The Battle Within

Pray

Well A Florida man was bitten on the leg by an unexpected visitor: An alligator waiting right outside his door. Daytona Beach resident Scot Hollingsworth was watching TV when he heard a bump at the door. He said, “I jumped up and headed over and opened the door, stepped out while trying to reach the lights and barely got out the door and got my leg clamped on and (it) started shaking really violently. I suspect I surprised the alligator as much as he surprised me.”

He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries from the nine-foot gator.

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that people should always keep a safe distance from alligators. You should also keep pets on a leash, swim only in designated areas during daylight hours, and never feed an alligator.

The commission also explains on their website that Floridians can anticipate seeing more alligators than usual as the weather warms up. The reptiles are also most active between dusk and dawn.

Florida is home to a total of around 1.3 million alligators, according to the commission’s website. The agency routinely euthanizes so-called “nuisance” gators, which are four feet long or larger and pose a threat to people or wildlife. The commission says relocated alligators will usually try to Returnto the site where they were captured and continue to create problems, so they must be euthanized or rehomed to zoos or wildlife rescues.

We hear this story this morning… Anyone enjoy vacationing to the beaches of Florida? Yeah, how bout this, would anyone enjoy maybe going an airboat tour in the everglades… Yeah, it’d be fun right? Maybe…

But for many of us, hopefully all of us… We wouldn’t enjoy going to Florida, and being surprised by a face-to-face, 9 ft alligator. Right? That wouldn’t make our trip… And yet, where did the problem start for this Florida resident…. How did the alligator get in, or attack him? Yeah, it was an open door.

You see, here’s the problem… When there’s an open door… There’s room for attack… You keep the door closed…. there’s no way in.

So, we’re going to look at these doors in our lives… and keeping them closed… Only the door into our life this morning, isn’t a wooden or metal door… rather, it’s our minds.

You see for some of us this morning. We’re under attack. Maybe it’s a new attack that has recently ensued… Maybe we’ve been battling the attack of sin for years… and we can’t seem to find a way out… Perhaps we’re doing fine, and the next thing you know… it’s like WHAM! What changed? The attack comes… For others of us… Maybe it’s a habit of anxiety, or stress, or fear… but as we leave these doors open, or closed, it affects the outcome of our lives.

If you have your bibles, turn with me to the book or Romans 12. We’re going to talk about winning the battle in our mind this morning. And there are 3 things, which, if we choose to put them in practice… will greatly affect the quality and condition of our lives. Victory requires: 1. The Holy Spirit 2. Holy Word. 3. Holy War (Must take action, not laissez faire)

1. Victory requires the Holy Spirit

Romans 12:1-2

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Stop and consider the text. You’ll recall that God is using Paul is writing to the Roman Church a church that Paul at this point has yet to visit... and after discussing salvation, extensively through the first 11 chapters. Paul transitions to the idea of Holy living and the blessings that ensue from holy living.

And here’s what we’ll notice in the first 2 verses, there’s a premise… and a promise. If you’ll do this… this will happen as a result… Carter, if you’ll take out the trash this week, I’ll give you $5. Taylor, if you’ll watch your siblings so your mom and I can go grab groceries, I’ll take you to get an ice cream later…

There’s a premise and a promise… The premise, is this… Verse 2 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the premise is this… be transformed by the renewing of our minds… Transformed being the Greek word: metamorphoō. From which we get our English word Metamorphosis… Or a change in outward appearance.

But if you change the inward appearance, if there’s an inward transformation, then the outward will naturally take place. Like last week, you start with the root to address the fruit.

The promise is Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is; his good, pleasing and perfect will

The point being, if we buy into the premise… If we meet the conditions. We can test and approve what God’s will is for our lives… His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

I think of a loved one passing away, and in there will there passing down (hopefully) something from them to you… So too, God is passing down from Him to you, his will which is Good, pleasing and perfect.

And if we allow ourselves to be transformed in our mind, then the result is his will,

But here’s the problem… We get this concept this morning. We understand as it says in Galatians 6:7…

A man reaps what he sows But… if we realize that Good, will result from a submitted life, If we realize that as we die to self, as we are a living sacrifice. If we realize Good will come from this… what gets in the way?3 LETTER Word. S.I.N

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Rom 7:15-20

Paul goes on to say Rom 7: 22-23 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! ...

Here’s the point… Paul is speaking to the Roman Church. And he’s telling them to be transformed in their minds… because that’s epicenter of the operation. That’s where the battle (or the war) is won or lost.

So, we want the good life, the pleasing life, the perfect life… That’s the will passed down from the father to the child… Yet the terms of the contract demand a mind and a body, that is submitted to Christ, that is transformed. And yet, we call it what it is, it is a war… How do you win the war?

I want to take us through 3 things we can do in our life, in this war. To win this war in our mind… First and foremost, the Power of the Holy Spirit.

If we go back to verse 1 for a moment, I want us to look at the word urge. We’re told:

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Urge, In the Greek is the word Parakaleō: Means to come alongside in order to help.

John 14:15-16 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

Advocate, or some of your translations will say helper. Is the same Greek word parakaleo… You see, here’s the key. The victory, for the battle in your mind, is not a dependency on you…and your might and strength. but on the Holy Spirit. Right? 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Zech.

You see I’m reminded of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, North Carolina. Due to its proximity to some of the Atlantic's most beautiful beaches, when visitors come to Havelock, the first thing they hear usually isn't the ocean's waves; it's the roar of fighter jets. Since 1940, the sound of jet engines have echoed through the local skies—from the attack planes used during World War II to the piercing whine of today's sleek Harrier or Intruder jets. But the Marines from Cherry Point don't mind the noise. As a matter of fact, the entrance to Cherry Point has a large sign that reads: "Pardon our noise. It's the sound of freedom."

A military website explains, "Those sounds are music to the ears of the Marines who fight on the ground, for there is nothing Marines like better than to have Marine artillery behind them, Marine intelligence in front of them, and Marine aircraft overhead."

Here’s the point, the marines may be powerful by themselves, but there’s no comparison to the support system they have. Church, today you have a support system. You have a helper, an advocate. The Holy Spirit. In your struggle in your mind… the battle is won, first by going to him. Going to God in prayer. Relying on the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.

2. Victory requires the Holy Word

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

As we go back to the scripture, we’re told in verse 1 to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship

I want to stop and focus on the idea of offering our bodiesfor a brief moment. You see the word to offer, or some of your translations will say to present. Means: to place something besides, or near.

And this term was often used as a technical term for a priest placing an offering on the alter.Therefore, it carries with it the idea of surrendering and offering before the Lord.

Now it’s important to understand the cultural thinking of the time. You see Greek Philosophy dominated the Roman world. And so, as Paul writes to the Roman Church, he addresses them head on and challenges their thinking. Part of their thinking was that the spirit, or soul of a person is inherently good, but that the body was inherently evil.

And because the body was evil, and would die eventually anyway. They used this philosophy to help explain away their evil behavior. They reasoned that their body was naturally evil, and so, they were fine… they could do whatever they wanted, because well, there body was bad… “Bad to the bone.”

So again, there philosophy, bad body, good inner being… You can’t control your body anyway… so do what you want… Sounds like a convenient thinking right?

And so, Paul addresses this mentality and tells them, they are to take their body… and lay it down. Put it on the alter. So that there would be a sense of Holiness.

To contrast this evil ideology. We know that the body, is controlled by the mind. Control the mind, control the body. Just like a ship requires a captain… The ship doesn’t tell the captain where to go, right? The Captain is the one at the helm. The captain drives the ship. So too with our minds, control the mind, control the body.

But here’s the key. If a person is to lay down their bodies sacrificially, and lay down their minds… There must be a standard. We’re told 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Now mind you, the acts of the world are obvious… Right? Galatians 5:19-21 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But how do you know the difference between the word and the world… How can you be transformed, by the renewing of your mind… Need to know… The Word of God

Psalm 119:11 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I want to transition then, with the value of the word in mind… to a book that I think you’ll find is helpful in your own life. Pastor Craig Groeschel. The founder of life church and a new York times best seller writes a book entitled winning the war in your mind.

3. Victory requires a Holy War (Must take action)

I want to read an excerpt from his book… Tell help us appreciate his insight… and then discuss his principle in more detail.

Winning the war in the mind

declaration statement (1,2,3?)

Craig Groschel explains (83-85)

Here’s the point. We take the lie… And we replace it. With truth. The truth is the antidote to the lie.

But then as the old thoughts try to creep in… we remind ourselves of the word of God in our lives.

Craig Groschel. (bottom of 87-91)

Practice this on your own?

We’re called to take action. We’re told 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor 10:5

Call the worship team up at this time.

· Holy Spirit

· Holy Word

· Holy War.