Embracing Spiritual Transformation: Overcoming Carnality Together

"About a year and a half ago, I went to my Christian counselor like I normally do, and we usually start off our sessions. He says, Ken, how are you? But for whatever reason on this day, I flipped a question. I said, how is everything with you? And my counselor, who was 73 years old at the time and has been through a lot in his life, he looked at me with tears in his eyes, and he said, I'm in a sweet place with Jesus. Jesus, I'm in a sweet place with Jesus. And for whatever reason, that phrase stuck in my spirit. And I went home that day, and I said, man, when I'm 73 years old, after I've been through a lot in my life, I don't want to be broken, and I don't want to be bitter, and I don't want to be deconstructing my faith. I want to be tender and humble and able to say, I'm in a sweet place with Jesus." [00:06:46]

"For the good that I will to do, I don't do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it's no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members. This word members means my flesh or my body. Remember that. And it's warring against the law of God. And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin and death, which in my flesh." [00:02:47]

"Now, I'm going to be truthful in here. For me, for 10 years of my life, I lived as a Christian atheist. I defined that as a person who believes in God but lives like he doesn't exist. I was just like Paul. I knew what was right to do, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't do it. Matter of fact, I was the kind of person, I would make up excuses for my sin so I can continue in it. I would say things like, well, God is a forgiving God. And so I say he forgave me. So I would make deals with myself, not holy deals, but you know how you, instead of just putting something in your mouth, you're going to make a deal with yourself. And so I would make deals with sin on the altar. I would negotiate with me. I would say things like, I'm going to go out tonight, but not drink." [00:04:45]

"Some of you all have that kind of relationship with Jesus, where you take him off when it's uncomfortable and you put him back on when it is comfortable. You take them off so you can do what you wanted to do. And that's, that's the, that's the foundation of just religion. That's not relationship at all. That's not Christianity at all. Christianity is not you making an excuse to continue in sin. It's the power to get you set free from sin. It is not the excuses that we make. Oh, I'm just a man and so forth and so on. No, the real message of the gospel is that Jesus came to set you free from sin. And so I would make deals with myself, not holy deals, but I would make deals with myself to get you set free from sin and death." [00:05:45]

"You got three major enemies that we all have to overcome as believers. Number one, it's Satan. Number two, it's the world. Number three, it's your flesh. And many times we blame everything in our life on the Satan, and he's not the only enemy. You have Satan, I know, he's a bad guy. He's the author of confusion. He's the thief. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Then he has demons that do his bidding. The demonic realm is real, but that's not your only enemy. Then you have the world. Everybody say the world. The world is the social systems that are not godly. It's not the earth. The earth is the planet, but the world are the social systems that are secular inside of the planet. It is what is politically correct, but it's not biblically correct. It is that which people say it's not a big deal, but the Word of God says that it is a big deal. It's the things that people say, oh, you only live once, go ahead and do whatever you want to do, but the Word of God tells us not to do what we want, but to do what he wants. It is the social systems that are against Christ. It is an anti-Christ culture." [00:07:17]

"Salvation is an event, say it with me. Salvation is an event. At the end of service today, I can say, hey, do you wanna surrender your life to Jesus? You'll lift your hand, you'll confess Christ as Lord. What happens? All of a sudden, you're born again. Your name is found in the Lamb's Book of Life. You are a child of God. You go from being a child of the devil to a child of God just like that. But here's the problem. Your spirit wants to do what's right, but your soul and body is still stuck on the world. And this is where too many believers, you stop in your Christianity praying something that you don't live out. You say, Jesus, I surrender my life to you, but because your soul and also your flesh still wants to go the wrong way, let's go, you end up bringing Jesus to the world." [00:12:05]

"Transformation comes from a Greek word metamorpho, where we get our English word metamorphosis. The imagery is a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It doesn't happen overnight, but through the process. So salvation is an event, but transformation is a process. I hope you're with me today. Salvation is an event, but sanctification is a process. Salvation is an event, but renewing your mind is a process. And so why does the devil want you to get saved and go home, get saved and then not have community, get saved and not read your Bible? Because he understands that when you renew your mind through the process, the metamorpho, that you're being changed into spiritual mindedness, that you have the mind of Christ, because when you get the mind of Christ, you'll get the result of Christ. Are y 'all with me? That don't happen overnight." [00:14:57]

"Every day I'm in my word. Every day I'm thinking about the things of God. As much as I can possibly come to church, I'm putting myself in spiritual environments. If you've got a conference, I'm there. If you've got a missions trip, I'm there. If you've got a small group, I'm there. Why? Because I'm making investments into my soul. And there's a principle that when two are in agreement, the third has to follow. Unfortunately, many believers live like this, where they're soul, mind, and soul. And when two are in agreement, the third has to follow. And their flesh is in agreement, and they drag their spirit back into the world. But this is the year of communion where we're going to do some different things. Somebody say amen." [00:16:16]

"Jesus had a flesh, but he didn't sin because he had the power of the spirit to override the dictates of the flesh. If you walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. What you watch on TV can feed this guy. The music you listen to can feed this guy. Hang with other fleshy people can feed this guy. You can't feed this guy. You got to starve this guy and feed your spirit. It's with God. It's with God. It's with God. But I've been pastoring now for 17 plus years. And what I've noticed is that many people start off this way and they live this way for a year, five years, 25 years. At midweek, we looked at King Asa who sought the Lord for 35 years." [00:17:30]

"Six months, y 'all. Come on. Six months. Delete some stuff. Come on. Six months. Come on. Take down. We don't need to see all that. That's messing us up. We don't need to see that. Your husband need to see that. Your wife need to see that. We don't need to see that. Just trying to get somewhere. I don't want to see that. What is that? That. That's all it is. You're not the worst person in the world. You're in a fallen world and nobody's ever told you to crucify your flesh and build up your spirit." [00:33:33]

"Maybe it's a decision...and this is what I saw in the Spirit. I saw people making commitments to Jesus today to put vices on the altar and to renounce ungodly behaviors, that the Spirit of God to break chains is here today, that God doesn't want you to go and continue in your life with strong holds and bondage and things that you're carrying that has not come from his kingdom. So can we just take a moment and you get before the Lord? Not about the person you came with, just between you and Jesus. Could you just...kind of close your eyes and maybe put your hands up to the Lord and just, well, let me ask you a question. How many of you all are here today and you know there's something in your life that shouldn't be in your life? Let me see if I show hands. Anybody here? Tons of hands going up everywhere. Can we get it right today?" [00:35:56]

"Since that happened, you feel like your life is broken. You feel like your life is broken. Life is in shambles, but God has a way to take the broken stones of the yesteryear and build a glorious temple for the future. There's something beautiful about mosaics. I feel the spirit of the Lord beginning to put back mosaics today, meaning that he's going to take the things that have been forgotten. He's going to give you beauty for ashes, and he's going to rebuild the things that's been broken down. Who's that for today? There's been some abandonment. Maybe there's a father or a mother that wasn't there like they should have been there. A best friend that you gave everything for, but then they... Betrayed you and lied about you. What about the rejection? I even hear the word labels. Maybe there's a label that the world has put on you, and in your sexuality, they have labeled you this, but God didn't call you that. They labeled you a misfit. They labeled you a mistake. They labeled you that you wasn't good enough. You're too white. You're too black. You're too fat. You're too skinny. You're too tall. You're too ugly. You're too pretty. You're too dumb. You're too silly. You got to send all those labels back to hell where they came from, and you're not labeled by the world system. You've been created by God. You've been created by God. You've been created by God. You've been called out of darkness by God himself, and he calls you beautiful and fearfully and wonderfully made, that you are his beloved, that you are a chosen generation, a holy priesthood." [00:37:24]