Staying-Free-II

has gained.

And so we started on that last Sunday.

And so we continue with that now.

How is it that I can stay free after being set free?

How is it that I can hold ground after gaining ground?

Because sometimes staying free and holding ground

is harder than getting free and gaining ground.

And so I want to break that into three.

One is transition.

The other is truth.

And then the last one is transaction.

Transition, truth, and transaction.

We'll just look at three ways, three surefire scriptural

spirit-led ways that will allow us to stay free or hold ground

that we have gained.

Yeah, so let's start with transition.

So here's how transition works, guys.

Whenever you're, let's say you're free from fear.

Once you're free from fear, how you transition

is first you set yourself a goal that you want to work towards.

So it doesn't matter what you're going through.

Last time we spoke about how you're going to get through

So it doesn't matter what you're going through.

Last time we spoke about it, we said,

write down some of the things you're

struggling to stay free in.

So let's assume that you are struggling

to stay free in the area of fear.

You've been prayed for.

There are these days or moments when

you feel freedom from fear.

How do you stay free?

Because that's so much harder.

Or be it a condition like fear, or be it a sin like lust,

or be it a habit like lying.

It doesn't matter what it is.

I must first, when it comes to transitioning,

I must first know my condition that I've been set free from.

And then I must then set a goal that I want to live in

or that I want to inhabit.

I want to inhabit.

To stay free, I must set a goal I want to inhabit.

Where do I want to live?

What do I want to inhabit?

If it's fear, then let's assume that my goal,

let's say I'm a guy who's really afraid.

I struggle with fear.

And after a lot of prayer, a lot of reading of the word

and understanding the truth, I've been set free from it.

Now I set a goal.

What's my goal?

I want to inhabit this place.

What place is that?

I want to inhabit a place called recklessness.

Let's say that's my goal.

Yours may not be recklessness.

Yours might be something else.

But my goal, let's say, is I want

to go from fear to recklessness.

I must set a place I want to inhabit.

That's the first step.

Every transition must have a place you want to inhabit.

If you don't have a place you want to inhabit,

you're not working towards anything.

So once you set a place that you want to inhabit,

then you've got to have a middle place that you can park at

before you go here.

So let's assume that I am someone who has fear.

What I want to do is come to a place of peace.

And from that place of peace, go to a place of recklessness.

Choose your transitional place.

The scary thing is many of us choose a transitional place

and we park there.

When you park there, you're worse off.

So if this is fear and that is recklessness,

I must find a place in between that I can first come and catch

my breath at.

So let's say this place is called peace.

I was afraid.

Now I come to a place of peace.

Now that I've gathered my strength

and move on to the place called recklessness.

Because very often what happens is

we try to go from a 30-year habit to a one-day thing

that we've been free from and we fail

and it is so discouraging.

Come to this place of peace, gain your strength, keep moving.

If you stay here, you're worse off.

I keep referring to that example in Genesis

where Jacob was supposed to leave Laban's land

and he was supposed to go to Padanaerum

where his parents were.

But he comes and camps in a middle place called Shechem.

Shechem was supposed to be a place

he was supposed to set up his tent for a night or two

and then he was supposed to move on because God said,

I'll take you all the way back to the land you came from.

But he camps in Shechem.

After camping in Shechem, he buys a plot of land.

After he buys a plot of land, he builds an altar.

He even calls upon the name of God.

But it's pointless because in Shechem,

his daughter gets raped,

his sons go murder every male in Shechem

and Jacob holds his nose and leaves Shechem saying to his sons,

you have made me a stink in the nostrils of the people here.

Any middle place that you settle in is worse

than having left the place.

It's better that you should have stayed there.

Did you leave a place to come to a new place?

If you don't camp there, go to the end that God called you to.

If you don't come here and you settle in the middle,

and I'm telling you, so many churches, so many institutions,

so many men and women of God,

so many of us camp in a middle place because we've come a long way.

Hey, if you've come here, go all the way because you can't camp here.

One of the things the kingdom does not allow is middle ground.

I've come here, I know God said that,

but this is where I'm going to settle because this is a safe place.

No, a middle place is never a safe place.

It's a dangerous place.

You can build an altar to God and yet it won't protect you.

So in transition, find a middle place where you gain your strength and move on.

Any questions on that one?

No?

Can you give us an example of what would it look like to camp in a country

that has been so traumatic to you?

Yeah. So what would it look like to camp in a peace?

So let's say every time I travel to a particular country,

I feel tremendous fear because of some incident in the past

that has so affected me, so traumatized me,

that every time I go to the country, I feel a surge of fear.

I'm talking about real situations that have happened in my life.

And so now what happens is, I've overcome it now,

but till about three years ago, every time I go to that nation,

as I'm beginning to land in the nation, I begin to ask God

to bring me to this place of peace quickly

because I could not exert faith from a place of fear.

So I would begin to think of different ways to come to that place of peace.

The promise that God gave me before I left Vancouver saying,

I'll take care of you, or scriptures that tell me about how he's going to watch over.

Things that bring me to a place of peace.

One of the first things one should do in fear is bring, come to a place of peace.

This is exactly what Jesus did when the guys were scared,

when he was not in the boat and he was walking on water and the winds came.

What did he say first?

He didn't tell the wind and the waves to die first.

He said peace.

He sent peace to their hearts before he calmed the waves.

Very odd, eh?

He should have calmed the waves. That's practical.

But he doesn't calm the waves first.

Mark chapter 6, he says peace to their hearts first.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

And after saying peace to their hearts, then he says to the waves, be still.

One of the advantages we have is that he is the prince of peace.

Shalom is his speciality.

Willing to give it in oodles, in buckets.

This is why Paul starts all his letters with grace and peace to you.

Once that peace settles, now you are in a place where you can exert faith.

And so I would go to this...

And one of the things I try to practice is, father, when I'm afraid,

can you bring me to a place...

Can you bring me to peace in less than two minutes?

Less than two minutes.

Because I know someone who does it in 30 seconds.

Doesn't matter how afraid he is, he comes to a place of peace in 30 seconds.

I want to do it in two minutes.

Where your heart is calm.

Trusting that God will take care.

Now from this place of peace, you can begin to exert faith and move towards recklessness.

It's a practice, eh?

No, I'm comparing peace to Shechem.

If I decide that all I want is peace, I don't want to be reckless in the things of God.

What happens is very often we settle for what God means to be a temporary place.

He wants me to move from fear to reckless faith.

But if I move from fear to peace, I get peace.

But what about the reckless faith that brings about the mighty exploits of God?

That is absent.

So good places turn into Shechem when we refuse to go to the better place.

Good places turn into Shechem when we refuse to go to better places.

That are ordained by God.

Yeah, I think one of the things you acquire when you get to peace is this.

The assurance of God is what you get.

In a place of peace, you get the assurance of God.

Even if he doesn't step into your boat, you know his assurance.

You marvel at him.

You marvel that you're not panicking.

You're not frustrated.

You're not reacting like the world.

People get frustrated with you that you're not reacting like the world.

People get frustrated with you that you're not anxious enough.

They're worried that you are not worried.

Hey, sorry, go ahead.

So it seems like it's almost like there's a certain amount of fear in you that you move from peace to peace.

So then it becomes quicker and quicker to get out of here to peace.

And sometimes you skip peace altogether because in that area you've conquered.

It's a brilliant way to live and it displays who your God is.

This is not how normal people live.

People realize that, oh shucks, you belong to somebody else.

One of the second ways we can transition is let's say you have a present condition, be it a sin or a habit.

My present condition.

And say people have prophesied on you and you know from the word and you know from what God wants that there is a future condition that you want to step into, that awaits you, that God is willing to take you into.

In the middle then is this ugly word called discipline.

Not God disciplining you.

Discipline as in learning ways that will help you move from your present condition to your future condition.

That also happens during times of transition.

And we'll talk about some of the disciplines that we can learn that will really help.

So for instance, let's go with fear again.

If fear is my present condition or anxiety or worry which Jesus called the sin and I want to get to a place that is full of faith, some of the disciplines I'll have to learn is know the truth of the word.

Psalm 56, when I'm afraid I'll put, Psalm 56, when I'm afraid I will trust in you my God in whom I praise.

Psalm 91, I told you about a guy who read, God told him read Psalm 91 for six months.

Six months.

All he did was read Psalm 91.

Every time he tried reading any other passage in the Bible his eyes would begin to blur.

And God would say to him, hey, didn't I tell you to stick with Psalm 91?

Psalm 91 for six months, you know what that does to you?

Can you imagine what it'll do to you if you read Psalm 91 for 180 days?

You'll be like a champion, man.

And so what happens then is you begin to know the truth.

Psalm 56, other Psalms, where you read the word, that's one of the disciplines.

You stop imagining worst case scenarios if that's your problem.

You stop imagining worst case scenarios because you always inhabit what you think.

You always inhabit what you think.

You always inhabit what you think.

You inhabit what you think.

These are disciplines.

I remember giving a lady an elastic band to put on her wrist so that, and it's an old trick.

Every time she would begin to go down a certain way of thinking she'd snap the elastic band

to remind herself that she's going down that route again, beginning to imagine.

I know you don't have to try the elastic band.

All I'm trying to say is there's a way that we work with discipline to get to a place.

Guys, the thing with transition is transition, hey, can I have some more volume?

Transition moves you from trying to training.

Transition moves you from trying to training.

Christians try. Christians don't train.

Christians try. But I try. No, train.

Christians must understand that this is not about trying, this is about training.

You train yourself to be kingdom-like and king-like.

And training involves discipline.

Where with training you first are diligent in the sense that you take into custody the things that you need to.

Take into custody the things that you need to.

This is my problem, oh God. I am taking into custody this problem and I'm going to make a decision about it.

And then if that is diligence, discipline is putting the decision into practice.

If diligence is taking into custody the things that I'm struggling with.

Father, I've got to struggle in this area. I've got to struggle with pride. I've got to struggle with lust.

I've got to struggle with lying. I've got to struggle with anger. I've got to struggle with taking offense because I'm proud.

Father, in these areas, I'm going to pick one. Let's just start with pride.

Where my anger and offense is the reason of my pride.

So diligence is to take into custody the problem that I have and decide that from this day on, for the next little while,

I'm going to chip away at it, chip away at it, chip away at it, until the Berlin Wall falls.

And so that begins the process.

The chipping away at it is the discipline part of it.

Where I am now taking and putting into practice what I have decided on.

This is what training looks like.

The great thing is in the Christian context, training, you get help.

You get Pavan to help. You get Sheldon to help. You get others to help you.

Any questions?

And it'll show, eh? That's the beautiful part of it.

Anything you're trained for shows.

Guys, we've got to abandon this idea that really, Christianity is all this hard work.

I thought once Jesus comes into my life, everything changes.

Your battle is against the mortal body you're in and against powerful forces, man.

And so if this is not the Christianity you signed up for, then just wait for heaven.

Eh, it'll be glorious there. But be miserable here on earth as a believer.

Those are the choices we have.

Hey, we only get this life to do this.

I only have this life to train my thinking.

I don't get a chance after this.

This is the life where I get to think like Jesus.

This is the life where I get to share in the interest, emotions, the common ways of Jesus.

After this, I don't get a chance.

Because my ticket to heaven is booked anyways.

It's a challenge, man. Ticket. Any questions?

Okay. Let's deal with the truth part of it.

The first thing is, if you go to, for instance, Colossians 3, 4,

you see that some of the sins that we so struggle with, sexual immorality, impurity, passions, evil desire,

these are all mentioned in Colossians 3, 4, evil desire,

covetousness, which Colossians 3, 4 says is like idolatry,

because it places someone else at the center of your life.

All these things that are mentioned in Colossians 3, 4, which is what most Christians, 99% of Christians, struggle with,

all this, we have to come to the realization, are actually broken and dead.

No longer able to enforce their claim on me.

I can go under it, but they can't enforce their claim on me.

We talked about this two weeks ago when we did Christ's life.

But this is something that most of us do not believe, even though Paul says again and again,

reckon yourself dead, reckon yourself dead, reckon yourself dead.

We do not actually believe it because it's not our experiential living.

But things don't become an experience till I actually believe the truth or something.

You know, for years, guys who were sailors would not go past a certain point

because they were scared that the earth was flat and they'd fall off the side of the earth.

It was their reality.

Their reality was the earth is flat.

At some point, once I get to Surrey, there's no white rock.

I'll just fall off the end of the earth.

That was their thought.

And so, till I come to understand something else, I'll never venture out beyond that.

And one of the things I need to venture out at is that, hey, Jacob,

sexual immorality, evil desires, wrong passions, impurity, covetousness,

these are things that have been broken, like completely broken on Jesus's needs.

And that, in a sense, they are dead because they do not have the ability to enforce their claim on you

anymore like they do upon those that are not believers.

They do not have the same ability.

I don't know if we accept that, but the day you begin to realize that this is what Jesus says,

it is the truth, you'll find that you take away their power.

And the only way I can think like this is by continuously going back to the truth

and saying this is the truth, I have to believe this.

If I don't believe this, it is not my reality.

Any questions on that one?

These are very, very old truths, eh?

It's just that it's not our experience, so it's not real.

Porn has the same victims in the church as outside the church. Same.

The only difference is the world does not have to hide it, we have to hide it.

It's the same in the pulpit and the pew. It's no different.

It's not like if you stand behind the pulpit, you suddenly get porn-free.

It's the same.

If we don't come to this, then we are the same as the world, eh?

Any questions, guys?

So even though I have a new nature, even though I have a new nature,

because of Christ in me,

I live in a mortal body,

I live in a fallen world,

I live in a fallen world, and my hereditary nature,

that is the one that came from the first Adam, of sin,

while it has no hold on me,

is used by Satan to entice or tempt me.

What does he do? He goes back and looks at James 1, verse 6-7,

James 1:6–7

or thereabouts talks about it.

I live in a mortal body, I live in a fallen world,

my hereditary nature of sin, while it has no power over me,

is still used by Satan to entice or tempt me. What does he do?

He goes back to the evil longings, the evil desires that I used to have,

and tries to use that to say, hey, can I hook Jacob again?

That's what James 1 says. James says, God does not tempt.

How does temptation then happen? That the evil longings and the desires that you have

are used to entice you. When you are enticed and you now commit to it,

you conceive sin, and sin, when it is fully mature, ends in death.

That's what James 1 says. So one of the prayers I pray is, Father,

I want to get to a place where I am purged of all the ways of life that I used to live in my former life,

before I became a believer. I want to be free from them, so that there is nothing you can tempt me with.

I mean, you can't tempt me with broccoli. You can't.

You can try. Nothing to me. I am dead to broccoli, and broccoli is dead to me.

It is like that. What if we get to a place where in a certain area, it no longer affects you?

Never try the fried broccoli at Moxie's.

Prashant and I had it once. It was terrible. Even Prashant didn't like it.

That says something, eh? Because he's one of those slightly healthy guys.

Moving on.

Yeah. Yeah.

So as long as I live in this world, the devil who is an active enemy,

will try to use the corrupt sinful longings of my former life, of my old nature.

It hovers around me like a dormant force. It hovers around me like a dormant force.

It hovers around me like a dormant force.

And the most operative word here is dormant force.

And it is used as bait.

It is used as bait.

The dormant, sorry, the old longings and desires, old habits, old sinful traits.

They use this bait. And it's fascinating when you escape the gravitational pull of it

because you have begun to use the, we'll talk about how.

It's fascinating when you escape the pull of it where it no longer works.

You don't know what a defeat it is to the enemy when something that worked for generations with your father,

with your grandfather, with your great grandfather, doesn't work with you.

It doesn't just set you free. It sets another three generations free.

Because the same bait cannot be offered to your children and your children's children.

Because you think my kids will ever eat broccoli?

I know the analogy may not be perfect, but

that's how this works, guys.

Any questions?

These are truths we must not grasp. We must go over again and again and again.

Because everything in the world screams against us.

Everything in the world says, hey, you will struggle the rest of your life with sexual immorality, with impurity,

with covetousness. You will struggle the rest of your life.

See what happened to you the day before. You think you're going to escape the day after tomorrow.

You're having one good day today because it's Sunday.

That's how the world works.

You find yourself being drawn to evil longings and desires from the past.

And you think to yourself, there's no escape from this.

This is the idea of renewing my mind

with the help of the word so I begin to think differently. I assure you how you think is what you inhabit.

So you've got to go over it again and again.

That's the disciplined part. A prophetic word is so much easier.

Any questions?

So here's a question. I love this question.

It's almost like there are two people. Have you stripped off the old man or the old woman?

Have you stripped off the old man that you used to be?

I'm not sure if you've ever been a woman.

Together with the practices that he used to indulge in.

So take a hardy strip of the old man.

One of the most powerful weapons and the least used weapon that we have as Christians

is our words.

That's how we confess ourselves into faith. That is what saved us.

But we don't use our words. I'll use words like, Father, I put off the old man today.

There are still some things I'm struggling with. There's still struggling with pride, with lust, with lies.

Give me some more.

Fear, anger. Still struggling with this. Father, I put it off. I put off the old man.

I've been wearing it. I wore it yesterday and I did really badly yesterday.

This morning as I began I put off the old man. Is it scriptural? Yes. Colossians 3, verse 7-10, Ephesians 4, 22-24.

Colossians 3:7–10

Put off the old man. Put on the new man. Put on Christ.

I'm not saying that Paul is it. Paul keeps saying it. Guys, as long as I'm alive, I'm going to keep saying this.

It is good for you.

My days of end are soon here. I won't be here with you. But till I'm here, I'm going to keep repeating these things.

Because it is good for you. He says that.

This morning as I'm driving, I'm saying the same thing. Father, I put off the old man. Yesterday I saw myself doing this and this and this.

That's an old nature. It shouldn't be part of me. It does harm to people.

So now let me put on the new... Let me put it off. Let me shrug it off.

Words I have. Words display the intent of my heart.

Sometimes even when words don't authentically reflect my heart as I begin to speak the words because I have the Spirit of God,

Christ Himself living in me, my words begin to take on the strength that they need to.

When you begin to speak words of life, you think that life won't affect your life?

It's one of the most powerful things we have.

I put off the old man, oh God.

Putting on the new man is easy because you don't have to do anything. He's living inside you. All you're saying is,

please wear whatever you want because I've taken off my jacket.

Put on Christ.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4.20-24,

speaking fast without even drinking coffee

reminded me that I had a coffee here.

We'll talk about putting on the new man a little later.

Any questions about this?

So another way we do this is Romans 8.13, beautiful words, man.

It says, by the Spirit

I can put to death

the corrupt longings

or desires

of my old nature.

Beautifully.

By the Spirit I can put to death

the corrupt longings or desires of the old nature. By the Spirit.

So, J.K. if that's true, how come it hasn't worked for me all these times?

My question is, how many times have you actively

gone down this road to deal with your situation?

What do we do? We go pray, we repent, we sin, we pray, we repent.

We're not understanding the way we think.

What about letting the knowledge of the truth set us free?

What about the discipline of letting truth become flesh?

What about two hours going over this?

Until you actually begin to believe it.

By the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit

that I have

each of these words is so precious, a living bond

a living bond

with the ascending

with the ascended Christ.

Each of those words is super important.

It's by the Holy Spirit. I have a living bond. I have a living bond.

As in it's not a, Videsha is pregnant, Shikha is pregnant. They have a living bond with their baby.

Something that's feeding that baby life.

You've got to literally think of it like that. I don't know who's wound in who.

I think it's both. It's me wound in Christ and Christ wound in me.

I have a living bond with the ascended Christ, not even Jesus of Nazareth.

This is the one who reigns, who controls the cosmos.

There is nobody else but him. He is Lord Kiryos. I have a living bond with him.

How is this bond established? The bond is established by the person, by the personal presence of God.

By the personal presence of God. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about the Holy Spirit.

Living where? Right now in us, in me.

You think I can't put to death with that kind of power, a longing or a desire

that I had 29 years ago that is being used as bait. You think I can't put that to death?

If that can't be put to death, then who is this Christ?

Even Jesus of Nazareth could put that to death. Leave alone the ascended Christ.

It's a way of thinking, guys.

This is not positive thinking. This is really difficult thinking.

Positive thinking is easy. I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy.

And you feel happy for two seconds and then you have to repeat it again. This is not that. This is renewing.

When you did that, I thought you were in one of those churches where they wave their arms saying,

preach on brother. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

But you have a question. Next time Diana does that, I'll say, thank you sister.

Go ahead, Karen.

That could be one way.

That's a typical Pentecostal way.

Sorry, I don't mean to dis Pentecostals. They're wonderful.

I come from a Pentecostal background.

One of the cool things that kids do when someone knocks on the door

is they know you're not supposed to open the door to strangers.

So they send their dad or a mom to open this door. So one of the cool tricks that I use

is when temptation comes my way, I literally sink into Jesus and say,

Jesus, you've got to face this.

Watchman Nee talks about this. He talks about a story where sin comes to attack him and Watchman Nee says,

Jesus, could you go meet it?

Knocking on the door, when sin confronts Jesus, guess what? Jesus doesn't run.

This might seem very impractical. It might just seem like a story, but just imagine every time temptation comes to you,

when you begin to actually put in words, Jesus, this is an old temptation

that has been used sometimes quite effectively against me.

Today, I choose to sink back into you and I need you to help me

meet this and overcome it.

I'm not using scriptures now. I'm using the nature of God that I have realized from the scriptures.

The escapes that I have realized from 2 Corinthians 12, which says with every temptation,

God will provide a way of escape. One of the escapes is, Jesus, I'm just sinking into you.

You deal with this.

I am in you. You're my rock. You're my refuge. I go into this favorite hiding place of mine.

And now Lord, in this place, it is very hard for things to get to me.

It is exactly what kids do. Our problem is when temptation comes,

there's sufficient pull in it to go and touch it or go and lick it

or go and skirt around it or go and look through the keyhole at it

or go and say, I have enough strength to overcome this.

There's never a hiding behind or hiding in or finding refuge in or being safe here.

This is a sure place. It cannot touch you. To touch you, it has to get through Jesus

and Jesus beat it hollow. Use words, guys. Use words.

Use words. Use words. Use words. Use words because the devil cannot hear your thoughts.

Use words. There's much more involved here than just God and you.

There is an active enemy. Use words.

You can actually have sinless days.

Forget sinless days. You can actually have sinless hours. Won't that be fun?

My sinless hours, I don't mean I didn't think of something evil.

No, I didn't think of anything ungodly. I didn't think of worry. I didn't think of anxiety. I didn't think of fear.

I actually began to think like God. Oh shucks.

But it only lasts for an hour. You got 60 minutes of it. Blessed are you because most of us don't.

Any questions?

Loud enough for you to hear.

Father, I just... It'll get to a point where you don't need to speak loud because you know how to deal with it.

But when I'm initially starting something, I just say, Father, I don't want to deal with this.

This has tripped me up again and again.

I just want to deliberately choose these words and say I'm sinking into you, Jesus. Spirit of God, you've got to help me with this.

I want to overcome this. I don't want to make the same mistakes I've made for 20 years.

It's literally like a child running into the safety of someone's arms and asking the dad or the mom to go and open the door because you refuse to open the door.

You know who's knocking. It's not a friendly person.

Another cool thing with having the Holy Spirit in you is you can draw your emotions.

This is so cool, man. You can draw your emotions, your interests.

Don't even use the word your.

You can draw emotions, interests, attitudes.

You can draw your emotions, your interests.

Don't even use the word your. You can draw emotions, interests, attitudes.

From Christ.

Because I love this line.

I didn't come up with it. Because his private life has become yours.

Because his private life has become yours.

I love it.

God has a private life. This is his life.

He's saying, hey, Jacob, I'm not giving you some kind of Christian life.

I'm giving you my private life. By giving you my spirit, I'm holding nothing back.

You weren't there when Jesus was around, so you don't know what it is to hang out with Jesus.

I'm giving you something better. I'm giving you my own private personal life by the presence of my spirit.

You can actually draw emotions, interests, and attitudes from who I am.

Because I'm sharing my indissoluble private life with you.

By using the power of the spirit and using scriptures,

you can begin to change the attitude I have, change the thinking I have, change even my interests.

There's this thing called I have died.

It's past continuous.

I have died. Past continuous.

Not I had died. I have died.

So the light

So the life

If I have died, the life that I presently have. Galatians 2.20 is basically what I'm rephrasing in many different ways.

Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live the life that I live now.

I live by faith in the son of God who laid down his life for me.

I have died. The life that I presently have is indissoluble, undefeatable,

unovercomeable life that Christ presently has in the presence of the Father.

The same life that he at present has at the right hand of the Father is the absolute ditto life that I presently have.

You think that life cannot overcome?

You're frightening me with your enthusiastic response.

Take it easy, guys. Please.

Hey, don't think of your entire life right now and how you're going to deal with it.

Think of the little things.

Stephen King, how do you write so many horror novels?

This is not the right person to use as an example in the Bible, but it's the line that he used.

How do you write so many novels? How are you such a prolific writer?

How do you write so much? Answer? Stunning. One word at a time.

One word at a time. One word at a time.

One word at a time.

Beautiful. Any questions, guys?

Okay. Let's go to transaction and then middle.

Scary when you do teaching first. It feels like the church is over.

I mean, the service is over. But don't worry. We'll prolong it.

We don't want to disappoint our guests the first time. I promised them a three hour service.

Sorry.

Here's the transaction part.

Okay. So you've got your former life or self.

And in that are your evil desires and longings.

And it's conformed to the patterns of the world.

To the patterns of the world. All these are from scriptures.

Patterns of the world. And Satan uses it to entice you.

So that's your former life and self.

And then there's a new life you are supposed to have now stepped into.

It is not something that awaits you. It is something you actually possess.

Again, you've got to get this right. The new life is not something that awaits you.

One day in the sweet buy and buy, the church suffers from a disease called futurism where everything is postponed to heaven.

This new life is supposed to be now. It is something I presently possess.

And so we look at scriptures too. So if you want to look at scriptures for these,

go to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

These are scriptures for the former life.

James chapter 1 verse 14.

James 1:14

James 1 verse 14. Romans 12, 1 and 2.

James 1:14

So James 1 verse 14.

James 1:14

But let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he is lured or enticed by his own desire.

Then the desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Another version. Temptations come from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

us away. Another version, the temptation given to evil comes from us and only us. Another

version, but your own evil longings tempt you, they lead you on and drag you away. So our

former life, the evil desires of the former life, the evil longings of the former life.

And then if you go to Romans 12, 1, you see how there are patterns that Paul is asking

us to leave behind where he says, Romans 1, brothers and sisters, God has shown you his

mercy so I'm asking you to offer up your bodies to him while you're still alive. Your bodies

are a holy sacrifice that's pleasing to God. When you offer your bodies to God, you're

worshipping him. Don't live any longer the way this world lives. Let your way of thinking

be completely changed. If you go to the NIV, it says, do not conform to the pattern of

this world. So there are patterns of the world that we conform to and this is what Satan

uses to entice us. So here's a transaction that God wants us to engage in on a daily

basis. Now let's look at the new life. Let's look at the new life. The new life, go to

Ephesians, the new life you have is created in the likeness of God, in righteousness,

and holiness. So let's pull Paul out. Paul, just come here. Okay, so had problems with

drugs, had problems with drinking, has had a really sordid past. His mother and brother

would bail him out time and time again, pray for him. He'd come back and say, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

there is a former life, there's a former self that this person has. There is a pattern that

he used to conform to, which was of the world. And then what happens is the enemy will still

try to use it. But the moment he got born again, he has a new life. The old life is actually

dead. We've got to reckon it dead. I have died. The old Paul has died, he no longer

exists. This new life that he has is actually created in the likeness of Jesus Christ himself.

I mean, I shouldn't stand next to him, I should look at him. This new life that he

has is created, this new life that he has is created in the likeness of Jesus. In what?

In righteousness and holiness. Meaning he's in absolute right standing with God. And in

holiness, the same holiness that Christ has, this is the new life that he possesses. We

don't think about it, we don't think this of ourselves. So can we look at someone and

think that this is the truth about someone? That this person standing here who used to

consume drugs, who used to get into fights, who had the cops chasing him, who did everything

conceivable that we label as the world. That he can still be tempted with it. Why? Because

he lives in a mortal body. Because he lives in this world. Because there's an active enemy

called Satan that will try and entice him. But here is the power he has or here is the

advantage he has that as we look at him, because we really don't see ourselves this way, as

we look at him, here is someone who may have the same body but everything else about him

in terms of his life is a new life made in the image of Jesus Christ in absolute righteousness

and complete holiness. That is who he really is. He has a distinct advantage. He has a

distinct advantage. It is just that we can see it about someone else when it's pointed

out but for some strange reason it doesn't compute in my head that I am the same as him.

This is a transaction God wants us to make. That listen guys, this is really who you are.

This is how I think of you Jacob. You may think of yourself as trash. You may think

of yourself scripturally as Jacob you worm. But I want to say something to you that this

is how I think of you that you are actually, thanks man, just sit here because I might

call you up again. You got an umbrella? No? Okay. Ephesians 4. It's raining outside. Ephesians

4. Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. Let me start from verse 17. You're not going to get him

an umbrella right? Okay. Ephesians 4 17 onwards. So I tell you this. I tell you this. I tell

you this. I tell you this. Guys, when Paul uses words like this, please understand this

because he had the same struggle that you and I had. He had the same struggle with the

congregations that he was dealing with. That's what he says. So I tell you this and insist

on it in the Lord. That you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of

their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life

of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge

in every kind of impurity and they are full of greed. That however is not the way of life

you learn or we are learning right now. When you heard about Christ and were taught in

him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, you were taught with regard to your

former way of life to put off. This is that put off the old man thing. You were taught

with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted

by its deceitful desires and to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on

the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So what he has

to do every morning is, Jesus I know my former life. I know what I was. I know the things

I have done. And today as the enemy tries to come back at me with those same desires

and temptations, I put off the old man. That old power will not live today. I put off the

old man. And I put on the new man. And the new man, and I have to look at him because

I really don't think of myself this way, the new man is created in the likeness of Jesus

Christ and is absolutely righteous and holy. And the new man is completely saturated with

the personal presence of God and the private life of Jesus through the power of the Holy

Spirit with which Pawan can put to death any temptation that comes to a salient mind. Any

temptation that comes to a salient mind, Pawan can put to death. This is his reality. Is

it my reality? Is it your reality? That is the problem. Identify the things that are

rising up as the old man in your life. What is it? Is it pride? Is it lust? Is it lies?

Is it deceit? Is it anger? Is it fear? What is it? Identify it. Transition one. If you

don't identify it, you don't know what to deal with. Identify the three or four. Because

they've been in your life for the last 30, 40 years. You realize that? The great thing

about discipline is once you discipline yourself, nothing is a struggle. You know, you can sit

down. The building that I live in, the gym is right under. And so I drive past the gym.

I don't go to the gym. I drive past the gym. And you'll find two different types stepping

out of their car. Guys who have absolutely no training in the gym, but they've gone to

the gym for two days. When they step out of the car, they walk like this. I don't know

why they walk like this, Prashanth. And then there are these other guys who've gone to

the gym so often that they walk normal, man. They walk normal. Why? Because they've disciplined

themselves so much that they don't have to wear those vests that are incredible hulk

vests that are so tight that Nick could wear them. And it would still be tight on them.

Nick, I was watching you dancing again yesterday.

I have never even seen the video.

Hey, can I put that video on during the break? Yeah. I'll do anything for you. I'll be sending

you that video to put on the break. It's a great video. I know brown men can't dance,

but... No, I'm talking about Indians. Yeah. Yeah. But the great thing about discipline

is that discipline gets you to a point where things become easy. It's just the beginning

part that's hard, man. But the great thing about discipline is it gets you to a point

where everything is easy. So, new life created in the likeness of God, in righteousness and

holiness. That's one part of it. And then put on the mind of the... Put on the mind

of the Spirit. Put on the mind of the Spirit. We'll just end with that. Put on the mind

of the Spirit. We'll talk about how do we do that. And in between here is the... I'm

just... End with that. Put on the mind of the Spirit. We'll talk about how do we do

that. And in between here is where the transaction happens. We said we're talking about transaction.

That's where it happens. How do you put on the mind of the Spirit? Let's go to this amazing

passage in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3 to 7. 2 Peter... Hey, memorize this passage, eh?

2 Peter 1:3–7

2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3 to 7. Crazy passage. This is how we put on the mind of the Spirit.

2 Peter 1:3–7

You thought Paul was the only guy who could write well? Listen to what Peter says. I'm

rooting for Peter today. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 3 to 7. So, he's saying there's two

2 Peter 1:3–7

things that'll help you guys. One is his divine power. His divine power, as in the Holy Spirit

who's present in you. And the second thing he says is his divine word. So here's what

he says. His divine power... Listen to this. This is like a key, man. His divine power

has given us everything we need. Everything we need. Hey Jacob, you want to live a godly

life? Well, my divine power, which is yours by the Holy Spirit, has given you everything

you need for a godly life through your knowledge of Jesus who called you to his own splendor

and excellence or glory and goodness. And then he says, I also want you to know that

he has given you his great and precious promises, as in his divine word. So that through them,

you may do what? You may participate in the nature of God, in the divine nature. That

you get to participate in the divine nature of God. Hey, listen to that. He's saying,

Anthony, you can for the rest of this week participate in my nature. Why? Because I've

given you two things, Anthony. What are they? One, I've given you my divine power. What

do you mean by that? I've given you my personal presence in the power of the Spirit. Two,

I've given you my divine word. How? I've given you great and precious promises that are yes

and amen in me. Why? So that you can partake in my divine nature and you can live a godly

life. Will it happen in a day? It will begin in a day. What else will it help you do? It

will help you escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires. It will help

you escape the corruptions and the lusts of the world and its evil desires. It will help

you escape it. This is the verse that should tie into 2 Corinthians 12 where it says that

with every temptation, God gives us a way of escape. So, what else will it help you do?

So, Holy Scriptures and Holy Spirit. And then he says, and we won't talk about this today,

but I love the way he says it. He says, okay, so guys, do this. Supplement the faith that

you have with moral excellence. We won't talk about it today. Oh, goodness. So, that's what

he begins with. He says, hey, I know you guys have faith, but can you add to your faith

a generous provision of moral character? Can you be moral in your character? That's what

excellence means, eh? And then could you add to that spiritual understanding or knowledge?

And could you add to that self-control or alert discipline? Could you add to that steadfastness

or passionate patience? Hey, the thing with self-control is if self-control is not passionately

patient, it ain't self-control anymore. So, what is self-control? It's the way that you

can control your own self-control. So, what is self-control? It's the way that you can

control your own self-control. Self-control is if self-control is not passionately patient,

it ain't self-control anymore. What happens with us Christians is we exert self-control

for two minutes. I tried self-control, it didn't work. Self-control requires passionate

patience. St

eadfast self-control yields results. Un-steadfast self-control is like pointless. You might

waste two minutes of your life. To steadfastness or passionate patience, add godliness or reverent

wonder. And to that, add brotherly love or authentic friendship. And to that, add brotherly

love. And to that, add just generous love for everyone. We won't discuss this today,

but there's such secrets in here, man. So, you're saying, hey, I'm giving you my divine

power and I'm giving you my divine word. Why? So that two things may happen. One, partake

of my nature, escape corruption, escape lusts of the earth, escape lusts. So, here's what

I want you to do. I know you guys have faith. To that faith, can you be morally excellent

so that the world knows that, boy, you belong to someone else who's really good? And then

to being morally excellent, can you add spiritual understanding or knowledge of me through the

word? And then to that, just don't do it for one or two days. Can you add self-control

or alert discipline? This is the hardest thing in the world, eh, to be this disciplined.

And by the way, when you start alert discipline or self-control, can you do it for more than

two days? Can you go steadfast with passionate patience for two months? Oh, by the way, while

you're doing that, be godly, eh? And godly as in have reverence for the things of God.

Be in awe and wonder of me, of my word, of worship, of each other. All that is good,

but if you don't add authentic friendships with people to it, both with believers and

unbelievers, it'll be a problem. And authentic friendship can really do well if you have

generous love, because that at the end of the day is where everything begins. And if

you do this, he says two things will happen. You'll be fruitful and effective. And if you

don't do this, here's what will happen. You'll be blind, you'll be visionless, and you will

there's one more thing, blind, visionless, and basically dull to sin or oblivious to

sin. Any questions, guys? I thought we'll do this before, right at the beginning of

the service, because this is not easy to track. Any questions? I'm not sure, because he's

very specific about supplementing, as in he's saying, hey, can you guys go about this, each

dimension fitting into the other and developing the other. So there is something to the order.

So it's not, I don't think it's random. It's almost the idea of supplement or complement

is this idea of can each dimension fit into the other, developing the other. So if this

is not fitting into this, this won't develop. And then this has to fit into this so that

the next one develops. And so my problem is I don't know whether to put love at the center

and then build outwards or put faith at the center and build outwards. That we'll figure

out over the next few Sundays. But each one of these is so precious. We got this, we got

this. I know this is a lot in a little time, but you've got seven days to think about

it. No hockey, no basketball, baseball is pointless. My dad will think about this. Any

questions guys? No? Cool. So we'll take a break and then come back. You can go grab

coffee and if necessary your children. But before we go, we'll just watch that video.

All right, we'll pass on the video. Don't worry. If you want a private viewing, just

approach me. It'll be five dollars a view.