Skip to content

The River ChurchSermons

The Spirit

The Spirit - Sets Us Free

Lee Hotchkiss · Sunday, 3 August 2025 · Romans 8:1-8 · 50:50 · 7,645 words

Romans S15 · 8:1-8

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Romans 8 is unpacked as a message for believers who feel stuck in repeated sin and condemnation. Lee Hotchkiss explains that Paul’s admission of helplessness points to the gospel: we cannot free ourselves, but Jesus has paid the penalty and stands as our defense attorney. The sermon challenges listeners to stop defending themselves, accept Christ’s forgiveness, and walk in the Spirit. It also urges those who have not yet believed to confess Jesus as Lord and trust in his resurrection for salvation.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

spirit 62 sinful 20 doritos 6 flesh 30 message 21 attorney 7 lee 6 trial 9 walk 31 fleshly 6 first 28 peter 11

Topics

The Holy Spirit 16 Sin 11 The Flesh 6 Condemnation 4 The Law 4 The Gospel 4 Hope 2 Faith 2 Freedom 1 Grace 1

Scripture referenced 27

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8:1-8 3:15 Romans 8:1-8 3:57 Romans 8 5:43 Romans 8:1-8 5:47 Romans 7 5:50 Romans 8:1 6:00 Romans 7 6:24 Romans 8 6:24 Romans 7:15-16 6:31 Romans 7 8:09 Romans 7:24-25 8:09 Romans 8:1 15:15 Romans 8 15:55 Romans 8 16:36 Romans 8 16:58 Romans 3 18:23 Romans 3:3 19:42 Hebrews 4:15-16 20:12 Romans 4:15-16 20:23 Romans 8:4 21:50 Romans 5 26:51 Matthew 16 27:46 Matthew 16:13-17 27:59 Romans 5:20 29:25 Romans 5:13 30:32 Romans 5:21 30:32 Isaiah 55:8 42:36

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:41. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Dave Hudgens, and thanks for checking out today's message.

We are so glad that you're here, and we want to connect with you and your family.

The easiest way to do that is to text RIVERCONNECT to 97000.

There, we can answer your questions and even help pray for you.

You can also visit our website at theriverchurch.cc to learn more about us and what we have going on as a church.

Finally, if you want to support the work we are doing here at the River Church financially,

please head to our website and click on the Give tab at the top of the page.

Or, you can text the amount you want to give to the number 84321.

Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

So this is going to be the trick on the new guy.

Was this Justin? Okay.

Well, I wasn't going to tell about Justin's story from first gathering, but now I'm going to.

Thank you, sir.

You feel a little bit vulnerable when you're, the first time that you're speaking somewhere

and there's nowhere to put your stuff during the first gathering.

I wasn't going to make fun of Justin, I'm not, he's a great guy.

You know what, let's give Justin a round of applause, he does a great job.

So, we had, during our first gathering, I was just observing everything and it was getting time for announcements

and I see this flash of blue, literally the flash of blue running across the back

and then running down this ramp, Justin was probably doing something else, and I realized it's time for announcements.

And by the time he got up here, he was out of breath trying to give announcements.

And it was actually quite comical for me.

To be able to sit back and watch somebody else struggle.

But he did wonderful this last time.

So, well, good morning, River Church.

My name is Lee Hotchkiss.

I'm, I, I always feel funny, like, I come from the Holly location.

So, I'm a deacon over there at Holly and just absolutely honored to be able to be here with you today.

Pastor Jason is out on vacation and I'm assuming a very well-deserved vacation with family and friends.

And I, I actually, I was thinking back that Waterford is one of the very first times that I came to, to the river.

And I think I was, I keep on, there were different chairs.

You guys have new chairs here, I believe.

Yeah, they're beautiful.

There were different chairs.

I was sitting, like, right over here with my wife.

And I just remember crying my eyes out for, like, 45 minutes during the service and thinking, I'm a mess.

I don't even really want to come back to this building ever again.

This may be why we went to Holly.

I don't know, because I just cried the whole time.

But it's really great to be here with you guys today.

And just thinking about, right, we say this all the time, that we are truly one church, right?

Not even just the river, but the body of Christ.

And it's, it's so great to be able to spend time with some of my, I say, my extended family here.

And really get to see some of the people that, that I've met over the years.

And just pleased to be here with you guys today.

We're going to start, we're going to start here reading Romans chapter 8, verse 1 through 8.

And then I'm going to pray.

But the book of Romans has just been really great to be able to walk through.

I was talking with my father-in-law last night, until late in the night, actually.

And he said, hey, Lee, what are you preaching on?

And I said, we're, we're working through the book of Romans.

And he said, hey, if you guys can figure out the book of Romans, just chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10.

If you can get a handle on that, that's all you need, right?

Like, just, it clearly, clearly defines and lays out the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And it's exciting to be able to.

To be with you guys today and walk through that.

All right, Romans chapter 8, verse 1 through 8.

It says,

And so, he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us,

who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what the nature desires.

But those who live according, accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind of, but the mind controlled by the Spirit of life and peace.

the sin of

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you, Lord, for this day.

I do thank you, Lord, that this is the day that you have made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

I thank you, Father God, for the ability to come and speak your word, Lord.

But I thank you, Father God, that it is your word, not mine.

Thank you, Father, that I can step aside, Lord, and just let your Holy Spirit flow today.

Lord, I just pray peace over everyone here, Lord.

And I thank you, Father God, that our hearts would be opened up in Jesus' name.

And everybody said, Amen.

All right.

So Romans chapter 8.

Keep on getting them.

Romans chapter 8, 1 through 8.

I want to take a step back through just a couple of verses in chapter 7.

Because we see in the first verse of chapter...

Romans 8, 1.

We see the word, therefore.

And therefore really is more than just a transition word here.

Right?

It is telling us to look towards what we're about to read based on what Paul had just uncovered or just clearly laid out to us.

But it's also really a bridge between despair and hope in Paul's life.

You can clearly see a different mindset in chapter 7 than you do in chapter 8.

In Romans chapter 7, 15 and 16, it says this.

Anybody ever felt that way?

All right.

I do not understand my own actions, for I do what I do not want to do.

But I do everything that I hate.

Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.

We see Paul here struggling with this internal battle, right?

Like, I think we all can be on this page.

Probably 99% of our life where it's just like, I don't know why I have these thoughts.

I don't know why I deal with this anger.

I don't know why I deal with these outbursts.

I don't know why I deal with these patterns in my life.

I don't want to do these things.

Right?

I don't want to commit these sins.

That's not something that makes me feel good.

In fact, it makes me feel condemned or guilty or you fill in the blank.

Yet, I continue to do these things.

And we've got the apostle Paul sitting here saying,

I'm struggling with these exact same battles.

He loves God's law, but he's struggling with sin and the human nature that comes along with that.

And he's just distraught in his process here trying to figure out, like,

I want to do these things, but I end up doing the opposite.

I know the opposite is wrong, but I continue to do it.

Why do I continue to do this?

And in chapter 7, verse 24 and 25,

we kind of see still him in a very distraught thought process,

but his mind begins to be illuminated as to what the problem is.

It says,

Okay, that represents you guys.

All right?

Wretched man that you are.

I can put myself in that.

My wife's sitting over there.

She'd say, that represents you as well.

So, wretched man that you are.

So, Paul is realizing,

I am the problem.

Who will deliver me from this body of death?

So, what is he?

You can start to see his mind processing this.

Like, I don't have the ability to help myself.

Who's going to help me?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, then I myself serve the law of God with my mind,

but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

We see Paul really expressing his brokenness here.

And we see that he's,

you know, what happens as we try to overcome sin in our own ways.

We just, we continue to run against this wall.

And I think that's probably,

this message today is so for the believer.

It's not that this message isn't for the unbeliever,

but this message to me is just for everyone who's sitting here is like,

why do I just keep on running into the same wall over and over again?

In my marriage, with my kids, at my job, at my house, in my life.

Why do I continue to do this?

And if you are a believer who continues to have these frustrations,

this message is for you today.

Paul is crying out for rescue in this situation and it comes immediately and that deliverance

comes through Jesus Christ. And this is the gospel message. This is the gospel message, a

recognition that I can no longer do it. I need a savior. I am a sinful man and I cannot overcome

this sin and I need a savior. And the answer is Jesus. And there's only one answer and that's

Jesus Christ. And Paul is giving us these words saying Jesus and Jesus alone are the answer.

And the gospel of Jesus, it's much more than hope. The gospel of Jesus is the only hope.

There's lots of hopes out there. I hope I win the lottery. I hope I don't get, you know,

trip coming up these stairs this morning. That would sink. I hope that when I walk up on the

stage, there's something for me to put my stuff. Look where that hope got me. Where do you place

your hope?

Not in Justin. I feel like my resentment's building up for what he did to me.

It's our only hope. It's not just hope. Jesus is not just hope. He is our only hope. Galatians,

Paul tells us in the book of Galatians that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And we see here that Paul, for the first time, he is starting to look beyond himself, right?

Here's the reality is I would like to do things myself.

I would like to do things myself. I would like to do things myself.

I would like to own that control. I would like to be able to do the things that I want to do and

that are important to me. But the reality is I can't do it. And if Paul can't do it, I'm going

to tell you right now, he wrote half the New Testament. You ain't going to be able to do it

either. He walked and talked the talk, yet he's sitting here saying, I can't do this. And Romans

8.1 says, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now that he

understands that he cannot fulfill the law on his own, he begins to revel in this peace, this

relief of freedom from the condemnation that is no longer found in Christ. And what does that mean

to not have condemnation in Jesus? What does that mean to be free from condemnation? Imagine that

you are in a courtroom and in that courtroom, you're standing there, you are on trial in this

courtroom. And you look across and you're standing there and you're standing there and you're standing

and the prosecuting attorney is Satan. The Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren. And

Satan is clearly laying out his case. He knows every sin. He knows exactly where you were at

when you did it. He knew your thought process. He knew the words that you said behind closed doors

when nobody else heard him. He knows all the sins and he is just hammering you in front of the judge.

And you're sitting there listening to,

his case, knowing, yes, he's correct. Got me there. Guilty as charged. Same old, same old.

These same things. And you've been to trial multiple times with this prosecuting attorney.

And every time he lays out the perfect case and every time you are the loser. And here's the deal.

For the last 20 years of your life, you have defended yourself. You have been your defense

attorney. And guess what?

You are a crappy attorney. You've never won a case in the last 20 years. Yet, time and time and time

again, you put your life on the line and you are the defense attorney. And Satan pleads his case

and the judge says to you, what is your plea? And like every other time for the last 20 years,

you say guilty. But this time, sir, I have.

new defense attorney. His name

is Jesus. And the judge

says, all charges have been cleared. You have been forgiven. Jesus has already paid the penalty.

That is what it means in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 when it says there is no condemnation with Jesus.

He's already paid the price. He's already paid the penalty. He is waiting to be your defense

lawyer. And for years and years and years you keep on defending yourself and losing. And you can't

figure it out. Why do I continue to lose? Because you're not a lawyer. And if you were, you're a bad

one. And I apologize to any lawyers out there. Don't defend yourself. You see the foundations of

the foundation of Romans chapter 8 is no condemnation in Jesus. And this is one of the

most powerful scriptures in the Bible. It is one of the most powerful truths in the Bible. And

unfortunately, just like Paul, one that we really struggle to grasp and understand that we don't

have to go to defense for ourselves.

You grow up thinking that you have to do everything yourself and grind it out. And that's

the reality of life sometimes. But that's not the reality of your soul. Condemnation is a feeling of

disapproval and regret and doubt and fear and instability. Do you ever feel those things?

Instability, fear, doubt, regret, frustration, hostility. Now in chapter 8, we see Paul starting

to exude this confidence. It's like he has this

2,000 pound gorilla taken off of his shoulders. And now he's building up confidence because he

realizes that it's no longer him, but Christ in him that is going to defend him. In Romans 8 too,

it says, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Jesus Christ from the law of sin and

death. Paul here discusses two different laws. The first law is the law of the spirit of life.

The second is the law of sin and death.

Just in the context of the law of the spirit of life, the first law is the law of the spirit of

those two laws. I will choose number one. Now these are laws and or principles that go hand in

hand with choosing in terms of whether we will defend ourselves or join forces or allow Christ

into our lives, allow the Holy Spirit to transform us. The spirit of life is the Holy Spirit. The

spirit of God that brings truth, transformation to our lives, freedom over sin, victory,

over condemnation. The Holy Spirit is our helper, our teacher, our intercessor, and our guide. That

is the spirit of life, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God. The law of sin and death leads to both

physical and spiritual condemnation, physical and spiritual death. It reflects the power of sin and

enslaves us. It separates us from God and puts us into bondage and slavery. Romans 3 says, for God

has done with the law weak and weak, and has done with the law weak and weak, and has done with the

by flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin he condemned

sin in the flesh. The law can guide you and direct you, but it cannot transform you and change you.

The law is not bad. The law will direct us, but it cannot change you. Laws are okay. Some I don't

like or agree with. Don't forget to vote. Laws are fine, but they will not change who you are. The spirit of

God transforms you and crucifies the old man. The law detects sin. The Holy Spirit defeats sin. The

law points you to sin. Hey, that is wrong. The Holy Spirit gives you the power to overcome that sin.

Because of the law's deficiencies and because of our deficiencies, God sent Jesus. Now notice here

in this verse, in verse 3, it does not say that Jesus was sinful flesh or that he came in sinful

flesh. It does not say that he came in sinful flesh. It does not say that he came in sinful flesh.

It says that he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. Okay, Jesus is sinful.

did not sin. He did not come in sinful flesh, but the likeness, the appearance of sinful flesh,

he, God made man. He walked on earth as a human, the appearance of sinful flesh. We are sinful

flesh. And Hebrews 4, 15 through 16 backs this up. So if you're sitting in here today and say,

well, I listened to this podcast last week. This guy seemed really smart. He said Jesus did kind

of sin, but it's not in the Bible. That's not true. Romans 4, 15 and 16. For we do not have a

high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been

tempted as we are yet without sin. Jesus is without sin. He's a sinless man, yet he came in the likeness

of sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and

find grace and help in time of need. That feels good. Anybody here ever feel like, hey, I would love a

resource to reach out to at any time of need? Anybody like that? Okay. Six of you here would

love if you had a resource. I felt like gathering, I asked another question to the, to the first

gathering and they all lied to me too, which I, it was unique. I don't know. It must be a Waterford

thing. So, so we see Christ coming, sinless God, but yet has experienced the things that we

experience. And at a greater extent, at a great, I mean, talk about going out into the wilderness,

and Satan just tempting him at what would be considered what Satan had figured was his lowest

point. Yet Jesus remained without sin. Romans 8, 4 says this, in order that righteous requirement

of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to

the spirit. So when I was going through this, I always, sometimes I, I always will talk to my wife

about the, the message that I'm going to preach. And, and she's, she's very, she's a lot smarter

than I am first and foremost, but she also will say like, that's great, but how does that apply

to us? Like, how is that applicable? How does this relate? And so I started to look through

these and, and think about like the, the sinful mindset or the fleshly mindset. And so the first

thing I asked myself was, Lee, what are your top three goals in life? What are the three things that

you accomplish in life? And I just wrote them down without thinking about it. All right. I'll

be vulnerable with you guys. For me, I would like to get a Airbnb for my wife and I, so that we could

have a place to go and also generate some income. I think that'd be fun. Preferably in the thumb,

like Port Austin, something like that. So if anybody's got any really good deals and you feel

like I gave my time today. So I would love to do that. I think that would be a really good

opportunity, like kind of family, you know, inheritances,

like be able to pass on to my kids, things like that. Like that would be wonderful.

I would love to get my house remodeled personally. My wife's over there. I don't want to get my house

remodeled, but I would love my wife to be happy about a house remodeled. So I would love to have

that. Okay. I wrote that down. And then I wrote down that I would like to, to help grow my wife's

business. And, and I would like to spend more time with my family and be able to continue to pour into

their lives. Like those were kind of my four goals. And, and as I read those goals, most of

them really were what Lee wanted, right? They were very, not that they wouldn't benefit, not that they

wouldn't make like family gatherings and things like that, but they, I don't know if they aligned

with the spirit of God. They aligned with the, the, the fleshly thoughts of Lee. Like I want

these things to make my life easier, to make my family's life. I, I want, I want, I want,

and is that a sinful thought process? No, but it's a, it's a fleshly process.

It's what does the spirit of God want in my life? God, what are the top three priorities that you

want me to focus on and implement in my life and let him open up doors of opportunity for whatever

that looks like as my mind is transformed. And I think about these things where it's like,

we, we, we continue to fill our lives with our needs and it's, they're very often empty and

they're not filling. And so when you try them, you want more of something. So you get this finished

It's like, well, no, no, no, no.

I actually...

I want this done now, and I need to fix this, and I need to upgrade this, and I need a new car

because my other one just doesn't look like it used to. And everything is desires more and more

and more. And I was sitting there after the first gathering. I'm like, what would that make sense?

Like, how would I describe that feeling? And I'm like, eating Doritos, right? Like, that's the

first thing that came to my mind is, you know, it's like, I just could have a couple Doritos,

right? And nobody's just having a couple Doritos, especially the purple bag. And it's like, you

have a couple Doritos. Maybe you're, you know, you weren't really hungry, but there was a bowl

sitting out, and you eat a couple. And then all of a sudden, you kind of get hungry, and you crave

more. And all of a sudden, you've ate a whole bag of Doritos, but yet it wasn't fulfilling. Now you're

hungry for something else, right? It just didn't, it didn't supplement you. It didn't, it didn't fill

that void.

And that's when we walk in the flesh, is, that's the new, that's the new thing. As we walk in

Doritos. But as we, as we walk in the flesh, that's, that is really the thing. You will never

be fulfilled. Never. If you're sitting here today, and you say, I want more. I need more. Like, I've

accomplished all these things in my life, and I still just need to drive, and go, and go, and go.

It's because you're walking in the flesh. Now, if those things are aligned with the Spirit of God,

and, and the Spirit of God is saying, go, go, go, go, then keep going. Run a million miles an hour.

We can work hard. We can accomplish things. We can overcome things. We can, we can do all those

things. But if they're not aligned with the Spirit of God, they'll be unfulfilling, and eventually,

they'll be meaningless. Romans 5 and 6, or 8, 5 and 6 says,

for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on things of the flesh. That's where

my mind was. All things of the flesh.

According to the Spirit, set the minds on things of the Spirit. So, how do we do that? We'll talk

about that here in a minute. For to set your mind on the flesh is death, but to set your mind on the

Spirit is life. Like, when you lay it out like that, seems to be pretty simple to me. We continue

to fight this battle between selfish leading of the flesh that we feel, feel will bring fulfillment,

and what is according to the Word of God. And in the book of Matthew, if you guys want to turn with

me to Matthew chapter 16.

I feel like this is a really good example of how even Peter here is, is like dealing with both

worlds, fleshly world and the walking in the Spirit. And in Matthew 16, 13 through 17, it says,

when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people

say the Son of Man is? So, who do they say that I am? They replied,

John, the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But

what about you? He asked. So, who do you say that I am? Peter, Simon Peter answered, you are Christ,

the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, listen to what he says here. Blessed are you, Simon,

son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. So, he's saying,

that is you walking in the Spirit.

You realize this was not revealed to you by man, but by the Holy Spirit, or by my Father in heaven,

you've recognized that I am the Son of God. Okay? That had to feel good. Peter's standing there,

you know, it's like trying not to let pride well up inside, like thinking to the other disciples,

like, do you guys hear that? Right? That had to feel good to be recognized by Jesus. But just

like Peter seems to do a lot throughout Scripture, in chapter 20, or verse 20,

it says, from that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and

suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that

he must be killed on the third day and be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke

him. Wow, Peter's got his big boy pants on all of a sudden. Never, Lord, he said, this shall never happen

to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me and you

do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Like, oh wow, have things flipped

in the last three verses. Hey, Peter, this was not revealed to you by man, but by the spirit of God.

Good job, young man. Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me, right? We see Peter

operating in the spirit in verse 13. We see Peter operating in the flesh in verse 21, right? Like

there's this, there's this battle. There's this battle constantly going on. And what you see here,

it's not like, like Peter might've had some selfish intentions here. Hey, Jesus, I like how

we're rolling here. I like how everything's going on. I really like, I enjoy the excitement of crowds.

I, I enjoy seeing you heal people. I, I enjoy being a part

of this. You, I, you are our savior. I don't want this to end. Like good, like selfish ambitions to

an extent, but not what the spirit of God was leading, right? It wasn't, he wasn't trying to

hurt anybody. He wasn't, he wasn't screaming at anybody. He wasn't being a bad person or a bad

dad or brother. He was just simply saying, hey, I don't like the way this is going.

And Jesus is saying that's fleshly, right? We, we don't have to do necessarily these

bad, horrible things to be walking in the flesh. We have to be aware of how the spirit is leading us

in order to not walk in the flesh on a regular basis. We have to be aware because the flesh is

very strong in our, in our bodies. We were so accustomed to it. It's what we rely on. It's what

we go back on like anything else in life. It's our crutch in times of trouble. You know what? I'm not

going to deal with that. I'm going to go back to this way. And that's what Peter had done here.

So how do we accomplish these things? Here's, here's number one. It is not of your effort.

It's not about you. Nobody hears that special. That's the reality. It is not going to be your

effort that will help you accomplish these things to walk in the spirit. And truthfully,

that should be a relief because as Paul, you've probably tried, you've, you've probably tried for

years to be good. Okay. Jesus himself said, no one is good. Only God, the father is good.

You're not good, right? You're not, you're, you're sinful. You were born of a sinful nature

and it's not about you. You cannot accomplish these things. You cannot do these things.

That's number one. Number two, not only do you have to recognize that it's not about you,

you have to recognize that you are the one with the problem. So you're not the fix, but you are

the problem. I am the problem, right? I feel like we're, we're, we're having to admit to our peers

here. Like, yes, I have a problem. And that's what, that's what we have to get to that point

in order to walk a spirit filled life is to recognize that we are not the solution yet.

We are 100% the problem. And once we get there, we have to figure out, okay, I'm wrong. He's right.

He's the fix. He's the solution. Now, how do I walk in that? It's actually very simplistic.

It is.

Start your day with God.

Start your day in prayer.

How do you start your day?

What's your first focus point?

Who do you give your first fruits to?

I said this in the first gathering.

They have an 8 o'clock service.

Did you guys realize that?

And Lee Patterson told me it used to be 7 o'clock.

Like, wow.

So I had an 8 o'clock service, and I was up super late.

I was helping my in-laws with some stuff.

And I set three alarms, right?

And my alarm nowadays is my cell phone.

So what's the first thing?

My alarm goes off at 5.30.

I look at it, and the first thing I go to is I want to see.

I couldn't remember.

Did the Tigers win yesterday?

So I started, you know, ESPN.com.

pitch of course they won and that's how i start my day and then that turns into whatever else ad

pops up and then i start scrolling through there and then you got to go do your fit deal your daily

focus on facebook to make sure that nothing big happened to your friends that you haven't seen in

35 years and then you know your favorite instagram people and you know and then i missed the first

gathering because i was still laying there looking at facebook and and that's just i didn't really

missed the first game, I think. And that's just like what happens. And so how do we start our day

in communication with God? Seems too simple, right? That again, just so you guys realize,

it's not about you. Regularly reading God's word, being in the word of God. It is how he speaks to

you. It is, okay, I want to hear your voice. I want to hear your voice. I want to hear your voice.

I want to hear your voice. This is literally God's word. Literally God's word. Like I could say,

man, I feel like God told me to do this. Or I could say, he literally told me to do this, right?

But yet we battle with these things. I'm going to tell you guys right now, as soon as you open up

the word of God to spend time with God, there's going to be distractions. Your kids are going to

be like, hey dad, you want to go out and play hoops? Hey dad, can we go to the golf course?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get back with you, God. Or, you know, whatever else happens, work happens,

life happens, and distractions happen. And that's when you talk about the spirit of life and the

spirit of sin and death. There's spiritual battles going on for your soul. They want your time and

attention. And we need to fight for yourself and fight for your family and put these things in

place so that you can walk in the spirit. And so it's communicate with God. Literally,

read your handbook for life and then seek God in all of your decisions. Seek God in all of your

decisions. Here's the deal. When you are walking in the spirit and you're driving down the road

and you feel that thought process of, hey, turn left here and kind of go a different way to

go a different way home. And you'll just, whether there's an outcome or not, you'll just say,

all right, thank you, Holy Spirit. And you'll go that other way. And you'll just be in tune with the

Holy Spirit. Now, let me tell you this. This is controversial. I'll say it because, well, if they

don't invite me back, this is my first time here anyways, right? Is this, the Holy Spirit will speak

into your lives. I don't, the Holy Spirit is not going to necessarily speak to me to go tell Mike

what to do, right? Because that's when flesh comes in and I say, hey, God told me that you need to

quit your job, right? Oh, really? Well, my,

wife might leave me if I do that, but okay. No, that's not, that's not how the Holy Spirit works.

Let the Holy Spirit speak through you through God's word. Don't listen to TV evangelists and,

you know, think that the Holy Spirit told you to send $5,000 and he's going to send you $50,000

back. Like, guess what? You're going to be waiting at the mailbox for a long time. Allow the Holy

Spirit to work through your life, through the reading of the word and through application.

Seek God's will in your decision.

With your life. Seek God's will of, with, with job changes in your life, with home purchases in

your life. God, please, what's your will? Open up the doors, Father, of opportunity. Close doors

that you want shut. Like, God, I want my will for your life. I want your will for my life.

That would be bad news. As you fix your mind on Christ, stop fixating on your problems and you'll

find peace. This is how we start to walk in the flesh as we, we're so fixated on the things that

are in our lives. We're so fixated on the things that are in our lives. We're so fixated on the

things that are not things of God or things that are, are maybe uncontrollable, right? We'll deal

with issues. The, the, there's nothing in the word of God, unfortunately, that says that to, to walk

a spirit filled life is to make life easier. In fact, the Bible kind of clearly lays out that it's

the opposite of that. That you'll face trials of many kinds and, and the Bible says to rejoice in

those trials, right? That is a spirit filled walk when you are rejoicing in trials. It's a fleshly

walk when all you do is focus on those trials.

those trials and how they impact you and affect you and how it just stinks to be you because you

have to deal with them. But a spirit-filled life would say rejoice in those trials because

those trials, they create perseverance and set you up to be successful the next time because

you know how to walk through those things because you realize that it's not your own strength any

longer but Christ and Christ alone. And I understand that that's like, it sounds Bible talk.

Pray, read your word, spend time with God, rinse and repeat. How about try it? How about quit calling

it Bible talk and try it and say, hey God, I am going to give you the first fruits of everything

I do, the first fruits of my labor, the first fruits of my breath and my body, the first

fruits of my time and energy. I'm going to give you those things and I'm going to trust in you, God,

that I will be led by your Holy Spirit and that you will navigate this

And give it some time, right? We are so prone to these quick fixes in America, right? We are so

adept to just say, hey, I would like to go to the gym and get in really good shape, but I really

only want to give it like two or three days. Is that going to work, right? Guess what? I would

love if everybody would show up to the gym on January 2nd of next year. You're going to see all

And family and co-workers and everybody else, right? Because they're all going to make it

happen. But then by February 2nd, you're going to just see the faithful five at six o'clock in the

morning, right? The same people that were there the year before. Because people don't stick with

things. They're not consistent, yet they expect change. This is a walking out process with Jesus

Christ. We are walking out our faith. We are working towards perfecting our faith, which means

it takes time and energy and effort not to rely on yourself, but to rely on Christ. And sometimes

it may seem too simplistic. And that's why this is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible,

these two verses, Isaiah 55, 8, 9. It says,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For the

heavens are higher than the earth, and my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than your

thoughts. I'm not God. I don't have to understand why...

In the flesh, I have to work so hard to accomplish things, but in the spirit, I have to

just spend time with the one who gave it all for me. I have to just protect my thought process

and what comes into my home. I have to protect those that have been entrusted with me. I have

to walk a godly life. I have to admit when I've made mistakes. I have to cry out to Jesus instead

of rely on myself, because my ways are not your ways, declares the Lord. I'm not God. I'm not

his ways, and my thoughts are not his thoughts. But as we continue to walk this walk and become

more spirit-led, become more adept to communicating with the Holy Spirit, then his ways will make

sense to us, and our thoughts will be aligned with his thoughts, and our path will be directed

by him, and no longer directed by the guy who makes all the messes of paths in the first place.

Me. Our mind will never allow us to comprehend like Paul until you surrender. So for believers

that are here, what does that mean? If you're not a believer, you might not know what that means. If

you're a believer, I hope you know what that means. For believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ,

here's the deal. You're still a mess. You plus Jesus equals perfection. You minus Jesus is

wretched. When I say wretched, I feel like that's like smelly. You minus Jesus is wretched.

The only thing that separates believers and non-believers is Jesus Christ. You're no better if you're a believer

than a non-believer. Jesus is better, and because of him, you're better. Better in him, not a better

person, not more deserving. In fact, you and I are as undeserving as the criminal sitting in prison

right now. We are sinners. Sinners separate you from God. The only bridge between us and God is

Jesus Christ. And for you believers, this message is for you. It's a message that says you do not

have to sit in condemnation because your defense attorney is Jesus Christ. You no longer have to

take on the burden of sin because he has already done that. It is not godly to sit in your sin.

It's not godly to take on the burden of sin. It's not a manly thing, guys, to try to own it yourself.

Sorry. It's not good to hold on to those things that have already been taken away. Now this message

is not a license to sin.

Please do not see it that way. This is not a message that says, well, then since he's taken it all,

I'm going to give him extra. That's not the gospel message. The gospel message is a message of working

out your faith and giving your sin to God and trying to be more spirit-filled, trying to walk

in the spirit, trying to live a life of the spirit. But we have to recognize ourself as a sinner. And

for any believer in here, you've done that. That's what makes you a believer. You've recognized that

you are the problem and you are the sinner and you need a savior. And if you have not received

the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means the message, the good news of Jesus, the Bible clearly

lays out what it means to go from the first step of going from a flesh man to a spirit-filled man.

And it's found in the book of Romans. And it just simply says that if you confess with your mouth

that Jesus Christ is Lord. So it's a,

it's a confession. Jesus, you are God. And you believe in your heart. It's a confession

and a belief. You believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead

three days later for the redemption of all of these worlds, of all the world's sins. If you

confess with your mouth and believe that in your heart, then the Bible simply says this,

you will be saved. That is the gospel message. That is the message that you need to take away with today.

That is the message that you need to digest today, that you are a sinner. Everyone in this room is a

sinner in need of a savior. For those who have received them do no longer sit under condemnation.

That is why we're going through the book of Romans, not just simply so you can understand what Romans

eight, one through eight means. And I didn't even cover six and seven and eight, I don't think,

because I don't even know if I have time, but not so that you can understand that so that you can

know what it means to actually be a Christian. It's like taking on a job and nobody tells you

from HR what the job description is. That's what it's like as walking through this life as a Christian

and not understanding what the word of God says. It's a waste of your day. This is the most important

message, the gospel message that anyone in the history of the earth will ever hear. What an honor

to be able to be representatives, not because you are not up on this stage. This is nothing. This is

just a platform. We are not up on this stage. We are up on this stage. We are up on this stage.

We all have the exact same platform outside of here to be able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Some of his last words were what? Go into all the world. Well, I can't make it to South Africa.

Good, because Waterford needs it too. And Holly and Goodrich and Flint and every other city around

here. That's your world. But you can never go out there and share the gospel of Jesus Christ

effectively if you're sitting in your own wretched condemnation.

And that is the message today. Jesus Christ has given you freedom from the chains that have bound

you your entire life. Would you guys pray with me today? Dear gracious heavenly father,

thank you, Lord, for this day. Thank you, father, that you are a good God.

Thank you, Father, that you have given us freedom and Jesus

and understanding of what it means to be a child of God.

Thank you, Father God, that our freedom is found in you.

And thank you, Father God, that you would hear our cry,

for we rely on you for all things.

Thank you, Lord, that we quit relying on ourselves

and allow you, Father God, to change our lives.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.