times I'm asked, Brother Sheldon, what's the hardest thing in ministry? I'll tell you without a question what the hardest thing in ministry is. Living what you preach. That's the hardest thing in ministry. Hey, I've got to tell you preaching is not hard. Man, it just comes natural for me. I can just preach. I can just talk. It isn't the preaching. It's the living what you preach. And I want to tell you this, there is no message that I preach that that I would want to live out on a daily basis more than the message you're about to hear. I'm going to tell you this. I have never applied what I'm going to give to you tonight that I did not see victory in my Christian life. And I believe they're very, very powerful. Now, you guys were amazing the first session. And we got to get going on this. We're going to ask God to help us because we need him to help us. And I think you're going to find some things that will not only help you, but you'll also be able to help others. And so I want to start with a word of prayer and ask God to be with us. Father, Lord, this message has helped me so much when I apply it. And God, I do pray for your grace in my life that this would be the constant, not even daily, Father, the moment-by-moment thoughts of my life. May it go through the filter of this message. And I pray that for everyone that's here. And Lord, I ask that some people that are in this room that have been defeated with worry, with bitterness, anger, Pride, lust, they've never seen victory over it. God, may they begin. Lord, we're not talking about, Father, you know we're not preaching sinless perfection tonight, but Lord, may we live a victorious Christian life, and may we find that way of escape. May we find out tonight how to possess our vessels, And may we learn tonight, Lord, how to take those temptations that come and how to see victory in our Christian life. I pray this message for me, but I pray it for each one here. May we be doers of what we hear tonight. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Now, here's how we're gonna start. You've gotta understand our whole salvation deals with sin. That's salvation. Salvation from what? Well, there's three parts of our salvation. All three parts deal with sin. You say, Brother Sheldon, I never heard that there were three parts of my salvation. Well, I'll tell you. that you got a hard time when you're reading the epistles in the New Testament. Because you're going like, now wait a second, wait a second, work out your own salvation? How do you work out something you've already gotten? Well, you gotta know that's a different part. Paul says like three times, I look forward to the day I will see my salvation. your salvation, Paul. You're already saved. You've got to understand there's three parts of your salvation, and all three parts deal with sin. No, everyone's got to say that, and this is huge. All three parts of your salvation deal with sin. First part is called justification. Okay, this isn't in your notes, but I just gotta give you this to understand what we're dealing with tonight. So the first part is called justification. Now let me tell you what your justification is. In justification, you are saved from the penalty of sin. You are declared righteous by God. You put your faith in what Christ did and you are justified. And that is a declaration of your righteousness and you are saved from the penalty. Good. Saved from the penalty of sin. That is your what? No, no, no. Justification. Okay. Now tonight, we're gonna be talking about the second part of your salvation, and it's called sanctification. Now in sanctification, you are saved from the power of sin. We're gonna show you tonight how to have power over sin. You do not have to be in bondage to sin any longer. In justification, you're saved from the penalty of sin. In sanctification, you're saved from the power of sin, and you can see victory tonight. And then, ooh, I'm looking forward to this. One day, we're gonna experience the third part of our salvation, and that is our glorification. And then, in our glorification, we will be saved from the presence of sin. We will be saved from the presence of sin, and no longer will we ever experience sin again. So, there's three parts of our salvation. Our first part is called what? justification. And in justification, you are saved from the penalty of sin. Then what we're going to talk about tonight from this point on, our second part of our salvation is called sanctification. And in sanctification, you're saved from the power of sin. And then one day, gang, we're leaving this earth. One day, we're gonna be in heaven forever with God, and we will have our glorified bodies, we will experience the glorification of our salvation, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. Don't you love that? Now, I don't know where I got that outline. That is not my own outline. But that is the greatest outline on salvation you'll ever hear. And those are the three parts of our salvation. So, tonight we're talking about sanctification. So we're going to talk to you about the power over sin. All right, so I've got three passages here. You need to look at this. I'm going to read to James in just a moment. I believe that every, how many of you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and you're saved? Okay, all right, let me tell ya. Every believer in Jesus Christ needs to memorize 1 Corinthians 10, 13. Every, every, every, every, every Christian. Here's a great first down for ya. If you're struggling with temptation tonight, just go home and this week, memorize, meditate, constantly say seven times a day, 1 Corinthians 10, 13. Now, Pastor, I'll tell you something that's really cool about 1 Corinthians 10.13. Whenever I get tempted and I quote 1 Corinthians 10.13, it's a long one. By the time I'm done quoting it, I can't remember what I was being tempted on. There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. What was I being tempted about? Every Christian ought to memorize 1 Corinthians 10, 13. It is the greatest promise on temptation in the entire Bible. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. Don't you ever say, well, I'm going through something that no one else has ever gone through. That's a lie. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful. He isn't gonna let you down. God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able. But will with the temptation make a way to what? Everyone together. To escape. We're gonna learn the escape route tonight. Look at the next one. Oh, I love this one. 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 and 4, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. Brother Schiller, I want to know what God's will for my life. I'll tell you what God's will for your life is. It's sanctification. It's conforming to Christ. It's the power over sin. Even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication. Now watch this, that every one of you, look at the person next to you and say that means you. Jessica, that means you, okay? That every one of you should know, now, this is really good, I gotta park here for a minute, I gotta do a little rabbit trail. That every one of you should know, everyone together, what are the next, one, two, three, four, five words, everyone together, know what? How to possess your vessel. Now I wanna tell you two things. Number one. you will not be able to stand at the judgment seat of Christ after tonight. I'm being very honest. You will not be able to stand at the judgment seat of Christ after tonight and say, hey, God, I lived a defeated life, but nobody ever showed me how to live a victorious life. No one ever showed me how to possess my vessel. That will not be true after tonight. You will be eternally responsible for what you hear tonight. And you will learn how to possess your vessel. Now, let me tell you something about Independent Baptist. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, it says that the Bible is profitable for four things. The Bible is profitable for doctrine. The Bible is profitable for reproof. The Bible is profitable for correction. And the Bible is profitable for instruction and righteousness. Now, doctrine is what is right. And can I tell you, Baptist, bang, hit it out of the park. Overall, independent Baptists are doctrinally correct, they got their heads screwed on straight, and they know doctrine. That is not true in a lot of denominations today, but overall Baptists have got doctrine well. What is right? Reproof what is wrong. We are masters at reproof. We do a great job at reproof. I'll tell you, there's no group that reproofs like Baptists do. I mean, we're good at reproof. We tell you what's wrong about you. You're not living right. Your marriage isn't right. No, no, no, no, no. Doctrine, what is right? Reproof, what is wrong? We do good. Correction, how to get it right. Repentance, correct it, get it right. We're good at that. But I really do mean this. The missing note in the independent Baptist movement is instruction in righteousness. We tell people what's right, we tell people what's wrong. We tell them they gotta get it right, but we don't teach them how to keep it right. We don't teach them how to live. Now let me tell you about tonight's message. Tonight's message is instruction in righteousness. You just kind of got all the doctrine, what is right about our salvation. We're gonna talk about how to be defeated, that's wrong, reprove, correction. But tonight's message is the actual steps, how to possess your vessel, how to have instruction in righteousness. So let's get started. Are you guys all ready? Look at the person next to you and say, are you awake? No, no. Okay, that's a challenge. What's your name? Mar, Mar? What is your name? Barbara. Okay, I thought you said Marvin. I said, you are not a Marvin, Barbara. Yeah, Barbara. Okay, well, I'm gonna, my challenge is to keep you awake, and I'm telling you, we got the stuff to do it. Here we go. V, so we're gonna take the word victory. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that's the Christian battle cry. And we're gonna take each letter, we're gonna park on a couple, we're gonna move through a couple really quick, and we're gonna take each letter and show you instruction in righteousness, how you can live the victorious Christian life. V, V stands for vigilance. Everyone say that word, vigilance. Bible says in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You've gotta be vigilant. But what does the word mean? You guys are gonna tell me. I say vigilance. What do you think of? You can give me a word, you can give me a very quick little statement. Vigilance, what's vigilance? Raise your hand, I'll call it, what? That is a, what is your name? Vicki, that is a phenomenal word. When you're vigilant, you are watchful. That was fabulous. Let's go, more vigilance. Yes? Take that, okay. I just want you to know, Pastor, those are two phenomenal answers. You haven't given one yet, but these two have been phenomenal. When you are vigilant, you are what? On guard. You are watchful. Somebody else? Vigilance. ready. I like the word ready. When you're vigilant, you are ready. You are on guard. You are watchful. Anyone else? Ooh, I like that. You are locked in. I like that. I've never heard that one before. I like that vigilance. You are locked in. That's what I'm going to try to get you to do tonight, to get locked. That was really good. What's your name? What is that, Dwayne? Dwayne. Dwayne is locked in, man. I'm telling you, that was good. Anything else? I say vigilance, you say? Yeah. Oh, that's really, I'm just telling you right now, outside of alert, which nobody said, you guys got every word that is exactly what vigilance means. Aware, alert, on guard, watchful, locked in. What was the other one? I can't remember, but I'm just telling you, you guys nailed it. You know what vigilance means now? Now let me tell you this. You will never have victory in your Christian life if you're not on guard. If you are not watchful, if you are not alert, if you're not aware, if you're not locked in, you're gonna lose. And you've got to be vigilant. Now, but Sheldon, what do you have to be vigilant about? Well, we can do this one real quick, the first part, because we already talked about it. You gotta be vigilant about Satan. He attacks three ways. Everyone together, how? He attacks as a lion, as a serpent, and as a... By the way, all of Satan's attacks are always based on a lie. You've got to be vigilant of that. Satan is throwing lies at you guys all the time, all day long. And you've got to be on guard. But, I want to tell you something. Your greatest enemy is not Satan. It is not. Many of you have very rarely ever experienced an attack from Satan. Very rarely, I'm not saying you didn't, but very rarely. The biggest one you need to be vigilant about is not Satan, I'm just being honest. You need to be vigilant about who? Yeah, your flesh. You need to be on guard about your flesh. Now let me tell you about your flesh. Every person in this room has weaknesses. Everyone in this room has weaknesses. Let me ask you, do you know what yours are? Well, I know what my wife's are. Yeah, no, no, no, nobody, what wife? Okay, well, I know what my kids, I know what my parents' weakness, no, no, no, no. Do you know what your weaknesses are? Now, we all have weaknesses, and our weaknesses are different. Okay, age, how many in this room are under 20? Raise your hand, you're under 20 years of age. Okay, being in your late, being in your teens or childhood, you have weaknesses I probably don't struggle too much with, but you guys gotta be on guard with. Peer pressure, whatever it is, you guys gotta, how many are over 50? Raise your hand, over 50. Okay, a lot of you guys are over 50. All right, now let me tell you something. The older you get, you've got weaknesses. There's things that you have, I'm struggling with things at 67 that I did not struggle at 16. There are weaknesses I have to be on guard with as an older man, okay? Now, as an older man, All right, how many in this room are females? Raise your hand. You're a female. Okay, if you are a female, you have weaknesses. There are weaknesses that women have, and you gotta be on guard. How many in this room are men, are males? By the way, those are the only two choices there are. That's all there is. That is, I'm telling you, there's only men and women. That's all you got. But you know what, guys? Hey, it doesn't matter how old you get, you're gonna have to protect these all your life. You've got to know as a man what your weaknesses are. Okay, let me tell you some others. Your personalities. Some of you are extremely extroverted, very social, gregarious. You're just really out there. You guys gotta be careful. You can be too flirtatious. You can be too open. You can be too friendly. And you gotta guard yourself. Some of you are very introspective. You're very introverted, you're just very a loner, and because of that, you got weaknesses. Your personality has weaknesses with it, okay? Listen to this. I'm telling you, we never talk about this stuff. There's weaknesses at times of the year. What? Oh, yeah. There's certain seasons of the year that you're more susceptible to things than you are at other times. You got to know. You got to know what those are. You know, Brother Shelley, that's really true. It is about this time of the year I start getting depressed. You know, I like living in Wisconsin and all that, but I do, I kinda get the cabin fever thing going. And I struggle more with depression and some things I gotta really battle with in these January, February, March months in my life. Some of you struggle at different times. In the course of a month, in the course of a week, listen to this one, though. In the course of a day. There are times in the course of a day that you struggle more than other times. Sometimes it's at night, sometimes it's in the morning, sometimes it's at work. There are people that aren't like wicked or evil, but when you're around them, you do not do well spiritually. All I'm asking is this, do you know what your weaknesses are? Because you've got to stay vigilant. You gotta go, no, this is where I struggle. No, I gotta watch this here. This is where I go the wrong way. This is what happens to me. I will tell you, this principle alone, you'll start seeing more victory in your life when you start becoming everyone together, when you start becoming. That was terrible when you start becoming vigilant. You've got to be on guard, watchful. I love the words that were meant. Be constantly on guard against your flesh. Know the way Satan attacks, but know your weaknesses. Oh, oh, this is huge. Generational sins. Now, I come from a very dysfunctional family, a broken home. My dad was extremely abusive. He was an angry man. He struggled with alcohol. I got to lead my dad to the Lord years down the road, but I will tell you, generational sin definitely passed. I'll even tell you one specific area is anger. My dad had a terrible anger, his mother, my grandmother, had a terrible anger, and I think it goes on and on. And do you know that all of us have been passed down generational sin? And you gotta know what it is, and you gotta deal with it. I remember being very transparent with you. I'm going to go with this illustration, because I think this is so important about generational sin. Marilee and I are married our first year. And we were really doing it. And I was a college rep, traveling around, going to Christian schools every day and preaching and everything. And Marilee and I traveled together in an Airstream travel trailer. And I remember this. I was getting angry. I was getting angry about traffic. I was getting angry about the airstream. I was getting angry about Marilee and everything. And I remember we were in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. And we were at a Christian school. We were parked there for the night. And we got kind of in an argument. And I'll never forget what Marilee said. She said, you know, Jim, when I dated you, you told me all about your dad. My dad was lost. You told me all about your dad. And you told me the terrible anger that he had. I'll never forget this. Marilee looked at me in that Airstream travel trailer that night, and she said, let me tell you, you got your dad's anger. And she said, I would have never married you if I would have known you were gonna be an angry person like this. Well, I walked out of that Airstream, I slammed the door, and I walked around that church and that Christian school for over an hour, and I'll never forget, I stopped, and I said, God, This is not about Raymond Shetlar. This is about Jim Shetlar. And this is not my dad's anger. This is my anger, and it ends tonight. Now, I will tell you, if we brought Marilee out here right now and you asked Marilee, did he ever get angry after that night? She would say yes, but she would also say, He has never been the same since that night. And I gotta tell you, every one of you got generational sin. Some of you get bitter. Yeah, yeah, my aunt was bitter. And by the way, a lot of times we take some mental things that we say, well, you know, there's bipolar in our family. You know what, maybe it could be that you've never dealt and resolved spiritual issues. And you say, you know, I think I have some depression issues because it's in our family. Well, you know what, stop it. Let that generational sin end with you and take responsibility. Read Ezekiel chapter 18. Read the Ten Commandments. They're gonna be passed down from generation to generation. Exodus chapter 20, generational sin will be, until you start obeying God's Word. and you take the Ten Commandments, you start living them, and you break in generational sin. Okay, a lot on V. Everyone together, if you're gonna be a victorious Christian, you gotta V, you gotta what? Be vigilant. Number two, I. Imagine the consequences. Imagine the consequences. Now, I believe that the majority of the book of Proverbs is a book of consequences. Hey, you do this, this is what's gonna happen. You don't do this, this is what's gonna happen. And there's 10 consequences of immorality in the book of Proverbs. There's six consequences of alcohol in the book of Proverbs. There's four consequences of the wrong kind of anger in the book of Proverbs. And basically, the book of Proverbs is about the consequences of sin. I want to tell you a couple things. Go back to the counseling thing. When I counsel someone about a specific sin, I try to give them a verse that's got consequences with it. that if you do this, this is what's gonna happen. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that's what he's gonna reap. You sow your flesh corruption, you're gonna reap death. And so I try to give them something to go like, you don't wanna continue to do that, but let me just talk to you very transparently to help you, okay? It's very transparent. Here it goes. So, number one, there is pleasure. in every sin. In every sin, there is pleasure. There is pleasure in every sin. Guys, that's why we do it. No, Brother Scheller, I've agreed with everything you've said tonight till now. There's not pleasure in bitterness. Yes, there is. Because in bitterness, you get to be the judge. In bitterness, you get to put them in the prison of your heart, and you get to keep it under lock and key. No, no, no, no. There is no sin that doesn't have pleasure with it. But here's what we gotta remember. The pleasure is only for a season. It's very temporal. And this is what you gotta do when you're being tempted. God, my flesh wants this. I wanna say this right now to this person. I wanna get out of this trouble, I wanna lie right now. I wanna continue to look at those dirty pictures. I want the pleasure of this. Okay, now listen to me. What you gotta do is go, okay, if I fall to this temptation, I will get the immediate pleasure, but I'll feel guilty the rest of the day. I'll break my relationship with the people that I love. I will not have the power of God on my ministry and on my life. And here's what you gotta get to. You know what? There's pleasure in this sin, but it's not, help me out, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Boy, do I wanna say something to my spouse right now. Boy, do I wanna lash out to my spouse right now. But you know, if I do that. That's gonna shut down communication. We're gonna go three, four days where we're struggling with each other. It's not, everyone together, it's not worth it. You gotta imagine the consequences of your sin and go, you know what? My flesh wants this, but it's not worth it. I don't wanna live with the consequences of it. Let's move on. V, vigilance. I, imagine the consequences. C, Cry out to God. Now, we're gonna come back to this at the very end, so I'm not gonna spend a lot of time. I love Psalm 34, six. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. One of the most interesting books of the Bible is the book of Judges. Israel's living in the dark ages. I mean, Israel's a bunch of rascals in the book of Judges, but there is something that's amazing about the book of Judges. Every time Israel cried out to God, God sent a deliverer. And I want to tell you something. When you're in the midst of a trial, when you're in the midst of a temptation, cry out to God. God, I need your help right now, casting all your care upon Him. because He cares for you. Cry out to God when you're in the midst of a temptation. Oh, Lord, this is where I get depressed. Oh, God, this is where I begin to get so jealous. Oh, Lord, this is where I am unforgiving. And cry out to God, God, you've got to help me. I'm going to explain this at the end how it works. Let's move on. V stands for? Vigilance. I stands for? Imagine the consequences. C stands for? Cry out to God. All right, now T's the biggie. T and Y are the two biggies, okay? So you came tonight because of T and Y. So here we go. Take thoughts into captivity. Take thoughts into captivity. Now, I want everyone to take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. You have got to see this. This is dynamite stuff here. This is why you came. I really believe this is gonna be something you go away with and you go like, wow, that was absolutely amazing. Take thoughts into captivity. Watch what it says in 2 Corinthians 10 verse three. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, are not fleshly, watch this now, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Brother Shatler, I have always wondered, what is a stronghold? I'm sure there's a lot of different definitions and maybe many better than mine. But this is something that's helped me and I've been able to help many with this. A stronghold is a lie that you have concluded is the truth. A stronghold is a lie that you have concluded is the truth. When you, in your life, make a conclusion about something that is not true, Satan can operate from that stronghold at that point. He can send out everything he wants into your mind. You have got to pull down the strongholds. Now, obviously, the question comes up, well, Brother Scheller, if I've concluded that it's a truth, how do I know it's a lie? Let's continue on. Let's continue on. This is amazing. But mighty through God to the pulling down of, and I think it's strongholds that you have concluded in your mind, lies that are not true. Casting down imaginations. All right, now this is so cool. That word imaginations is found in Romans 3, 28. Romans 3.28. But our King James translators use a different word. Listen to this word. Romans 3.28. Therefore we conclude that a man is not justified by the deeds of the law. The word conclude in Romans 3.28 is the word imaginations in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4, verse 5. And you say, but I'm not sure I understand. OK, so here's what's happened. Look at what it is. Casting down conclusions and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every habit to the obedience of Christ. Amen? Is that what it says? No, no, I'll read it right. Bringing into captivity every action to the obedience of Christ. Amen? Okay, okay. I don't know what kind of translation you got here. Let me try to read mine. Bringing into captivity every desire. Everyone together, what does it say? Bringing into captivity every what? Now listen to me. This is the absolute key to victory in the Christian life. You do not win in the Christian life by breaking habits. No, no. You do not win in the Christian life by right actions. You can't do it. You do not win in the Christian life. You do not become a victorious Christian in overcoming your desires. The only way to be victorious in the Christian life is in your thought life. If you lose it in your thoughts, you lose it. Any temptation you have ever succumbed to, you lost it. I didn't act right. No, that's not where you lost it. Yeah, I know, I had the wrong desires. It was before that, friend. You lost it when you didn't take your thoughts into captivity. I've heard it said like this. Thoughts become desires. desires become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become your character. And your character is your destiny. And the only way to live the victorious Christian life is you've got to take your thoughts into captivity. Now, I'm in the early 90's, and I'm watching a VHS, okay? And it's a counselor from Colorado Springs. I do not remember his name. He was the most boring speaker I have ever heard in my life. And his material was fabulous, but his delivery was like, I'm really having a hard time here, like Barb, you know? I'm just trying to stay awake here. But I'm telling you what, this guy was, I mean, he was monotone, Barb. You would have been out like that, okay? But I'm writing notes, and he says this. He says, I have found that the times I have victory is when I take my thoughts in four seconds. And if I don't take my thoughts in four seconds, I'm always defeated. What is he saying here? Rewind. I want to hear this again. And guys, that day in the early 90s, 92, 93, I don't remember when, was the first time I was ever introduced to the four second principle. And the four second principle, the four second rule is this. You gotta take your thoughts into captivity in four seconds. And by the way, four seconds is longer than you think. 1,001, 1,002, 1,003, 1,004. And if you do not take your thoughts into captivity in four seconds, lust will conceive and bring forth sin. You have got to win the battle in the four seconds. You got to take your thoughts into captivity, and you got everyone together, and you got how much time? You've got four seconds to deal with that thought. Now, I'm going to show you at the very end how we're going to do this. But I am telling you, it is imperative that you take your thoughts into captivity. Okay, but how can you live a victorious life? You've got to be vigilant. You've got to be on guard. You've got to imagine the consequences. You've got to cry out to God. You've got to take your thoughts into captivity. Very quickly, O, observe the omnipresence of God. Understand that you are never alone, whether in person or in your mind. God is there. He knows, He sees all, knows all, and is grieved with you. I'm telling you right now, if you got the Holy Spirit living with you and going through everything, and you know He's there, and you live in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and observe the omnipresence of God, hey, I'll tell you the greatest illustration of this is Joseph. Okay, so Joseph is a 17-year-old young man that's gone through all this dysfunctional family stuff. He's a slave in Egypt. And he's 17 years old. And I do not believe that the captain of the Egyptian army has an ugly bride. I believe she was probably drop-dead gorgeous. And Potiphar's wife, the Bible says Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him every day. That's what the Bible says. It said every day. He's a 17-year-old young man. His family will never find out. There's nobody there. He does not have a church. He doesn't have a camp. He doesn't go to a Christian school. He doesn't have one Christian friend. He doesn't have a church. Folks, the story is found in the book of Genesis. He doesn't have the Bible. What does he have? I'll tell you what he has. When she, Genesis 39, verses seven through 12, she comes to him daily, and one day she catches him and says, we are all alone in this house. And he says to her, ma'am, how can I do this great sin against God? Ma'am, we are not alone in this house. Everyone's gone. No ma'am. My God is in this house. What is the only thing that got Joseph to overcome the temptation that he was under? He observed the omnipresence of God in his life. I am not alone. God is here. God knows. God knows what I'm going to do, and I cannot sin against God. R is run from sin. Now, I'm gonna give you a statement, and I kinda hope it bothers you, and I kinda hope you leave with this going like, okay, I did not agree with that. I did not agree with that. Okay, I want that to happen. I want you to think about that. I want you to chew on this. R is run from sin. Now, I'm gonna tell you this. I do not believe that a Christian should spend his life resisting sin. No, no, Brother Scheller, it says that if we resist sin, it will, no, no, no, no. It says resist the devil and he will flee from you. You show me one passage in the Bible that it says to resist sin, I'll tell you what it does say. It says, flee fornication, flee youthful lust. It says in Proverbs, avoid it, pass not by it, get away from it. The Bible does not tell us to resist sin, the Bible tells us to run away from sin. I have a friend, Johnnie Pope, and he's a great preacher. I really like Johnnie. And there's two things about temptation I'll never forget he said. Number one, if we're not running from sin, we can't expect God to be obligated to help us in the temptation. If you go out in a rowboat, and you get out in the middle of the lake, and you bring out a shotgun, and you put six holes in the rowboat, and you say, God, save me! Well, I would have if you hadn't put six holes in it. You have a responsibility to avoid sin. You gotta run from the sin. And if you're not running from sin, God has no obligation to help you in that sin. You've gotta run from it. I think there's a great quote there about that. Okay, V is vigilance, I is imagine the consequences, C is cry out to God, T is take your thoughts into captivity, O is observe the omnipresence of God, R is run from sin, and Y. And before we get to Y, I got some news for ya. You're gonna love this. You can't do any of the things I've just said tonight. You cannot do any of the things I've just said tonight. So, you spent the last 40 minutes talking to us about being vigilant, on guard, and I can't do it? Nope, you can't do it. Imagine the consequences. Yeah, it'll last maybe once or twice. We cry out to God. You take the four-second rule, Brother Shetlar. Yeah, you're gonna fail. You need why. Up to this point, I want everyone to hear this. Up to this point, we could be in an addiction program, class tonight. I could say, Hey, you guys got to start being vigilant about this alcohol thing. You guys got to run away from that alcohol stuff. I could have been teaching up to this point. I could be teaching a bunch of Mormons on how to be victorious over temptation. I mean that. But why is the key? Why is yield to the Holy Spirit? Because you cannot have victory over sin without the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, now listen. Let's go all the way back. It seems like about two hours ago. But let's go all the way back. Can anyone remember our three parts of salvation? This is justification. Okay, now justification is over the curse. Salvation over the penalty of sin. I'm getting tired, okay? Okay, now remember this one? This is salvation over the power of sin. Okay, now listen to me, everyone. This is so important to understand. If the way we got saved has got to be the way that we live victoriously, what did you do to get saved? Nothing. I trusted in God. Absolutely. And I called upon Him. Brother Schindler, it says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I called upon God and I got saved. Let me tell you this. The same way you got saved is the same way you have victory over sin. And you say, well, you just told us to imagine the consequences and take your thoughts and, okay, now here's what happens. Here's how I believe the Christian life has gotta be lived. Tomorrow, tonight, you will be tempted. Everyone together, you got how much time to deal with that temptation? You got four seconds. So here's what happens. That temptation comes tomorrow to get angry, to get bitter, to be jealous, to be unforgiving, to lust, whatever it is, to have pride, whatever it is. And you say, oh God. You cry out to God. God help me." Now hear this. It is impossible to please God without faith. So there's got to be a step of faith that you take. So when you cry out to God for help, And you say, God, help me. You're vigilant. And here it comes. Oh, Lord, I was on guard. But this is where I struggle. I start getting moody. This is where I start getting discouraged. This is where I really struggle with lust, God. This is where I really have a problem. You cry out to God. And when you cry out to God, you got four seconds, gang. You gotta take your thoughts in four seconds. You cry out to the Lord, God, help me. He will show you a step. Now in your salvation, you called upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Now he may say, start singing this song. Start praying about this person. Turn it off. Turn it off. Get up, get out of the room right now. God, help me. Get up, get out of the room. If we take our step of faith, God will give us victory over that temptation. The Holy Spirit will come in and give you victory over that area, whatever it is. And gang, since the early 90s, when I learned about the four second rule, and I learned, I got to start crying out to God. And when that temptation comes, God, would you help me right now? God, I'm struggling. This is where I get jealous. Whatever the sin is, God, would you help me? Sometimes he'll tell me, start praying. Start praying for this person. Start singing this song. I don't know. Whatever he says, get up, get out of the room. Get up and get out of the room right now, or you're gonna struggle. Put delete. Press delete. God, help me right now. Press delete. God, I'm struggling. Press delete. And if you do, your step of faith, God will provide the power to overcome the victory. Because this is not passivity. This isn't a Christian like, okay, God, just do whatever you want. No, no, no, no. Every one of us have to take our step of faith. We've got to, and I'm telling you, you've got to do it quick. You've got four seconds to deal with it. And if you begin to begin to, God, tomorrow, I want to start taking my thoughts into captivity. I love this four-second thing. And when I'm in that four-second temptation, God help me, He will give you a step. If you take that step, you will see victory over that sin. And I'm not telling you I'm sinlessly perfect. I'm not telling you I apply my message. But whenever I apply my message, I find victory in my Christian life. Now listen guys, you've been here a long time tonight. Wow. And you guys have been so good in listening. But you wasted two and a half hours tonight if you do not leave saying, God, I want to apply these things in my life. Now, there's no way that you could get everything that's been given tonight, but you need to make a decision tonight. And some of you are struggling in areas, and you say, God, some of you that first session, boy, you know what? I have not expected God to use, whatever, I'm not gonna go through the whole message, but I am gonna challenge you. Would you tonight, Say, dear God, this is where you specifically spoke to my heart tonight, and I wanna make a commitment. Now here's what I've done with this. Remember, first downs, not game winners. So this is what I've learned. Decide to make a first down this week. Take something that was said either in the first session or this session and say, dear God, I'm going to work on this. And I'm making a commitment. I love that four-second thing, Brother Shetlar. And I love, I got to take my thoughts into captivity. And I need to be getting. Now, the just man falls seven times, but he rises up again. You'll fail sometime this week, but you get back up and say, no. I'm gonna keep working on that four-second rule. I'm gonna keep being vigilant. God, I wanna imagine, I'm gonna look up some verses. I wanna imagine the consequences of jealousy. I wanna imagine the consequences of discouragement. God, I wanna work on that. I wanna do my part as I trust in the power of the Spirit of God. I am in Christ. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Here's what I want you to do tonight. If God spoke to you about a specific area in your life, that you need to commit to God and say, God, you gotta help me. I cannot do this without you. But God, this was the area that really spoke to my heart tonight. And I wanna commit it to you. I want you to work in my life in this area. And boy, what he said about yielding to the spirit of God, I wanna do that. God, this thing spoke to me tonight, and I want to yield to the Spirit of God when He speaks. I may fail. I might fall this week, but I'm getting back up, and I'm going to keep working at it. God, I want to just make a first down this week. And so I commit for seven days to V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. I may fail, I might fall, but I'm gonna get back up, I'm gonna get it right, I'm gonna do 1 John 1, 9, I'm gonna confess my sin, and we're getting back at it, God. I'm making a commitment to the four-second rule, to these seven principles. God, you've spoken to my heart tonight. If that's true, can you get up from your seat, come on down to an old-fashioned altar, and give a commitment to God? For seven days, I wanna practice what I heard tonight. I want it to become a part of my life. I might fall, I will fail in the next seven days, but I'm making a commitment that this is gonna go through my filter and God has spoken to my heart. If that's true, you wanna come down and make that decision, come on down. Just get on up, come on down and say, God, this is what I wanna do.