0:07 Uh so the theme of the conference is living in God's will as a single person and uh we've heard uh a lot already that different words about this topic of guilt. Um it's definitely not the Lord's will for us to live in guilt. 0:26 And uh and I wanted to specifically share on false false guilt. There are going to be some false guilts that um can weigh us down and uh I think that's not the Lord's will and but it's a common temptation for Christians who are trying to live a 0:44 sincere life who really have a sincere heart that I want to do God's will. Um but the standard is so high and the the preaching that we hear, the words that we read in the Bible, some of uh of it sometimes can feel very um we 1:00 know that such a high calling that we have um sometimes there can be a guilt there. I'm not living up to it. Not living up to the standard. Um and uh two two scriptures I wanted to turn to um if you can open up these two spots. One 1:16 is Romans 7 and the one is Leviticus 13. Sorry, Romans 7 and then Leviticus 13. And um the other RJ yesterday was sharing a bit um about uh 1:42 being honest and um honest about our sin, facing it head on and um and I think um I was reminded of Romans 7 here how Paul, he um 2:01 we we do have to come to this point where we say, I am a wretched sinner. Verse 24, Romans 7:24, wretched man that I am. Uh he saw the struggle that he had with the flesh and the spirit. He didn't want to sin, but he was he was sinning he was 2:15 sinning and he saw it with his inner flesh. He said, "Who will set me free from this body of death?" And this is um this is a sincere person who says, "I'm a sinner, but I don't want to be. I'm Even after we're born again, see, I just 2:30 have so much sin in my flesh. My thoughts are wandering places that these things that are coming to us um and this is a starting point. Uh and one encouragement in Leviticus 13 that I um have if for all of us who are there 2:46 who say, "Yeah, I know I'm a wretched sinner. Um I'm not living up to the standard. I'm not living like I should. I want to be better. Um Leviticus 13:13 Uh this is a nice illustration, I think, of um 3:05 it says it's talking about leprosy. And the it says who's clean and who's not clean. And this it says, "The priest shall look and behold, if the leprosy has covered all his body he shall pronounce clean him who has the 3:23 infection. It has turned white and he is all clean." So, question. Um this guy is fully covered in leprosy. But he's saying clean. Uh what does that mean? There's a meaning there I think that's really 3:40 encouraging. And the um and the meaning that I'm encouraged by is when we recognize that, yeah, this is me. Of course I'm having these bad thoughts. My flesh is wicked. I'm wretched. Um God says, "That's the clean one." 3:56 That's the person who's clean. And uh in in few verses earlier in Romans 7 verse 18, "I know that nothing good dwells in me." I'm not surprised when I'm having really bad thoughts, evil thoughts that come to my mind. Um 4:11 the question is what is my attitude towards them? And we can feel guilty sometimes falsely when these thoughts are coming to our mind or but one thing that's helped me is yeah, this is my flesh without God. This is what I have to be putting to 4:25 death. Um and there's an illustration of um we've often uh talked about the very high standards in the church, but one thing that to know is that we're all in the this mountain climb together. And when we when we're at the church meeting and 4:44 we're talking and we're reading scripture and talking about such high standard, overcoming anger, overcoming lust, living in God's will, living living a life of rest and joy, we're not saying we're there yet. Um we're the same as you. 4:55 What we're saying is we're on our way, but we want to talk about how beautiful it is on the mountain top while we're on our way up because it motivates us to get there together. And so that illustration helped me to not have as much guilt over yeah, I'm 5:08 I'm not fully full of joy and rest yet. But I like to talk about it cuz it's beautiful and the Lord motivates me to get there and to press on. And so um we're all in the same on the same mountain climb. Some are higher than 5:19 others, but to be encouraged that um uh don't feel guilty just cuz you're not at the top yet. Um cuz none of us are. And and so um I I wanted to share I felt led to share on this one because I've personally struggled at when I was first born again, I 5:35 struggled a lot with fear of hell still. What if I'm missing something? What if I come before the Lord on judgment day and I often pictured this in my mind and he says, "Bobby, you missed this. This was in my word and you missed it. And you 5:48 have to go to hell now. I was so fearful of that. Um and Lord, uh what do I do? And uh and over time the Lord said, "That's a wrong view of me." Um you know, there's so many promises in the Bible. Romans was 6:37, "Whoever 6:04 comes to me I'll not cast out." There's so many Luke 12:32, uh "Do not fear little flock. Your father's gladly given you the heaven kingdom of heaven." See, he's um we do not have to fear hell. So, the Lord delivered me from that. I don't 6:19 fear hell anymore. Um but I do uh honestly, I do many times struggle with guilt still over different areas. Like, I'm just not doing good enough. I was not enough. I'm not living up to the standard enough. Um or maybe uh some past sin. I did this in 6:37 the past. This is still coming back and haunting me. Um maybe it's a um constant temp- the thoughts that are coming to my mind. Lord, that's so bad. So bad. I can feel guilty over that. Uh or comparison. Look at these brothers 6:51 and sisters. They're so wholehearted. I'm so lukewarm. Lord, uh just carrying a guilt. Um or the I'm not disciplined enough. Uh Lord, I keep falling off the the wagon. Not praying enough. Not reading my Bible. Where's the Where's the desire? 7:07 Um and so I've um I've often had to even to this day keep fighting that that um the Lord's the Lord helped me to pull me out of that and uh guilt doesn't help me grow in that. And it doesn't glorify the Lord. Uh so, question is how to respond 7:25 to it. Um what do we do? And um so, I I wanted to share on that because it's a struggle that even after the initial stage of yeah, we know God has forgiven us for our all our sins forever, but we still can struggle with 7:39 this this guilt. Um just one one uh one thing that I've been blessed by is considering godly saints who really had that simple childlike faith of I'm so thankful and I'm joyful because God forgave me of my sins. It sounds almost like a child said 7:55 it, but just a plain and simple childlike faith the Lord has often had to bring me back to. I remember there was one brother that I knew in um when I was in my early 20s and he was young. Uh he didn't have much Bible knowledge at all. Uh 8:11 but uh he had a sincere heart from what I could tell. He was born again. He got He got baptized, but the thing with him is he had one of the hardest lives I've ever known. His um his father left with him and his his mom when he was uh just 8:25 a a kid and then his mom passed away when he was a teenager, mid-teens, and he was pretty much supporting himself, working, making hardly any money, and then renting some room. Uh and he started coming to this church and I I 8:38 knew him. He was a bit older than me. Uh but he had a really hard life. And uh he didn't have much of a career. He couldn't afford college, and so he um he was working for some moving company. And he uh injured He got injured there, so 8:54 he couldn't do that anymore. So he got some even more mundane job, just trying struggling to get by. And this is in the Bay Area. Uh so it's not cheap. Um and so he was injured from that point on. Uh and so this guy with not really much of 9:08 an outlook. Uh he had some health problems. He uh had no parents, on his own, no career. Uh and so he was attending a Bible study with us one day, and uh the question there was this icebreaker question that the the teacher would ask, and he asked, 9:26 "Uh okay, everybody, on a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you?" And so people went around the circle. He was towards the end. And he people went around the circle saying different answers, like four out of 10, five out of 10, and I was saying, "Really? Wow, 9:39 that that low, huh?" Uh for some people. Uh and then uh I I might have said like seven out of 10 or something like that. But then it got to him, and he said, "Uh nine out of 10." And what struck me was, how is this guy who had the hardest life out of 9:54 everybody else, how is he the happiest out of all of us? And the the impression that I got was he was just content, one, and two, he just had a simple faith in what God did for him. He was content physically, he was secure, like, I'll have what I need, and 10:12 two, he was content spiritually. He was, God forgave me of my sins, I'm I'm saved. Uh And I and I saw just the beauty of simplicity um of a life that has a simple faith in Jesus that's not overanalyzing, oh, well, what about me? 10:27 What about uh kind of like we were hearing earlier, it's me, me, me. What am I doing wrong? What am I doing right? Um he just it's about what Jesus did for me. And I saw simplicity there. And yeah, he definitely he wasn't mature. I 10:39 I think he could have grown in a and still growing in a lot of areas, but he's still walking with the Lord. And uh I know him still, and um but I was his example always blessed me of just the simplicity. And I was like, 10:53 I think I need more of that. Of that simple faith in Jesus. Jesus died for me, I'm saved forever. Can I rest like him? And I And it So, looking at people like him, even in the Bible you see examples like that. I think of the widow with two mites, who 11:07 she didn't have much. You know, why uh why does it say that's all that she had? I don't know if her she had kids or or what, but it seemed like she was pretty alone and poor. Why is nobody helping her? She put everything she had in 11:18 uh into the offering box, and uh and I don't think she did it sad or condemned. She was joyful. I have what I need, physically and spiritually. And to just come back to that, it's like, and I always will. Because God loves me, uh like we sing about. 11:35 And to to have that as the foundation, God's love for me. And so, starting from that point, that's where we start. That plain and simple faith. And then going from there, that's where we start. But we have to start with 11:48 wretched man that I am. And then seeing God's love in a simple faith, God forgives me. It's covered. And then Paul went on from there. Thanks be to who who will set me free from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord in 12:03 7:25. So, it goes on to a gratitude. The simple faith. Conviction, I'm a wretch. Yes, simple faith. Praise God. So, turning the guilt into gratitude. That's much more glorifying to God. And he says, so on one hand I myself am 12:20 serving the law of God, but on the other hand with my flesh the law of sin. And then he comes into this beautiful verse. I think we've heard already. Now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 12:33 Who are those in Christ? It's the ones who say I have leprosy all over. I'm worth nothing outside of Christ. I'm just That's what Christians are, just takers. We're We get What can we give to God that he doesn't already have? We 12:44 basically just take from him. And but to be honest about it and say The only thing David said when he was offering to the Lord, he's like, who am I Are we to even give this to you? You gave this to us first. We're not really giving you anything 12:57 from ourselves. It's whatever we have to give you already gave it. It's from you. And so to to come on that that basis and say, I'm free. Free from the guilt and to have a hope. And And so, but now we're fighting our sin. We say, Lord, I want to glorify you 13:15 with our life. Now, there's no condemnation for me, but I want to live a life that's worth giving back to you out of gratitude. Not out of condemnation or legalism or I need to repay. that. can't repay the debt. Um, but can I live for you out of love 13:31 and gratitude? And um And so, then it we get into the fighting sins one at a time. Conviction and how do we distinguish? Um, one question that's been big for me is how do we distinguish then when we're trying to live for the Lord now? We're 13:49 in the stage of fighting and living for the Lord. How do we distinguish between good guilt and bad guilt? And in other words, condemnation versus conviction of the Holy Spirit. Cuz it in um, in the Bible, in 2 Corinthians 7, it does talk 14:05 about there's a godly sorrow there. Um There's a sorrow that's that should be there over my sin that I'm still committing. But how do we um, how do we look at that? And how do we distinguish um, the two? And if 14:23 the the the um The word that the Lord gave me was um there's hope with conviction. There's a an end to the to the the statement when there's a condemnation. For example, um, it's basically a difference between a period and a comma. 14:43 You're guilty, period. Um, but if there's a comma there, this was sin, comma, let's work on that. That's the difference between the guilt um, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. There's a hope. Uh, and those were two the two things that have really 14:59 pulled that can I I've really comforted. Every time I sin, I have so much comfort now because of two things. One, Romans 8:1, there's no condemnation for me. I know that my guilt is covered right when I've repented. If I see it, I 15:11 repent right away. I know that it's covered. I'll know I'm not going to hell for this. The Lord is not even going to bring it up again, not even on judgment day. Um Uh, but then the second thing, 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins 15:25 he's faithful and righteous to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, which means he's going to take it away. Um which So, one, I'm forgiven, it's covered, but two it won't always be like this. That's the That's what really comforts 15:45 me after I sin. I believe it's going to be different. I still sometimes um I'm I'm working on it still have to how I respond to my kids out of irritation, frustration. And um I've been condemned a lot about it, but I feel like the Lord is helping 15:59 and I have hope it's not always going to be like this. Um I hope that one day there will be a last um uh sort of your response out of irritation and And so, I see the the hope there. There's a Yes, you need to work on this was sin. 16:14 Confess it, apologize I apologize to my kids a lot. And um and I and I think that that's one of the main encouragements we can take when we're still sinning. One, it's covered. Two, it's not always going to be like this. If we're if we 16:28 keep going um I There was a sister the other day that she shared, "Man, I just have to keep apologizing to my kids every day. Apologize, apologize. I keep I just can't um And what I thought was uh she she was feeling a little discouraged, 16:43 but I felt like those kids are blessed because they have a mom like that. Yeah, she can't control her tongue. Maybe she needs to mature, but she's apologizing. How many Most of the Most of the parents in the world probably 16:54 snap at their kids and don't do anything. Don't even think about it. And And that's why the kids are getting so discouraged, but they have a mom who's apologizing. Am I repenting? Um And so, that's the um That's the encouragement to to say, 17:08 "Yeah, I I'm I know there's nothing good in my flesh. This is me without God. I acted without God, but I need to get closer. Um And so, the the the God being with us is um with regard to our past sin means, yes, you sinned, let's work on I'm with 17:25 you, let's work on it together. If my son is being overwhelmed with his homework and doesn't want to do it, I can say, one, you're lazy, period. Or I could say, you have to work hard. That's not acceptable. But, I'll help you with it. And that's 17:40 how God comes to our sin our past sin towards um to us. Um and I I uh Jesse, I appreciate you bring up the GPS illustration because I actually had that I wanted to share is that's he's like a GPS where when we take a wrong turn 17:56 it the GPS doesn't get angry. It just redirects back to the path. This is uh you took a wrong path. Okay, turn left. We have we have to get on the right path for sure. It wasn't good that you got off, but let's get back on now. Uh to 18:09 see how God's ways are so gentle with us. Um and then also that um there's this really encouraging verse in there's one way that I see that I can use my sin actually to do better I that to use it as a um to let's say Satan was tempting us to 18:27 sin. We can get revenge on Satan in a way um if he caused us to sin. Second Corinthians um 7 verse uh 11. God can use it for good if we felt um He's talking about how the Corinthians responded to their sin. Behold, what 18:47 earnestness this very thing this godly sorrow has produced in you. What vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong. And I saw that sometimes I've sinned in such a way where 19:01 I've been so um frustrated with the fact that I sinned and sorry over it that it said, I really don't want to do it again this time. I mean, even I remember one one doing something really just bad on the road uh to another driver. Um and they got 19:15 really angry and they started following me. And I I was saying, "Oh, I'm running low on gas. That's not good. Where am I actually And so uh and eventually they turned around, but I what I saw was the Lord let this happen because I was seeing how 19:29 like I was just flipping in the way I was driving like not really um uh paying attention, not being Christ-like the way I was driving. And and so what I said was, "Lord, I don't want to ever respond like that again on the 19:42 road." And I fought it harder than I ever did before. And I by God's grace, I think today I haven't got to that not perfect, but I never sunk to that low since that point. Um and because the Lord showed me he he had an avenging 19:54 like yes, Satan tempted me, I fell, but let's use it now to do better next time to have that avenging of of the wrong. Um And so uh yeah, that that was um that was encouraging for me. With regard to passing And then it was that the area of good 20:12 works and discipline. I'm not doing enough. The the work's not enough. I'm not praying enough. I'm not giving enough, not reading my Bible enough. And um I'm not disciplined enough. Uh I've struggled with that, too. And um 20:28 I know I should should be doing better, but the the verse that's comforted me is um also here uh it's in um Why am I not finding it? God loves a cheerful giver. 20:46 It's uh Does anybody know that verse? Oh, 2 Corinthians 9. Yeah, that's right. Thank you. Uh Okay, it's verse 2 Corinthians 9:7. Um God loves a cheerful giver. Give not under compulsion. Um God is not about amounts, but about 21:05 quality, not quantity, but quality. And so there was a sister the other day that was saying, "I'm zooming through scripture cuz I felt like I needed to read this much, but she's like, now I just I feel like God wanted me to go a little 21:16 deeper." And say, "Instead of give more quality instead of quantity." And so, she's just reading a few verses and say, "I want them to sink deep." Uh and I was thankful that God is not God is He's not about amounts and about um numbers, but 21:31 Lord, am I Are you giving Am I giving you my heart? Are you giving me your heart in with that time? Um and when I pray, it may be a simple prayer before dinner time, am I praying with meaning? Not, "Lord, thank you for this food. 21:43 Amen." Uh and I I'm trying to teach my kids that you can say a short prayer, but do do it with meaning. Uh don't just zoom through it. I just want to eat. Like the Lord knows whether our heart is in something or not. And so, it's to 21:57 say, "Yeah, there may even be just one verse that I'm meditating on for today. Can I give that heart my heart to that one verse?" Um and to say that uh yeah, that to see that and then that's it. That's all you could give it cheerfully. 22:10 Start from there and push your Yeah, I do want to try to push myself to to do more, be more disciplined. Um sometimes the Lord has said recently, I I used to sometimes be condemned with I'm wasting so much time on these things and stuff 22:23 or I'm thinking too much about this extracurricular things, sports or something. And And so, sometimes I go to the extreme of, "Okay, just cast off everything that's not Christian. Okay, any music that's playing, I want it to 22:35 be a Christian song. Anything that's on YouTube, it's going to be Christian message." And And I found myself sometimes be overwhelmed like, "I don't know if I feel like my mind is trying to I'm forcing myself to overthink um and I 22:47 just couldn't handle it." And so, I I felt like the Lord say sometimes, "Okay, instead of trying to go the way of um I was talking with the sister earlier, going the way of the monk." Like she used the this word phrase like Buddhist 22:57 like cast off all um take a step back. If something's too much and it's starting you're starting to think too much about it, just take a step back from it, but don't extremes are often very dangerous. Going all one way or the 23:08 other, all in towards okay, I'm going to be legalist and just not have any enjoyment in life. I'm just going to be all spiritual or on the other way where yeah, I have God's given me freedom to do as much as I want. God loves a 23:22 cheerful giver. I'm going to watch TV all day, YouTube all day. I like watch I like watching YouTube. I'm going to do that. He said all all things I can enjoy. Uh but to see that um moderation, Christian life is life of 23:34 balance. And to see there there's a time there's it's profitable for rest and relaxation of our minds and our body. And to see Lord, is my heart really after you first though? And the test is whether when I lose that, how is my response? If I want to 23:50 relax and watch a basketball game, I don't feel I feel good about that. But what if something comes up where I can't watch it? What is my response now? Do I get upset, impatient, angry that I lost? Then there's something wrong. And so to 24:03 see that I can hold everything loosely, but the Lord Lord has to be able to take it out and put it back in. Um and if he can't, then that's where the problem starts to rise. And then take a step back is what he's often spoke to me 24:15 recently is if there's something you're clinging to tight to, take a step back from it then. And um it's been a practical word that's helped me. Uh and then guilt with regard to um comparison of I see so many other godly people that 24:34 are just are doing better than me. Um so I have guilt. And um sometimes it's even in the church. This person's doing so much. This person's connecting with so many brothers. This person's hosting so many meetings. And I'm not doing like them. And 24:52 two words somebody told me once encouraged me with regard to this regard with is be yourself. We all have different personalities, different gifts. Romans 12 says in verse 5. Um It's a beautiful thing about different 25:10 grace in different areas we each have. To not compare. Romans 12 5 We who are many Romans 12:5 are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. 25:30 Each of us is to exercise them accordingly. If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. If service in his serving or he who teaches in his teaching or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality. 25:43 He who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy mercy with cheerfulness. So he's saying we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to each of us. Um And each of us exercise them accordingly. So to be yourself. Um 25:59 If you're an introvert stay an introvert. Don't try to be an extrovert. And if you're an extrovert, be an extrovert. And so the introverts have to deny themselves in one way. I'm more of an introvert, maybe I have to deny myself 26:10 by speaking, trying to make conversation more than I naturally would. Maybe extroverts have to deny themselves in a different way by holding their tongue more than the introvert. So the word is different but the person but it doesn't mean that 26:24 one is better than the other. This person is so godly they're evangelizing so much. I was like, well, I don't have that personality. I don't strike up conversations with people that I'm sitting strangers. That's not me and I 26:35 used to feel guilty over it but now I don't because I just feel that's not your gift but God gave in the body somebody else who does have that gift and that's the main thing. We don't we're not the body one person, we're the 26:46 body together and so I I'm thankful that that lifted a lot of guilt for me. Be yourself. Um And um Yeah. And then guilt with regard to um temptations. I talked just a little bit 27:05 about how I felt I've sometimes been the guilt guilty felt guilty of and this keeps coming back to my mind just bad thoughts I know are sinful um thoughts uh if I give in to them, but what what's encouraging is that it's not sin yet. 27:21 Just because the thought came into my mind, don't feel guilty over that. It's not sin it's sin Martin Luther I think said um you can't stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can't stop them from building a nest in your hair. 27:35 So it our responsibility is make sure there's no nests, but you know, they're flying over and they're going to, but that's okay. It doesn't mean that we're not on doing the right thing. Um in James uh James 1 explains what sin is. 27:52 And tip with regard to temptation James 1:14 and 15 Each one is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust. And when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. 28:11 Okay, so lust has to conceive. So what's the conception? One part of it it takes conception is when two things come together. So one part of it is temptation. And what's the other part? Um it's my will. When I say yes to the temptation and I 28:28 try to grab it and get some satisfaction out of it say that's good. I want that. That's where that's when it's sin. But before that point it's not sin. So this it's an act of the will. A Christian life is a life of the will where say we 28:40 have to keep and to die to self means to say no to my will. Yes to God's will. Lord, I don't want that. This is a thought. Please help me. But it don't be condemned over that. Um it's a sin to grab onto it and try to grab satisfaction in my mind, 28:55 but it's not sin to have the temptation. Um And so yeah, be free. The Lord's will for us is a um freedom. Yeah, life life of freedom. And so um Yeah, those were some 29:12 some things on my mind about about guilt that it's Don't dwell on it. It doesn't help us. Guilt doesn't help us to become more godly. It doesn't glorify God. So instead, focus on it really glorifies God to to say Lord, thank you. I just think of the 29:28 woman in Luke 7 who she came in she was a says she was a sinner, but she came in with weeping so much gratitude to Jesus that she um uh she was she wasn't carrying the guilt. She was carrying a gratitude. And that that's why Jesus was so pleased 29:45 with it. Um so to turn my guilt into gratitude. Like I'm a sinner, praise to you, Lord. Thank you for your mercy that you're a great savior. Um and that we don't need to compare ourselves. Um but yeah, you're just merciful, Lord. And 30:02 Yeah, it's just rejoice in the few chapters after that in Luke 10, rejoice your names are written in heaven. Uh your name is there. Um We're fighting sin. Um We do want to take it seriously. We fear God, but our name is written in 30:15 heaven. Um So Yeah, those were a few things on my heart with regard to guilt and how the Lord's helped me in my my struggle. Um Oh yeah, I mean I feel like any any way we're trying to fight sin, the Lord's pleased with I'm sure. You can 30:31 make a list. Uh I think the um uh one thing that uh one word the Lord spoken to me before is um just focus on what do I need to be fighting right now? Um And the you know Matthew 6 when he says don't be anxious for tomorrow. Many 30:48 temptations are going to come and I know there's so many things I need to be working on. Lord, what do you want me working on right now? And I remember one time being at the airport saying Lord, give me something I need to be working on. And he said 31:00 you're in public. When you're in public, you need to be watching your eyes. When you're at home, you need to be watching your tongue. And so there's a time for we need to be working on something at different times. Yeah. When when I'm with my kids, I need 31:11 to be working on my patience. When I you know when I'm in the church, I need to be working on I don't know maybe my selflessness thinking of other people. How can I encourage them? Not what I'm going to get from. So yeah, I think there's 31:24 Matthew 6 can apply spiritually to not just don't be anxious about what's going to happen tomorrow, but also like which should I be focusing on fighting spiritually? Don't be anxious for tomorrow. Just I appreciate I feel like that's a theme 31:36 that keeps coming up this conference is step by step day by day. Live live today. What Lord, what step do you want me to take? What sin do you want me to focus on or repent of right now? And um Yeah, if I once heard some somebody say if if you 31:52 want a report card on your spiritual life, ask the Lord and he'll give you a report card and say okay, I need to focus on this area of improvement. Say clearly I'm okay, I'll try to read some verses about this or I'll ask I'll seek 32:02 wisdom. I'll listen to a sermon. I'll I'll read the the Bible. Ask some godly advice on this area that I need to be working on. I don't know if there's any one way or even a right way, but I think it's mainly if you have a sincere heart um 32:17 to be fighting sin then the Lord is happy. Um and you're on the right track and Yeah. Yeah, if you're making a list, I think you're you're definitely you have the heart that whatever you do, I'm sure the Lord will help you overcome sin. The you 32:33 know the Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I think as we mature, um we will naturally have the they'll probably come less in one area, but they maybe they may go on to different areas that we need to maybe it's 32:49 less as in your young maybe it's more about girls coming to mind, you know, when you're older maybe it's more about pride thoughts of pride. Oh, that was pretty good what I shared. Like maybe it might change over time. Um but uh yeah, 33:02 I do think that we can mature and help to the um cleanse our mind. I think the more that we're sewing good things, the less the birds will be there. You know, I think the um how do how are you transformed by the renewing of your 33:17 mind? I I um I think what I'm spending my time on um if I'm reading the word and listening to sermons regularly, uh I'll probably be thinking more about what I'm reading and um but if I'm watching sports my my mind is going to 33:33 be more I I noticed I needed to cut back on the news uh because the news um is so like so biased um and has sown bad things into my mind of yeah, yeah, I I really is what they're doing those Democrats or whatever what they're doing over here 33:50 uh or those Republicans you know, this uh you know, I I I'm not claiming one or the other I'm just saying like the uh what what our what our feet walk after our heart tends to gravitate to like the um the thoughts will come up more I've 34:04 noticed in my own life. I'll be thinking more about politics if I'm reading the news a lot. And so we can I I think our thoughts are affected by what we're doing. Um so which is be being faithful with our time um and saying maybe there's 34:18 some things cut out that it it can help I think to look to lessen the temptations. I don't know if I don't know if it's true but I heard that C.S. Lewis said that it's not humility is not thinking less of yourself. Like I'm so bad I'm so bad 34:31 it's thinking of yourself less. It's kind of forgetting about ourselves. It's the real humility. Thinking more about God and others. You know that there's this phrase this acronym joy j o y. The real people of joy that are the ones 34:42 that think of Jesus first, then others, and then yourself last. So we just It's not that we're no value, it's that we're so busy trying to put God first that we just fall It's not we're trying to like push ourselves down, but we're 34:56 trying to push God up so much that we kind of naturally fall back. It's less about Yeah, so there can be a false humility to like I'm so bad, I'm so bad, I'm so bad, you know. It's still revolving around me, me, me. If my thoughts are all of that. 35:13 So yeah, there's a there's a joy that comes to self-forgetfulness. That we can grow in. I don't always feel like reading the Bible either. I remember Jeremy I think shared one time, my default is to wake up in the morning cold. I don't have a desire 35:30 to do much. I don't have a desire to wake up and go to bed or get up from bed. I don't have a desire to go into the word. My default is cold. And that's our flesh. And so the You might not have much of a desire to read the word, but 35:43 choosing to do it anyways, that's your real desire. What you choose is your desire, not what you feel. That's the real desire that you have. So we have we have two desires in us, the flesh and the spirit. And so the real part of us is not our 35:56 flesh. That's the leftover that we have to put to death. Our spirit that says, I don't want to get up from bed. That's my flesh talking about my spirit says, I do want to want the Lord. Lord, I'm willing to be made willing. 36:11 That's our spirit, the deepest part of us that says, Lord, I want to be better. I want to have more of a desire for you. Please put that in me. So if we feel cold, that's our flesh. And Galatians 6 talks about that. Actually 36:22 it's related to what we're talking about earlier that um We We have to choose to sow to one the flesh or the spirit. Um it says the one who sows to his in Galatians 6 verse 8. Uh so it says in 7 is whoever a man sows this will reap. 36:41 The one who sows to his flesh will from his flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to his spirit will from his spirit reap eternal life. I actually think that um sowing to the spirit in a way is reading the Bible when we don't feel like it. I 36:54 believe somebody um made a point yesterday I preached one I somebody I can't remember who it was was saying, "I realize when I read the Bible when I'm faithful to read it, I desire it more." Um and that's a reward that God gives us of doing putting the hard 37:09 work in when we don't feel like it. So it's it is a good thing to do things when we don't feel It's not a a false sort of just doing the religio- religious works like it's a good thing. It's a self-denial. In a lot of ways I 37:21 think there's more honor to reading the Bible when we don't feel like it it when we do feel like it. Uh because we're denying ourselves and saying, "Lord, I want you uh and I'm going to put my flesh to death um despite the the fact that it doesn't 37:35 want this same thing." And there may be other times where I feel so over- overwhelmed with emotion, "Lord, I just want to have time with you." Um yeah, that's good, too. Uh uh that um it doesn't mean it's bad, but I think there's yeah, there's a room for 37:48 both and if we're faithful in um to to sow sow to that, then the Lord will re- build that up in a maturity. Um I remember one time I asked Brother Zach uh that uh Brother Zach, "What do you do for fun?" And he said, 38:07 "Uh I like to like think about these questions I get asked at the conferences, you know, Q&As that young people ask and just going into the word." I said, "That's I don't enjoy that. That's not my hobby. I like playing basketball." And he said, "You 38:19 should. You're young." He's like, "I used to have like hobbies like that, too. And so, I saw what it lifted me from guilt saying, "Yeah, you're young. You should have As you mature, you'll desire it more, and that's okay. The Lord sees us where 38:32 we're at the we're at the point where we're at. There's no guilt over that. Just be yourself and try to I push to mature, but I don't rush that you have to be something that you're not. Uh So, that um that will help me and um that's 38:47 helped me to sort of go at the pace, push myself, and we'll get stronger over time. You don't have to run the the marathon right away, but work up to it and over the years, over the decades, yeah, we'll get you know, we'll get 38:58 there. Um so, hopefully that helps. Actually, one one illustration with regard to Galatians 6 that I remember um somebody sharing uh that there was a um a boy that asked his his dad, "Dad, I have these uh I have like good desires 39:15 and bad desires, and you know, what do I do about them?" And uh he said, "There's a war going on inside of you with the two wolves. One it one wolf is good, and one is bad. And there's a good wolf and a bad wolf. How do you make the good wolf win inside 39:28 of you?" Uh and he said, "I don't know." He said, "The wolf that will win is the one that you feed the most." And and so, I think the wolf is the flesh and the spirit. What am I feeding? Uh am I feeding the spirit with choosing 39:42 God's will, sowing good things in, or am I feeding the flesh like giving into sin, uh giving it what it wants, um not denying myself, not being faithful? Uh and so, um over time, if I sow to the spirit, that wolf will get stronger, and 39:58 then it will be able to overcome the flesh um easier and easier uh in those areas. One thing that helped me with regard to that is to see that um where I would have guilt over some, let's say, lawful but not profitable things, like going to an extreme of 40:14 legalism uh where um that it says in um Yeah. Uh 1 Corinthians 6:12, "All things are lawful for me, but not all are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." 40:33 Um so one thing was I definitely should never be mastered by anything. Um But with regard to going to an extreme of legalism, uh it's not legalis- legalism say, "If I'm starting to be mastered of the world, I need to do something about it." 40:49 That's definitely um not God's will for me to be mastered where I'm just constantly obsessed with one Let's just say whatever it is. Uh that's like causing me to Let's say I'm obsessed with a sports game and I snap at my kids because they're interrupting 41:03 it. Like that's not God's will. Um I might need to give up watching sports for a while. Um I think that's one that where there's regard to sin, I shouldn't be mastered by anything. But then the the thing that helped me with regard 41:16 to not going to an extreme of legalism is to see that relaxing times can be profitable, not just lawful. I think watching a sports game can actually not just be lawful, but profitable because for me I found it helped me to relax. And when I watch it 41:30 with my kids, I find it's a great way to bond with them. And so um and and maybe having some time where I'm um even watching like some thing on YouTube, some good clean thing, maybe a documentary or so I'm interested in 41:43 astronomy. I like hearing amazing things about like the universe. And like I think that's a good thing to rest my mind from work and all the obligations. Like I see it as it can be a profitable thing. So um that's one thing that 41:55 helped me with regard to the guilt of going to an extreme the other way of all I have to do is has to be associated with something Christian. Um that's not necessarily uh the right way. Um the lot the Lord has uh he's not a hard 42:08 taskmaster and legalist. Um Um, so I've seen that Yeah, the Lord's given us good things to enjoy that can be profitable too in a way. Relaxation it says in I think Mark 6, Jesus said, "Come, let's go rest a while." So even Jesus did it. 42:21 Um, so that that's helped me. Um, I think uh for myself, um when I fall, uh I I definitely think that um there's a there's something that usually leads up to it that I wasn't staying close to the Lord. There may be something that I 42:40 wasn't doing right. Uh maybe I wasn't you just you just Jesus said, "Watch and pray." Um, maybe I wasn't um doing being faithful enough. That's uh that is uh possible. Yeah, I I I might not know the cause. Um maybe uh 42:58 that there's a just it was a moment of temptation that was sudden that I just didn't have I I lost it. Um I think the question of why it happened um is less important than what I'm going to do right now. Um, like we heard yesterday, will I bounce up 43:16 quickly uh from it? That's the more important question. Um, I think and then uh I I appreciate the sincerity of can I do something different to prevent it next time? Um, so I think that's kind of where you're getting at. Uh and I think yeah, 43:31 you know, examine we can examine ourselves. Uh um and yeah, maybe there's something that was kind of going back to maybe there's something we need to Usually when we sin, there was something we were holding too tightly. 43:46 Uh and we probably had need to loosen our grip on. That That's what I've noticed that usually when I'm caused when I'm um when I lose it and sin in some area, there was something that I wasn't holding too tightly or not being 43:59 faithful with. And so it might help to to look at that and say, take a step I can say, "Lord, help me with that." Um, Lord, thank you for um lifting our guilt and giving us the way that that we are to live every day, Lord, not under any yoke of 44:16 Lord, it's an amazing thought that uh we're sinners, but you don't even see it um if we're repenting if we repented. Lord, you see us as totally clean, totally justified as we heard. Thank you, Father, for your love and 44:30 you're so good to us. Lord, we should be not even able to talk to you because of our sin. We shouldn't even be able to come anywhere near, we shouldn't have any hope because of our sin, but you cast it all aside and you gave us more 44:42 than forgiveness, you've given us your presence, you've given us your love, you embrace us as children. Um Lord, you're too good to us. Thank you, Father, for um these truths that you give. Please ground it in our hearts, help us to be 44:56 free, help all these folks here even as we're pressing up the mountain to be free from guilt. Uh all the all the things that tend to weigh us down of sincere hearts that are trying to do your will, trying to follow you. Thank 45:08 you, Lord, that you look at them and you're pleased. Um and uh help us to get higher, Lord, and press on and encourage each other. And um thank you for this time together. Continue to bless this uh these meetings and the word to 45:23 our hearts, Lord. Um and give us your Holy Spirit for the um uh in Jesus' name. Amen.
