Sermon Central
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How To Conquer Habitual Sins Series
Contributed by Michael Schwer on Feb 22, 2001 (message contributor)
Summary: This is part two of the problem solving sermon series of The Fight with the Flesh. Its aim is to offer 4 steps a believer can apply to change his/her mindset of old patterns
The Fight with the Flesh [Part 2]
How To Conquer Habitual Sins
Problem Solving Sermon
Introduction
In case you missed last week I am concluding a two part message on the Fight with the Flesh.
Last week we defined our battle with the flesh as All the habit patterns that we have developed over the years to meet our needs out of our own resources. It is the Self-Life.
We looked at what it means to “live by the Flesh” and “How difficult it is to deal with the Flesh”
t.s. But this morning I want to show you How To Fight The Flesh and Overcome Sin Tendencies in our life.
The 8th Chapter of Romans tells us how
Lets read the text as a whole first -
Main Idea [ Message in a Nut Shell]
Romans 8 is the “Declaration of Freedom” Chapter for us in the Bible and Gods Word here declares the Christians Security in Christ.
As we study this chapter the next number of Sunday’s – we will discover that the emphasis is upon the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned 19 times.
So, it stands to reason, that in order to live a life free from old habit patterns and sins that try to enslave us – We must have a dependence upon the Ministry of the Holy Spirit who was sent by Jesus to help us live a overcoming life.
II Cor 3:17 tells us “ Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!”
Subject: So what we are looking into this morning is HOW WE CAN WALK IN DAILY FREEDOM FROM SINFUL HABIT PATTERNS OR BENTS BY DEPENDING UPON THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
[ Understanding Sequence ]
Q – Why is it a problem for us to gain victory over various sin bents we might have?
A – The answer invariably lies in one word CONTROL – who do we want to be in control of our life.
We really only have 3 options in this area: God – Ourselves – Satan
We choose who will be in control over our Mind – Will and Emotions by the daily seemingly insignificant decisions we make.
How Can I Overcome Sin Tendencies in My Life?
Whether its Worry, Fear, Lust, Overspending, Anger, Control, Doubts about God or the like…Romans 8 shows us Steps we can take to break our Sin Bents.
· Step One – Don’t Allow Your Habits to Direct You Anymore Romans 1:1
[Amp] “ And walk not after the dictates of the Flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
· The word picture Paul uses here is that of a commanding officer. Our flesh, our old habits would try to dictate to us to follow in the old patterns that only led into defeat but here we are told to not walk after those commands – rather to allow the Holy Spirit to direct us.
Just How do we do that?
When we notice that we are beginning to live according to the old habit patterns we have developed, in dealing with our problems – We need to STOP and listen for the voice of God and quiet ourselves.
Now – the Flesh doesn’t like this. It takes patience and trust and endurance to stop and listen to God.
Your flesh will scream out “ We have got to do something! – Now!” But you will never hear Gods voice when your listening to your own thoughts.
The First Step to Hearing From Gods Holy Spirit is to Quiet Ourselves to Listen.
This means that we must quiet our flesh – our tendencies to try to solve everything our way and not get ahead of Gods leading.
Don’t allow your old habits to direct you anymore – begin to listen to Gods voice when He speaks
· Step Two – Stay in Step with the Holy Spirit [ v 4 ]
How Do I Stay in Step With the Spirit?
· Galations 5:25 “Since we live by the Spirit let us stay in Step with the Spirit” [ NIV]
We stay in step with the Holy Spirit when we make a willful choice to do things Gods way and not our way.
I guarantee – there will be times that this will cause inner conflict because the Holy Spirit will do things different then our old habit patterns.
Why? Because when God does something in our lives He makes it clear that the answer come to us in a way that we know IT CAN ONLY BE GOD! So God gets the glory.
· We stay in step with the Spirit by applying a little known principle found in Eph 4 (take a look – the Lord showed me this principle in my devotions one day)
