The Transforming Spirit

Good morning, Watermark. Good morning. That's good. That's good.

Okay, my name's Chris. For those of you who don't know me, and for those of you who do know me,

my name is still Chris, although I am called by other things occasionally.

It's great to see you this morning. Just really excited as we're going on this series of looking

in the Holy Spirit, and we're looking at what it means to have the Spirit of God, which

is God's personal, life-giving presence, with us. Okay, so that's kind of what we're doing

in this series. We're wanting to look at what it means to have the Spirit in and with us.

And as Watermark, we haven't talked a lot about the Spirit, and we want to just get into what

the Bible says. And Graham, last week, he showed us that the Spirit is the creator Spirit who

brings life to us, who creates. As you look outside, he creates the beauty outside, and

he creates new life in bringing people from darkness and death to life in Jesus. And that's

what we kind of looked a little bit at last week. And I don't know about you, about how

you think about the Holy Spirit. But some of us relate to the Holy Spirit a bit like going

to Ocean Park. He's there to give me this kind of emotional experience. And a Spirit-filled

church is just one which has a great kind of atmosphere to it. Some of the rest of us relate

to the Spirit a bit like I relate to my thyroid gland. I know it's there. I'm grateful that I

have one. But I don't really have any kind of relationship with it. I don't really spend

much time thinking about it. Okay? And you know, particularly when we start thinking about

the Holy Spirit, his other name is the Holy Ghost. And that's a little bit spooky. And

so it kind of freaks us out a little bit. And I don't know where we're somewhere in between

those different camps, different of us. And yet, the Bible has a lot to say about the Spirit.

And today, I want us to think that we serve a Trinitarian God who is not just an it, but a

key. The Spirit is part of the Trinity. And he wants us to experience the sweetness of

his presence with us. I don't know how many of us, if we're honest, we're kind of sleepy,

going through the motions, Christians. I don't know whether you always feel sometimes defeated.

You sometimes feel stuck where you are. Sometimes just wrapped up more in my career and my kids and

the stuff that's happening in life than really passionate about Jesus.

And honestly, I think often we get into this thing where, you know, you fall into the same

habits again and again and again. And you feel like you're in this kind of hole which,

no matter how hard you kind of climb, you just keep never trying to get out of it. You always seem

to be stuck as a Christian. And as a church, I'm convinced that sometimes the lifelessness that

we experience in our lives is caused not so much by our circumstances, but because we haven't learned

to rely on the Holy Spirit in our lives, on God's personal presence with us.

And this morning, here's what I think the Spirit wants to do in each one of us. I don't know if you

drive. And, you know, when you have those GPS systems and you're driving along and then you miss your

turn because you got distracted. And the thing I love about those GPSs is they don't turn around and say to you,

oh, you stupid idiot, why did you miss that turn? They don't do that. What they say is, they say very

calmly, they say, recalculating, turn left in 300 meters, recalculating, turn right. And your journey

may be a little bit longer, but it's always going to get you there. It's always going to get you there

because it's always pointing you back to where you need to go. That's what the Spirit wants to do

in our lives. The Spirit is always pointing us to Jesus, how beautiful Jesus. It says Jesus, the Spirit

is to glorify Jesus. And the Spirit right today in your life wants to point to you and to say,

recalculating, recalculating, so that your life comes back in line with where he wants to take you

step by step to be more who he wants you to be. And the question is this morning, are you going to

listen to him or are you going to ignore him? Because you know you can ignore your GPS.

Sometimes that's a good idea, but no, not with the Spirit.

And so I want to look at two passages this morning, which basically kind of they overlap.

And just to pull out some of the themes to show us what this really means to follow what the Spirit is doing.

So if you have your bulletin with you, I'm just going to kind of run through a little bit some of these,

some of what I think are two operating systems, okay? Two operating systems that Paul talks about

here in these passages. One is called to be in the flesh and the other is called to be in the Spirit.

And then we'll look at how the Spirit kind of transforms us afterwards.

But there are two operating systems in the human heart.

And they are incompatible, just like iOS and Windows.

They're not compatible.

And you cannot try, and those two operating systems are the Spirit and the flesh.

And you cannot try and have a little bit of Spirit and a little bit of flesh together.

At any given moment, you will live under the rule of one or the other.

There's no hybrid.

And so I want to talk about the flesh first, okay?

Because in this passage in Romans 8, Paul says this about the flesh, verse 6 to 8.

He says,

To set the mind on the flesh is death.

It's hostile to God.

It doesn't submit to God's law.

It cannot please God.

It cannot please God.

And you say, well, what is the flesh?

Okay.

We don't kind of go around talking about that very often.

And the flesh is the self-reliant, self-centered, unrenewed part of every human which desires sin

and craves to be filled with anything except Jesus.

It's this hole inside of every person which wants to be satisfied with self.

You know, growing up, I watched this slightly weird comedy horror movie called Little Shop of Horrors.

Has anyone seen that?

Okay.

Three people have been scarred.

Okay.

Well, the thing about this movie is it's about this guy called Seymour who gets this plant.

And one day this plant is starting to die.

And then one day he pricks his finger and the blood goes down onto the plant.

Suddenly the plant comes alive.

And the plant then begins to say exactly what the flesh says.

Could I cue the song?

Could I cue the song?

Could I cue the song?

Could I cue the song?

Could I cue the song?

Could I cue the song?

You didn't realize inside of you.

That is what the flesh says.

And you know, in the movie, this plant provides him with money, success, and the girl he likes in return for blood.

Okay?

It's a little bit morbid.

But it's a horror movie.

But, so that's why you just don't watch it.

But, it's not good.

But once he starts feeding it, this plant's insatiable appetite, it can never have enough.

It can never have enough.

And what happens, the plant grows bigger and bigger and just overtakes and takes over control.

And that's what the flesh is like.

You get short-term pleasure for long-term destruction.

And if you don't think that's what you have inside of you, well, Galatians 5, Paul gives a few little examples of what the flesh kind of looks like in practice.

And, you know, there's a few categories there.

I'll just pick out one or two.

He says, sexual immorality.

He says, you know, you're traveling alone.

You're in your hotel room.

You're feeling a little bit lonely.

And then you notice there is a porn channel on there.

And your flesh says, feed me.

You know, you see that hot guy or that girl.

And you take a glance.

And suddenly, your flesh says, feed me.

Take a second look.

Take a third look.

You're at a work function.

And you start chatting with someone.

And you begin to feel attracted to them.

And you know it's not healthy.

And you know you shouldn't.

But it feels good.

And your flesh says, feed me.

Feed me because I will satisfy you.

I will fill you.

I will give you pleasure.

I'll give you comfort.

I'll give you what you really want.

And it's not just in the area of sex.

You know, it's in the relationship breakdown.

He says, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy.

I mean, that's quite a list.

He says, you know, your colleague says, I'll take this project.

I know how to do it.

Implying you don't know how to do it.

And you feel so patronized that your self-righteous anger builds up inside of you.

And it says, feed me.

Like, dwell on that offense.

Just get a little bit angrier about all they've done.

It's just not fair.

Feed me.

You know, someone's trying to push past you in the metaphorical queue at work.

Someone's getting a job promotion when you think you deserve that job promotion.

Someone else's kids are doing better than your kids.

They're more obedient.

More disciplined.

And your flesh says, feed me that discontent.

I reached 40 last week.

That's scary.

Yeah, don't clap.

That's...

Thank you.

But, you know, what happens is, you know, you compare to the people who are at the same peer level as you.

And you see how other people are more successful than you.

And what happens, you begin to feel like...

A little bit jealous.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

And my flesh says, feed me.

Feed that discontent.

Dwell on it.

Dwell on how life is not fair.

Or the regrets.

Feed me.

Maybe it's not that for you.

Maybe it's substance abuse is another thing.

He goes on to.

He talks about drunkenness.

And then he says, orgies and anything like these things.

Which, I mean, that's like a whole category.

You know, what is he saying?

He's saying craving pleasure through whatever means.

Just another drink to ease the stress.

Forget your problems.

Just another piece of chocolate cake and you'll feel better.

Feed me.

And what he says is, it leaves you guilty.

Ashamed.

Insecure.

Broken relationships.

Stress.

Lacking peace.

Impatient.

Does that describe anyone you know?

Anything in this city?

And the thing is, the flesh is so deceitful.

Because I actually don't think I'm that bad, really.

I think I'm actually pretty good.

Pretty okay.

Because, you know, I'm having an argument with my wife.

And she's telling me all these things which are plainly unreasonable.

But I hold my tongue.

I'm disciplined.

You know?

I didn't give in to my anger.

And do you know what the thought comes into my mind?

It says, aren't I a holy, righteous individual?

Aren't I good?

I'm not like other people around who would lose their tongue, who'd lose their temper.

I'm not so emotional as those.

I'm logical.

And my self-reliant pride says, feed me.

Just make me feel a little bit better than everybody else.

Do you see?

You can do it through discipline or ill discipline.

And it's not rational.

It's driven by your desire.

Your desire for praise.

Your desire for respect.

Your desire for comfort.

Your desire for success.

Your desire for me.

That's what the flesh is all about.

And Paul is saying every single human being after Adam and Eve is enslaved to the flesh.

It's a bit like this.

The flesh is the one on the left.

The one who looks like Jabba the Hutt.

Okay.

That's what we're all like.

And that's why Paul says, the law, moral rules are powerless to stop it.

Because they can't change the desires of your heart.

You know?

I only think I'm okay because I've hired a great inner lawyer to defend myself.

To stop me seeing the blind spots in my life.

To kind of get me off the hook and just blame everybody else.

Because, you know, I have both an inner lawyer and an external lawyer.

Because my wife is a lawyer as well.

But we all have this.

And what Paul is saying, if you want to get real, you've got to fire your inner lawyer.

Which justifies yourself and see the true state of what you're in.

Because Paul says, when you think you can please God, keep his law, be okay by yourself, by your own self-effort.

But you're actually hostile to God, he says.

You're at war with God.

Until you realize your utter need for him, you're giving him the middle finger.

And saying, I'm going to do life my way.

That's the flesh.

And he says it leads to death.

Death in your relationships.

Death in your separation from God eternally.

That's one operating system.

But then Paul says, there's another operating system.

Okay?

You can choose whether it's iOS or Windows, depending on which one you like.

He says, there is also life in the spirit.

Chapter 8, verse 1, he says this.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

You say, here's what you were like.

You were like that guy on the leash.

But Jesus on the cross, he defeated your sin and the flesh.

He condemned it.

He gave it a death sentence.

He broke the grip that it had on you.

He died to set you free from all of the demands and the slavery to the flesh.

To all of it saying, feed me.

He died to set you free from that.

Free from the guilt, the shame, the never being good enough to meet up to God's standard.

He says there's freedom, no condemnation.

Condemnation.

It's like this.

He sets you free from trying in your own strength to fill that hole inside of you.

Instead, he says, if you are a Christian and the mark of being a Christian is the spirit of God comes to dwell in you.

Which is why, verse 9, Paul says, you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit of the spirit of God dwells in you.

You've got a new master.

You've got a new status.

You don't owe the flesh anything.

You're not enslaved to him anymore.

You don't have to march according to his tune.

That's why, as a Christian, you can never say, I couldn't help it when I sinned.

Because he says, no, I have set you free.

I have set you free.

You have a choice.

Before, you had no choice.

Now you can be free to resist the flesh.

And you can be free, and you are free, and the spirit wants to help you to live free.

Now, what do I mean by that?

I read an article on the BBC about orangutans.

Okay.

That have been held captive by trappers.

And they've been kept in cages.

But then they were rescued.

And they're brought back to a sanctuary where the goal was to help them to live as orangutans should live.

Which is like swinging in the trees in the forest, in the jungle.

But these orangutans are so used to living in cages, they don't know how to live as orangutans.

And so the purpose of the whole sanctuary was to help them, like take them out into the jungle, help them to learn how to swing from the trees, step by step, to help them to live as orangutans.

And it's a process.

But that's what the spirit is doing in our lives.

He's saying, I've set you free from that cage of slavery to begin to swing in the trees of who Jesus made you to be.

He just died that you would bear all the fruit of the spirit in your life and look just like Jesus.

What's the fruit of the spirit?

Anyone help me?

Love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Oh, you get stuck there.

Faithfulness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

Anyone want to be more loving?

One person.

Okay.

Anyone want to have more joy in your life?

Okay, there's a few more now.

That's good.

Anyone want more peace in your life?

Oh, even more.

Okay.

Anyone want more self-control in your life?

Yeah?

Yeah?

Do you realize that the cross and resurrection of Jesus guarantees that you will one day be perfectly loving, kind, generous, joy-filled, patient, self-controlled?

It's guaranteed.

Because Jesus has paid on the cross for that to happen.

You know, Jesus has already bought your future for you.

Did you know that?

He's already bought your future.

That's why verse 11 says this.

This is amazing.

He says,

The spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.

He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Now, what is he saying?

He's saying,

I will give life to this thing which is kind of corrupted by the flesh.

I'm going to give life to you that you have never experienced before.

I'm going to lead you into the destiny of being like Jesus that he has waiting for you.

I'm going to completely renew you, every single part of you.

And I'm going to start today.

Will you let me?

Will you let me?

Or are you going to keep relying on yourself?

Because I don't know about you.

When you rely on yourself, how much of the fruit of the spirit do you really bear?

I don't do a great job.

And today he wants to say to you, recalculating.

Recalculating.

And you say, that sounds really nice, but I keep falling.

I've lost hope.

And the spirit says, Christian, do you know who is inside of you?

Do you know who has taken up residency in your heart?

He says, the spirit of God, the God who created the universe,

who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.

Now, I don't know if you, you're kind of like, oh, that's great.

I mean, if we get hold of that, that is mind-blowing.

Mind-blowing.

Because we say things like, but you don't know what I've done.

You don't know what I'm addicted to.

And God says, but Jesus was dead.

Are you more far gone than death?

Yet he raised him from the dead.

Don't you think he can raise you?

And you say, I've been trying to kick this habit for so long in my life,

and I seem to be defeated.

I don't see any hope of change.

But Jesus was dead.

Anything more hopeless than death?

But Jesus raised him.

God raised him from the dead.

And you say, but I don't really want to change.

But Jesus was dead, and he raised him.

Do you think that he can't melt your icy, cold, stubborn heart,

and set you on fire for him today if you ask him?

Is not the God who created everything capable of doing that?

Do you know who is in you?

You see, I realize in my own life, and I think many of us,

we've placed God in this little box,

which is just about as big as my own capability to do things.

And so I limit God to this kind of size.

And no wonder, you know, it's kind of SIM card size God.

Right?

And, you know, sometimes you get a slightly bigger SIM card than others.

But he's saying, no, don't you know who I am?

And no wonder we live with a sense of powerlessness

when we just rely on ourselves to change ourselves,

and we don't realize that the Spirit of God lives in us to transform us.

Do we want to limit God to what I'm capable of?

Or do we want to see his power transforming us?

Right?

There's a true story I know of a guy called Brennan.

He had a strong sexual addiction.

He made all kinds of commitments to fight it.

You know, he did everything he could.

He memorized Bible verses.

He got rid of his internet.

Instead of breaking free to his addiction, he actually got worse.

You know, he's a part of real despair.

Every time he seemed to gain a little bit of victory, he then slipped back down again.

Despair, defeat.

But finally, he checked himself into like an intensive Christian kind of ministry.

And eight months later, he comes out a completely changed man.

His pastor goes up to him and said, what did you learn?

And the guy said, I didn't learn anything new.

I learned to rely on the Spirit's power.

That's what changed me.

We can either live in the flesh or we can live in the Spirit.

But the flesh is going to lead you away from who God has created you to be.

The Spirit is leading you into the destiny of where he wants to take you.

He's going to drag you there if you allow him to make you who he wants you to be.

But how does he do that?

How does he do that?

Galatians 5 says,

Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In verse 25, he says,

If you live by the Spirit, which every Christian does,

let us keep in step, in step with the Spirit.

You know, there's this myth that we think, you know,

we believe we can kind of walk by the Spirit in his power but not do anything.

Okay?

It's like sometimes you're kind of just going to wake up godly.

Right?

That's what I think some of us actually believe in practice.

And Paul says it doesn't work like that.

We need to walk in the Spirit.

And walking requires effort.

It doesn't save us, but we have to walk in what God has given us.

You know, in my life, I am a much better version of Chris Thornton because of my wife.

Okay?

I lived in France for a year.

I stayed with a couple there.

The wife, at the end of the year, she sat me down and said,

because she'd seen my eating habits, my domestic habits,

and she said,

you really need a wife.

And, you know, I don't know.

Some of you may have a friend like this.

But for me, you know,

my wife has influenced, like, my eating habits,

my dress sense,

many things for the good.

And she does it by pointing things out, sometimes gently,

sometimes a little bit more strongly.

You know, she shows me a better way of folding clothes in the drawer

and how not to throw the towel on the bed, okay,

when you've used it,

and all kinds of things which are changing and transforming me.

Okay?

I'm not the same person I was,

which is good.

But, you know,

I know that her presence is so powerfully influencing me

because when she goes away,

when she goes away,

everything falls apart, you know.

It's like, you know,

I start eating just canned food, you know.

You know,

I put on the worst combination of clothes.

I mean, it's terrible.

And with the Spirit,

when the Spirit moves in with us,

that's what He's doing.

He's about changing you increasingly to be like Jesus.

But just as with my wife,

His presence will influence me,

but it's not kind of automatic.

I've got to actually listen to what my wife says

and to act on it, right?

I don't just pick it up by osmosis.

Oh, the clothes were in the drawer.

Okay?

It doesn't just happen like that.

Okay?

And so,

to keep in the step with the Spirit,

the Spirit is speaking to us.

He's convicting us.

You know,

the Spirit wants to say things like,

you know,

when you fight with your wife

and you know you should have been back earlier

and kept your promise that you'd been back earlier,

but your pride doesn't want to admit that you were wrong,

and that voice in the back of your head says,

apologize.

Recalculating.

It's the Spirit saying,

turn,

listen,

repent,

come back.

You know,

you're in the bar or the restaurant.

The wine is flowing.

And you have that voice in you saying,

hey,

just,

that's enough now.

Don't have any more

because you're losing it.

Do you listen?

The Spirit's just prodding you,

pointing to you.

And you can listen

or you can grieve the Spirit.

You know,

you can cause sorrow

to the Holy Spirit.

Did you know that?

Because,

I don't know,

those of you who are married,

in marriage,

I have realized something.

That if you're not careful,

it's very easy to learn how to tune out

to your wife,

your spouse's voice.

Okay?

Very easy.

You know,

I heard the story of Paul Tripp

who said,

at one point,

his wife asked him to get his ears checked

because he never seemed to really hear

what his wife was saying.

And so he goes to get his ear checked

and they're 100% fine.

And then they realized

that he'd built up a habit

of just zoning out

whenever his wife said something.

And you know,

you know,

it's like,

you know,

the husband's on the phone

and the wife's trying to get his attention

and says,

hey,

you know,

I'm going out.

It's like,

oh,

yeah,

oh,

okay.

And,

you know,

and she knows he hasn't heard anything.

And so she says things like,

the flat's on fire.

And he's like,

oh,

okay,

great,

great.

You know,

there's a dinosaur here.

Great,

great.

Uh-huh.

And that's often what we're like

with the spirits.

Some of us,

the spirit has been saying to us,

you need to place boundaries

over your work life.

Or you need to stop obsessively worrying

about your financial security,

about your future.

And we've gone,

uh-huh,

uh-huh.

And we just carried on.

You know,

some of us,

the spirit has been calling you saying,

join a community group.

And we've said,

yeah,

well,

it's not quite the right time.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

And the problem is,

if repeatedly,

over a length of time,

you keep saying,

uh-huh,

uh-huh,

uh-huh,

do you know what happens?

You begin to tune out

of the spirit's voice

and it gets fainter

and fainter

until the only voice you hear

is the voice of the flesh.

And when you hear the voice of the flesh,

you just end up keeping on feeding it.

You become like this.

You see,

you're not in chain to it.

You're not chained to it,

but you become,

you just start feeding it.

And so what happens is this.

That's what happens in our lives.

And no wonder we feel like

defeated,

miserable Christians sometimes

who lack the joy

because we've just been

zoning out of the spirit

and we've just been

feeding the flesh in our lives.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

And if there are some of you

who've been doing this

for such a long time

that you need to know

how dangerous it is,

eternally dangerous.

And if you hear his voice today,

the book of Hebrews says,

don't harden your heart.

Listen to him.

Repent.

Turn back.

He's a gracious God

who just says,

recalculating.

Come back to me

and I will change

and transform you.

So you've got to listen

to the spirit's voice.

But you've also got to do

two other things,

which are,

you've got to starve the flesh

and you've got to feed the spirit.

Starve the flesh,

feed the spirit.

Romans 8, 13 says,

if you live according to the flesh,

you will die.

But if by the spirit,

by the spirit,

you put to death

the deeds of the body,

you will live.

The spirit's not going to wave

a magic wand

and just change you like this.

The Puritan John Owen said,

be killing sin

or it will be killing you.

Be killing sin

or it will be killing you.

You know,

there's a story

of a man with two wolves

and he used to bring them

to town every week

and they used to fight each other

and people would place bets

on which wolf would win.

And every week,

the owner of the wolves

would guess correctly

and he'd guess the winner

every time.

And after a while,

this was going on,

the people in the town said,

like,

how come you managed

to guess correctly

which wolf is going

to win the fight?

And he said,

it's easy.

Whichever wolf I fed that week,

that's the one

that's going to win.

And that's what it's like

in your own life.

You see,

if you want to starve sin,

you've got to take it seriously.

Don't play with it.

You know,

you can say,

well,

it's only small.

You know,

if you have a little lion cub

in your house

and it looks cute

and you keep feeding that thing,

what does it grow up to be?

A full-scale lion

that will mold you.

That's what sin is like.

Get rid of the cub

at the first thought.

And you know,

just because you think of thought

doesn't mean it's sin.

It's how you react to that.

And that determines

whether you feed the flesh

or you feed the spirit.

So let me just think practically

just a couple of things.

What does this mean?

What does this mean?

I think some of you,

the spirit wants to put his finger

on an area in your life

right now

that you know

you're feeding the flesh.

Do you know what it is?

Do you know what it is?

Maybe a small area.

It may be

the use of your phone.

Do you know,

it may be

every time that notification

ping goes off,

the flesh says,

feed me.

And I've got to get it

straight away

like an addict.

You know,

feed my desire

to feel important.

Feed my desire

to not feel like

I'm missing out on anything.

Feed me.

And the way that you

starve the flesh

is to work out a plan

to go on a technology fast.

Maybe

once,

one hour a day

you say,

I'm not going to look at this.

Maybe

one day a week

you say,

maybe one week a year

you say,

I'm not going to do that.

And if

right inside of you

you start feeling stressful

at even that thought,

then that's probably

because you've got an addiction.

And I know,

like,

we have work stuff

and you've just got to be

creative sometimes.

But

when I'm on my phone

and my wife is trying

to talk to me,

and I'm on my phone

all the time,

how loved do you think

she feels

when your kids

are trying to get

your attention

and

you just want to send

that one email

and it's like,

you could send it

in ten minutes time

but you've just got to

get it out now.

And

how loved do you think

your kids will feel?

And over

time,

every time I do that,

if I continually do that,

I am distancing

myself from the people

I love.

Now,

if that is just

in a simple thing

like the phone,

where I need to say,

am I serious

about changing?

Just think there are

many other things

in our lives.

If you're impatient,

stand in the longer queue

at the checkout

and you think,

well,

why should I do that?

I'm like,

don't you know

how much time

I have?

And he says,

are you serious

about killing your sin?

Are you serious

about it?

Finally,

you've got to

starve the flesh

but we also need

to feed the spirit

because you know,

when my wife says

to me things like,

do you think

you should be eating

that last piece,

that extra piece

of chocolate cake?

Do you know

what my response

is at that moment?

It isn't,

oh,

thank you so much

for saving me

from gluttony.

It's like,

oh,

but it's just

one piece.

Now,

why do I do that?

Even though I know

it's going to harm me

in the long term,

why do I do it?

Because I'm not driven

by rational thought,

I'm driven by my desire.

And so the only way

to remove

and defeat sin

in your life

is to fight desire

with desire.

You know,

because if you just

try and starve yourself

without filling

that emptiness

inside of you,

you're going to be like

somebody who's a chocoholic

looking at a piece

of chocolate cake

saying,

I mustn't eat it,

I mustn't eat it,

I mustn't eat it.

And what happens?

That desire

to eat it

grows,

right?

Instead,

you need to see

something which is

more beautiful,

more desirable,

more tasty.

And that is the way

that you overcome

your flesh.

Here's a couple of things.

Fight desire

with desire.

One person said,

for every look at sin,

take ten looks

at Christ.

Every look at sin,

take ten looks

at Christ.

The Spirit

wants to excite you

about Jesus.

I'm British,

we don't do emotions,

but the Spirit

actually wants to give

British people

emotions

and excitement

about Jesus.

You know,

that's why

in a service,

it's okay,

like,

raise your hands,

clap,

get excited

about Jesus.

You know,

music is one of the things

that captures your heart.

It can take truth

from here down to here.

So play worship music,

sing on the MTR,

softly,

okay?

But do whatever it takes,

build habits

where you are sowing

a delight in Jesus.

Meditate on God's Word.

Don't just read it.

Think about it.

Pray it.

Reflect on it.

Preach it to yourself

every single day.

And you say,

I don't have time.

And he says,

but you have time

to meditate

on what your boss

said this morning.

So you tell me

you don't have time

to meditate on

who the King of Kings

says about you?

And this is what we need

every morning

to rehearse

who Jesus is

in our lives

because we,

if not feeding it,

we're going to feed

the flesh.

This is what we need

to say to ourselves.

I've said this again,

but we need to do it.

I am a dearly loved,

chosen child

of the King of the Universe.

The Spirit of Him

who raised Jesus

from the dead

lives in me.

I am more than

a conqueror

through Him

who loved me.

He has set me free

from sin.

I don't need to live

under its power today.

Though I mess up,

I'm forgiven.

I will not live

under guilt and shame

for there's no condemnation

for me in Jesus.

Today the Spirit

is leading me

into the destiny

Jesus has prepared

for me.

Every day

you need to be

preaching that

to yourself

because you'll be

listening to the flesh

otherwise.

Now,

are you going to go,

uh-huh,

or are you actually

going to go

and do something

about it?

Because if you want

to be transformed

by the Spirit,

we need to take

and sow to the Spirit

and then we need

to pray desperately,

Spirit,

I need you to fill me.

I need you to change me.

I can't do this

by myself.

Change me.

And do you know

what I found?

When you get desperate

for Jesus,

He begins to change you

from the inside out

over time,

step by step.

And the thing is

when I stop doing that

because I cry,

Jesus changed me

and He starts working

and I think,

wow,

I did that pretty well.

You know,

like change me.

Help me not to get angry

as I'm going into this meeting

and I go in

and I'm just so calm

and then afterwards

I think,

wow,

I'm pretty good at this.

And I stop relying

on the Spirit

and I rely on myself,

on the flesh.

Will we fall?

Yes.

It's a journey

step by step.

But the Spirit

is saying to you

this morning,

recalculating.

Repent,

get back up,

enjoy my grace

and you will grow

like this.

It's not going to be

just like that,

it will be like this.

But He has the power

to change you.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that?

So let's just pray.

I think let's stand up.

Just close your eyes

for a minute.

I think the Spirit

is wanting to speak

to some of you

this morning.

Some of you

have just been saying

uh-huh

for a long time.

You've been wrapped up

in so many other things.

This morning

is the morning

where God wants

to say to you,

are you going to

listen to my voice?

Some of you,

you know that you

felt defeated

with certain habits

in your life.

And you feel like

giving up.

You just kind of know

I'm never going to change.

And there may be

some sins that you're

going to have to battle

daily,

every day of your life.

But the Spirit says,

I have power

to change you.

And this morning,

God wants to say to you,

I don't want that

to be a thing

in your head.

I want you to actually

experience that

in your heart.

And I just feel like

there are some of you

who just

don't even know

what it really means

to walk with the Spirit.

What I'm going to ask

you to do is something

I don't think we've

done before,

actually.

If you feel like

you know there's an

area in your life

that you just need

the Spirit to get

hold of you

and to change you,

I'm just going to ask

you,

everyone to close

your eyes.

I'm going to ask you

to come down to the front.

Don't be shy.

Allow this to be a step

where you're saying,

yes,

I want to follow you,

God.

I want to be changed

by you.

If the people

from the prayer team

can come down

to the front,

I just ask you

to come down now.

If you're like,

there's an area

in my life

I need you to work in,

God.

Don't be afraid

of what other people

are thinking.

Just come down.

Just make that a step

between you and God.

As the music plays,

we just want you

to just come

and experience

the power of God

to transform you.

So just come down.

Don't be afraid.

Just ask God

to work in your life.

Just cry out to him,

change me now.

Carry on singing.

It is, Father.

Father,

Father,

we just pray

that you would fill us

with your spirit.

We pray, Lord,

where we're apathetic

that you would awaken us,

speak to us,

change us,

make us more like yourself.

Help us desire

to work with you.