Learn to go deeper with God, Holy Spirit, make right decisions, don’t be ruled by your flesh, positive change comes little by little. – – – – – – –
how many of you maybe are at a point
in your home where you need to do some
deep cleaning
okay we’re going to talk about that for
a minute
and we’re going to get a little analogy
so are you the kind of person that just
when somebody’s going to come over you
just quickly straighten up
oh this is a good example
oh we got company coming come on all the
kids have to get in gear we’re throwing
everything in closets we’re shoving
everything in drawers
we’re picking everything up the dishes
are thrown in the dishwasher
and the company comes in and we’re busy
like impressing them with our lovely
house
but we know what’s hidden
behind the drawers and the doors
okay well you know what the same thing
can be true in our lives
when somebody comes around that we know
and we want to impress
are we quick to straighten up
or have we invited god to come into our
life and do a lot of deep
cleaning on the inside of us
hmm
you know well let’s just say this
if you would behave at home all the time
the way you would behave if i showed up
at your front door
come on wake up i’m tired too see our
big excuse is well i just can’t help it
i just can’t help but i just lose my
temper i’m just an emotional person i
just can’t help it
that’s one excuse that we need to get
rid of the i can’t help it
excuse me it’s just hard is it so hard
well yeah it’s hard for everybody
we all just think being out of control
is great but that’s not the way god
wants us to be
so you know i did a lot of screaming and
yelling at my kids and my frustrated
years i mean
i wasn’t abusive to them but i just was
i was upset a lot you know all the time
i know none of you were like that but i
was i always say i got along with
everybody until somebody came home and
then it was a different story
and honestly i had this happen to me one
time and it taught me a great lesson
and i share it often in my teachings
when i’m teaching along these lines
one day i was upset with my kids and
they’d made a mess and
you know back then i would say go play
and then they’d get their toys out and
i’d say clean that mess up
so people that are unhappy inside
they’re kind of led by their emotions
and they blame a lot of their
unhappiness on other people like i’m
going to be happy now if you go play
well now i’m going to be happy if you
clean your mess up
and so i was having one of my
upset spells and
the doorbell rang and i peeked down and
it was my pastor
i tell you what i got control of myself
so fast
i mean i still remember well pastor
wow it’s so nice of you to stop by
oh the kids oh yeah they’re playing
they’re
the little darlings they’re just in
their room playing
and you know what it’s amazing when
there’s somebody around that we want to
impress
how fast we can get control
well that would be worth you coming if
that’s all i said
but i’m going to say some other stuff
because you know what
until we take responsibility
and stop just saying well that’s just
the way i am i just can’t help it
you know we’ve all got excuses but all
they are is reason stuffed with a lie
they’re not the truth of god’s word and
god has given us a spirit of
self-control
and it may take a while to get it
developed and to learn how to walk in it
but there’s no point in me or you or
anybody else saying
i just can’t help it because god is
never going to tell us to do or not to
do something
and leave us without the ability to do
it
we cannot have spiritual maturity
if we don’t learn how to live deeper in
god
and what that means is we don’t we have
feelings but we don’t live by them
we have thoughts we don’t live by them
we have things we want or don’t want but
we
don’t live by them i think too many of
us
we’re going to church all the time
trying to find a way that we can get
what we want
and that’s not exactly god’s plan for
our lives
amen what if i said to you today and i
will just pretend because i would never
say this because you’d probably never
come back if i did
but so we’ll just pretend that what if i
said to you today
you know uh the things that you want in
your life you’re never going to get them
so will you love god just as much and
serve him anyway
i think that’s a question we all need to
ask ourselves am i serving god for what
he can do for me
am i just willing to serve him when i’m
on the mountaintops in my life
or am i willing to serve him when just
nothing in my life is making sense
and i see other people getting what i
want
and i don’t think they’re nearly as
spiritual as i am and so i don’t know
why god is not
giving it to me and giving it to them
well it may be that attitude that he’s
after
why are you giving it to them god
they’re not nearly as spiritual as me
i am so spiritual
all right romans 8 verse 8
so then those who are living the life of
the flesh
and i like the amplified bible obviously
i’ve used it for years
those who are living a life of the flesh
catering
to the appetites and impulses
of their carnal nature so
he’s saying that living the life of the
flesh means that we
cater to our flesh whatever it wants
that’s what we try to give it
now i don’t know if you have ever
hosted a catered event but it’s so much
fun
when the event’s going on i mean you’ve
got all kinds of people waiting on you
you know you go to a really like
top-notch restaurant
you might have three waiters or
waitresses that are just assigned to
your table
i mean every time you get a crumb on the
table they’re coming and
wiping it up and anything you want
they’re gonna get it
yes ma’am no ma’am they know your name i
mean it’s just awesome
but you know what you will get the bill
come on and
maybe some of you are in a place right
now
where you’ve gotten the bill
for catering to your flesh in the past
and god wants you to know that that can
turn around
so you’re not continuing to pay that
price in the future
you know the great thing about god is no
matter how many mistakes you’ve made in
the past you don’t have to keep making
them
and the more we choose the right thing
the more we get out of the messes that
we’re in
you know we get in trouble we get in
trouble one decision at a time
every time we make a decision that takes
us further away from god
things get worse and worse and maybe
you’ve spent 40 years making a mess in
your life
well don’t get mad at god if he hasn’t
fixed it in a week
you may not be where you want to be but
if you’re starting to make right
decisions in your life now
things are getting better and better