Yesterday, I didn’t finish on a positive note.
I talked about how King David…
Despite being forgiven of his sins of adultery and murder…
Would still suffer the tragic consequences for his behavior…
And that the curses hanging over his head would continue for generations.
The torment in David’s soul during this time must have been unbearable.
Every time, some form of deception or destruction reared its ugly head inside his family…
David knew it was because of his past behavior.
This may be the most painful part of the unseen effects of sin.
It doesn’t just affect you…
It affects everyone around you.
I can relate to King David.
I think a lot of us can.
Who among us doesn’t have regrets that we feel daily because of our past behavior?
Who among us doesn’t sometimes think…
“What if I had really lived like the new person God made me to be?
What if I had let the old me stay dead?”
The Apostle Paul struggled with the same issue that he so eloquently expressed in Romans Chapter 7.
“For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want to do,
but the evil I do not want to do
—this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do,
it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it.”
-Romans 7:18-20
Finally, Paul explodes in frustration…
“What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”
Then in the next verse, he concludes:
“Thanks be to God,
who delivers me through
Messiah Yeshua our Lord!”
-Romans 7:25
So, in contrast to my last post…
Today I wanna end on a positive note.
I’d like to remind you that as believers, we are given power in the form of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin in our lives.
Yes, David had regrets.
Paul struggled with sin.
And so do we.
But the good news is that God doesn’t leave us stuck.
He gives us supernatural power through His Spirit.
This ain’t about trying harder, homies.
It’s about being filled with the same Spirit that raised Yeshua from the dead.
Recall Stephen in the Book of Acts.
He was so full of the Holy Spirit that when people tried to argue with him, they couldn’t stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke (Acts 6:10).
And as he was being stoned to death, he saw heaven opened and Yeshua standing at the right hand of God.
That’s boldness and supernatural peace in the face of death.
Or how about Peter, the same man who denied even knowing Yeshua three times?!
He was so filled with the Spirit that he healed the sick, raised the dead (Acts 9:40), and preached so powerfully that thousands came to faith in a single day (Acts 2:41).
The same man who had previously crumbled under pressure, by the power of the Spirit, transformed into a fearless witness for the Lord.
These men weren’t superheroes.
They were flawed, human, and broken dudes, just like us.
The only difference was that the Spirit of God was now living inside them.
And if you belong to Yeshua, that same Spirit lives in you.
So yes, regret, pain and failures are real.
But resurrection power is more real.
The old you might still whisper from the grave.
But the new you has the power to walk in victory.
So remember…
You are not powerless.
Nor are you alone.
The Holy Spirit is in you.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes on you;
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
-Acts 1:8
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Yeshua
from the dead is living in you,
he who raised the Messiah from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies
because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
-Romans 8:11
“For the kingdom of God
is not a matter of talk but of power.”
-1 Corinthians 4:20
“My message and my preaching were not
With wise and persuasive words,
but with a demonstration
of the Spirit’s power.”
-1 Corinthians 2:4
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear
but of power and love and self-control.”
-2 Timothy 1:7
“Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all
we ask or imagine,
according to his power
that is at work within us…”
-Ephesians 3:20
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves,
so that you live in fear again;
rather, the Spirit you received brought
about your adoption to sonship.
And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
-Romans 8:15
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and
will remind you of everything
I have said to you.”
-John 14:26
“Do you not know that you are
God’s temple and that
God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
-1 Corinthians 3:16
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