Life Through the Spirit

Amen. Amen.

Amen. How you all doing?

It's my yearly preach. Welcome.

You made it must be prophetic for you to be here this morning.

It's so wonderful. We are continuing our journey

through Romans 8. Woop woop.

What is the title of the series More than Conquerors?

It's on the screen more than Conquerors, and we would be

amiss if we walked away from this series without having

freedom, without having life, and without having the Holy

Spirit having done something very deep within our hearts.

A few years ago we were planning a trip to the States and Sophia

was barely 2 years old. And as one does when 1 travels

with a toddler and a mother-in-law, you need to be

well prepared, am I right? You know, making sure that you

have your visas booked. Snacks.

Thanks Jess. I'm glad that you were there or

gave me some advice. You weren't there but anyway and

made sure that you got all the right milk for the for the long

plane trip, the right seats booked everything I get.

And just when it felt like that we were really got everything

together. I had this moment of absolute

panic. I don't know if you ever have

one of those where you're like feels like your insides are

about to fall out. And it came when I saw this

announcement on TV. Department of Home Affairs

changes the rules. Children can no longer travel on

the abridged birth certificate. You need the unabridged birth

certificate. Does it?

Do any of you remember that it was the great unabridged

abridged birth certificate debacle of 2015?

And basically, panic, fear immediately went home.

Which one do we have? Guess one.

Guess which one we had? The wrong one, not the right

one. So in that moment of panic, I

did what every God fearing head of the home would do in a

situation like that. I turned to Google.

What does unabridged mean? OK, on on for court.

On for court on for court, court.

I speak Afrikaans with a German accent.

A full version complete. It contains all the details.

OK cool. What?

What's the difference between an unabridged and an abridged birth

certificate? OK cool, cool, got that.

Where? Where can I get an unabridged

birth certificate? At your nearest Home Affairs

office. Which Home Affairs office in

Pretoria has the shortest queues?

And at that moment, I'm sure there was something wrong with

Google because all that had returned to me were these, like,

laughing emojis, roll on the floor laughing.

I don't know, you know. So off I went to Pretoria vest.

Pretoria vest, because I thought not too many people there

requiring an unabridged birth certificate to travel to the

States. I was sorely mistaken and went

to the mania and asked the Massa Blief Kanek on for court.

Herbert a certificate and they said please stand in this queue

that starts outside of the building.

At the end of the day, we got it and we're able to travel.

You see, the abridged birth certificate was never outlawed.

It never. It was still a legal document.

You just couldn't travel on it. And how often do we live with an

unabridged, with an abridged version of the gospel?

You see, my heavenly abridged birth certificate says this.

I'm born again. Sins are forgiven, no

condemnation. Citizen of heaven, full stop.

And I'll see you all in heaven and we can all go home now and

we can end the message because it's completely true.

But God says, and Romans reminds us and says, hang on, hang on a

minute. What about this life?

What about the next 203040506070 years?

I need you to travel. I need you to go on this

adventure with me. I need you to reclaim this

promised land that I have said I have for you.

I need you to carry the unabridged version of the

gospel. And the unabridged version is

this born again, sins forgiven. And I have given you the Holy

Spirit. I have given you the Holy Spirit

so that you can travel, you can go, you can be guarded, you can

be LED. The gospel doesn't just release

us from our past sins. It has the power to transform

our present. It has the power to transform

our present. The gospel isn't just salvation,

it's sanctification. It's a daily journey of

reclaiming our inheritance. It's more than just repentance.

It includes daily conviction and guidance for this life, for this

journey that we are on. We need the full version.

We need to travel. We need the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Amen.

And then we get to this little speed hump.

I like to call it bloop. That's my speed up.

Sound. Speed up.

Sound like it. Damien Bloop.

Love it. And when you're driving along

and then bloop and the speed up is this comes in verse #5 of

Romans where it says you have the Holy Spirit, you've been

born again. But I'm going to let you in a

little secret. You still need to choose.

Do you follow the Holy Spirit? Would you follow your sinful

nature? Let's read Romans 8, five to

seven. Those who live according to

their sinful nature have the mind set on what that nature

desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have

the mind set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind governed by sin is death, but the mind governed by

the Spirit is life and peace. And Paul is saying this.

Paul is saying you've got a choice.

Either allow your minds, every decision you make, every

conversation you have, your hopes, your dreams, your play,

your work, your emotions, everything that takes place here

on earth. You can choose whether that is

governed by the Holy Spirit or by sin.

And he takes it one step further and he says this, He predicts

our future. He says if you allow the Spirit

to lead you and guide you, it'll lead to life and peace, but if

you allow sin in your sinful nature to guide you, it'll lead

to death. So three points, 3 points and

then we can go and enjoy our Sunday roast.

I have a roast waiting for me at home. 1st, a warning, what

happens when you follow our sinful nature?

Second, a charge you can do this moment from the book of Romans.

And lastly, a reminder of our glorious future and glorious

inheritance. So first, the warning.

And the warning is this, that despite being born again and

despite having the Holy Spirit in US, we all still sin and our

desire to sin and our tendency to sin doesn't miraculously

float away. And it's been with us since the

fall of man. And nothing describes this

better. Then when God says to Cain just

before he is about to commit murder and kill his brother, God

says to him, Sin is crouching at your door.

It desires to have you. Sin is crouching at your door.

It desires to have you. Sounds like a horror movie, and

it is. And Paul, the apostle Paul, a

few thousand years later, the writer of most of the New

Testament, in a chapter before chapter 8, Chapter 7, he has

this incredibly honest moment about his own personal journey

with sin. And he says these things.

He says, sin seizing the opportunity, produced in me

every covetous desire. Sin sprang to life and I died.

Sin, seizing the opportunity again deceived me.

And then he gets to this place where I just love it.

It's the most honest appraisal of all of our lives, where he

goes. I don't understand it.

Because what I want to do, I don't do.

What I don't want to do I do. And I hate.

I hate what I do. I hate the sin that I do.

Oh what a wretched man I am who will save me but for the grace

of God. Even Paul struggled daily with

sin, and sin is always crouching at the door and it always

desires to have you. But it usually starts small.

Usually starts small. Picture this Monday morning,

firing off a few e-mails as one does and somebody walks past,

catches your eye. Oh, she looks nice.

She's making some coffee. I think I'm going to go and make

some coffee. Coffee is good.

I like coffee. And up you get.

And something inside you says, hang on, don't go there, don't

open that door. So you go and make some coffee.

Hi, my name's Andy. Ah, Kristen, lovely to meet you.

You new here, Kristen? Ah, HR fantastic.

I remember your CV. Your CV coming across my desk.

Yes, that's me. I'm Andy, the CEO, the big

cheese. She laughed at my joke that felt

good. No one laughs at my jokes at

home anymore and the door is just a little bit open.

Fast forward and you guys are enjoying each other's company

and the chats are great and the coffee is great and you know,

soon you guys are making coffee together and having lunch

together because you know, there's no point in you bringing

lunch and she bringing lunch. You may as well share lunch

because you guys just enjoying it so much together.

And my goodness, you know what, you guys have so much in common,

Hey. And I mean, besides the fact

that she does CrossFit and you and I into high rocks.

But I mean, there's a small differences that that that we

can get over, you know, but there's none of this drama, none

of the drama that I have at home.

There's no school runs, you know, and she's always so well

put together. And soon people are calling her

your work wife door just a little bit more open.

And you begin to create this narrative in your mind that this

person, you're so much better than the person you have at

home. Wouldn't it be nice?

Wouldn't it be nice? You see, thin is subtle.

It's crouches at the door. It's knocking.

You don't go from one day happily married to your fear.

It eats away at the boundary lines until there are none left.

And God is saying run, run, run from it.

My child, this is not real. This is not 25 years of

gravitas. This is not 25 years of

companionship. This is a counterfeit.

Your work wife is not real. She hasn't smelt your poo in the

morning. She hasn't had to look after you

whilst you've had your man flu. She hasn't had to spend time

with your weird family and still agree.

OK, we'll do Christmas with them again.

She hasn't been there during your highest highs and she

hasn't been there during your deepest lows.

Your work wife is not real. It's not a real relationship.

And I can be bold with this example because as I've shared

before, this was me. So I can say stop it.

You see, the problem with sin is that it always starts small, but

in the end it leads to death. So let me introduce to you Andy

and Kristen. So for those of you who don't

know who this is, this is Meet Andy and Kristen.

This was taken at a Coldplay concert when the KISS Cam was

scanning around and found this happy couple.

And immediately when the camera zoomed in on them, they hid in

shame. They absolutely went first, like

happy and then just ran away from the camera.

And Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, he actually

said this. Either they're having an affair

or they're just very shy in front of the entire stadium.

And he was the CEO and Kristen was the HR director.

Both of them have lost their jobs.

Both of them are getting divorced.

Sin always leads to death. So now for the good news.

Now for the charge. Verse 9.

You, however, are not controlled by your sinful nature, but by

the Spirit. You are not controlled by your

sinful nature, but by the Spirit.

And Paul having gone through, taken us through a journey and

said, listen, I have battle every single day with sin.

But guess what? I'm born again and I don't live

in condemnation And God's given me his Holy Spirit and I still

do what I what I'm trying not to do, but I want to be controlled

by the Spirit. He then declares it over our

lives and said, guess what guys, you are not controlled by your

sinful nature. You've got the Holy Spirit

inside of you. And the same power that raised

Jesus from the dead now lives inside of us and gives life to

these mortal, to our mortal bodies.

Amen. And God is saying, I've watched

you. I've watched you, man, for

thousands of years. You've tried to get this thing

right on your own, but it hasn't worked.

So I have put my spirit inside you so that I can be with you

all the time, all the time, every moment of every single

day. I am with you.

And the Holy Spirit is called our helper.

He's called our comforter, He's called our counselor, He's

called our advocate. He's called our God.

And you will receive power, dynamite power, when the Holy

Spirit comes on you. He is our powerful helper.

He is our powerful counselor. He is our powerful advocate.

He is our powerful God and he is that still small voice that each

and every moment of every day is speaking to us and constantly

saying, do this, don't do that. That's not a good idea.

That that that they will lead to death.

No, no. But.

But this year, this is life here.

His life. Can you see?

Can you just try? He's directing.

He's putting people in your path.

He's bringing you a part of this community, giving you pictures.

When you read, the word becomes illuminated.

Something jumps out and you go, yes, that talks.

That talks to me and he's that still small voice that said to

Andy, I know Andy, I know what you're thinking.

I know you think that this evening is going to be 1 filled

with music and joy, but it'll lead to death.

I love this poem by Ella Wilcox. It says this one ship drives

east and the other drives W with the self same winds that blow.

It's the set of the sails and not the gales which tells us the

way to go. It's the set of the sails, not

the gales, but tells us the way to go.

It's not what the world throws at us.

It's not the temptation that we will face.

It's not our upbringing. It's not where we were born.

It's how we set our sails. Is it to sin that leads to

death? Or is it to the Holy Spirit that

leads to life and peace and comfort and joy and deliverance?

Lastly, our glorious inheritance, our glorious

future. So even at this point you might

be saying that's all fantastic, thank you, Kai, feeling

encouraged, feeling built up. But you know, that wholesome

example in the beginning that was a little extreme.

It was a little wild, you know, crouching at the door, horror

movie kind of stuff. You know, I'm not like Andy.

I've got things under control, you know?

So I'm going to, I know what I'll do.

I'm going to dabble, you know, a little bit of the flesh and then

a little bit of the Holy Spirit. Actually, you know what I've

thought about it. I'm going to be clever about

this. I am going to use the Holy

Spirit. And this is clever thinking of

people. Listen carefully Now.

I'm going to use the Holy Spirit for the big decisions.

Hey, hey, am I right? Hey, the big ones, like, like,

should I take this new job? Holy Spirit, lead me, guide me.

But, you know, Friday nights, you know, with the guys and

girls at work, that's OK. You know, just to have a few too

many drinks. But Lord, lead me and guide me

at work. Or who am I going to marry?

That's a big one, huh, Lord? Proverbs 31 wife.

One that knits her flax. What and sells it something like

that Lord, that one yes, you know that could be a good

industrious, but you know it's OK to look.

No touch. You can look, but don't touch.

The trouble with dabbling is that you begin to tear pieces

out of your inheritance. I remember sitting in Rory's

office and Sam and I were on the verge of divorce, and he drew

this big circle on the whiteboard.

He said, you know, this is the inheritance that God has given

you and Sam, but you've allowed sin.

You've allowed the enemy to chop large chunks of territory out of

it. And now you wonder why you live

in this constrained, tiny, depressed, hurt, painful land

that you think is living. There's only one difference, one

difference between the unabridged and the abridged

birth certificate. The unabridged birth certificate

contains the details of the Father and His Spirit.

Big S is speaking to my spirit, little S and saying this is my

son, this is my daughter, whom I love with you.

I am well pleased. This is my son, this is my

daughter. And if we are sons and if we are

daughters of the most I, then we are heirs.

And if we are heirs, then we have an inheritance.

And the Holy Spirit inside of us cries out, says ABBA.

Father, that's who you are. I know that I am a son,

therefore I'm no longer. I am no longer a slave to sin.

I am no longer to be controlled by my sinful nature.

I am a son and you've made me an heir and therefore I have this

inheritance. Holy Spirit, lead me, guide me

every single day, Talk to me, whisper to me, put people in my

path that I can walk it out and live in the fullness, in the

life and in the peace that you've called me to.

One ship drives east and the other drives W with the self.

Same winds that blow. It's the set of the sails and

not the gales that tells us which way to go.

Amen.