Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This is a good looking bunch.
[00:00:07] Just look around at all the beautiful people you go to church with.
[00:00:17] I want to encourage you to be a good citizen and go vote this week.
[00:00:27] Ah, but I also want to encourage you to be a good Christian and don't treat people bad who don't agree with you.
[00:00:54] We need to let the love of Christ nurture our hearts.
[00:01:01] And we need to hear what Paul said in Romans chapter 14.
[00:01:06] He said, don't judge each other and don't despise each other.
[00:01:15] Somebody can have a different political view from you and they can love Jesus Christ just as much as you do.
[00:01:23] You hear that?
[00:01:25] So be a good citizen, go vote for who you think is best, but be a good Christian and treat people around you with grace, love and kindness.
[00:01:37] All right?
[00:01:39] Don't make me tell your Heavenly Father on you.
[00:01:45] Our dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the privilege of living in America.
[00:01:51] I thank you for all the blessings that you've bestowed upon us.
[00:01:56] I pray that you would bless those who have authority over us. I pray that you would direct their way and make them wise.
[00:02:04] And I pray that the steadfast love of the Lord would abide in our hearts.
[00:02:09] Father, I pray that as we finish this sermon series on life in Christ Jesus, your spirit would teach us new skills and and we would live the Christian life more effectively.
[00:02:21] And I ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:02:26] We've been studying through Romans chapter seven and I believe that chapter, the chapter division between seven and eight is in the wrong place.
[00:02:39] I believe chapter eight, verses one through four is the conclusion of the argument that Paul makes all throughout chapter seven.
[00:02:50] Here's his argument.
[00:02:52] He says, I recognize two laws in my life.
[00:03:00] The law of sin, which is an encoding to do the wrong thing, and the law of life in Christ, which is an encoding to do the right thing.
[00:03:13] If you pay attention in your life, you will recognize that something in you desires to do the right thing.
[00:03:22] And the better Christian you are, the more that desire is pressing on you. All right?
[00:03:29] But you also have to admit that there's somebody ugly in there that doesn't mind doing the wrong thing.
[00:03:38] Ah.
[00:03:40] I have to say the law of sin prevailed in my house last night when I was watching a certain football game.
[00:03:51] All right, I wanna do the right thing.
[00:03:56] Ah.
[00:03:57] I don't wanna swear at the tv.
[00:04:00] Ah, ah, ah.
[00:04:02] But I find another code in me.
[00:04:07] And so Paul's making an argument that to live the Christian life, we have to acknowledge that there are two encodings. There is the encoding of Christ that inspires us to do the right thing.
[00:04:20] It inspires us to treat people well. It inspires us to love God.
[00:04:27] And then there's the other code that. That drags us down and leaves us marred by sin, shamed by sin, and full of regret for sin.
[00:04:44] And Paul says, which we're going to study this morning, that this struggle within us makes us wretched.
[00:04:56] He says, o wretched man that I am, who's going to rescue me from this conflict?
[00:05:03] All right, then, in your English Bible, the chapter ends there. And it makes it sound like, well, there's really no hope. You're just going to have to live with it.
[00:05:15] But if we read it the way it wants to be read, the argument ends and is concluded in chapter eight, verses one through four.
[00:05:25] And in chapter eight, he says, there is therefore no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. Here it is. For the law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
[00:05:43] There is a progressive freedom. There is a progressive moving away from the encoding to do wrong to the encoding to do right. That is, it should be a normal part of the Christian life.
[00:05:58] You see, if I'm living my life the way I should, I'm. I'm a better man this year than I was three years ago.
[00:06:07] Because the Holy Spirit is progressively working on the law of life in Christ Jesus, in me, and that's becoming more and more dominant.
[00:06:19] If I'm the same jerk I was five years ago, I gotta look in the mirror and say, bro, you're not living the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived.
[00:06:30] Are you with me? All right.
[00:06:33] So then Paul says, so I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
[00:06:46] For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
[00:07:06] Ah.
[00:07:07] A week from next Sunday, I'm gonna start a five sermon series on. On the goodness of God.
[00:07:15] I'm going to. You do not want to miss this series. It's going to be ridiculously awesome.
[00:07:24] The goodness of God is much more complex than what you think.
[00:07:29] And I promise you it will be enriching. All right, But I. In that study this week, I was finishing the series.
[00:07:41] I recognized that in this conflict between the law of sin and the law of life in Christ Jesus, I get to see more of the goodness of God.
[00:07:56] Let me tell you how in this Conflict.
[00:08:01] Every time I recognize in me a conflict between the impulse to do good and the desire to do bad. Every time I recognize that the Holy Spirit is present to help me.
[00:08:16] I don't do this conflict alone. The Holy Spirit is the is the third Person of the Trinity. He abides within us and he is God's grace to help us in all these temptations and, and in all these struggles we have. I see the goodness of God even in the conflict within me between right and wrong.
[00:08:43] A second thing.
[00:08:44] Christ strengthens us in every testing by his presence and his teaching.
[00:08:52] In every testing, I can remember the teaching of Jesus Christ and be strengthened.
[00:09:00] Ah, you're going to be tested to say something snotty about some political thing you don't like.
[00:09:08] Ah, guess what?
[00:09:09] Christ is present and he's going to say to you, hey, ah, show a little grace.
[00:09:19] I believe in grace.
[00:09:23] The spirit of Christ is going to say, ah, you can be kind.
[00:09:30] Ah, just because you don't agree doesn't mean you can't be kind. The teaching of Christ is with me in every single one of these temptations, showing me the goodness of God.
[00:09:44] How about this?
[00:09:46] Every testing is used by God to make me a better person so that I can serve him more effectively in the future.
[00:09:56] You get this.
[00:09:58] Some of you like to work out.
[00:10:02] You go to the gym and you lift weights and do all that wonderful stuff. All right, listen.
[00:10:14] You push yourself.
[00:10:17] You test yourself because you believe that it'll make you stronger in the future.
[00:10:25] Right?
[00:10:27] Every time you walk a lap, you believe this will make me healthier in the future. All right? The same thing is true in your spiritual life.
[00:10:37] Every time your soul gets tested, it becomes a little stronger and it's capable of better things in the future.
[00:10:46] So even in the testing of your soul, the goodness of God evidences itself.
[00:10:53] And that's why James says, account it all joy when you have these tests, because it's God strengthening you and empowering you to be a better person in the future.
[00:11:12] Verse 22.
[00:11:14] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.
[00:11:19] The law of life in Christ Jesus rules in our soul.
[00:11:24] What is our soul?
[00:11:26] It's our intellect, will and emotion.
[00:11:29] Listen, with my intellect, I delight in life in Christ Jesus.
[00:11:37] When I think about everything that's good in my life, I know that it's connected to Jesus Christ.
[00:11:47] When I think about the bad in my life that I don't like, I know it's connected to me being a dummy.
[00:11:58] The law of life in Christ Jesus is. Is a way of thinking about life that says, everywhere I look and I see something beautiful. It is an expression of the law of Christ.
[00:12:15] Everywhere I look that I see ugly, that I see ruin, that I see brutality.
[00:12:27] That's the law of sin.
[00:12:29] I'd only just. I don't just love the law of God. With my mind.
[00:12:34] I start my will, begins to enjoy the law of God.
[00:12:41] Doing the right thing becomes more and more enjoyable, and doing the wrong thing becomes less and less attractive.
[00:12:51] Do you see?
[00:12:55] You develop a different appetite.
[00:12:58] Your will becomes more and more inclined to what is good and beautiful and less and less inclined to what is broken and shameful.
[00:13:11] And it's not just my intellect and my will, but it's also my emotions.
[00:13:16] I find joy in living under the law of Jesus Christ.
[00:13:24] I find deep well being.
[00:13:28] Life feels good to me when I'm living under the law of Christ Jesus.
[00:13:35] And it feels progressively undoable living under the law of sin.
[00:13:41] You see the argument Paul is making. As I grow to live more and more in the law of Christ, my inner life moves in that direction.
[00:13:52] I think better thoughts, I make better choices. I have richer and more full emotions. I'm loving what I should love.
[00:14:07] My life is moved in the direction of the character of Christ. Perfect progressively, as I live under the law of Christ.
[00:14:18] I wish we could end it there. But he also says, I see in my members another law waging a war against the law of my mind.
[00:14:29] In the very same way that my heart delights in the law of God, My.
[00:14:36] My physical nature still has an appetite for. For things that aren't healthy.
[00:14:43] Do you hear this?
[00:14:45] Ah, this is pretty easy to illustrate what's better for you, Fried chicken or baked chicken?
[00:15:00] Thank you. There's.
[00:15:02] Yeah, yeah. I go fried chicken every day of the week. All right.
[00:15:10] My problem is fried chicken just tastes so much better to me than baked chicken.
[00:15:18] Amen.
[00:15:21] Throw some mashed potatoes and gravy in there.
[00:15:26] Some thickly buttered bread.
[00:15:29] Okay, see, here's what I know.
[00:15:33] I have appetites for foods that aren't the healthiest for me.
[00:15:41] There it is.
[00:15:42] I don't eat broccoli. My mom isn't around to make me.
[00:15:48] But I know that broccoli's healthy for you. I just have no taste for it. I don't even like the way it smells.
[00:15:57] And plus, it's ugly.
[00:16:00] All right?
[00:16:02] I can know in my head what is healthy food and what isn't healthy food.
[00:16:10] The trouble is, knowing it in my head doesn't change the way it tastes to my tongue.
[00:16:17] The Same thing is true in trying to live a quality life.
[00:16:22] I can know in my head that. That permitting myself to act in certain ways, it's not healthy, it's not good, it's not Christian. The problem is I still have an appetite for it.
[00:16:38] So Paul is saying, we have to understand that there is an absolute war going on between my heart delighting in the life in Christ Jesus, and my physical self still having an appetite for things that aren't healthy.
[00:16:58] All right.
[00:17:01] And Paul says, if we're not careful, these physical desires can take us captive.
[00:17:11] Do you see what it says?
[00:17:14] Taking me captive?
[00:17:17] Ah.
[00:17:18] This word captive is very picturesque. In the original, it literally means to capture at the end of a spear.
[00:17:31] It is a term for being captured in battle.
[00:17:34] You were in a battle between the law of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin, and you did not incline your heart toward Christ, and sin got out its spear and took you captive.
[00:17:53] Ah.
[00:17:54] What does that look like? And what's that feel like? Now we're dealing with the compulsiveness of doing wrong.
[00:18:01] There is a compulsiveness of doing wrong where we end up not wanting to do wrong and doing wrong anyway.
[00:18:11] Has that ever happened to you?
[00:18:15] I don't want to say the wrong thing, but I let my mind go to places I shouldn't let it go. I don't nip anger in the bud, and then I end up saying an ugly thing, even though I don't want to say ugly things. I've been taken captive by. By the law of sin. Do you see what happens? All right.
[00:18:39] I wish it ended there. The trouble is, you permit yourself to say one ugly thing, it's just easier to say the next ugly thing.
[00:18:50] Huh?
[00:18:51] Or you go, you think about it for 20 minutes after it happens. You're thinking, thinking, thinking you're going to. Next time I'm gonna say this, and next time I'm gonna say that I wish I'd have said this.
[00:19:07] See what's happening? I'm being taken captive by the law of sin, and it's pushing me farther and farther away.
[00:19:20] Ah.
[00:19:21] Verse 24.
[00:19:23] Paul says, When I think about this, when I think about this reality in my life, this is what I conclude. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death.
[00:19:39] That's where he ends up. He goes, this conflict is so difficult that I feel wretched.
[00:19:51] Wretched is the way you feel just. Just before you throw up.
[00:19:56] Have you ever heard the word wretch? That's throw up. Well, you know that terrible feeling you have just before it happens? That's wretched.
[00:20:05] Paul says this makes me want to puke.
[00:20:10] I'm so tired of this.
[00:20:13] The conflict is so.
[00:20:15] It's so wearying, it leaves me feeling nauseous. All right.
[00:20:23] Ah, but he doesn't end there.
[00:20:26] There's a. There's a degree of hopelessness in that, but he doesn't end there. Listen what he says then.
[00:20:32] But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:20:39] So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, with my flesh. I serve the law of sin.
[00:20:49] I do not have to live in the wretchedness. There is a way out.
[00:20:55] And that way out is our rescuer, Jesus Christ.
[00:21:01] Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:21:11] Let's look at each one. Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:21:14] Christ is our rescuer because he is our Lord.
[00:21:19] Lord means he has the final say.
[00:21:22] He has the rule.
[00:21:24] In every situation there is hope if I will let Christ have his way.
[00:21:31] I become hopeless when I won't let him have his way because I insist on having my way.
[00:21:38] Second of all is Jesus. The name Jesus means Savior.
[00:21:43] My Savior is meeting me in the conflict and saying, I will provide a way of escape so that you can endure this testing.
[00:21:57] And then his name is Christ, which is his divine nature.
[00:22:01] In all my tests, I'm rescued from the wretchedness because Christ is mediating the divine nature to me. He's influencing my thinking and reminding me of the genius of God.
[00:22:17] He's influencing my choices and calling me to better. He's influencing my emotions and reminding me of the richness of his love and grace, the kindness of his mercy.
[00:22:31] Because Christ rescues us from misery, we give thanks to God.
[00:22:38] I end up going through a temptation, experiencing the goodness of God. And I end up saying, worshiping God with thanksgiving instead of being filled with regret, shame and remorse.
[00:22:52] Is it Beautiful? Church, chapter 8, verse 1.
[00:22:59] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:23:06] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
[00:23:15] I am not left in my wretchedness.
[00:23:19] The law of life in Christ is stronger than the law of sin and death. And Christ sets me free because Christ rescued us from the law of sin. There is no condemnation.
[00:23:36] Now I need to speak to some of you who grew up like I did.
[00:23:40] I used to hear in church that everybody's going to be judged by God someday.
[00:23:46] And this is what they said. This is what it looks like. There's going to be a Great White Throne.
[00:23:51] And everybody who ever lived is going to stand before that Great White Throne.
[00:23:56] And then God is going to show a movie of your life and humiliate you in front of the universe.
[00:24:05] Anybody ever hear that?
[00:24:08] The Judgment was about God humiliating us for our sin.
[00:24:14] And I believe that.
[00:24:16] And so you know what? I never really trusted God.
[00:24:21] How could I trust someone who is going to humiliate me like that?
[00:24:29] How could I trust someone who said he had my back, but was drawing me to a day where everybody who ever lived would see the worst of everything I ever did?
[00:24:44] I couldn't trust that.
[00:24:47] Ah, but by the grace of God, I learned the truth.
[00:24:52] And the truth is, there is no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
[00:25:00] I learned the truth that this great Jesus Christ has no desire to humiliate me. He desires to stand me up on that great day without spouse and without blemish.
[00:25:15] He has a desire to share the glory that he had with the Father with me.
[00:25:22] It's not his desire to make me grovel. It's not his desire to shame me. It's his desire to do just the opposite. He prayed to his Father. I want these people where I am so they can see the glory I had with you from the beginning.
[00:25:41] And I can share my glory with them.
[00:25:50] This is the law of life in Christ Jesus. The law of life in Christ. Jesus progressively makes me everything God wants me to be. And on the great day, Jesus stands up and and doesn't condemn. He says, well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:26:12] Can you hear this church?
[00:26:17] Because Christ mediates the life of God to us. There's no condemnation because Christ calls us back to life. In Christ, even after our failures, there is no condemnation.
[00:26:32] Listen what Paul says in Galatians. Galatians 2:16.
[00:26:36] Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:26:46] So also we have believed in Christ in order that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.
[00:26:55] Because by the works of the law, no one will be justified.
[00:27:00] Can you hear this?
[00:27:03] The law of sin partners with the law of Moses.
[00:27:11] And we think that we're right with God because we do the right stuff, or we're not right with God because we don't do the right stuff.
[00:27:22] Paul is saying, stop that right now.
[00:27:26] You're never gonna be right with God by what you do.
[00:27:29] You are right with God by faith.
[00:27:32] That means there is a conflict between the law of sin and the life in Christ. Jesus.
[00:27:40] And in that moment, I get to choose. I'm gonna. I'm gonna do this myself. And I'm gonna make. I'm gonna have willpower. I'm gonna make myself do the right thing. Or I get to turn from that and say I have faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:27:55] And my faith in Christ believes that he is able and desirous of drawing me into life in Christ Jesus and away from sin. And now I'm not trusting myself. I'm not gritting my teeth.
[00:28:12] I'm not trying to prove what a good guy I am. I'm clinging by faith to Jesus Christ.
[00:28:19] You hear this?
[00:28:21] When I was a boy, we used to sing. My faith is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.
[00:28:29] I'm not trusting myself to win in this conflict. I'm looking beyond myself to the great conqueror of the human soul, the great lover of the human heart, Jesus Christ himself.
[00:28:50] Have to cut some stuff so we have time for the Lord's Supper. All right.
[00:28:55] The encoding of Christ progressively dominates and displaces the law of sin and death.
[00:29:07] Romans 8:3.
[00:29:09] For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.
[00:29:14] By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin. He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
[00:29:33] God does through the law of life in Christ what we cannot do by our own willpower and our own self discipline.
[00:29:44] Listen what Paul says in Ephesians. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved.
[00:30:00] Do you hear what that says?
[00:30:02] God said the law of sin killed you the But I showed up in your life and I freed you from the law of sin.
[00:30:14] And I put you under the law of life in Christ Jesus.
[00:30:19] And I did that all out of the riches of my mercy and grace.
[00:30:25] And I did that simply because I love you.
[00:30:29] That's what Christ says. Can you hear it, Church?
[00:30:34] Christ defeated the law of sin and death when he lived in the flesh just like us.
[00:30:40] Christ was tested by the law of sin.
[00:30:43] But the law of life in Christ always triumphed over testing.
[00:30:49] He was tested in every way we are. And yet without sin, through life in Christ we meet all the requirements of the righteousness of God.
[00:31:01] Do you hear this?
[00:31:02] God has nothing against you.
[00:31:05] In Christ you meet all the requirements of his law.
[00:31:10] Because you are in Christ and Christ has delighted the Father. You meet all the requirements of the law.
[00:31:21] We don't have. I don't have time to preach on it, but I want to read to you the next verses.
[00:31:29] Ah, this is where I think the new chapter begins. Listen what it says.
[00:31:34] For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
[00:31:41] But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
[00:31:47] For the mindset on the flesh is death.
[00:31:51] But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
[00:31:55] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot.
[00:32:06] Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[00:32:10] All right, let me, let me give you the gist of this.
[00:32:14] How do I move progressively from living under the law of sand to living more and more under the law of life in Christ Jesus? How do I move?
[00:32:24] I have to set my mind on things that are above.
[00:32:29] Do you hear this?
[00:32:31] If you keep focusing on your material and physical life, you're never going to grow up in Jesus Christ.
[00:32:39] Do this.
[00:32:41] Ah.
[00:32:44] Just, just say you're on a diet.
[00:32:47] Just think about food all day and see how much your diet works.
[00:32:54] Right?
[00:32:55] Ah.
[00:32:56] I'm not gonna eat that. I'm not gonna eat that. I'm not gonna eat that. I'm not gonna eat that tomorrow.
[00:33:07] Okay? This is what Paul says. Paul says we win or lose this game by how we permit ourself to think.
[00:33:16] I want to progressively throughout my day keep turning my thoughts to what is beautiful, strong, healthy and good.
[00:33:25] I want to give up my focus on what is ugly, bad, rotten and broken.
[00:33:31] Do you see this?
[00:33:34] Ah. The mindset on the Spirit is life and peace, man. When you're thinking in a healthy way, you live a better life.
[00:33:46] You have more internal peace and well being.
[00:33:50] Just let yourself get fixated on anger and see how ugly your life becomes and see how much peace you have.
[00:33:58] On the other hand, you let it go and you turn your mind to the beauty of Jesus Christ, to the goodness of God, to the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Tell yourself a Jesus story from the Gospels. I, I do it all the time. It helps me get my mind in the right place.
[00:34:18] The life focused on Christ.
[00:34:21] Ah.
[00:34:23] And the life that's focused on Christ and the life that desires these spiritual beauties is the life that Christ promised when he said, I've come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.
[00:34:42] I want to share this with you one more time.
[00:34:45] If I want to turn my mind from the things of the flesh to the things of the spirit, what can I think about? Galatians 5. 22. I read it to you last week. I'm going to remind you.
[00:34:57] The fruit of the Spirit is love.
[00:35:02] Turn your mind away from hate and toward love.
[00:35:08] Joy, deep well being.
[00:35:12] You just simply say to God, I'm feeling conflicted.
[00:35:17] I'm struggling.
[00:35:19] And I pray for the joy of the Lord to strengthen me.
[00:35:25] Peace.
[00:35:27] Just say to Christ, I pray. I pray that the peace that passes understanding will would guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
[00:35:36] Patience.
[00:35:38] I don't have to be upset.
[00:35:42] I don't have to let this get the best of me.
[00:35:45] I don't have to be grouchy. I'm just gonna relax into this and I'm not gonna fight with it.
[00:35:52] Kindness.
[00:35:54] Ah.
[00:35:55] Oh. How quickly life changes. When you show kindness, someone or someone shows kindness to you.
[00:36:03] Church, it's really hard to be angry with somebody who's being very kind to you. Not saying you can't do it. I know some of you can, but it's harder to. It's harder to be angry with someone who's being kind.
[00:36:21] Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
[00:36:26] Against such things, there is no law.
[00:36:30] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires.
[00:36:38] All right, now, let's bring this whole sermon series to a close. We're going to wrap it all up right here.
[00:36:44] We are Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ.
[00:36:48] That means we live under and encoding that the Holy Spirit writes in our souls.
[00:36:57] God is at work changing the encoding of your soul.
[00:37:02] But we're still human beings and there is a. There is an encoding in our fleshly desires that is wrong.
[00:37:13] And so day by day, I'm going to be in the conflict between living life in Christ Jesus or surrendering to this. In this wrong physical encoding.
[00:37:27] Christ is my partner, the Holy Spirit is my partner.
[00:37:32] And day by day, if I will set my mind on spiritual things, the law of life in Christ Jesus will grow stronger and stronger, and the law of sin and death will grow weaker and weaker.
[00:37:48] It's never going completely away, but it grows weaker and weaker. The life of Christ becomes dominant and displaces the life of sin.
[00:38:00] It's not a question of works. It's not you figuring this out and doing it yourself. It is a question of faith, where you simply begin to trust that Christ is good enough to keep calling you back into life in Christ Jesus.
[00:38:19] Enriching your heart in Christ Jesus, changing the inclinations and the passions of your life toward the things of Christ Jesus.
[00:38:28] And then by the goodness of God, day after day, year after year, Christ does his perfect work in us.
[00:38:39] And in the end, the law of sin perishes. And all that's left for all eternity is the wonder, the beauty and the glory of life in Christ Jesus.
[00:38:52] Our dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the. I thank you for the.
[00:38:59] The. The wisdom that you shared with the Apostle Paul.
[00:39:04] I thank you for these good ideas.
[00:39:07] And now I pray for myself and everyone here and everyone online.
[00:39:12] And this is my prayer. Father, grant that day by day we hear your spirit calling us away from the law of sin and death and into the law of life in Christ Jesus.
[00:39:28] Grant us that in the moment wisdom to set our minds on things that are above and not on things of the earth.
[00:39:36] To set our minds on the things of the Spirit and not the. Not the wrong desires of the flesh.
[00:39:44] And then I pray that Jesus Christ will be glorified in the life we live under his law. Amen.
