Flesh Against the Spirit: Freedom From Our Idols

praise God brothers and sisters I'm going to be reading from John chapter 10 verses 27- 28 John chapter 10 27- 28 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand jesus' followers they they recognize his voice and they follow him that's what sets us apart you know that's that's what a sheep of Christ is um and he gives us eternal life and we will never perish and it also says no one can take uh away his protection from us so let's let's listen to what is being said to us today let's listen listen to the word what the songs have to say as well and try to take it into our hearts and to just really listen to what is being said today and let's stand up and pray Lord God we thank you for this beautiful morning that you've given us God and we ask you Lord fill this place with the Holy Spirit God open up to us what you want us to hear Lord God what you want to say to us Lord help us Lord to hear every word god guide us and lead us in the word Lord bless the preaching Lord bless the singing all praise and glory be to you God in Jesus name we pray amen amen good morning church we're going to be starting off this service with a song by the name of draw me close to you [Music] [Music] draw me close to [Music] you never let me go I lay it all down again to hear you say that I'm your [Music] friend you are my [Music] Des no one else will [Music] do cuz nothing else could take your place to feel the warmth of your grace help me find a way bring me back to you you're all I [Music] want you're all All I've Ever [Music] Needed you're all I want help me know you are [Music] here dra me close to you never let me [Music] go I lay it all down again to hear you say that I'm your friend you are my Des no one else will do cuz nothing else can take your place to feel the warmth of your [Music] Embrace help me find the way bring me back to you you're all I [Music] want You're All I've Ever Needed you're all I want [Music] help me know you are [Music] here you're all I want You're All I've Ever Needed you're all I want [Music] help me know you are here [Music] [Music] give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks unto the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks unto the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his s and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of What the Lord Has Done for us give thanks give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks unto the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks unto the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus [Music] Christ and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the we say I am strong let the PO sing I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us give thanks praise the Lord brothers and sisters for this beautiful morning we can all come out and as we can all see the leaves are already almost all gone you know it's kind of sad to see Winter's coming for real this time but you know praise God for everything and I'm just going to read a quick Bible verse uh that we can actually reflect on and think about uh which is in uh 2 Corinthians CH 4 uh verse 16 to8 and it says here so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentarily Affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of Glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen But to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are TR transient but the things that are unseen are Eternal praise God and I also want to announce our program for this morning morning uh we'll have brother Mark sing us a song and then right after that we'll have brother Tim sing a word for us God bless I had to switch my guitar because I don't think it was working um but nonetheless it might be a little bit hard for me to sing uh sitting down but I chose this song today um because it was something that uh as I think everyone experiences in their own life personal hardships and personal problems that only you you can understand at most times it seems like when you're trying to explain to someone they just don't get it and in that when I was seeking the Lord It's like his quiet still voice like like uh one of the prophets when he was thinking that it w that God's voice was in the fire or in the storm or in in the earthquake God revealed himself through a still quiet peaceful voice and when we're going through hardships in our lives whatever it may be um you each to their own everyone has their own problems um and things that they're experiencing in life God's still voice is there encouraging us when we seek Him and when we're trying to look for him uh he is always there to help us through the storm [Music] why are you striving these days why are you look trying to earn Gra why are you crying let me lift up your face just don't turn away why are you looking for love why are you searching as if I'm not enough to where will you go child tell me where will you run to where will you run cuz I'll be by your side wherever you fall in the dead of night whenever you call and please don't fight these hands that are holding you my hands are holding you look at these hands and my side as they swallow the grave on that night when I trink the world sin so I could carry you in and give you life I want to give you love cons me by your side wherever you fall in the dead of night whenever you call and please don't fight these hands that are holding you my hands are holding here in my side wherever you fall in bad of night whenever you calling please don't fight these hands that are holding you my hands are holding you praise God praise the Lord my dear friends you know it's good to see everybody in the house of the Lord you know uh waking up this morning it's nice and sunny uh last week uh we heard a lot of people say they they lost track of the day because it was so dark you know but now uh we got an hour and it just shows how beautiful God's creation is amen you know I just want to kind of like reveal to us how good our God is kind of how we heard the song uh brother Mark sing you know like everybody has their struggles right everybody has their hardships but sometimes we get so bogged into them that we don't see the beauty of our God you know there's a lot of people that are struggling much more than we are you know with their health um there's people that can't can't see can't hear there's there's people that are struggling because they can't walk you know and those small things we get used to him but they're not even small they're so huge they're so huge and we look at the small problems in our life as if they're the big problems but my dear friends how thankful we have to be that we made it this morning you know I uh a couple weeks ago when I sang a song There was the statistics that 170,000 people don't wake up every day 170,000 people 170,000 people have probably thought that they will wake up tomorrow that they will do what they're going to do go to work hang out with their friends but they didn't wake up somebody lost their mother somebody lost their child somebody lost someone that they loved and you know we're all here and that's the grace of God I want to read from it's going to be from Mark chapter 7: 20- 22 the reason I want to point out to this is because I just want to show that before Christ we were all the same before turning to Christ we were all the same and over here it says what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within of the heart of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting wickedness deceit Envy slander Pride those is what comes out of man so if today you think you're a good person Jesus Christ says otherwise if today we think we're good because we helped somebody if today we think we we're good because we didn't kill anybody if today we think we're good as we come to church my dear friend if we do not have Jesus Christ in our life we are wicked and we're going to go to hell but in Galatians it says but I say walk by the spirit and you will not grab ify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit when we are struggling with our personal desires that's a big ding ding ding ding why are we struggling because we are still walking in the flesh we read what comes out of a man evil thoughts sexual immorality Pride murder adultery theft coveting wickedness and we say I want to be set free but Jesus I got no time for you I got to go do this I got to go work I got to go go meet my my friends I got to go look what's on my phone we have time for that but for Christ we put him on the bag burner and then we wonder why are we struggling the way we are because the Bible says we are walking in the flesh we are walking in our sinful nature and we need a Redeemer we need Redemption we need a Revival in our hearts and we can't get that from men we can't get that from Knowledge from books from YouTube from Instagram from Tik Tok we can't get our freedom from there and over here it says for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh it's a constant War every time we wake up we are at War every single day when we get up we are at War where are we putting our time to what are we doing with our time my dear friends what are you doing with your time the reason why so many of us are so weak is because we invest in our flesh not in our spirit and over here Apostle Paul is telling the Galatians you are at War your flesh is constantly fighting against your spirit for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do you know we want to be good we want to do good but you know our desires are constantly are constantly taking us to places where it hurts us where there's consequences for our choices that's where our desire stay take us and over here it says again it reminds us now the works of the flesh are evident sexually immorality impurity sensuality idolatry you know it's it's so funny idolatry you know people think idolatry has to be a carved image and you know I wasn't Africa for about uh 3 weeks I went on a little trip I was helping uh build an orphanage and I'm like did I just enter the Old Testament I mean this was like Bible in your face there's people on donkeys um I stayed in um in a hotel where I thought it was still the the stable of Jesus you know uh the door was like slanted um uh no ground just dirt and uh well thank God we had a mattress and stuff you know coming from America we're spoiled I mean coming from America even having nothing and having a mattress we already have more than them we already have more than so many people and yet we still tend to complain that that is not enough it's not enough because I want something nicer I want to be greater I want to be more popular and so we're constantly chasing what our flesh desires but our spirit desires is the opposite and you know and when I was in Africa they they did have carved images you know they would carve their little Gods you know and then they would worship them and you look at them and most of them were demon-possessed we had to pray for them uh like we did a service where we weren't praying at all we were just singing We were singing worship and we just see people screaming and going on the ground and jumping and me I'm I mean they're they're all jumping there so I thought it was normal but then I see like this scene even more and more and I'm like Lord what is this and I got a little scared but my dear friends people think idolatry is carved images but these days idolatry is this is this is our phones we spent so much time on it so much time and yeah and there's good and there's good but if we don't watch ourself we are spending more time on bad than good and that's what our flesh desires when it's when it's time for Instagram and Tik Tok I can spend two and a half hours that's what our flesh wants open that app one hour we gone one and a half two movies Games 3 hours four oh I'm just investing in my flesh let's go flesh and then our spirit is weak and then we lose this we lose that we have no friends we have no relationships and the most important is we lose Christ we lose him because we are investing our time in the wrong choices that we make and the Bible says you are at War my dear friends idolatry is not those carved images but it's what you have in your hands that's idolatry these days wake up it's a beautiful day outside but many people don't even know because they're they're too stuck and glued to their electronic devices they don't even know that the trees are yellow because they are too immersed in their idols and today the Bible says those are wickedness before our Lord turn away from them if you if you're spending hours on your idolatry on your Idols the Bible says cut it off cut it off if you can't control yourself cut it off I'm not saying to to um just I'd be a hypocrite if I said you know throw your phones away because I need my phone I'm pretty sure everybody needs their phones and there are good things on these things but my dear friends when we are spending more time on them than spending time with Christ We are Becoming weaker we are investing in our flesh and the devil is winning the devil is winning he's laughing because he's got your mind in the wrong place he's got your heart in the wrong place and then we start making the wrong choices that lead us to wrong choices in life and then we wonder how did I get here how did I lose my job how did I lose my wife my children how did I lose them all because my dear friend when your wife and your children were trying to get your attention you're like hold on honey hold on hold on hold on or your kids hey Daddy I want to play hold on hold on maybe tomorrow hold on let me see what's on here and then we wonder why we lost at all my dear friends today we're at War flesh against the spirit flesh against the spirit and if we're sitting here and saying Yeah Tim you know good message and then we go home and we get back on our Idols spending hours and hours a day I'll tell you one thing you'll be a broken person without Christ we're broken and over here it says in John 8:36 8:36 so if the son sets you free you will be free indeed if the son sets you free you will be free indeed you know there was a time in my life when um I was very addicted to social media you know we have our addictions you know some people are addicted to to other things but if you're an addict it doesn't matter to what you're an addict and through addiction is where Satan has control over you he can control your hearts and your mind and so I'm like spending all this time on my social medias and I was younger I was maybe like in my 20s um and you know there there were these guys that you know you're you're scrolling like man that guy looks good you know and then you're looking at yourself and I'm like oh man I wish I look like him you know and so now I'm spending all this time trying to look like him you know or or oh man that's a nice car this guy has so now I'm researching the car that I can't even afford but I'm spending hours hoping to one day maybe in a hundred years when I'm dead to buy that car and I'm spending all this time and I'm like Lord what am I doing what am I doing Set Me Free so I deleted it and you know that was the time in my life that I felt God the most not because I deleted the the the app but because I had so much time that I was wasting on that garbage and I had so much time I started building my prayer life I started studying the word of God God I started actually living a Christian Life I had so much time and that is when I felt the power of the Holy Spirit and then over time you know you make yourself excuses like you get the app again and you don't even realize how it's robbing you of your time with Christ you know know it's it's funny because uh there was one person that I was talking to and you know this person very busy a lot on the plate you know just like everywhere doing everything and they were saying ah you know I wish there was more time during the day I I have no time to do this to do that you know and it's funny and I'm like hey let me see your phone you know and and they give me my phone and then I'm like go on your screen time and then they go on their screen time and I'm like chck what's number one over there Instagram I'm like how many how many minutes 3 hours I'm like and you're telling me you don't have time you're you're preaching to me that you don't have time you wish you had more time during the day if you would have had more time during that day you would have been 6 hours on there my dear friends and this person looked and and they were like wow I can't believe it I spent that much hours they didn't even realize themselves how much hours they were spending just on garbage my dear friends but over here the Bible says that Jesus Christ has set us free in 2 uh Corinthians and 3 it says now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom so if we know that the Lord is the spirit and our flesh constantly Wars against our spirit that means that we are at war with our Lord and our Lord is at war with our flesh so my dear friends I'll before I end you know I just want to say that Jesus Christ is your only answer if you think you're good because like you don't you know sleep around or you haven't killed anybody if you think you're good because you helped somebody understand our flesh is a sinful flesh and we need freedom from it we need freedom from it and the spirit that should be in US is the spirit of Christ and when we start investing in our spirit of Christ we start killing off the Spirit of Flesh and if somebody here today is struggling to be set free if somebody here today know that you have an addiction and you don't have the strength to be set free during the prayer you guys can come up and we will pray for you we will have the Holy Spirit work in you we will have have God do its work we will just uplift you in our prayers if there's a need in your life if you're really struggling if you're down in the dirt and you don't know how how to get out come to the front we'll pray and God's spirit will do its work let's pray amen e e and now we'll be singing a song by the name of Great Is Thy [Music] Faithfulness Great Is Thy Faithfulness oh God my my father there is no shadow of turning with me thou changes not thy compassions they fail not as thou has s th forever will be great is thy faithfulness great is thy faithfulness morning by morning new mercies I see all I have needed th in that Pro Great Is Thy Faithfulness born unto me summer and winter spring time and harvest sun moon and stars and their forces above join with all nature in manying witness to thy great faithfulness mercy and love Great Is Thy Faithfulness Great Is Thy Faithfulness more morning by morning new mercies I see all I have needed thy hand my head Great Is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me pardon for sin in a peace that endureth thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide strength for today and bright Hope For [Music] Tomorrow blessings oh my thous beside Great Is Thy Faithfulness Great Is Thy Faithfulness morning by morning new mer mercies I see all I have needed th and provided Great Is Thy Faithfulness Great Is Thy Faithfulness Great Is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto [Music] praise God my dear friends our service has come to the end and um I think I don't have to repeat the message that was spoken today but like throughout this week uh let's be reminded where to invest our time where to invest our time and uh know who can set us free it's not our friends it's not anything on YouTube it's not any books it's only Jesus Christ amen to that but before we pray uh uh brother uh Chris he had some needs and he wants us to pray for his uh kids and grandkids and all from the world uh and other civilians and his uh beautiful wife uh Crypt Tonka so uh we'll we'll pray for them but also brother Doug uh mentioned that we should also pray for the elections coming up you know whoever God appoints like he appoints but like in everything may it be good for the children of the Lord you know um so so we'll pray for that um does anybody else have any needs uh if not also I'm just going to say that after prayer yeah go ahead dad or Mike yeah amen okay brother Mike you know the Lord knows he like he knows how to uh provide and we'll give it to him and I guarantee that he will come out he will come out God never leaves us amen amen and then after our prayer we'll just all go down to the gym and uh then we can have a little I would say a friendly time with some coffee and some food but you know over here is what we got the most important our spiritual food let's pray Lord God we thank you Lord for this wonderful day that you gave us for this wonderful morning Lord that we could Lord wake up Lord God lord so many many people didn't get to see this day Lord God but we are here Lord thank you so much for protecting us Lord this is your grace Lord God may also the message today Lord God touch our hearts may it like encourage us to seek you more God to change our ways God to start investing into our spirit Lord Jesus God bless us in that also we pray for the needs of uh Chris uh for the kids and the grandkids and for his wife Lord God you know his situation God we pray for him Lord Jesus we pray for him God we know that you will come out you will you will help them God you will mend those relationships Lord God you protect you protect them Lord God and you be with them Lord Jesus we also pray for Mike Lord God you know his needs his struggles Lord God you know what he needs Lord God to pay his uh mortgages and bills Lord you you know how to help him Lord God uh like also God please come out and help him Lord Jesus we also pray for the elections coming up Lord we don't know what your will is God but may it be for the good of your people Lord God Lord put on the hearts of those to do what is right and may you choose the one that will benefit us the most Lord we thank you for all your time and for this wonderful day in jesus' name amen Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen be blessed