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\f0\fs24 \cf0 You know dear friends, that's what we want to do today is to keep our minds
and hearts away from all evil and be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ always. I wanted
to talk about testimonies and how we have a testimony for the Lord if we come to know
him. There are many many testimonies out there of all different people who have come to know
the Lord, and they talk about how Jesus set them free from various situations and troubles,
sins, and they all talk about how Jesus was able to work in their life and bring them
into a new way or some new path that they weren't on before. A lot of people talk about
a lot of trouble in their lives and they remember how the Lord came and he saved them from their
troubles. And that's what we call our testimony. And in the Bible we read that we overcome
by our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. So through Jesus we can have a testimony isn't
that wonderful! And everybody who comes to the Lord is going to experience him. So that's
why they would have a testimony to tell other people. And it's really wonderful that we
can share our testimony where we can with other people too. And my testimony is really
wonderful too in what the Lord did in my life. You know I used to live my own way and the
Lord Jesus Christ he pulled me out of my own path and he gave me peace and he gave me hope
and the realities of him in my life. Was really wonderful dear friends. And that's what we
can all have. We can all have his peace and his reality in our heart. And Jesus also set
me free from sin! So if you turn to the Lord Jesus who will set you free also from all
sin. All sin. And all these things that we used to do that were unfitting for a follower
of Jesus. You see Jesus sets you free from them too. And he gives you strength to endure
in temptation and trial from the flesh as well. And Jesus will heal you too. You know
when you come to the Lord, maybe you have some sicknesses that you need to have healed.
And so you can pray to Jesus and he'll heal you. I know of a brother who was healed from
alcohol addictions and smoking addictions. And other brethren who were healed from various
problems and sins, and Jesus Christ took it all away. Because its through him that we
always have to be the victory and the power. Isn't that wonderful! So if we want to be
saved, we have to turn to the Lord and experience his power. If you don't have a testimony for
the Lord, then go and seek him and he will change you and he'll bring you into a new
way. I know of people who were addicted to drugs and these people they were set free
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He took away all their drug addictions and he had the power
to do it. Nobody else did. You know I know of people who wanted to to kill themselves
and so they were going to do that, and they were addicted to drugs and problems too and
Jesus Christ came into their lives and healed them of all their addictions and took them
all away, because the Lord Jesus is the way to the kingdom. Isn't that wonderful! And
when he comes into your life and he becomes your reality, then that's when, dear friends,
he brings the power of change into our lives. I know of other brethren and other people
who have been healed and set free from all kinds of addictions and problems and sins
in their lives. And you know Jesus is continuing to do that. He keeps setting people free from
sin, and he keeps bringing people into his kingdom. Hallelujah. And it's always in the
power of Jesus and he changes people. And what happens is when you turn to Jesus for
real and you seek him to know him, and you seeks to serve him, not him serve you but
you serve him, what happens is his power comes into your life and he sets you free from sin!
Isn't that wonderful! The Lord Jesus Christ sets people free from their sins. He takes
away their bondage to evil and all the problems that we have in our lives. Jesus takes it
all away. And it enables us to become servants of Jesus and to help other people get free
from the devil, because people are in bondage to Satan and they need to be set free. Hallelujah!
We need to be free ourselves if we want to free other people. There is no use serving
Jesus while you yourself are still bound in sin and evil and are doing sin everyday. We
have to take that all to Jesus and what he will do is, he will set you free. And that's
what Jesus said. He said in John 8:36 that; He who the Son of Man sets free he shall be
free indeed. That's what he said after he said that everybody who sins is a slave of
sin. So if you're a Christian today and you are still living in sin or you are an unbeliever
and still living in sin, you are a slave to sin! And Jesus Christ will set you free if
you really seek to get to know him. Because that's what I'm here to tell you today is
that Jesus Christ is a reality and this reality can become your reality in your life. I can
just talk about this reality, but it won't help you unless you actually go and seek with
yourself and get to know the Lord yourself so he cab lead you in your heart. And he can
set you free from sin and heal you, get rid of the problems in your life, but you have
to dedicate yourself to him otherwise it's all in vain. Because we cannot serve two masters
in this world, we cannot serve Jesus at the same time as we served our sin and this world.
That's where the change must be; repentance and seeking and that's how people get changed.
Jesus will change people. He will change you so you are different. Now he is not going
to take you away and out of sin, he is going to show you the way out so you can endure
under temptation, but while we're in these bodies of flesh, they are always going to
want to drag you off into sin. However once you turn to Jesus, he set you free from sin
so you no longer have to do it! So you can cut off all those thoughts and desires inside
and all those things that are trying to trip you up and bring you into the actions of sin.
Cut them all off and by the power of the Spirit crucify them and we can just follow Jesus
and put to death the old man. That's what I like about turning to Jesus and getting
to know him is that you have two of you inside after that. You see Jesus makes you born again
and you become new. There are two you then. The old you, the old man, and the new you
which is born-again and following Jesus which is the real you. And we put to death the old
you the old man. Yes he can arise still while we're in this flesh and he can try and bring
you back to his bondage to sin. But dear friends that's not what we want to do. And I remember
an old preacher saying one day, he was talking about the old man and saying; if you are really
changed if you are really a new man following Jesus, if you met your man you would be like,
I don't want to hang around with you. And your old man might say: well we used to have
fun in many a drunken bar and many a vice, many a sin, why don't you want to come back?
And you might say to old man: well I used to do many things like that and I was the
leader in such things but now I have decided to turn away from those things and I've become
a new man. New you and that's what happens when we follow Jesus, we become new and we
strive to please the Lord. Now we want to keep away from all mistakes and all problems
and we want to move forward in our relationship with the Lord, keeping away from trouble.
Now as believers and people we can stumble. We all can stumble so we have to be watchful
that we don't because it's very dangerous. The last thing we want to do is go off and
walk off back after that old man, that old way, and end up following him and falling
becoming backslidden like people become. You hear in the news a lot about these pastors
who are committing lots of sins and they are very remorseful about it. We don't want to
get to the point dear friends, where we believe sin is okay and not such a big deal. Once
you're at that point you're completely lost. We always want to be in complete repentance
from our old ways always. So we never give sin a single a single good thoughts, and we
don't accept it in any way nor try to make excuses for our lack of self control. So that
is why when we turn to Jesus and become the new you, the new me, we must stay on that
way and strive to continue being the new way which is inside of us so that the old way
doesn't kill the new way. That's what happens to many of us; the good seed falls on the
ground of a heart of somebody who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, but then the cares
and the lusts of this life grow up like weeds and they choke out the seed that was planted
and it dies. That's what happens is that it will kill our new way inside if we allow it.
If we allow the old way to come back by accepting it in our hearts. And that's what we have
to do dear friends is to continued in all seriousness focused on the Lord once we have
the victory in Christ. But if you don't have the victory you need to seek so you can be
changed to become a new you, a new man. Now I have become a new me, a new man. Now how
about you? Or are you still just living your own way? Many people do they go to church
and have a good time there, but they're still their old way. They're not a new you, a new
me, a new man. They wouldn't say that their changed at all. They don't have a testimony.
They don't know what being changed means. Dear friends being changed means that when
you turn to the Lord, you accept him, you follow him. That means he's going to change
you and give you power over sins so you are no longer bound to the way of the devil inside.
You're no longer doing your sin helplessly each day. You're no longer focused on pleasing
the flesh, chasing after your pursuits, living after the world because your mind is on the
kingdom of heaven. And even though lots of trial comes and lots of temptations and all
kinds of things the old man tries to get you back, you don't have to go following the old
flesh the old way and that's why I want to encourage you today to never follow the old
way! Even if it comes back very strong to try and tempt you, all kinds of desires, all
kinds of thoughts, and feelings, maybe dreams. Maybe all kinds of dreams to trying to lure
you to come back, go back into the old way. To go back to chasing after that thing you're
chasing after. Maybe to go back to that old life of *** and sin. Maybe to go back to
your all your old friends and I go back to drinking and having a good time and living
in the world. Turning that TV back on, just living a life in front of the entertainment
of this world. That's what the old way is. That's what's the old way likes, that way.
But we who have become the new man, we say to our old way; I don't accept your way and
we don't want to live your way anymore even though I used to be good friends with you!
Not anymore. We tell our old man that no we don't want to follow you no more. We just
want to follow the Lord from now on. We've had it with you old man, with our old flesh.
We no longer want to be friends with you! Dear friends let us not be friends with our
old ways anymore. If you are a friend to the old way then repent and turn away from him.
Set yourself straight before the Lord. Seek to know him so he can set you free and make
your new way. If you don't have a new way in your heart, well you need to seek and pray
and the power of the Lord will change you so you have a new way praise God! You know
it's wonderful that we can have this new way inside where we can just praise the Lord and
live his ways in our hearts. The new you, the new man. Let us praise the Lord in holiness
and truth in our life. Now many people have the new man inside and they have the new way
and then they fall away! They go back to the old man. Daer friends we can't go to heaven
like that. We can't go to heaven while we love our old ways and while we go back to
our sin. That's what people do you know, they go rolling in the mud again. And if you're
going back to the old man being friends with him again, he'll bring you right back into
all his vices all his sins, and you'll be straight back into the mud again doing sins
with the world having fun with the old man the old way, and he will kill out the new
way inside of you born-again or not! And you're going to get killed out inside back into the
old paths. And some people their heart gets too hard to repent again and they end up dying
and they go to hell and there is no more chance. Dear friends where is your loyalty? Are you
committed to the new way inside? If you don't have the new way are you committed to seeking
and finding it? Seeking to find the new way of holiness and truth and freedom from sin?
Let us be good ground. Let us be good trees. We know that the father will cut out all bad
trees out of his garden. We know that the father will cut off all good branches from
his vine. So let us be good branches, good vines. Wanting to have the way of goodness.
I don't care how many times the way of the devil comes to tempt you, it doesn't matter
put it out. It doesn't matter how many times these temptations come to get you to fall,
to go the way of the devil, to go the way of the old man, to go back to the club, back
to the bar, back to the beer, back to the smokes, back to the lifestyle, back to all
kinds of vices, back all kinds of lusts. I don't care how much the flesh tries to come
back. It doesn't matter, you stay following Jesus. Stay following him in the new way focused
on him. Put out these other things, don't let them get you down. When they come to tempt
you put them out. There is no sin in temptation except when you go following all of it! Praise
the Lord! One day we will put off these tents of flesh and we will put on the everlasting
incorruptible bodies. Wouldn't it be wonderful to arise incorruptible? So we can no longer
be corrupted by the world? Some people wish they could go back to being children when
they weren't corrupted. Because once they grow up they've gone and gone into many sins
and the sinful nature has grown to maturity within them and they just feel like they're
so sinful and they just wish they could go back to being innocent again. But it's too
late. Dear friends we have to seek the Lord so he can make us a new way inside, a new
man. No more sinful wicked, lustful, evil doing sinner no more. He will set you free
from that old way but you have to stay with him and not go back to the old way. Not want
to turn back to the old paths of evil praise God! And we can do so if we really really
want to. Praise the Lord! And apostle Paul said we have groanings inside because we long
to be redeemed. We long to put off the old flesh and put on you new. Now that's no excuse
for following the old flesh. Because people who follow the old flesh are not going to
put on the new you. Because while we're living in wickedness and we want it that is who we're
going to be and we're going to end up in the fire. So it's time to stop making excuses
for any sin, for any desire, any dream, anything. Don't make any excuses just cast it out and
turn away. Be serious and follow the narrow way. Never make any excuses. Never excuse
one lustful thought, one false word. Don't excuse anything just repent and tell the Lord
you're sorry. Tell the people you hurt your sorry. Just be holy. Never make any excuses
for following the old man. Never never say that it's okay for that's not okay. Never
say; well I can't be perfect so I can just follow the old man a little bit. No God knows
your heart. He knows you actually like the old way. He knows you actually like your ***,
your sins, things you are doing. He knows you like them so he's not going to set you
free from the things you like. But when you're serious about the Lord and you've become the
new way, you don't want to follow the old way. You don't want to go and commit sin.
You don't want to *** no more. The old man comes to you and he says; you used to ***
with me. And he'll bringing you into your lusts and desires and trying get you to come
back to the old ways, the old lusts, the old feelings. And you get all these desires inside
and you're really on the edge kind of wondering which way will I go. And there's a mind battle
going on because you're saying; well on one hand I'm set free from sin right now but I
really want to go into that, but on the other hand you know that's kind of nice and you
know that this desire is kind of very strong you know I might go this way right!! that's
what happens, the desires of the flesh they rise up and they try and get you to go that
way. And you've got a mind battle of two forces, the old way and the new way. And the New way
doesn't really wants you to go that way, but the old way really does. Sp it all depends
then on who you want to be loyal to. And then you make a choice; you either choose to turn
away from the desire which may have been nagging you for a long time. Maybe you have been on
the edge of this temptation for many days and it has come to a point where you have
to make a real decision because by not deciding you're starting to fall towards these desires.
And so what happens is you make a decision you say no and you pray and focus on the Lord
and the desire goes away for a while. Or comes nagging you back and you just keep saying
no. you say no I don't want to follow the old way I'm committed to the new way. Is that
how you are? Or maybe it is that the desire finally gets the better of you and you say
well okay. So you go off after your desire and you fall away from the Lord and you don't
follow him anymore. Even if it's for a day because you can't follow Jesus while you do
sin. I don't care you cannot. So after a while of being in all this sin and doing it, you
start to feel guilty. The old man just laughs at you because you're back into doing sin
and now you feel guilty about it. And so Jesus calls people back to the new way. He is like:
why did you leave me? And there's a way back yes. The devil is trying to get or keep you
away, so either you're going to continue to do the thing you love and get a hard heart
so that you don't repent anymore, or the devil will try and get you to feel too guilty to
come back. And be like: well you're in the mud now there's no way you are going to come
back to the way! You say to yourself. So you feel guilty about it and feel not worthy anymore.
So foolish people they decide to stay in the dirt away from the truth, away from Jesus,
and make the situation worse for themselves by not coming back and repenting because they
feel too guilty. Now what's the use of guilty if you just continue to do your sins? Dear
friends we shouldn't be like this! We should be staying on the narrow way and coming back
to it if we have fallen away. And once we're there we cant keep going back to the old way.
Because once we do that, and keep doing that, that's when the power of sin gets a control
over us, a foothold. You see somebody they fall away to the old ways a little bit and
they feel very bad and they repented and come back to the new way to following Jesus again.
And Jesus cleanses them and they're set free from sin again, and then they go back again
the next day to sin again. And then they come back and they go back again. But each time
their loyalty is getting divided between following Jesus and following sin. And finally they're
at a point where they can't repent, because deep down the reason they they keep going
back and repenting and go back and repent again, is because deep down their loyalty
is for the old way. And so they're no longer set free from sin by Jesus because he doesn't
set people free from sin who want to be loyal to sin. If they want that as their master,
Jesus lets them have sin as their master. And there is only so long you can battle with
something before it will completely grab you again and you become under the power of whatever
it is. Maybe it's an addiction. And Jesus Christ isn't angry at people, he is sad for
them. He wants them to come out of their addiction. So they fight and fight, and they fight their
addiction and they cannot be set free from it by their own power. And Jesus is waiting
for people to go to Jesus to be set free, because people often as well they like to
try and fight their addictions themselves. They come to the Lord, he sets them free,
but they try and fight all their problems by themselves. But we have to turn to Jesus
to set free so he can take away our addictions and our problems and he has the power to do
it. So we don't have to fight our addictions and fight our problems, but go to the Lord
and be set free and have a new way inside, the new man that I was talking about today.
The new man, the new way. And maybe there's one error of your life that you feel isn't
completely surrendered to Jesus Christ. And you feel that in this area you need to have
a new way. Well submit that area, all your areas of your life to the Lord, that you are
doing some sin somewhere, you feel that you aren't surrendered to the Lord completely,
go and submit all that to the Lord so you can become the new way inside completely wholly
and purely. So that you don't have to go back to the old way and you can be very anxious
to get out of the company of your old way every time he comes back to tempt you. Now
if you're in your old way today, you will understand this new way, because you haven't
been set free by Jesus Christ. And your new way inside isn't there yet. You only have
your old way, your old desires, your old problems. All the old things you have done. Everything
is just who you are. Now is the time to give yourself to the Lord so you can have the new
way inside. So you can have that choice of following the narrow way instead of being
all of you the old way. You see too many people are like this: they follow their sins and
their old way and that's who they are, they haven't been changed by Jesus and then they
go to church and they become professing Christians, yet they never actually came to Jesus to be
set free and have the new way inside. So what happens is on their own power and their own
way they try and be a Christian and be following Jesus without actually knowing him! Even though
they're their old ways still! So they can never overcome their lusts, they can never
overcome all their addictions and all their problems. I'm talking about doing all the
sins they are doing and bound to everyday. They cannot overcome them and they just don't
know Jesus that they haven't a testimony about being the new way inside. They don't know
what it's like to be a new way inside where you can put down all these other things. And
this is the thing; if you are like that, it's because you don't know Jesus and he doesn't
know you, and you haven't been set free from sin yet. You have to go and seek so that he
can do a powerful change in your heart. The powerful life, the new way, all those testimony
to hear about people that used to the addicts and now they are free. They used to be sinners
and now they are free from sin. That's all by the power of Jesus Christ because they
come to know the Lord. These people you hear about that were healed from all kinds of diseases,
they became new. They weren't just healed of the body, they were also healed of the
spirit. They become new inside praising God! Then you also hear about all these people
who did become new but then they fell back the old way and they got swallowed up, back
into the traps of the old way and the new way died. The seed died inside. So that is
why I'm here to push everybody to be vigilant and watchful, serious, that you don't have
the the old pull you down. So that the seed dies, the new way dies inside of you, destroyed.
Dear friends we don't want that, we want to stay in the new way. Stay in the victory over
sin. Not become our lights put out. I know of a particular brother who used to preach
very hard when he first got saved. Many years ago he decided to accept the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Lord Jesus gave him the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues, and he could go around
preaching to people and doing wonderful things for the name of Jesus Christ. He was a new
way inside set free from sin but he didn't have much understanding of things and he was
going along and he didn't know the Lord too well except that the new way inside and the
power of the Holy Spirit on him. And he started going to church and you see over time the
church put his light out. The grips of religion came in. he stopped focusing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He stopped living in the power of the Holy Spirit and in growing and growing
to become more knowledgeable about these things. And what happened is he went back to the old
way. The old man pulled him down and he became lukewarm, fell away. That's what a lukewarm
person is. Somebody who the old man is pulled down into the mire and they're at the point
of death. Jesus is about to cut them off but he has so much mercy that he doesn't allow
that to happen for so long. And you see the Lord started to deal with this brother who
was pulled down and on his way to hell and what happened is he woke him up to come out
of his slumber, being in the old way, and woke the new man up inside. Jesus did it.
And he woke up, he called out to the Lord and he repented and he got filled with the
holy ways of the Lord again and this time he was more serious, very serious and focused
on the Lord. You see the Lord brought him back. We want to make sure that we don't follow
a dear friends. And if we have fallen away we want to come back right now in full dedication,
full commitment, no more falling away. Because what if you fall away a third time? Maybe
it's too late then. Maybe this person was killed why he was away and he goes to hell
because lukewarm people don't enter the kingdom of God. What lukewarm Christians are. They're
Christians who used to follow the narrow way, they have the new way inside, but they've
gone back to the world. They've gone back to sin. And they are on the way to getting
cut off by the heavenly father from the kingdom of God. And Jesus warns about that in Revelation
and he says that you used to know me. He says in Revelation chapter 2 and three, he says
you used to know me but you have fallen! Look how far you have fallen. Come back to the
first works. He says because you are lukewarm I'll spit you out of my mouth. He says come
back before I cut you off. He says before I remove your lampstand from its place in
the churches. That's what Jesus says in Revelation 2 and three. He says you used to know me come
back to your first love to your first works, love, faith, holiness, truth, and that's what
we must do dear friends. If we are truly for the Lord we must follow him. If we don't have
a testimony, if you have not got a new way, Jesus does not reject you. He is the doctor.
You are sick, he's the doctor. He came for the sick and Jesus said: I came to make the
sick well. He wants you to go to him to have the new way inside. So if you're sick today
and you have you're following the old way and you don't have a new way inside, what
you need to do today is you need to seek Jesus so he can make you well, make you whole, so
you can live the new way. And if you are in a new way today and you have a testimony of
how the Lord Jesus set you free from sin, but you are away from the Lord today and you've
gone back to sin, then now is the time to come back before you get cut off. Because
Jesus says that: repent and come to me and come back to the first works quickly! Do it
now! He says: otherwise I will come back and remove you and you do not know the hour I
will come. And we don't want to be left away from the Lord. So we have to come back now.
Do not leave it another day! Be serious today. If you have already known the Lord, and have
known him but have walked off to sin, today be serious okay and come back. If you don't
know the Lord and you don't have the new way inside, come to Jesus. He is the doctor and
he will change you on the inside. Dear friends we don't want to stay away from Jesus. We
want to always be with him in all we do. We don't want to stay away from him. We don't
want to stay in our old way. If we don't have the new way inside we want to go and seek
that new way until we find that new way. That's what I did and I found the new way. All my
life I just followed my sins until I finally decided to turn to the Lord. You see I did
know Jesus as in the Bible and believe in him, but I didn't follow him. I wasn't changed
inside. I was too busy going off after sin. As a young person I did commit myself to Jesus
but I didn't stay doing this and I just fell off into the sins of youth, with the sins
of this world, and I became corrupted as all people do when they follow sin. They start
off as the pure as a child and then they go off into sin when they grow up. That is how
it is. And you see that's what happened to me too as what happens to anybody who follows
the old way. And I didn't have any new way inside I was just the old way except that
Jesus always kept his hand on me and would always call me become come to him properly
so he could change me properly. And it was only when I finally decided to come to Jesus
properly and call on him and dedicate my life to him, it was only then that he changed me
properly and I became the new way inside free from sin. And I could follow him. Now it doesn't
mean I'm free from temptation or free from desire or free from evil, all kinds of evil
thoughts, no these things you know they will come to tempt you from the old man yes. But
I'm free from following all that. I don't have to follow it no more. I can just turn
away and say no. in this fleshly body I can just say no to my old way until my body dies
and I get a new one and I no longer have to say no because I don't have the old man with
me no more. And I have kept away from him and crucified him until the very end. That's
what Paul said he said put to death the deeds of the flesh and the old man daily, daily!
Now why would he say daily if you could just put him to death once. No you got do it daily
because he'll rise up against you daily. He's not dead until we leave this body of flesh
and then he'll die forever. And you don't want to die forever with him you want to be
saved so let us follow the new way, the new path inside. If we have been changed then
follow that way. If we haven't been changed then go and seek to be filled with that new
way so you can say well look the Lord did this for me! He changed me from how I used
to be! Now I am a new way! Praise the Lord! Dear friends if you want the new way too,
well get on your knees and dedicate yourself to Jesus. Go and pray. Go and seek him and
he will bring a new way into your heart and set you free from all kinds of vices. And
if you haven't been set free yet and you want to be set free, then the time now is to go
and pray. You go ask Jesus about it. You go seek to know him. Dedicate your life to him
and he was set you free, if you are serious about it and you really want that! But if
you're in your old way and you used to know Jesus and used to have the new way inside
then it's time to repent of being lukewarm and following the old way and get serious.
Go and pay dedicate your life before you get cut off\'85.\
}