How to Live a Spirit-Led Life | Restoration Through God's Power

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Sign up at harvest.org. When you become a Christian, God sees you for who you are in Christ, not who you were in sin. God does not see you in your sin. He sees you in his Son.

S-O-N. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie has good news. He offers hope for any of us who feel too far away from God to ever find our way to him. He doesn't see you in your sin. He sees you in his Son. Yeah, you've messed up. I've messed up. He doesn't see us that way.

He says, oh, no, that's my child now. In most parts of this country, if a building falls into disrepair, there's a good chance they'll knock it down and start over. But in most of Europe, it isn't that way. Buildings aren't as disposable, and sometimes 500-year-old buildings are commonplace. Well, the Lord doesn't treat sinners as disposable. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how God stands ready to meet us where we are and help us put the pieces of our sin-shattered lives back together. Romans 8 is sort of like a one-stop shopping destination for hope. It is not a supermarket.

It is like one of those smaller markets that is really well stocked. You are going to find a lot of what you are looking for in this great chapter that we are exploring together. This chapter is all about how to live a Spirit-led life. So let's read a few verses together. Romans 8 starting in verse 1. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh. God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We will stop there.

If you are taking notes here is point number one. A Spirit-led believer lives a condemnation-free life. A Spirit-led believer lives a condemnation-free life. Romans 8.1 starts with no condemnation.

It ends with no separation. However Paul does not say there will be no failures or inconsistencies because we are all going to mess up. We are still going to sin. But he tells us there is no sort of condemnation.

Why? Because Jesus took that condemnation, that judgment that we should have faced on Himself when He died on the cross of Calvary. And I think the classic example of how this works is that woman caught in the act of adultery.

Remember her? Now we don't know where the guy was. There was a guy involved obviously.

But he was gone. This was really some kind of a trap set up by the religious leaders. So they grabbed this woman. They drag her and they throw her on the ground in front of Jesus. They say to him, the law says she should be stoned.

What do you say? This ticked Jesus off. He knew exactly what they were doing. And he called him out on it.

He said, okay. And he stooped down and he wrote in the sand. Now we don't know what he wrote. But whatever it was it was profound because we read they all left from the oldest to the youngest. He said, let him that is without sin cast the first stone.

So they are gone. And he is alone with this woman. And he looks at her and he says, where are your accusers? She replies, I have none Lord. He says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. And he said, well wait. This woman was caught in the act of adultery.

And he says, I don't condemn you. Had she even turned from her sin? Yes she did. You say, but when? When she said, Lord. This woman knew she was going to die that day. But instead everything changed and she looked into the eyes of Jesus and she looked at those others who had condemned her and she believed right on the spot. Where are your accusers?

I have none Lord. That is when she believed. You know how long it takes to believe in Jesus? Pretty much like this. It can just happen.

All of a sudden the light goes on and you say, this is it. This is true. It is Christ I need. You don't understand everything about him. You don't understand all the intricacies of the theology of conversion and justification and sanctification and adoption etcetera. But you just know you need Jesus and you put your faith in him. And he says, go and sin no more. Again Romans 8 one.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You know there is a lot of talk right now in the news about abortion. I got a tweet that I was copied on from a young lady whose name was Crystal Holder. Greg it was your voice speaking God's word and I listened to every morning on the radio as I drove to my job where I was the manager of Planned Parenthood in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Your delivering God's word is what gave me the courage to walk away.

See. So I had to know the rest of this story. So we contacted Crystal. And so she said to us, when I started listening to A New Beginning I came to know Jesus and truly understand the magnitude of God's love. I have learned more from your program than all my years in church. I listened to Greg every day that I was at Planned Parenthood. I worked there for almost a year and a certain sermon he gave scared me. And it hit me like it never hit before.

Listen to this. One day while I was counting the pieces of a dismembered baby I thought about Greg's sermon if Jesus came back right then and there would he leave me behind. So Crystal repented. She left that job. Now she is working to save the lives of unborn babies. See what God can do. Maybe there is someone listening to me right now who has had an abortion or has helped in some way like Crystal was really. Or maybe you are a guy that encouraged a woman to have an abortion. You say well that is it for me.

No. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You ask God to forgive you of that or any other sin and He will do it.

No condemnation. If you are in Christ Jesus that is the key. The Bible says if any man be in Christ he has a new creation. Old things are passed away.

Everything becomes new. Listen. God sees you for who you are in Christ not what you were in sin. Let me say that again. When you become a Christian God sees you for who you are in Christ not who you were in sin. God does not see you in your sin. He sees you in His Son.

S-O-N. He doesn't see you in your sin. He sees you in His Son. Yeah you have messed up. I have messed up. He doesn't see us that way. He says oh no that is my child now. That is the one that has been forgiven by me. This is the one I am not condemning any longer.

You know God always sees us for what we can become. I think of Simon Peter. Jesus walked up to Simon and his name wasn't Peter.

That came later. Christ gave him that name. He walked up to Simon and He said, you are Peter, which means rock. If there was anything Simon was not it was a rock.

Simon was hotheaded, vacillating, argumentative. And Jesus says from now on you are rock. You are rocky buddy. I think the other disciples might have been laughing.

Rock. Does Jesus actually know Simon? Oh yeah He knows him. But He wasn't calling him what he was. He was explaining what he would become. I think of Gideon who was hiding from the Midianites. And God was looking for a new judge to lead Israel. An angel of the Lord appears to him and says, hey Gideon you mighty man of courage.

And he sent it to him while he was hiding behind a wall. God does not see you in your sin. He sees you in the sun. God does not see you in your failure. He sees what you can become. Hey that rhymed.

That is nice. Didn't intend that. So we see a failure. God sees potential. We see a Simon. God sees a Peter. We see a cowardly Gideon. God sees a mighty man of courage. We see the past. God sees the future.

We see a mess. God sees a message. God can change everything in your story if you'll let him.

There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We really enjoy hearing when Pastor Greg's teaching and preaching touches lives. Hey Pastor Greg I just wanted to let you know sir that I'm a teacher and I listen to you on the way home. Normally after a very long day listening to your voice and your width and your humor helps relax me and listening to the way you present the Word of God is very appealing to me because it speaks to my heart. A lot of your humor I will try and use in my classroom and I normally try and attribute it to you but sometimes I tend to claim it for my own so please forgive me for that. But I just wanted to just call you and just tell you thank you so much. You've been a tremendous blessing to me and you've helped me I think be a better teacher by the way you present the gospel and you've reinforced the importance of what I do to help reach our young people because you're helping to reach young people and all kinds of people every day. Oh and by the way I absolutely love Jesus Revolution wonderful film recommend that everyone go see it. Thanks a lot Pastor Greg. How have Pastor Greg's teachings touched you and the people around you? Would you contact us and let us know?

Call 866-871-1144 that's 866-871-1144. Well we're exploring Romans chapter 8 today an encouraging section of scripture as Pastor Greg presents a message called how to live a spirit-led life. Number two if you're taking notes. The best way to not go backwards is to go forward in the spirit. The best way to not go backwards is to go forward in the spirit. Verse four the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Remember we looked at Romans 7 together and it's a struggle of Paul. I mean we've just come off Romans 6. It says we're no longer slaves to sin. We're children of God.

Everything's awesome. Then Paul in Romans 7 says yeah but then there's this. The good I want to do I don't do that.

The bad I don't want to do I do that. I struggle with this and I just cry out to God oh wretched man that I am who's going to deliver me from this law of sin and death. You see the struggle of Romans 7 is that of a person trying to live Romans 6 without the help of the Holy Spirit. Again the struggle of Romans 7 is a person is trying to live the truths of Romans 6 without the help of the Holy Spirit. It's worth noting that the word I is used 30 times in Romans 7 without a single mention of the Holy Spirit.

But then when you come to Romans 8 the word Spirit or Holy Spirit is used 20 times. So the idea is we need the help of the Holy Spirit. And so we decide to walk in the Spirit. You see when you get up in the morning you make choices.

I'm either going to walk in the Spirit today or I'm going to walk in the flesh today. And we can apply this to other areas of life. Let's take people who are thin.

Now there are biological freaks of nature who do not gain weight even though they eat all the bad things. Are any of you out there. Just raise your hand.

I hate you if you're here. No. No there are.

One guy raises his hand. No there are people like that. I know people like this.

They can eat anything and never gain weight. Others. The rest of us that is not the case. So you notice that people are thin and they are in good shape. There is a reason for that. The other day I went to a place called the Meatball Shop with my friend Skip Heitzig. Now that is a great name for a place. The Meatball Shop.

Right. And they have great spicy pork meatballs. And so I ordered sort of a hoagie type sandwich. You know spicy pork meatballs with spicy pork sauce with provolone cheese melted on it. That is how you order in the Meatball Shop. Ok.

I am just telling you. Skip Heitzig. He ordered chicken meatballs. What chicken. You don't make meatballs out of chicken. And then he got it on. I can't even say it.

Kale salad. Then again Skip is a very thin guy. And I am not.

Maybe there is something to that. Or you look at someone and they are just in great shape. Well what do they do? They get up in the morning.

They do a run. And then they go and they lift weights and they think about things that they eat and you wake up in the morning and you don't do anything. And you eat breakfast and then you have donuts afterwards or whatever it is you do.

Ok. So I bring this up just to say now let's compare it to the spiritual life. One person gets up in the morning and they open their Bible. And they read what the Bible has to say. And they pray. And then they are on their way to work.

Oh I have an hour commute. Yeah well they listen to Christian radio. Or they listen to good podcasts that have messages or other things that will encourage them spiritually or praise and worship music. And then even at their lunch break they open the Word of God again. And they are involved in the church. And they are obviously there every Sunday.

That is kind of the no-brainer. But they are in a midweek study. They are in a small group. Oh and they are doing well spiritually. Imagine that.

Then there is someone else. They get up in the morning. They don't read the Bible. And they listen to talk radio on their way to work. And they get to church every now and then. Now it is around two times a month give or take. And midweeks no.

Small groups no. You see and then they wonder why they are struggling spiritually. Now don't get me wrong because I am not trying to put someone under legalism because in fact that is what we have been freed from. This is not works righteousness but rather listen working righteousness. There is our part as well as God's part.

And I think we need to see that if you don't want to go backwards you go forward. And the best way to not walk in the flesh is to walk in the Spirit. And to be conscious about that and take practical steps to do that each and every day.

Listen to this. Every one of us should start every day by asking God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. Because Ephesians 5 says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. And the word filled speaks of something that is continuous as in be constantly filled over and over again with the Holy Spirit. Also in the original language it is a command. God is saying, I command you to be filled over and over again with the Holy Spirit. What does it mean? It means that the Holy Spirit permeates my life.

Because one way this word is translated is permeation as in salt permeating meat to preserve it. God wants His Spirit to permeate every area of your life. Your thought life. Your marriage. Your business.

Everything that you do. He wants to permeate it. And then another translation of the word filled means to have the wind fill your sails. Have you ever been out on a lake in a little sailboat and there is no wind and you are just bobbing around and then a gust of wind comes and you hoist your sail and you pick up speed.

Oh that is the way to do it. How much better life is when I let the Holy Spirit fill my sails and give me the strength to live this life He has called me to live. I am not talking about trying harder. I am talking about asking God to help you because you can't do this on your own.

Point number three. Spirit led people are spiritually minded people. Spirit led people are spiritually minded people.

Verse five. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things. Those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

Pause for a moment. Think about things that please the Spirit. In other words be preoccupied with things that preoccupy the Holy Spirit.

What would those things be? Well the rest of Romans 8 answers that question. Here is a few things the Holy Spirit wants you to think about. Verse 14 says those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. Verses 15 to 16 tells us God removes the fear of rejection and assures us we are His children. Verses 26 to 27 tell us that the Holy Spirit gives us confidence to approach God in prayer.

Here is what the Holy Spirit is preoccupied with. He wants us to think about the fact that we are adopted. We are loved. And we are welcomed. Adopted. Loved.

And welcomed. You are adopted as a child of God. I am adopted. That is where I got my last name Laurie.

A man named Oscar Laurie. One of my mother's many husbands adopted me and treated me as a father. And I still feel a great love for him.

He is in heaven now. But I am adopted. Maybe some of you are adopted.

Heard about two kids who were arguing. One was a biological son. The other was an adopted son. The biological son said to the adopted brother, you know what? I was born into this family. You were adopted. And the adopted boy said, well they chose me and they got stuck with you. So God chose you. He adopted you.

He wanted you. You are adopted. You are loved. And you are welcomed. He welcomes you in prayer.

So this is important when you are going through something that is stressing you out and causing you to worry. Remember you are an adopted child of God. You are welcomed by God. God wants to hear from you. And that is what it is to be spiritually minded and have your mind dominated by the Spirit. Great insight today by way of our study in Romans chapter 8 with Pastor Greg Laurie. A presentation called How to Live a Spirit Led Life. And there is more to come here on A New Beginning. Well, we are making available the new film Jesus Revolution on DVD. Yes, it is available on DVD now. And Pastor Greg, you have probably seen the film more times than nearly anyone, having been there during the entire production of the film from start to finish.

Yes. Let me ask you, what scene in particular stands out to you? What is a memorable moment to you? One of my favorite scenes in the film, Dave, is when Chuck is with his daughter, Jan. And Jan wasn't really walking closely with the Lord in the film version of her life and in the story of Jesus Revolution. And she was a believer, but she was disillusioned. She was wondering why Christians weren't more loving. And one day her dad comes home from a church service and he was a little discouraged at that particular moment in the story. And he's getting ready to eat the food that's left on the table for him by his wife, Kay. And then there's Jan standing there and they have a conversation. And I love what she says to her father.

So picture this for a moment. Chuck is sitting at the table. Across from the table is his daughter, Jan. And she says this to her father. You're out past curfew. You okay? Oh, I'm all right, babe. I know I've been distracted. I haven't been around a lot. No, Dad, stop.

I have something that I want to say to you. See, I was almost done with this whole Christianity thing. I was like, where's the love, you know? What are we even doing here? Where is Jesus in all of this? He seemed like a radical dude.

I'd like him, but this, I don't know. But then you did what nobody else would even dare to do. You let the hippies in.

Come to find out Jesus came in with them. And you know what? I'm proud of you. You opened yourself up to something you didn't understand. And I've changed because of it.

Thousands of us. But you don't have to carry it all, okay? Don't lose yourself in all of it. Don't carry it.

Also, don't do drugs. I love that statement Jen makes to her dad. When the hippies came in, Jesus came with them.

Now, that is not to imply that Jesus wasn't in their church and wasn't working in their church, but it's sort of showing how Jen was seeing things, that she was a disillusioned church kid, but these young people coming to Christ impacted her, and then she wanted to be closer to the Lord and made a recommitment to Christ as a result. Beautiful story, beautiful scene, and we want you to see it instead of just listen to it. And that is now possible because the Jesus revolution film is available on DVD, and we want to send you a copy. Now, I know it's out there streaming already. Some of you may have already watched it on some streaming platform like Apple or Amazon, but listen, the Jesus revolution DVD is special for a couple of reasons.

Number one, it has bonus content, including something that I think is very important. It's a special message I filmed as the sun was setting on the beach where I present the gospel, and I even have a prayer that a person can pray to accept Christ. There's other bonus content on this film as well, and you can show it to as many people as you want, and we will send you this special harvest edition of the Jesus revolution film for your gift of any size. That helps us to continue to preach the gospel and teach the Word of God. So order your copy right now, and you can see that scene with Chuck and his daughter and your own personal copy of Jesus revolution on DVD.

Yeah, that's right. So get in touch with us today. Our phone number is 1-800-821-3300. We'll send the DVD your way along with a free streaming code to thank you for your donation right now. And thanks for keeping in mind that this resource costs us more than is generally the case, so your generosity is certainly appreciated right now.

Again, call us anytime at 1-800-821-3300, or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514, or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg brings more insights from the encouraging eighth chapter of Romans. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie.

Hey, everybody. Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.