I am not my own
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Last week we talked about Pentecost and needing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Wednesday we told you that we need the Holy Spirit to overcome racial, gender, ethnic and any type of prejudice in our society all over the world.
Three weeks ago, I began a series called YOUR NEXT STAGE UPGRADE. We looked at a spiritual upgrade, a soul or emotional upgrade and today, we will look at the Physical Upgrade.
Look at the verse I used a couple of weeks ago…
23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Today we are looking at taking care of our bodies. I lost about 11 pounds through the lock down… because we ate healthy and I exercised more… But Ya’ll know I like to eat, but I am changing the way I look at food and eating. We adopted the motto, “How little can I eat?”
Keeping our bodies under control is more than eating and weight.
If you struggle, you are in good company
If you struggle, you are in good company
Paul
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?
Every time we get out of control in the area of our bodies, we feel shame… like Paul.
I want us to look at three areas we need to control our bodies. we will need the power of the Holy Spirit to do this.
Addiction
Addiction
Any time you continually do anything that you want to stop but can’t.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
We cannot let anything master us.
You may think that you don’t have anything mastering you… Let’s see...
Can you go one week without it?
Can you go one week without it?
Can you do without social media… certain food or drink… TV…
Is it leading you to even greater isolation?
Is it leading you to even greater isolation?
When you do stuff you don’t want to do, you will do it alone.
Do you arrange your schedule around it?
Do you arrange your schedule around it?
Are you thinking of when you can do it...
Are you trying to keep it a secret?
Are you trying to keep it a secret?
You are as sick as your secrets...
Debauchery
Debauchery
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Extreme indulgence in sensuality
Extreme indulgence in sensuality
It doesn’t need to be a bad thing… you are just doing too much of it… Eating… it’s the extreme that hurts you.
Don’t get to the place where you just give up and let your body call the shots.
Sexual Immorality
Sexual Immorality
This went up during the lockdown time.
Any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage between a man and a women.
In the original Greek, sexual immorality is this word…
Porneia
Porneia
This is the word Porn comes from. There are a lot of porn companies that are giving a lot of their stuff for free in Spain and France and we will be next. They do this to get people hooked.
Porn desensitizes us to sexual abuse.... more violent… higher likely hood of dysfunctional relationships.
Average age kids are expose - 11
The Bible addresses this…
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
How do we get back on track? How can we begin to control our flesh in these and other areas?
I am not my own
I am not my own
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
Here are three truths that will help you and me to keep our bodies under control and get our next stage upgrade.
1. My body is the place where God lives
1. My body is the place where God lives
Your body is the Sanctuary… God lives in each of us.
One of the ways we take care of this sanctuary is by what we allow into it… What we allow in impacts us big time.
The number one place we can control is our eyes.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
If you can manage one area of our body, we can make a difference.
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
To be dominated means you are thinking about it.
Here is the application.
Action Step: Detox
Action Step: Detox
Whatever you are struggling with… go without it for a week. Social Media… food… TV…
2. My body belongs to God.
2. My body belongs to God.
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
I belong to Jesus and because of that, I ask him permission to do anything to this body.
Look what Paul says about this…
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.
Whatever you are doing… gambling, lusting, sin.... know that God is merciful…
Give God your body…whatever you are doing to God.
How do you do that? How do you say God, my body is yours?
Action Step: Worship
Action Step: Worship
When we worship God, we are giving him ourselves.
My body was made to honor God
My body was made to honor God
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
We have talked about what we need to stop doing. But the secret to a living relationship with God is really about what we start doing.
One of the secrets to getting our bodies under control is to realize our purpose. Look…
13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
We can give our bodies to God.
Action Step: Purpose
Action Step: Purpose
You have a purpose… to honor God.
The way to stay pure is to have something in our lives that’s bigger than what our flesh wants.
Closing
David
… a man after God’s heart
He made mistakes… Bathsheba… Here is David, ancestor to Jesus … sinning
1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
The whole reason the sin with Bathsheba occured is because David was not doing what he was supposed to be doing. There are people who are struggling with things because they have had to be home, and not out doing what you are purposed to do…
Confess to God
9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Pray....