I Can Be The Better Me // The Word Of God: The Book Of Galatians (Part 5) // Charles Metcalf

Welcome to Transformation Church Podcast, where we represent God to

the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so

glad you're here and wherever you're listening from, we believe

God will transform your life.

Do today's message all right, get your bibles out, let's

get ready for the word. Galatians chapter five is where

we're at. It's week five of the series. We got

one more week.

There's six chapters in the.

Book, so we're going each week we're taking a chapter

to do it. And after next week, our very own pastor.

Michael Todd is back in the building. So please, please,

please please.

Make sure you make plans to be here next week

and the week after.

You don't want to miss it. It's gonna be amazing.

But Galatians chapter five, now I gotta say I gotta

say this.

I gotta be honest with you. My confidence is.

A little shaken in our team. Here's why not our team,

like staff, I'm talking about you sitting in to see.

Because you know I'm out, and.

So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try to watch church

and stuff.

You know, we've been reading whole chapters.

Of a Bible, and we started off so strong and then.

We come to this third week, and I felt.

Like, you know, when you're at home and you like

your kids are like talking super regular and they just

like super.

Calm and chill, and they say in whole.

Sentences, and then you get out in public and they're like.

Doba got Gigi? How y'all lie?

It's like what hey talk morm, come on, quit playing

me now.

I felt like y'all kind of played me. We was

throwing up whole chapters. Y'all are like, uh so, uh

so it.

Maybe really abandoned the whole We're gonna read a chapter

of the Bible thing, so watching it.

Maybe it's been that bad the whole time. I just

didn't know it. But we're only gonna read two chapters.

I'm gonna give you a summary of the whole chapter,

but I don't want to take y'all through twenty four verses. Again,

I don't think anybody needs to withstand that.

So Galatianus Chapter five is Paul.

He's writing to a group of people, and I'll just

give you brief overview verses one through twelve.

There's no way to get around this. He's talking about circumcision.

Hello, somebody, so the Bible's got a lot of good

stuff in there.

We'll just keep moving with that one.

I did have an alternate title for this sermon. It

was called circumcision.

Won't cut it but sh But we're not gonna do

that sermon. But it's true.

Outward signs don't mean your heart's changed. It ain't gonna

cut it anyways. Verses thirteen to fifteen. He starts talking

about love in action, what it actually means to live

it out, and then where we're gonna spend our time today.

Verses sixteen through twenty three. He talks about this war

that happens within. He talks about this war between the

spirit and the flesh, and then he closes out the

chapter with some closing commands. But we're gonna focus on

two versus today. If you throw that up there for me, now,

we are gonna stand up again. I'm only making you

read too, so you're gonna get right back down. It's

gonna be all right. Stand up to your feet. If

you can throw that on the screen for us. We're

gonna read this, and we're gonna read it all together.

So I'm gonna say one, two, three, I'm gonna read

it you're gonna read. We're gonna all do it. Do

we have that on there? I don't know if we do,

we may not. Oh there it is. Look at that.

See it's so much small. You don't have to be intimidated.

Somebody are like, when is it gonna end? Look you

can see the ending right here.

Okay, all right, Galatians five, chapter sixteen. On the count

of three, we'll all start reading. Everybody got it. Don't

play me now, don't leave me out here? One, two, three,

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.

Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craze.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just

the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit

wants to give us desires that are the opposite of

what the sinful nature desires.

Let's finish strong.

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you

are not free.

To carry out your good intentions. Give yourself a round

of app louse.

That you made it through two verses of the Bible.

We almost lost it in the middle. You felt it.

But it's okay, we almost lost it. That was tragic, okay.

Title of the sermon if you're taking notes today. Taking

notes is like a fast pass. When you get to Heaven,

you show them your notes, you get to skip the

line you're laughing at everybody.

See you in two years, So make sure you take notes.

Write this down at the top of your page the

title of the sermon. I can be the better me.

I can be the better me.

Lord.

I thank you for this time speak. We are listening

and Jesus thing we praying. Everybody said, Amen, Okay, I

gotta be honest with you. I don't know if you

relate to this or not, but there are many times

where I realize and feel like there are two means

on the inside of me.

Does anybody else relate to this? Come on?

You feel like that one you that's in traffic that

knows you got the represent sticker on the back, so

people honk.

And you're like, God, bless you. I send peace and

love and grace to you. And then there's also a you.

That will stop your car on Memorial and be like,

I don't care who you are if you ever cut

me off again, don't play me up here.

There's one you. Maybe I'm just talking about me.

There's one me that is the parent that when my

kids are whiling', I like lean down and I'm like,

oh hey, buddy, I know you're just overwhelmed emotionally right now,

and you know you don't have the capacity to articulate.

The emotions because they're all new.

You know, I can't imagine feeling frustrated for the first time.

But we're not gonna do that because that's not the

best option, you know, for the life we want to live. Son.

Then there's another version of me that says, I don't

care what year it is, I will beat you like

you stole something if you ever talk to your mama

like that.

Again, there's another version just sometimes they'd be going back.

And it's funny because at different times I can tell like, okay,

I'm losing the battle here to the lesser me like

I am.

Definitely there's certain things I do. Any of my friends

will know this.

The worst place for this probably is I don't I

don't even honestly try to fight it.

I'm gonna keep real with you.

I just I just let that crazy Charles do whatever

he wants to. And that is when I played basketball.

Okay.

There are a few friends Macaiah as my witness who

will know. When I played back, Brentam, I apologize again.

Just looking in your eyes, I felt convicted. Uh I saw, Brentam.

I've said some crazy stuff to Brentam, just wild things.

I start talking people's family lineage in basket. I'm just like,

this makes sense considering your great great grandfather. Like I

just it doesn't even make sense.

I just I start tying my shoes and I'm like, man,

those are the shoes you're wearing.

That's crazy. Oh my gosh, it's gonna suck to have.

To realize those will not help you. And you spend

all that money on those shoes. How embarrassing. Anyways, I'll

pick you on my team. Like I'm tearing down people

on my team. It doesn't even make sense. But what

my friends said, I like that guy because we're both.

That same in that way.

But those are the funny examples. But we all have

this internal battle. Well, there's one you that really wants

to obey God's word. There's one you that really wants

to listen to what he says.

Then there's another version of you that.

Wants to be honest and says, I want to do

what I want to do. I don't want to have

to turn the other cheek. And I don't want to

have to forgive people. And I don't want to have

to act like that. I don't want to have to

do that. There's a version of you that wants to

do what.

It wants, when it wants, how it wants, with.

Whoever it wants, and we all have this internal battle.

See.

There's a part of me that wants to be honest,

but there's a part of me that knows that sometimes

bend in the truth gets you what you want. There's

a part of me that wants to live a life

of integrity, but there's also a part of me.

These are real thoughts.

And this is why you gotta have community and friends. Literally,

all these thoughts I'm about to share with you. I

have a group text of guys that I will text

these crazy thoughts too, or I'll text my friend, I'll

do a thought check in. But I've text this thought before.

There's one side of me that wants to be faithful

in my marriage, but there's another.

Side of me that says, you know what, you've only

been with one woman? What are you missing out on? See?

It gets quiet when we start talking about the real

thoughts that come from that other you.

You wouldn't dare say them out loud.

By in fact ignoring them, you actually give them more

power because you won't address it. You won't be honest

that there's a version of you that, yes, you're gonna

do this business with integrity, but there's another version of

you that knows you could call that one person and

they could do some things and get you right to

the top. And if we're not honest, we will continue

to ignore the reality of the war that is happening

on the inside of you, and you will slowly lose

by acting like it's not happening. What battle do you

win by ignoring? What wrestle? Do you win by acting

like it's not there? And for so long the Church

and believers have hid under this facade of busting.

Holly favorite and yeah I'm ahead and not the tail.

And blah blah blah blah blah, that's trash. You're really

thinking about changing your character and sleeping with whoever you

want to? Why don't you just say that? What if

they judge me?

And what are they gonna think? And the truth is

the church has done a bad job at creating.

A safe place for that lesser you to say what's

really going on in his head. But I came to

change that today because I need you to know, even

though there is a battle within, even though it's raging,

even though you feel internally stuck, there are some of

you that feel like one.

You maybe feel like surely.

Not everybody else is still fighting like this. The enemy

tries to wrestle you and get you to consider that like,

oh yeah, no, everybody else has it figured out, but

it's just you that struggles back and forth. Or maybe

you feel discouraged because you've been fighting so long.

I need you to know today that there is a

better option.

I came to give you good news that you do

not have to continue to lose the battle to the

lesser you, the version of you that doesn't want to stay,

the version of you that wants to run when it

gets hard, the version of you that just wants to

please itself.

There is a better option.

Because of the power of Jesus Christ on the inside

of you, you can be.

The better you come on. I want to encourage you.

Some of you have been stuck for so long that

you feel like there's no other option but to just

give in to fear. There's no other option but to

just give in to comparison.

That is not the truth.

There is a God who lives on the inside of you,

who didn't just die for you, but wants to empower

you to be the best version of yourself, someone who

walks in confidence, someone who knows who they are.

Somebody say, I can be the better me.

Okay, it ain't nothing gonna change say in a week

like that, say it strong, I can be the better me.

Come on, some of y'all even saying that is hard

because you know your patterns well.

If you could have done it, you would have done

it by now.

And you know you've been struggling with that thought since

you were twelve years old, and you know you've never

got past that hurdle.

That is a lie from the enemy.

I don't know if you know this or not, but

the Bible says the same power that God, Jesus Christ

out of the grave, lives on the inside of you.

You don't have to lose that battle. You can be

the better you.

You can be a person of integrity. You can be

the person who stands up and says, you know what, Hey,

we ain't gonna talk about people. I know, it's all

our family does. And if we take away gossip, we

ain't gonna have no conversation. But we're gonna have to

figure out how to talk about something else because I.

Am deciding to be the best version of me.

I know it takes a lot harder work to build

relationship with people and not just judge people based off

what they look like.

But we're not gonna make assumptions about people.

In fact, we're gonna pray for those people and we're

gonna build relationship. We're gonna those people, We're gonna talk

to those people. We're gonna invite those people to our

house for dinner. Why Because I'm not settling for the

lowest version of me. And some of us need to

check our friendships, check our circles, because there are some

friendships that like the lesser you.

The like the you that don't have no standards.

They like the you that doesn't care about going out

after a certain time. They like the you that says,

oh no, it's not a big deal. They like the

you that they can crazy around and know they ain't

gonna get checked. They like that version of you. But

some of you are gonna have to reintroduce yourself. Get

ready for some awkward conversations because they gonna talk talking

sideways and'll be like, oh oh yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry,

I know we used to talk about that.

But that was the lesser me. That was the me

that didn't know who they were.

That was the mean They didn't know that they were

called and created by God.

Somebody say, I can be the better me. Paul.

He's talking about this war that happens on the inside

of us, and he said, there's two versions of me.

The end of that scripture, at verse seventeen, he says,

there's these two forces that are constantly fighting.

You know. He starts off Galatians one.

And I remember my dad preaches scripture a lot grown up,

and the scripture starts off and says, it's for freedom

that Christ set us free.

And we all love to scream about being free. But

the truth is if you're gonna be free.

That insinuates you getting out of something. And the truth

is there is this battle that is happening, this war

for your freedom, this war for your soul. And what

I have found is the biggest fight for my freedom

is not against the devil. Oh Oh, hold on, because

we give the devil all the credit in the world.

The devil's attacking me, the devil, no, no, no, sometimes you

attacking you.

Oh shoot, because now we're gonna have to take ownership

for our thoughts. In the scripture that says take every

thought captive has some accountability to it. It's not just

all the devil's trying to no, no, no, calm down.

The devil planted one thought.

Maybe when you were ten years old and you've been

wrestling that same thing over and over again. The biggest

fight for your freedom is gonna be you against you.

Write that down, take a note. Let's just acknowledge it.

The biggest fight for my freedom is gonna be me

versus me, and the decision every day when I wake up,

which me am I gonna be today? I person that

gets in the word first and understands the value for this,

or am I gonna be the person who says, Oh,

it's not that big of a deal. You know, it's fine,

I'll get around to it. I'm gonna gonna be the

person that is disciplined because I realize that I'm my

best self when I'm disciplined and committed to something, or

am I just gonna be lazy and say, you know,

I'll get around to it. It's not that big of

a deal. Realizing that your lack of discipline is the

thing that is the domino effect to every area of

your life.

Which you are you gonna choose?

We gotta acknowledge that there's this fight going on the

inside of us. And I love the way Paul is

talking because sometimes we feel like this is a new thing.

Maybe you feel like, man, there's no way nobody else

is doing this. And sometimes I feel I don't know

if I'm bipolar, what's wrong with me?

I'm in your head?

Come on, anybody ever have conversations with yourself? Come on,

be honest, raise your hand and some of y'all that

less of you just said, don't put your hand up,

lie like act regular.

They'll never notice. You just lost right in that question,

right there. Nope, I wait. No.

The truth is this has been going on for thousands

of years.

You are not the first person to feel.

Like, yes, I'm a good person, I don't do that anymore,

and then also be like, but also, it was kind

of fun.

Maybe I do do that. You're not the first one.

In fact, I want to read you a portion of

scripture in Romans seven.

This is what it says.

It says, Uh, I don't really understand myself, for I

want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead,

I do what I hate. He goes on later to say,

I want to do what is right, but I can't.

I want to do what is good, but I don't.

I don't want to.

Do what is wrong, but I do it Anyways.

He goes down and says, I have discovered this principle

of life.

That when I want to do what is right, I

inevitably do what is wrong.

I love God's law with all my heart, but there's

another paw within me that is at war with my mind.

This is the human condition, the war within, the battle

between which version of you or you gonna be. And

today I want to give you hope and some practical

tools on how can you be the better you. Paul's

describing this battle, and I want to We're gonna go

into a little bit of a teaching Bible study here

for a second, So stay with me, he says. The

flesh and the spirit. The flesh is your sin nature.

It is your natural inclination It is why you don't

have to teach a baby to say mind. It is

why your first thought.

Is usually not the kindest thought.

It is your natural inclination that is bent against God.

So you are you don't just you're not just born

with like, Okay, let me see what God's will is.

Let me make sure obathe that, let me forgive people,

let me be cand No, you.

Are born selfish, and that is the war he's talking about.

There's that you, your flesh that wants to do what

it wants to do and does not care what people think,

why they think what they think, and will keep going

by themselves. That is your flesh. And that's one side

of the world. Then there's the other side. That is

the spirit. Everybody say the spirit. The spirit is the

you that is empowered by God, that knows his word,

that knows it has a call and is sensitive to

God's voice, and is the empowering nature of how you

can live to be the best version of yourself. There's

the selfish you and the spirit you. Now here's what

I found in my research, in my life and in

my experience of what happens. You see, we are all

born with the flesh, the selfish us, the lesser us,

the one that doesn't want to do what people tell

us to do. And what happens is is the way

we try to tame the flesh is with rules.

Follow me. This is what we do. We have ourselves.

That's like, hoom, I want to talk crazy to whoever

I want to how one Two I'm gonna cuss people

out in traffic. I'm gonna cuss people out just if

I feel like it.

I'm just gonna go crazy. Let's say that's your situation.

What we do, if we're trying to tame that version

of us, we just make up a bunch of rules. Okay,

I'm just not gonna do it. Rule number one, don't

cuss the people. We screw that rule down and.

We say, okay, I'm just gonna not cuss it people.

I won't. Okay, hold on, I won't.

Then somebody come up and talking to you like I won't.

Okay, hold on, let me go back to my rule. Okay,

we don't cuss the people.

What you don't realize is your flesh does not care

about the made up rule you're trying to tell it.

This is why this does not work. This is why

when we sell people that gospel.

It doesn't work. Don't have sex before you're married. Why don't?

Why though, Well, because it's bad, Well then why are

you doing it when you're married?

If it's bad?

Well, I mean it's good, it's good then, but it's

bad now.

But just don't do it. What about any tools? No,

that's weird, don't mention that. I'm not gonna talk to

you about it. Just don't do it.

It's bad, and then on your honeymoon magic will happen.

And you'll realize, oh, it's good. Now.

That's our educational system for how to deal with sexual purity.

Don't do it until you have.

This day, and then you do it and it's great.

That was not my experience, and.

I'm not saying that for any other reason other than

just we just build these whole worlds or like, hey,

it's bad.

And that's just a rule that at some point your

flesh is like, Okay, I know it ain't bad.

And if you said it's bad, mom and dad, y'all

ain't doing it right because I talk to some people.

So rule number one cooked boom, that's not true. I

know it's not bad. Come on, this is and this

is what happens with any rule. You said, Eventually your

flesh is like yay, but let's just see for ourselves.

And we get so discouraged because we set rule after

rule after rule, and at some point you lose the

battle to the lesser you. This is not new in

fact at all. Paul, he speaks of this. He has

so many different words that he says.

Today.

You know, I've been out for a little bit, so

I got two Bibles today, so we go. I'm gonna

read this to you. This is Paul explaining this issue

with these rules. This is the message version Roman seven.

He says this.

He said, do you remember how it how it was?

I do perfectly well. The Law Code started out as

an excellent piece of work. So he's helping people understand

this war within you have your flesh.

And then the law was given the ten Commandments.

That grew to over three hundred and eighty four rules

that people had to follow, and he's.

Talking to them about He says this.

He says, what happened though, was that Sin found a

way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a

piece of forbidden fruit. The law Code, instead of being

used to guide me was now used to seduce me.

It says, the very command that was supposed to guide

me into life was cleverly used to trip me up.

Sin did what is so famous for doing, using the

good as a cover up to tempt.

Me to do what would finally destroy me. What is

he saying? He says, not only do your rules break.

Down, but the entire commandments from the Old Testament the

flesh warred.

Against and kept breaking down.

He says, this Jesus, God gives the law to the

children of Israel and their internal flesh. He's like no

other gods before me. They're like, all right, bet cool.

Moses goes up on the mountain. Two seconds later, like,

who got some gold? We're about to make a calf.

We're about to burn up your ear rings. We're gonna

expose a couple of y'all who got fake jewelry. And

not a big deal. But and why am I saying this?

I'm saying because even the law that was given by God,

your flesh wears down. You need something more powerful than

a list of rules. You need something more powerful than

just your will to get past this battle. You need

something more powerful than just I'm gonna do seventy five

hard and that'll make me better.

That's not it.

Do seventy five hard a thousand times. It can't break

down that selfish you. You need something with more power.

You need something that has the power to defeat death, hell,

and the grave. You need the Holy Spirit, the Holy ghost,

the one who stands alongside working on the inside of

you to win this war. And I came to encourage you.

I love your discipline, I love your list. They are amazing.

But if you are solely.

Leaning on the works of you doing good, you will

always lose the battle to the lesser you. If it

is just a list of to do. You need something

more than rules. You need a relationship. You need something

more than just saying oh, I'll do it by willpower.

You need God's power if you're gonna be the better you.

So we're gonna walk through three ways. And I love

this is probably one of my favorite, Like I got

three points. The title for it is this. Once you

write this down, how to beat yourself in a fight.

Come on, because you fighting you, so we need to

know how to beat you.

How to be yourself in a fight. Number one, write

this down please.

First point very spiritual how to beat yourself in a fight.

Flee the stupid. Write that down.

And if you just got offended because I said stupid, man,

I'm sorry. Uh here's point number one. The most spiritual

thing you could do in a fight is sometimes realizing

I got no business fighting this individual. If I want

to come, if I was out somewhere at a restaurant

and somebody walked past me and nudged me, and let

me tell you, I need no reason. This is a

part of my flesh. Abby will tell you I am.

I have been in one fight my entire life. One fight.

Dude made fun of me and I just swung off,

hit him in the face.

Teacher grabbed me. That was the one fight I was

been in. So I don't even know if it counts.

He tried to hit me a cunning hoo hit that

mayweather on him. But I was in a shell, you know.

I uh but uh, one fight. But I just be

walking around like what what what? Abby will be like,

somebody will look like what they're looking at you for it?

She's like, well they probably go to the church, sweetheart.

I'm like, yeah, okay, yes, So I've ever seen you

in public and you looked at me, and I was like, what, Like,

I literally will be riding my bike my friend Andler

he's like, what is wrong with you? We'll ride and

somebody will mumble something going past. I'll be like what

you say, I'll slam on my brakes, just like I'm

about to fight somebody in this skinny outfit.

I got tights on and I'm like, let's go. But

if somebody walked past and bumped me and I turned

around and it was Roosevelt, just don't tell you how

this goes. Yosh. Hey, brother, First of all, good to

see you.

Uh you know what, don't even worry about it, brother,

don't even.

Yeah, I was in your way. That was my bad.

I shouldn't even been staying here, you know what I'm saying,

Like it was bad on my part to be in

your pathway. Some of the fights were fighting. You got

no business being in.

Flick you. We are in.

Fights for our good day with random people who honk

at you.

You get one honk and the whole day.

You fighting a bad attitude just seeing everybody hates me.

And this is why, this is why I don't even

drive the car. You walk into your job.

See look at y'all, just look at this crazy. I

can't stay in this job. You are fighting stupid And

the first thing is I came back. I was like,

this really spiritual thing. Some of us need to stop

fighting the stupid stuff. You don't need to be in

certain dms. Let me just say this, if you are married,

dating someone, or have any sense of I was gonna

walk right off the stage. I'm trying to get as

close as I can. The concussion is still a little

bit there. I was about to get another one. H

I was about to get baptized.

If you are married, you don't need to be dming

or facetiming any girl for no reason at all.

You're just my friend, and we was friends before I met.

I don't care who they are. That's stupid. No, you

just don't understand our relationship. Okay, dog. So it's super

fruitful to your marriage for you to have someone that

you were really close to before you met your wife,

that you've kept a tie with, just in case you

really need somebody to talk to.

Great argument. Let me know how that works out.

That's really helpful to your relationship to be in ten

other dms just talking about stuff y'all have in common.

Ooh, we got quiet Now it's stupid. It don't make

no sense. If you're struggling with comparison.

It may be dumb for you to get on Instagram

and scroll through and follow all these people whose job

is to make up a fake life and act like.

It stay real life. That may not be smart. I'm

trying to be honest with you because I love you.

There is a lot. Here's what happen. Weapons. There are

real battles.

We have to fight, and we spend the God given

energy that he gave us for the real fight.

All other fights he didn't have no business us being in.

So you over here just getting worked by fear, getting

worked by lack of integrity, like.

And you just getting destroyed. And then you come over here,

you're all limping and dragging. You're like, God, I'm one

of your most faithful servants. I'm a soldier in the

Lord's army. He's like, you have been running yourself into

the ground.

Some stuff we gotta run. I love the message version

of the Bible. In two Timothy two two twenty two,

there was a lot of two So geus.

My brain's still coming back, Okay.

It says this flea or run all childish indulgences. Some

of the stuff we're fighting is childish. One comment from

a friend or a spouse and you'd.

Be like, see that's why you Or you could be.

Like, oh, you know what, not a big deal, learning

to let stuff go? How are you gonna live the

better version of yourself? Some stuff you just gonna realize

that is not worth my energy, That is not.

Worth the fight.

Yes I have maybe even you have the right to

be frustrated, but is your piece worth it? Some of y'all,

I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help you Oa November

right now. Okay, you gonna show up for Thanksgiving and

there's gonna be that yanky family member. I got a

lot of words I can say, but let's just use

jankie another word.

My grandmother would say, it's flicted. Y'all don't know that

abut fflicted if y'a ain't heard that. But Granny has

still be like, some of y'all just flicted.

But they gonna come in and you know they're gonna

start talking crazy. At this point, the issue is on

you to expect something different.

You gonna ruin your day.

If you don't just prepare, they gonna talk crazy and

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna have no business in it.

I'm not gonna deal. I'm not gonna get into an

argument about it. I know they're gonna bring up all

types of stuff. I know they're gonna try to argue.

I'm not gonna deal with it because that is dumb.

And I'm gonna decide I'm gonna have a good Thanksgiving

regardless of what they say. Yes, they gonna act while

they gonna try to stir up something. They go, Yes,

that's what they're gonna do. But as for me, I've

decided I'm not gonna let them drag me down to

the lesser version of myself that's arguing over stuffing. Got

it hit now, But in November, that third Thursday, you're

gonna think shut ab Oshet.

Charles had a word, okay, number two, flee the stupid

number one. Number two.

Feed the spirit, Feed the spirit. I heard somebody say

one time, you don't eat what you crave. You crave

what you eat, So you gotta feed the best version

of you. It does not make sense if one version

of you, if there's one.

Part of you that is selfish.

You need to work on the side of you that

is giving and is humble and puts others first. So

it does that make sense to build and set your

life up where everything is convenient for you and you

don't have to sacrifice anything and then expect to win

the war with kindness and giving and forgiveness. It doesn't

make any sense because you're not feeding the right thing.

If you want your spirit to win the war, you

gotta feed your spirit.

There's an old story.

Pastors have told it a kajillion times, but they talk about.

There's two wolves.

There's one that's strong and you're feeding it, you're with

it every day, and it's out in the.

Wilderness running like normal.

And there's one that you put in a cave and

you don't talk.

To it and you leave it alone and it doesn't

have the pack.

And it says, if you put them in a fight,

which one's gonna win. And the answer is, it doesn't

matter where you put them. The one you feed is

gonna win. So it does it matter what situation you're in.

If you are not feeding your spirit, you're not gonna

win the war.

So what is feeding your spirit? Reading the Word. This

is where there ain't.

No tricks, tips or skipovers.

You gotta read the Bible. That's feeding your spirit. Now.

This is not time based.

And I'm saying that because some of you feel like

the only way to feed your spirit is to do

a Bible plan that is like, read the Bible in

six minutes, the whole thing, and you're like, Okay, I'm

gonna feed my spirit.

And then you give up at Leviticus and you're like,

oh man, okay, well that was weird.

Uh So I'm not saying but to daily feed your spirit,

you read the Word.

Another way you feed your spirit is worship. Having worship.

There have been seasons of.

Our life as a family where when we walked in

the house, we turned on worship and that was all

that played all day. Why because we needed a good atmosphere.

We needed our spirit to be fed. There have been

times where it's like, when I get in the car,

I'm even listening to somebody preaching, I'm listening to something

about the Word. I'm listening to right now, I'm doing

a random study.

While I've been out with the Bible Project. They have

this podcast that's amazing.

I'm studying some weird ancient stuff I don't even know

if I'll use any day, But it's just about the

Bible feed your spirit. How do you feed your spirit?

Community?

Godly community is a way you can feed your spirit.

You get around people that are saying, hey, how was your.

Week this week?

How do we do as husbands serving our wives. That's

a different question. That's gonna feed your spirit in a

different way. How did we do letting go of control

of the future this week? And how are we going

to continue to trust God with the future of our

family and the future of our children? Like that, community

feeds your spirit. So the first thing, everybody say, flee

the stupid.

It's not Hilre.

Your great grandmother would be mad at me for you

saying stupid in church.

But we've come a long way. Ah.

The next one, we're gonna feed the spirit. Last one,

write this down. Fix your thoughts, fix your thoughts, fix

your thoughts. The Bible is very clear on the power

of fixing your thoughts.

I remember going up my mom.

She gave me this little card, and my mom she's

watching this, no doubt, and she'll remember this. But she

gave me this little card and it was a Bible verse.

It was Philippians four eight, and this scripture is talks

about fixing your thoughts and what you should be fixing

your thoughts on.

And I remember my mom.

It was up in my bathroom and I kept tearing

it down and like putting it on my table. And

every day she would come into my room, pick that

thing up and stick.

It back on there, and I was like, mo, this

is we. It was like one of.

Those cheesy things from like Mardelle's, like the color. It

was like some horrible font, like really big, just an

awful poster.

But every day she would put that up there.

And this is the scripture. I want to read it

to you. It's Philippians four eight. It says this some

of it up.

Friends.

I'd say, you'll do your best by filling your mind

and meditating on things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling,

and gracious. Focus on the best, not the worst, the beautiful,

not the ugly, things to praise, not things to curse.

Put into practice what you've learned, what you've heard and

saw and realized. Do that, and the God who makes

everything work together will work you into the most excellent harmonies.

If we're gonna win the war that's.

On the inside of us, some of us have to

make a decision to fix our thoughts.

Now here's what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying fix your thoughts like you are a

broken project to be rendered perfect.

I'm saying fix your thoughts.

The original word there it literally means to set up,

to build, and to inhabit. The word picture for this

word in the original language would be build a house

with all good thoughts in it and move into it.

That's when it says fix it literally is set up

a life, set up a house, set up a place

that where the only thing in this house are things first.

That are true.

Some of us, if we're gonna win the war on

the inside of us, we gotta focus on things.

That are true. The truth is you are still married

and you did make it this far. That's what's true.

That's the truth.

The truth is you did raise your kids in God's house.

You did do your best for what you That is

what is true. What is true is you cannot control

everything and everyone.

That's true. So the reality is there is something in

front of you that you have to find peace with.

What is true in your life, not what's possible. If

you focus on what's possible, you'll spin out. It's possible

that there could be a crazy I don't even know

what scenario that happens right in the second. That's possible.

Well, it is true is God has protected me multiple

times when I thought I was gonna die. That's what's true.

What's true is God said he has a plan for

my life. What is true is even if the worst

thing happened, I'm surrounded by.

Community that would love me take care of me. What

is true is God is in control. So that's what

I choose to focus on.

They said, why don't you focus on the beautiful not

the ugly?

This has been my thought and prayer and I'm gonna

close with this.

Me and my wife were having a conversation. I was

talking something that actually wrote down. I try to like

do this practice thing in this little journal every single day.

And when I wrote down after the accident, so jingly

what happened. I was riding my bike and which I

gotta say, the guy who hit me was super tore up.

He's been super kind, like we're fine.

There were some people I posted about at an accident

and like forty people were like, we will find them

right now, like they just went Liam Neeson.

It was like, I will find you and I will

kill It was like, okay, it's calm down pretty much.

I signaled he didn't see it.

Boom smoked me like going forty miles an hour, bam cooked.

So got hit. Yeah, some of y'all were like, I

thought you fell over.

No, I got straight mowed down by a car. But

after that happened was journaling, and what I wrote down

in my journal was God, in any situation, let the

first and the biggest thing I see is you and

what you're doing. Any situation I go through, let the

first and the biggest thing I see is you and

what you're doing.

What is that? That is a decision to fix my thoughts.

It's an internal decision that every person in this room,

empowered by the Holy Spirit, has the ability to make.

God let me fix my thoughts on you and what

you're doing.

So, from everything that happened, even a couple of weeks ago,

what I see is, oh, my gosh, my God protected me.

My God kept me safe.

I know people that was going and fail in a

driveway and broke their arm and I ain't got no

broken bones, no internal bleeding. My memory was just a

little bit fuzzy, but I'm still here.

Hello, somebody. The biggest thing I choose to see is.

God, what you and you are doing, who you are,

how you're moving so in your relationship.

Yes, y'all might be going through some stuff, But the

biggest thing you want to see God, you have sustained us.

We have went through so much stuff and we did

not think we were gonna stay married. But God, the

thing I choose to see, what I'm deciding to fix

my thoughts on is the fact that you have sustained me.

And that's enough for me. Fix your thoughts God, who

are you and what are you doing? Yes, you want

to be married. Yes you want to find someone that

is real. I'm not saying you don't acknowledge that. But

the first and the biggest thing you decide to fix

your thoughts on is God. I thank you that you

are making me and molding me into somebody. Lord, God,

who is gonna be able to be a beautiful partner

in a marriage and you are guiding me? God, I

thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are enough for me.

Right in this season here's the thing. I can't do

that for you. I can't fix your thoughts. You gotta

fix your thoughts.

You gotta decide what house you want to live in.

You gotta decide what heart you want to live with.

And I truly believe that's the worship team to come

out closing service down. I truly believe every person in

this room and under the sound of my voice, you

have the power.

To be the best version of you. The version of you.

That does not walk around constantly worried about what other

people are thinking. The version of you that wakes up

in the morning expecting God to do something great. The

version of you that the first thought you have when

you get an idea is not this will never work,

but what if this is the one.

Idea God gave me that changes the world.

The version of you that is in a dark situation,

but you look back over your life and you say, God,

I know this is dark, but I remember other times

when it was dark, and so God, I thank you

that this past memory I have is bringing light to

this current situation.

The version of you that hopes for something more than

just what your family has. The version of.

You that dreams of a relationship that is completely trustworthy

and completely vulnerable and doesn't settle for just being housemates

or being legal partners. But a version of you that

believes this marriage can be full of.

Love and hope. And I know we're.

Going through right now, and I know the divorce papers

are on the table, but I have a belief that

there is something God can do that we can be

the best version.

Of this marriage.

I know I feel stuck, and you may be addicted

right now, and you may find yourself just having to

watch pornography or sleep with someone just to even go

to bed at night. But there is a version of

you that doesn't have to give away parts of itself

to feel something, but knows that you are something because

the God of the universe has value on you, and

he loves you and he.

Cares about you.

There's a version of you that doesn't have to feel

better about itself.

By judging other people.

There's a version of you that doesn't have to use

the Bible as a way to manipulate your family to

get them to do what you want. There's a version

of you that doesn't have to look at other people

and say I don't know about them, but there's a

version of you that lives with your arms wide open.

There's a version of you.

That realizes you are a child of the creator of

the universe, and no matter what happens, you find peace, contentment,

and confidence in that reality. We ask everybody to stand

up all over this room.

Galatians five. The obvious.

Verse in this whole writing is Galatians five twenty two.

You may be heard before. It's the fruit of the spirit.

As a matter of fact, the word of the year

this year at Transformation Church is fruit. And I want

to close this service with what I believe is a

prophetic word on the best version of you. It's the

fruit of the spirit. It's what happens in your heart

when you continue.

To feed that thing.

And so I want to read this over you. It

says this in Galatians five twenty two. You want to

know what happens when we live God's way. He brings

gift into our life the same way that fruit would.

Appear in an orchard.

In an orchard, things like affection for others and exuberance

about life, serenity.

We develop a willingness.

To stick with things, a sense of compassion in our heart,

a conviction that a basic holiness permeonates the things around us.

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to

force our way, We're able to marshall and direct.

Our lives and energy wisely. That's the best version of you.

And what I love about the way that.

The message Bible frames it is it doesn't position it

as things you do, but someone you are.

He says, Hey, it's not peace is something you just do.

It's in who you are. You're a peaceful person.

You don't just have peace momentarily or for a segment. No. No,

when you walk into a room, the God of the universe,

because he lives on the inside of you, changes the atmosphere.

And everywhere you go there is peace.

No no, no. You don't just have self control for a

moment to not do a bad thing. No, no.

Know how you live and build.

Your life is someone who is disciplined and has has

beat themselves into submission and saying, hey, we're not gonna

live like that because we have a greater calling.

It's the best version of you. And I want to

take a moment.

We're gonna close out service, but I'm asking everybody to

bow your heads and close your eyes, nobody moving for

a moment.

But I want to pray over you.

If you've been feel like you've been losing the battle

to the lesser, you come on. I want you to

be honest. I'm gonna count the three. I'm gonna ask

you to raise your hand.

In just a moment. But if you have felt the

war on the inside of you.

There's parts of you that haven't been living up to

the standards you know. There's parts of you that just

feel tired. You're tired of fighting. You're tired of falling

in the same cycles. You're tired of being stuck in depression.

You're tired of being worried about everything. You're tired of

of not knowing what's gonna happen, and it turns into

just acting out. If you're tired of that, I promise

you the God of the universe stands ready to help you.

And his command to you is not do more. His

command to you is not try harder. His command to

you is surrender. His command to you is take up

my burden and take up my yoke, for it's easy

and it's light. If you walked in heavy today, if

you walked in beat.

Down by life.

There is a God who wants to give you a

fresh start where you can live as the best version

of yourself.

So, if you're in this room and you say, you

know what, I'm tired of losing that fight. I follow Jesus,

but I've been losing the fight. I'm gonna count the three.

I don't want you to lift your hands. I want

you to be honest. Do not worry about who's around you.

This is about you.

Winning the battle for your own freedom. One, two, three,

Raise your hand.

Right now.

You've been beat down, you feel like there's some areas

you're losing.

I want to pray over you God.

You see every person right now, you see every believer

with their hand raised, and right now, Holy Spirit, I

thank you that you already live on the inside of them.

So I call out what is already in them.

That you do have self control, that you do have peace,

that you do have love, that the God of the

universe will begin to permeate every part of your heart.

I speak against disappointment.

And depression because you feel like you lost too many fights.

That is not your story.

You can be the best version of you. I thank

you God that today would be a brand new start.

There's a new confession that you're walking with your head

held high.

There's a new pep in your step. God, I thank you.

Today is a fresh start. Thank you Jesus.

You can put your hands down, every eye close still,

just for a moment, one to the people I just

prayed for. I want to say this that knew you

is right around the corner. I feel that so strongly.

Some of you need to write that down. That needs

to be your confession. The new me is right around

the corner. There's a second group of people in here.

And you have been trying to fight this fight by yourself.

You don't have Jesus in your heart. All that means

is you surrender. You stop trying to fight. You've stopped

trying to do it yourself. If you're tired of fighting.

Alone, you feel lonely. That's it. That's the feeling that's

in your heart.

If you were to go in there and just be

honest with your emotions, right now.

You feel lonely.

You're carrying the weight of your family, You're carrying the

weight of your calling. You're carrying the weight of the

vices and struggles that you feel like won't leave.

You if you need help.

Accepting Jesus is just saying I need help. I can't

do it by myself.

Here's all I ask you to do.

I'm gonna ask everybody to bout your heads and close

your eyes.

We're all gonna pray a prayer together. We're gonna pray

a prayer together.

And it's for those who are for the first time,

or maybe you're rededicating your life back to Jesus, but

you're saying he is my Lord and savior.

We're gonnall pray this prayer.

Together, and then we get done with this prayer right

when we say amen. If you prayed that prayer and

you say, you know what, that's my first time I'm

meant to I'm giving my life to Jesus. When we

finish this prayer, I want you to raise your hand

high in the air saying I gave my life to Jesus.

Let's all pray together.

Everybody say, Dear Heavenly Father, I love you, Thank you

Jesus for giving me a fresh start. I admit I've

made mistakes, Save me, change me, make me new in

Jesus name.

I pray Amen. Can we celebrate if you just made

that decision.

I want you to lift your hand up high right now,

come on, come on, we got wrong right here, I

see you, brother, So proud of you.

Come on right here, so proud of you. Keep your

hand up, keep your hand up.

Our team is bringing you a bible right now, come on,

keep your hand up.

If you see.

Somebody with their hand up, give them a hug, tell

them your lover.

We are so so proud of you, so proud of you.

Best decision you could ever make.

If you just made that choice, it is the best

decision you could ever make.

We would love to give your hugs, shake your hand,

Let somebody know around you, and we love if you

let us know.

If you text the word save, if you text that

to the number that's on the screen, or scan the

QR code, or in your Bible, there's a little card

it tells you what you can do next.

But we are so proud that you just made that decision.

It's the best thing ever. Can we celebrate those who

just made the decision to follow Jesus.

Hey listen, it's flood Sunday, and something we do here

that's a little wild. As we do something called spontaneous baptisms.

What's that mean?

That means you are here and you saw people get

baptized and you were.

Like, dang it, should have signed up.

Well, guess what, we can still baptize you right now

in some of you the beginning and the fresh start

you need to the best version of yourself and saying

I'm making.

A decision today to follow Jesus. So I'm gonna invite

my friend Will. He's gonna come up.

But if you want to get baptized, you can do

it right now. Our team is gonna worship, We're gonna sing,

we have stuff for you. I think there's people in

the backing room. I'm not gonna fake like I know

which way to point you because I don't.

But if you want to make.

That decision today, it's the best thing you can do.

And we're so grateful for you. Can we give it

up for everybody who gave their life to Jesus. Oh,

come on, let's do it. Let's do it.

Thank you for joining us today. If you said that

prayer and accept it Jesus into your heart, it's the

best decision you could ever make. We want to celebrate

with you, and we have some tools to help you

on your journey. Tech saved to A two eight two

eight two and to find out more about TC text

connect to A two eight two eight two. Be sure

to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks

for listening. Now go out and live a transform life