It’s always exciting to hear from one of our missionaries and to hear them speak But it’s it’s kind of doubly exciting this morning to hear from one of the missionaries. We’ve sent out Adam Gibson his family. We sent out 11 years ago 12 years ago something like that. So let 11 years They’ve been on the field in Portugal. And in fact, I remember when you were my youth leader You may want to block out those memories.

I don’t know but we are we are excited to have you here this morning to speak Thanks Good morning It is an honor and privilege to be here. And as you are opening to Colossians chapter 3, I would ask that you would be in prayer for us. Next week, we start our visiting churches and presenting the ministry that God’s called us to in Portugal. We’re very excited to bring that to you later on.

I won’t do much of that today at all. But it’s amazing the way that God has worked in Portugal and the church in Portugal. Even though I’m there, God does amazing things. And praise God, it’s not because of me. That would be frightening if it were, and it’s definitely not that. But we are truly thankful for you, for your love and support. in the way that you care for us, we can’t say enough. Colossians chapter three, we’ll begin in verse one. We’ll cover the first couple of verses here.

And as we begin reading here, the word of the Lord says, therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, Keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.

For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with him in glory. Therefore, Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual morality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked when you were living in them.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we are privileged to be able to read your word, to study it, to look at it as a mirror in our lives and the ways that we are living, how we should be living, how we should be changing, how we should be transformed more and more into the image of your son on a daily basis. God, help us, I pray, in the battle to live as a believer should live, God, we thank you for your word. May it do what it is intended to do, to strengthen us, to lead us, and to guide us. Help us to honor you by honoring your word. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

So imagine yourself, no doubt you’ve seen homeless people on the streets, We often see it in Lisbon, and it’s a sad thing to see. But imagine yourself being that person, sleeping on the sides of the road, sleeping up under the shelters of the awnings of businesses, having cardboard as your covers and nothing for a pillow. No food to eat, no shelter to hide from the elements, No way to get anything that you need because you have no job, you have no money, you have no way to supply for yourself. You’re without anything.

And then imagine one day someone looks at you, shows compassion upon you. brings you into a home, gives this home to you, gives you food, gives you clothing, gives you shelter, gives you the basic necessities that you need for life. And you have a second chance at life. But after all the excitement wears off of this new life, you are worried. You struggle with your new life. You think, and in some ways I had it better when I lived out on the streets. And you began to move out of this house, to abandon the gifts that have been given to you, and you go back to your old lifestyle and living on the streets. And you think, that’s kind of ridiculous.

Who in their right mind would do that? But as believers in Christ, Have we done that same thing to God? In our daily lives, in the ways that we are living, have we done exactly what I just mentioned? Instead of accepting the generosity and help from this person that blessed you with these things, you turned from them. Instead of being thankful and blessing others with the gifts that you have been given, you deny them. Instead of sleeping in a comfortable bed, you go back to sleeping outside.

We have been rescued as believers in Christ Jesus. We have been rescued from death. We have been rescued from the sins that we owe payment for. because Jesus paid the price for our sins. He paid the payment that we could not pay. As believers, we have been adopted into the family of God.

As believers, we have been freed from sin that enslaves us. And yet, oftentimes as believers, we are tempted to go back to that old lifestyle and go back into those sins that never satisfied us, that never paid off, that never gave us joy, that never gave us hope, that always left us feeling dirty and worthless. As Christians, we are tempted to fall back into our old lifestyle with the sins that we are tempted with. As believers, we should hold fast to the word of God.

Paul says in the first verse here in chapter three, if then you have been raised with Christ, which means if you have been raised with Christ, you are a believer. This passage is for you. If not, There’s a different story for you. There’s a different outcome. This is not about your life as an unbeliever. This is about the life of a believer. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.

Today, we’re going to be talking about sin, about the temptation to sin, because it’s a problem that all of us deal with. We all struggle with our lives and the way that we should be living. We all battle with sin. There’s a battle going on in our minds continually to either seek the things that are above or to seek the things that are below on this earth and go back to our old lifestyle, our old self. So then how should we as believers deal with the temptation of sin in our lives? When we receive Christ as our Savior, does sin just vanish from our lives forever?

Well, that’d be nice, wouldn’t it? It doesn’t. Scripture never says that it does. But as true believers, the question is, is are we perfect? Well, theologically that depends on what you’re talking about, but as people who live on this earth, we still struggle with sin. I doubt any of us in this room would claim perfection in Christ, absolutely.

In Adam, 100% no. The Apostle Paul even talks about this in Romans 7 verse 18, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, For the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Christians, we are in a battle, a daily battle for our minds. And the Apostle Paul says later in that same chapter in verse 24, wretched man that I am.

Are we not all wretched in our sin? We have the desire to do good, the desire to live for the Lord, the desire to be the best father and husband that we can possibly be. And yet we just we just blow it. We mess up. The temptation to go back and do our old life and live our old life and live the way that we want to do is so strong within us. And why is that? Satan does not want us to succeed as believers. In every part of our lives, he wants us to fail. We see that in scripture with heroes of the faith that we can read about. From the beginning of the Bible, the Bible does not hide the sin of humanity.

You ever realized that? You ever wondered that and thought, why did God just not keep all that bad stuff out? Why is it that the man after God’s own heart, David, why don’t we read about all the bad stuff he done? Why couldn’t that have just been left aside? Like, you know what, we’ll figure all that out in heaven, or maybe not worry about it at all.

The Bible is absolutely accurate in the way that we as believers struggle with sin. And we see that in our heroes of the faith that we read about in Scripture. The Bible talks about this. It doesn’t hide from it. Genesis 15. What happens in Genesis 15?

An amazing covenant is made with Abram. It’s this incredible chapter speaking of the way that God provided and will provide in his covenant and promise that he makes with Abram. And you think after Abram wakes from sleep and realizes what happened and what God has done for him, he would be on this mountaintop.

And then you get into chapter 16 right after that, and you read the second verse that says, so Sarah, I said to Abraham, now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. Please go into my servant woman. Perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarah. And you think, what? How could he have done that? That’s a clear example that not every decision that your wife has, not every idea that your wife has is a good idea. Most of them are, but not all of them.

Much later, we read about King Solomon, an amazing man. After years and years and years of war that his father went through, King David, and then Solomon comes on the scene. And in the first part of First Kings, we read the first 10 chapters and they’re filled with blessings. They’re filled with hope. We read of the amazing wisdom that Solomon has been given by God. And not only wisdom but riches, wealth beyond our imagination. There is peace in the kingdom and because of that the nation is feeling the blessings as well. And then you turn over to chapter 11 verse 1 in 1 Kings and it says, Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh.

What’s going on? What happened? And these are just two. And I mentioned King David earlier. The struggle with sin in our lives as believers is real. It is not something that we can ignore. It is not something that we can do away with and say, you know what, if I ignore it, it doesn’t exist. It’s kind of like your debt. If you ignore your debt, guess what? It doesn’t go away. The struggle that we have with sin in our lives as believers is real, and it will affect your life in some way. And if you as a believer are not battling against that sin, that temptation to sin, then sin will destroy your lives.

Because regardless of wanting to accept it or ignore it, sin is at war against you. And you can do your best to ignore it, but regardless of it, It’s at war against you. It wants you to fail. A country that goes to war against another country, that country either has to defend itself or be defeated by that country.

And if you as a believer are not defending yourself against the temptations to sin in your lives, then you will be destroyed by your sin. The battle for us as believers starts in our minds. Someone doesn’t automatically one day just suddenly find themselves robbing a bank or doing some sort of illegal drug. Those thoughts come into your minds and you think about them and you process them And you either allow them to stay or you push them away. Once again, how could Abram and Solomon make such poor decisions after such amazing blessings of God? And we think I am that homeless person that denies all the blessings that have been given to him and goes back to my old lifestyle.

Romans 8.13 says, if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.

Praise God that scripture teaches us how our sins can be forgiven. It tells us how we can be accepted by God, be forgiven by God. But it doesn’t just stop there. It doesn’t say, congratulations, you’ve become a Christian. Good luck with your Christian life. It is a roadmap for us to follow, to read, to study, to obey, to ingest in our lives so that we can walk in it. The Bible sets us up for success, and our old flesh is trying to pull us away from that. It’s simple. Living for ourselves brings sadness and disappointment. It brings heartache and pain to those who are around us.

Look back at Colossians chapter three, verse one, if then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth, The first verse tells us specifically who Paul is talking to, who his audience is.

It is the believers, the church in Colossae. And guess what? Now we get to read it. It’s for us and thinking about our lives. So therefore, if then you have been raised with Christ, if then you are a believer in Christ, How is it that we are to not do what we saw Abram and Solomon do and falling back into their old sins, falling back into the desires that they think that will satisfy them and make their lives better. How then do we do that? We keep seeking the things that are above.

Keep seeking. It’s a process. It’s not one of those things where it’s like, okay, I made it. I’m done. It’s like your marriage. If you work to woo the woman that you want to marry and you finally get married, you don’t just say, boom, check that box. Don’t ever have to do anything about that anymore. No, it’s a continual uphill climb. You continually got to show your spouse that you love them. You continually not only tell them that, but you do something to prove that your words are not just words.

And in your Christian life, our life is to be continually seeking the things that are above, continually following after God, striving after what it is that He’s called us to do, how He’s called us to live. It’s not one of those things where you read the Bible one time and go, yep, I got it. It’s a daily battle that we go through. How is it that we battle against sin, against temptation in our minds? It’s a daily process of being at war against that which wants to destroy you. Keep seeking the things that are above.

Paul says, if you have been raised up with Christ, and he’s referring, well he’s talking in chapter 2, he says a couple things that we’ll get into in a minute, but he’s referring back to chapter 2 because it’s a book and it all has to do with each other. Chapter 3 is not a different week, and Paul’s doing something different. Paul says, if you’ve been raised up with Christ, then do these things. In other words, if you’re already a believer in Christ, then this is what you need to be doing.

This is not a passage for how to be saved. It’s a passage for those who have been saved. How is it that you should live and walk? Because after your salvation, You’re not perfect and I’m definitely not perfect and so we need help. It’s a struggle to live a life obedient to God. It is a struggle in 2026 to live as God has called us to live. So what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to battle against these temptations that come into our lives?

The Apostle Paul writes in the book of Romans chapter six, verse 11, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Look back at chapter two, verse six says this, therefore, As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

And then in verse 1 in chapter 3 says, Therefore, if you’ve been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Chapter 2, Paul is telling the believer to stay away from sin by walking in Him. By the things that you do, the walking is the act of doing something. And then in chapter 3, setting your minds on things which are above is the mental part of doing that. Chapter 2, Paul is telling the believer to stay away from sin by walking in Christ. And in chapter three, he’s basically saying the same thing, but he’s saying it on a mental level instead of on a physical level. Set your minds on things which are above.

Why is that? Why is it that my actions aren’t enough? Because sin starts right here. Or right here. Sin starts within the body. Those thoughts of, you know, maybe I could do this. You know, maybe I could get away with this and nobody would ever know. Because it’s right here. And nobody can see what’s right here. They can see what’s right here. They can see how I walk. They can see how I talk. But they can’t see what I think about.

The thoughts that you think are so vitally important to your daily Christian life. Because if you are not controlling those thoughts, Those thoughts will eventually become actions. Guarding ourselves from sin does not only have to do with where we go. Guarding our lives as believers in Christ does not only have to do with the things that we watch and the sinful things that we may partake in, but guarding ourselves and working and following after Christ has to do with the mental battle as much as it does the physical. Think about it.

Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven, I’m sorry, Matthew chapter five, verse 27, you’ve heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman or lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And so Jesus is taking a good teaching and going beyond what they are telling them. Jesus says, you’ve heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. That’s the physical act of committing adultery. And Jesus takes it a step further and says, but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her.

That’s the mental part of it. Physically, it may not have happened, but mentally, it has. The walk that Paul is talking about in chapter 2 in Colossians, our walking with Christ, is vitally important. But it’s not the only thing. Because in chapter 3, he says, set your minds on things that are above. Praise God if you have never committed adultery in your marriage, physically. But watch out. Because if you do not guard your minds, the thought of that is committing it as well.

How is it that we are to guard ourselves from such wickedness that continually beats against our hearts and our minds? We think that just because we don’t do certain things that we’re fine and we’re good. We say, just as long, you know, I’ve never murdered anyone. And once again, we come to the question of, but what about your heart? You hate your brother. We need to pursue becoming like Christ in our actions, and that starts by the way that we think. We cannot let our minds be playgrounds for sin. It will affect our lives. Someone doesn’t randomly just commit adultery. It starts in your mind.

And if you do not guard those starts, if you do not push away those temptations, whatever they are, if you do not make daily battle against sins in your minds and you play with those temptations, then those temptations become sin and that sin becomes a lifestyle. Because sin wants you to fail. Sin never wants anything good for your lives.

Verse one tells us to seek the things that are above, and verse two says, set your mind on things above. It’s clear that our walk with Christ is important, but it’s very clear in this passage that the way in which we think and our minds is so vitally important. We cannot allow ourselves freedom of a thought, because not all thoughts are good thoughts. Just like not all ideas are bad, are good ideas.

If we’re not doing things to prevent ourselves from falling into temptation and sin, then we’ll be dominated by it. We ran over by it. We must make war against the temptation to sin in our mind so that it doesn’t carry out into our bodies, into our hands.

The first part of verse three says, Well, verse three says, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ and God. When Christ who is our body is manifested, then you will also be manifested with him in glory. The death here is not physical death, but the putting to death of our old self and our old desires. Why? Because we’re at war against them. We who have been redeemed by God and adopted into the family of God must resist the temptation to go back to the old lifestyle. It is a daily, continual battle.

The picture of baptism is a beautiful picture of what Christ Jesus did for us in the death, the burial, and the resurrection. And we who have been saved and been baptized, that picture was placed as we stood up here or wherever it was that you were baptized, of the death, the old self, the resurrection to new life, and the future hope of knowing that we will be with him.

We read in Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ, and it’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. And the life which I now live by the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. He who has given us so much, how is it that we can turn from him and abandon him and go back to our old lifestyles? But that’s what our old flesh wants us to do.

Hey, it’s great that that Jesus guy did that for you, but man, wouldn’t this be fun? Man, wouldn’t it be nice to… You name it. And we make up these… We make up these imaginary thoughts in our minds that, you know what? The sin is going to pay off for me. It’s really going to help me out. And it never does. It never ever does. And so easily we fall into the lie of sin and temptation and we do it again.

How is it that we struggle? How is it that we are supposed to walk as we have been told and commanded to walk? We must fight against the urges of temptation to sin. We must fight against living the way that we think that will make us happy. And yet we really know it won’t.

Second Corinthians 5.17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. And praise God for that.

And yet so easily we forget that. And when temptation comes into our lives, it looks so good and so appetizing that we are tempted once again to fall once again, knowing that it’s not going to pay off. We must continually be reminded of the goodness and blessings of God. We must continually be reminded that we have been saved from our old self. That we are continually to die to our old self. That we have been crucified with Christ and it’s no longer I who live. We have been bought with a price.

And therefore we must glorify God in our bodies. And doing that starts right here, starts with fighting against the sin in our lives. As Christians, we are to seek after God, to follow him, to run from the passions and trappings of Satan. If you’re a Christian, we are to think about the things of God.

Think about the things that are above, not on things of the earth. Man, there’s so many earthly fun things to do, right? I mean, truly there are. God has blessed us with a beautiful earth, with beautiful beaches and mountains. And enjoying those things are not bad. But there’s ways in which we can enjoy those things which are bad. Praise God that you’re here right now and not out at the beach.

That would be bad. Go to the beach another day. But as Christians, how is it that we’re supposed to walk? How is it that we’re supposed to live? It’s not enough just to think good things about God and say, I have faith in God and he’ll take care of everything.

It’s not enough to do that. Those are good. That’s a good start. But actions must proceed those things. Otherwise, somebody is just going to be like, that Adam guy is just a liar. I mean, he says a lot of good things about God, but his lifestyle is a complete wreck. It’s not enough just to think good things. That is the perfect place to start. But simply thinking good thoughts about God does not make someone a Christian. This isn’t new news to us, I would hope. In this passage, Paul is talking about the actions of a believer and the way that they should be walking. And if that person is not a believer, then there’s other passages that we can look at. But this passage that Paul is talking about is how is it that we are supposed to live and walk? What is it that we’re supposed to do? How is it that we’re supposed to act? Paul says in verse five, to put to death the evil things. I just put to death something that was crawling up here. True story. I’ve got proof. Anyways, sorry, that was distracting to me as well. Verse five. Verse five. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead. Dead to what? Dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which is idolatry.

Notice again that Paul is speaking about the Christian life. Believers in Jesus are supposed to follow him. How? This is a good start. He gives us an example. He doesn’t say, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead. Good luck with that. but he gives us instruction.

Dead to what? These are generalized, I didn’t count them, probably six or so, I don’t do quick math, but a few examples that he gave us that has to do with everything in our lives. As believers, we who have already been adopted by God should be dead to these things. And because of that, we are to consider the members of our earthly body as dead to these things.

That means when the temptation comes to sin, we think and we remind ourselves, wait a minute, Christ died for that sin. I do not need to play around in that sin. Paul reminds us of the reality of life that we struggle with sin in our lives. And we are to continually be putting to death the temptations to sin. In this world, sin is always in front of us. We don’t have to look far to be tempted by sin. It’s everywhere. But you know what? It’s right here as well. We don’t need other people to tempt us to sin.

We struggle with the battle of temptation in our own minds. And we must put to death those thoughts, those temptations. Because if we do not make war against those sins and temptations that come into our minds, once again, we will be destroyed and controlled by those things. Why is it that you think that Scripture says that you who are slaves to sin, because you become slaves to sin, to your desire to want more. To be faithful men and women of God is to continually battle against the sin of temptations that come into our mind. We also have to battle against the sins that the world pushes on us on a daily basis.

We have to battle against the phone that’s probably in every one of our pockets or maybe in your hand right now. And some of us need to just get rid of them, get a flip phone. I don’t know if those even exist anymore. Sometimes I just wish I didn’t have a phone at all. Those were the good old days. But sin is a continual thing that we must battle against. We can’t ignore it. Listen, the greatest movie of all times, and this may be the most controversial thing I say today, the greatest movie of all times is called The Lord of the Rings.

And in this movie, what is the one person or thing that if did not exist in the movie, the entire movie itself would not exist? What is the one thing, the one person? The ring, the one ring. The ring of power. Had that not existed, the entire movie would not exist. Someone told me once there was a book. That’s crazy. But the ring of power is the one thing that is vital to the movie. Were it not to exist, the movie would not exist. And what’s the problem with it?

The ring of power is always trying to corrupt the person that holds the ring. The one who carries it. The one ring, the ring of power is completely evil because it belongs to the dark Lord Sauron, who is absolute evil. Good cannot change what the ring is because the ring in and of itself is evil. A few times in the movie is offered to good people and they resist. But people in the movie assume that the ring can be used for something good to benefit their land. But the ring is a deceiver and it lies to the one who holds it.

Because the ring is evil, it cannot be used for good. As a believer, the sin that we feel like that we can carry our little pet sin is that ring in our lives. We think it could be used for good. We think that in ways it can benefit our lives. And yet the ring cannot be used for good. The sin in your life cannot be used for good.

It will always destroy because it is absolute evil because the father of that sin is Satan and he wants you to fail. Even a good person cannot change what the ring is. And even a believer in Christ, somebody who’s been saved by God through the blood of Jesus cannot change what sin is in their lives.

It must be destroyed. There’s no other way. In our lives, sin is like that ring. It may look attractive, we may think it will help us, we may think it can benefit us, but it never, ever, ever, ever will. It will always destroy. We cannot play with sin. James 1 13, let no one say when he is tempted, I’m being tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted by evil. And when he himself does not or he himself does not tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. And when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death.

Why? Because sin is evil and it wants to destroy your lives. And if you are not battling against it on a daily basis, it will destroy your lives. Eventually, it will destroy your life. And sadly, each one of you may be thinking right now about a person in your family or a friend that you have where you’ve seen this happen. It’ll destroy a family.

Sin never wants you to succeed. It never wants your marriage to be happy. Sin never wants you to be a good father to your children. Sin never wants you to be a good pastor to your people. Sin never wants you to be a good worker in your job. Sin never wants you to be a believer, a true believer that follows after God. We must battle and fight against this temptation to sin in our lives, or it will destroy our lives. So how do we deal with it? We must kill it. We must destroy it. We must make daily war against it. When the temptation comes, run.

Verse five, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead. And in case we don’t get it, he gives us a list of examples there. Dead to what? Sexual morality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which is an idolatry. In one way or another, sin affects our lives, each one of us. And Satan knows exactly what your weakness is. Are you fighting against him? Are you fighting against temptation that wants to destroy your lives?

Verse six reminds us of the character of God. We see both the love and the justice of God. We know love because, as believers, we know love because God has shed his love aboundly upon us, incredibly upon us. But for those who reject God, judgment is coming. There’s a judgment for those who practice these things and never come to Christ. But praise God, there’s forgiveness for those who come to him. Verse six, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. And that’s pretty clear. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.

And in them, praise God, you also once walked when you were living in them. But if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, not on things of the earth. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Sin will be punished. As Christians, the good news is that Jesus has paid that price for us. As non-Christians, the good news is that Jesus has paid that price. But have you come to Him? Have you accepted His forgiveness and payment for your sin? As Christians on this earth, we continually struggle and fight with sin. Sin cannot be allowed to dominate our lives.

It’s like a car parked on an incline and its parking brake is let loose and is in neutral and it starts rolling. If you stop it immediately before it even starts rolling, you can hold that car in place, depending on the pitch, but you can hold that car in place. But if you let it roll three or four feet, the weight of that car, will run you completely over. And if you think you can play with sin and mess around with sin, the weight of that sin will run you over.

It must be stopped right here. It must be stopped in your mind when it is just a temptation. Being tempted to sin is not a sin. Falling into temptation is the sin. We must fight. Sin must be stopped in our lives. It must be destroyed before it controls our body. How are we to do this? Well, we are to control our thoughts, control what comes into our minds. Next, we need help. I know as a man, you’re like, I got this. I’m a tough dude, I can do this on my own. Guess what? You can’t.

You need other people in your lives. And that is why the local church is so important. We need the body of Christ. Iron needs to be sharpened by iron. Why is it so vitally important that you’re here on Sundays and Wednesdays and other times? Because we need each other. We’re too weak to do it on our own.

Be honest with people, maybe not everybody, but be honest with people. The struggle that you have with sin. And ask them to pray for you. And guess what they’re not going to do? They’re not going to make fun of you. And put you down. A believer in Christ. will bear the weight of that sin and hold you in their arms and pray with you that you will fight against this sin. They will help you. That’s why the church is so important. The next thing that is the most important is our relationship with God. We have scripture.

Are you in it? on a daily basis? Are you being challenged by it? Are you applying it to your lives or just learning a bunch of good stuff? If we’re living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit, putting to death the practices of the body, you will live. For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, These are the sons of God, Romans 8, 13 and 14. Are you being led by the spirit of God or by yourself?

Killing sin is the only possible way. Killing the temptation to sin is the only possible way that you can do this. We must follow after him, strive to be who he has called us to be, set our minds on things that are above and not on things of this earth. John Owen is known for saying, be killing sin or it will be killing you. And he’s right. We must be killing sin in our lives. It’s the normal battle that a Christian goes through on a daily basis, battling sin.

How are you doing? Are you fighting or have you just given in and say, I can’t do it? There’s hope. There’s hope. But we must be warned. And Scripture does that. We must be encouraged. And Scripture does that. We must be guided. And Scripture does that.

Are we listening? Are we reading? Are we obeying? We don’t have the power to fight Satan on our own. We need help. We must stay alert. We must struggle and fight. The Bible teaches us how to fight against our sin. Colossians 3, kill it. 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Verse 7, cast all your cares upon him. Verse 8, be sober, be vigilant. Verse 9, resist him.

We must trust in the word of God. If we’re not, we’re trusting in ourselves. That’s not going to take us very far. We must fight against sin in our lives. If we think we can do it on our own, we can’t. We need help. We need each other. Scripture never calls us to isolate ourselves as believers. And to be reminded. As first Corinthians 10, 13 reminds us.

No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Do you believe that?

Are you fighting? Scripture never says the Christian life will be easy. but my goodness, it’s worth it. Fight. Fight for the battle in your mind. That daily battle matters in the future. What you are doing today echoes throughout your life. And your kids are watching you, and your neighbors are watching you, and your coworkers are watching you. How you doing?

Let’s pray, God, you are so good to us. And so quickly and so easily, sometimes we fail you. But God, we thank you that you are faithful. We’re thankful that by your faithfulness, we can be encouraged to strive to be faithful in the way that we live our lives. God, help us to honor you with our lives so that you may be glorified, so that others would see your amazing love and come to know you as their savior. Lord, help us to honor you and love you. It’s in the precious name of Jesus.