without any promise of payment. The children and parents are very happy and I'm extremely excited about what God is doing in our midst. He is being glorified!

I'm very grateful for the sacrificial, monthly financial support that's being given to us. It helps us grow. Thank you for blessing my son, Robert, with hearing aids. They are a blessing and he is a blessing.

Thank you for your love and your concern. May God richly bless you.

Pastor Charles
Calvary Temple, Kakamega

Praise God. There's a great work that's going on there. We're just excited about being a part of that. Continue to pray, to hold them up in ministry. We're believing for just some great things to be done. People have already volunteered to be chaperones and we don't even know if we're sending anybody yet. So be prayerful. I'm sure that God will give opportunities for those that have hearts.

Let's go ahead and turn back to the book of Titus. We'll pick up where we were in our last couple of sessions. The grace of God, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: Looking for [hastening the coming of the Lord Jesus]." Or as the Scripture says, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of [our] great God and our Saviour..." (Titus 2:12-13).

We're talking about preparation when we're talking about this walk in the Spirit to where we're warring against the power of sin that dominates the soul realm. On a daily basis we cry out with the apostle, "Who shall deliver us from this body of death?" How many of you experience that on a daily basis? Anybody here identify with that? I am so tried of this battle of sin in my members. "I thank God through Jesus Christ" is his response. Amen? For the law of spiritual living in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Praise God.

We do cry out because of the continual weariness of warring against the sin that's in our members. Being bombarded with all of the wisdom of the world and all of the appetites of the carnal mind and the sin bound members we continually deal with. But we thank God that there is a new law of spiritual living in Christ Jesus. We see that in this particular walk in the Spirit that it's totally dependent upon the preparation of the heart or another phrase is talking about the renewing of the mind, being not conformed to the world but being transformed by the renewing of the mind. So what we're talking about here is the process of cleansing our thought processes and not just from the philosophical, not just from the functional thought process. We're talking about the changing of the ideology or the purpose for our existence. Changing that by the determination of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.

We said that denying meant a one-time choice. In other words, "I refuse to live this way any longer. I am not going to live under the power of sin any longer. It's not God's will for my life." Be not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of the mind that you might prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. God's will for your life is a renewed mind. God wants you right now to be set free in the power of your mind to where you could move away from the insanity of the world's system and begin to walk in peace and think in the mind of the Spirit. Well, how's it done? It's done on a daily basis. Reckoning ourselves dead, indeed unto sin, but alive, Paul says, unto Christ Jesus.

Turn back to the book of Romans for just a second. As we're talking about this renewal process Romans shows us what is actually taking place. In chapter 8 the declaration in verse 1 that, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..." So the question we ask now if we're walking in the Spirit, if we're denying ungodliness, if we're denying the worlds thought processes--we have to answer this question, "Are you living today under condemnation?" If you're under condemnation, then you're trusting in your own strength and in your own righteousness and not the righteousness of Christ. You're still under a works mentality. You haven't understood what that grace is that Titus is speaking of, a grace that enables us to realize that we're being judged by the finished work of Jesus Christ. We're not having to rely on our own strength, but being empowered by the resurrected Christ that dwells in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." When we're looking at these aspects we're realizing here that the natural mind, the carnal mind, the worldly mind is one that trusts in its own ability, its own strength, its own righteousness. "For the law of [spiritual living] in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Verse 2).

Now we like to think in this so many times in a moral way, "The law of spiritual living in Christ Jesus has made me free from all of that alcohol that I used to drink. Spiritual living in Christ Jesus has set me free from the lasciviousness and all of these other things that used to dominate my life. I'm born again. Things are new. Praise God!" Those are all consequences, but what we're talking about here is this. The law of the Spirit, spiritual living in Christ Jesus sets us free from the wisdom of the world, that wisdom that builds religious systems. That religion that puts or that law that puts hope in mans performance; that causes us to rely on good works and the efforts of men. There's a new law of spiritual living in Christ Jesus that says, "I don't think that way any longer. I'm not bound by what I can accomplish. I'm bound to empty this life of self and come to the complete rest and assurance that the work's been finished. This life that I'm living, I'm living by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, [He] condemned sin in the flesh" (verse 3). What we're looking at here is the fact that there's weakness in the natural realm. Ungodliness is seen in that constant pursuit of self-righteousness of trying to appease God, failing and then trying to justify our failures. You'll never, by walking in the Spirit, you will never be able to take any credit of worth that's done in the kingdom of God. Everything that's done that's right has its source in God. There is no boasting. There is no expectation of self-accomplishment, but only ability of Him allowing us to continually die to ourselves on a daily basis. As he goes on in this, he's talking about the fact that it's finished in Jesus. It's done. That there's a law now that's working in our members. Verse 4. "That the righteousness of the law [being] fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

There is no trust in the flesh. There is no hope in our own ability to do right or to be accepted. He talks about this spiritual living that's in Christ Jesus. He says, "[Don't you understand that those] that are after the flesh do mind [or their intentions are set upon] the things of the flesh..." (Verse 5). Those might be good things, moral things; things that people might count admirable. The only problem is this, as we're going to look tonight, it's the standard that the world has set for what spirituality is. That spiritually is performance. Spirituality is whether or not you're performing in a certain manner. Whether you're holding to a certain creed. Is your doctrine correct? Those are very important things, but spirituality is the source. Is the source the Spirit of God and the pursuit of His lordship in our life? Is it the emptying of ourselves of any personal value, the emptying of ourselves of pursuing external praise, the praises of men, the recognition of the world?

True spirituality says, the greatest among us is, what: Servant of all. There's no way that we can receive any praise or any credit for anything that's accomplished in the Spirit. So how do you look at yourself when you happen to have one of those successful days? Do you give yourself a few merits? Is there a little bit of boasting? Is there a beginning to be now an assurance and a trust in your own abilities to please God? To be spiritually minded, the Scripture says, is life and peace. It takes away all of those concerns and all of the fears of failure and the inabilities to measure up. Walking in the Spirit, the spiritual mind sees oneself accepted in the beloved.

We're talking about those things that we don't always see as being ungodly. Beloved listen to me. Ungodliness is having any confidence in self, taking any credit for oneself, seeing ourselves as somehow accomplished in spiritual things, instead of seeing ourselves as totally accepted in the beloved. Spiritual mindedness is life and peace in a finished work, in a proclamation of our righteousness, in the ability to absolutely no longer trust in our own strength and in our self.

When we begin to look at the actual understanding of the word of faith itself. We're talking about that we're a people that walk by faith and not by sight. When we're talking about faith we're really talking about trust or an absolute reliance. Ask yourself the question tonight. When I go out tomorrow about my everyday activities, are we walking in the Spirit? What are you trusting in? Are you trusting in your own abilities? There're subtle things. I'm not talking about even spending time in conscious thought. I'm talking about a spiritual awareness. Do we come to the place of so walking in the Spirit that we are aware that every step we take, every breath we take, every thought we think, and every gift we have we've received from God? Ungodliness begins to take self-credit. We begin to rely on our own thought processes. We're so thankful that we've been gifted and we're able to be in the top of our class in whatever it is or succeed in this particular realm of our vocation, whatever it might be. We would say, "Well everything I have is of the Lord." Let me ask you something. Let them that glory, glory, how: In the Lord. Does He really get the credit? Or is it just a passing, "Yea, God's blessed me." Is it to the glory of God? Is it by the glory of God? You see ungodliness is that world system that takes pride and trusts in all that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has loosed in man. We'll build religions and we'll present sacrifices to the gods that we've erected. Even in the prideful hearts of men thinking that somehow they've created Jehovah, that somehow they've created a messiah, they see it as no different than all of the man originated religions of the world. So because of that, we give a superficial credit to our deity knowing that it's self. Where are we today in our ability to walk in the Spirit and be mindful that everything that I have, I've received of the Lord? Ungodliness puts credit in ones own ability.

Turn over to Corinthians for just a second. We're talking about being spiritually minded or our minds always set upon the things that the Spirit of God has accomplished and created. To be carnally minded or worldly-minded is death. The carnal mind or worldly mindedness the Scripture says is at enmity with God. For verse seven says, "...for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7). So all we're saying is this, we want you to see that worldly mindedness is in a dynamic conflict with God at all times. It can be subtle, it can be bold, but it will always express itself either in word or in action against the wisdom of God. It may name the name of God, but it will always express self in whatever it is that's accomplished. So we go to Corinthians and we see the distinction that's between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man.

In the epistle of 1 Corinthians we see these words down in chapter 1, verse 26, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men..." You see a lot of people misapply this Scripture. They say that to be a good Christian you have to be stupid. You say, "Well, praise God, I qualify, man. I think I'm the greatest among us." That's not what this says. Look, it says you've got to understand what your calling is. Your calling is to walk in the Spirit so that you don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. "For ye see your calling, brethren, [that you are distinct, you are unique] how that not many wise men [Say the next three words with me] after the flesh..."

You see, there's wisdom, but it's not from above. There's a spiritual wisdom that so supercedes anything of the natural mind that God here as we read this passage calls man's wisdom foolishness. We're not to be stupid. We're to be ten times wiser than anything the world can produce. Amen? Ten times stronger, ten times more diligent, ten times more loving, ten times more giving than anything the purest religions of man can produce. It's by walking in the Spirit; it's by emptying self into the supernatural realm of absolute trust in the righteousness of God. So he says, look at your calling that there're not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty after the flesh not many noble after the flesh.

We are to be noble, we are to be mighty, and we are to be wise after the Spirit. We are to be David's mighty men, praise God. We're to understand that there's a supernatural working that causes us to be able to cast that stone to within a hair's breath, to be able to war with beasts, to take on the best warriors that the enemy can bring against us. And one puts a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, praise God, by moving into that supernatural realm, an absolute emptying of ourselves of the world's wisdom and methods.

This realm of walking in the Spirit that you and I are coming into transcends all the laws of nature. It's what lets us walk on water; it's what lets us call fire out of heaven. It's what causes us to be able to see the loaves and fishes multiply. It's what allows us to lay our hands on the lepers and see them cleansed; praise God, rather than us be defiled. It operates in direct correlation to how far we separate ourselves from the world system. What happens is you start getting out there and you start getting weird by the world's perception. Even those that hang out among Christendom and they say, "Well they say they're Christians, but they're on the fringe." Then they pull out the, "F" word: "Fundamentalists! These are a strange people. They're not real Christians. They're Christians that believe the Bible. These aren't real Christians. You've got to understand who these people are. These are people who do the Word of God. They're not just hearers. This isn't real Christianity that you're seeing here. This is not Roman Christendom. This is not Americanized Christendom. These are a people that don't understand that Christians have been so blessed of God to perfect the wisdom of the world that they might be blessed. These are people that believe that some how supernaturally God is going to supply their needs. You see they're not willing to say and understand that what God has done as He's chosen medical science as His means today to bring healing. These people are strange they somehow say, well medical science works and it's not evil within itself, but I will not equate man's chemistry with the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not equate the whiz kids of John's Hopkins, with the simplicity of laying on of hands in the name of Jesus."

We're a peculiar people and the more absolute we become in these doctrines that were showed forth in the skit tonight, the more fringed we become. This fringed stuff you got to look at. It's only fringe from their perception. We're right down the middle. They're the ones that are in the extreme in their rebellion to the wisdom of God. We are not on the fringe. We're in the straight and narrow. Amen? When we understand that, that we're the ones that are right, we move in a loving boldness to declare the majesty and the gifts of God. It confronts them with having to make a decision where their trust is.

Look what he says to us here, he says, I'm not going to allow you that are going to be successful in my kingdom to be wise after the flesh, mighty after the flesh, noble after the flesh. "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world..." (Verse 27), or what the world calls foolishness. God says those are my methods. I will confound them. If we're going to oppose the world, first of all we have to understand we're the ones that are going to be successful. We're going to confound them.

I couldn't help but sit out here tonight and look at this body up here on the stage and that scenario and my mind not go back to Fairfax Hospital. I've shared the story with you before how I received a phone call to come and to pray for this person who was in a coma, who had been pronounced dead. Their brain waves ceased. Somebody had called me, having been in our miracle rallies and heard our teachings on the radio and they said, "Would you please come and pray for this man?" I said, "No. I'm sorry I can't just go and pray. I get so many phone calls there's no way I can respond to all of these." You know people are desperate. When there is perceived help, people will go to that whatever it is, whether it's herbs or acupuncture or some guy that's in Sterling that they say can put his hands on you and God will you make you better. When people get desperate they'll try anything. I said, "No, I'm sorry I just can't."

The Spirit of God spoke to me and said, "I want you to go and pray for that person." I've shared the story, but I'll go over the basics again. As I was driving to the hospital I thought, "Lord I don't know this person. I don't know what's going on, just trying to be obedient." As I went to the Intensive Care Unit--it's interesting that the unit's locked. You can't just walk in. I didn't know who the person was. I didn't know their name. As I walked up to the door someone was just coming out, so I just walked through. I walked into the Intensive Care Unit and as I was walking down through the unit I saw this person and it was obvious the condition they were in. I walked into the room and I laid hands on this person in the name of Jesus. At that particular time, I've shared the testimony with you that all of a sudden buzzers were going off and sounds and nurses and people began to run in there and run around and all of this chaos. I just stepped back toward the wall there and I watched all of this commotion. I watched them pulling stuff off this guy and out of this guy. So I left, walked out and went home. Ran into a person just shortly after that that said, "You'll never believe what happened. Man, there was this guy at Fairfax Hospital and he was dead and no brain waves. He just-and sovereignly God raised him up! Sovereignly! I mean God just raised him up! Praise God! The people ran in there and pulled all the tubes out!" This person was telling me the story, because they knew that we believed in the power of divine healing. I said, "Really?" The guy said, "Yea!" I said, "Praise God! Isn't the Lord good? And by the way it was me that was down there." (Being Sarcastic). My response, "Isn't God good!"

I didn't want to go. I didn't have the ability. Supernaturally I believed that God was doing something in my life just like He did in Jesus' life when He walked out in the midst of those who were trying to throw Him out over the cliff. I don't believe any one ever saw me in there. "...not many mighty, [after the flesh] not many noble, [after the flesh] are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things [of the] mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, [of the world] hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, [as far as the world's concerned] to bring to nought things [they say are and are valuable and are truth and are the only way to accomplish these things and God will bring them to nothing]" (verses 26-28). So that verse 29, say it with me, "That no flesh should glory in his presence."

That's what it's all about. This war that you and I are having with the world's system is that no flesh would glory and boast in the face of God. God chooses to use people just like you and me, simple people that are willing to do whatever He tells us, people that are willing to be fools for Christ. I'm not talking about presumptuous. I'm not talking about jumping off the pinnacle. So, in other words, I'm not talking about going down tomorrow and saying, "Well, praise God, I'm willing to be a fool for Jesus." So you go down to the Intensive Care and start pulling out everybody out of the beds. They're falling on the floor and you get arrested. I'm talking about hearing when the Spirit tells you to do something, not something you initiate. "I'm going out and doing something for God." I got called, I said, "No, I'm not going." God said, "You are going." The same exact way I met Steve and Mary Scott all those years ago. "Can you do this?" "No way. No." "Yes, you will." "Yes, I will." As we walk in the Spirit and we're moving in that to where no flesh, including you can glory in His presence. So that becomes our motivation, the glory of God, the wisdom of God that those that boast would boast in the Lord. He's calling us into that realm. He said here's that spirit that I want you to walk in.

Look over to James for just a second. We've been talking about the wisdom that's not from above, but is earthly and it's sensual and it's demonic. He talks about part of the motivation behind this kind of a wisdom, earthly, sensual and demonic. What is in that carnal mindedness? You'll see that what surrounds that wisdom is this kind of environment, envy, strife, confusion and every evil work. This is what's in the environment of the wisdom of man. There's always strife, there's always a seeking for dominion, wanting to put others under, to exalt oneself. We're keeping score, man. I just want to have a little more than the next guy. I don't mind them being blessed as long as they don't have as much as I have. I just always want it to be known that I'm superior. This is the wisdom of the world. It's what the motivation of their heart is; the wisdom that's from above. You see the wisdom of man is all about self-promotion, self gain; it's earthly, sensual, demonic. It's the source of envy, strife and confusion and every evil work. The love of money is the root of all of those evils that John speaks of, the promotion of self. There's a wisdom that's from above, spiritual wisdom. The thing that needs to be understood about this and this is important for our study is this: The wisdom that's from above is pure. God is light and in Him is-what? No darkness at all. The wisdom of God is pure. It has no worldly wisdom intermingled with it. The wisdom that is from above is not defiled with the amalgamation of little tidbits of the world's wisdom.

The double mindedness creates in us a continuous instability. The double mindedness, this mingled seed is what brings about that confusion and that strife and all of those things that have the worldly wisdom as part of the formula for their success. But here we are as believers called to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. He says, you need to understand if the world's wisdom is going to work in you, if you're going to be like the Hebrew children you can't defile yourself with the dainties of the world's system. You're going to have to make a stand. You're going to have to do it God's way. It can't be Ivory soap. It can't be ninety-nine and forty-four one hundredths. Because of that the world is going to constantly be in conflict with us, because they really feel that we're fools. We refuse to give any glory to man. We won't boast and we won't let anyone around us boast. This wisdom that's from above is absolute. It's pure. Not only pure in its moral fiber, pure in the sense of moral; but also, pure in the sense of absolute. Truth is absolute. Truth isn't ninety-nine percent. You can't add to it.

Heard a preacher just the other day as we were driving down the road. It was interesting. I heard him preaching, he made a good point as he was talking about light and darkness and many of the different things. He was just sharing with the congregation. He said, "We're talking about living totally separate and distinct. We all know that the opposite of light is [and people said, 'darkness']. The opposite of a lie is [and everybody said, 'the truth']." He said, "The opposite of God is [and the people said, 'the Devil.']" He said, "No. God doesn't have any opposites. There's nothing that even comes to the realm to oppose. He's unique. God is beyond any antithesis. He is absolute in His holiness and His righteousness and His justice and in His truth and in His love." When we understand that from the wisdom or the knowledge aspect.

We doctrinally talk about the omniscience of God and the eternal being of God and we give all of these accolades. Then we want to make decisions without Him. We want to somehow add the world's wisdom. We seem to somehow think that certain little discoveries such as DNA, gravity and E=MC2 to something to go, "ooh" about. It's little fragments of God throwing crumbs of wisdom and knowledge to His creatures. Yet, how comfortable are we to just fall back totally and rely on His presence.

You look at the illustration tonight, the skit that was on tonight, the man in the coma. How do you think you'd do in that? I doubt that anyone of us here would be free of those same battles that were going on in that mind. Very frankly life is beyond us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. Amen? In our weakness His strength is made perfect. When you get into those hard times don't look to the arm of the flesh. Praise God. Empty yourself and cry out and say, "I'm undone!" Praise God. To the arm of the flesh, to horses or to chariots, but I look to the hills from whence comes my help. Praise God. As we enter these days, how absolute is your reliance in the wisdom of God going to be? As the world makes its boast and tries to somehow scientifically prove what we believe in. You see, listen, their whole motivation is not to make life better for man. You will not hear this articulated. Those that are being used of the god of this world have not even revealed to them why he's given them this wisdom. It's all for the purpose of denying God.

Those that are involved in all of this that we've spoken of, delving into the mysteries of life, think they're doing it for the good of humanity. Oh, they know there's a little ego trip that's involved in this. They would be aware of that. They have no idea the subtleties of the god of this world who is sharing with them fragments of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that's allowing them to finally come to the place that they can say, "There is no God. There's no need of God. Our eyes have been opened." So they're going to come up with what could appear to even be credible arguments. Based upon man's limited knowledge some would even have to say, "Well, that looks like that's true." How simple can we be and how foolish are you willing to be in their eyes when you say, "That's not true. God's word is truth." That's what's at stake as we continue on a daily basis to learn to trust Him in the small things and to refuse to compromise in these things that daily cause us to gravitate toward the world and it's methodology. Don't take it just because it's the path of least resistance. Be jealous for God and don't let any man boast in His presence.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God tonight. We ask that as we continue in this study and we see the subtleness of the enemy, the god of this world and he's there to rob us of the peace that Your Word affords us. It's to rob us of the strength of true humility. It's to make accusation against us as being fools. It is the flesh glorying in the presence of God. We ask You to choose us according to 1 Corinthians 1, choose us. Choose us who are weak that Your strength might be perfected. Choose us who are fools in the eyes of the system to confound them in Your wisdom. That like the three Hebrew children when the test is over, we're the fair ones. We're the ones with strength and energy. We have the peace that passes all understanding. Where is the trust today? Are we willing to be placed on the world's evaluation? Their system calls us fools, calls us weak, and calls us base. You call us sons. You've said You'd never leave us nor forsake us. If You are for us nothing could be against us. For that tonight Father, we just say thank You. In Jesus name, amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. The review that we received tonight in the skit just shows us, praise God, the four fundamental doctrines. Salvation. Salvation, of course, is being born again, transformed, new creations brought into life and fellowship with God, reconciled back to Him, sons of God, heirs and joint heirs with Christ Jesus, free from sin's power, infused with eternal life that's in the Son; separated from the world's system and then filled with the Holy Ghost and empowered to be witnesses and declare truth that they call foolishness. To present to them so freely what we've received. Rejected of most, despised of many, but in favor with God. With that covenant of His blood and His broken body He's gifted us with divine healing that we might glorify Him in strength and in signs and wonders that reveal His resurrected power. In all of that we realize its just preparation for His soon coming to receive us unto Himself that where He is we might be. Praise God! And so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the wisdom of this kingdom. That's spiritual mindedness. When that's a reality none of the other frustrations and cares and obstacles and trials can derail us. We become weary, but His strength is made perfect in our weakness. We become fearful, but when we dethrone ourselves the Prince of Peace steps in and brings the peace that passes all understanding. We become confused and so we put down the GPS and let His Spirit lead us as Abraham of old, not knowing where we go, as Moses, seeing the Invisible One. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

We spend a whole lifetime, energy and tens of thousands of dollars preparing ourselves to be a success in the world and we get saved and can't use any of it. Only He can use it. Only He can activate it. You see I haven't unlearned the things that I learned in that system. They're all subject to Him telling me when and how to use it for His glory. You see many of these things can be used, but whose initiating it, the Spirit of God or the god of this world; the course of this world, the prince and powers of darkness or the Spirit of Truth? Two and two is four, but what are we using that for? Who told us to divulge that information? Walking in the Spirit is simply death to self. Walking in the Spirit is denying the world's wisdom. Walking in the Spirit is seeking first the kingdom. Walking in the Spirit is declaring the Word of God. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Let's sing this together and just rejoice in God's work in our life and the victory that stands before us singing, Give thanks with a Grateful Heart.

Hallelujah! Just give Him the thanks tonight! Just take a moment and declare your thanksgiving for His wisdom in your life. That He's taken you away from the highway of destruction, the broad way, the ways of men and He's put you on the straight and narrow path, the highway of holiness, the highway of separation, the highway of uniqueness. The ways of God are higher than the ways of man. It doesn't mean it's man's ways to greater application and comprehension. It's not the world's methods perfected. God's ways are distinct, unique and separate from that that came from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It's life and peace. Before you go turn to somebody next to you say, "His ways are life and peace." Praise God! Amen! Go in peace God's love go with you!

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