If you want to have a lot of policemen follow you around in Central,
in IFC you carry a big green bag with me written on it.
And you have somebody follow you with a video camera.
I guarantee you, you'll have a lot of people follow you.
You know, we all kind of carry stuff on our journey.
We're all carrying stuff.
We talk about it often when we're on journeys.
And we have this baggage that we carry with us.
Sometimes we carry stuff that is harmful.
We think it's good.
We think it brings life.
But we grab onto it like it's going to give us all that we need.
But it actually ends up killing us.
And so we're packing for these journeys.
And I think some of us right here are packing right now, right?
Some of us are about to go on these journeys.
And some of us are leaving Hong Kong for good.
And some of us are going on vacations.
And we're packing all our stuff, everything we think we need, everything we think that's vital.
And I got to confess to you guys, man, I just, I hate packing.
And I've been trying to figure out why I hate packing and unpacking.
And I think I realize it's because I'm just terrible at it.
I mean, I'm just terrible at packing stuff.
I always pack more than I need.
And I don't ever use what I bring.
And so we started this thing about four years in our family that before we go on a trip, all of us packed the night before.
And then we all bring our luggage out.
And Christina checks our luggage to make sure that everything is in there that we need.
And, you know, I'm always like, well, I'm going to read 20 books.
And I put 20 books in there.
And she goes, you're only going to read like half a book.
And so she takes 19 books out.
And she's taking stuff out of the kids' stuff.
And, you know, we do this because four years ago we didn't do it.
And four years ago we were going on home leave.
And we figured out that we'd send Christina back with the kiddos two weeks earlier.
And so we packed them up and we took them to the airport.
And, you know, it's always humiliating as a dad, right?
You walk in there and you have, you know, five passports.
And the lady looks at you and she goes, okay, so one adult and four children.
And she looks at you and you're like, yeah, I'm a terrible dad.
You know, I'm sending my wife home with the kids all by herself.
And the lady kind of scorns.
And we kiss and they go off.
And I come home and I'm just, I'm kind of tired.
And we did a lot of packing and traveling and getting there.
So I sit down on the couch and I want to, I want to watch TV, right?
And so we had cleaned the house up because we were leaving and keep the house clean.
And I'm looking all around and I cannot find the remotes at all.
And I'm walking in their house.
I'm looking around.
I'm like, okay, so this is like, you know, we cleaned up.
Where would the kids put the remote?
Where would they put that?
And then I start looking around and the telephones are missing.
I mean, the handheld, and they were like those big ones back then.
They're not this big, right?
They're missing.
So I can't, I can't find anything.
And so I'm walking around for two hours trying to figure out where, where would they put this?
If I was a kid, where would I put this?
I have no idea.
And so finally I just give up and I go to bed.
The morning I wake up and I call Christina because they're in San Francisco.
And I say, hey, how's it going?
And she goes, you never guessed what happened.
And I go, what?
And she goes, well, we're going through customs.
We had, we were pushing the baby stroller and, and you know, and it keeps beeping.
And the guy goes, well, you have anything in there?
No, I promise we took it all out.
There's nothing in there.
Beep, beep, beep.
And so he reaches his hand in, I mean, that little basket thing right behind that holds everything.
He reaches his hand in there and he pulls out the telephone.
But he reaches his hand in there and he pulls out the remote controls.
And so my kids, you know, they figured, well, these are important things.
We use them every day.
So we need to carry them with us wherever we go because we never know where we're not going to need them
or where we're going to use them.
And, you know, so I'm sitting there listening to that and I'm doing the calculations.
I'm going, okay, so this is two weeks in a house with TVs and electronics without any remote controls.
That, ladies, that's like, that's like the worst thing you can do to a guy.
I mean, that is like, the only thing you can do worse than that is you can put on a dress and you go to your boyfriend or your husband
and say, does this dress make me look fat?
That's the only other thing that you can do worse than that.
But I was walking around there going, okay, so for two weeks I have no control over my life.
But the kids packed everything that they thought was necessary.
They packed everything that they thought was important, everything that they thought they would need.
But they forgot what their dad would need.
And I don't know.
But, you know, it seems like this passage is talking about some of those things to us.
It says that we go on these journeys and we carry stuff with us.
We carry things with us that become burdens.
We carry guilt.
We carry shame.
We carry regret.
We carry condemnation.
We carry hurt.
We carry bodies to sin.
And all of these things that we're carrying in this backpack or a suitcase or however you want to think about it,
they just, they hinder our journey.
And so we're in the book of Romans and we're going to look at the first 11 verses in Romans.
Chapter 8 because we've been going through Romans.
And what I want to look at in this passage here is I want to look at,
Paul's going to talk about two types of journeys we're on.
Two types of people.
There's only two types of journeys we take.
Only two types of people, two types of mindsets.
So I want to look at those two people.
I want to look at the things that we bring with us in the journey.
And then I want to look at the things that we shouldn't bring.
And so two people, two journeys, the things we bring and the things we shouldn't bring.
Does that make sense?
So hopefully we'll kind of tie this all up in the end in a bow.
Remember last week, if you were here, we finished up Romans chapter 7.
And in it, Paul, after going through his life and trying to figure out what does it mean for him to live?
How should he live a life that's pleasing to God?
How can he do it?
And you read in the passage that he used I, I, I, me, me, me.
He used it over 30 times.
And at the end of chapter 7, he cries out, who will set me free from the body of this death?
I mean, he realized that his whole life, he's been trying to live the life on his own power.
He's trying to focus on himself.
And all of a sudden, this thought comes into his head.
And he goes, why am I focusing on myself on this journey?
I should be focusing on Jesus.
We're like that, aren't we?
And sometimes we go on these journeys and we become so tied up in ourselves and in our stuff
and we just focus on our stuff and the next place we need to get.
And we forget about the God who put us there and the God who's leading us and the God who's taking us.
We forget Christ.
We leave him behind.
We carry everything else with us.
When I was growing up, I was trying to understand this idea of the Christian life.
And I know analogies are not perfect.
But this is the way the guy explained it to me.
He was discipling me.
And I know we made fun of, what did we make fun of?
Soccer the other day.
But this is a pure sport.
It's baseball.
And the guy told me this.
He said that when you're up there batting and baseball, so there's a ball and there's a bat and there's a pitcher
and there's bases that you run around.
And if you are focusing on just that first base, you want to get to that first base,
and you're focusing on that first base, you're never going to get there.
The way that you get to first base is you focus on the ball.
And if you focus on the ball, everything's going to work out okay in our life.
And that's the way many of us are.
We focus on other things, and we're looking at the next step, and we're looking at how we're going to get there.
But what Paul says is we need to focus on the person who's taking us there.
Does that make sense?
I mean, it's really simple, but, you know, I forget it all the time.
I find myself going off and focusing on the next thing, but I'm not focusing on the person who's taking me there.
I'm not focusing on Christ.
And so I end up becoming frustrated because things aren't working the way that I want them to do.
And Paul says in this passage here, he says from verses 4 on down, he says there are two types of people.
There are two types of walks that we can take.
There are two types of journeys.
And so everybody here in Watermark today, you are only on one of two journeys.
Paul's been making it really simple through Romans.
He doesn't give like ten choices.
He says there's two choices, this or that, this or that, this or that.
And he says in this passage, we're all here.
We're either on one of two types of journeys.
We're either one of two types of people.
And the first group of people he talks about are those people in verse 5, those in the flesh.
He says they're walking, and the word walk in Greek means to order your life.
And so it means that you're in the center and you've just kind of ordered your,
it's like you go to a new desk and you order your desk around and you make sure that everything works.
You go to a new home and you order your home around so you know where everything is.
He says those people who walk in the flesh, they order their lives around themselves.
Their mindset is of the flesh.
The mindset, the word there means to focus.
They focus on themselves.
Now I don't know what you think of when you hear the word flesh
because often what I think of is the body or I think of sex or I think of skin.
But that's not what Paul is talking about here.
When Paul uses the word flesh, it's even, it's huge.
It means it's very difficult to interpret and translate in English.
Sometimes people say, what's the best translation?
And you know, there's certain words that are just incredibly difficult to translate from Greek to English.
Sometimes it takes like three sentences to get the idea.
And this word flesh is one of these.
But basically what it means is that it's our nature.
It's who we are.
It's our desires.
It's our passions.
It's our self-centeredness.
It's who we are apart from God.
It's who we are apart from spiritual things.
It's us in the center of our world.
And Paul says there are people on this journey and they put their self in the center of their world
that their mind is focused on themselves.
The question he asks and we ask sometimes is what is our mind focused on?
What do we intently think about?
The passage says that whatever those things are, they're going to flash into your head.
And if you're on the journey of the flesh, you're going to think about, ultimately, you're going to think about yourself.
You're going to put yourself in the middle.
You're going to think about what's going on there.
And Paul in verse 7, he says that this will always lead to hostility with God.
The word there actually means like fighting and anger and war.
And so the people who are on the journey, they of the flesh, they put themselves in the center of their journey,
the center of their world.
And he says in verse 6, if you do that, verse 7, you're always going to be at hostility with God.
The word there is condemnation.
We're going to talk about that a little later.
And in verse 6, he says, if you walk in the flesh, you're ultimately going to lead to death.
If you walk in the flesh, you're ultimately going to lead to death.
It's a spiritual death and it's a physical death.
Fleshy people live independently of God.
They depend upon themselves.
They want control of their lives.
Romans says that they're the people who want to save themselves.
They know what they need.
They know how to get it.
And the religion is Tobin.
Or themselves.
Those are the people on the journey of the flesh.
One author said it this way that I thought was really interesting.
He said, your religion is what you do with your free time.
Your religion is what you do with your free time.
Whatever your mind goes to naturally, whatever your mind goes to freely,
this is what you really live for.
Whatever your mind goes to naturally, whatever your mind goes to freely,
when you're not inundated by a billion things, whatever your mind goes to,
this is what you really live for.
This is what shapes your journey.
This is what causes you to put the bag and the stuff into your bag.
You can carry it with you.
This is what your mind is set upon.
What is your mind?
So one of the questions we have to ask ourselves is,
what is our mind set upon?
What preoccupies you?
When you have free time, what pops into your head?
What are the things that keep going over and over and over and you're worried about?
What are those things that preoccupy your mind?
And Paul says, whatever those things are, you are a flesh person.
Your mind is set on the flesh and you're journeying with you in the center of your world.
And ultimately, you're always going to come in conflict with God
and you're going to end up getting in trouble.
So what is it that we focused on?
Paul says there's a second person, a second journey, a second people going on this journey,
a second mindset, and it begins in verse 9.
You can look at it.
He's talking to Christians.
Remember, he's been talking to Christians in Romans.
He says, however, you're not in the flesh, but you're in the spirit.
If, and the word there means since, since indeed the spirit of God dwells in you.
But if anyone doesn't have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to God.
These people he calls, these are the people who are on the spiritual journey.
Their mindset is on the spirit.
The word there again is, the spirit actually just means God.
Their mindset is on God.
God is at the center of their world and they've ordered their life around God and his word.
And those are the people on the spiritual journey.
Remember, there's only two types, fleshy, spiritual, self, God.
Now, the spiritual person, and I've struggled with this for a long time trying to figure out
what does a spiritual person look like?
Because I grew up in a church where you had super spiritual people.
I mean, they were just the people who quoted Bible every time they talked
and their head was in the sky and they tripped over things
and they were just too worried about thinking God thoughts instead of thinking people thoughts.
And they were too busy reading their Bible and praying to be engaged with people.
And that's not what Paul is talking about at all.
That's not a spiritual person.
I mean, if that's true, then the Pharisees were the most spiritual people in the New Testament.
And the Pharisees were the people that Jesus went after over and over and over
because they were whitewashed tombs.
Outwardly they looked perfect, but inwardly they were dead.
And what Paul says here is to have your mind focused on God,
to be spiritual means just to think of Him.
To think of grace.
To think of the cross.
To think of community.
To think of His creation.
To think of people made in His image.
I mean, to have your mind set on the Spirit,
it just means to live in a way that you want to honor God.
Live in a way that you want to honor God.
Live in a way that you want to make God's name great.
Whose name do you make great?
I mean, my experience in my life, and I'm just talking for Tobin,
is that either I'm making God great,
or I'm trying to make myself great.
Who are you trying to make great today?
What does it mean for you to walk with the Lord?
Now, what does this look like at work?
Well, it might look like different things for different people,
but I think what it really means is just this.
You're walking into your work,
and you just have this thought come into your mind.
Okay, God, you put me here.
You've given me gifts.
You've given me talents.
How can I make your name great today?
How can I honor you?
It might mean you just say,
God, I want to honor you today.
Show me how to do that.
Show me how I can obey you.
It's not this huge thing where you say,
great job, and you go, praise the Lord.
God made me do it, and God is all great.
It might mean you just say,
I had a great team around me.
And you're taking the focus off of yourself,
which fleshy people do.
And you're putting your focus on other things.
So what does it look like for us on this journey?
What?
And everybody's really quiet here.
Because I have to ask myself this all the time, guys.
What journey are we on?
are we living for ourselves let's be honest
are we living for christ and paul says in this passage that there's only two journeys there's
not a third journey there's not a journey for super spiritual person and then for non-spiritual
people he basically just says you're either walking in the flesh or you're walking in the
spirit and there's just no dividing those things that's the journeys the next thing that paul says
in this passage is this he says no matter which journey you're on no matter whether you're walking
in the flesh or whether you're walking in the spirit everyone everyone is going to struggle
with two things in our lives we're going to struggle with the idea of being condemned and unworthy before
a holy god and we're going to struggle with the reality of sin which indwells in us and we struggle
with that thing and paul talked about that we're going to struggle with the idea of coming before
the lord that's a holy god and realizing we're not holy and that we're condemned and we're going to
struggle with the idea that we walk around and we do the things that we don't want to do
paul says everyone's going to struggle with that the spiritual people the people on a spiritual
journey they're going to struggle with that right now here and now the people who are of the flesh
we're told that they're going to struggle with that later when they come before the lord
but if you're spiritual and you're on that journey you know what i'm talking about
i mean you know that the minute you fail it the minute you um i i think of sin is when we love
something more than we love god and the minute you love something or someone more than you love god
the bible says that we sin and all of a sudden this little voice comes in the back of my head
and it says things like wow when you call yourself a christian
wow you're a pastor and you did that you must not be a very good pastor
or you must not be a very good christian sometimes there's a big voice
and i make a mistake or we make a mistake in front of people
instead of that voice in our head talking sometimes there's people around us and they say
man shame on you
how could you do that i can't believe you did that
you know in this chapter here paul has the best news for us
he has the best news for those of us on a spiritual journey look at verse 4 1 look at what he says and
we're going to walk our way through it and then i'm going to give you some application points
number one verse 1 therefore therefore remember all the things we've talked about before remember all
the things we've talked about in romans remember jesus remember the cross remember making being made
right remember justification remember grace therefore remember everything that's come before
remember that there is now it hasn't always been this way it's just this way now since we gave our
life to christ there is now we've changed our journeys we're living differently we're going on a different
journey there is now no in greek it would be sound no i mean it was the strongest word you could use
and we again we can't translate that in english it was actually at the beginning of the sentence so it had
this incredible amount of strength that meant it's not possible there's no way not at all not one not a
chance there's no way therefore there is now no condemnation it's a legal term it basically means in law
terms it means to be pronounced guilty and then have your sentence taken out i think i scared her when i yelled no
condemnation condemnation there's actually two greek words together the greek words mean down and judge
so literally in greek the condemnation word means to judge down and so the idea was this caesar's sitting
on his throne and all the prisoners came in before him or all the people with the different cases and
problems came in before him and he heard their cases and caesar after hearing their cases above them
he either judged up
or he judged down
he either said judged up great or he either condemned them so this is the word there is therefore now
no condemnation for those of us
who are in christ jesus
remember we've been talking and romans says
that you and i deserve
to be condemned
there's nothing good within us
we've done nothing to deserve
god's gift
none of us are righteous not one all of us are broken romans 3
and what he says here is that yes you deserve to be judged down
but god sent his son
god sent his son in the likeness of our flesh verse 3
it means that he was just like us
but without sin
god sent his son
verse 4 so that he could fulfill all the requirements of the law
what's the requirement of the law
obedience
perfection
and the passage says that you and i cannot do it
because we have this sinful nature in us
we have this indwelling sin
and this thing that was meant to be good
this law that was meant to save us
we were meant to give it and say okay now i know what god's like
now i know how to walk with god
when we got this law
the sin in us
came out
and it made us even worse
you ever had that experience
you're driving on the highway
you see the sign that says 40 miles an hour
and you know wow this is the longest stretch in hong kong
you should at least be able to go 60 miles an hour on this
only 40 miles an hour
that's terrible
and this law that was good
comes into you in our sinfulness
makes us disobeyed
now if you ever repeat this
i'm going to deny it
totally
but the way i first saw this in my life was
or in somebody's life
we used to go to the beach
on the summers
we used to go to
to grand bay
and fort morgan
and there was this brand new
and at that time there was nothing
just beach houses
just so people lived on the beaches
or we slept on the beach
and all of a sudden this really nice hotel
got built in it
and it was right on the waterfront
it was incredible
and so we went down there for a year
and we vacationed with my friends
it was really really good
and stayed there
we'd go out and play
the next summer we came back
you know what
we walked into the same room
and there was a sign
it said do not fish
off of this balcony
you know i never thought about fishing that way before
i never thought wow what a great thing
we could turn the air conditioning on
we could just throw our poles out there
when it was right in the water
we can go fishing
i never thought about that
how dumb am i
but this sign
this sign
just kind of
made me do it
all of a sudden we get this knocking at the door
they said
excuse me
but people are eating down on the second floor
and they see these fish
being pulled up
up the windows
can you please stop that
it's not my fault
the sign
i've been here before
i would have never done that
but the sign made me do it
that's what paul's saying here
you know what happened
the next year we came back
we came back next year
guess what happened
there was no sign
they took him out of the rooms
because i knew if they put the sign there
people are going to fish
but they don't
put the sign there
people aren't going to even think about that
and what paul is saying here
is that on this journey
we're going to struggle
with this thing called the law
because we are sinful
but god brings his son
and his son fulfills everything
so that when god sees us
he judges up
in the passage says
he judges up
because he judged jesus
down
he judges up
we're not condemned
but he judges down
you know the problem
with being on a spiritual journey
we forget that
we struggle with that
we want to please the lord
we want to do the right thing
but we forget it
and verse 11 says
and so that you don't forget it
i've given you my spirit
and this spirit is going to be inside of you
it's going to dwell in you
and so the spirit is going to talk to you
and know that you're my child
don't forget that you're not condemned
don't forget that you're judged up
don't ever think of yourself judged down
but the passage says
on this journey
we forget that
and we struggle with that
and like the video
we carry these big bags
full of shame
and guilt
and hurt
and Paul is yelling at us
no
followers of Christ
because all those things
have been taken away
some of us are going to leave here today
and the minute we walk out that door
we're going to have all these thoughts
enter into our head
and they're going to be thoughts like this
because these thoughts are going to come from an enemy
and this enemy doesn't want you to walk
the way that God wants you to walk
he doesn't want you to walk in the spirit
and freedom
he wants you to be in bondage
he wants you to be in condemnation
and the thoughts are going to be something like this
we're going to find ourselves
not living the way we expect ourselves to live
we're going to look at other people around us
and this voice is going to say to us
man look at them
they got their life together
man look at them
they got their family together
man how come you're not a Christian like them
and all of a sudden you're going to feel guilt
and shame
and frustration
and what does Paul say?
verse 1
what's he say?
there is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
some of us are going to walk out of here
and we're going to start thinking
that God must be really angry with me
because things aren't going the way
that I expect him to do
I haven't gotten married yet
or my kids are crazy
or I haven't had kids yet
or my husband or my wife is not understanding me
or my job is terrible
or my boss is
and God must be really, really angry with me
he's getting at me
because of all the past failures I had
he's punishing me
because all the mistakes I've made
and all the times I've blown it
I don't know if you have those voices come in
but I have those voices come in
what does Paul say?
oh come on guys
this is the second time
what does he say?
well I didn't hear that
what?
okay
that's okay
some of us are going to walk out of here
and we're feeling like we're a failure
our relationships are falling apart
no one really cares about us
the people that we thought were our friends
have stabbed us in the back
they've destroyed our reputation
we feel totally unworthy
we feel like we deserve it
maybe we picked the wrong friends
maybe we weren't good enough
maybe we just didn't trust God enough
and what's Paul say?
you gotta get this down
because you're gonna walk out there
and it's gonna happen
there is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
no, none, not ever
you're not ever judged down
you're always judged up
why aren't we ever judged down?
because Jesus was judged down
don't ever forget that
Jesus was judged down for you
so that when God looks at us
He can judge us
some of us are gonna walk out of here
and we are gonna have somebody
we care about deeply
we're gonna have somebody
that we love incredibly
it might be a good friend
it might be a spouse
it might be our parents
and they're gonna look at us
and say you are a failure
didn't I tell you
this was gonna happen?
I can't believe
you're such a disobedient kid
I can't believe
you don't care about me
more than you should
I can't believe
you missed this birthday
or this vacation
I can't believe
you did this
you are worthless
you're worthless
what's Paul saying?
you guys are getting it
kind of right?
there is therefore now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
some of us grew up
in religious homes
or religious schools
and growing up
in these religious homes
and these religious schools
caused us to carry
an incredible amount of shame
guilt
conviction
about ourselves
about our families
about things we've done
the things we shouldn't have done
and we walk around
always in guilt
and we hear messages
like today
and we go
yeah sure
not for me
God would never say that
for me
I'm a bad person
what's Paul saying?
there's therefore now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
finally some of us
are scarred beyond recognition
we've had terrible bosses
terrible relationships
terrible friends
and our self image
is about this small
and when we think of things
we should do
the first thought
comes in our mind
that will never work
because you're not worthy
you failed before
why do you think
we'll succeed this time?
everyone knows
what you're really like
no one wants to be around you
that's why people
don't call you anymore
what does Paul say?
very good
there's therefore now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
the passage says this guys
the passage says
that no matter how much
condemnation we feel
no matter how much
struggle we deal with
as Christians
as people on the
spiritual journey
as people taking the journey
with these backpacks
and things are being
pushing our backs
no matter how bad we feel
no matter if the condemnation
is inwardly
no matter if the condemnation
is outwardly
no matter how strong we feel
like sin has a hold on us
it doesn't have a hold on us
no matter how shameful we feel
no matter how much sin
has paralyzed us
fear
doubt
guilt
God knows it all
and he put it on Jesus
on a cross
and he judged him down
so he can look at us
and judge us up
does that make sense
as you go on this journey
you have to remember
these things
and the question is
as we carry these things
as we pick up new bricks
as we add bricks to us
and take bricks off
we need to ask ourselves
the questions over and over
are we going to surrender
this to God
are we going to give this to God
do we know that God
has already given this
do we know that God
has judged us up
or do we think that God
has kind of judged us this way
and if we think God
has kind of judged us this way
what we've done is
we've separated ourselves
from the gospel
the gospel is like a train
Jesus the Holy Spirit
is like this engine
and we come alongside
and we click up
but the minute we
allow condemnation
to come into our life
that click is broken
we've de-gospeled ourselves
I don't know
I make up words all the time
but we've de-gospeled ourselves
that's what condemnation does
condemnation comes in
and it de-gospels us
and Paul says
don't allow it to happen
it's going to happen
you're going to be tempted
you're going to walk out here
and you're going to feel these thoughts
it's going to be from your spouse
or your friends
or yourself
and it's going to look at
this past track record
and you're going to say
I'm going to feel these things
you're right
and I'm going to have pity
and the minute we do that
we've lost the power of God
in our life
we've lost the power
of the gospel
I'm going to end
with just two thoughts
three thoughts
four thoughts
first thought
on this passage
as I read this
and I've been praying for this
in our church
over and over
I think that some of us
in here need to be honest
some of us need to be honest
what kind of journey we're on
some of us need to be honest
are we on the journey of the flesh
or are we on the journey of the spirit
I mean some of us
we prayed the prayer
we accepted Christ
yeah we're going to heaven
but our lives
have no change whatsoever
if people were to look at us
they would say
well we're the center of our world
we've put ourself in the middle
we've ordered everything around us
some of us need to be honest with that
and we just say
you know I thought
I was doing that
but you know
I realize it
I don't even know
what it means
to have a relationship with God
maybe this is the time
we need to come clean
and ask people
what that looks like
some of us
we've been walking
in so much shame
and so much guilt
and we just
and we accepted Christ
in our life
but we just feel worthless
and some of us
need to wake up
and say
hey I should say
stop playing God
you're not God
there's only one God
and he's forgiven you
accept it
move on
walk the life
love him
be empowered by his spirit
all of us in here
need to become honest
and we need to come clean
and say
what journey are we on
stop playing around
life is too short
for those of us in here
who are not in Christ
for those of us who say
yeah you know
I'm in the flesh
I'm not in Christ
my prayer is
you need to consider this
you are carrying
this huge load
of baggage
and you're carrying
these things
that are ultimately
going to consume you
condemn you
and destroy you
my question for you
who've been on this
journey of the flesh
are you sure
you want to do that
because there's a God
who loves you
incredibly
and he's giving you
his son
so that you don't
have to be condemned
he's giving you
his son
so you don't have
to carry the baggage
he's giving you
his son
so that he can
judge you up
and not down
will you do that
and there's some
of us in here
who are on this
spiritual journey
but you know
we just don't
check our bags
very often
and we're carrying
all this
can I say it
in church
crap
and some of the
things are going
to kill us
you know
when we did
this exercise
of opening up
the bags
last year
Christina opened
up KK's bag
our seven year old
and she had
actually had
broken glass
that she was
carrying in the bag
broken glass
some of it
fell out on the
floor
Christina didn't
see it
and she stepped
on it
and she sliced
her foot open
that wide
and she had
to go to the
hospital
get stitches
some of us
are carrying
broken glass
and things are
going to hurt
us in our bag
as followers of
Christ
because we
don't check
our bag
and we don't
realize what's
in there
and for some
of us
we need to
check our bags
and have people
around us
check our bags
and ask us
do we understand
the gospel
are we gospeled
up or are we
de-gospeled
because we're on
this journey
and we're carrying
things in us
that we don't
need to be
carrying
and they're
going to
destroy us
but condemnation
embodies the
sin
one last
thought
as we've been
teaching Romans
one of the
things we've
been trying
to get to
you over
and over
Christianity
is so much
different than
every other
religion
I mean some
of the values
are the same
some of the
morals are the
same
you find in
philosophy
classes
you go to
philosophy
but the
difference in
Christianity
is this
in Christianity
it's God
who always
acts
and you and
I respond
God acts
we respond
Paul's sermons
and talks
are always that
way
this is what
God has done
for you
this is what
you need to
do
God acts
you respond
God acts
you respond
God acts
you respond
every other
religion
every other
philosophy
says this
you do this
then God
will do this
you be this
way
and God
will be this
way
you do these
things
and God
will do
these things
to you
and Christianity
says that's
not true
Christianity
is about
God
pursuing
you
do you
know how
much
God
loves
you
do you
know
how
crazy
God
is
for you
in the
90s
I was
teaching
English
in China
it was
very interesting
I'll never
forget it
we were in
class
and we had
this discussion
and the
discussion
was about
the value
of humans
and I was
very careful
about what
I was going
to say
and I was
listening
and listening
to my
students
and listening
to what
they're
saying
and also
one of the
students
raised his
hand
he said
I think
that we
in China
value people
so much
less than
you in
the West
I'm like
well
explain
he goes
well this
airplane
just crashed
and CAA
C
used to
we were
living in
China
with CAA
C
China Airways
always
cancels
or China
Airways
always
crashes
so they
changed
their name
I don't
know what
they call
them now
but they
didn't
want to
have
CAA
C
and the
CAA
airplane
had just
crashed
and 100
and something
people lost
their lives
and the
student said
to me
you know
when people
die in
China
like an
airplane
crash
we give
them
a thousand
US dollars
that's how
much a person
is worth
1,000 US dollars
in China
but when an
airplane crashes
in America
you guys
or in the
west
you give
them
like half
a million
dollars
it's clear
to me
that you
value
life
and people
so much
more than
we do
how much
does God
value you
what did
God
pay for
you
you know
I don't
think we
realize that
sometimes
I think
if we
thought about
that more
we allowed
that to
permeate
into our
hearts
and our
souls
it would
change
everything
that we
do
it would
change
everything
because God
loved us
so much
he gave
us
so we
might be
judged up
because he
was judged
down
we're on
a journey
we have
choices to
make
what journey
are you
going to
be on
what kind
of love
you are
you going
to carry
all that
determines
your outcome
and where
you end
up
God
loves you
so much
dedicated
son
our prayer
is that we
are a
church
that thinks
about that
often
and that
changes us
in everything
we do
father we
thank you for
this day
we thank you
for your
mercy
we thank you
for your
grace
we thank you
for your
word
we thank you
for your
son
who came
like we
were
but without
sin
you paid
the penalty
that we
could never
pay
because you
love us
so much
I pray
for us
I pray
today
before we
leave
we would
make a
decision
and be
honest
and come
clean
what journey
are we on
the journey
of the flesh
are we on
the journey
of the spirit
are we on
a journey
where you're
at the
center of
our lives
are we on
a journey
where we're
at the
center of
our lives
and realizing
it's never
too late
to change
and to turn
because you
love us
so much
and you're
the god
of second
chances
father I pray
for those of
us who are
walking
in the spirit
on this
journey
who have
guilt
and shame
and pain
and hurt
all these
things that
cloud our
lives and
make us
forget who
we are
and whose
we are
what journey
we're on
I pray for
us lord
I pray that
we would have
people around
us who love
us enough
to wake
us up
I pray that
we'd always be
a church that
would speak
the truth
of your word
and not
flower coat
things that
make people
feel good
about themselves
but realize
that we're
we're
we're condemned
but for some
reason you
judge us up
because you
condemned your
son
father I pray
we'd be a
church that
would help
each other
understand the
gospel and
stop carrying
this luggage
and baggage
in our lives
it's killing
us
destroying
us
it's not
allowing us
to be the
people that
you've called
us to be
help us
to understand
your mercy
and help
us to
understand
your grace
lord most
of all I
pray that we
would be a
church
I pray that
we would be a
church that
never forgot
what it was
like before
we knew
you
I pray that
we would be
a people who
never forgot
what it was
like to
walk in the
flesh and to
surround their
world with
just themselves
and things that
mattered for
them and how
empty that felt
and how lonely
that felt
and how guilty
that felt
and how we
had to try to
reinvent things
just to hide
those shame
and all those
other things
help us never to
forget what it
was like before
you brought your
son Jesus into
our life
and as we leave
here today
realize that 95%
of the people that
we're going to run
into in Hong Kong
are walking that
journey of the
flesh
and they're
hurting
they're
desperate
they're
looking for
something to
numb their
lives and
their purpose
and their
meaning
help us to
realize and
keep our eye
focused on you
and what you're
doing and be a
part of what
you're doing
instead of our
own agenda
may we be a
people who share
your son with
everybody
because we want
them on the
journey with us
father we love
you
we need you
we pray
in your son
Jesus name
amen