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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Who’s In Control Of Your Life? | Morgan Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
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Go ahead. If you'll turn with me tonight. Let's go to Galatians, Chapter five. Galatians, chapter five. It's good to have Pastor Angela and Pastor Edwin Anderson here this week in the Bible school. My pastors, I've gotten to spend some time with them. I don't normally get to spend nanny hogs all their time usually, so she's out of town. So we've gotten to spend so much time with them. And I always think of this story from when I was a teenager and we were at the beach, we would go and some friends of ours in the church, they would rent a condo at the beach, and they'd have a condo at the beach, and we'd all pile into this one family's condo. There'd be people, young people everywhere. Everywhere. You couldn't hardly move from the church. And we'd go stay, and we went over their condo one time we played cards. And I'll never forget now, I was looking too, but I looked and we were playing this card game. I don't remember what game it was. And. And it was. We were all sitting on, like, around. And I mean, there was a bunch of us young people, and pastor's gonna play cards with us, but pastor was gonna beat us all, too, and he was gonna make sure of that. And I look at one point, you're supposed to cover your eyes at some point. And I don't remember the game. One of them would have to run. You close your eyes. And I remember, I looked, and he's looking around, and I thought, my pastor just gave me permission for life. No, they were always so much fun. And I saw them live. They were spiritual giants to us because of their spiritual example, and not just in their teaching, but their manner of living. But they were fun. And like Pastor Nancy says, it's good to have spiritual people are normal and they're fun. And so they taught us how to have a good time, how to enjoy living for God and cheat a little bit at it. Doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt. There was one time we. It was a fundraiser. I don't know what the fundraiser is for. Remember we put money in the two jars and you had a beard, and one was save it, and one was shave it. Remember that? And for. What was it? For months? It felt like as a kid, we were putting money in these jars and you ended up having to shave your beard at the church fellowship one summer I thought I am so glad I'm a female pastor, not a male pastor. So we had some good times. But it's nice that you get to grow up seeing. So I hope I'm not a stick in the mud. Cause my pastor certainly we're not six in the mud. And again, if you see me cheating, just know where I got it from wasn't my idea. But tonight Galatians 5 there was something particular on my heart that I'd been meditating on, that I'd like for the Holy Ghost to kind of help us in. And I believe he will. This is a large to me it seems like a large subject, but it's one that is a daily. A daily meditation should be a daily meditation and focusing our attention on what we're doing for this particular subject. Galatians 5, verse 13 for you brethren, were indeed. I'm going to read out of the Amplified for you indeed, were, were indeed called to freedom only do not let your freedom be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse for selfishness. But through love you should serve one another. So notice that it says an excuse for selfishness, that the flesh. The number one way your flesh is going to want to raise itself up is through being out of love and affecting other people. It's not through carnal behavior outside the church. It's not from what you watch, not from what you drink, not from where you go. It's going to be first demonstrated in how you treat one another. That's where whether you're a spirit being or you're a carnal being, you know you're a flesh. You. You yield to the flesh or you yield to the spirit, will primarily and firstly show up in how you treat people. You can only hide that for so long. The flesh will always have an opinion, a thought, a rebuttal, a response. Whether you verbalize it or not, the flesh will always want to have its way at the detriment of somebody else's feelings. At somebody else. This is talking about serving through love. You serve. We serve one another in many ways. We serve through what we say, we serve through what we do. We serve through where we are, where we're supposed to be, making sure we're in the right place. Of course, concerning the local church, this carries an even greater weight. If we're not serving anywhere, then somebody else is doing our serving, and they're serving. But verse 14 for the whole law concerning human relationships is complied within the one precept. You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself. But if you bite and devour one another in partisan strife, be careful that you and your whole fellowship are not consumed by one another. But I say walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit, responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit, then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh of human nature without God. For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh. Or as Amphitheist says, the godless human nature. That means you are still left with a godless human nature. You have to remind yourself when you wake up every day. And this isn't being negative, this isn't living under condemnation. I am waking up every day with something that has a godless nature. This is not new. And no matter how much ladies makeup and needles and fixing and whatever you want to do, no matter how much you do, it's still going to be getting older and decaying because of the godless sinful nature that's present. But the good news is we have a spirit recreated in Christ Jesus. There is power in your spirit man to live and overcome the flesh. But if we're not mindful, like I said, you're not living under condemnation, but you've got to be mindful. How am I walking out the door today? How did I even. How did I even roll out of bed today? Which one did I roll out with? My body or my spirit man? Then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires. Verse 16 of the flesh. So there's in verse 17, the halfway through says, for these are antagonistic to each other, continually withstanding and in conflict with each other, so that you are not free, but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. But if you are guided, led by the Holy Spirit, you are not subject to the law. And then it goes through these things that the flesh wants to. And I don't wanna go that far tonight, actually. Verse 25 says, but if we live by the Holy Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward, walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit. That means you can have the Holy Spirit and you walk not in line with your spirit man and with the Holy Ghost. That is possible. And that's where failure arises. Failure is not because of the devil. He has been defeated on your behalf. Failure arises when we choose to walk in the flesh nature. Failure is awaiting for you. It may not happen Today, it may not happen tomorrow. But if you choose to live by the conduct that your flesh, the code of conduct that your flesh sets up for you, failure is on the horizon. Failure is imminent. Defeat will be what you sign up for. And again, that's not to put anybody down or make you conscious of defeat. It's to make you conscious that you have a flesh nature. To live by the spirit as life and to live by the flesh is death. There's still death in this nature, this body, this human flesh. Now, I want to address a phrase, and I've said it myself, I've used this myself. It could be with myself, or we sometimes use this with children. But there's no flesh problem. Number one. There's no flesh problem. When you're living by the answers of the spirit, the flesh is not a problem for you. Your flesh. You wake up tomorrow, never be a problem for you again. And we'll talk about that tonight, how we can get there. But the saying is, well, my flesh was just out of control, right? Have you heard that their flesh was just out of. Out of control? I've said that, you know, thought that with my kids, that flesh is just out of control. Haven't we all thought that my flesh got out of control? But your flesh and I want, because I think it's in these little phrases that we pick up that we can, we want to be detailed and specific in certain things. And I, the Holy Ghost had me, wanted me to address this particular phrase. The flesh is out of control. No, your flesh is not out of control. It's that you gave your flesh control. When you say my flesh is out of control, it kind of denotes that it's going to be a little bit difficult, right? To. When something's out of control, it means there's somewhere a lack of control or an ability to control. You think of a bull, when they let out of the chute, what happens? That bull goes and it is out of control. They're not. It's not looking. It's not. They have to really, really work and make an effort a lot of times to get it back in through the gate, right? Because once it's out, it lets that body loose and it is going to get whoever and whatever is off it. It's going to just let that, that thing is just going to lose control and just go, go flying. Well, to say my flesh is out of control, according to the scripture, it's no, we will give it control. One or the other is in control. Either your spirit man's in Control or your flesh is in control. Don't again. It's these little adjustments in our thinking. Ah, my flesh just got out of control. No, wait a second. If it got out of control in that moment, then that means you've been letting it in that. In that you're letting it have control and have its way. Flesh will be flesh. It's not out of control. Like you just couldn't, you know, I just couldn't. I just couldn't hold back. I just. I'll do better next time. I'll get it back under. No, you gave it control. So if we adjust our thinking to know I can have control over my tongue, over my flesh, over that carnal, sinful man, I can have control. I'm not trying to fight and keep it like a bunking bronco from being out of control. I am endeavoring to give all the control to my spirit man. I've got to let him have the control, because it's not my flesh being out of control. It wants to take control. Your body was in control when that sinful nature came out. In this context, he was addressing the Galatians with their love walk. That means we. There's no, you know, if we responding, if we're behaving in a way that's not in love. The only justification for that was we let our flesh be in control. We gave. We handed those little. That little joystick over to our flesh and it said, doot, doot, doot. Do this. Say this. Punch that button. Hit that button. You know, you're winning in the. In the carnal arena. We gotta take that thing, Give it back, the control back to the spirit man where the Holy Ghost is and give it control. Okay, so out of control will make you. If we use again. I'm not saying. You can't ever say that. I just want us to make sure that if we can tweak these little phrases that we cover things with, it will help us if we adjust those that we can realize. No, wait a second. My flesh did not get out of control. I was not giving my spirit man control through being and walking and living habitually in the spirit. So naturally, my flesh is going to do what it's going to do. Your flesh will do what flesh does. You allow your flesh to be in control. Flesh acting like flesh is not flesh being out of control. Right. Flesh being flesh. I'm not going to take time to read what the flesh does, but there's a whole list right after this passage of what that is not it. Nowhere does it say, if you do these things, your flesh is out of control. It says, no, this is what flesh does. This is what flesh wants to do. And if you do not live in spirit, by the spirit, with the spirit, this is what will happen. You know, we tell our kids, don't touch the stove when it's hot because you will get burned. We've got to hold our foot to our own neck and say, if I don't live in the spirit, I will give control to my flesh. They're both constantly pulling on one another. The best example, I was with my boys at their judo class and they were doing this game and Sammy, come up here because this is. And I was watching go. Oh, my gosh. This is exactly what it's like with the flesh and the body. Hey, friend, come up here. I need you. Us two against you, let's go. So there's a game and you start out with two. And you've gotta be in fight position and you're pulling. And whoever you can get them, you're supposed to use some of your technique to get them to cross the line. Well, at some point you end up with two against one. They go after the one. There was only four of them, so they're grabbing and she's. And at some point the two get ahold of the one. And what happens? They pull so hard, there's no way the one is going to compete and be able to withstand the two. And it happens very swiftly. I mean, once that one, once it gets down to one, from two to one, this is it right here. And all of a sudden, boom, they're done. I'm trying, I'm trying. You know what? This right here, this is the flesh. This is how it should be. This is the flesh you. But we're a three part being spirit. Well, you can be in the spirit. Man is the power and in the mind is the knowledge. So which do you want to be? Once you have the agreement of the spirit man and the renewed mind? See, the devil's been removed already out of the equation. We don't live under the law. He has absolutely no authority, cannot touch us. He's been removed. We're down to one, and that one is your flesh. And if you renew your mind and the power, it says you already got the Holy Ghost on the inside. If you'll make that swift transition, that swift change the mind and the spirit man will jerk that flesh under control and the flesh loses every time. Thank you, guys. That was. Oh, you got something to say? You want to fight. Every night, him and the boys. Almost every night, him and the boys, they'll fight. And he's got to, of course, be on his knees. Cause he's got to have the disadvantage. And we're getting real close. He goes, I don't know, we got maybe one more year, if that. They got him down twice last night. And I mean, that's a big deal. That is a big deal. So with that, you know, when I was watching, I was just thinking on these things and I thought, you know, it doesn't take long to get that flesh under control when you've got your spirit man. You know what, in your spirit man, that's where faith flows. So it's very difficult to be believing God, very difficult to be confessing the Word, very difficult to be drawing faith out of that spirit man. And you're trying to live also in the flesh. You're not taking that flesh nature and putting that under with the word of God. You're not taking your renewed mind. Your mind isn't renewed. So the mind and the spirit aren't taking control of that flesh nature. What's happening is, is because your mind's not renewed, the flesh and the mind are going to tell the body or tell the spirit man what it's going to do, where we're going to go, what we're going to say, what we're going to watch, what we're going to fellowship with, right? Some part of you is always in charge in your life. Some part of you is always in charge in your life. You do not float through life. There is one part of you, your body, your mind or your spirit that is always given the control. You decide God has already recreated as believers. We are recreated beings, right? We are new creatures in Christ. We have the. The spirit man on the inside has the power. Was we were given the power on the inside to live victorious. Then we were given the power through the word of God to take our minds so that our minds and our bodies don't gang up on our spirit man. But our spirit man and our mind can quickly subdue that carnal nature. So again, you're not being ganged up on by the devil. Your flesh is not out of control, that you don't have any ability to rein it in. You absolutely do. You know, young people, the friend didn't make you do it. You know what I mean? The company you keep didn't make you do it. Your body decides your mind and your spirit man decides who your body's going to fellowship with. It should be that way. Now, if we go over to Romans chapter 8, and I love that there. And he's talking in Galatians, he's talking really to them in terms of their relationships with one another, walking in love. But here we see in Romans, chapter 8, in verse 3. For God has done what the law could not do, its power being weakened by the flesh, the entire nature of man, without the Holy Spirit sending his own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. God condemned sin in the flesh. Look at that. God condemned sin in the flesh. Subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice. You have the power. You've already been given the power. He has already, through his sacrifice, given the power to overcome and any kind. I like this. Deprived it of its power over all who accept the sacrifice. Subdued and overcame. Isn't that what that demonstrated? That's what scripture came up. When I saw that, I realized, because God, I don't live under the law. I'm recreated being. I'm under the new covenant. I have been given not just power, but the authority. I'm not under a law that controls the flesh of man. And I can take, and swiftly with a renewed mind, deal with my flesh because he has, according to this passage, verse three, subdued, overcame and deprived it of its power. Verse four. So that the righteous and just requirement of the law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh, but in the ways of the Spirit. Our lives governed not by the standards. Notice that your flesh is going to give you a standard. It's going to set a standard. The standard, and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit. Faith, we could say this. Faith is the flow. Looking at verse three, faith is a flow of the heart. We know this, that the Bible says with the heart, man believes. When we allow ourselves to be guided by the heart and the Spirit, we're being led from the source of our faith. I've had people come and they. They want to step out in faith in a certain arena. They want to maybe believe God for home. They want to believe God with business. They need food, finances, you know, met with Bible school students. One of the very first things I will ask, especially married couples, when they come and they say, I want to believe God for. We want to believe God for this. Can you, you know, do you have something for us? Or we want to, you know, step out and we believe God's directing us to do this. One of the first things I'll talk to them about is, what does your marriage look like? What does your marriage look like? Because if your flesh is out of control at home with your spouse, your source of faith has a lid on it. By your carnal nature, faith flows from the heart. I need your faith to be working and flowing, right? Because what you're telling me is going to require your faith. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be standing here. You wouldn't be in my office, right? And there's things that people I know that they're not, you know, you can see they're not ready for it. Not because their faith level isn't there, but because too much of the percentage of their time and their life is dictated and the standard is set by their flesh and not their spirit. Man. They're living. They want the faith standard, but they live by the carnal standard. You can't have the standard of faith and live by the standard of the flesh. You cannot have the standard of faith. What is it? I believe what I speak when I pray. It's done, it's mine, and I receive it in Jesus name. You cannot live by the standard of faith if you are living by the standard of your flesh. This scripture says you will have a standard of the flesh. So I ask them, what does your marriage look like? What's going on at home? What does your family look like? Because if the standard of your marriage and your love walk is to a level that is, and I'm not talking just barely above carnal, you better be so far away. I'm not saying that things are perfect. I'm not saying that. But we're talking. You know, there was some things my husband and I, we quickly learned how to take because we needed such a flow of our faith. We needed the. The lid off of every bit of our faith. We needed our faith to grow. We needed, you know, every square inch and foot that our faith would provide us. So what we needed to do was make sure that we're living and walking by the spirit, especially in our love walk. Because that's what he said in Galatians, deal with your love walk. This. I'm directly addressing your love walk. First he addressed their love walk. Then he listed all the other carnal behavior. So that tells me, look at my love walk. I've been raised in a Christian home. I have good Christian fellowship. I don't surround myself with people who are going to tempt me to get into idolatry. And, you know, all those other. The everything that else that list but one thing I do know is what he addressed with the Galatians is your glove walk will always be on the altar. You're always going to have to be taken and dealing with that. So I tell people, let's make sure that the degree that you're walking in the spirit meets the degree that you need to be walking in faith. Does that make sense? The degree that you need your faith to work, you better make sure that's the degree you are more than matching. In fact, overcoming the degree of walking in the spirit in every arena in your life. Amen. Verse 4, it says, let's look at that real quick. Our lives governed not by the standards. I wrote this down. You have a governing body. There is the, the way he explained it to me, the Holy Ghost, kind of as I was meditating on it and I thought this was a good example. Just the way he talks to me, he said, your flesh is a governing body and your spirit is a governing body. You got two governing bodies in your life. Your flesh is a governing body. You know, we've got a. In our nation we've got a two party system, right? Well, guess what? In your life you got a two party system. You're a spirit man in your flesh, your flesh is the governing body. It's called the party of death. The party of death. Why? Cause from this we sow to the spirit, we reap life, we sow to the flesh, we reap corruption. What is corruption? That's death things. It doesn't happen overnight. People think, well, if I didn't reap the results of living carnal or by my flesh to yesterday or you know, tomorrow, whatever corruption that that denotes, over time things get corrupted. It doesn't happen. We say, oh that, that business was corrupted. Well, somebody was working a scheme, you know what I'm saying? To make something so it's going to happen over time. You'll reap corruption. And don't be fooled. God will not be mocked. What you sow to, you will reap from. He didn't say immediately, don't fill in words that he didn't put there. So there's governing bodies. You got the party of death and the spirit are the governing party of life. The mind is the enforcing entity that decides which party gets voted in. That's exactly how that works. That is the deciding factor of who's going to get voted in today. Who got elected today? Your spirit man or your flesh is decided right here. Your spirit man, yes, is full of the power, full of life. But that doesn't mean you'll live it. That doesn't mean I'll live it. Because my flesh has a standard and because we live in a natural realm, we're engaged with our flesh in natural things. It becomes very easy to slip over right into that. That let that governing party of our flesh have its way. So the deciding factor is the renewing of the mind. Just as in that demonstration, which party, the party of death or the party of life is going to win today? It's not decided by your spirit, man. It is not decided by how much faith you've been feeding on. It's not decided. You know, I'm talking about faith. When I talk about faith, I mean what you're believing for. Don't. Don't come and talk to me about what you're believing for if you can't tell me what you're living for. Come on now. What you're living for I'm far more interested in because it'll be really easy to get what you're believing for if what you get up every day and live for. If you live for your flesh or you live for your spirit, what you're believing for will be easy. Many people are struggling with what they're believing for because they feed and feed and feed on faith. And they want to have what Pastor Anderson talked about Sunday, the simplicity of confession. And it is that simple. How he taught us that it is that simple. But your flesh will make it difficult. Why? Because faith he was talking about, it flows from your spirit, man. You've got to not let the flesh put. You can't with a renewed mind siding in the word of God. And that's where it comes. You know, we. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm gonna go ahead and go there. So when the Bible talks about we must worship him in spirit and in truth, that scripture, and then we also know it talks about that our conduct and the way we live is worship to him. Right? We want to take that passage and say we worship him in spirit and in truth. When we're lifting our hands and we're here for 30 minutes on Sunday, of course we worship him in spirit and in truth. When we're coming together in unity and we're lifting our hands. We want our songs to be in spirit and in truth, have the spirit, that the spirit is involved in those. But if the Bible talks about that the way you live is your spiritual worship, then that means if I'm not living in spirit and in truth, how do we live in spirit and in truth, we live letting the party of life decide every day. And we take our mind and put the truth of the word of God in it. That is really the majority of your life. Your life's worship is going to be spent living in the spirit and renewing your mind. Recognize that your life's worship unto God. Because I spend more time with my day to day life in a manner conducting myself in a particular way that I need to have the truth of the word of God, my mind renewed and be walking with the Spirit. That's worship. That is worship. You know, you want to have young people, you want to have a call to lead worship. It does absolutely no good to get up and sing a song if your manner of life is not lived in spirit and in truth. That's your first form of worship. This is the secondary form. You understand that? This is the secondary. The first thing in worship is how you live. And again, we've got two governing parties. The party of death, the body, the party of life, the spirit. And the deciding governing body is the mind that decides who's going to get voted, voted in that day, how you're going to walk and what standards and laws and rules are gonna be set for you that day. Right again, this is why I said we've got to be conscientious, that we still do. We can come out of a great service. And man, you feel that anointing. We came off of a week of meetings and it is good. And boy, I'm refreshed from midweek service. And we turn around on Wednesday, say, and the governing body rises up of the flesh. Because I didn't renew your mind tonight, remember, I just shone light on where you need renewing. You don't get your mind renewed on Sundays and Tuesdays. When light comes, you go. That's where I see that that means that's where you are to be renewing your mind. I can't renew your mind in one service, I can't renew it in two services. Because the majority of the time your mind is spent outside of these four walls. So remember, this is not a place of renewing your mind. It is a place of refreshing and shining light on. Where does my mind need to be renewed? We take it, we walk out and we say, I see that I need to. I have not meditated on that. I have not been walking that out. That's now where I've got my assignment of renewal. Amen. The word of God gives you the knowledge and the ability. This is important. The word of God Gives you the knowledge and ability to take back control by the spirit. What have you been struggling with with your flesh? What has been a difficulty with your flesh? And if you say nothing, Wrong answer. Wrong answer. There's always adjustments, there's always growth. We never arrive, you know, at a final destination. In this time on this earth, in this life. The word of God gives you the knowledge and the ability. Remember, that's the governing body. If you don't have the knowledge of God's word, then the spirit, man will struggle without knowledge. The power on the inside needs knowledge. That's why people, they want to yield that power of faith, you know, that they want to get out and do great things with their faith. We all do. But we need knowledge. Or we'll be trying to wield something and use something and we'll wonder why. I know there's power in every word. There's power in every sick room and every hospital room and my room and my finances. And you start calling on that power. But you've let the power of your flesh do its thing for you know how long. Well, you, you, you're trying to tap into the power in here when you've lived by the control out here. Can't have both. I'm not saying God's hard or he's merciful, he'll get as much. I'm just telling you it'll make. It'll make your faith life easier sometimes. Why do we not get things quicker? A lot of times it's because our carnal man, it does, it dictates and gives us the standard for the majority of the time. But we want the standard of the Word in our finances. We want the standard of the Word, you know, on our business, we want the standard of the Word with our income. We want the standard of God when it comes to prosperity, prosperity and all that he's given and my authority in the blood of Jesus. But there's a standard of the flesh that's also going to try to rule. And the party of death is going to try to be the governing party. So one or the other is in control. Which one is it? The power and the authority comes from the life that's on the inside of me. Look here real, real quick at verse five. For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires. There's that word again. Controlled, not out of control. Oh, that didn't say those who live out of control by its unholy. It's in control. That flesh has taken control. It is not out of control. Your body said what it said and it meant what it said. It didn't get out of control. It meant to say that it felt good saying that, doing that. For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires, set their minds on and purpose those things which gratify the flesh. There it is, party of death getting its way when the mind agrees. But those who are according to the spirit and are controlled by the desires of the spirit, set their minds on and set seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. You know what's going to gratify the Holy Ghost right here? It's not get having it. Many times people can think what's going to gratify the spirit is to have some experience with God. Oh, I had an experience. I got, I just got so wrapped up with the spirit. And you think the Holy Ghost is so pleased with your time of worship and feeling the presence of God and oh, we just had a wonderful service. No, he's really most gratifying. When you live according to the standards of the word of God and of your spirit man, that's when he's most present and gets his way. It's not in an experience, it's not in a flow or a movement. It's in day to day life. I'm living letting my spirit man dominate the Holy Ghost. He lives on the inside of me. I'm letting him have his way. And not only that, it'll make being led. Can I say this? If you're facing a situation right now and this is kind of why I began to meditate this direction. If you're facing a situation right now and you say, you know, I do not have clarity on this, I'm not sure what to do about this. I need direction on this or you've had a lot of questions for some time. Don't go keep looking for answers and trying to get answers. Sometimes we need to address our manner of living and what we're doing because we get in the prayer closet and we ask for answers and we pray a little bit in the spirit and we look to God and we say, father, I thank you. Now he's leading us. The spirit of God is always bearing witness with our spirit. But it's very difficult to have this governing body give you direction for your life if it's not the governing body that, that you live by in your daily life. We want direction, but we don't want to live by it. We want the answers, but we don't want to obey. We want the leadings for success, but we don't want the leadings for discipline and restraint. Right. I mean, this is, this is again, this is kind of what got me meditating on this sign. This is where I want to get to. I, I want to make sure. So if you're struggling to receive an answer, there's been a season where you have not gotten clarity. Can I encourage us? Let's go to maybe this, that maybe it's not the fact that God hasn't given the answer. It's the fact that the majority of the time you're, you're letting another governing body control you day to day. And you want to take a moment in your prayer closet or come up in a line and have hands laid on you, or come to church and say, I need my answer. And for two hours you're here and something isn't received, it might be because the governing party that has dictated your life. God does not give his answers to those who are going to fulfill it in a carnal response. He's delivering his answers and he's. And he's going to always be bearing witness with your spirit to give direction. But it gets revealed when our mind is in agreement. If your flesh is in control, that's because your mind has given it permission do that. Your mind is unrenewed. But if we'll renew our mind, live controlled by our spirit man, day to day, walk with him, live. Living in the spirit is not weird. It just means you're living full of the word of God, a mind renewed and living mindful that there is a standard set by your spirit man. Amen. Just living, aware of God, God and, and that he lives on the inside of you and he hears you and sees you and goes with you. And which governing party do we really want to please and make happy? You know, I'm just telling you your flesh will come and overthrow your life, sabotage it, ruin it. But the spirit, your spirit man, with the under the law of life in Christ Jesus has already, he's already overcome every, every difficulty, every trouble. So if you're struggling to get an answer, to get direction, I would encourage you maybe go back and say, how is my manner of living? How am I, what am I being controlled by? And is the answer really there? And I'm just not in a position, position to hear it right now. Look at this. It says they set their minds on verse 5 and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. There are things that gratify the Holy Ghost. If there's things that gratify him, what does that gratify make him grateful? To be in you, to be walking with you, to be living on the inside of you. So that means there's grateful there be things that will make him ungrateful that you do behavior, a man or a lifestyle. Verse 6. Now the mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. So there is no Holy Ghost in your body? Oh, no Holy Ghost in your body. Nothing holy about your body. You make your body holy. You make it live holy. The mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. Look at that. Party of death. Party of death. There you go. I didn't make that up. Is death, death. That comprises all the miseries arising from sin both here and hereafter. But the mind of the Holy Spirit, There it is, the party of life. Is life and soul peace, both now and forever. What is peace? Peace is the answers. Knowing your way, knowing the answers will walking with God. They shall go out with joy and be what led forth. If you're not moving forward, check which party is running the show. Check which one is in control. Not out of control, in control. Amen. That is because the mind of the flesh, which with its carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God, for it does not stop submit itself to God's law. Indeed it cannot. That means you must make it. Just like that example. You must make it. There is no bipartisan coming together for the common good of your flesh and your spirit. You hear that? We need to have bipartisan politics. We just need to come together for a common good. Your flesh and your spirit man will never come together for the common good. That's what this scripture says, verse 5. This is exactly what verse 5 says. Both of them. The flesh is always opposing. You never get in this demonstration. You never get the spirit and the flesh on one side. The mind is the body. That goes the governing and deciding factor. That goes back and forth between based on your knowledge, powers in your spirit man. But you gotta fill your mind with the knowledge of how to walk it out. So there's no bipartisan politics. There's no coming together for the common good. You can't let flesh make decisions in certain arenas and have faith and flow by the spirit in other arenas. That's what it was saying in Galatians. You're using your freedom wrongly. You're taking your freedom in Christ and you're deciding how you want to treat one another. Because you've gotten a little bit of freedom, but that freedom didn't. He's saying that freedom didn't come to this man. This freedom came to this man. And you're letting this man have its liberty instead of this man. Only one's going to get its liberty. This or this. You're using your freedom wrongly and trying to live a bipartisan lifestyle. And again, in Galatians, that's where it was. Addressing in love, he said, my goodness, you know, you're. You guys are just taking your freedom and in Christ. He corrected him on a whole lot of other stuff, too, earlier in the book. But we won't go over to that. But I just want us to be aware for our own lives. Are we trying to live, you know, by the spirit or live by the flesh and get answers and direction by the spirit and use the faith in our spirit. But we're saying, well, my flesh just got. No, your flesh didn't get out of control. You let it be in control. Or are you being controlled by the spirit man? And you need the renewing of your mind. Amen. To live by the party of life. All right. That one too heavy, was it? Whoa. Talk about, you know, those are the. That's where we live, right? That's where we're at. That's the real deal. I love coming on Tuesdays and preaching on faith and all the exciting things. But you know what? That's not what we had for tonight. Maybe because Pastor Anderson taught on it on Sunday. Sunday, God freed me up to go a little bit different, healthy direction. Stand with me to your feet. Turn to somebody before you're dismissed and say, I'm going to let my spirit man be in control. And we'll see you on Sunday.
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