You have your Bibles. Turn over to Matthew.
Chapter 4. Matthew Chapter 4.
I'm thankful for the Kingdom of God, Amen.
And Matthew chapter 4, verse 17, Jesus, when he first starts
preaching, OK, this is his message, right?
We always hear this in the church.
You know, we're preaching the gospel of Jesus.
Well, what is? Jesus's good news.
This is Jesus's good news. And from that time Jesus began
to preach and say repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand. This is a powerful little verse.
You know, when the Lord, you know, spoke to me today about
what to minister on and it really the scriptures came
pretty quick, which I always loved those.
And you know, but he when this one popped up, he said, notice
that I said repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's coming. His message is the kingdom's
coming, so you better change your thinking.
It's not, hey guys, I've got something that you don't have to
do it. You can do your own deal.
No, he's like, it's coming. It's coming whether you like it
or not, whether you want it or not, it's coming.
He says repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's in your midst, it's coming. And if you are going to function
in it because that word he uses here is not a religious word at
all. It literally means change your
thinking. He says change your thinking.
The Kingdom is in your midst right now.
And here's the thing about the Kingdom, when it gets in your
midst, it's not leaving because Isaiah Chapter 9 says a child
will be born, a son will be given, and the government will
rest on his shoulders. Now who was the son that is
given? Who is the child that's born?
Jesus. Everyone knows the prophecy of
Isaiah is talking about Jesus and we know it's Jesus because
it says a child's born. A son is not born.
A child is born but not a son. A son is given.
Well, the reason a son's given because the Son always existed,
because in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God,
in the Word was God, and then the Word became flesh and we
call him Jesus. So before Jesus was Jesus, he
was the Word or the Son of God, and he was always with God.
Hallelujah. So that's why a son's given, not
born, because the Son always existed.
So a child is born, a son is given, and the government, not
religion of Christianity, but the government will rest on his
shoulders. And then it goes on in verse 7
says, and there'll be no end to the increase of his government.
So once the Kingdom is in the earth, and that's why Jesus said
the Kingdom of heaven is like a woman who have flour and put
yeast in it. And once the yeast got in the
dough, it took over the whole dough.
So he's saying now that the kingdom's in your midst, it's
not leaving. It's not leaving.
So guess what? Repent.
You're going to need to change your thinking because the
kingdom's in your midst. And we know the Kingdom will
physically manifest now. It's in the earth spiritually
now, and it functions however it will physically show up and
Jesus will return. Not as a suffering servant, not
as a lamb waiting to be slain or put on a cross.
He's done that deal. No, he comes back as the
reigning king. He's going to set up his throne
in Jerusalem. He, his government will be a
physical manifestation on the planet.
Come on, you should shout better now.
I mean, you know, we if we don't watch out, we get so heaven
minded we forget things that are coming.
Heaven's awesome, but Jesus is coming back to the planet and we
are coming with him. Amen.
So Jesus in his first gospel, the good news, he said this is
good news. The kingdom's in your midst, So
what are you going to do about it?
You better change your thinking. You better change your thinking.
So the first thing he's letting us know, if you're going to
function, behold, walk in, have the benefits of this Kingdom.
That's inevitable. You have to change.
The king doesn't have to change. And in essence, he's not saying,
hey, the kingdom's here, you guys are going to get to enjoy
it. He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say, hey, guess what, this is awesome, I'm here, the
kingdom's here, The kingdom's going to manifest more, and
guess what? You can be a part of that.
He didn't say it that way. He said you're going to have to
change, you're going to have to repent.
So that the implication here is that if you don't repent because
he say now the kingdom's coming, so you need to change.
So if you don't change, this is the you're not going to enjoy
the benefits of it. You're not OK.
So you, you cannot receive God's Kingdom without change.
OK, I'm going to say that again because now, and I'm not talking
works of your own, again in the church, we have not as Saints,
OK, As Saints. Listen, you're here at Anchor
Bay Church, so it's my responsibility to train you, OK?
I'm not responsible to anybody else out there.
And I know the body, Christ is big, that's fine.
But you understand, you know, families are big and there's
different levels of understanding even in natural
families, OK? So in the church there's
different layers of understanding.
I get that. But my responsibility is not to
those that are not assigned here.
My responsibility is to here to the ones assigned here.
So it's my responsibility to do to you as Jesus did to us.
You're going to have to think a little bit.
Now, it's not your thinking that gets you saved.
It is salvation through Jesus alone and by the grace of God
through faith, you, you are able to do this.
However, we use these terms all the time in such a way that if
we don't watch out, they're not what they mean because concepts
within Scripture do not carry over just into certain words.
So again, when we say you know what got to take you as you as
you are, that's not true. He does not take you as you are.
He says to you in your current condition, you're going to need
to change and when you change, you're more than welcome.
Now the change is not your responsibility in the context.
OK, what do I do? How do I work it out?
What's my effort that's going to do this?
You know, I'll do this, I'll do that, I'll do it.
You can't do it on your own. You can't do it yourself.
What he's saying is I paid the price.
I need you to accept me. That's the requirement is that
you ask me to be you submit to my Lordship because everything
you could not do because your nature separated, I fulfilled
through dying for it. I paid this price.
So if you acknowledge me as Lord, then I'll give you a life
that can walk different because you're not going to be able to
be in the Kingdom with that kind of life.
But when we hear stuff like this, you know, because people,
you know, are there's been so much religion talked about
Jesus, you know, Pastor Chase, he sent me a sermon for tonight
and I, you know, was kidding around with him.
I said, oh, this is great. I'll just preach it tonight.
You got great notes. And he laughed, OK, But he but
in one of his points, he's talking about that the enemy
will not get you to abandon Jesus.
He'll just give you a different. Jesus.
And culture of the world will redefine Jesus so you can stay
in your flesh. So as a believer, we have to be
cautious, right? To make sure that we are, you
know, walking in the purity of the word, not bringing over a
different thought process about God, right?
Because again, the 1st temptation that Satan had in the
garden was not to say there is no God.
It was to say what you think you know about God is not that way.
He's a little different. So he just changed their
perception of God. You know, there's a lot of
believers that have this perception that Jesus died on
the cross. He paid the price for all their
sin that they did nothing in order to for him to do that.
So there's nothing they did to earn it, which is true.
There's the way they lived. He did it anyway.
That is true. Now once they call him Lord and
receive the blood to pay for their sin on the other side of
the cross. Meaning once they're born again.
Now they don't have to do anything either.
So if they technically live the same grace now is applied.
The Bible calls that kind of doctrine lasciviousness.
It's where, you know, you're saying God paid it all, but I
can still live like I like I want to, But there's a whole
group that believes that. Well, if you if I couldn't earn
it, then what makes me think I can earn it here?
I'm not earning it. It's freely my you don't know
what took place, you don't know what to, you don't.
You don't receive the unmerited favor of God and be changed and
still live the same way. I mean if this if there's no
difference then why confess anyway?
I mean, if you're going to live the exact same, then why is God
making a requirement to call on him if he actually has no power
to change you? But you know, we have this
mentality our cake and eat it too.
I want to go to heaven but still live like the rest of the world
and not be punished for it. Let Jesus take the punishment
for everything I'm doing wrong. And you know Jesus has done
that. But we can't on the other side
of our confession of faith, openly trample the blood of
Jesus. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So Jesus is saying now listen, if you're going to behold the
Kingdom, you're going to have to change.
So my point is, change is a requirement.
He's not accepting you as you are.
He is, He is giving you the opportunity as you are because
there's nothing you can do to change to be right with him
anyway. He is saying, listen, if you'll
change by acknowledging me at Lord as Lord, then I'm going to
change the the issue that's wrong with you and that's your
spirit. It's separated from me.
I'm going to put a new one in there.
You can't do that. I can, but once that happens,
then I'm going to put my spirit in you.
Holy Spirit's going to get there and then he's going to train you
now because you're a new creature, not a Sinner.
Say by grace you were a Sinner. You're say by grace through
faith. Now you're a believer.
You're a child of God. And now the now Holy Spirit is
inside you speaking to your spirit.
And now you have the ability that you did not have before to
renew your mind, to change your thinking.
You have now that responsibility.
Because here's the thing, you still had responsibility even
when you were lost. Who's the one who took the
responsibility to acknowledge Jesus as Lord?
God could not make you do this. He just offered the change.
I'll change you if you'll accept me, if you'll repent of your
sin. That means you have to change
the way you've lived, the way you function, and that the thing
you could not get out of. You've got to decide I don't
want this. In essence, salvation is US
saying, Lord, we don't want this.
We don't want we want what you wanted from us in the beginning.
You wanted us to be like you. You wanted us to have your
nature. You wanted us to have dominion
like you. We want what you wanted for us.
And so I I confess my sin or I repent of my sin, I'm saying I'm
changing my thinking. All sin is is doing things
different than what God says to do.
So I say it's OK to be mad at somebody when they get a they
come against me because you know, I'm justified by that.
But the Lord said that's not how we function in the Kingdom.
So you got to change that, right?
So change is here. Now if you do not want to
change, then you get the outcome of that.
But if you want the Kingdom, change has to come.
And here's the good news, we all can.
And again, change is not to limit you, it's to release.
You see, that's where the enemy gets you.
He's like, man, you're going to have to quit doing this and quit
doing this and quit doing this. Listen, there's nothing you're
doing in the world that you technically cannot do in
righteousness in the Kingdom. Now, I mean, that's a pretty
general statement. So you know you can have wealth
is not an issue in the Kingdom because he owns the planet.
So you don't give up wealth just because you get born again.
In fact, he'll supply all your needs according to riches and
glory in Christ Jesus. Be well taken on, taken care of.
Now you can't look at what they define wealth is because the
Kingdom has a different definition.
Actually, the world has a definition of wealth, but it has
lust attached to it. God's definition of wealth has
love attached to it, where their definition is hoard and keep.
His definition is giveaway. And what's what's amazing is
when you give away in the Kingdom, you'll actually get
more Hallelujah, Amen. So you can, you'll be in right
relationships in the Kingdom and you won't have all the wrong
relationships in the world. You want a meaningful
relationship with someone, you can have that in the Kingdom
you're not shortchanged. So purpose, identity, all that
is some pretty amazing, but let's go on.
Then Luke chapter 12 verse 31 verse and 32 says it's beseek.
But seek this says seek, which Matthew says first, but seek his
now whose Kingdom is it? This is really important.
All right, just these two verses help us again.
Jesus is making the good news. Kingdom's coming.
You want it, you're going to have to change.
It's inevitable because the planet was ours always.
It's not functioning like it should.
But if we will set it straight and we want the, we want the,
the what was spoken concerning this earth, we want it to
function that way and we will have it that way because God has
what he says. All right?
So if you want to be a part of that, you're going to have to
change. All right then he says, now seek
his Kingdom. So the Kingdom is his.
It's not mine, it's his, which is his King's dominion.
And since he's the king of the Kingdom, he now has the right to
determine what that who's in it, who's in it.
He defines what His Kingdom looks like.
So we are to seek His Kingdom, not our own, because our own is
not good, but His is amazing because His is eternal.
All right. He says that these things will
be added to you, which are all the things that the Gentiles
seek the wrong way. You can get it in the Kingdom.
But he goes on and says, do not be afraid, little flock, for
your Father has chosen what gladly to give you the Kingdom.
Now the Kingdom He's giving you is whose Kingdom?
It's His Kingdom, of which He is supreme in authority.
He is the one who speaks of what exists within that Kingdom so
that it has life abundance, right?
It can be with the presence of God, because God cannot be
around that, which is contrary to His Word, OK?
And so He has set it up so that we can be a part of it.
All we have to do is change. Hallelujah.
All right. And change is not just
spiritual. Change is to affect us through
our whole nature. And again, modern day Western
Christianity has eliminated the repentance of the soul realm and
the repentance of the body realm and only are accepting a
repentance of the spirit realm but only repenting once, meaning
I'm lost, I'm not right with you.
I know I'm in sin and my life is not cannot line up to what you
want. I need the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus says blood applied to my life.
I want to be saved from this existence and I'll call on the
name of the Lord and you're saved.
And that's the one change thinking that I can't do it my
way. We need to accept his way to the
Father. Jesus said I'm the way, there's
no other way, right? So we will change our thinking
on how we can have a relationship with God.
That's one way to change, but it's only one.
And we think repentance is a one time event.
And once we did that, then nothing else matters, because
now we're alive to God. Which is funny.
We're alive to God, but we live like we're still stuck in the
world. We're alive to God and we're
still living like we're stuck in the world.
And but yet what we've convinced ourselves are modern religions,
it's not important all that matters.
Is that you ask Jesus to come to your heart and save you.
That's all that matters. And we just need to get as many
people to do that alone. But the Bible does not support
that true Bible teaching line upon line.
OK, is that is that is that you are to change everything.
Because once we're born again, he says, now you need to renew
your mind, change the way you think.
You need to be transformed in your thinking.
Then he says, get your body under control, right?
Get your body under control, right.
Just don't live by every impulse.
How it makes you feel. You don't let your body control
you. All right?
Amen. Now, if you've been at Anchor
Faith Church, you know, five years or more, I need your echo
because you're doing no service to anyone here five years or
younger because when they're like deer stuck in headlights
right now, like, man, I mean, what is he saying?
I mean, how's this even happened?
I just wanted to go to heaven when I die.
And you got to be like giving this expression like, bro, it's
way beyond going to heaven when you die.
It's bringing heaven to earth right now.
It's being a walk into me now. It's being able to overcome now
it's being able to have the presence of God in your life
right now. It's being able to conquer in
all situations, be able to pull the Kingdom of God in your life
and everything associated with the Kingdom right now.
Amen. So you know, we need to have
some responses. This is not a lecturing session.
This is a this is attaching to my spirit.
This is good news. Let me just shout Amen and give
praise to my Lord. You're not praising me, you're
praising him. It's his word.
And when you're reminded of something like, wow, he did
that, that's amazing. Glory to God.
You should have an expression, someone like what I want, what
they have, because when you're excited about what you have,
there's an expression, Amen. So we see then over here and he
says that he's chosen gladly to give us his Kingdom.
So it's his Kingdom that he's given.
And in order for you to participate in it, you have to
change. All right, First Corinthians
chapter 6, verse 911, the amplified says it this way.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or
have any share in the Kingdom of God?
OK, because God's defining the behavior, conduct, lifestyle
that is for the Kingdom and everything I'm about to read, He
has paid the price for that. So what he's not doing, I'm not
here to say. If you're doing that to feel
condemned, you should feel convicted because all the
condemnation actually went on Jesus and has paid the price for
all actions that are contrary to be able to be a participant in
his Kingdom. All right, let's keep reading
that. Do not be deceived neither the
sexual immoral or the idolatry or the adulterers or the
infamous by perversion. These are people who like
dressed like a different sex and and then.
Also have relations with other types of.
Animals. OK, Nor those who practice
participate in homosexuality. Let's go on.
Nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards.
Nor revilers. Those whose words are used as
weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate or
slander. Welcome to Instagram and
Facebook. Nor swindlers.
Say Amen to that. So you understand, as a
believer, these are unacceptable conduct.
And this behavior is not inheriting the Kingdom.
And you can't say, well, Jesus loves me.
Well, Jesus does love you. Yeah, he loves you.
OK. He loves you so much he died for
you. Then he puts a new spirit in
you. Then he puts Holy Spirit in you.
And he's like, what's your problem?
Because I'm telling you, none of this is a part of my kingdoms.
Don't think you're going to do it on this side of the cross.
Now you're going to wash yourself in the blood and say,
here we go. We get to keep on.
Don't be deceived. The devil's deceived you that
it's OK? Well, yeah, but I, I, I was
doing that then. And he loved me.
Yeah, but you weren't even a part of his household.
So when he says change, repent, stop it.
Don't do it anymore. I can't Lord, I know.
That's why I'm going to give you a new spirit.
Cause the new one the new one can, the new one can the new one
can resist the new one. Can doesn't even want to.
But in order for that to participate, the new man's got
to say, bro, you're going to quit thinking like that about
women, right one? 2/3 That's something that
almighty men do just for those who are like, why did this guy
scream? OK, well, there's something they
want to, you know, give a praise.
They do that. Now listen again, you know,
people say this all the time, you know, Well, you know, you
can look as long as you don't touch, looking to send you
straight to hell. Jesus addressed that.
He says, you've heard it say thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say if you lust after a woman in your heart, you've
committed the sin of adultery. And all those religious people
knew that was a stoning. So again, what does the world,
how close can we get? How long, how much can we
protect? And Paul addresses this in
Romans 6. He says, shall we continue to
sin so that grace may abound? May it, may it, may it may it
never be. Why 'cause he's like, that's,
that's like an oxymoron. How could a new believer want to
sin? That's just a foreign concept in
the Kingdom the the nature of God.
God the Father has no lust problem and he has none of these
issues. His nature's pure from it.
And then he puts that nature in you.
You're a new creature in Christ. Now Jesus was tempted to do all
this, but he never did 1 of it 'cause his nature was alive to
God. And every time the temptation
comes, he's like, that's not what I do, that's foreign to my
nature. And because he kept his mind
renewed and then he kept his body in line, then he never
acted on any of those impulses, 'cause he had the power.
And we have that same power as a believer.
Let's go on. Nor swindlers will inherit or
have any share in the Kingdom of God.
Now who the Lord is saying this through the apostle Paul to the
church and this church here, the Corinthian church, they came out
of some really rough stuff. OK, I mean, some warped stuff.
I mean, parts of their worship to God was sexual immorality.
I mean, if we were a Corinthian church before we were born
again, there would be mass orgies happening right now.
That's what it looked like, Which means now there's a
physical pleasure that is happening a a level of, of
ecstasy. And this is like some honor to
God. And he's like, it's not, this is
not God, never intended that. That is not of God.
That's not his culture. That's not the behavior of God.
And he's saying we don't do this stuff.
Now listen, part of falling into sexual immorality is not
controlling your body. This is what we're saying.
You have to tell your body. You just don't act like you can
be with anybody. You want to you don't justify
and say, well, you know, I'm just, I just, you know, I think
that you know, me and them could do something great for the
Kingdom and you know, so you know, they say they love God.
I love God and you know. So we're going to get married
anyway. Well, one of the fruits is
self-control. I don't understand why that
fruits not happening and why you think it's OK to go ahead.
I mean, we could go on and on and on, right?
Well, how can I live somebody forever if I didn't test drive?
They're not cars people, right? Hallelujah, let's go on, he says
verse 11. And such were some of you before
you believe, but you were washed, woo, by the atoning
sacrifice of Christ. You were sanctified, set apart
for God and made holy. You were justified, declared
free of guilt in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
Holy Spirit of our God, the source of the believers new life
and changed behavior. Amen.
So everyone of us say, man, I was really good at First
Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9 and 10 once, but God, but God, I
said, but God, he changed me and now I'm changed.
I'm not going back. I'm not looking at what else can
I do? No, I have a different code of
ethics that operates within my life now because I'm a child of
God. And he freed me from that
because when I was in it, I knew it was bankrupt.
It was guilt. It didn't matter All that I did,
I never found myself. But once I found Jesus, I found
me. Now why would I hinder by
wanting to go back? But you understand, most people
I'm, I'm afraid, are not coming to the altar.
So to speak. Bowing before Jesus because they
want him to actually be Lord of their life.
They just want to do the things of the world without being
guilty of it and still go to heaven.
That's not salvation. That's not salvation.
Now, The thing is, is, yes, you can be born again and still fail
in these areas because until you do renew your mind, until you do
learn how to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
And we're going to see that verse here in a minute.
You can stumble and fall and make mistakes and God's patient,
but all the while the Holy Spirit in you saying, hey, hey,
hey, right. The Holy Spirit is never saying
to a born again male. She is fine, isn't she?
Now if you listen to me, we can get her home tonight.
The Holy Spirit will never say. That.
The Holy Spirit's like she does look good because God made her
and you need to see her as a woman of God has something
treasured, something precious, or he may say she may be pretty,
but she's not right for you. Well, how come she's not even
right with God and you can't be unequally yoked, bro.
Well, I'm going to go witness to her.
You can witness all you want to, but until she comes in the
Kingdom, she's not even a candidate.
Now that's what he's saying because he's not going against
that. So if you want to be patient,
which is the fruit of the Spirit until they get in the Kingdom,
great, be patient. But I've seen many that were not
patient and they went and then that person that wasn't in the
Kingdom, they were operating off a different operating system,
the old one, they that you as a believer came out of and they
tell you how nice you look, how good you smell.
They buy you stuff. They're doing everything.
Why? Because everything they're doing
is about I want to conquer you. I'll give you whatever you.
Want as long as I can get you? Yep, happens all the time and
then next thing you know, you know that marriage is.
Falling apart everything and you're like, well, I just
thought they I don't care what you think, stay with the word.
That's the problem. You're thinking wrong.
You should have repented, changed your thinking.
You should have listened to the Lord.
You should have waited and make them prove out they wanted to
actually go to church. Not to get in your pants, but
actually worship God. Yeah, there's many.
That show up in the church, say Amen anyway, Hallelujah.
I've come to, you know, develop relationships with people, get a
relationship with God, then he'll direct your steps to the
right relationships. So in the Kingdom there is a
code of ethics, and that's the standard or conduct established.
By the King for the behavior and social relationships of his
citizens. This is also the expectation of
the king regarding the values and moral standards the citizens
must adhere to. Then we just right here, he
said. Now, if you're doing this,
you're not even going to have a share.
So as a believer, when one of these opportunities come to
respond this way, we should say that is not behavior that shares
the Kingdom. So I must refrain.
And man, you're going to be highly tempted when social media
posts come blasted at you saying stuff that you're like, man, you
know, that's not true, I got to say.
Something, man, I'm going to tear.
I can't wait to tell people about them.
You need to say nothing unless you're authorized to actually
say something or you hear me. And most of you are not
authorized. Can I say that right?
And most people want to. Again, the Bible says if your
brother's in sin, go to him in private, so and so did something
wrong. All of Instagram world knows.
Now TikTok it all knows. And you ain't even talked to him
yet. That's violation of scripture.
That's not Kingdom living. It's not acceptable.
What we've done is we've allowed the grace of God to give us an
excuse to be ungodly, and that's not what God wants.
The grace of God actually empowers you to not be ungodly
when you yield to it by faith, because when you want to do it,
you're like Lord man and your flesh starts talking.
You're like, wait a minute, that's dead.
It doesn't owe me anymore. I've been redeemed from the law
of sin and death. There's no reason for the flesh
to be talking to me like this. So Lord, I activate the grace of
God on my life. Can't see it, but by faith, I
believe that you're because grace is multifaceted that
you're empowering grace right now will empower me to yield to
the spirit and respond your way and not the world's way say
Amen. So ethics is a set of moral
principles. These are principles of
governing conduct. So the first thing you need to
change in God's Kingdom is say is recognize.
This God's Kingdom is not the United States of America.
There the 1st Amendment in the Kingdom of God is not freedom of
speech. The First Amendment in the
Kingdom of God is say what the King says, because you have what
the King says, and the king speaks life, come on, say Amen.
Oh, Mama, I just want to say what it this was Jesus.
Jesus followed that amendment to T, he said.
I speak nothing on my own addition, but only what I hear.
I that's Kingdom. That's the First Amendment
right. But what do we do?
Don't tell me, I'll tell you. And no, that's, that's US talk.
That's a conduct being governed by the US.
Hey, man, we've allowed that to go to an extreme.
Now, the Founding Fathers never intended for freedom of speech,
meaning you say that you can openly going to kill somebody.
I mean, you understand it's against the law to go into a
public place and cry fire. There's laws against that, which
means you technically do not have the freedom of speech to do
that. I mean, there are defamation
laws, so it's not technically true.
You can say anything you want to say now.
You can, but you're going to be held accountable.
And in the Kingdom of God you will be held accountable not
because you have the freedom, it's because you have a free
will. Having a free will doesn't mean
freedom. Hallelujah.
Thank you Jesus, Galatians 516 to 25 says this.
We rolling on. But I say walk by the Spirit.
Say walk by the Spirit. Now this is telling you real
clear if you'll do this. The latter part of this verse
will. Happen.
The question when you're born again is how in the world do I
stop doing this? Why do I have to stop doing
this? You know, now I I can't do this.
Can't you're asking the wrong question.
The minute you're born again, like I'm going to walk by the
spirit. Now, the minute you make that
choice, guess what? You will not carry out the
desires of the flesh. So it's never a question of
well, can I do this thing? Walk by the spirit.
You're asking the wrong question.
And believers, you got to get smarter than this.
When people, well, you know, if you get born again, that means
you can't do no, no, no, no. I get to walk by the Spirit.
What's that mean? That means then I will not carry
out the desires of the flesh. It's a byproduct of the conduct
that governs my life of the Kingdom.
It's not hard. It's byproduct.
If I walk by the Spirit, I'm already not carrying out the
desires of the flesh. If I'm submitting to God, I'm
already resisting the devil. I don't resist the devil before
I submit to God. You try to resist the devil and
have no submission of God. He'll beat you up.
You try to not live by the flesh without walking by the spirit.
You're going to succumb to the flesh.
For the flesh sets its desires against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to
one another so that you may not do the things that you please.
One translation says it this way, that you're that there's
your spirit and flesh battle daily.
That just means when you say flesh, not your actual physical
body flesh. It is the ways of the world, the
nature of the world, the nature you left you still have within
your body and attachment because it's not yet glorified.
OK, two things that are sinful it can still try to influence,
and there's an enemy that will come to your soul realm even
after you're born again, because having the nature of God does
not stop the enemy's voice. If that was true, then he never
would have talked to Jesus or Adam and Eve before the fall,
nor would he have had the boldest to go up before the
throne in heaven or try to take over the throne, however.
They're not free from this conflict.
That means you're constantly having to deal with this.
But we already know this just 'cause there's a constant flesh
trying to pull on you, you will always beat it if you walk by
the sphere. Pretty simple, all right?
But if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the
law, meaning you're not trying to develop this relationship
with God and do it right. You're yielding to just what
God's doing and you get to do it right.
Let's go on now. The deeds of the flesh are are
RR Come on everybody R say it again.
Say it again. They are evident.
I don't know how believers are like justifying certain
behaviors. Well, you know, is it really the
flesh? When I was in youth ministry,
teenagers wanted to know how far they could go sexually before it
was considered sex. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
How far can you go? Well, you can't get past your
thinking. Touch is not.
Even if you've thought to touch, you've already blown it.
You've gone too far. That's it.
I can't tell you how many times teenagers will come say, yeah,
but you know, we never actually you in the Kingdom have crossed
over already and it's punishable.
It's punishable. So now the deeds of the flesh
are what It's very important because it's evident these
things which we're about to. This is evident.
This is not debatable conduct. This is not justifiable in this
is not situational conduct. Well, you know, as a believer,
sometimes you can't. No, you can't.
These are flesh evidences which are immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions.
I kind of wish I would have pulled a different translation.
You should pull some other ones. It's amazing how it kind of
breaks these down. Maybe.
I'll pop over real quick. Envying drunkenness, carousing
things like these. I mean, you understand,
believers debate how much alcohol they can drink before
it's drunkenness, which is amazing that the Lord said we'll
just flee the appearance of evil, right?
Well, what's that look like? Well, just don't even
participate. I understand.
At the end of the day, you understand a believer could it
once it's fail on any of these, once whatever, you know it, it
happens. But you know what the Holy Ghost
is doing right then he's not saying, hey, don't worry about
it. You're going to heaven.
He's not saying that. He's saying you need to repent
and ask God to forgive you. And you could be right, say, but
if I died right now, would I go to hell?
And he would say, obviously not, You're not a practicer, but
that's not the point. And again, the fact that you're
asking this question right now means you're in a bad spot
because now you're trying to debate with the author and
finisher of your faith, your life, the Creator, how much you
can do against his word. And he say it's OK.
He's not saying it's OK. He's never saying it's OK.
Because here's the crazy thing. When you are dead in your
trespasses and sin, Christ died for you.
But guess what? When you became a believer and
sinned as a believer, he still died for it.
So once again, if you do the flesh things as a believer, it
still put Jesus on the cross. It's not like it doesn't matter
now over here. No, I paid for that too.
It cost me my life. You think this is OK?
I died, so this doesn't have to happen.
I poured out my blood, so this is no longer a part of your
being because it's not going to be with me for eternity.
There will never be another time that this will be a problem in
the new heaven, new earth, never going to be a problem because
God will have weeded that out. Oh, Amen.
All right, so let's go on. Him being drunken is carousing
things of like which I forewarned you just as I have
forewarned you. That those who what practice
such things will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Now here's the going to be the big $100 question that really
you shouldn't be asking. But again, believers who want to
determine how much flesh can they still get around?
What is practice? Right, Let's practice.
Well, practice is practice. I mean is.
This a daily occurrence. Now I'm going to make a
statement that some religious Christians just they cringe when
I say this because they are firmly persuaded that they are a
Sinner saved by grace, which means they sin every day.
How can you be a believer and think it's OK to sin every day?
You can live a life in Christ to where you can be like, I don't
even remember the last time I had to say, Lord forgive me
because I listened to him in each situation and responded his
way by the Spirit and I did it his way, which is the righteous
way to do it. And I wasn't in sin every time I
I started walking those ways. Now, if you can start counting
things, well, guess what? You're probably practicing.
I mean, are you living a life? You're like, yeah, I I can't
even remember the last time I had an outburst of anger.
I can't remember the last time I was walking in unforgiveness.
I I mean, I, I cannot remember the last time I gossiped.
I cannot remember that I when's the last time I fornicated or
what? When's the last time I had
adultery? Yeah.
And I'm talking about and thought, Yeah, No, I can't.
I don't know. Well, guess what, You're not
practicing. Be like, you know, this happened
last week and you know, I did this and then, you know, there
was this and I asked God to forgive me and you know, I was
laying out from church for a little while because, you know,
the things I was doing, I wasn't feeling real comfortable.
You know how people get, you know, they're like, you know, I
just felt so uncomfortable. Repent then.
I mean, when you're right, do you feel uncomfortable when
you're living a righteous life? No.
You know what, someone you know, I just feel so uncomfortable.
You know, just they're talking about repent because if you're
not living those things, then there's really not a problem.
And here's the thing, it we're not we're, you know, I just felt
condemned. No, no, you're convicted by the
Holy Spirit. See, the church has thrown out
conviction and now only label it as condemnation.
It's what we did during COVID. There was no flu during COVID.
Flu the season before was huge. Everything else became COVID.
Now, do you believe that? Obviously not.
But there was money that subsidized.
So you understand no money for the common flu or I get money
for COVID. Bro, you got COVID.
Everybody had COVID and it paid to have COVID for certain
businesses. I mean, just look at the
statistics. I mean, it doesn't take rocket
science. Like I think everything's COVID
right now by label. Well, that's what's happened in
the church. Conviction has now only become
condemnation. And if you feel convicted, all
that church preaches condemnation and I'm not going
to be there. Will you keep living your
fleshly life? Because if you repented, you
wouldn't be feeling condemned anyway.
And the Bible can you can have self condemnation because it
says if your heart condemns you and if you're a believer, your
heart will condemn you in the context that it's like, what are
you doing? You're you're greater than.
This. And I'm greater than this in
you. Now.
Again, it's not a condemning of sentencing.
It really is more of a form of conviction.
But it says if your heart doesn't condemn you.
Does say that I guess we'll throw that scripture out because
it's not applicable for today's soft Christianity.
But we don't preach soft Christianity here.
We preach the Kingdom of God and how to be Christ like which is
true truly being a Christian to be Christ's light.
OK, so Jesus did not walk around and determine how much flesh he
could participate in and still be holy enough to die for us.
OK, so he said I forewarned you forewarned you just as I have
forewarned Jesus, which is this is not the first time he's had
this conversation with the Galatian church.
I'm, I'm telling you now, and I've already told you this, this
stuff, those who practice these things, they're.
Not going to inherit the Kingdom of God now if you find yourself
on something right now you're like man, I know something I'm
then just repent and by the grace of God, he will give you
the ability to overcome and renew your mind to overcome.
It happened. Hallelujah verse 23 gentleness.
OK, no, sorry 22 but the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace,
patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control against such things.
There is no law. Those now, those who belong to
Christ have what? Crucify the flesh with his
passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us
all sow. So again, you can't tell me that
you're a Christian and live according to the flesh.
If you're, if you're habitually doing that and touting that
you're a Christian, you're, you're, you're contradicting
Scripture now. Am I going to believe you that
what you're saying is permissible conduct?
This ethics, this governing conduct is acceptable now even
though the Lord has told me in 2 passages what conduct does not
inherit the Kingdom of God, Hallelujah.
Now again, I'm not saying that if somebody's in something, you
know that they're not going to go to heaven.
I'm just saying, I know the Holy Spirit saying you're, you need
to change. You need to change, You need to
quit living like this. You need to quit having this
behavior and they'll put people around you to help you do that.
But if you get prideful as a believer and say, you know, then
that's a not a good road to be on.
It's just not a good road to be on.
I mean, again, he saved you. So he could definitely continue
to change and empower you as a believer.
So why is this important? Let's go to the back of the
book. Revelation 21.
So then I saw now this is after
Jesus catches away the church. This is after Jesus comes back
to the earth, takes Satan and throws him in the bottomless pit
for 1000 years of which then Jesus physically reigns on the
planet for 1000 years, then releases Satan who deceives
nations to try to come against him, of which then Jesus
conquers them all. Then he death or the grave gives
up the dead. All those who never called on
the name of Jesus will go to heaven to be judged at the great
White Throne Judgment, of which he will not find their name in
the Lamb's book of life. But he will open up other books
that are all the recorded trespasses or things that broke
his laws, His word, and they'll be judged according to those.
And he'll say, depart from me, I never knew you.
And he'll cast them into the prison of the Kingdom, which is
called the lake of fire, which is the second death.
And they will be eternally, eternally separated from God
where they will be in torment. Any created being angels that
had fallen and the devil himself will be cast into the lake of
fire. Then death will go there as
well. It will never have any freedom
to roam, which means death will no longer exist.
It will only exist in the prison system called the the second
death or the lake of fire. So this is after all this has
taken place. Then John the Apostle said I saw
a new heaven and a what now? This a mess up so much theology
today because everybody like we're going to live in heaven
forever. Not according to the Bible.
I saw a new heaven and new earth for the 1st heaven and the first
earth passed away and there was no longer any sea.
Now passed away doesn't mean cease to exist because the Bible
says you're a new creature in Christ.
Old things have all passed away, all things have become.
Yet when you became born again, you didn't leave the planet.
But your spirit man that was dead to God did leave you, and a
new one came on the inside. The old passed away.
This body still here, mine's still there, but we have a new
spirit eventually. We have a completely renovated
mind, godly mind, and a godly body, glory to God.
So we're going to have a whole new heaven and earth now, not
3rd heaven where God is, but first and 2nd heaven.
Let's go on verse 2. And I saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a
bride adorn for her husband. Then to the rest of this the the
majority of the rest of this chapter is talking about the New
Jerusalem and what it looks like verse 5 and he.
Who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things
new. And he said right.
For these words are faithful, and what are they faithful and
true? Verse 6 Then he said, it is
done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, and I give to the one who thirsts from
the springs of life without cost.
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his
God, and he will be my son. But but for the cowardly and
unbelieving and abominable and murderers.
And immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all
liars, their part will be in the lake of fire that burns.
Come on, are you hearing this? That burns with fire and
brimstone, which is the second death.
So guess what? Will not be a part of the new
heaven, new earth, these conducts.
So why do we think in this time that it's an acceptable conduct?
It's not an acceptable conduct. Why do we think God is like,
this is OK and it's not OK? And here's the thing, when
you're born again, you're new anyway.
This is what's amazing. You know, I'm not, I'm not
putting on for God. God put on a new self in me and
then I put all the new self in my mind and my body and I want
to because I want to please him, because I love him, because he's
amazing. I said he's amazing.
Man, let me wrap this up. I do want to look at this verse
because I felt like I read it in a different translation.
So if you give me just a second to look this up in this other
verse, the amplified said it this way, verse 8.
But As for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable who
are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice
or tolerate immorality, and murderers and sorcerers with
intoxicating drugs, and idolaters and occultists who
practice and teach false religion, and all the liars who
knowingly deceive and twist truths, their part will be in
the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death. The good news is we get to live
this conduct now. This is what's so exciting,
right? And again, it should be.
It should be evident you're not of this world should be evident.
All right, let's drop down to the 24th verse real quick.
Revelation 2124 says this. The nations will walk by its
light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory
into it in the daytime, for there will be no night there.
It's gates will never be closed. The new Jerusalem.
All right. Because Jesus is there and God
the Father is on planet earth. Now you go live in heaven all
you want to, but I'm staying on the planet where God is.
Now, that doesn't mean. God won't assign us things into
heaven. I'm not saying that, but I'm
just saying the Bible is very clear.
The Father and the Son both come to planet earth with Jerusalem.
Wow. And he goes on and says, and
nothing. Verse 27, Look at this or verse
26 and they will bring their glory and honor to of the
nations into it. Verse 27 and nothing.
Unclean. And no one who practices
abomination and lying shall come into it, but only those whose
names are written in the Lamb's book alive.
Why? Because those who are of those
conducts have been cast into the lake of fire, which is the
second death. They can never enter because
they can never get out. No parole, no parole.
Too late to repent now. All right.
Last verse. Is this Revelations 22?
We we read the end of the book. This is awesome.
Revelation 2212 to 15 says as behold is amplified.
I Jesus am coming quickly and my reward is what do you believe
he's coming Hallelujah to give to each one according to the
merit of his deeds. Earthly works, faithfulness and
these are the works you've done in Christ by obedience.
That's a faith work. Verse 13.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the 1st and the last beginning
and the end of the Eternal One. Blessed that's happy,
prosperous, to be admired, are those who wash their robes in
the blood of Christ by believing and trusting in Him.
The righteous who do His commandments so that they may
have the right to the tree of life.
They may enter by the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs. The godless, the impure, those
of low moral character, and the sorcerer's with their
intoxicating drugs and magic arts, and the immoral persons,
the perverted, the molesters and the adulterers and the murderers
of the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying,
deception, cheating. See that conduct isn't there
'cause it's in the lake of fire. Guess what?
He should not be a part of his church today because we're holy.
Holiness is not a cuss word. It should be embraced, should be
excited. I mean, really what you see is
like, praise God, I can do this because it's my nature.
Now that's what you have to have faith.
I can do this. Praise God, I do not have to
live away and have a lifestyle and a conduct that would get you
thrown into the lake. I have been delivered.
I have been set free. Come on, worship you.
I have been set free, I have been delivered.
I'm no longer of that conduct culture anymore.
I have been set free once and for all.
I have a different spirit in me, the Spirit of God.
My spirit has been made righteous.
I've been justified, sanctified, set apart unto God.
And that doesn't matter whether you're older person or a young
person. The minute you're born again,
you're set up. You just have to live it by
faith. And that just means, you know,
you don't go places like you used to anymore.
You're like, well, I'm different.
And if you're longing for them, then you may want to stop and
say, dizzy, really Lord of my life, because when he's Lord,
there's a fight. Don't get me wrong.
I mean, it's discipline. Don't get me wrong, I, I read,
but you have the power, the Holy Ghost on the inside, your
greatest teacher, he is your counselor.
He's the one that's the one that's that's guiding you and
saying, come on, you can do this.
Get up, let's go. Come on, read that word.
Go ahead, pray in the spirit a little bit.
Come on, get into church. Go ahead, fight.
Let me give you your purpose. Let me get you to come and walk
out this plan. Go ahead, serve some more.
Come on, let me empower you. Go ahead, lay hands.
Look at the power in you that I've given.
I mean, he does all these things.
You're like, man, I'm never going back, I'm never going
back, never going back, 'cause it go back loses an inheritance
and I'm not going to lose it.