Genesis Metro Sunday Live Stream

[Music] you on to church let's stand up on our feet get ready to worship the lording into the night wanting a place to hide this will Soul this B [Music] of I with all my mind but I just can't win the fight I'm slowly drifting a bag of just when I ran out Ro met a man I didn't know he told me that I was not [Music] alone me turn me around place my feet on Solid Ground I think the master I think the savior because you healed my heart change my name forever free I'm not the same I thank the master I thank the Savior I thank [Applause] God I canot deny but I've seen got no choice but to believe my doubts are burning like ashes in [Music] the to my old friends burden and bitterness you can't just keep it m oh you're not welcome here so from now till I want stre to go sing about you save my soul way with is found is way [Applause] back me up turn me around my feet on Solid Ground I than the master I than the savior because you my heart Chang my name forever free I'm not say I thank the master I thank the Savior I thank [Music] God all did you guys find your freedom in Jesus come on and declare this with us still lost another one I am free I am free I am free I am free I am free oh I am fre lost another one I am free I am free I am free I am free I am free lost one I am free I am free I lost another one I am free I am free oh I am free one I am free I am free I am pray H lost another one I am pre I am PR I am PR lost another I am PR I am PR I am PR one I am PR I am pick me up turn me around place my feet on Solid Ground I thank the master I thank the savior because you heal my heart and change my name forever free I'm not the same I think a master I thank the Savior I thank [Applause] God I thank God [Music] well good morning and welcome in Genesis Metro Church good to see everybody in their jerseys even you Eagles fans here on Jersey Sunday but man it's good to be in the house of the Lord and just get a chance to say thank you for everything that God has done for us I know man I need God in my life to fight my battles to to face my Giants man having God on my side that makes all the difference in the world and when we're in this room that's when we get the chance to ask him down into whatever it is we're walking through so today I'll just ask you that that whatever it is you brought in here whatever it is you're in the middle of and what if we ask God in the middle of that today let's sing [Music] together through [Music] gener I know that you will keep your C I'm calling on the god of Moses the one who opened up the ocean I need you now to do the same thing for me for me for me oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you [Music] now oh rock rock of pages I'm standing on your faithfulness on your [Applause] [Music] faithfulness yeah calling on the god of [Music] Mary whose favor rest upon the L I know with you all things are pass I'm calling the god of D who made a shepher boy great [Music] [Applause] I may not face good life but I've got my own child oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you how I Need You [Applause] Now ages I'm standing on your faithful on your faithfulness oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you now or rock Rock of Ages I standing on your [Music] faithful on your faithful day [Applause] [Music] it's your faithfulness standing never changes never changes you heard your children you hear your children you are the same God you are the same God you answer prayers and you will come on are you are providing you are provid you are the same God you are the same God you moved in power then God mov in power now you are the same God you are the same God you are a Healer you are a Healer now you are the same God you are the same God you are the Savor you are a savior now you are a saor you are the same God oh God my God I need you oh God my God I need you now how I need you [Applause] now oh rock Rock of Ages I'm standing on your fa on your faithfulness oh God my God we need you know God my God I we need you know how I need you we stand on your faithfulness oh rock Rock of Ages I'm standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness [Music] on your [Music] faithfulness Jesus your sa yesterday and today for [Music] forever we lift you up [Music] theen and the heavens for a moment at that thought it coner but it was in over till you said it's over your word is [Music] greater the perfect sacrifice your body broken as you restor to us was it i s it once and for all you tore the veil wide open your power is stronger still and all praise all praise to the name above all name Jesus you cuz you're the name above all Nam [Music] [Applause] [Music] you turn the grave into a new our God is risen you're alive every there's nothing that can rise against your Victory your name is higher still your name is higher your name is is high still in all praise all to the name of all name Jesus you you're the name above all yes you are yes you are there's no name higher there's no nameer you Lord the cross still stands and the blood still blows the work is finished and Hell still knows that the grave is still lty the stone is still Ro and you're still high and lifted up you're still Seated on still the still blow work [Music] his still that the grave is still empty St is still R you're still high lifted you're still Seated on the all [Applause] praise all [Music] Praise Jesus you you're the name above all Let the church SE [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hallelujah every voice will Proclaim there is no higher [Music] name we will sing there is high [Applause] [Music] every voice will Proclaim there is no higher [Applause] [Music] name to we will s all to the name of God to the name of God oh Jesus Jesus to you're the name above [Music] all you're the name of all name you're the name above [Applause] [Music] all you are [Music] I want Christ to be in my life I want there to be overt change in my life I want worship to be on my lips I want when my kids see me they see someone chasing after Jesus chasing after God's best leaving the things that I used to be pressing into what God made me to be every week you get that opportunity so what are you going to do let's give it up for the band leading Us in worship [Applause] today I only have four minutes to get this sermon in before kickoff hey thank you guys for coming third service even on football weekend I appreciate it thank you so much um we are full up in the second service so you guys are literally making it possible for a lot of families to experience Christ by going to the third service and the people that choose to go to the first service so we really appreciate that it's more life change more growth for the kingdom of God so thank you um on behalf of the church um next week you'll even get to see um all the sacrifice What It's Worth right cuz we get to see like 40 50 people baptized next Sunday I'll go ahead and do that announcement now if you haven't signed up for baptism next Sunday is the day um we have limited space in the second service uh plenty of space in the first and third so if you have never been baptized after accepting Christ as your savior uh please sign up to do so and if you have any questions about that please ask us and we will help you um in that process so um today we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit uh a crucial building block uh for every disciple and I think that this is actually one of those doctrines that's a little bit misunderstood and misconstrued um so there's some people that stretch the Holy Spirit uh too far and there's some people that constrain the Holy Spirit too much and so um I hope that I can share just an overview um of how the Holy Spirit works and and uh that part of God that we talk about the father a lot we talk about Jesus a lot but we don't we don't really talk about the Holy Spirit um a whole lot is it crucial uh to your progression in your faith and so today I hope that I can give you that example and then we're going to ask two questions about three quarters of the way through the sermon and those are going to be the ones that I need you to answer today um there's going to be a passage in Ephesians 4 that talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new and we have a choice to make do we want to get rid of Slash throw away the old Garment of who we used to be before we met Christ and are we willing to allow the Holy Spirit to renew us day by day and so those are the two questions that you're going to answer today are you willing to let go of some things and are you willing to allow God to move in your life okay so Holy Spirit um as we get into this Doctrine um I want you to know that the holy spirit is um a part of God that allows us to uh do a lot of things and has a critical role we're going to look at four of these but these are not uh by any means exhaustive in all the things that the Holy Spirit does but for a disciple that's our goal building better disciples for disciple these are the parts that you would need to know as a crucial foundation stone for you number one the Holy Spirit has has a role to convict to convict um it says in John 168 when he comes he will convict the world about Sin righteousness and judgment so conviction um we would most associate with that with a feeling uh probably of guilt um for instance there's a lot of people that are coming to our church now and um they're they're feeling drawn okay that's another role of the Holy Spirit but anyway um but maybe you've been out of church for long period of time and uh going back to church can feel a little convicting you can feel like man I know I should have been in church and you almost have you could possibly have like a forboding feeling of like yeah you know I'm going to walk in there and I I know I should have been there and it's it's like there's a conviction that something isn't right in your life and you're trying to get that worked out the Holy Spirit uses that conviction by the way a lot of times though we we kind of um I've noticed from a psychological perspective we actually get some's wrong like if some people haven't been at church in a while they they start being paranoid and they start feeling like the greeters have like a role and they're not to be like haven't seen you in a while right I would fire any greeter instantly that ever did that to someone I don't know if that's ever happened at Genesis Metro church I don't think that it generally generally happens at any church by the way and and I think that we start building things up in our mind about like what people are going to think but hey we're family we're just happy to see you okay we we want the best for your family we want your family to get back on track and we know that going to church is part of that process and so don't ever let the stuff that's going on in your mind rule you when it comes to getting plugged back in so the Holy Spirit uses conviction so you'll be sitting in a sermon right or sometimes it could be a song that we're worshiping to and you start feeling some anxiety you start feeling something inside of you saying hey this this is for you I I maybe there's a change that needs to to be made and now there's going to be a wrestling match right there's a wrestling match inside of your heart inside your mind like ah you know I'm uh maybe he's talking to somebody else no guess what I'm talking to you okay so the Holy Spirit convicts and it's interesting even how the Holy Spirit uh convicts people because sometimes people will come to me after a sermon and they'll be like you know hey you know thanks for preaching that this is what I got out of that and they'll start saying what they got out of it I did not preach that at all not at all and what what happens is is that they're not they're not making that up though the Holy Spirit translated what I was saying to what they needed and that's how dynamic God is is that you can go to to a to a sermon it could be about whatever tithing and next thing you know you need to you need to learn how to pray better you know how did that happen well God translated that to where you were and the Bible says that his word is alive right it's sharper than any two edged sword it's able to divide it's able to discern and so today um if God starts speaking to you I would say uh quit resisting that right that that conviction is good we need to have some conviction we don't need to feel good when we're doing wrong right we don't need to feel good when we're walking in the wrong direction God's trying to keep us from that so he brings conviction sometimes you'll you you'll get into a conversation or you'll get into some you know maybe road rage whatever it may be and like you ever have that voice like hey uh a little too far right like hey you you probably should stop like I know that for me I start joking you know and next thing you know people are laughing so I just want to keep going further you know and then the holy spirit is like too far Tim too far walk it back and so you know that's the holy spir you should learn to trust that right trust that that God is convicting you not to make you feel bad about yourself but to keep you from doing dumb things okay so conviction uh number one role of the holy spirit so he convicts us to move towards god um so that we can avoid uh at the end of the day the Judgment of God and then number two he has a role to make us alive he's the active part of the godhead that makes us alive and John 6: 63 it says the spirit is the one who gives life the flesh doesn't help at all and if you go back to John 3 there was a conversation with Nicodemus and he was explaining this in further detail he said that which is born of the flesh is flesh or we would say natural birth and then he says that which is born of the spirit is Spirit now some of you you might say this is Elementary I promise you there's a lot of people in here that they are new to church okay I was not raised in church and I I realized there's like a whole another language that church people speak and and you don't even know you're speaking it but you're saying things and a person is not in church like what are you talking about like we say you got to be born again you know and people aren't like what is that you know um so Born Again saved born of the Spirit uh becoming a Christian these are all synonymous terms okay so the holy spirit's role is that God draws all men to himself it says even creation so if you're ever wondering about the person that's in a far remote place it says even creation Bears witness it testifies that there is a God so that man will be without excuse so no one's ever going to stand before God and he's going to play the gotta game we're like H well you weren't raised in the Bible Belt so you're going to hell okay it says that the spirit plays a part in that that he draws people he convicts people of what truth is and then we make a volitional choice which we'll get to in the next one so if the role of the holy spirit is to convict and then um we're talking about I forgot there to make a Al so whenever it comes to him making us alive it says that he re he's the part that regenerates us and so when we say born of the spirit it means that the spirit um takes and and makes us alive to God so in your if you could uh deconstruct your body okay there would be a part of you that is your spirit okay and that's the thing that he makes alive unto him so man has a lot of different parts according to the Bible that uh can cannot be seen if you will like the Mind cannot be seen you have a brain but that's not your mind and so you have an intellect um and so there's different parts of you your soul your mind your body and so the part that God Saves that he the Holy Spirit regenerates is your spirit okay so that's the work of the Holy Spirit now he has the bside of that verse if you would put it back up on the screen please it says that the flesh is of no use now now this is where uh we got to separate some stuff out okay because most unchurched people and I would say a fair amount of church people and that's all church when I say church I'm talking Catholic Methodist all of them okay um they have a belief in a cosmic scale of good and bad okay and they believe when they die if they're good out with they're bad then that's how they will go to heaven okay now that can not be further from what the Bible teaches but it's it's just a form of belief that arises and and and some of it is where culture um like American culture is kind of involved here see in America We Believe or we we were founded on an rugged individualism which means that um the the American dream is that you can come to America from any place in the world and that you can arrive and you can accomplish great things if you work hard and put your mind to it which is birth the greatest country in the history of the world but sometimes when you try to confer conflate your individualism into your faith that's that's that's not that's not the case okay you cannot do Christianity on your own you cannot do that you cannot even save yourself okay so the Bible says that our goodness is like filthy rags that we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God all of us if we're measuring out how good we are compared to how bad we are our bad far outweighs our good matter of fact it calls it debt that the wages of sin that's our debt is death we've earned death through our sins and so we needed a God who was capable of paying for our sins and so it's says that your flesh is of no value so in other words if you try to be as good as you could possibly be for the rest of your life apart from Christ your bad would still you would like you're building a ladder okay you would never get enough rungs to get to heaven okay every time you sin the Bible says we become guilty and that's the conviction and so we need to be forgiven of our sin so if you are ever thinking that your good needs to outweigh the bad also the amount of pressure can you imagine the amount of pressure you were under that every day if you're not good enough if you were in a car accident and you died on one of your bad days you would go to hell I I would hope that you don't want that system man every time you get in a fight and you say something ugly to your spouse if you like had a stroke you stroked out right there like you you lost you I mean you're gone it's like you don't want a system that is dependent on you you're fragile okay God is not God is eternal and so we want to build our faith on something that is secure so he says that he convicts and then he makes us alive and then we're going to see also he secures and seals now before I read this verse I want you to know that as I said we have a lot of people that are guests a lot of people that are new to Genesis Metro you're filling it out shopping if you will uh what's it going to take to put you in this church anyway uh um and so so whenever you're thinking about that you need to know what a church believes okay now Genesis Metro is a non-denominational church but we have some distinctives as a matter of fact I would say this one I'm going to preach on right now is our soulle distinctive a hill to die on like I will go out in the parking lot and I will fight you over this Doctrine okay so it's important that you know whether or not you agree with us and I'm if I was really couching that I'd say whether or not you agree with the Bible but that would be unfair and heavy-handed um so so whether or not your salvation is secure is incredibly important and when I go through this Doctrine I don't want to debate what you've been taught I want to debate what the Bible says okay so you can disagree with the Bible but I I would I would just encourage you as a Believer to embrace it okay so we're going to read this okay we're going to read this and if you've come from a a church that teaches a form of Works based salvation I should have already defeated that with the your flesh is of no value but if I didn't um I want to go through this one and my goal is not to come across like uh I can out debate your belief my goal is I want you to feel confidence I want you to experience the love of God and be secure because if if you if people treated Mar Mar like they treat their relationship with God if they felt like every time someone got into an argument they were going to walk out and leave them forever that would be a very insecure relationship and that's the way some people treat the salvation of God and I think God loves us better than any human ever could so here we go I set it up enough in him you also when you heard the word of Truth okay so there's the word of truth it's being preached uh the gospel of your salvation you believed okay so there we have a Val Choice all right so so God draws but then you have to decide what are you going to do with the truth that's being presented to you he says but you believed in him and were sealed now if I wanted to nerd out which I'm going to save my nerding out to the end of the sermon I would tell you that this word sealed in the construction of the Greek this is going to be in a in a perfect tense to where it has a it has a action that is decided and and then it is permanent okay so even in the language I'm just going to tell you there's no way out of this but we can just use the English for today's translation but it says they were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit okay uh with the promised Holy Spirit um who is the we'll say this word together on the count of three one two three guarantee let's say it again one two three guarantee okay so you believed and you were sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance what is our inheritance our inheritance is Christ Our inheritance is Heaven until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory so God said he's willing to guarantee your salvation with the sealing of the Holy Spirit now you tell me if God says he guarantees it and there was some loophole that allowed you to lose it then was it guaranteed think about that for a moment in order for you to lose your salvation God's guarantee would have to be no good so he says that he seals us we have a choice in the Salvation we do not have a choice to be unsealed once he seals it it's sealed and he says that's the guarantee till we inherit now I'm not going to get into this part of it but when does that happen that's happens at the end so 1 Corinthians 15 talks about this Mortal shall put on immortality that the dead shall be raised and those who are alive shall be caught up to remain with him forever more and so um that's that's when we inherit so he said in the in the meantime for safekeeping I have sealed you now trust me I'm a pastor right and that means Shepherd and you guys are my sheep right but I can't be with you all the time and you have a tendency to wander off did you guys know that you guys just wander around you start wandering towards a ditch you start wandering towards the cliff like hanging out with Wolves okay and so so what does God give us to make sure that we're safe at the end of the day he seals us with his holy spirit because he says you're no good on your own none of us are right we're not good on our own and so we need something to guide us and we need something to help us now wouldn't you walk more confidently in the Lord if you knew your salvation was Secure absolutely now it doesn't mean you get to take advantage of it because the people that are on the other side of this argu like well so you can say I can do anything well in theory yes but in practicality no because it says that if you abuse the grace of God you should really consider whether or not the root of Christ was ever in you so change should result because James says that a faith that doesn't produce something is dead so you would say check the root because ain't no fruit probably ain't no root anyway uh so the Holy Spirit yeah I know I'm on a heater today uh he convicts he makes alive he secures he seals and then the last one he guides okay he guides us it says in John 16:13 when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth into all the truth now I'm gonna I'm going to take a little time on this one because this is where again some people abuse the spirit okay um have you ever had or heard someone they walk up to you and they say I have a I have a word I have a word from the Lord has anybody ever heard that phrase anybody ever okay so I'm going to tell you something about me uh I am a natural born skeptic do I have any other Skeptics in the room yes Corey I know you're a skeptic um I just want to say I embrace you as brothers and sisters I just welcome to the skeptic Club okay whenever someone says that to me my natural radar of red light flashing okay bad like some like bad bad bad bad now I want to say if you ever come up to me and say that I'm not judging you but I am not going to naturally trust you especially I've never talked to you like you're not my Holy Spirit right and so people will say they have a word but then their word is not tangent to nor founded in the word of God now you get into some Dangerous Ground here here because if you read down there those last chapters in Revelation it says that if you add anything to my word then I will add to you the plagues that are written in that word and if you read some of those plagues you don't want none of that you do you do not want that there's like scorpions that sting people and they rise on the ground you don't want you don't want that and then it says if you take away part of my words he goes I'll take your name out of the book of life it's like God like boom out done seal boo gone like you don't want that either right so if he says you can't add to it and he says you can't take away what would that suggest about God's word that it's perfect that it's complete he even says that about its own self that God's word is thorough that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished to every good work that we have an answer to every question every objection that we have something to solidify something to fortify that God's word isn't of itself complete and has all the answers that we need to live the Christian life so when the someone comes to me and says I have a word for you and it's not founded in the word do you think the Holy Spirit would ever lead you to Lead Me contrary to something that's already in the written word do you see what I'm saying so when someone's preaching up here and they start preaching their opinion instead of preaching from God's word should you want to be involved in any of that no if I was shopping a church and the guy got up and talked about self-help and talked about you know Zig Ziggler and all good things but you know Zig Ziggler can't save me right John MacArthur can't save me uh John Maxwell can't save me and so God can save me so I should preach from the book not a person who wrote a book about the book you see what I'm saying so the Holy Spirit if they say I have a word for you it has to be rooted in God's word or I would say reject it out of hand all right they are not your Holy Spirit your mama is not your Holy Spirit okay your crazy aunt is not your Holy Spirit okay the holy spirit is the Holy Spirit and he says that he leads us into truth what is the truth the truth is God's word see how it's a perfect circle right Perfect Circle so anything that's outside of that Circle I would tell you you should be a skeptic and I would personally reject anyone that says that they have a word for me that is outside of the word so that is four things that the Holy Spirit does he's trying to guide you this morning so whenever you come into church he starts to try to guide you like is there an area of your life that needs correction is there area of your life that needs Improvement the holy spirit is your guide so our main passage today is Ephesians chapter 4 and we're going to answer those two questions now is there something you need to put off or remove is there something that you need to renew he says in Ephesians chapter 4 that this is not how you came to know Christ now this sounds like it's kind of right in the middle of something um and again on Sunday mornings I will never have enough time to do all of this in one Sunday but he's talking about the Gentiles here and how the Gentiles are naturally pagans and by the way if you're not a Jewish person you're a Gentile this is another one those code words people walk into church they never been a church before like hey you're a gentile like what I'm Italian and so uh so from a Jewish person in the Bible times perspective you are a gentile Pagan we're all pagans sitting in here okay he said but the Gentiles were darkened in their mind so they' given themselves up to all kinds of of sinful desires he says but that's not how you came to know Christ so you are not that way if you following after Christ so you've separated yourself if you will which is what Holiness means so verse 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him as the truth is in Jesus to take off your former way of life the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires so he says in order to follow after Christ there's part of you that is going to have to be taken off and so there's lots of things that are said in our culture that they sound clever and cliche but they're not good theology uh for instance uh when it says have you ever heard somebody say like uh marriage isn't 50/50 it's 100 100 has anybody ever said have anybody ever heard that that's a clever saying and I know what they're trying to say but when I do premarital counseling I don't I don't want you to bring 100% of you into the marriage did you did you know that did you know that you have some bad habits does anybody know that like you have some ego issues you have some anger issues maybe some of you have jealousy issues insecurity issues do you want to bring that into the rest of your life does that sound like till death do us part happily ever after no that sounds like a life sentence like they put you in prison right so it's not it's not all of you I don't want to fit all of you I want I matter of fact you hear people say this all the time you hear like well that's just that's just who I am that's just who I am if that doesn't sound like just on its face the biggest justification for not wanting to change when you that's who I am God is not trying to make you the best version of you did you know that that's Oprah okay he's trying to make you more like Christ that's the goal did you know that like Christianity it's in the name they put it there to be more like Christ but I think that sometimes we've co-opted Christianity into saying like how can God make me better better how can God make me better and we're trying to use God to make my life better instead of trying to use my life to make God's kingdom greater you see that's there's a very difference a very different mentality in which one you're embracing so the Holy Spirit it says through Paul that you have to put off this old self that we're not trying to keep you we're trying to get God now you'll still be your personality type but tempered with the holy spirit so he says that you got to put off that old self in order to move forward because you have this corrupting desire so I wanted to talk about the three things that drive that old self okay your old you and he said it's it's corrupting and that corrupting word is is kind of like um uh if youve had a phone for too long and it starts starts like closing apps like randomly anybody ever had this like you're you like go to open it and you do something like it's like uh like restart reboot like it's it's like it's got old and it's gets corrupt over time or if you have clothes them in the closet they start to you know get a little holes in them or they start to fade it's like that's that's this garment that we naturally are being corrupted by three things there the three things that drive that old self number one Satan okay Satan and demonic or spiritual forces and dark places in Ephesians 6 it says we do not wrestle with flesh and blood but against principalities against spiritual wickedness Darkness high places in other words there's a spiritual battle going on I think I have a picture um here and I this is how I will I will liken this example um if you've ever seen uh this resistance band running has anybody ever seen this right I just want you to know I have a a a sick personality I like to watch the people that fail at this I don't know if you've ever seen one snap like they get way out there it's like and like and um or the person gets to run in and they lift up and it just like snaps them backwards I don't know why I enjoy other people's pain it's probably sinful um but I do I I enjoy it um but I want you to imagine that that guy is attached to the floor it looks like right there but just imagine that like that floor is is Satan okay that I think a lot of Christians it's not an effort issue I think you're trying to run it's like you are you know you're doing it but then like you feel like you're hitting this wall and you feel like I can't progress and then if you let up any right that force keeps pulling you back so that you're never gaining any ground most Christians do not live as if there is is a spiritual Force that's against them and can I tell you that this guy this power Satan Darkness it's actually stronger than you are it's way smarter than you are as a matter of fact no person has ever beat this enemy they are undefeated so if you wake up every day in neutral if you wake just you just get up and you know like H you know what I'm just going to go about my dayto day you're going to lose that force is pulling you so if you're not resisting it it's pulling you so the only way to ultimately get further ahead is to cut the things to take off the old self that is binding us not only do we have spiritual forces that are trying to hold us back the Bible says we have a sin nature okay we have a sin nature so we have an enemy on the outside but we also have an enemy on the inside and it says that Adam sinned and therefore we all sin and James says that the process of sin is that our lust or desire that's against God conceives and it brings forth sin and that sin when it's fully grown brings forth death so in misnomer um in in Christianity or in the average Church world is that they they fundamentally don't understand or maybe they don't don't believe that we are sinners when we were born in other words my granddaughter she's so sweet right her name is Dakota if you haven't met her I should have a picture it's like well but she's uh I think five months old you know and and everyone would look at this little baby and they're like oh look at her you know all those noises that you make like look look and and you say look how innocent look how Innocent but the reality is that's just a little bitty sinner just a little bitty okay and the older they get the more it's evident right you ever had a two-year-old any have a two-year-old did you teach them to do all that they are inventive right and then they progress all the way to Apex teenager sinner okay I'm not saying you can't get further into sin and you're 20 some of you did but I'm just saying that we do not become Sinners it's some people think like you catch it it's like you know around a bunch of Sinners and I caught it you know but we are born Sinners we have a natural desire the Bible calls it our our flesh um calls it our old self our old man uh there's a lot of words it uses for it but it's just talking about that we have a nature that is contrary to God that we inherited in our DNA from Adam and it says because Adam sinned so death passed upon all mankind so we are all born Sinners and then the resistance is through meeting God the resistance is through the Holy Spirit convicting us quickening us sealing us and then guiding us into all truth that's the only way we throw off this sin nature as a matter of fact I'll illustrate it uh for you this way uh my doctor you know as I get older I gotta go to the doctor blah blah and and she was like Tim you know just to you know be on the safe side I have the mild high blood pressure and I had to do a heart scan and she's like I'm going to put you on Mediterranean diet you know now do do I look like a person wants to eat a Mediterranean diet now I agree just like all good patients with I like yes I will do that okay so my desire is to obey when I'm with the doctor but then I'll be at home okay and like a siren in the night a mistress if you will can's starts beckoning me right and and and I'm not I don't feel like I'm even choosing I feel like it's choosing for me and I start just moving towards my car and I get in my car and it knows the way it's like a Tesla it's like self-driving and then I get there and the person is always so friendly you know what they say to me hey hey hey want some chicken today I'm like yes I do yes I do thank you so much you you you know me you and I don't even get the SLO I don't even know who who eats the SLO no I get extra sauce you can replace that no extra cost and then I get Bob bread and if you don't know Bob bread then you haven't lived it's buttered on both sides okay say Bob Bob bread okay you die twice as fast so I've been directed to eat a certain way I acknowledge that the way that the doctor wants me to go is the right way I will live longer as a result of being a good patient and obeying her word and yet my flesh wants something else so you need to think about that if we take that funny example transpose it into these other areas God's word says don't do that don't date that don't marry that don't work there don't go with your co-workers out that place and inherently when I preach it in here you're like yes Pastor yes Pastor yes Pastor I'll be a good sheep I'll stay in the fence then you get out there and some of us that old person right those old desires if you don't fight then they start pulling you and it's like you're on autopilot as a matter of fact the Book of Proverbs talks about sexual Temptation for a man he says like an ox to the slaughter whenever they engage with the wrong type of woman he said he doesn't even know that her footsteps lead down to death now did he intend that no he didn't intend that he let his old self autopilot him to his destruction have you ever heard someone say it just happened yeah your sinful desire will just happen if you don't resist it if you don't follow the holy spirit so we have an enemy on the outside we have an enemy on the inside and then we have one other driving factor and that is the world okay the weight of the world in James 44 now James is a fire Brimstone guy so he just like shoots it right out there this is how he preached you adulterous people don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity or opposition against God therefore anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God can that be any more clear John 1 John 25 15-1 17 do not love the world or anything in the world if anyone loves the world this is right there read it okay don't don't get mad at me read it he says the love of the father is not in it remember we said if you're saved you're saying can you do anything well it doesn't appear that if you're saved you could do anything sounds like you might not want to do those things sounds like if you do those things that the love of the father isn't in you he says for everything in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life comes not from the father but from the world now this is very tricky this is going to be the most important thing I say today so listen take note Christianity Today is at more is in more conflict with our culture than has ever been in the history of our country our country was founded as a judeo-christian nation everything in our constitution the Declaration of indep everything that holds our country together was founded upon this belief that God is Sovereign and that God has guided us to be the nation that we are and now we have a culture that wants to remove the foundation and just have all the freedoms that we possess I think you're going to find that when you remove the foundations and people start using the freedoms for self furtherance then it becomes a corrupt system so where where does that Tim what are you talking about how does this have to do with the Holy Spirit you're talking about America okay there used to be separation of church and now if you go back and look at the intent of our founding fathers it wasn't so that no God was in government it was so that no government was in God they didn't want a statun church because they came from the church of England so they didn't want the government to say you have to be a Quaker you have to be a Puritan but all of these states which were called colonies at the time I think in 12 of the 13 you had to have a profession that you believed in Jesus in order to be in government there was no confusion as to whether or not God played a role in this government now we flipped it okay we flipped it now what does this have to do with the weight of the world and being friends of the world we'll see as Believers in modern day church we believe obviously that Jesus loved all Sinners does everybody does everybody agree because the Bible says it okay so I don't care if you do agree but it's in the Bible Jesus loved every single Sinner and he loved him enough right to die on a cross therefore we should love Sinners that's what our church does doesn't matter what sin you brought in here we love you no matter what you've done in your past we love you everyone is entitled to a seat at the table of Truth so that they can experience the same life change that everyone else had an opportunity in any church that tries to ban people from walking in and receiving that truth that church is not under control of the holy spirit so this is where it gets tricky though right because now Christians because we're so nice we've we've kind of moved it to a little bit of okay well I'm GNA Embrace this world system because I'm trying to love Sinners towards Jesus can you see where this gets tricky because like if you embrace the world's system then you're rejecting God's word so then there has to be this space that we occupy where we are light where we reflect truth and yet we love someone enough to get them to Jesus and that's where I'm going to tell you is your challenge that's your challenge that the weight of the world is trying to crush you and say if you don't endorse all of these things then you don't love Jesus because Jesus loved everyone Jesus had a standard though Jesus said these words Jesus talked about these things so it's one thing for me to say I love you but if you say Tim then therefore do you embrace all of my ideology no no I reject anything that's not in his word the word is my guide I love you but I do I do not accept your philosophy that's not rooted in God's truth so that's the space that Christians have to occupy now you say Tim if I take that position against uh a person who is not pliable or open to God's truth this then isn't that going to burn a bridge isn't that going to cost he ansers yes if you thought that your Christianity wasn't going to cost you anything that you are not reading the Bible Jesus loved every person that he ever came in contact with cost him his life he said if you love me then the world will hate you so you you can't have it that you are liked if if if your desire is to be liked by the world there's no way you can love God because they won't allow you to so then you're going to have to choose right you have to choose do I want to be loved by the world or do I want to love God and if you love God it means that you're going to have to be against that you're going to have to stand in opposition even if it costs you and I think a lot of Christians today they are not willing to lose they're not willing to lose things not willing to lose their job not willing to lose some relationships they would rather just compromise and all I'm trying to get you to say all I'm trying to get you to see is that I think that God is worth it I think whatever you lose loving God that God rewards and blesses more than whatever that loss is and so if we're going to be different as Salt and Light then we can't Embrace World worldly ideology so maybe you can start thinking if you're going to put off that old man it probably means some of your old ideas especially if you're new to this new to church you probably had some presuppositions that you've always assumed all your life but now they're coming in contact with God's word holy spirit is saying I don't think you're right on that are you willing to change last point point you must let the spirit renew your spirit Ephesians chapter 4 says to be renewed in the spirit in the attitude of your minds to put on the new self the one created according to God's likeness and righteousness and Purity and the last word truth isn't it amazing how truth just gets sprinkled all through here it's almost like Jesus is the way the truth okay yeah it's like you know whatever is true think on these anyway um there's a lot of Truth in the Bible so the one thing I learned this week and I hope that's enough to hold your attention this last three minutes um after preaching for 30 years I learned something this week I always thought that this word renewed was the same word as the one that's in Romans 121 and2 where it says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind um but when I read it I was like oh that's not what that's saying I also uh thought that was like capital s Spirit uh so you'll see that it's it's talking about your spirit inside of you not the holy spirit so he says that your spirit needs to be renewed now from earlier scriptures we know that the holy spirit is the one that renews that Spirit but what I learned was I thought when I preached Ephesians 1:13 that God says that our spirit that part of us that's Eternal is sealed at the moment of belief with God's spirit I thought they were fused I thought they they became one in my mind I no one ever said that to me I just just assumed it that God like I just like his holy spirit is inside of me in my spirit but the truth is if you think of it as concentric circles it's like draw a big circle around your spirit and when you're sealed the holy spirit is around your spirit but your spirit is still intact you say well how do you know that Pastor Tim well Romans 8:16 says that the spirit Holy Spirit Bears witness to my spirit two separate entities okay now why is this important the word renew here means to make young again now Frisco Texas we are do we are paying some money to stay young has anybody preach like does anybody like you know like my wife has all these little things she's like you know does anybody know what I'm talking about like like I even wear these little things because my eyes get really dark like little wings that I put on my face I look like an idiot right and if you ask me would I ever do something like that no I would say no I'm trying to renew it I'm trying to hold on right my body is like not holding on with me I feel like and we do all these things to renew right we do all these things like when you're stressed out you say I need to go home and I need to vegge out or I need to play or I need to go on get on a vacation or I need to go on a walk get outside whatever we do we know naturally we need to renew ourselves and I'll guarantee you if you're a person that has no renewal plan in your life you are not a fun person you are not you are a miserable kudan that's what you are I guarantee you you are stress filled and you are no fun to be around as a matter of fact I wish some of you could sometimes see from my perspective what you look like when I'm preaching to you I wish you could you know I'm preaching to an unfriendly face that's what I am you're like that one's not funny on to the next one come on now he he says here that there's a way to be renewed the further you get away from God the more dead you feel the more lifeless you feel as a matter of fact I will guarantee some of you have already experienced this today the Holy Spirit and you didn't even know it you got here in the parking lot and you were fussing you were fighting something was on your mind someone had already driven you crazy You' already checked your social media maybe someone didn't like your post anyway and then you got to the door and someone was there welcome to Genesis Metro and they open this door for you and a little bit of Life crept in your Crogan heart little bit you're like well that felt good then you stop by the coffee bar and coffee close to Holy Spirit get a little coffee in you start feeling a little bit better then you walk in here and they start playing the songs and you don't even know the songs because you're new okay but there's something you're like it feels something feels like this feels like kind of alive you know it's kind of looking around like people are the these people are right they're into this right they're not playing around here they're singing these songs and you're starting to feel a little lighter right you're starting to feel a little Freer some of you might even get to the place you boldly high-five Jesus in a song and I know some of you you're like you're like Tim that's not the way I worship and I used to say you know that's okay we all worship the same way but hear me when I say this no it's not it's not the same thing it's not the same thing you are the same person in about 25 minutes when you get get home and your team scores you'll be like touchdown touchdown yeah yeah and you'll do these little things you'll do these weird bring the same energy to God's house all right don't don't tell me don't tell me you're not that type of I'm not that type of worshipper when your team scores you're not like no no that is not true what I'm trying to say is that when you put on that new self it says that you have to be renewed it says to be renewed that means you can't do it your choice in the matter is are you going to allow God's spirit to renew rejuvenate your spirit that when we come in here to worship the reason why you feel that way the reason why you feel fresh the reason why you feel alive is because your spirit is resonating with God's spirit and you're allowing him to move in your life and he's refreshing he's making you new it's like you're brand you're able to wash away the scars the bitterness and the Brokenness you allow God's spirit to do that that's how you renew your mind you renew your spirit you renew the effervescence of your life but if you sit there and you resist as many of you do and I'll all of a sudden you walk away and you got the same weight you got the same heaviness because that old self is going to keep holding you down if you want to know how to get ahead you want to know how to move forward let God let God work in your life and when he sets you free you will be free indeed let's pray father we ask on this hallowed kickoff Sunday that you would allow the spirit to move move inside of our church and maybe someone here today is hearing this for the very first time that they would be convicted of their sin that they would allow the spirit to move and they might receive and choose Jesus as their Savior and they would be made alive and God we could change eternity in here this morning if someone would accept Christ God for all of the Believers in the house they might be wrestling with something they might be trying to decide between good and evil they might be trying to decide between good and God good and God's best I pray God that your spirit might guide them into all things if you're wrestling inside your relationships I promise you if you both were yielding to God you'd find peace at the end of that struggle but if you choose to do you and you choose to whatever you are whatever you the way you've always been the way you've always done I can promise you conflict I can promise you heartache I can promise you you're GNA be going backwards instead of forwards so today God we want to choose to cast off our old self there's nothing about him or her that we need to keep and God we choose to allow you to work in our lives through this next worship song I promise you you receive that today you'll sing like you've never sang before would you stand and worship with us Christ is my fir found the rock I stand when everything around is [Music] sh moread I my faith in Jesus he's never let me down through generations so why would he fa now he [Music] won't we W no we W I've still got to in chaos I've got P that makes no sense so I won't be going under no I won't I'm not H about my all Str cuz I build my life on Jesus he's never let me down faithful through every so why would he now he [Music] w we W he won he [Music] won he w oh he won't he never will he won't he won't sing it sing it now Christ is my bir Foundation through all go which I stand and everything around me sh I never I never for I put my Fai in Jesus she said let me down straight for through so why so why would be he won't sing it out he won oh no he W he [Applause] won he [Music] W he W he undefeated God he [Music] W he [Applause] W he won't there [Music] yall help me Shing this [Music] today my house was I sa with you I going make my heart was buil on you I sing with you I'm going to make it who R [Music] came my house was built so now I'm safe with you I'm safe with you I going to make it I'm going to make it I'm going to make it I'm standing stop standing strong I'm going to make it never my house is built on my house is buil every voice Christ is my [Applause] Foundation The Rock on which I said everything around me sh I never been more I put my face in Jesus he's never let me down he's grateful through so I would be [Applause] [Music] [Applause] fa amen amen you guys can have a seat wow what a great message from Pastor Tim can we give it up for him just one more time so good the decisions that we make matter I remember growing up I I used to play softball when I was a kid and I am one of four daughters and I am the only one in my family that has a little bit of athleticism running through my blood and I remember my dad would be like hey like every single day we need to get outside and let's just play a game of catch let's get better and better each day and you know as was a fourth grader I was tired man you know I was tired doing things that fourth graders do like watching Disney Channel and eating fruit rollups and AOL instant messaging people like my life was hard and I was tired so I made every single excuse not to participate not to show up and not to get back better but my dad reminded me he said hey the team is counting on you and maybe you're not a softball player in here today but you need to know that this team it's counting on you that team in that building over there with all of those kids they're counting on you the next Story the next person to walk in through these doors they're counting on you so God shape us and mold us and change us to be more like you every every single day but help us to figure out what we can sacrifice so that your glory can be shown in all ways we want that in each one of our Lives to be the best teammates that we can possibly be because the greatest thing that we'll ever be able to invest in is this team so if you're a member joining us today you can sign that QR code on the back of your chair and it will take you to our giving page and at this time our ushers are going to come down as we continue in worship through giving we have a couple of quick announcements for you guys today the first one being if this is your first time here we just want to say hello and welcome we would love to get to meet you right outside these doors is going to be our Welcome Center where we would love to introduce ourselves and get some information from you but also give you a gift and get you plugged into this GM family but we also have something exciting that's actually happening today that's right today marks the official kick off of our new season of Life groups yes absolutely now I can tell you that uh it's these are places where you can find the team that you're looking for they're places where you can be encouraged and find support you can dig deeper into God's word you can have people that pray over you and and you over them and you may be sitting out there thinking that well there's tons of Life groups out there like what place is there for me listen I'm here to tell you that these life groups have open spots on their benches and they're looking to make some roster moves and they need you there is an open spot for you consider me Roger Goodell today this is your draft notice all you got to do is pick up the phone answer the call and put on the Jersey if you scan the QR code right in front of you it takes you to our website where you can search through all of our 19 available life groups and find the the spot that is right for you so do that today Angela what's next well it is fall and that means it is Sisterhood season at Genesis Metro that's right those cheers come from our women who may have attended our Sisterhood Retreat and we have one coming up next month October 17th through the 19th where the women of Genesis Metro will take a little journey a couple hours to East Texas to beautiful alaso Ranch where we will gather together and draw near to God we will hear engaging and inspiring messages that will challenge us in our faith by Pastor Carrie Bourne we will hear from our very own GM worship band we'll hear from breakout speakers we'll engage in events and activities that draw Us close to each other so that when we return we come back refreshed and renewed and we want you to be a part of that several of you have already signed up we have over a hundred people signed up but we know that there are many more of you who plan to attend that have not yet registered and if you are new to GM or even if you've been around and you haven't attended a retreat there might be a lot of questions that you have we would love to answer those for you we have a booth set up right outside where we have some of our experienced team members that can answer those questions and help you get registered but really every Retreat experience is unique so there are new things that are offered every single year so if you are new you don't have to worry about not knowing what's going on because there are things that are changed and new and fresh every single year and one of the things that we love to do that's kind of like a fun um icing on the cake is merch we love a good graphic tea we love a good cozy hoodie around here um we love to sell those at our camps and our conferences but what we normally do is we sell it at our event and then we run out very quickly we have to have a limited size so we decided to take all of our merch sales online so we now have a Genesis Metro Online Church shop and it's not just for women it is for everyone we have styles for everybody and we would love for you to participate in that so you can find our store by scanning the QR code in front of your chair by going through our website it's easy to find and those items it's shipped directly to you now why am I bringing this up well it's because we know that we have lots of people that are going to be coming to retreat that haven't signed up yet so we wanted to throw out a little incentive to get you to register this week if you register between today and next Saturday you have one week you will get an exclusive