January, 2000

The Triumphant Church, Part I By Pastor Pete Norris

God is purging, drawing, separating, molding and changing us.

Romans 10:17 -- "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

The carnal Christian cannot believe and will not be prepared for the coming of the Lord. The unregenerated human nature cannot perceive the depth of the Spirit of God. He cannot prepare himself for the calling away of the church, because the calling away can come only by faith. Faith cannot come without the hearing of the word of God. We cannot be ready for Christ return unless we are walking by faith.

Satan has no power over us. Many of the things we are battling are not the devil, but our flesh, in other words our carnal nature. We will not walk where God wants us to walk as long as we are being led by the flesh.

The unregenerated nature of man opens the door to the adversary. Some of the things we battle and are trying to cast out of our lives are not evil spirits; they are our flesh. The only person who can get rid of the flesh is us. The greatest battle we face in our lives is our flesh, because it is not saved.

Galatians 5:17 -- "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

Lust is the unregenerated nature apart from God. The flesh will never be saved; Therefore, we must remove and crucify this flesh. If we are listening to and guided by our flesh we cannot do the things of God. As the Holy Spirit leads us into the righteousness of God, so the flesh leads us into unrighteousness. The divine nature of God has been placed inside of us, but we must place ourselves in a position to receive from it. To receive it, this flesh must be dead.

Ephesians 4:22-24 -- "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

The word “conversation” in this verse is referring to our life style. We cannot do the things we used to do and go places we used to go and act like we used to act. We have put on a new man. We will never be any “holier” than we are today. Separating ourselves from the flesh and walking by the Word of God will make us walk holy. Get rid of the flesh and everything else will take care of itself.

Two things separate us from the regenerated nature of God:

(1) Evil Tendencies
(2) Your Attitude

Your attitude decides your altitude with God.

Ephesians 4:25-26 -- "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath;"

Those that are born again are one body in Christ. When we talk about another believer, we are talking about God and ourselves.

Submission means being under the mission of another. We are either being led by our spirit or our flesh or carnal nature. When we say things that we should not say, our flesh is in control. God will not stop us from sinning. We have to submit ourselves to God and listen to the Spirit. Our thought life is where we get into trouble.

Ephesians 4:27-32 -- "Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the things which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

We should not give place to the devil. We will reap what we sow. If we are really what we should be, we would not be talking about others. It opens up the door for the devil. We should edify and minister grace to one another. Edify means to build up. Grace means divine favor. We should be building others up and not talking about them. If we are talking about people, then we should be speaking and administering divine favor.

We give out of need and not out of prosperity. We have to sacrifice and give when we cannot give any more. If we have anger in our hearts, we have to get rid of it.

Are we dealing with the devil or our flesh? Many times, it is our flesh. We have to put the things mentioned in verse 31 (bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking) away from us. These are not spirits; they are flesh. We have erroneously rebuked things that are not spirits because the church is ignorant. It is easier to have somebody lay their hands on us than to crucify this flesh and get rid of it. Many of the things we blame on Satan have nothing to do with him. We open the door with anger, jealousy, envy, strife, etc. We cannot entertain these thoughts or we will certainly end up in trouble.

When we are really walking in the Spirit, we will be these things in verse 32. (And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.) We can forgive our children but we cannot forgive our neighbors. If we all could get this flesh under control, the church would walk in power. We need to be led by the spirit instead of the desires of this flesh. People are carnal because they have not learned to bring the flesh into control. We are led by our emotions.

We have to put off the former lifestyle. If we know what our weakness is, we should stay away from it. We have to resist the devil.

James 4:7 -- "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

We have to submit to the Spirit of God. There are no spirits of anger, bitterness, etc., but they are flesh and will not leave until we get rid of them ourselves. It is our job to present our bodies to God.

Romans 12:1 -- "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

We need to get our flesh under submission to God and walk in the power He intended. Are our bodies holy? It is our job to submit them to God. If we are dealing with something (such as pornography, lying, anger, etc.), it is because we are dabbling in it. This flesh craves the things of the world and not the things of God. The church has not been able to separate the two. The church wants a quick fix but we are going to have to work to crucify this flesh so the Spirit of God will be greater.

As long as mankind is led by the flesh, we will not see the calling away of God. It is faith that removes this flesh and brings us into a place of submission. It is the presence of God that brings us out of death and into eternal light. We cannot hide our sin and carnality; it will rise to the top.

Isaiah 8:18 -- "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion."

Signs and wonders shall come forth out of the people of God. The flesh cannot perform the supernatural acts of God, but the flesh brought under, and where the spirit is greater than the flesh, then the miracles and things of God will manifest.

Romans 12:2 -- "And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."

We need to present our bodies and then take our minds and get them renewed in the Word. We are the only sign that some people will see of God. Let’s get our minds and lives cleaned up and then we can prove God's perfect will upon the earth.

The born-again spirit is a done deal, but the body (our flesh) is our biggest battle. If we get our minds renewed with the Word of God, it will transform our thinking. Satan cannot come into our hearts (spirit), but he will try to deal with our thoughts (mind).

We should be led by the Spirit in every aspect of our lives to please God. This flesh brings about death. The inner man is renewed day by day but the outer man is perishing.

Colossians 3:12-13 -- "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

"Forbear" means putting up with one another. We have to put on these things. "Humbleness of mind" means what is our opinion of ourselves? It should be what God says about us in His Word. "Meekness" means strength. It does not mean to let others walk all over you. God has put up with us, so we should put up with and truly love others.

Colossians 3:14 -- "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."

Charity is the God-kind of love. The God-kind of love is having the nature of God. We should love others as God loves us. If this kind of love was really exemplified in the churches, the churches would be packed. Jesus never cast anyone out; He always did what was best for them.

Ephesians 4:27 -- "Neither give place to the devil."

When we give in to our flesh, we give place to the devil. It opens up the door for the manifestation of the devil because we are outside of the divine nature of God. Holding a grudge will kill you before your time. People will sin because they are angry and mad with others. Anger eats away at us and we need to get rid of it. We need to love people where they are at.

Romans 5:5 -- "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

We cannot hate anybody and be right with God. We don't get saved and then walk perfect. There is a training process. We cannot love everybody without it being the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 -- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love..."

Love is spoken of first in this verse of scripture because the others fruits will not happen if we do not have love. When you see other people, stop looking at the outer person and look at the heart.

Ephesians 4:26 -- "Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath;"

Jesus got angry. He got mad in the temple but did not sin. Your mind (soul realm - mind, emotions and will) is where we sin.

What brings about lust in our life? We should lust after the things of God. It is not wrong to get mad but it is wrong to sin. Sin is what comes out of our mouth or our actions. What comes out of our mouth destroys our testimony.

Ephesians 4:22 -- "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;"

Your flesh has lusts and desires. The sinful man has a sinful nature. The flesh fulfills what is running the life. The flesh lusts after the desires that feed it. The lusts and desires of the flesh will kill us if we do not get it under control.

Romans 1:24-27 -- "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves; Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more blessed than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature; And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."

This is speaking about homosexuality. A reprobate mind is a "mind void of judgment." This is not speaking about a spirit of lust. It is a spirit of disobedience. They gave in to their lusts because they were disobedient. They followed their flesh.

Flesh craves many things besides sex. We have a choice to resist or give in to the desires of the flesh.

Lusts of the heart means the unredeemed thoughts and feelings of a person. When we are born again, our spirit has been redeemed from the curse of the law. When we "burn in the lusts of our heart," it means we make choices, either to follow God or the flesh. The unredeemed feelings of a person is what leads a person into sin. The flesh can never be satisfied because it always has lusts and desires for the things of the world.

I Peter 2:11 -- "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;"

We need to train our minds in the things of God. There is power in the flesh, so it must be put to death. The five senses deal with the flesh. Anything that deals with the flesh stops the anointing. As long as we are led by our flesh, we will never go where God wants us to go. He is not coming back for a church full of flesh but for a church led by the Spirit.

A man can say he is not going to sin but he has to have a made up mind to overcome sin. If we do not have enough integrity and Word, we will give in to sin.

James 1:13-15 -- "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

God does not tempt us. A Christian cannot have a spirit of lust. A man is tempted and tried and drawn away with his own lusts. When lust conceives, it brings forth sin; sin brings forth death.

The flesh does not change and the spirit does not change. We have to train our mind every day and renew it. The battle is in our minds. The reason we are not operating in the things of God is because we do not renew our minds. We have to renew our minds every day. We never get to a place spiritually where we do not have to pray, read the Word, and fast. We have to deal with the flesh on a daily basis. God speaks to us to get rid of some things in our lives. They may not be sin, but often God wants to see if we are obedient. He is trying to get rid of our flesh so we can be sensitive to the Spirit.

Some people believe that the corruption of sin and lust is demonic activity. It is not; it is the flesh left unchecked.

Ephesians 2:3 -- "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

We are still living in our past lifestyles and being led by that. It is time for our lifestyles to line up with the Word of God.

James 4:7 -- "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

We must have enough faith so that when we speak to something, it is gone. You can train your thought life so that when a thought comes that you know it is not a thought of God, you can get rid of it. We will never receive the fullness of God until our minds are lined up with the Word of God.

Colossians 3:5 -- "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

If we are going to cause something to be dead, we have to do it. This is talking about our body. If our flesh is controlling our lives, we have idols in our lives.

Romans 8:5-8 & 12-14 -- "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

When we obey our flesh, we are not pleasing God. The desires of our flesh will lead us to destruction. If Satan can keep us following our flesh, he will not bother us too much.

Matthew 5:29-30 -- "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

Jesus was not saying to literally cut off our body parts. To put the flesh under, it will feel like we have cut some parts of our body off. Putting our flesh under submission to God is not easy. The mind of man is the #1 killer in the church today. We have not renewed our minds with the Word of God. God is not pleased with our flesh but only with faith.

The Word is the only thing that will take us through. To be triumphant, we will have to crucify the flesh.