In this sermon, the speaker discusses the frustration and struggle that many Christians face in their walk with God. He refers to the Apostle Paul's expression of feeling trapped and defeated in Romans 7:24. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's timing and allowing Him to order our steps. He encourages listeners to focus on the present moment and allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to have control over their lives. Ultimately, the speaker reminds us that the best we can be is when we allow Jesus to be Himself in us and when we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And as we proceed let me lead us in prayer. Lord God I wait expectantly upon you. I lay my life before you. I draw upon you Lord the wonderful words of life that you alone can offer. As I open my mouth wide I'm confident you will fill it. So I say speak Lord for your servant hears. And Spirit of the Living God fall fresh on me. Lord our Lord how excellent is your name in all the earth. Blessed be the name of the Lord. For great are you Lord and greatly to be praised. I glorify your name in this place O Lord. And I thank you Lord that you are moving in our midst for you are among us. Yes even as two or three are gathered together in your name as we've heard so you are here. Not just here to be a passive observer but present in us and among us to make yourself known to us. And so Lord we welcome all that you want to say and do and thank you Holy Spirit that as our teacher you will now lead us and guide us into all truth in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You know sometimes you you go out and you see people maybe you as you were greeting each other here you say well how are you doing and and maybe you say fine or I'm doing okay or I'm doing good and and maybe you are or maybe you aren't. But it's sort of what we say isn't it we just say well I'm doing good okay you know you see somebody in the store a stranger a total stranger and you say hi how are you and they say fine thank you you know and and that's courteous and respectful. But then again there is another element we need to take into consideration. I want us to think this morning about how is your walk? How is your walk? I'm talking about your walk in the Lord your walk in the Spirit. How are you conducting your life daily? How are you expressing his life? Are you expressing his life? To what extent are you expressing his life? How is it really going in your life? So I'm going to be working out of Romans chapter 8 but before I get there I'm going to go over to 1st John chapter 2. 1st John chapter 2 gives us a strong admonition when he says there in verse 6 he that says he abides in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. So you're saying okay I'm a Christian you're saying Christ lives in me you're saying I'm abiding in him that is I'm trusting him I'm really trusting God. Are you really trusting God? Well if you're really trusting God he says then the evidence is quite clear. Are you walking as Jesus walked? Is your life evidencing Christ as your life? Is your life expressing Christ through your life? This is the real test. You know we can say many wonderful things and the Word of God is filled with many wonderful things and we can say those things and they are true but the question is not what your talk is but as the saying goes walk the talk. We just recently were reminded of that through something someone was saying they were saying walk the talk walk the talk. What does that mean? It means it's good to say it but the real thing the most important thing is to live it to walk it. Now we call a person who doesn't do that a hypocrite but a hypocrite is not someone who intentionally is trying to mislead someone. What they're saying is true and they want it to be true in their life they want it to be true in their walk and their experience but it's not always true and it's not necessarily because they don't want it and they haven't tried hard to make it happen. They have. They have and the real frustration in life for a believer for a Christian who has truly received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is that knowing what I know how could I still do what I do? One of my good friends years ago that was his exclamation of frustration. Knowing what I know how could I still do what I do that is the very thing I hate. So I'm kind of keen off now Romans chapter 7 as a lead in to Romans chapter 8 about the walk but to precede the walk let's look at how it really is in our lives and so often it's not as it could be and certainly not as it should be. So in Romans chapter 7 we go back here and so that in verse 15 he says for that which I do I do not understand because what I want to do is not what I'm doing but the very thing I hate that's what I end up doing. So he's saying now look it's not that I love sin I hate it. Now that doesn't mean you don't like it in the moment because the Word of God is clear there's pleasure in sin for a season. If there was not pleasure in sin the devil would have no hook no pull no appeal there would be no temptation because you can't tempt somebody with something they don't like. Anybody ever try to give you something you didn't like you didn't want it wasn't much of a temptation. Certain kinds of foods I just don't like to eat. You've been on a fast so now you start to think about food because now you're going to get to eat whatever you want not really but at least in a different way than you were. But foods you don't like you it's just you have no appetite for them no desire for them no interest in them but where the appeal is there's the pull there's the pull and so the Apostle Paul is saying now look my walk is not matching my talk. He's saying my life is not what it could and should be in the Lord and he says I'm confused about this I don't understand because I know quite well what I what I should do and I know quite well what God wants me to do and in fact that's what I want and yet he says in spite of the fact that I want to do the right thing in spite of the fact that I know what's right I'm not doing it. You see in the scheme of things we are prone to try to live our Christian life based on the way we live our regular life and that's not God's way you know we know that God's way is different than our way so why don't we still go on the old way and what's the old way? Well the old way is based on two basic tools that God blessed us with but not for what we think so he gave us this wonderful brain this mind and he gave us a will and so as we proceed in our Christian life we think well if I if I just put my mind to it if I just learn the right stuff you know it's all about knowledge and we're told knowledge is power and so if I just know the right things if I just and Paul I'm I read over again just yesterday and today and looking at Romans 6 and 7 he uses the word know nine times that's huge and he's saying this is what you need to know this is what you should know this is what I do know but he says it's still not happening knowledge is not power knowledge may give you access to resources that can make you effective and make you competent but knowledge in itself is not power and that's why Paul is saying knowing what I know why am I still doing what I'm doing he says I'm powerless I should be doing different should be doing better and yet I'm not able to walk the talk oh I can look good on the outside see I can I can give the impression I can say all the right things now we learn how to say our hallelujahs our amens that I praise the Lord's and we do it quite well in church but what about out there when somebody rips you off then the expressions of frustration war out of you what about when when somebody else gets blessed and you don't then then there's this inner gnawing of frustration and jealousy and hostility because you feel like somebody is taking advantage of you and where's the walk where's the walk where's the hallelujah praise the Lord then yet we're told in all things give thanks where's the thanks and and what the Lord's trying to get us to see is there's another dimension to life it's his dimension it's it's the way ever lasting it's God's way it's the right way and and we know it and it's like we taste of it sometimes there's times when it just clicks and it's like wow that's God and oh that's amazing and we sense his presence and it's rich and full and and you know but then what happens when things don't go your way then it's woe is me and it's like your sister saying well the devil's beat me up it's not so much we give him too much power he's given too much credit and here's what happens about the power side of the scheme of things you know the only power the devil has over you is a lie a lie so where's he get the power we do give him the power but it's not that we give him the power in the sense that we think we do no he gets it from us remember he is a thief and what does a thief do he steals now who has the power God and and who lives in me God through his son Jesus Christ and by his spirit so the power of God is resident in me and the thief comes like a leech to tap into me to steal from me that which is mine my inheritance in Christ my resources to strip me of the power and then he uses it against me Wow what happened here well we lost sight of what we knew because what we knew conceptually as information never became conscious reality by the Spirit in our heart and so Paul is struggling here and he expresses that frustration Romans 7 24 he declares there all wretched man that I am that's the expression of a man who is at the height of frustration overwhelmed discouraged and yes quite honestly defeated but not on the appearance level because he was the best of the best and still inwardly he's miserable because he knew something was missing and I walked through that in my own life after being a Christian about eight years I had this this awakening from the Lord through several different circumstances that he began to push me back to a realization that that he was more than just someone I talked about on Sunday more than someone I just pray about when I have a problem but that he's a present help in time of need and I began to enter into a consciousness of his presence his presence not just in my need but in my life and as I began to seek him in a fresh way I began to find him not just what he could do for me not just what you give to me but I found him and it's his presence that brings the fullness of joy it's his presence that creates that sense of peace that passes all understanding but it's his presence it's his presence and it's not just out there far removed somewhere that's what I used to think when I was the Navy and as I would travel through my life and go to college and stuff it's like God was always way out there and I was always trying to get closer to him and get more of him not realizing he had already come into me and made himself one with me and I had all there was to get in Christ John chapter 1 verse 16 says of his fullness have all we received we received him in his fullness we received him in his fullness there is no more of him that you get the one you get when you get Christ but the question is what are you doing with what you've got and so Paul is saying I'm a wretched man now this wretched man is is not this horrible hideous person we're often inclined to think of it's a person who has exhausted all of his human resources to do what he knows is right to do and is failing miserably and is overwhelmed by it frustrated and this and in despair because of it his heart is broken and I was so crushed by all this in my own life and when I finally came to grips with the exceeding sinfulness of my sin and the utter emptiness of my life not just at the action level I had that damn good but it was at the attitude level and Jesus dealing with that attitude talked about the beatitudes and many times over said it's not good enough that you clean up the outside we talk about clean up your act well we can clean it up on the outside but it's the attitude that is everything I used to tell my kids attitude is everything it's critical because the right attitude is your mindset it's your focus it's it's your heart intent and if you're connected with him at the source in the inner man of your spirit then you'll begin to express his attitude in your actions see then you're walking the talk then you're living the life not just a theory to talk about a doctrine to embrace but a reality to be experienced his life his presence his power in you here now and in every circumstance no matter how difficult it gets and it can get pretty difficult I had a pastor friend once over in Indonesia with me and he said you know I just so long for God to use me to minister to people and I said well it's one thing to long for it and we can sit around and we can ask him and beg him and plead him to do that but when are you going to receive it and believe it you see faith is more than just begging you know I was told that the Korean Church and thank God for all the believers over there but I was told they were such a mighty group of prayer warriors and they would get up early and pray and yes they do I went over there 1984 I went to their prayer meetings you know what I observed I observed a group of very serious dedicated committed people who were begging and pleading out of weakness and not out of strength they were constantly asking God for things and to do things but they always were there in this place of a deficiency and weakness rather than the sufficiency in Christ and the strength of the Lord as their strength so you operate in that mode you're operating as a spiritual cripple and you're quenching the spirit that's the bottom line so that God's presence and power cannot fill the earth as the glory of the Lord manifests in your life so anyway so my friend is saying well this is you know this is what I desire as a pastor as a minister and I said well brother it's time to believe it and receive it but time to believe it and receive it so I sat down beside him on the bed we were sharing this room together in this very small space and I just began to pray and I prayed for him and then I said now just tell the Lord I receive your presence and power in my life and I receive your normal my life I receive you working in my life now now he specifically was concerned about people being healed he said well I've never seen anybody healed I've never prayed for anybody that got healed that that afternoon we're in the conference in in the school we're in this Bible College and he's going along and in his teaching he brings up the story and in the scripture where he the Lord takes his and takes his hand and Peter rather in the name of Jesus and he says rise up and walk and so my friend walked out and he went out and he took someone by the hand and he says to this person this student he says in the name of Jesus rise up and walk he tells him again the guy stood up and it turned out this person was very very sick in fact he had already made plans with the school he was leaving the school but this was his last day and he was going home and he was giving up on God and giving up on the ministry because he just couldn't make it anymore he'd gotten his body got worse and worse he was sicker and sicker and he just he was tormented with fear and anxiety and yet he got healed and my friend didn't even realize what was happening because he wasn't thinking about it but God was God was finally somebody said Lord make me a channel of blessing and I believe you're doing it now it's not like one day someday somewhere somehow but it's here and now Lord and so once he realized that he said wow God did it and I didn't even know it but the beauty of it was God did it and his part was to be an available vessel just to be available so that he who is life could live his life through him now as wonderful as that story is and then I must say that afternoon when I was teaching after he finished but the Spirit of God began to come in power in the whole group and out of that came a move an awakening of God's Spirit that impacted the whole school for days and for for months following but in the midst of that and shortly thereafter I think it was that night I became deathly ill and I mean extremely ill when I say deathly ill I mean I had this high fever the sweat was pouring out of me I was so weak I could not hardly get up to even walk across the room much less go to eat anywhere I had no I was just exhausted and so that went on for the next couple of days and my friend thought I was dying and since then after reading the various symptoms I had I've concluded I had malaria and I concluded it was very serious because of the condition I was in but here's what would happen every time it was my turn to to teach in the school I would say by faith I'm getting up and God's grace would come upon me and I would get up I would walk from the room I was staying here on the on the mission compound where the school was I'd walk over to the next building over where the building was where we were teaching and I'd deliver my message and then I'd go back and collapse and be so weak and so sick I could and I was almost delirious and and it was just continue to get worse and a third day and that day I was you know and of course at night I would just rest every time I got a chance and God said well tonight I want you to go ahead and follow through and and I want you to preach at this little house church about size this it was actually this guy had took in chicken wire and put it around kind of a overhang of his house and that was where we had the church service okay and that was his house church and God said I want you to go and speak the night before I let my friend preach so the Lord said no now I want you to preach but I said Lord it took everything I could do to get through the day and now you want me to preach at night but if you say so I say yes Lord I say yes see our privilege is to just agree with him and so I say yes Lord so we got out there we had but I but and then I said but Lord what's the message and the more I prayed about the more I became acutely aware of the sense that God wanted me to preach a message on faith and I said now faith Lord now that's that's big stuff because you see I don't look like a man of faith all I have to do is take one look at me and my face is pale like a sheet you know and the sweats pouring off of me I'm just my eyes are kind of that yellowish color and I I just am so weak I can barely walk and I was just holding on for dear life and I would stand up at the pulpit to preach so I said well I don't look like a person of faith he said just trust me don't take into account God doesn't go by appearance so don't take into account any of that you just do what I've called you to do so I went to that little place the people gather and it was packed you know 25 30 people and so I'm going along by faith preaching on faith and just barely hanging in and all of a sudden about halfway through the message BAM just completely healed completely healed as they went they were what the ten lepers as they went they were healed as they went as they went we keep sitting around and waiting that one day some way somehow God's gonna do something in my life I'll be the one that gets the lottery I'll be the one that gets the blessing I'll be the one that gets whatever it is that I'm hoping and praying for but there I was way out there and the doctors and the health care was not good I mean very limited in fact almost none in existence and there I am in this remote area of Indonesia deathly ill and yet taking it one step at a time because the walk is a step at a time and that walk is a step of faith one step at a time Peter stepped out of the boat one step on the water but he stepped he was willing to risk coming out of the safety of the boat and into the presence of the Lord and the safest place to be my friends is in his presence in his presence so Peter stepped some of us keep waiting for the right conditions and the Lord is saying come he doesn't miss words you notice he only told Peter one word only one thing Peter says Lord if that's you out there on the water I mean the storm is horrendous but if that's you bid me come because Peter had this awareness if I can just get to the Lord if I can just connect with him everything will be okay but you see the beauty of what God has done for us in Christ is he's already connected to himself he's already come to us he came to us and our privileges is to say yes to him to say I do Lord and he makes himself known and so there was deathly ill and yet God who is the resurrection of life through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ raised me up imparted his life you know I have had no symptoms from that since none whatsoever but God raised me up and and God brought me forward and why it's because that's who he is and that's what he does but I think of I think of the question that Satan posed to God about Job will Job serve you for nothing let's face it as humans we've got ulterior motives we've got creature comforts that we've got to have their stuff we want and we think we can't live without it and so we have these drives and cravings because we have these appetites God-given to be sure but misguided most definitely in most cases and so we're being driven by the appetites and by the things and not even realizing that Satan's like that little bullet has the ring in his nose and he's we're just being drugged right along and he's got the power because he got it from us and then he just twist it at just the right time he knows exactly how to get to any one of us he knows the things that get to us he knows the things that overwhelm us but we've got to stay focused on the one that knows that and more the Lord he knows that too but he also knows that all we need is him and like Peter if we'll just connect with him and get to him then we're a-okay and so how'd you walk well Peter understood that Paul did and so looking again at Romans in the book of Romans you know I was I was frustrated in my walk as I said and so in Romans chapter 7 24 Oh wretched man that I am who should deliver me from this body of death he says like I feel trapped I feel stuck I can't seem to get out of the rut I make one step forward two backwards I make progress I see God work and then all of a sudden it falls apart where's the consistency in the walk you know I've got a grandson that he's a wonderful little guy but he he's very impatient he wants to be like his friends or like the bigger kids right right now he wants to be able to ride the bike first time he gets on you know wants to be able to skateboard first time he gets on wants to be able to play the video game first time he picks it up it just doesn't happen that way life is a matter of trial and error but in the trial and error process it's not so much about learning by the trial and error it's just the realization that it doesn't matter as long as I stay the course of whatever God's calling me to and stay focused on him fix our focus on him you know faith is focus faith is focus and if we fix our focus on him we'll be on target you know I like basketball players that come down the thing but their focus is on the goal they know what the goal is at all time they're moving the ball they see the opponents to be sure they're not threatened by them they have one thing in mind make the goal and some way somehow in spite of all the different things to their distraction they manage to get that ball in the goal it's amazing how they can do it I mean amazing with all the opposition and yet they stay focused on the goal and they make the goal but if you take your eyes off of that or let's say football same way the guy's running down there and he's got the ball he's running but all of a sudden he keeps looking back like where's the other guy where's the other guy oh look out look out here's the opposition the next thing you know that guy caught him if he'd have just stayed focused the goal is to cross the goal line the goal is to stay 100% on target and give it all you got which is what you have in Christ but stay the course and if we keep looking back and get distracted and the devil's the master distractor but so what God's the master attractor so he's the distractor he's the attractor so which one are you going to focus on faith is focus now Jesus didn't diminish the presence of Satan he just put him in his place Satan spoke up through Peter and said Lord no and Jesus says get behind me Satan just put him in his place just and so certainly there are times we have to do that we have to give them a firm rebuke we have to call the shots but we don't dwell on it we don't get consumed by it we get consumed with him we dwell on him we're caught up in him so who should deliver me from the body of this death verse 25 Romans 7 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so Paul says now wait a minute here I've been trying to get delivered and all the time he's already done it now now we say now but Paul why didn't you already know that well I did know it but I didn't really know it I knew it I knew it yes I knew it that's what God's Word teaches I knew it it's the truth but I was not experiencing his freedom and thus I kept thinking there must be something else and so Paul tried the different things he tried mind control he tried willpower I've touched on that a moment ago he thought if I just put my mind to it if I have enough willpower and that's the world's way mind control and willpower is the two tools God gave them to us but so they would be submitted to his Lordship and under the control of his spirit our mind our will now harnessed by his spirit now achieve his purpose not by works of righteousness were done not by own fleshly human efforts energies or strength but solely by his spirit not by power nor by might isn't that what it says but by my spirit so he's saying you can put your mind to it if you want to you can know all the right things but that's not going to get the job done there's only one who's got the power and that's the Lord himself his spirit it's the spirit of the Lord and where the spirit of the Lord is there's where the Liberty is so I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord well you know my friend told me that I said to my friend one day I said no look I see you've got the victory I know you've got the life I can tell you experience the joy and the peace in a consistent way I see you walk and you walk matches your talk see he didn't have what this world says you got a half he didn't have full indoor plumbing just since I knew him he finally got it just partial indoor he got rid of his outhouse you know but he still didn't have like running water in his sink you had to have this wash basin you poured water and and I mean he still had it he milked his own cow that's where he got his milk there was no going to the store for milk for him it was right milk the cow and your chickens they took care of his eggs he lived off the land he most of the time didn't have a job he was getting laid off because he was a carpenter and he was on and off depending on the employment situation sometimes he had to bring home food for welfare and he had rice and beans but you know the rice and beans and the biscuits in their house was the best food we ever ate we get over their house about three times a week just to hang out with him what were we drawn to to the Lord's presence to his life here here Lou and I were two young people early 20s and yet here's these older people pretty young now actually they were in their late 50s or something but all of a sudden I'm looking at them and I'm thinking like wow they've got what we're looking for so we like to hang out around them there was a presence about them there was a joy about them a spirit about them an atmosphere of their home so you see when you're talking about the church it's the body of Christ and so wherever you go if you're full of him and his fullness is being expressed through you there's an atmosphere there's a presence and when people come into this place they're drawn to it because of the presence we used to live up in Tennessee when our kids were younger and the neighbor kids and they'd all and they'd all want to come play at our house and then even when they were off in school all the neighbor dogs would come to our house even the kids weren't there anymore but you'd look out in our yard and there'd be our dog and about four or five other dogs and I kept thinking what's the deal about these dogs why are they always hanging out at our house and then one day the Lord said it's my presence there's a peace here that even the animals know see animals are clued in they know about God and they like to be where God's presence is and where it's peaceful which Romans 8 tells us that later on about how all creation groans see they're groaning because they know only where God's presence is only where Jesus rules as Lord can there be a safe place you know even my my yard my property where we live when I moved there I said okay some people have a bird sanctuary I'm gonna have a life sanctuary so I'm declaring in Jesus name this place is a life sanctuary and all God's creations welcome here and they're all safe here and and all the animals they love our house and even the squirrels are orderly we don't have trouble they don't destroy my house I put my grain out they share with the birds everybody's happy the squirrels patrol the place there's not just this wild mass of squirrels there's this one family and they they drive off the intruders they chase them away everybody's happy they even even the chipmunk comes and eats out of my hand I hold my hand out the chipmunk eats the grain out of my hand the the the lizard I told my kids let's see what God can do here's a lizard now let me show you what God can do so I caught the lizard put him in my hand I held him just gently with my thumb began to rub him peace in Jesus name peace in Jesus name peace in Jesus name pretty soon he likes that you know what let him go he's just sitting in my hand called up my arm crawled back down he likes it peace in Jesus name so we adopted him he became our pet we called him Lizzie maybe it's a she we don't know my daughter thought it was a she so we called him Lizzie anyway call her Lizzie whatever when we put on this this plant in the house and Lizzie cruise up and down there the kids would get him some bugs or something lady bug or whatever sorry but they were dead and so give it give him the bug you know or a fly and Lizzie would eat the bug right out of their hand because Jesus is Lord that means he's supreme and ruler over all of his creation not just in sort of vague ways in control his presence his presence brings peace his presence brings order and people are drawn to his presence when I was pastor in a church up north of Atlanta there were people say you know we just drive on the property we sense there's unusual peace here I said that's the presence of God so we made our property we had a place in it then and so our property we had recreation stuff and we declared it a park for our neighborhood because they didn't have a park around there and so they would all come to the church because they wanted to hang out on our property and they didn't realize it but they were being exposed to the Lord even if they never came in and heard his word they were in his presence and being drawn to him finally one day I was noticing looking out at the church and I looked at one day when we were there before the services and I told you I said you know it's kind of interesting that cars keep coming up and people are sitting in there and I said but I think it's more to it than them just being drawn here maybe they think it's safe here but there's something not right here and it turned out as I began to look at it and I began to pray about it God showed me said well one of those guys is dealing drugs and people come to here to pick up the drugs and then they go off they're coming and going and and I said well okay Lord you know the situation so we'll trust you to take care of that so you know sure enough I told two others and one day they got caught and then one of the fellas came back and came to see me at church came back church service now we've been praying for their salvation so you don't just tell these people they're hurting they got problems and needs well you know that and so he came and he said I'm so sorry he said I've been so foolish he said I went along with these other older people I thought I was cool I thought I was smart you know I thought I could do it you know I thought I could handle it you know when I was growing up I could hold your liquor who could hold your liquor nobody so I hold it longer than others but you don't really hold anything God holds you and if he doesn't the devil does so one way or the other you know somebody's got you but it's not you so this guy broke down and I said good so now you're ready for the Lord and he met Jesus he gave his life to Christ but you see what am I talking about I'm talking about a walk that permeates everything you do everywhere you go there's a presence and it's his presence and as you go and one day I was just walking down this sidewalk outside of a building this woman stopped me and she said just as you spoke to me as you walked by it there was something about your voice and the look in your eyes she said I see Jesus in you I said well I'm glad to hear that because I want you to know he lives in me and if you saw it it's because that's him you're seeing and it's his life and because he loves you and so you just walk through life like that and the Lord's presence is free to express himself and all you say and do but you're not moaning and groaning about what you get or what you don't get now one day we finished a conference over in West Africa and I was telling the Lord I said Lord now this has been an extremely stressful time and we're exhausted and we've been going day and night and I said it would sure be nice if we got to have business class first class whatever you call it the nice big comfortable cushy seats to ride back because I you know that's kind of important to me sometimes and so I'm just kind of asking Lord this and nothing heavy-duty I'm just having this talk with the Lord you know he's my friend and we talked about things and I said you know I'm not trying to be some big shot or greedy or whatever but you know this would be nice and I would like this and so I asked him you know make your request known before God so I said Lord I would like for my friend and I to have these nice seats to sit in well so first leg of the flight we didn't get it and then we stopped to change planes in Paris France and so we're there in Paris and we're there in the airport and all of a sudden these two plainclothes detectives from the government there in France they came up to us and they said okay we've been watching you what does that mean I don't know and they said okay empty your briefcases empty your pockets and they just got these things are asking us all these questions give us your ID where's your passports and they start checking this and they're sending off their data and they're they're they're doing background checks on us and they're I mean I don't know what's going on but and so the the people are boarding the plane and we're standing over there and this guy just going on and on and and pretty soon they're saying last call and you know the thought would be a panic but I said but wait a minute I'm on God's timetable the steps of a good man are ordered by who by the Lord so Lord you're ordering my steps this is where I am this is what you're doing so I say yes and amen to you I say so be it Lord praise God you're in control I'm trusting you so I go with the flow of God and and man doesn't order my steps God does so if he's doing this there's a reason so be it so I'm just going along and my friend over there he's getting anxious and panicking and said look that's the last call we're not gonna make it we're not gonna make it I said we'll make what God wants us to make we'll be where God wants us to be less okay everything's okay well then I finally said well we we don't find anything wrong so we're gonna let you go well that's all well and good got up to the to the counter there and they said well we're sorry but you didn't come when we called and there were there were people on standby and they got your seats and there's no more space available and I said well okay but what about in first class and then they she said well I don't have anything to say about that and then the supervisor came up so what's the problem and I said well the authorities were holding us I went over and found the man I said could you please come explain to them why we're we're late and so he said well we we had suspicions and whatever's and we checked them out they're okay and no problem but yes we were investigating and so the supervisor said well in that case here's your two first-class seats on board we go on board but see when you're all whiny and moaning and grumbling and murmuring and complaining like the Israelites were and yet they were supposed to be people of faith but look at them they had the blessings of God and they didn't know it and they certainly didn't benefit from it and and God is saying wait a minute and so who should deliver me from the body of this death I think God Christ has done it and I am free indeed I'm free here I'm free now and I can walk out of that freedom even if it looks like I'm being confined and restricted and people taking advantage of me which I have had on every continent it's happened all kind of stuff like we going along but but he says verse 4 Romans 8 4 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit so he's saying the righteousness of the law that is to say not just the letter of the law but the Spirit and intended law which produces God's purposes which are righteous holy and blameless and he's saying if your walk is according to the Spirit God's life will be lived through you and you will be walking a righteous walk no matter where you go what you say what you do or what happens to you God will be at work and his righteous purposes will be prevailing in your life so it gets out of this very simple is Jesus Christ free to be himself in you is Jesus Christ free to be himself in you because the moment you release him to be himself in you at that moment he frees you to be yourself in him you're free you're free indeed and now you can live out that freedom is Jesus Christ free to be himself in me Lord are you really free to be yourself in me do you really have your way with me do you really or is it only in certain conditions if you do certain things for me but if you do something I don't like or if my circumstances turn negative do I still allow you to have your way with me do I still allow you to rule and reign in my life or do I pull back as I've seen so many do so many do my marriage didn't work out you know my man didn't come through when he was needed you know my woman doesn't provide and she doesn't give me a home to come home to and whatever we got all these reasons all these reasons I was talking to a minister and his wife just recently and I called their attention as they were having their marital conflicts and using that D word back and forth at some kind of club you know if you don't do this and I'll threaten you with divorce you know I'm saying that that's not even in the vocabulary of a child of God's much less a man of God what is going on here and yet more than half the divorces in America come from Christian homes what's Christian about that where is God in that not to say it can't happen it doesn't happen it may have happened to you but if it has so be it God's mercies are new every morning but you pick up and you move forward with your life by submitting yourself to him and saying Lord from this point forward have your way with me be yourself in me rule and reign over me and as you do that then you'll begin to walk in the spirit and that means the spirit will begin to manifest the life of Christ in you see and I have counselees and leaders especially and I say don't tell me about how successful your church is that proves nothing big churches don't impress God and they don't impress me you can have a big church and be full of the glory of God and you can have a big church it's just full of stuff but not God that's I mean IBM builds big things you know Google builds big stuff you know all these companies can build big things big doesn't prove anything it doesn't prove anything God had 12 one of them was what was it was a devil but Jesus through 12 men took the world by storm so it's not about the size of the numbers it's about the presence and the power of living God in you working through you and here he is in your midst in your lives and he's the Almighty and nothing's too hard for him so let's take the limits off stop looking at yourself and what you are what where you been what you have what you don't have and just look at him just look at him I have a man that I know that has recently gone through some of the most difficult situations and is hanging on by a thread and probably may well end up in prison at some point because of the of the things that happen mostly out of ignorance and yet absolutely he was wrong and they were criminal and still in the midst of all of that he and I've been praying and God is blessing him in ways you could not begin to imagine and looks like maybe through the way God's blessing him he's going to get out of the whole thing and not just by what the things happening to the judges which there's things happening there not just in the court but even around his life because in the midst of all this here's a man who fell in his face before God and God who is the resurrection of the life is raising him up he's raising him up so it doesn't matter how treacherous your past has been it's a matter of who's your present and Paul says it's the life I now live and the walk is one step at a time and you walk in the now of the moment is Jesus free to be himself and me in this moment is Jesus free to exercise his rule and reign over me in this moment is the Holy Spirit free to enable me and empower me in the moment and if he is that's the best that you can be that's the best that you can be and it doesn't get any better than that doesn't matter what condition you're in if you're in his presence as Peter was in Lord's presence it doesn't matter about the storm it's incidental because in his presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore let's pray Lord God so we thank you for your presence that you have made available to us through your son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ such that by your spirit we can be born anew all things pass away all things become new and you're you take up residence in us not far removed from us but right here within us one with us never ever to be removed or separated from us and fully and completely committed to us now Lord it doesn't get any better than that so I pray Father God that you would open our eyes and let us see what we got when we got Christ who we are in Christ and who you are in us and Spirit of the Living God I ask that you would take complete control now of our lives and live your life through us Lord Jesus have your way with me be yourself in me and I thank you for making me the best that I can be in Christ thank you Lord for the walk in the Spirit what a privilege to take one step at a time by faith not by sight looking to Jesus as the author and finisher of my faith Jesus Christ is Lord of all