So the first session we talked about walking with the Word which is the wisdom of our minds. So this session we are going to be talking about walking with the Spirit which is the wisdom of life. The Spirit of God gives us life. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 in Revenge this morning, verse 18, I'm just going to look at verse 18 through 20.

He says, "Do not get drunk with wine, but that is debauchery, but be what? Filled, indwell, empowered, infused, influenced by the Spirit." And he says that the fruits of that or the external evidence we see here from Paul that we address one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord.

It didn't say you have to be singing in tune, thank God, but to make melody to the Lord with your heart. And so one of the external evidence of the dwelling of the Spirit of God in the believer's life is joy. It's joy. It's like we sing because there's joy in our hearts.

Unless you're singing country music because country music is nothing but depression and breaking up. Your dog dying, your girl leaving, your truck breaking down. So here what Paul does, he absorbs the believer to live our lives wisely, right? And not foolishly, by what? Not being drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So first of all, wow, you're going to hold that all day, huh? You're waiting until you shut it down. Right? That blue light is blinding. Anywho, but thank you. What was my thought here? Okay, you're right. Right. So now pause that saying here that you can't drink wine. I mean, God, God, Jesus pour water into wine.

Right, right church? Okay, all right. Come on now. I know some churches out there say, no, I don't really. Jesus pour water into grape juice. No, I don't think so. Because remember it was in a wedding and Jesus turned water into wine. And then the people at the wedding party were like disturbed, upset.

Why did you like leave the best wine at the end? Because the best wines are the what? More fermented wine, which is more alcohol. And then we usually serve the diluted wine at the end of the wedding. Because by the end of the wedding, people are too drunk to know how good or bad the wine was.

But the point here is this. It's not about not drinking wine. And it's by moderation, obviously, as Christians. But this is what I'm talking about. Pause making an analogy. When someone's under the influence of alcohol, people act in certain ways. Right? I don't know if you, this might be a sensitive subject in your life.

Maybe your dad or your mom or your family has alcohol problems. And you've seen how many of your friends who get drunk and they act weird or strange or they're under the influence. Right? Under the control, being intoxicated because of wine. And so pause making an analogy here that he says, don't be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery.

But he says, what? Be filled, be under the influence, be under the intoxication of the spirit. Now, what has gone wrong and what has gone amok in the charismatic circles, in the charismatic church circles, is that they believe if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the same behavior of being drunk with wine is evident of being drunk with the Holy Spirit.

That's crazy thinking. That's crazy thinking. Now, you know, if you never see, if you don't know what I'm talking about, right? And today in the charismatic circles, okay, even churches that name themselves, Pescatarian churches, I just, right now, it's not a matter that I understand. But anyways, like in the charismatic circles, where if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, like, like, like, like one of the evidences, like, barking in the spirit, what the heck is that?

Or laughing in the spirit. What, what, what, what is that? There's nothing like that in the scriptures. Or really, howling in the spirit. What in the world are they talking about? It's nothing but mind manipulation, right, and false teaching that cause people to behave in a manner that's nothing biblical.

Absolutely anything biblical. And it's just become a complete disgrace and embarrassment to the actual work of the Holy Spirit. Alright, now you know my opinion about all that, okay. But here, what Paul is saying, when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, right, it's the idea of being under the sway or under the control of the Holy Spirit.

Being spirit filled has less to do with spontaneity and experience, and more to do with living a life marked by the glorious, sometimes slow, but steady, fruit of the Spirit. And we'll talk about that in Glick chapter 5, verses 22 to 23. And so what Paul is saying is that we feel the Holy Spirit and we're filled with the Holy Spirit.

We are walking with the Spirit and we are able to walk with the Spirit by the life, the presence, and the power of the Spirit. The first thing we look at is the life through the Spirit. Turn with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look with me to verse, start from verse 1.

Now, if you ever did a study of Romans, Peter, I don't know if you guys ever did a study of the book of Romans, but Romans chapter 8 is, maybe that's a good idea, right? Anyways, I just gave you a topic, alright, alright. And I won't even charge you.

So Romans chapter 8 is basically the epic of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 8 is so significant as Paul, for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, establishes doctrine. And then for the doctrine, orthodoxy from chapter 8 and on, it talks about orthopraxy, or right living.

So like, you know, I wasn't pretty bad at doctrine this morning. What I'm trying to say is that there is a place of doctrine, which is important, but right doctrine is important because it helps us to understand, right, how the Christian life, what God has done through salvation, but orthopraxy is rooted from orthodoxy.

And so in chapter 8, Paul talks about, okay, so this is what God has done. He has justified us, He has saved us, He has redeemed us, He has forgiven us. And then chapter 8 talks about, alright, this is how we have to live, through the Spirit. So verse 1, Paul says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Church, that is good news!

That there is no condemnation! No condemnation! Did it say a little bit? Did it say some of it? No, it says there is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and it's based on the glorious doctrine of justification. That God declares the sinner, you and I, righteous because of Christ's finished work on the cross, because Christ's righteousness is imputed to the believer through faith and faith alone.

And by doing so, that reality that happens when we trust in Christ, now there is no condemnation. Do you know one of the biggest struggles people go through in life? Do you know what it is? It's guilt! It's guilt! You talk to any psychiatrist, you go to any psychiatrist, and they will tell you the biggest struggle that people have in their life is guilt.

It's guilt. Guilt that they did something in the past, or maybe they didn't do what they ought to do. Guilt that they could have done better. And I'll talk to you a little bit more about even survivor's guilt that I went through myself. But see, this is true. Paul declares that there is no condemnation.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That is great news! That's the gospel. Where he says in verse 2, "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus through the law of sin and death." You see, Paul establishes in Romans chapter 1 through 7 that there is a law that was working, that that law was the law of sin and death.

That all humanity, that all individuals were born, conceived in sin, and thus tainted in slavery, in sin, in death. That we're all dying. Trust me, not only are we dead spiritually, but we are dying physically. Last time I saw the ratio of death to life is 1 to 1.

Alright, I mean, you guys, you're young, you might not even feel it, you might not even think about it, but you're all going to die someday. Seriously, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Tell them you're going to die." No, why are you laughing? You're all going to die.

It's true. You're laughing about it, but you're all going to die. I mean, this whole world, this whole universe was infected by sin. Infected by sin. And this earth was cursed because of Adam and Eve's disobedience. And this earth, this world we live in, with all the issues that it has, both morally and ecologically, I guess.

Ecologically, right? It's not because of CO2, because it's sin. Because of sin infected this earth, and everything's dying. And so Christ came to reverse that curse. I mean, that's powerful. So what Paul is saying here, "For the law of the spirit of life, for you as Christians, we have been set free from this law of sin, death, and bondage, and condemnation." And we are free from sin's guilt and the power by the work of the Holy Spirit as He imparts into us, through the invitation of Christ's righteousness, right?

Spirit to life. So verse 3, "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, cannot do. By sending His own Son, the likeness of simple flesh, and for sin, He condemns sin and life." So what Paul is saying here, remember this morning when I shared with you, that what?

That... Close it a little bit. That could be closed, thank you. Or just turn the thing off, I don't know. Okay, can we turn it off? Thank you. Alright, so, remember I mentioned to you earlier this morning that the law is like a mirror? The word of God is like a mirror?

Okay, but guess what? What could, what could, what couldn't the mirror do? Like for example, like really, when you look in the mirror, right? What can't the mirror do? It can't change how you look! Right? It just points to all your blemishes and how you look, whatever. And so the law was the same thing.

The law was powerless to change us. It was powerless, it couldn't. Because of why? Because of sin in the flesh. And so because the law couldn't change us, and because we couldn't obey the law, when we see law, I'm not talking about one, two, three, four laws, we're talking about the law of God.

God's commandments, right? The scripture says if you break one, you've broken all of them. Because God would be absolutely holy and perfect, and that's what? Holy and perfection from his believers. And so the law couldn't change us, just like the mirror can't change us. All the mirror did was what?

Show us how we actually look. So the law actually shows us who we really are. Lost, sin, rebellious, reprobates, hard-hearted, cunning, deceitful, evil. That's what the law just showed us. And so what the law did, not only showed us how we look, but the law pointed us to the solution.

That is Christ Jesus. That's why when Christ came, he said what? I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. And by being able to fulfill every single law that God had established, Christ was now was able to be the perfect sacrifice for your sins and my sins.

So verse three, it was weak. It did not do what it ought to do, but because he couldn't do it, God sent his son in the likeness of simple flesh for sin. He condemned sin in what? In his own flesh. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

So neither law nor human effort can bestow this life. Only Christ Jesus by his death and resurrection did it. Let me say it again. Only through Christ's death and resurrection did it. It is finished. It is done. And the spirit of God now through his death and resurrection empowers us and instructs us, helps us, encourages us to live according to his word.

But those, verse five, but those who live according to the flesh set their minds to the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds to the things of the spirit. So this is the key. To walk in the spirit is in your mind.

That's why I started this morning by establishing right. God's word, which is the wisdom of our minds and the spirit of God takes the word of God. The word of God that we know, the word of God that we have studied, that we have the word of God that we have heard, the word of God that we accept, the word of God that we believe.

He takes that truth and the spirit of God brings it to life in our lives. And so he says here, but those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Now again, you have to look at the context of what Paul says in the flesh, right?

There's the flesh, the body, which is not a sin. The body is not a sin, right? But there's also the flesh, the ideal is the sin of nature that Paul is referring to. And so for verse six, for to set the mind of the flesh is what? Death, but to set the mind of the spirit is life and peace.

So again, by Christ's finished work on the cross, God brings us into the living harmony with God, a right relationship with God, a reconciled relationship with God, and His will and His spirit, what? His function, His work is to help us walk it out, to live it out, right, in our lives.

And He reorients us to walk in accordance to God's will and purpose to the final destiny of life and peace as Paul refers to in Romans. Give verse seven now. For the mind that is set of the flesh is what? The mind that is set of the flesh is what?

Hostile, hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Because why? Indeed, it cannot. For those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So what Paul's referring to here actually is one who has not been redeemed in this portion of scripture right now, okay? He's referring to those who are in the flesh and unable to walk in the spirit.

That's what Paul's referring to here. Give me a minute here. I lost my notes for whatever reason. I can't find it. I tell you, you know computers are fantastic. As long as it works right. So there is a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. And the battle is basically what?

One and the mind. That's why verse six, for to set the mind on the flesh is dead, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. It refers to here in Romans chapter eight, okay? And so again I mention here the battle is in our minds.

We lose or we win living victoriously, living out the spiritual life by what we know and what we believe. Let me ask you a question. Who is the most influential, powerful preacher in your life? Or teacher? Okay, most of you would say, right? Because you don't want to hurt his feelings.

You say, "Pastor Peter." Okay, actually it's not. You know who it is? It's you. You stop to think. Most people speak and preach to themselves all the time. Think about that. You spend more time preaching or speaking to yourself more than you would do with Pastor Peter. That's why Pastor Peter, I thought it was so appropriate when he said that basically he was sort of like summing it up about remember how when a preacher preaches to you, right?

There's that human element that sort of filters the word of God. Now, it doesn't mean that the position or the work of the pastor or preacher is not important because if it wasn't, we won't be employed. I'm just kidding, okay? All right? But our job is to study. Study the word and rightly handle the word so God's people can understand it true.

But the reality is it's true. You get more from studying the word on your own actually. But if you realize and think about it, what do you do when you're driving? I'm thinking all the time. What do you do when you're alone? I'm thinking all the time. You're not just thinking.

What are you doing? You're preaching to yourself. You're preaching something to yourself. And what are you preaching? Are you preaching the gospel? Or are you preaching condemnation? Are you preaching guilt? Are you preaching shame? Are you preaching--because, you know, like-- I know you're not old-school Koreans, right? So how many of you are bored in the U.S.?

Okay, you don't understand it, okay? How many of you are bored, like, in Korea or other parts outside? Yeah, okay, all right. Come on, raise your hand, Fobs. All right, let's go. Be proud. Be proud of your Fob. All right, I'm a Fob. Fresh off the Boeing 747. But if you talk to your--maybe your grandparents.

Maybe your dad. That generation had only two emotions. You know what it was? Sad and mad. It's true. It's true. That generation, that generation that survived the Korean War, okay, there's only two feelings, sad or mad. Sad or mad. I'm serious. Because it was so depressing after the Korean War.

I mean, people have lost their family members, whole families. They lost property, lost everything they owned dear to them, totally destroyed. And then they come to America, can't speak the language, right, struggling with the--in the '70s, you know, when your parents or my parents came, struggling with the whole identity of, you know, surrounded by, you know, Americans, Caucasians.

And I always talk about Caucasian friends. Just remember, you're half Asian, right? Caucasian. That's a bad joke, right? All right, but, I mean, really, it was very difficult for them to leave their motherland, right, come to Korea, from Korea to the U.S., so that you and I could have a better opportunity.

And their emotions were basically sad or mad. I mean, that's what it was. But what I'm telling you is that what you preach to yourself, you will live out. Think about that. And I tell you, I preach--I have to watch my heart and watch my mind, what I'm preaching to myself.

Are you preaching the gospel? Are you preaching God's Word? Are you preaching what God sees you? Or are you preaching shame and doubt and guilt and preaching defeat and preaching, you know, what the enemy is preaching? Or what your guilt is preaching? Or what your experience is preaching? And so the batter is our mind.

And so we win or lose this Christian life by what we preach to ourselves. That's why it's so essential for you and I to read your own Bible, to study it, to know it, to redeem the time when you're driving a car. You know, one of the things that--I don't like traffic, but the only thing that's redeeming in traffic is to listen to a really good sermon.

And when that--and the Spirit then can take the Word in us and saturate it in every area of our lives. So think about it, right? If you're not preaching the Word of God in your life, in your mind, in your heart, okay, the Spirit of God can't take that.

I mean, if you don't have it, He can't take what's not there to make something happen. But as you saturate your hearts and minds with the Word of God, the Spirit of God is able to take that and you're able to preach that truth to yourself daily and constantly.

So yes, Pastor Peter is a great preacher, but he's not the most influential preacher. You are. You are. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3 to 6, it says, "For though we walk in the flesh," right, meaning we live in this body, "we are not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." What strongholds? The things that you preach to yourself. The false gospels. We destroy arguments and any lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. There's the battle. That's what Paul is saying here.

What arguments? What strongholds? Any false gospel. What is a false gospel? Anything that's contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he said, "We destroy arguments and any lofty opinion, opinion, against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive." Where's the battle again? Your mind. It's in your mind.

It's in your mind. And you take every thought, everything in your mind, captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Let me give you an analogy. In January of 1863, anybody know what happened that was significant at that time? You all need to go to history class.

President Abraham Lincoln, through executive order, declared the freedom of all slaves. Called it, anybody know what that was? The Anastasia Proclamation. What was that? Proclaiming that all slaves are free. But the war wasn't over until 1865. And when the war was over, the South was defeated and the Civil War ended.

But even after the war was over and all slaves were free, blacks still, particularly in the South, were struggling for their individual rights and freedom. All the way even up to the 1960s. So, as we as Christians, right, even though the war is over, Christ died on the cross.

He's defeated sin and Satan and death. Yes, you can get a little excited about that. The war is over. Praise God, Christ came and he has defeated sin forever. And he died on the cross and said, "It is finished." Woo! It is finished. He paid the price. Man couldn't do it.

Religion couldn't do it. The Jews with all their ceremonies couldn't do it. He paid the price. Done. Complete. And he resurrected from the dead. And God declared to all the angels and all demons and all humanity that man is free for those who receive Christ Jesus as Lord. That's the gospel.

That's the good news. Are you hearing me, church? Okay. So, even though God declared the freedom of his children and those who had trusted him, God declared justification to Christ's righteousness, we are still in the battle, struggling to implement salvation in our lives. And it happens through the word of God and the grace of God.

And I'm going to point out a point there. But if Christ, we go back to Romans chapter 8 verse 10, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him, meaning Christ, I'm sorry, meaning God, the spirit of God, of him who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you now, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

That's why the resurrection was so significant. The resurrection was a game changer for everything and everything. And so the spirit who raised Jesus right from the dead now dwells in us and transforms our life every day as he dwells among us people and changes our personal spheres of influence.

Let me expand a little bit. Okay, so the gospel salvation is not right. Just for us to have what we call it a holy huddle. And instead I get the gospel and salvation. It's not just for us to have little Kumbaya, holy huddles. God saves us, God redeemed us.

And if that was significant enough, why didn't he change this? He kill us after he saved us. No, because there's a now a mission. There's a purpose now out of salvation. And that is what God now through his power spirit, right? And his power that he's done. He saves us, transforms us and wants to use us.

Wow, look at you all. Okay, none of us are any special. We're a bunch of monthly cruel people, right? With all our blemishes, with all our sins, with all our brokenness. And God redeems that brokenness. God redeems our sins. God redeems our, right, our failures. And he uses all that right through the power of the spirit to what influence your spear, where you're at, your home, your community, this world.

And so what did Jesus did after he resurrected and before he said it and what he told his disciples to do? Go into all the world. He said go into all the world. In Acts says, in Acts chapter 2, he talks about when the spirit of God comes, okay, he will empower you, dunamis, dunamis, dynamite, right?

It's like a perpetual power. It will empower you that you may be what? Witnesses of me from where? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the other parts of the world. But what do we do with the power that God has given us? Let me tell you something. This is sad.

Peter knows what I'm talking about. We had a friend named Mark. Mark, I won't give his name. But you know what I'm talking about. He was from Hawaii. He was a pretty big guy. At least at that time, like the biggest Korean guy that I know, I mean, he was yoked.

He was yoked. I mean, remember that? Remember? He always lifted weights, right? And he would like-- One day we went to the gym between class or whatever, and I was like, you know, and like benching at 150. He's like, "Bench at 250 for reps." Okay? And we're going to class, and I looked at Mark.

"Hey, man, why do you work out so much, right? Why do you work out so hard?" Okay? And what he did, he looked at me, he turned around, and he did one of this on me. And it's funny, right? Okay? That's how we do it a lot of times in the church.

All we do is like-- I mean, it's like, you know, you're like, "What is that?" Right? I mean, you see these bodybuilders who build their body and they're controlling their diet and they go like, you know, like, car-- what is it? Car-- fast, whatever, right? And they work out, and then for years and weeks and weeks and months and months of work, and they go to competition, right?

10-minute competition. "What is that?" And that's what-- that's what the church does. And we like to flex a lot of muscles, right? On Sundays, display our spiritual muscles. Come on, church! God, right? Through His Spirit empowers us to have an influence-- have a sphere of influence. And wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, whatever environment you're at, so listen, don't think that God cannot somehow use you in some way for His glory because His power is able to do so.

And by the way, there's no such thing as sacred and secular. I mean, think about it. What a minister does on a Sunday, is that any more sacred than what you do as an engineer, as a doctor, as a lawyer, as a CPA, or CPE, or whatever, right? Whatever you do, listen, man, you give it to God, right?

And you pray and ask God, "God, use this, what I'm doing." Whatever education you got, you might not use the degree that you got from college. It doesn't always translate to what you do today. But I'm telling you, God is in the business of using your gifts, your experience, your education, and redeems it, reuses it for His glory and His purpose some way or somehow.

I can't tell you what that is. But I know I can tell you that God is able to do it. God is able to do it through His power, through His Spirit. That His business is to transform believers every day through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, that you and I could use our spiritual influence for the glory of God in the next, the expansion of His kingdom.

And how that looks like, I don't know. All I know is God is in that business. Amen. Let me share a little bit, you know, what I'm talking about. You know, I had a chance to speak, talk to a few ladies, one of the ladies, I'm not speaking your name, I'm sorry.

- It's okay. - Elise, sorry. I'm so bad with names. - I forgot. (audience laughing) - Thanks for your patience and grace. (audience laughing) But her dad's a chaplain. And we started talking, and maybe we served together, but we never really crossed paths with each other. And you know, Peter shared a little bit about my experience.

And people, many of you have approached me and asked me about my experience in the Army as a chaplain. And it was hard. I ain't gonna tell you that it was easy. It really was hard. When I joined the Army, actually before 9/11, some of you, were you even born in 9/11?

(audience laughing) Some of you were really young, right? Some of you probably don't remember, but when 9/11 happened, everything changed. Especially for the Army. Because before 9/11, the military was a peacekeeping force, like doing missions like Bosnia and Kosovo. When 9/11 happened, the military now became from a peacekeeping force to a warfighting force.

Right? And from 2001 to 2011, in that 10 year span, I was literally away from my family, I think about five years out of a 10 year period. Deployed to Iraq twice, 13 months, first deployment, 15 months, second deployment, and 12 months in Afghanistan. And it took a toll on me.

It really did. And in second deployment in Iraq, I was in a Humvee, and I still remember this day, it was June 22, 2007, and we were, it was a beautiful day like this, actually. It was a sunny, warm day. It gets about 110 degrees in Iraq in the summertime.

But it was in the morning, so it was still pretty cool, like 90 degrees. (audience laughing) I remember it was like really quiet. And I believe it was a Saturday, because what would happen is that on Friday evenings, it's called the prayer. In the Muslim culture, Iraq is predominantly Muslim, and it's called the prayer.

But what would happen is that these insurgents, in the name of Allah, is the time that they would implant IEDs in the roads and streets to kill civilians, to kill military personnel. And so that day, particularly, it was a, what was I doing? It was around 8 o'clock in the morning, if I remember, and I was just having breakfast.

And all of a sudden, we heard this deafening explosion. It was so loud, the buildings shook. It literally shook. And what I found out, where I was at, it was only about three miles from where we were at, but it was so big of an explosion that it shook the buildings and even just shattered glass.

What happened was, one of the military vehicles for my unit, a Bradley vehicle, a Bradley is basically a 30-ton vehicle, 30 tons, was hit by a 200-pound IED. It blew up the turret of the Bradley. The turret was about three tons. It blew that up and killed every single soldier in that Bradley.

The Bradley would easily fit about 12 soldiers, but fortunately, there was only five, but all five of the soldiers were killed. And so I got a call saying that, "Hey, Chaplain, that's what we do, right? "We respond to casualties, "and as they come in, "and the rest of the platoon that comes in, "what we do is we provide ministry, "grief counseling." And they started doing what we call a memorial services, which is basically a funeral for those who died in combat.

And I was on my way there, and at that moment, I was also hit by an IED. By the grace of God, the IED wasn't as big as the one that destroyed Bradley, and by the grace of God, it hit the turret of the engine, right? The engine block, I'm sorry.

And so it blew the doors open, shattered the glass. You got to understand, the doors are five inches thick, and the glasses are three inches thick, right? And all the guys and myself, we lost our conscience. We were wounded in the Humvee, but the guys in the front, one guy lost one leg, another guy broke both his legs, and myself and the gunner, at least we had minor injuries.

It was like that in Iraq. And when I came back, I had all the signs of what we call PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. And I had anxiety, I had insomnia, I was dealing with anger, I was dealing with sleepiness, nightmares, flashbacks, and it got so bad, right? After I came back, and it's a strange thing is that you don't know how bad you are.

You just don't see yourself how you are, right? But people around you see it. And I thank God for my wife. She looks fragile and fatigued, and like a delicate flower, but she is one tough cookie. And she looked at me one day and said to me, "You better go get the help, or we're done." I was like, "Okay, alright." Because we were constantly fighting and angry, because I was so angry.

And by the way, you know what I find out too about men? You know how men deal with grief? It's anger. When women deal with grief, they cry. Most men don't have any tears. Only if you're watching Rocky, right? But I was angry, and I was also dealing with survivalist guilt.

And so, this is 2008, right? And so if you were to meet me, it's almost been 2017 now, so it's almost nine years now. If you would have met me nine years ago, you would not have liked me. Because I didn't like myself. And so, long story short, let me go forward real quick.

I deployed again in Afghanistan, and they came back with all the same symptoms. And then eventually, 2013, I decided to give them the option to retire early. I retired early with the medical time. And for years, I didn't know what God was going to do with this, with my trauma, with my PTSD, my experience in the military.

You know, when I got out, I figured, okay, well, you know, I was a chaplain, so I should do a pastoral ministry. And so I tried that a little bit, right? And it was very difficult. It was very challenging for me. And then today, God in his grace, God in his redeeming power, has allowed me now to work and serve with a ministry called the PTSD Foundation of America.

And it's a ministry, right, to help combat veterans who come back from deployment and help them deal with their PTSD and finding healing through the gospel and through biblical counseling and through mentorship and group support. I mean, we literally, like, rescue veterans, right? Because if you look at the spectrum of PTSD, you got guys who are what you call PTSD and functional.

And today, by the grace of God, I have PTSD, but I'm functional. But there's the other extreme where guys, you know, with PTSD, and girls too, right, obviously, who serve in combat, who are dysfunctional, like, complete dysfunctional. They can't get out of their house. They can't hold a job.

They can't relate to people in normal, healthy ways. They deal with alcohol addiction. And in the military, what they do is-- you'll be surprised the answer is what, because they don't have the gospel. What's the answer? Medication. I have the medication. I have the medication. I've come across veterans with 20 different kinds of medications.

Actually, I was on 9 different kinds of medications, you know, in the past. You know, medication for anxiety, medication for insomnia, medication for my headaches, I mean, whatever. It was like medication, medication, medication. And what happens, a lot of the veterans, they get addicted to these opioids. The suicide rate is so much higher than the average civilian.

The divorce rates are, like, skyrocketed in the veteran community. Do you know one-third of our homeless in America are veterans? One-third of our homeless are veterans. It's crazy. I heard from Peter that your associate pastor, Mark, brother-in-law, right? Did I get that right? He was in the National Guard.

He came back from Iraq or Afghanistan, and he had some serious PTSD issues. It's real. It's real. But I share this with you, is this. I don't know all of you, and I don't know all your background. I don't. But I know one thing. We are all broken people.

We are all broken people, some way or some form or some degree. But you know what God does? It's through our brokenness, He empowers us to do work in ministry, to touch and heal and bring salvation, bring redemption into other broken people. That's God's business. That's why the gospel is so glorious.

That's why Paul says, "I don't rejoice," right? He doesn't say, "I don't rejoice in my knowledge. I don't rejoice in all my abilities and my strength, but in my weakness, my thorn in the flesh." God's grace is made perfect. And God uses Paul and you and I in our brokenness to bring ministry and healing to others.

You know, I tell you, this is how I look at the Christian life, is this. It's one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is. Jesus is the bread of life. That's what the ministry is all about. That's what God is all about. That's what God is calling us for you and I to do.

And God does it by empowering us through His Spirit. Let's continue. I'm sorry. Let me move on here. So, the second thing we want to get is the presence of the Spirit right in our lives. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. Reason 5 the normally God gives life and spirit but God promises presence of his presence through spirit flesh is fiber 16.

It says but I say what? By the spirit and you will not ratify the desires of their flesh. But if the desire of flesh are against the spirit and desire to the spirit of guess the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the spirit but not under the law. So what Paul is talking about here, and he talks about in one way another like Romans chapter 7, where he talks about, you know, I do the things I don't want to do, the things that I have to do, I don't do.

And the things that I know I have to do, I don't do, and that struggle, right? Constant battle struggle that he has, that we have. And it's like, when I look at the spiritual life, it sort of reminds me of, I love watching UFC. Okay, I'm sorry. Maybe there's a little violence in the violence by two men in the octagon, right?

It is odd. It is odd. And when you see like a, like a, like a kick or a punch, like knocks a guy out, like, whoa, yeah. I don't know if that gets you excited or not. Okay. But it's just nice to the spiritual battle. Right? It's intense. It's a battle with sin and flesh.

And it is an impossible struggle to overcome except by the spirit of God. By the spirit of God. But again, right? Remember, but the spirit of God can't, the spirit of God only can take what is in you, right? The word of God, it's empowering to do the work God has called you to do and to help you to overcome sin and temptation.

So we experience victory through the spirit of God. Because God has written in many ways, the requirements of the covenant of grace on our hearts according to the God's requirement of loving God and others. Remember I talked about being a practitioner of God's word? It takes practice. It takes practice.

Okay? And actually I don't mind lawyers practicing law, but I do have an issue with doctors practicing medicine. Because when I go to a doctor, I don't want to be practicing. I want him to know what he's doing, right? Or her, okay. But it's the whole idea of putting to practice the word of God in our lives.

And sometimes there is failure. Sometimes there is shortcomings. But God, even in our shortcomings and failures, is able to redeem it and use it for glory, for his purpose. And so we are guided by the character and the care of God. And we do this to please our Redeemer, striving to please him in the power of his might, rather than the strength of our own resolve or resources.

And as we continue, right, church? As we continue to pursue God through his word, God is able to use that because he pursues us. And we discover that the greatest pleasure in this life is to please him. As we lead, and as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

Go down to Galatians chapter five, verse 19. It says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident," right? "Sexual morality, impurity." All right, let me say something, okay? This is saying that any form of sexual activity outside of the context of heterosexual, heterosex marriage is sexual immorality. You know, I had a discussion one time, you know, with a guy who says, "Well, you know, I don't say anything "about homosexuality because Jesus never said homosexuality.

"He didn't say anything about homosexuality." That's true. Or transsexuality. It's true, right? But you know what Jesus did say? He affirmed, in Scripture clearly, heterosexual marriage. He said man and a woman. And he said that no man could have a son through. So the way, by affirming heterosexual marriage, he was what?

Condemning all other sorts of sexual, or sexual sins, or any other kind of marriage. You understand, church? Okay, so don't let people dupe you, because I know Christians, they call it red-letter Christians. Red letter, have you ever heard of that? All right, you know, these are people who think Paul is a homophobic.

I'm serious. They call themselves Christians, and they only follow the red, you know how in the Bibles you have the words of Jesus in red? Okay? All right, what they're failing to understand is that yes, those colored red words, first of all, Jesus didn't color the red, okay? (audience laughing) Man put color in the red.

But Jesus, many times in the New Testament, affirmed the Old Testament. Over and over, over and over, he talks about it is written, it is written, it is written. So Jesus never in any way deluded, denied the Old Testament Scriptures. Okay? The whole, both old and new are one word of God.

Amen. All right, I'm going a little straight here, but I'm just telling you that, and share this with you, because we're so confused. We are living in a confused society with gender identity. You know, if you're a girl, if you're a guy, if you're looking, okay, what? (audience laughing) Let me say something, okay?

All right? Do you believe, Pastor Ed, that there's a gay gene? Okay? Yes or no? What do you mean, Pastor Ed? There's no proof of that. There really isn't. There's no proof of like a gay gene. But think about it, Pastor Ed. I don't believe in like macroevolution, but I do believe in microevolution.

You know what that is? Micro is, come on. Some of you, some of you nerds, tell me what you're not talking about. (audience laughing) Okay? Micro is when species adapt and change within the cell. Right? Macro is when one species becomes another species. Now, there's no proof of that.

There's no proof at all that we see in science, okay? But if you think about it, if you were to, right, if you were to believe in evolution, right, the gay gene should have died out by now. Why? 'Cause gays can't reproduce themselves. Right? By sure, unable to reproduce themselves, and I'm no scientist, but for me, it just makes logical sense here, that the gene should have died out by now.

Think about that, right? But let's say there is a gay gene. Let's just say that. That's hypothetical. I don't believe there's no proof to that. But when people ask me, Pastor Ed, is there a gay gene, I say yes or no. I don't believe that there is a gay gene like biologically, but because I believe that homosexuality is a sin, every one of us has the possible potential of being homosexual.

'Cause it's a simple nature. There is a brokenness in one's sexuality. You know one of the things that really disturbs me, right, with this whole new transgender, yaddy yaddy, psychobabble garbage people are talking about, okay? First of all, that's nothing new. Even in the Roman times, okay, when they worshiped the pagan god of Dianus, or Diana, she was the transgender god.

She was the pagan god of fertility, where if you ever see a statue of her, she'll have a whole bunch of breasts and male genitals. That was something that was worshiped by the pagans in Roman times. Nothing has changed, even today, right? But you know what's disturbing? Like today, that they're encouraging young children, before they even, at the age of puberty, to go through a sex change, that's crazy thinking.

That's crazy thinking. I mean, you can't even get a driving license, you know, unless you're 60 years old or 70 years old. But we're living in a culture today where we are so confused what sexuality is all about, because we have gone away from what God has explained and designed what sexuality is all about.

And what Paul says here, "The works of pleasure evident sexuality, impurity, "sexuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, "fists of anger, rivalries, dissension, division, "envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these." I warn you, Paul says, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the spirit is what? Is what? Is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is what? No love. And those, look at what Paul says, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus "have crucified the flesh with his passions "and his desires, and if we live by the spirit, "let us also keep in step with the spirit, "let us not become conceited, "provoking one another and envying one another." So what, basically, the works of the flesh are evident, as Paul listed, but they do not prioritize others, what is it, right?

What is the work of the flesh? It's about self-service. It's about living for your pleasures. But what it says here, "For they do not prioritize others above self "and God above." So when you talk about what the flesh is, it's anything or any action, any attitude that loves self more than God and others.

So this is very interesting, right? Like if you follow the satanic religion or satanic bible, they have commandments too. And you know the greatest commandment they have? It's this, it's simple, it's very simple. Love thyself. That is the commandment. That's the commandment of the flesh, right? And it's a battle, and for those who practice these things, right, show that they have not encountered the transforming work of the spirit.

See, the Christian life begins where, again, wait. One receives the spirit through the hearing with faith, the gospel, trust in Christ, Lord, Lord, and Savior, and then the spirit exercises through his presence a transforming work of grace in the life of a person who walks by the spirit. The spirit produces not fruits, but fruit.

Look at the text here, look at the text here. Doesn't say but the, right, verse 22, it doesn't say but the fruits of the spirit, but it says what? The fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control. And so what we see here is that Paul is referring to when one is redeemed and the spirit of God indwells us and the spirit of God takes the word that is in us, he creates fruit in our lives.

So the fruit of the spirit is not some checklist, right? Like things to do, or to work through, but it is a unified blossoming of your heart liberated by the grace of the gospel and by the presence of the spirit. All right, let me wrap it up here. Third thing, power from the spirit now.

In Ephesians 3, verse, go back to Ephesians 3, verse 14 through 17. For this reason, Paul says, "I bow at my knees before the Father, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named," meaning God's family, God's church, "that according to the riches of his glory, "he may grant you to be strengthened," through what?

"With power through his spirit in his inner being." So what, what, so what? What's the purpose of that? What's the purpose of Paul's prayer for the believer to be empowered through his spirit? What? "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, "that you be rooted and grounded in love." So how do you know, what is the evidence of a believer is filled, is being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit that their attitude and their actions become more like Christ?

Become more like Christ. That's the work of the spirit. The spirit's work is to continue to move us, empower us, to convict us, to help us, and to mold us into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. So, it says here, what? "That you be rooted and grounded in love." We're gonna talk about that tomorrow a little more.

But Paul's prayer to the Father is for power through the spirit so that Christ may dwell in the hearts of believers. I assume most of you claim to be Christians, right? But let me ask you a simple question, all right? Is there anything, earthly speaking, right, in this world that gives any, gives us an analogy to better understand the Trinity?

Anything? Can somebody come up with something? I've heard many, you're smarty, like what? - Marriage. - Okay, so what's the three things in the marriage? - Son, wife, and their relationship. - Okay, all right, okay. There's a trine, union, some kind of, or God and husband and wife, okay.

But I'm talking about the essence of the Trinity. Have you heard of the analogy of the son? I mean, you have the son, the son, not S-O-N, S-U-N. Like, you guys look out there, there's a sun, okay? (audience laughing) People even have used the son, like, okay, the son, the core, right, and the energy, the heat, right, and the light, oh, that's three in one, nah.

That doesn't explain the Trinity. Have you guys heard the fork analogy? The fork, right? (audience laughing) Three in one, nah, okay. Or have you ever heard an analogy about an individual, like, say I'm a father, right, I am a father, I'm a husband, and I'm also what? The son, to my parents, nah, no.

That kind of show too. Or how about this one, how about the egg? Have you heard of that one before? Okay, the yolk, yellow, the white, and the shell. Ah, three in one, ah, no. All those are heresies, okay? And if you ever thought to understand the Trinity by these humanly speaking analogies, okay, repent, you're a heretic, okay?

(audience laughing) The Trinity, right, as we understand from scripture, is father, son, husband, three distinct persons, but equal in essence of beauty. Pass it on, I don't understand. You know, I really can't explain that mysterious, glorious concept of the Trinity. That's what the Bible teaches, that God, the Father is God, God the Son is God, right?

And the Holy Spirit is God. There are not three gods, one God, three persons, in equal in essence, or in plurality in power. All right, so I thought about this, okay? Why isn't there some like physical, earthly analogy to understand it? Is it because I believe God is so big, that our little teeny weeny, teeny weeny, peanut brains cannot fully understand the glory and the majesty of who God is?

But we trust what the scripture teaches. But I tell you, understanding the doctrine of Trinity should empower, should influence our lives as Christians. And so we are saved from first to last by the triune God. God plans salvation, the Son purchased salvation, and the Holy Spirit, what, produces salvation.

And the purpose of the Spirit is for Christ to dwell in our hearts and lives so that we may be rooted and grounded in love. Let me wrap it up here. Let me read to you, you don't have to turn it there, but let me read to you in Ezekiel 36, verse 22 to 28.

This is such a beautiful promise. It's a promise from God to God's people, not only to Israel, but all those who trusted him. It says, "Therefore, say to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord, it is not for your sake, "oh house of Israel, that I am about to act." What, act of salvation.

"But for the sake of my holy name, "would you have profane among the nations "to which you come?" And he goes on to say that, "I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, "which has been profaned from the nations "for which you have profaned from among them. "And the nations will know that I am the Lord, "because the Lord God.

"When though you, I vindicate my holiness before your eyes," verse 24, "I will take you from the nations "and gather you from all the countries "and bring you into your own land. "And I will sprinkle clean water on you, "and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness, "and from all your idols, I will cleanse you." Now, just again, okay.

God in here, through Ezekiel the prophet, is referring to Israel, God's chosen people in the Old Testament. And God's chosen people, God's chosen people committed all the sins of all the pagan nations. Idolatry, right? Breaking all the commandments. Rejecting God. But through all that, what Ezekiel was saying is that God will still be faithful.

God will still accomplish his mission of salvation. That even though Israel is unfaithful, God will always be faithful. That's, church, that is great, great promise from God. That's a promise for you not to hold on to. Because see, when we talk about salvation, it is not based on our faithfulness.

Thank God, thank God. It's not based on our performance. God, in his sovereign plan, right, will start the work of salvation in your life, and trust me, he will complete it to the end. And from start to the end, in between, sometimes it's ugly. It's ugly. When you deal with people, it's ugly.

Like, you know, I don't know if I told this to people, but I told my other, like, my pastor peers, ministry is like sewage business. You go in people's lives, and people's lives are ugly. There's sin, it smells, and it's dirty, and it's messy. It's messy. But you know what the great promise of scripture?

That God is faithful, that even in our messiness, right, from the beginning to the end, he is faithful, and he will complete the work of salvation in our life, and he promises here to Israel, and all those who believe in him, verse 26, and I will give you a new heart, a new spirit.

And I will, he said, I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And he said, I will put my spirit, his presence, his power, his life within you, and cause you. Who will cause us?

He will cause us. He will cause us to walk in my statures, and be careful to obey my rules. God will make it happen. Let me tell you something. You know, I had a discussion one time, somebody was saying that, you know, I believe that no one can take away my salvation, but I can take away my own salvation, and I tell that person, trust me, you're not that powerful.

You're not that powerful. And if you believe in the doctrine of relation, and doctrine of justification, and doctrine of predestination, which I believe the Bible teaches clearly, right? Salvation, through the power and the presence, and the life of the spirit, will happen. You can scream, and you can kick, you can be hard-hearted, but God, in his sovereignty, will, will make it happen.

That said, that sounds like I have no choice. Ding-dong-dang. Just like you have no choice in trusting in Christ, you have no choice, right, from keeping God, but in completion, the work of salvation in your life. That's a great promise, that's a wonderful promise. Amen, church? Let's pray, Father.

We thank you, Father, that the only hope of salvation is for you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to perform the miracle of removing our stony, hard, rebellious hearts, and giving us hearts that respond to you, to love you, and to desire you more than anything. We thank you, Lord, that the new life that the gospel brings is not a new set of clever strategies, or behavioral modification, or some fresh resolve to live in a new way of our own abilities, or our own resources, but it's an utterly new and foreign work of the Holy Spirit, divine power that changes us at the very core of who we are.

Lord, our prayer, God, our deep prayer today, and the rest of our lives, is that you would change us from the inside out, that you would transform us, and change our desires, and our passions, and our goals, to strive after you. Lord, may we be a people who are developed by the Spirit.

May we be a people, God, that is empowered. May we be a people that is evidence of the presence of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus, let me pray, amen.