We saw how the birth of Christ was planned long before Jesus was even born, hundreds of years before He was born.

We saw that a Savior was promised in the Garden of Eden right after the fall of mankind.

We also saw that the Savior would be pierced through his hands and feet and that he would suffer crucifixion 1600 years before he was born.

We saw too that he would be beaten worse than any man that ever lived, that God was pleased to allow this to happen because He would be an offering for the sins of mankind and that through His death many would be justified.

We learned too that he would be conceived in the womb of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem hundreds of years before His mother was even born.

The scriptures taught us that to be carnally minded was death not only in this life, but in the life to come.

If we accepted Christ into our lives, and we lived our lives for Him, we would live fulfilled lives that experienced peace and the joy of living.

So now we can continue this teaching that I said would be for the next four weeks, this week being the second week.

This scripture is telling us that we are debtors, not to live according to the flesh, because of the willing sacrifice of Jesus. We can overcome anything that tries to ensnare our lives and bring us into bondage, if we really want to be freed from whatever has a hold on our lives, because of His death on the cross.

If we decide that we want to live to satisfy our flesh and the desires of our hearts, then we will die. We found that out last week, in the scriptures we went through, and this passage is reconfirming what was said in the verses before this verse.
If we live according to the flesh, then we will pay the price for living that way.

If we know that, then why do so many people have trouble believing that ?

Do we really believe that God really doesn't mean that ?

Do we really think that God changes with the times, and what was wrong then, isn't wrong now ?

I don't think so !!!

The bible says that Jesus never changes, and if Jesus never changes, we can safely assume that God never changes, and if He came to this world to live a righteous life pleasing to God, and He taught His disciples to do the same, then I don't think that our twisted thinking and the laws we try to pass, to make wrong be right, is going to change God's thinking.

Do you think God will change His thinking for ours?

In Hebrews this is what the scriptures say:

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. Hebrews 13: 8 - 9

God does not change His thinking to adapt to ours…we have to change to conform to His.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:7 - 9

We do not think the same way God does, if we did, then we wouldn't be living from one crisis to the next crisis.

This scripture tells us to forsake our wicked ways as well as our wicked thoughts. We are always given a choice, life is all about choices, the choices we make now, always affect how our lives will turn out later.

If we know what we are doing is wrong, and we continue to live that way, then our lives will show that. If we are living contrary to what we know is morally right or true, then we open ourselves up to whatever repercussions comes along with the decision we make.

One example is having unprotected sex out of the protection of a marriage covenant. Some people think you don't need to be married to live together in a loving relationship. They think that marriage is about a piece of paper that the state government makes $75-100.00 on.

So because some people don't believe marriage is important, and that you don't need to be committed to a life long covenant partner, they just assume, it's OK to try out people like you try on a pair of pants, if they don't fit, you get rid of them. But, you need to understand one thing, whatever STD's that the person you are with have, you are going to get.

Do you think about that while you are in the heat of passion ?

No. All you want to do is gratify your desires at that moment.

If you asked the person you are with at that moment to be honest about the partners they have been with, do you think that they will be 100 % of the time ?

If you were to think about what you are doing, you would know, that whoever that person has been with, you are with that person too. However many partners they have been with, you have been with them too, and how ever many partners their partners have been with, you have been with all those partners too.

That is a scary thought to me, but there are a lot of people who would brag about everyone they have been with. Some will say that they used protection every time,

but do you really want to believe that ?

Today, promiscuous sex can be a death sentence. People are dying in the hundreds of thousands throughout this world because of aids, syphilis and other STD's that we have never seen in this part of the world, but we will see them, because if they are in one place you can bet they will make their way here eventually.

We can say what we want, we can convince other's that we are right, it doesn't matter how much we try to make God fit into our philosophy, His righteousness never changes and we are deceiving ourselves and lying to everyone around us, if we believe anything different than what the bible says about our life on this planet.

How many of you here today have lied about your sexual escapades ?

That's why the bible says:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD. Isaiah 55:7

Why ?

He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7

Jesus came to set the captives free, to pardon sins that we have committed and help us to change destructive behaviors that are detrimental to our health and our spirit. He wants to form in us a new man that is not a slave to the bondages that we place ourselves in. God wants to be merciful to us, to give us a way out of the punishment to come, but, we have to change the way we think and decide there is a better way to live this life than we are living it now.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father. ”Romans 8: 14-15

If we are led by the Spirit of God, then we are adopted into the family of God, we are no longer strangers or spiritual bastards, we are children that have all the rights and privileges of sons and daughters of the living God. We are risen up to the right hand of God, we can ask Him for whatever we need, and He will hear us.

But if we don't accept this adoption, we don't have the rights of a son or daughter.

Some people ignore God everyday, they don't even give Him a second thought, but when something goes wrong in their lives they start to pray, they seek Him out hoping that He will intercede and get them through whatever the problem is. But then after that, they go back to living the life they know is wrong.

So, if there is no change in your attitude, or the way you live your life, do you really think God will hear your prayer, if you aren't honest about your relationship with Him ?

The scripture says:

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

We all know if we are living the kind of life that God wants us to live, we all know if we are right with God or not, our lives will show exactly the way we believe, by the way we live.

Do you think it's time to be honest ?

We can say what we want, we can believe what we want and we can lie to ourselves if we want, but, our lives show everyone what our hearts and minds think.

There is an old saying:

If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then it's a duck.

If someone were to bring you to court for being a God fearing person, would have enough evidence able to convict you ?

You know the answer to that question, I don't want you to say something just to say something. I want you to be quiet for a moment, really look inside yourself, and then ask yourself again, honestly, would there be enough evidence to convict me for being a Christian serving God ?