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Dr. Myron Golden
Amen. There is no joy. There is no joy like the joy of spending time in his presence. There's no joy that even compares to that. Matter of fact, that's what John said in 1 John chapter one, verse four.
After he said, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly. See, hopefully from this day forward, we'll all be able to say truly, our fellowship is with the father.
Hopefully we'll be able to say that truly I'm walking in fellowship, in koinonia, in oneness with God. I'm walking in a passionate relationship, an intimate relationship with my heavenly father. Hopefully we'll be able to say that.
At least we ought to be, we can pursue that. Why? And these things right we unto you that your joy may be full. That's where the joy comes from. The joy doesn't come from the things that he does for you.
The joy doesn't come from where you're going or where you're not going. The joy comes from him. The joy of the Lord is your strength. So we're gonna get back into the message this afternoon. Lord, I just pray that you'd help us to get our minds on the message.
Give me clarity of thought. And I pray, Lord, that you'd open our eyes and show us, Lord, how we can draw closer to you and get more intimate with you. In Jesus' name, amen. We talked this morning about how Christ saved us or he created us to please him.
That's the purpose of our existence. We talked about the purpose of our election to be at one with him. And then lastly, we got into the practice of our enemies. And the enemies being the world, the flesh, and the devil or the lust of the flesh, which is my desire to do something.
The lust of the eyes, which is my desire to have something. And the pride of life, which is my desire to be somebody. And all of those things, those three things that we name, they are at odds with us becoming one with God.
So what we're gonna do, hey, and I don't really know that much about it. I was a kid when it happened. But the Vietnam War, one of the problems, they say they had in the Vietnam War, was they didn't know who the enemy was.
And if you don't know who the enemy is, how can you deal with the enemy? But knowing who the enemy is is not enough to defeat an enemy. We not only have to know who the enemy is, but we have to know what the enemy's objectives are and how the enemy works.
If we're gonna have, hey, if we're expecting somebody to bring a knife and they bring a gun, we're not ready.
You know, like people say, don't bring a knife to a gunfight, amen?
You don't wanna do that. I'm sure in Texas, y 'all can relate to that, out here in the wild, wild west, amen? But we gotta know, we gotta discover the practice of our enemies. We've discovered the purpose of our enemies, and now we need to discover the practice of our enemies.
The lust of the flesh, please get this. This is so critical to the Christian life. The lust of the flesh, think about it. For all that is in the world, the Bible says the lust of the flesh. What is the lust of the flesh?
The lust of the flesh is anything my flesh likes. Everything my flesh wants to do is the odds, for the most part. I'm gonna be honest with y 'all. My flesh don't like to pray. My flesh don't like to read the Bible.
My flesh don't like coming to church, singing Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, or I come to the garden alone. My flesh wants to get something with some flesh in it. Y 'all know I'm telling the truth.
You know, there are things that I don't like, that my flesh likes. And we live in an age where the world is trying to appeal to our flesh to conjure up, if you will, appetites in us, to cultivate in us appetites for those things that are against God.
The Bible tells us in James chapter one, the Bible says, let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted with any man, but every man is tempted when.
Hey, when the Bible says every man is tempted when, we better find out what comes after when, if we want to endure that temptation. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. Now the word drawn away is a fishing term, and I like to fish, and I know David likes to fish, and there are probably some more of y 'all who like to fish, but drawn away means to entice by allure.
You know what I know? I know if you throw a spinner bait in front of a frog, he ain't gonna go after it. You know why? Frogs don't like shiny things that flicker, but bass do. And the things that we go after, the things that detract us away from truth, are those things that we already have an appetite for, or a lust for, but when we think of the word lust, we always conjure up, you know, something sensual.
Well, the word lust means more than that. I'll tell you what, my body lusts for sleep, baby.
Brother, my body lusts for sleep.
My body lusts for food. My body lusts for water. You may, maybe some of you used to drink, maybe your body lusts for alcohol.
Maybe you like it. I don't like it, but that doesn't make me any better than you.
Different people just have different appetites. The world would conjure up, there are Christian men all over the world who have appetites for pornography. There are Christian women who have appetites for slop operas, I mean soap operas, they call them soap operas, which is basically the same thing in the mind of a woman that pornography is in the mind of a man.
And we conjure up appetites for those things, but those things, those appetites that are conjured up are at odds with our oneness with God because they are against all that God stands for. So let's look at the practice of our enemies.
The Bible's name is first, the lust of the flesh. What does the flesh want to do?
My flesh wants to detain me.
The word detain, like Rogers Brothers Police Office. When they take you and they gather you, the detention's there because they want to detain you from society. Well, I'm telling you, your flesh and my flesh wants to detain us from coming into that oneness with God.
Our appetites are in opposition to our oneness with God because my flesh, the Bible tells me in Romans chapter seven, the Bible tells me that my flesh must, or not in Romans chapter seven, but in Galatians chapter five, my flesh must forget the spirit, the spirit forgets the flesh.
These are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you would. My flesh wants to detain me from that oneness I want. Do you know that the number one reason that I'm attacking the way anybody can agree with this, that people cannot know the truth about a certain matter because they have an appetite for contrary ones?
They have something that they already like that's opposite of what they're trying to learn. They already like it a certain way so they can't learn the truth about it. So they couldn't find it mutual.
Well, let me show you something. When we think about the lust of the flesh, we often think of adultery and fornication. You know what's amazing to me, Brother Dave? It's amazing to me how it seems like every couple of months I hear about another preacher running off with some woman.
Isn't that amazing? Now, I mean, I know it's always happened, but it's not been as rampant as it is today. Why is it so rampant today? Well, I'll tell you why. I believe the reason is because we get in the habit of letting our flesh rule and when our flesh rules, our flesh rules.
Our flesh ain't gonna say, well, I wanna rule today and you can rule tomorrow. You know what? When I talk about, when I think of the lust of the flesh, you know what I believe one of the strong, biggest strongholds in the church is the lust of food and appetite.
Now, bear with me. Now, I know y 'all know that I'm into health food and all that, but that's not what I'm talking about.
So don't anybody get nervous. I'm gonna tell you something. I have never, I have never got on this subject, well, with the exception of two times, never got on this subject in a church where after I got done, the preacher didn't get up and make a judgment.
Now, hey, folks, I'm as doctrinally sound, I don't try to make a law in the church, but do you realize the devil has been using food as one of his main weapons since the beginning of time? Matter of fact, when you look at the Bible, you see that Eve, Adam and Eve, they got, the first sin they committed was a sin that had to do with food.
See, their first temptation was a food temptation. Jesus, the first temptation that the devil gave to Jesus was a food temptation after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights. We know when we look in the Bible that one of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah was fullness of bread, the Bible says.
These were sins of thy sister Sodom. Fullness of bread, abundance of vitalness was in her, and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Esau sold his birthright for food. Israel went down to Egypt for food.
Naomi went down to Moab for food, and before Amnon raked his half-sister Tamar, he had her prepare him some food. I'm not saying food's wrong, food is good. I like to eat, I'm a Baptist, I like to eat.
Samson broke his Nazarite vow for food. I'm not against food, but here's what I'm against. I'm against food being in control. That's a problem. And most of us, most Christians today, just like the world, food is in control.
The Bible says, blessed art thou, O Lamb, when thy king is the son of nobles, and when thy princes eat in due season, that's at the right time, for strength, that's for the right reason, and not for drunkenness.
Isn't it amazing that the Bible says you can eat for drunkenness? Now, when we think of drunkenness, we think of a guy walking around with a bottle. Oop, oop. But the Bible says, blessed art thou when thy princes eat, not for drunkenness.
The Bible says, be not among wine-bibbers, nor among riotous eaters, gluttonous eaters of flesh. In the same verse, for the drunkard and the glutton shall lie down together. Now, we don't hear preaching like this because the fact is, we don't think about it.
When I got saved, you know, when we get saved, we give the Lord our music, we give him our clothes, we give him our old friends, the place we used to hang out, the deeds we used to do, and we say, Lord, don't mess with my place.
Isn't that right? But the Bible says in Proverbs, chapter 30, verse seven through nine, two things have I required of thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord?
Wow, that's an awesome verse. When we think about the fact that the devil uses appetites, and I'm telling you, it is such a stronghold in the church that it gets, I see more conviction when I talk about this one little simple thing than any other thing.
I'm not saying it's wrong to eat any given thing, but I'm saying it's wrong to be brought under the power of those things. We talk about people being addicted to cocaine and people being addicted to their drugs, people being addicted to the alcohol,.
But I'm telling you, people are addicted to food substances. People are addicted to Coca-Cola. People are addicted to coffee, and people are addicted to sugar, and people are addicted to salt. People are addicted to caffeine.
Now, here's how you can tell if you're addicted. All you have to do is let it go for a couple days. The following second, now you wanna kill somebody? That's probably a pretty good sign that you're addicted.
Paul said, hey, okay, hang in there with me, y 'all. I am not trying to establish a dietary law in the church, but I'm doing it. What I'm doing is I'm trying to show you how your flesh likes things that are even against itself and certainly against your oneness with God, and if we don't get to the place where we don't let our appetites rule, we can't walk in that oneness with God, because if my flesh tells me I gotta eat this, this, this, this, and this, and drink this, this, this, and this, and then it says, well, you might as well not pray either.
Well, if I listen to it all those times, I won't listen to it again. Paul said, all things are lawful for me. I can drink as much coffee as I want to. I can drink as much Coca-Cola as I want to,.
But the fact is, Paul also said, all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
And when I see people digging their grave with a knife and fork, and eating, and eating, and eating, and drink Coke, and I hear Christian people saying, oh, I don't like water. You ever hear somebody say that?
I just don't drink water. Jesus didn't say he was the living Coke. He said he was the living Coke. He said, no, I don't like fruit. Jesus didn't say I'm the living Hershey bar. He said, I'm the first fruit, not the first Hershey bar.
It's the first fruits, but we are so perverted in our, and I'm not talking about, this doesn't have anything to do with the food. See, if y 'all think I'm talking about the food, you're missing the point.
I'm talking about the flesh being in control of your life, and when your flesh is in control, not only do you not want those things that God made for you, but you don't want God. I'm just telling you, you know what happens when I eat a whole bunch of sugar?
If I get up and eat some pancakes and syrup first thing in the morning, you know what happens? I get real sleepy in about 23 minutes, and praying ain't even on the agenda. Y 'all know what I'm talking about.
You see folks come to church on Sunday morning, they cannot even keep their eyes open. They stuffed all kinds of garbage and goop down in their temple before they got there. I'm not, hey, I'm not, hey folks, don't get nervous.
I ain't trying to take nothing from you. I'm trying to get you to the place where it doesn't control you, but you control it, and I'm gonna give you this real quick, and I'm gonna get on to the next point, and for which I'm sure some of y 'all can't wait.
But the fact is this. Do you know everything man touches, he perverts? When we breathe oxygen in, it's as essential as oxygen is for life. When we breathe it in, when we breathe it back out, if we try to breathe it in again after, if we breathe into a plastic bag, we'd be dead in a couple of minutes, just by coming in contact with it.
Do you know what? Those things that come freely from the hand of God, we reject, like water, and fruit, and vegetables. I'm not saying that's all we should eat, but wouldn't, I would wanna think that as a child of God, I would wanna eat more food from the hand of God than I do from the hand of man.
Folks, I'm not talking about vegetables, miss that, skip that, eat what, if you wanna eat a hamburger, if I want a hamburger, I'm gonna eat one. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about not being brought under the power of food, not letting food control your life, and soda pop control your life, or anything else, any other substance.
Here's what's interesting to me. Bible says in 1 Peter, I'm gonna say that one for last. What I'm saying is this. Paul said, Paul said, Paul said, I bring under my body, I bring under my, I buffet my body and bring it into subjection.
You know what the word buffet means? It means to beat it black and blue. Bring it into subjection, lest by any means while I've preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. He said, I want my flesh to know who's running things, and it ain't my flesh.
The flesh, the lust of the flesh wants to detain me from that oneness. The lust of the eyes, which is the world, wants to distract me from my oneness with God. Y 'all with me? The Bible says, when he talks about the parable of the soils, he said there are four kinds of soil.
That soil is the seed that fell by the wayside,.
And the birds in the air swoop down and snatch the seed. That's what happens to so many people.
They come to church to preach with preachers. They go home, and they turn on the television,.
And say the birds in the air swoop down,.
Snatch the seed from their mind, never to be remembered again.
The Bible says some fell on shallow ground and didn't have much depth of earth. They sprung up real fast, and some folks come to church, and they make a confession of salvation. Man, they're out of the gate, and the first trial and tribulation comes.
Back where they came from, they said, the nine forests. The third one fell on the thorns. The Bible says the thorn came up and choked the seed. The Bible says the thorns were the cares of Israel. It wants to detain me from that oneness I have.
The lust of the eyes wants to distract me from that oneness I have. And that's why it's so important that my purpose lines up with his purpose, because when my purpose lines up with his purpose, I only have ambitions for those things.
He has ambitions for me that he doesn't have.
The world wants to distract me, wants to get my mind so much on getting the bills paid, and making ends meet, and buying a new house, and a new car, and making sure my kids have all they want, and my wife has all she wants.
The world wants my mind so distracted that I don't have time to meditate on him, wants to distract me from that oneness by my ambitions. I'm not saying ambitions are wrong,.
But they're wrong when they are not surrendered to him. The devil wants to destroy our oneness by our attitudes. Do you know how the devil works? The devil works by putting thoughts in your mind, making you think those thoughts are your thoughts, but God wants you to think of him.
Did you know that?
The devil put a thought in your mind, you think it was yours. The Bible says, the Bible says, I fear that's my, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. The word device there comes from the Greek word noemon, which means thought, mind, and evil purpose, or that which things.
The Bible says Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. David thought that was his idea. The Bible says by Ananias, when Ananias came to Peter, Peter said, hey, Ananias, why would Satan kill my heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
He's not lying to anyone other than God. Ananias thought that was his idea. The Bible says in John chapter 13, verse two, the Bible says, the devil had now put into the heart of Judas, Simon, Judas escaped.
Simon's son to betray him. Judas thought that was his idea. The Bible says over in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, I think it's verse three, but I fear thus by any means that as the serpent beguiled me, so your heart.
Your kids say, I don't know why I can't do it, so and so can do it. You know where they got that from? They thought that was their idea. I believe that all the, that's the honor of it. But God said, don't think anything, that for sure you can leave everything there for me, and he said, well, you know, that had most probably happened to me, but it's not the way I work on my money.
And then that gold, that looked good in my IRA, and then I put the silver in my portfolio,.
And got his mind off all that God had given him.
Free real estate to raise his children, give it to his children and his children's children. And destroy this one that's by his appetite. In all the flesh and in every heart. If we are going to enter into an intimate relationship with God, then we've got to get past those enemies that are trying to block our path.
Well, how do we do it? I'm there, I mean, I'm close to it, almost. First thing we need to do, I'm gonna give this to you real quick. We need to remember the promise of our Emanuel. You know what God tells, you know what the Bible tells in Romans 6, verse 12?
The Bible says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey him unless thereof. So many people are walking in defeat. You know why they're walking in defeat?
So many people, that sin is ruling,.
That besetting sin that does so easily beset them, it's ruling their life. Why? There's only one reason. Not sin reign in your body, that tells me if sin's reigning in my body, there's only one reason, because I'm letting it.
I ain't gonna let it. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, there is no temptation taking you, but such is common to man that God is faithful. He will not suffer you, be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape it, that you may be able to bear it.
And I'm gonna illustrate this to you, and I know some of you have seen it before, but you probably forgot.
Besides that, I like to put this face to a shoulder and pat it. Um, who do I need to come at me? What's your name, Jonathan? What's your name, Jonathan? I want you to come up here. Jonathan, David, Jonathan, David.
You guys stand right here. Stand over here, please. Nicole and Nathan, y 'all get in line. Amen. Amen. Amen. Get back there in line behind me. All you guys in line behind me. Is a world champion prize fighter.
Lean, lean fighting machine. Bad to the bone. 185 pounds of rock and stone to the death of destruction. Never lost a fight. You like that, don't you? Yeah, I sure do. Never lost a fight, and I'm just making it up.
You ain't never gon' lose a fight. Okay? Never lost. And now, all these guys in line, you wanna fight a chance, man. I wanna fight a chance. Say it. I wanna fight a chance. And I look at this dude, and I look at Mike, and I think Mike's too bright for fighting.
There's a wind, he ain't gonna wave in front of you. I'm not saying you go after what he came for. You like that, didn't you? That's it, that's the point. I wanna fight Mike. You wanna fight Mike, you look, I sure hope that somebody like you.
You're over here. You're over here. Help me. Help me. You wanna fight Mike, well, I was hoping you'd say yes to me, but you need to go after you get your hair cut. You know what I'm saying? There you go.
There you go. Oh, we got another one there. You wanna fight Mike, I'm gonna look at you over here. You got it, they reached, got you on the wave. Yeah, you look, yeah, they look like you might be a gentleman.
Excuse me. You wanna fight Mike, if he looks like you get some line up for you. They say, well, what's the point of that? I'm telling you, violence is bad. Violence is bad. Violence is bad. Violence is bad.
Violence is bad. Violence is bad. Temptation comes your way, which won't kill you. God will do that for you. But when the temptation gets through, you are going to accomplish. Okay, I got this. I got this temptation.
I know I've been there a while. So I didn't, I wouldn't even have it in the first place. But God will let those temptations come through God. Amen. Thank you, gentlemen. I'm gonna have to see.
That's some of the best news. You know what? I was mighty tough when my big brother was there, brother Dave. You say what? Don't you see my brother, he bad now. You better be careful. Hey, I'm telling you, whenever temptation comes my way, I go into the temptation with confidence, knowing that I can have the victory.
But I don't want to have too much confidence because let him think of the East Antic, he'd miss me. I want to make sure I'm leaning on the one who already gave me the victory. Amen. Now, not only do we need to remember the promise of our Emmanuel, but we need to realize the process of our emergence.
Do you know we defeat the devil differently than we defeat the world differently than we defeat the flesh? Did you know that? There are three different enemies that fight three different ways.
How do we defeat the devil? Here's how we defeat the devil. By willfully surrendering to God. The Bible says, submit yourself and work on it. Resist the devil and he will free from you. You cannot resist the devil if you don't surrender to God.
It's impossible. The devil's purpose, he said, I will exalt myself above the most high. He exalts his purposes above the most high, his plan. He wants his praise to be higher than the most high. He wants the people higher than the most high.
He wants his agenda to be higher than the most high. Watch this. He's already been defeated in that area, so what did you do? You tried to do it for your purposes, for your plan, for your agenda, for your purpose.
Here's the deal. Everything you got, he wants you to make that more important than he does. You know what it's manifesting? You know what? It's manifesting. Manifested. Manifested. When I realize that God's plan for me is perfect with the good, the bad, and the ugly, it doesn't matter what comes down the pipe.
I say,.
Lord, thank you that I'm broke, that I'm sick.
Lord, thank you that I'm tired. Lord, thank you I'm having family problems. Lord, thank you for a good self-image.
It's 110 degrees and my kids are hot and sweating and my wife's mad at me. I'm supposed to say, Lord, thank you? Yep. We must willfully surrender to God. We must, do you know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Daniel chapter four, verse 35, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he do it according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none, no matter how much money you have, no matter how big you are, no matter how smart you are, no matter man or woman, boy or girl, none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou.
That means none of us have a right to say to God, God, what are you doing? Don't you know who I am? Lord says, yeah, I know who you are and I'm trying to let you know who you are. You ain't nothing and you ain't nobody.
Jesus said, without me you can do nothing, but through me you can do all things. Well, we must willfully surrender to defeat the devil, but we must walk in the scripture to defeat the world. You know what the world's philosophy is total opposite from this?
The world says, if your wife don't do right, you just beat her. That's what the world philosophy says. The Bible says, husbands, love your wives. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's different than the world.
The world says, no, you can't spank your children. If you beat your children, you'll stunt their growth. The Bible says, fathers, or the Bible says, the Bible says, if thou beatest him with a rod, it can't be the first part of the verse.
If thou beatest him with a rod, he will not die. And he might say, I'm dying, I'm dying. No, you're lying, you're lying. The Bible says, you ain't gonna die.
The world's philosophy is totally different from that. You know what the world says? The world says, the way to get is to get all I can, can all I get, and sit on my can. But the word of God says, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure.
Press down, shake it up and run it over. Show men given to your bosom. And when I replaced the thoughts of the world that I've learned all my life from my teachers and from my parents and from society, from the television and from the radio and the magazine, and when I replaced all the thoughts, all the things I've always been taught, I've always learned when I take that out and I renew my mind with the word of God, I get victory over the world.
I beseech you, I beg you therefore brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed, molded after the image of the world, but be transformed, metamorphosized from the inside out by the renewing of your mind.
I'm gonna tell you something that I've learned by the grace of God, or am learning, you change your mind, you change your life. Too many people are trying to change their life without changing their mind, and it don't work.
And then lastly, the last two sub points under the sub points under the sub points are these. In order to defeat the lust of the flesh, we must do two things. Number one, we must walk in the spirit. What's the Bible say in Romans chapter eight, verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, comma, not period, comma, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Turn to Galatians chapter number five, I wanna show you something. This is one of the most exciting things here that I've ever, the Lord's ever shown me what I'm about to show you. Man, this is so, this is, mm, this is good.
Look at verse 16 through, look at verse 16 through 21. The Bible says, this I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary one to another, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, let's count them, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murderers, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.
How many things was that? 17 things, and then he said, and such like, any other thing that even looks like any of these things. Notice what he says after that. He says, and such like, of the witch I tell you before, I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
What is the kingdom of God? That's God's rule in my life. See, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 14, is it Romans chapter 14? Romans chapter 14, seven and 18, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness.
That's when God rules in my example. Peace, that's when God rules in my experience. Joy in the Holy Ghost, that's when God rules in my expression. And if I've got these things going on in my life, I have not inherited the kingdom of God.
God's not ruling in my example. If I'm committing adultery, that's a bad example. God's not in control of that. If I've got hatred, God's not ruling in my experience. I don't have peace.
I don't have joy in the Holy Ghost. I've got guilt. Well, the Bible says, notice what he said though. I named 17 things, and such like, he said in verse 16, this I say then, walk in the spirit, and you will not feel the bustle and bustle.
He said, if you will just do this one thing right. He said, if you'll just get this one thing done, you don't have to worry about those 17 things. Ain't that exciting? Let me just, just let me see. Hey, can you come down here?
Look at me, this is, I'm telling you, you know what, we make everything so hard. God makes it simple, and the reason we miss so much of the Bible is because we're trying to overcomplicate. Am I saying it right?
Amen. Anyway, we're gonna let Jason be a Christian. Hopefully that's not the answer. We're gonna let David be the spirit, and we're gonna be, I'm gonna be the flesh, and who the hell are they? So, so, Jason is a Christian, and you know what I know about Jason?
I know that since he is a Christian, the spirit of God, and his flesh talk to him all day, every day. So Jason wakes up in the morning, wake up in the morning, please. Good. That's probably why he does it.
I'm so glad you guys are here. Okay, so he wakes up in the morning, and, and as soon as he wakes up, I'm gonna start talking to him. I'm gonna tell him the same thing I'm about to tell David. Jason, you've had enough.
Go back to bed. And the spirit of God says, no, you don't need to go back to bed, you need to pray. Come on, let's pray. And I'll say, look, look David, all that praying stuff, you can pray later at the table, you can get some sleep right now, so when you pray, you keep your mind, and you pray.
The spirit says, I can get out of here. I can get out of here. Nights for sleep, it's daytime, you get up and pray. You get up and pray. I can get off and all day. Now watch this, he's telling you to go to your prayer car, which is over there.
I'm telling you to go back to bed, which is over there. Watch this, the spirit starts walking toward the prayer car. Okay, spirit, no, no, no, don't get it, just talk to him. And I start talking to him.
Now watch this, now watch this, you follow me. You follow me. Jason, follow me. He don't know the illustration, follow me. He doesn't know the illustration. So watch this now. So watch this now, he walks, he walks, watch this.
Come here. He walks after, hey, watch this, whichever one he does, that's who he's walking with. The Bible says, but it's not saying, walking with the spirit, he's showing off his ability. But, the Bible says, you're here for a number of combinations, then you're going to pray to Jesus.
Walk, not like you're a flesh man. Spirit, watch this, I can't go that big. So now, it's five minutes, before time for 10 minutes, before time for 10 minutes to go. And his mom said, have you gotten up yet Jason?
Jason, and the spirit said, the flesh said, watch this, yeah, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up, Okay, so he said, whatever you do, don't sit before the hollywood. He said, I'm up, I'm up, I'm up.
And so then, I say Jason, come on, get dressed, get dressed real quick. Hey, eat real quick, eat real quick. And the spirit said, friend, and when he came up here, cause he's so far from the spirit, now he came here.
So go ahead and eat. Okay, your mom says, hey, is your room clean? Say, get off my back, my mom. Get off my back, my mom. Get off my back, my mom. Get off my back, my mom. You see my daddy's here right now?
Anyways, he says, get off my back, my mom. He goes, he's got a bad attitude, and he's on the race, Because he goes to school, he's got a bad attitude. His teachers get him on the nerves, his brothers get him on the nerves, everybody does it like that, they get him on their watch.
He's walking after the flesh, and not after the spirit. You know what I'm trying to leave him to do down the road? Health, education, grad, submissions, passes, A-list, all the rest of that. I'm trying to leave him to all that.
That's all I'm doing, I'm just trying to help him have a good old time. Go back to Richard. So he's on a date of defeat. So the next day he wakes up, go back to Richard. The next day he wakes up, and you know what happened?
The spirit started talking to him, he didn't question anything, he told him, what are they? And I said, man, come on, remember what you told me yesterday? He said, you know what, I'm out of here. I said, come on, man, let's go back over here, and then we did it.
Man, you're tired, you're still tired, man, you can get up and sleep, because you're up late, working all night, but the spirit said, man, it's about time. And this time, he walks after the spirit, and not after the flesh.
The flesh is gonna go up there and throw the flesh at him, and he'll be like, hey, you know what? You know what happened? Now, he's been listening before, and listening when the spirit talks, he's so far from the flesh, that the spirit is gonna lead him away.
Walk with the spirit, listen, listen to him, listen to him.
We must walk in the spirit.
To defeat the flesh. And then the last thing, is we must weaken,.
In order to defeat the flesh, there's something else we gotta do, because our flesh has been ruling for a long time. How many of y 'all were older than 20 when you got saved? How many of you were older than 15 when you got saved?
Okay, well, I'll tell you why I was 16. You know what? Our flesh has learned to rule for a long time, and it developed a lot of bad habits along the way for days. So you know what we gotta do? We must weaken our sensuality.
That's what the Bible means when it says in 1 Corinthians chapter nine, verse 25, and everyone that striveth for mastery is temperate. What's temperate mean? Self-control. It's temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crime, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainly. I don't run around like I don't know where I'm going. So fine I, not as one that beateth the air.
I'm not just shadow boxing, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. I put it under, make it obey me. I make my body the servant instead of the master. Hey, that's what the Bible's talking about in Romans chapter six.
We are a servant. Our body, we are a servant who gets to choose our master, whether we're going to obey sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. We get to choose that every day. He said, I bring my body in subjection, lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should become a castaway.
And I'm telling you all these preachers that go running off with their secretary and they go running off with a different woman. All these Christians go committing adultery and fornication and all the rest of it.
They didn't intend to do that. They've been in control for so long and they never weakened it. They never made their flesh suffer. And when the flesh said, let's go, they said, oh, we went right after it.
We must weaken our sensuality. The Bible says in Isaiah 58, six through seven, six and seven, is not this the fast that I have chosen? Oh no, fast. Only thing we Baptists do fast is eat fast, amen. So we can get back in line before anybody else, amen.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? Notice what he says, to loose the bands of wickedness.
Fasting looses the bands of wickedness. He said, I can't quit smoking, I can't quit smoking, I can't quit smoking, I can't quit drinking, I can't give up my business, I can't give up my dad, I can't give up my cigarettes, I can't give up my coffee, I can't give up my Coca-Cola.
I'm not saying that's all wrong, but you know what? The Bible says more about food than it does about cigarettes. About blood than it does about cigarettes. We don't like to think about it like that, do we?
All right, now, some of y 'all are thinking, well, I'm not overweight. Hey, you know what I know? There's skinny gloves just as well as there's fat. Now, what he said, I'm saying, we get in that bond with it.
The Bible says God will, by fasting, it'll break the bands of wickedness. Now, you know what I know for a fact? When you fast, every physical appetite you have is lessened.
Every one of them. When you fast, it doesn't just weaken your appetite. Well, see, here's what happens. When you fast, the first day, maybe you're still hungry, you'll eat anything.
Woe be unto the chicken that crosses the road in front of you. Huh? The second day, you wanna kill somebody, but the third day, you don't care if you never eat again.
Because once you starve that plush for so long, it says, man, I'm eating too much energy, screaming for food. I wanna go just sit here and be quiet until he decides to give me some. And after you fast for a couple of days, before you know it, your appetite for everything, you know what?
I notice when I'm fasting, I only need about three or four hours of sleep at night.
My body just wakes up. It's like, to loose the bands of wickedness.
What happens when you live in wickedness too long? You get a heavy burden of guilt on your back. He says to undo those heavy burdens. When you're walking in victory, the burden's gone. To let the oppressed go free.
Walk under that guilt for so long when he's like, I've got depression, I need some Prozac. I've got depression, I need to go lay on somebody's couch and have them tell me it was my mama's fault. Bible says this is the fast that God has chosen, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke.
You know what? The yoke is starting to bind you together with me, but you know what? When I start fasting, my flesh, that yoke gets broken. My flesh ain't moving around anymore. But watch this.
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? When I start fasting, I'm not so selfish. I'm not caught up with me, I mean my disease. To deal thy bread to the hungry, to bring the poor, and they are cast out into thy house.
When thou seest the naked, thou dost cover him, that thou hide thyself not from thine own flesh, and then shall thy health spring forth speedily. Isn't that amazing? What's a dog doing? Get sick? Eats grass and nothing, doesn't it?
Just waits to get better. I'm telling you, we need to weaken our sensuality. We need to weaken our fleshly appetites by fasting. Bible says in first Peter, and this is the last verse I'm using. First Peter chapter one, I mean chapter four, verses one through four.
For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. Don't miss this, I'm almost done, y 'all. Hey, I ain't gonna be like Paul. I ain't gonna preach till midnight, but don't miss this. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise.
Arm myself to suffer in the flesh? Why would I arm myself to suffer in the flesh? With the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Isn't that an amazing verse? That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men or to the appetites of men, but to the will of God.
Does that sound like the lust of men and the will of God are in opposition with each other? For in the time of, for the time past of our life may suffice us, suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles.
In other words, before I got saved, I walked like the Gentiles when we walk in lasciviousness, unbridled lust, lust, excess of wines, revelings, banquetings, before I got saved. I don't do that now. Abominable idolatries before I got saved, wherein they, who?
Those people who are still lost think it strange that we walk not with them to the same excess of riot. Isn't that amazing? When God saves us, he's changed our appetites. We're not, the flesh ain't ruling anymore.
We're gonna make the flesh suffer. Why? So we can walk after the will of God and not after the will of man. What's the will of God? We might have that oneness, that intimate relationship with him. Where my, where I consider his word to be more than my necessary food.
When I consider his word to be better than thousands of gold and silver. When I want him more than I want anything. I used to wonder, how can people be burned at the stake and sing in songs? Because they ain't thinking about the stake.
They ain't thinking about the suffering. They got their mind on him. That's what it means. Great peace, God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. We have a hard time as Christians in 2001 getting our mind on him, let alone keeping our mind on him, don't we?
Folks, I'm talking about walking in an intimate relationship with the father. I'm talking about being passionately consumed with God. And you can't be passionately consumed with the lust of the flesh, with the appetites of your flesh, passionately consumed with the lust of the eyes or the world and passionately consumed with your bad attitude and wanting things your way and still be passionately consumed with God.
It don't fit. It's either one or the rest. It's either Christ or the adversaries of the Messiah, the Antichrist. Which is it gonna be for you? Are you gonna be able to say a year from now, three months from now, a week from now, two days from now, will you be able to say,.
And truly, truly, my fellowship is with the father.
Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. Lord, I know your word won't return void, but it'll accomplish that, won't you please? Lord, I believe there are some of us here today that need to check ourselves out and see who's in control, whether it's you or our appetites, whether it's you or our ambitions, whether it's you or our attitudes.
Because those ambitions, appetites, and attitudes are trying to keep us from walking in oneness with you. Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters here. They might experience that victory that you've already given.
They might go in and claim the promised land that you've already given. And not to be afraid of those giants called ambitions, not to be afraid of those giants called attitudes, not to be afraid of those giants called appetites, but to know they already have the victory.
All they have to do is go and claim it. Help us to walk in oneness with you. Heads bowed, eyes closed. What I wanna do is I want everybody to stand. I wanna give you a time to respond to the message. If the spirit of God has spoken to your heart, you know what he said to you.