Emotions | Part Four | Pastor Malachi Maillot

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Well, good morning, church.

How are you guys doing this morning?

Some of you are doing good.

Thanks, Brian.

Well, I'm I'm excited to share with you this morning.

If you if you don't know my name, uh my name is Malachi.

I'm the one of the youth, the youth pastor and young adult pastor here.

And uh uh before I jump in, uh this week I was just I was just thinking about my life and and thinking about you know what an honor it is to stand up here and uh I'm just honored by Pastor Brodie that he asked me to speak to you guys this morning, and uh just looking back at my life from where I've come through or where I've come from, where I've what I've come through, and just the people and the influences that have helped me kind of get through my stuff.

And and I stand here today and I'm just so grateful and I'm so thankful.

And there's a lot of you in this church that are I'm so grateful for, and uh, I just wanted to give some honor to Pastor Brody.

Uh we we can just give him a hand.

Or just I'm just so happy and and excited uh the places he's leading us.

He's been he took over a few years ago and just been doing great things, and I'm excited to be on this journey with you, man, and you too, Pastor Brian.

Um, but this month has been fun.

Uh if you've if you've been with us for the few last few weeks or watched online, we've been talking about emotions and uh and how to understand our emotions, which is really interesting and really a big topic.

But um, I have the opportunity to close out this uh this this month, and I and I want to talk about being led by your emotions, being led by your feelings.

And uh, and most of us have probably heard the term, you've probably heard this term, you know, follow your heart.

You know, it's probably bounced around in culture a little bit, or or do what feels good, do it, do what feels right, or you know, look out for number one.

Or uh maybe on the other side of it, uh we've been we've been talking in our in our youth youth group, uh, we've been talking about we've been doing fear factor, and so we've been making them eat gross stuff and do crazy things, but we were also talking about uh how fear affects us.

And and uh and the reality is that fear actually tries to dress itself up into socially acceptable clothing, like stress or anxiety or or or worry or other things like that, and it and it how it affects us, and and uh and and it weighs us down, it holds us back from what God wants us to do, and it holds us back from from achieving things in our life, and it often one of the things it tries to do is it tries to dictate our faith.

Okay, so uh we're gonna talk about that this morning, but uh in the New Testament, there's a man named Paul.

If you don't know who Paul was, he was uh he was a pretty cool guy.

He was he was a little bit crazier before he got saved.

Um he was actually uh trying to go against the first church movement, he was trying to shut it down, and uh, and and on his way to a place where it was called Damascus, he was he was uh going to actually arrest more Christians and try to actually kill them.

And on his way, he was met by Jesus on the road, and and he was radically transformed that day.

And and so his life uh took a turn and it took a 180, and he actually became really a very big piece in even writing the New Testament.

Most of what we read in the New Testament is actually written by Paul.

He became a very key part to the Jesus movement in the early church.

Um this guy was he was important, okay?

So he was a he was a pastor, he was a preacher, he was a teacher, he was a friend, he was uh uh a father, he was uh he had founded several churches actually throughout the the 30 AD and 50 AD.

So this this guy was he was pretty high up.

He was he was an important guy, he was he was crucial to what was happening.

And uh and in Romans he wrote this really interesting verse, and uh, and I really relate to it and I hope you do too.

Uh, and it's from his perspective of this human condition that we all kind of deal with.

And uh, and even a guy like Paul and how important he was, and how you know maybe uh you know spiritual he was, he couldn't have even escaped this condition, this idea that he presents.

And uh and it's that our lives are often like an emotional roller coaster.

Right?

We try to try to make our lives look like a straight line, but often it's kind of like this.

Right?

We're kind of pulled to the left and we're kind of pulled to the right, and we're we're trying to do this, we're trying to do this thing right, we're trying to go down this straight line, but oftentimes our our life is is pulled by emotions, right?

We're pulled to the left, we're pulled by the right, and something happens in our lives.

And and he writes this uh this this verse, and I'll and I'll read it to you guys.

It's in Romans 7, 15 to 20.

And he starts off this verse really this is kind of entertaining me for me.

He says, I I do not understand.

Like, thank you, Paul.

Like, I was confused, and now I'm you're confused, and we're both confused.

Like, we don't know what's happening.

He says, I I I do not understand what I do, neither do I.

I relate with you, Paul.

Like, and this is this is coming, like we just talked about how like this guy was a he was a founder of churches, and he's like, I don't understand what I'm doing.

I don't understand why I do things.

For what I for what I want to do, I I I do not do.

And what I hate, I do.

How many can relate to that?

Hopefully everybody is being honest this morning.

I don't know about you, but I I really relate to this.

And he goes on and he says, If I if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but the sin living in me.

And he kind of kind of repeats himself.

He's trying to make a point.

He says, For I know that the good itself, that good itself does not dwell in me, that it is my sinful nature.

For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep doing.

It's this cycle that we go through.

And uh, you know, a lot for me, this is this is like I look back on my life, and even now, this is might be a bad example, but I've been really wanting to get in shape.

And uh, for most of you that are married, you probably know this.

You gain the wedding pounds.

And uh I think I was like sitting at like 180 before the wedding, and now I'm like 210, and so I'm like, I want to shed a little bit of weight, and I want to get back in the gym, and I and I've always wanted to have like toned muscles, and and I mean every guy probably wants that, but it's it's almost unachievable when someone brings donuts home.

Looking at you, Rebecca.

And so, yeah, we we know the donut shop well.

There's this new donut shop, it's called WISC.

If you want to go there, it's amazing.

They actually make keto-friendly donuts.

So, I mean, if you're interested, we'll we'll go there after.

I'll buy you a donut.

Um, but it's like it's like in one moment we're so maybe self-governed, or we we feel like we have it all together and we feel like we're doing things good and we're going in this straight line, and then somebody brings donuts home.

Maybe that's not a good example, but something happens in our life, right?

Something that's not expected.

Maybe you walk outside, there's a flat tire, and you uh are in a rush and you have to get somewhere, and you're like, man, like chaos hits.

We have a weak moment, and our emotions take over.

So let's talk about this.

And I and I want to, if you're taking notes, I hope you are, because you get extra heaven points if you do.

Uh let's call this uh pump the brakes.

Pump the brakes.

And I made this myself.

This is awesome.

Oh, it changed the font.

It was way cooler before.

Thanks, Steve.

Um with that, let's let's just pray really quick.

If you just bow your heads with me, let's just pray together.

Uh, Father God, we just thank you for your word.

We thank you for uh this time and and we we're singing together with you, God, that your presence is here, we believe it.

God, we just are so grateful for you, and we are so grateful for your word that we can just learn and we can just read it, and it can come into our hearts and it can help change us for our future lives, God.

And and we just pray all this in your name, in Jesus' name.

Everyone said, Amen.

So I if you've uh if you've ever heard me speak up here before, I I I like to ask a question before we start.

I I like to kind of get everyone uh in the pool together, if you if you would, like kind of ankle deep, so we're kind of all standing in the pool together.

We kind of all get a sense of where we're at.

And uh and I like to ask kind of a rhetorical question, but how many of you like to be in control?

You like to you like the feeling of control, you're a bit of a control freak like me.

I I like the feeling of control, especially when I'm driving.

Yeah?

Yeah.

Especially when I'm driving.

Even when Rebecca's driving, I like to control, and she's like, she gets so bothered by it because I'm like, I'm just a control freak.

It's okay.

I'm working through it.

I'm working through it.

But uh years ago, I was I was about 16 years old, and uh I was I was I I kind of I like to work with my dad and he he got me up on a Saturday and uh and he had this old Ford truck, okay?

It was about I think it was like an 80-something Ford truck.

It was really I I learned how to drive when I was like 10, and I had to put like my dad's like work boots on so I could reach the pedals, and it was like this old standard truck, and there was a lot of issues with it as Fords have issues.

Um sorry if you drive a Ford, but I'm not sorry because you bought it.

Uh and so we we hop in this this truck and he starts driving and we pull out of the we had we had to go across town and into uh this little place.

It was a little dirt road.

We had to get to this farm, okay?

So we pull out of the pull out of our driveway and we're driving, coming to the first stop sign.

And you know, my dad likes to get like he gets he gets creative when he likes to shift.

And so he he he sometimes will try to shift without the clutch, and and he's and he's and he's coming to the stop sign and he's kind of getting a little bit too creative.

And I'm like, he's shifting and downshifting and kind of grinding his gears, and I'm like, okay, like I kind of just learned how to drive, so I'm a professional now.

And uh and I'm like, I kind of watch him and I'm like, Dad, why are you why are you doing that?

Why don't you just use your brakes?

And he's like, Well, I took the brakes off.

And so apparently he woke up that morning with a great idea that you know his brakes apparently weren't working on the truck, and so he decided that the best option was to remove the brakes.

And so I'm sitting in the truck and I'm like starting to sweat.

Like, and I trust my dad.

And so, and I mean he's he he continues to drive, like nothing's happening.

He's like, That's fine, we'll just use the gears to stop.

And he's showing me, he's like, he's like, watch, watch.

You know, like he like grinds the gears into like first, and it's like the whole truck's like jerking, and it was a Ford, so it could take it, apparently, at that time.

But uh and so, anyways, we drive out to this work project, we get through to we're driving through town.

I mean, it's Smithers, so it's small, and there's only like three stop lights.

So, I mean, the worst thing that could happen is is pretty minimal.

But uh, so we get out to the to the work project, we we finish, and and we start our trek home, and and we're on a dirt road, and actually, my buddy Mitchell, he he jumps in the truck with me.

Whenever me and Mitch are together, bad stuff happens.

I don't know why, it just happens.

And uh and so we we're we're driving uh down this dirt road, and if you can get a picture of kind of how what's gonna happen next, and I'm gonna give you a little bit of a picture, not on here, but just go with me in your imagination today.

Okay, so um it this road as you come up and it kind of turns into cement, right?

Right before you merge onto the highway.

And so it kind of goes up and it curves around and it kind of it's like a hill and it curves like a sea, okay?

And so, and on the other side of that, there's no barrier, there's no nothing to stop you.

On the other side of that, there's a 20-foot embankment, and then and then about 20 feet of like little trees and brush, and then after that is about like it's just dense forest, okay?

So you have kind of a picture and you might have an idea of where this is going.

And so we're we're driving on this dirt road, and everything's fine and dandy, and we're we haven't told Mitchell that we don't have any brakes because we don't want to scare him.

And uh and so we're coming back, and and my as we're approaching this S curve, okay, or I guess it would be a C curve, whatever, and uh we're we're approaching this, and my dad comes up with another idea.

He's not he's not doing so well today.

Like he's not he's not doing good on the ideas, the good ideas list.

It's it's just been bad ideas today.

And so he comes up with this idea.

And and even as I was writing this this week, I was like, man, like why did he do that?

And if he's watching, oh I'm so sorry, Dad, but you know this was stupid.

Um he says out loud, okay, so picture this, you're we're in the truck, and me and Mitch are just kind of chilling or talking, and he and he says, I wonder, I wonder if I sped up the truck.

And and if we, you know, if we so happen to turn off the truck, how long it would take to coast to a stop?

And I'm like, why?

And I'm thinking in my head, why would that be a good idea?

And he before, you know, he says it out loud and he kind of he doesn't really ask for our permission, he just steps on the gas.

Steps on the gas, and we're coming up to this S curve, and he's just like, I don't know why he got this idea.

If you ever meet him, you can ask him, ask him about the truck story, you're launching off the cliff.

And uh, and so he he steps on the gas.

And before me and Mitch, we're like sitting there, like, what?

Like, what is he why?

And he turns the truck off.

And if anybody has ever done this before, you lose power steering.

And so we're going about 60 kilometers an hour, and I'm screaming, Mitchell's screaming, my dad saying things that I probably shouldn't say in church, and he's panicking, and you know what happens when you panic, you don't really have good motor function, you don't think to just turn the key and turn the truck, but he's panicking, he's like, oh, oh, blank, blank, blankety blank.

Like, sorry, he he's he's worked through it now.

He's a good dad.

I'm telling on him a little bit, he's not here, so it's okay.

But he he's we're screaming, and I and I like we launch off this 20-foot embankment, and I don't have my seatbelt on, and so I like I put my feet up on the dash, like I'm like holding myself, I'm like pressing myself against, and we launch, and we finally come crashing down into this bush, and we we tear through all these little trees that we're trying to grow.

Good luck now, but um, and we finally come to a stop, right?

Because there was a tree big enough to stop this big Ford.

And it and it barely dented the the bumper because it was all metal.

Um but I say that story to say to say this, and I and I and I think if I look back at my life, and I think if maybe we're honest with ourselves, that sometimes we give a little bit too much trust to our emotions.

We give a little bit too much trust to our feelings.

And we we kind of live our life in the driver's seat of this old Ford, and we know it's broken, we know it's not a good idea, and we tr we trust our emotion driving a little bit too much.

It like takes the wheel and we know that the brakes aren't gonna work, and and it it tells us, hey, this is probably a bad idea, but let's do it anyway.

And we we get in this truck, and it's until it's too late, and we try to pump the brakes, and we we get led into these situations by our emotions or by being led by our feelings.

We get led into these situations or these, maybe not so dramatically as a cliff, but we we get led into trouble.

We get led into these places where we we thought we wouldn't be again or we thought we would never go.

Oftentimes our when our life is is led by emotions, our you know, our life is held back, or it could be cause us to be impulsive, it could cause us to you know jump without logic, or it causes us to it dictates our faith in the moment, it tells us what's possible.

Uh, maybe it takes us to a place we thought we left for good.

Or in our culture today, there's this really bad idea going around right now.

And most of you probably know we're told, like I said at the start of this, follow your heart.

Or or do what you feel, or or or do what feels right, or do what feels good in the moment.

Look out for number one, or this really popular idea that's that's going through society that's really actually crazily dangerous, is that your feelings are truth.

What you feel is true, and they're actually they're actually telling these these kindergarten students today in schools that they're asked they're asking them, hey, what do you what do you feel like?

Do you feel like you're a girl or do you feel like you're a boy?

And they're they're giving this choice to these these children to say, hey, well what you feel is is truth.

If it feels good, if it feels right, it must be must be true.

And it becomes part of who we are, even even as ourselves, like we what we feel, oh it must be true.

They gave me a look.

That person glared at me today, they must not like me.

Or we we care so much about what people think around us that we you know, we think we get insecure and we start to to sink back.

And and and I and I and I think about this idea that feelings, feelings and truth, and you look at, you know, I have this funny little thing in my pocket right now, and it's and it's called a speeding ticket.

Uh okay, and it and it's not the max, I could have got the max, but he was a really nice cop, and so I'm really gracious to our justice system.

Uh but but if you look at the world around us and the infrastructure of everything around us, from from from policemen to lines in the road to stop signs to green lights to how governments are run, everything around us is saying don't do what you feel.

Actually, you can't do what you feel, or you have to pay.

Right?

But then but then everything around that, and even at governmental levels, they're saying that feeling is truth.

And I don't know why people are buying it, but if living by our feelings worked, or if living by our emotions worked, it would have worked by now.

It would have worked by now.

Living by impulse and reaction, living by what feels good, what what no one comes up to you, no one comes up to me and says, Well, hey, you know, I've been just really trying to live by my feelings lately.

You know, he I I just get this emotional impulse and I just do it.

And life is just fantastic, it's exciting.

I mean, I'm not saying that emotions are bad.

This is not what I'm saying.

Emotions are designed and they're they're good, they're good for us.

They they give life, you know, life.

Like life would be lifeless without emotions and feelings, but but you know, you know, or someone comes up to you and says, you know, man, hey, you know, I just I just started watching porn, and my life has just been on the up.

Like it's been amazing.

Like my relationships are better.

I'm I'm I'm feeling confident about myself.

Or no one comes up to you and says, hey, you know, living for the weekend and living for the party and and living for that rush, that rush that I feel.

Man, life is good.

I love looking at my bank account and seeing it empty the next day.

It's just the best feeling.

Or no one comes up to you and says, Hey, I really like to worry.

It's so fun.

Like, I love having fear and anxiety as my my pals, and we just hang out.

Like, it's it's the best.

Like, I love it when they tell me what to do.

No one, no one says that.

No one lives with that as a it's not a good thing.

And in reality, God designed, Pastor Brody said this a few a few weeks ago, God designed our emotions not to be our guide.

And we're what we're told is the opposite.

We're saying, emotions and feelings, that's that's your guide.

That's how you know how to do things right.

That's how you know where to go.

But but God designed our emotions not to be a guide, but a gauge.

They gauge where we are at, they almost tell on us.

Our feelings are supposed to tell on us.

They they're actually, what what happens is your emotions are actually wired into your belief system and your value system.

And they they tell on you, they tell you what you're really truly trusting in, and what you really care about and who you're trusting in.

And so if this is the this is the issue, and I feel like even Paul's as Paul's writing, as we refer back to it, like this is something we battle, this is something we go through, this is something we daily go through.

So, what's the alternative?

What's the alternative?

What are we supposed to do?

And the alternative to living by your emotions and living by your feelings, and and most of you that have been in church for a long enough time, you probably know the answer, so don't yell it out.

Uh, but what the apostle Paul is suggesting here, and he suggested later on in this, in this, in Romans, it says we are to be led by the Spirit, and we're to walk in that.

We're to be led by something else other than me.

I'm unreliable.

I've proven that.

I'm sure you've proved that to yourself too.

But and I and I think even when we say that, I want to try to explain this as best as I can and practically as I can and kind of work through this uh with as little time as we have.

But uh I think sometimes we we throw out that statement in church, we're like, well, you just gotta, you know, hey, you're living in the flesh, you're living by this, you just gotta walk by the spirit.

You just gotta live by the spirit.

What does that mean?

I think I I grew up in church and I heard I heard that hundreds of times, and I'm like, well, what what is that what does that mean?

What does it mean?

So let's look at that.

I'm gonna do my best here and I have a few uh passages of scripture I'm gonna I'm gonna read and I'm gonna jump around so don't feel bad if you can't like fully follow along with it on the screen here.

And uh and the first is in Romans 8.1.

In Romans 8.1.

And and in in this in this scripture, he Paul states three very important things that we need to that we need to take, and this is like crucial for our life, okay?

And the the first thing he states is being in a position.

Okay?

The first thing he states is the position that you have.

The second thing is the benefit to that position.

And the third thing is the action or behavior from both that benefit and that position.

And so in Romans 8.1 he says, there is now, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

That that that that statement in Christ, that is the position that we have to focus on.

That is what Paul's saying here.

He's like, there is a position, and so I'm gonna go back to the basics here really quickly, just go with me.

Uh, you know, when we first believed and we received uh the free free free gift of forgiveness, when we asked Jesus into our heart, we get the f and we get we receive freedom from sin and we we receive Jesus' righteousness, okay?

And we we receive that righteousness that we didn't earn, okay?

We receive a grace that we we didn't have to buy, that we didn't have to do anything for.

It's not that you, you know, you don't have to read your Bible this many times a day to receive righteousness.

You don't have to pray this many hours a day to receive grace, you don't have to go to church to receive something.

That when you ask Jesus in your heart, you receive it as it's a gift.

Okay?

We're just going back to the basics.

We're going back, we're in kindergarten right now, okay?

And so that that that penalty that was on us because we were born into sin, that penalty that was on us is now gone.

It was bought by Jesus' blood on the cross, okay?

I just want you guys to just this is where we have to go back to.

He who knew no sin, Jesus, he he walked this earth as a human being in our in a in a body.

He he experienced everything we experienced, he experienced temptation, but he knew no sin.

He had no sin in his heart.

He did not sin, but then he became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God.

So it's it means right, we're right.

We're right standing.

You ever hear the someone say, Well, I just gotta get right with God, you know, I just I just gotta get back on track, I just I just gotta get to that position.

I just gotta get, I gotta pray more, I gotta, I gotta read more, and then those things are good.

I'm not saying that.

But then, but then what they do is they actually they're standing here and they're they're put in this position, and then they start walking away from it because they're saying, Well, I gotta I gotta do something to get there.

But you've already been placed there.

This is what Paul is saying.

He's saying that you're in Christ.

We have to, we have to just stand there.

We have an easy job.

Just stand there, don't move.

Um, and then with with that position, whenever you know you get a job, there's a position, right?

You get hired on as a job, and then hopefully benefits come, right?

You get benefits, work benefits.

It's great.

Some don't, but that's that's okay.

Um but it says there's a benefit, right?

There is now, therefore, everyone say no.

Everyone say none.

Everyone say zip, everyone say nada.

There is no condemnation, none.

Saying there's there's no condemnation for you who are in Christ.

That's a great benefit.

Because condemnation, it means punishment.

It means like you are sentenced to something.

You are like I have condemnation on a piece of paper right now.

I have to pay$138 to the government of Canada.

Some of you are like, ooh, well, that's he could have given me more.

But this is like condemnation, right?

It kind of sticks with us, like until we pay it off, right?

But it's already been, if we take this and this is this is the sin that we were dealing with, this is the kind of this is the stuff we were dealing with in our back pocket, and Jesus took it and paid for it.

But oftentimes condemnation tries to come and it tries to actually pry its way back into our minds.

It tries to, it tries to speak to us, right?

If you've ever lived any amount of time on this earth, you know what that feels like and what it sounds like, right?

You know, you're just wasting your time.

Oh, look! You did it again.

You might as well give up.

You might as well just go back to square one.

There's no point in going to church today.

Like what you did last night, now you're back to square one.

You gotta get right with God.

You got, oh, look at that.

He did it again.

And that's what that's what replays and that's what replayed in my mind.

And it replays in my mind.

But we have to, we have to understand.

This is this is where we have to set, we have to settle that we stand in a position, we stand in a position that we were placed in.

I didn't place myself in this position.

That's where you have to, you have to settle that in your heart, you have to settle that inside yourself, and then you have to settle that there's a benefit to that position.

That condemnation is a lie.

But what we often do is we we stand in a position and we let condemnation kind of like pull us this way.

And and we kind of get down on ourselves and we we we pull ourselves out.

Nothing else can pull us out of this position except for me.

Nothing else.

That's what Paul's saying.

No condemnation can pull you out of that position.

Nothing, no, no person can pull you out of that position.

You have to walk out of that position.

Okay?

So we understand the position.

We understand there's a benefit.

What is it?

What does it look like?

There's a behavior that comes, there's there's something that comes after.

He says, he says this.

Gotta find it.

It's on the screen, probably.

There it is.

Who walk accordingly, who do not walk accordingly to the flesh, but walk according to the spirit.

Okay, so he's saying that first in Christ is our position, no condemnation is our benefit, and from that, we no longer have to walk in what pulls us and the flesh and our feelings and our emotions no longer have to dictate our lives.

We get to now walk in the spirit.

Okay, so this is this is really important.

This is this might be really like simple for some of you, but that's okay.

We're gonna we're gonna go together.

And this is, I call this behavior, okay?

So understanding your position, understanding the condemnation that has no place in your life allows something else to happen, okay?

It allows the Holy Spirit to work in us.

And it says being being led, right?

Being led.

We don't lead it, we don't lead the spirit, we are led.

Okay?

So this stresses the spirit's initiative and its enablement in our lives.

The spirit works, okay?

What happens when we give our we give our lives to Christ?

Something happens on the inside of us.

Our spirit was dormant, and now it's alive.

Right?

And so he gives us the Holy Spirit.

I call him the guidance counselor.

Uh, and and he he produces, this is what being led by this week, he produces a desire in us for God's way that is stronger than our fleshly desires.

So being led is is allowing the spirit to work in you.

First, you don't have to, there's no I'm standing here and I know that no condemnation is going to come on me, and then the Holy Spirit works in me.

So it's not like I have to do a dance and like get on my knees and stuff, and the Holy Spirit starts working in you.

It starts creating, He He awakens something in you and it starts to beckon.

And it might sound like no at first.

It's like when you're raising your child, you have to you have to tell them no a lot, right?

Until they know what they can do, until they know what yes is.

You have to protect them.

So sometimes it sounds, it's it sounds like when that happens, when you become a Christian, it's like, oh, it's so exciting! This is amazing, my life's gonna be awesome, and and then we get told no.

We're like, this is what Christianity is all about?

Rules?

Man, I didn't sign up for this.

Like, it says I get freedom, but we're told no.

But you have to go through it, you have to, it has to grow in you.

It's a process, right?

And so now we're now we're we're almost there.

We we got to walking in the spirit.

What does walking in the spirit look like?

Okay, so we're gonna we're gonna read down, and I'm gonna ask Bernice to to come up in just a moment, and uh we're just gonna read down Romans 8.

Okay, so it says, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but walk according to the Spirit.

For the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on the account of sin, and he condemned sin in the flesh.

Okay, so here's where we wanna, I wanna take, I wanna take this piece, and then we're gonna jump, okay?

So get ready.

It says that that righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but walk according to the spirit.

Okay, so hold that thought.

We're gonna go to Galatians 5.14.

It says, For you, brethren, have been, this is Paul saying this, have been called to liberty.

Only do not use liberty for as an opportunity for flesh, but through love serve one another.

And then it says this.

This is where I'm gonna connect the dots.

We're gonna plug it in, okay?

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And so what Paul is saying here, he's saying, You are not under law when you walk in the Spirit.

You are you are free of the law, and you it's almost like you fulfill the requirement.

And then Paul also says, just to give us the answer for fun, says, All the law is fulfilled when you do this.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

And so what Paul is saying, he's saying that walking in the spirit looks like this.

It looks like love.

It looks like love.

Man, it's that simple.

I've been waiting 29 years to understand this.

Like, walking in the spirit looks like what?

Love.

Most, you know, loving your neighbor and walking in the spirit is synonymous.

Love is the characteristic, it's it's the lifestyle of someone who is led by the spirit and is walking in the spirit.

Most often, when we're led by our emotions, we're led by our feelings, all the focus and attention is on me, right?

I'm focusing on me because I'm worried about me.

When someone cuts me off in traffic, I get angry because they did something to me.

Right?

My day is ruined because of a flat tire, right?

My, my, me, my, and we're so we get so focused on me.

And what condemnation does is it comes and says, Look at you, man.

Look at you.

Oh, you're not worth anything.

And it and it tries to get our attention on on me when when when we when we're walking in love, we're looking at others.

We turn our attention to Jesus, and and Jesus says, I want you to go and love these people.

Okay?

And so when we look at love, it's it's completely selfless.

It's it's patient, it's kind, it's not jealous, it's not rude, it's humble, it loves, it forgives, and it looks out for others, it protects.

So through knowing where we stand, this is the important part.

We're gonna have to go through this daily.

Sometimes, sometimes you may go a couple days, you you you feel like you're you're you're getting through it.

You feel like I am good with you, God.

Like I know where I stand, but there's some days that are gonna come.

You're gonna have to go back to this thought, be like, you're gonna have to tell yourself, I I stand, I'm standing here, God, because you place me here.

I am in Christ.

I'm not back here.

I'm not back at square one.

I don't have to start again.

God, you've placed me here.

Understanding this, and I understand that there's there's no condemnation that can come against me.

I can I can't be pulled back unless I move back.

I can't be pulled back, I can't be pushed this way.

You have to take this daily.

This is a daily battle, this is a daily grind.

But when this happens, when we walk out this love, when we walk in the spirit, we've we let the Holy Spirit work in us, and we just start to walk in it, we respond differently to life.

We stop reacting to things, we start responding.

And and and that's when people are gonna notice.

That's when people are gonna notice.

When something happens, you're just gonna respond in understanding.

Well, that person cut me off, but you know what?

They're just trying to get to work too.

I need to, I need to forgive you because it's holding me back.

You start to walk in in forgiveness, and something happens, and we just respond in joy.

We respond, chaos comes, something breaks, so you lose your job, and we respond in peace because we know that God has his hand on us.

We begin to, that's the fruit of the spirit.

When we walk in it, we get to experience the fruit of the spirit, and that's what comes out of us.

When when we get poked like a sponge, right?

What comes out?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, and those things that you thought you couldn't do, those things that you thought you couldn't make it through, those things that you you thought were holding you back.

They don't matter anymore.

Could you bow your heads with me?

And just as I was I was preparing this message, just keep your eyes closed.

It's just a moment between you and God.

And just uh as we were talking about the position, maybe you've never made that decision to follow Jesus.

Maybe you've you've felt like you've been lost.

You felt like you've just been running around like a cat chase or a dog chasing his tail.

Cats don't chase their tails.

But uh you just feel like your emotions are just driving.

Your feelings are just driving you into trouble, they're driving you into places that you just you feel like you can't escape.

And you want God to just come and take control of your life, you want the Holy Spirit in your life, you want Jesus to be the controller, the the guide.

If you've never made that decision to follow Jesus, maybe it's maybe it's today.

Maybe you want to do that today.

And I just want to ask if you'd be so bold.

This is just a moment between you and God.

If you'd be so bold, just to raise your hand.

I just want to know if you're here.

If you want to make that decision for the first time, just raise your hand just nice and high, and just put it down.

Well maybe you're maybe you're in a spot where you feel like you've pulled yourself out of the position.

You've walked away from the position and you continually just you pull yourself away from being in Christ.

If and that in that condemnation, you let it in your mind.

But you just want to you just want to make a declaration this morning that that no longer, no more, that you just want to stand where he's placed you.

If you're here, I just want to just ask if you just put your hand up.

I just want to know if I'm hitting the mark.

Thank you.

See that?

Thank you.

Thank you.

And you just want to get back.

You just want to get back to that place where he's just you can just walk with him.

You don't have to keep walking back.

And for the rest of us, I just want to pray.

I just want to pray for you guys this morning.

Father God, we just we see those places in in your you see the places in our hearts, God.

You see those places in that that response in our heart, God.

You just you want to awaken, God, in us a new revelation that we don't have to keep going back.

We don't have to keep taking steps back, and we don't have to keep going back to square one, and we don't have to be led by something other than you.

This morning, we just want to to enter into what you what you what you drew.

Paul to say that that we can be in you.

We can just be in you.

We in we are in Christ, and that we don't have to deal with condemnation.

We don't have to listen to what shame and guilt and fear and anxiety tries to pull in our lives.

So this morning, we just want to open up our hearts to you and say no.

No more condemnation, no more shame, no more guilt, no more fear, no more anxiety.

We don't have to worry about the future because you have it in your hands.

This morning we just want to respond to your word.

And we just collectively just stand in you.

And we want to be led by you.

We want to be led by your spirit.

Thank you, Jesus.