(314) “Holy Spirit, the Flesh Tamer”

0:00 The real you is your spirit. And your spirit is one with the Spirit of God. So it's two against one, really. Because, you know, you really can overcome your flesh because the true self, the real you, is your spirit. And the Holy Spirit is there with your spirit, one with your spirit, to help you, to help me overcome the flesh. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity. Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promise outpouring, we equip for that outpouring, so that we may engage in that very outpouring. I'm Philip Buss.

0:44 And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. We're so glad that you're with us. We just want to encourage you, if you're having any kind of battles with the flesh, maybe you're not, but... You know, sometimes we just do. And sometimes it's all the time. And sometimes it's every day. But we have this wonderful friend who's been given to us to help us. The Holy Spirit. He's the flesh tamer. Thanks so much for joining us. We're so glad that you're with us. It's just a pleasure to be able to get together with you once again. We hope that you're a regular. And if you're not, we just encourage you to be a regular. We have content coming out every week.

1:31 And we've been putting out content every week for quite some time. So we just want to invite you to go back into our archives. If you're not familiar with what we do here at Global Outpouring, we are absolutely contending for the outpouring. pouring of the Holy Spirit, and we want to equip you to help you be ready for what God wants to do. But before we get started, we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, that you go to our website, globaloutpouring .net, and click on the subscribe button so that you can get emails from us, so that we can stay in touch with you, and you can stay in touch with us. You can stay in touch with us by emailing us at feedback at globaloutpouring .org, and you can stay in touch. There's also a feedback form on that page, and you can write to us from the feedback form. We love to hear from people. We love to hear how the Lord is moving in your life.

2:24 And if there's anything you'd like for us to address on one of these podcasts, just let us know. We're into answering questions as the Holy Spirit leads us and help you to grow in the things of God. And we also want to encourage you to come to the Global Outpouring Convention 2026 in St. Louis at the Hilton. Hotel at the airport. It's going to be an amazing time. We've been promoting this for some time and It's getting closer and closer, and there's still room. There's still some room. There's still some spaces, some rooms for you to stay in, and there's a place where you can register on our website, also on the event page, and just go there and enjoy this time of growing in the things of God. It is life -changing. We've been doing this convention for many years, and it's always, always life -changing, but this one's going to be taking place on Shavuot, on Pentecost, and we're expecting... and unprecedented outpouring. We want you to be there with us.

3:26 So today we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit as the flesh tamer. You know, I don't know about you. Philip, do you ever have issues where you need help with your flesh? Yeah. You do? Maybe not on a daily basis, you know. Maybe it's just me that has it on the daily basis. And then it could be, too, you know, things just happen. You know, if you're locked up in your house, you don't have opportunities for that to happen. Well, maybe. But if you're out in your car or you're out in the marketplace or you're, you know, you get plenty of opportunities. Sure, sure. There are things that provoke us in the flesh that trigger us. And, you know, since Pastor Tony Kemp's message on episode 306, I keep encouraging everybody, if you haven't heard it, go back and listen to this. This is life changing. We have been pressing in. I have been pressing in for sure about expanding my capacity. And, you know, the Holy Spirit really used him to. bring to the surface things that God had already been dealing with me about. And, you know, I was squirming a little bit and, you know, it's like, poke, poke, poke, poke. You need to deal with this.

4:49 And so I've been really pressing into yielding to the Holy Spirit because it's the Holy Spirit that is our helper. So what did Jesus say when he was with his disciples? that last supper that they had together. And he gave what is known by scholars as the upper room discourse. It was his last message to his disciples where he's pouring out his heart to them and trying to get them ready for what's coming. And he says to them something about the Holy Spirit that he hadn't had to tell them prior to that. But what did he say, Philip, in John 14, 15 to 17? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot perceive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Where Jesus is saying, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. So remember when Jesus was baptized, and some of these disciples were there when that happened. Yeah. And the Holy Spirit came down on him. It says like a dove, but I think it also could mean like the fluttering of a dove, like there was something that came on him and remained on him. So it was the Holy Spirit that was, it was really the Holy

6:21 Spirit doing all the stuff through Jesus. And Jesus was our model as to what it looks like to be a mature son of God. right? Because he was the perfect son of God. He never failed in anything that God gave him to do. And so he's our model of what he wants us to be. And it says here, you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. So we know that that is what happened at Pentecost. We're not going to focus on that on this episode. what we did a few episodes ago. We talked seriously about Shavuot, about Pentecost, and what that's all about. In this episode, it's on my heart to talk about how the Holy Spirit works with us to help us overcome the flesh. Because I really, personally, maybe I'm just doing this for me. But just in case it could help you, I'll share it with you, okay?

7:20 So if we go back to this upper room discourse, Jesus is talking about significant things about the Holy Spirit. And in John 14, 26, it says the helper. Now, in other translations, it says the comforter. So he's very much a comforter and he's very much a helper. The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I've said to you. Man, that's really important that we have this teacher who's living inside of us. You know, it's the Holy Spirit that draws us to Jesus in the first place. He's drawing us to the Father.

8:06 He's drawing us to Jesus. He's participating with the Father and Jesus in helping us get into the place that God designed for us to be. So what does he say in John 15? But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Oh, that's really good. So he's the Spirit of Truth. Okay, think back to the Garden of Eden, and you've got this snake that's lying to Eve. Eve needed the Holy Spirit. Eve probably had the Holy Spirit. But she was paying attention to this other thing that was trying to cause her to doubt and trying to cause her to sin, trying to cause her to rebel against the Word of God, just making her doubt what God said. And so the Spirit of truth will help us to sort out what's truth, right? And so he's going to bear witness about Jesus. So he's going to bring to our remembrance the things that Jesus has said to us. And so many times when I'm asking the Lord for an answer about something, it comes into my mind as a scripture. Okay. And it really

9:37 helps that you study the scriptures, you know. you know that the Scripture is written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So it has the truth that we need for every situation. Every situation, there's a Scripture that fits it. Every single situation that you're in. So that's why it's really important for us to be studying the Scriptures on a regular basis. And we've been doing this for years. We've been pouring ourselves into the Scripture and pouring the Scripture into us. Well, how come we're not perfected yet? Because it's a process. And every time we yield to the Holy Spirit, it gets a little easier to yield to the Holy Spirit. And in the same way, every time we yield to the flesh. it gets a little easier to yield to the flesh. So that's why it's important for us to lean on that spirit of truth who is going to bear witness of Jesus so that we can bear witness of him. So when you know you're supposed to say something to somebody about Jesus, you know, a total stranger and you're sweating bullets because you... You're not used to this. And it's like, I'm afraid. But the spirit of truth will come up inside of you. That Holy Spirit that bears witness of Jesus comes up inside of you to give you the words. And sometimes all he gives you is just one word or two. But if

11:09 you'll say the one or two words, then it's going to open up the channel for more to come. If you go back to the podcast that we did with Anna Werner recently, she illustrated that beautifully about how the Lord just gave her a picture of this very, very stately woman, conservative woman on a pool noodle. Yeah. Like, what? But if you step out on what you've been given, then the rest comes. And the Holy Spirit's the one that does the work. All we have to do is co -operate with him. Just let him give it to you and step out in faith. And it's amazing what he'll do if we'll work with him. So he's the spirit of truth. He brings things to our remembrance. He helps us. He helps us bear witness. What else does he do? John 16, I think it's verse 8. What does that say? And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Okay. Uh -huh. Have you ever felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Oh, yes, I have.

12:21 Yeah. And sometimes it's, oh, okay, man. You know, how many times, even when we were in our youth, and we made a commitment to the Lord, and then... The next Sunday we hear a sermon that's convicting us again, and we're back at the altar again. Yeah, like I did something during the week. Yeah? You know, like my Catholic friends used to say, you know, we party or do something on Friday night and then go to confession on Saturday morning. And then you're good for another week, you know? Well, that's probably not God's best way. No. But the Holy Spirit will convict us, and the sooner we learn to repent. Like repent immediately. Yeah. You know, there's times like, you know, when you do have to immediately, you know, you repent, you felt something. But we had an instance about three weeks ago. I think it was maybe two and a half weeks. And we had put a letter out on things that we need. And one was in an industrial mower for our area.

13:26 And so we had this brother, God bless him, you know, that just sent the money in for this mower. They're not cheap. And so I'm going and I'm looking at this mower and I'm talking to the sales guy. And it had a price tag of like $7 ,800 on it. You know, I thought, okay, that's really neat. Maybe that's the one we buy. And so I come back the next day and I go in. We got approval from the board to do it. We got approval from the board. And when he's out there, he's looking at it and he types in the serial number. And he says, no, that's a 52 -inch. That's not the 60 that we needed. So he had quoted it wrong.

14:07 And so we're looking at one inside. Yeah, it's the 60 -inch. And so I took a picture of it, and I took a picture of the price tag, and then I looked. It was about $2 ,000 more because it's the next series higher. It's more of a heavier industrial one. But I held my peace on it. I thought, I'm just going to wait on this. And so we go back. A few days later, you know, they test it, run it. I look at it, and it's the one that had a $9 ,700 price tag on it, which is like a $2 ,000 difference. Now, that's a lot of money. I thought, did they miss this somehow? So, you know, we brought it home because I didn't feel a thing. to say something right at the moment.

14:50 I mean, normally I would just say, wait, wait, wait, wait, you know, but I didn't feel to say that. I just waited. And we went back a couple of days ago. You know, I went in and talked to the guy and says, hey, I want to show you something out here. So I go out there and I show him a picture of the price tag of the higher series mower that was on the inside. I said, was this a mistake? You know, did you? quote me the wrong price and you feel now obligated. You have to give us the $2 ,000 more one for the same price. And he says, no, we just discounted it that much. Favor. Favor. It was tremendous favor. And, you know, I said, I really appreciate that because I want to make sure because we're not going to hold you to that if it's coming out of somebody's pocket or, you know, somebody gets in trouble.

15:39 And he says, no, we discounted that for you. I mean, that was a major discount. I mean, we're your friend forever, you know. And we have been. We've been buying from this hardware store for the last, since the 1970s, you know. But that was favor. But it was just leading of the Holy Spirit. Because sometimes, you know, when there's an instant, you have to immediately say something. But then there's something which doesn't happen as much. Just wait a little bit. You know, like just wait, like wait to see if you get a bigger bite. You're talking about fishing, right? Yeah. And when we did, I did go fishing two weeks ago.

16:20 You know, I just felt this thing to go. I think the walleye are coming up the river. And so I go there and pay $5 to go down to this one spot on the river where it's wider, a little deeper. I threw everything I had. I didn't get a hit. So I'm pretty discouraged. So I go to another spot of the river and I walk in a ways. I'm not getting a hit. And so I'm chatting with this guy. I chatted with a little bit as I was going in there. And then just as I'm leaving, you know, kind of, he was from another state, you know, and I says, oh, do you know Jesus? And he says, I don't want to talk about it. It's been nice talking to you. Turns his head away and it felt like a slap in the face, you know, like. You know, this day's not going well. I'm not catching any fish and all that. So I go up to the car and this guy pulls in and, you know, we own a 1984 Land Cruiser, Toyota Land Cruiser. That's in very good condition. And we get a lot of, do you want to sell it? You know, and no, we've had it for all these years. We're keeping it.

17:20 And this guy pulls in, he starts, you know, saying, I really like that Land Cruiser. He's kind of a roughy -looking guy, and the inside of the car is pretty rough -looking, and he's got a cigarette in his hand and all that. And we're just talking about things, and I just say, do you know Jesus? He says, yeah, I just love Jesus, you know, but I don't go to church. So here's a guy that was hurt in church, you know, and we're just having a real good conversation. He was having some health issues, so I prayed for him, and then he drove off. I got in the car and took off to another part of the lake, and I couldn't get to it. It was closed, so I just came home. Pretty, you know, disappointed, but, you know, got to. pray for this guy and all that. I thought, was this whole trip based on him?

18:03 Or was it just my flesh that really wanted to go fishing? Well, I think you made an impression on that fish. And it might even be the one that completely rejected you. Your words might have just been enough to begin the process of the convicting of the Holy Spirit, or maybe lots of times. People who are under conviction are really upset. They'll lash out. They'll lash out. Yeah. Because the Spirit of God is dealing with them. So he does convict of sin, and he's drawing. It's the poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, trying to get your attention. Yeah. You know, we just went last night to see the movie Awakening.

18:50 And Awakening, yeah. A great awakening. Great awakening. And George Whitefield was just... who befriended Benjamin Franklin, just working on him. And at the end, not knowing that George Whitefield's at the end of his life because he's probably got pneumonia or something, and he just really comes out to Benjamin Franklin, why won't you change? And then Benjamin Franklin goes off to England because of representing the colonies. And when he's in talking to the big up -and -up guy, a guy comes in and interrupts just to let you know George Whitefield passed away. Like, wow. But the last words he had impacted him, and he turned his life over at the end. You need to go see that. It was just an incredible. moving.

19:37 So moving along. Yes. It's about conviction of sin. So, I mean, that really fits with what the Holy Spirit does. Yeah, that was a freebie. We just threw this in. It wasn't part of the script, you know, if we have a script. It's not exactly a script. So what does verse 13 say in John 16? When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. Yes. For he will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. Oh, that's important. Yeah. That's important. He's going to guide you into truth because he's the spirit of truth. Yeah. And he's going to declare to you things that are to come. How many times have you gotten a thought? of something that's going to happen.

20:25 And it came from the Holy Spirit to prepare you. You know, like I remember when our sister -in -law was with us for a family event, and she'd been ill for quite some time. And I just had this thought that I think this is the last time. Yeah, we saw her in the wheelchair. Yeah, this is the last time we're going to see her like this. And the next time we saw her was on her deathbed and she was unable to communicate. And so the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you and give you things that you need to know for what's coming. It's important. And then what does verse 14 say? He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

21:10 So the Holy Spirit is going to hear from. the Father and Jesus and give us instructions. He's going to hear what the Father's saying and speak that to us. And then we can speak it to others. So that's where this ability to witness comes also, you know, the ability to give a witness of what the Holy Spirit is saying. And I think it was made very clear in that episode we did with Anna that you only give what you get from the Lord. Like if you get a picture in your mind of something or a vision or if you hear a word, just say what you hear or see. Yeah. Because we can get things completely goofed up if we add to it. If we try to interpret it, we're going to blow it. And why is it a lot of times, you know, like... morning choir time, you know, you get a quickening, you say, okay, Holy Spirit, just pour out of me today and lead me and guide me, you know, and everything starts good, but sometimes it only takes one thing and it just seems to mess everything else up. And it's just like, why wasn't he louder right when I needed him? Still small boys. Yeah, it might have something to do with how many times we've ignored him.

22:28 Flash, flash. Yes. Yeah. But that's what the Holy Spirit is doing right now is to help us overcome our flesh. Yeah. Overcome those flesh flashes so that it's like he'll give us the grace to stop before we go ahead and do or say what we were about to do or say. And, you know, I've said this before that I so appreciate what he's doing in me that when a thought comes into my head. That's like judgmental or something that, you know, growing up, you know, I had two older brothers that were real sharp with one of them even called it stiletto comments of cutting people down. And I learned that from my brothers. And I started out that way. a good many years ago, and the Holy Spirit has been tempering me. So, you know, one of those thoughts comes into my head of some quip that I'm just going to blurt out, and it's like, and He stops me. He's giving me the grace to say no to my flesh so that my flesh doesn't flash and hurt somebody. We don't need to be hurting people. Yeah, because stuff you hear on TV, even though it's comedy. Yeah.

23:51 Like I was going to say, do your brothers watch too much Monty Python or something like that? Sometimes British humor was very, you know, slapping you in the face. And if you look at enough stuff like that, especially as a kid, it can become part of your vocabulary. Right. That's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, having to choose between good and evil, where we weren't designed to be. influenced by evil. We're designed to be influenced by the Spirit of God. So 1 Corinthians 2, 6 through 16, Paul is talking and he says, yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

24:45 Remember, the Holy Spirit is bringing to us things of God, even hidden things, even secret things, right? None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined. What God has prepared for those who love him, these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

25:29 Now we have received not the Spirit of the world. but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit. See, that's what the Spirit is doing in us. The Holy Spirit is working in us. He's giving us words of the Father. He's giving us secrets, right? Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. For the spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. How do we have the mind of Christ? It comes by the Holy Spirit. So that's how we can depend on the Holy Spirit to help us to tame the flesh and to come up as mature sons of God, right? So I just, I love how Paul expresses in Romans 7 about... The struggle that we have with the flesh. We need the Holy Spirit as our flesh tamer. I mean, Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament, but here he is dealing with his flesh flashes and putting it in a letter to the church. So it's not like we

27:00 put Paul on a pedestal. We do, but he's human. Absolutely. He bears his soul in this passage in Romans 7. You want to read that for us? This is from the Passion Translation. I once lived without a clear understanding of the law. But when I heard God's commandments, sin sprung to life and brought with it a death sentence. The commandment that was intended to bring life brought me death instead. Sin, by means of the commandment, built a base of operation within me to overpower me and put me to death. So then, we have to conclude that the problem is not with the law itself, for the law is holy, and its commandments are correct and for our good. So, did something meant to be good become death to me? Certainly not.

27:49 It was not the law but sin en masse that produced my spiritual death. The sacred commandment merely uncovered the evil of sin so it could be seen for what it is. Isn't that amazing when he wrote that? Wow. Yep. And now I realize that it is no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity. Grab that. Grab that. It's not my true identity that's doing it. That it is no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity.

28:51 Yep. I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but willpower is not enough to accomplish it. My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid. So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it's not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am. So the real you is your spirit. And your spirit is one with the Spirit of God. Yeah. So it's two against one, really. Because, you know, you really can overcome your flesh because the true self, the real you, is your spirit.

29:40 And the Holy Spirit is there with your spirit, one with your spirit, to help you, to help me overcome. the flesh. And you really have to want to overcome your flesh. I think we really do. The real true identity, the real true you wants to do the right thing. Through my experience of this principle, I discovered that even when I want to do good, evil is ready to sabotage me. Oh man, that's so well put. Truly, deep within my true identity, What an agonizing situation I am in. So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? Yeah. I give all my thanks to God for his mighty power has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the anointed one. So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned within the law of sin. But now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God's righteous principles. Beautiful. Oh, yes. Beautiful. I like the way he puts it. And I like the way it's translated or interpreted. I think this is an interpretation rather than a translation. And

31:11 the interpretation here is that this sin nature is an unwelcome intruder. We all have it. But it's not according to the design that our Father made for us. We're designed to work with him in our spirit and keep our flesh. in check and keep our whole being whole by submitting to the Holy Spirit. You keep that flesh tamed by submitting to the Holy Spirit. So this word mind, I like this, my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God's righteous principles. So this word mind in the Greek is the word nous. And the outline of biblical usage from the Blue Letter Bible that I use, it gives these different ways of interpreting this word nous for mind. It says the mind comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining. OK, so our mind is involved in this process of making choices. and examining things and trying to figure out, now, is this true?

32:34 Is this a lie? Is this the flesh or is this the spirit? Is this evil or is this good? So it's the intellectual faculty, the understanding. So, you know, Paul and the book of Proverbs, there are many places that encourages us to get understanding. And Paul prays for us in the book of Ephesians that your understanding may be enlightened. That we get that light of the Holy Spirit into our understanding. So the Spirit is working in our minds to renew us and set us free from that unwelcome intruder. It's kind of like a tick is an unwelcome intruder. Yes, it is. What has it done? It's sucking the life out of you. It's trying to. Yeah. Yeah, we've both had our experiences with texts last week. Yes. We won't go there.

33:26 Let's not talk about that further. Anyway, so it's also, this word nous, is reason in a narrower sense as the capacity for spiritual truth. Capacity. The capacity. Here we go. The higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing goodness and of hating evil. So this is what the Holy Spirit is. Working on in our minds, okay? So we've been taught that our soul is the mind, will, and emotions. And I think there's more to this idea of the mind that isn't only just the intellectual mind that thinks it's superior to the things of the spirit. right?

34:14 There is that mind. There's that rebellious mind. There's that mind that fears all those things that are not a part of the kingdom of God. Those things are part of the mind, but they're not the renewed mind. And the renewed mind comes from the Holy Spirit. So it's also the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly, and impartially. Now, this is the thing that The Holy Spirit's been working on me in my reactions to things. Those triggers, right? Those triggers, those things that annoy me or those things that are contrary to what I'm expecting or contrary to what I think it should be. And it causes my emotions to come up. And Holy Spirit's working on me to calm that down. Maybe that's not an issue for you, but I'm sharing. From my heart.

35:14 the reality of things that God is doing because God is at work because I want my capacity to flow with him to be expanded so that he can do what he wants to do in answer to my prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I want to be equipped. I want to be contending for the overcoming of the flesh. I want my own personal outpouring so that he will do in me and through me what he wants to do. which is what I want him to do, right? And so it also involves a particular mode of thinking and judging, like this is the thoughts, feelings, purposes, and desires, okay?

35:56 Now, we have this thing from the book of Genesis about the operations of the flesh. There was this time early on after Adam and Eve had been sent out of the Garden of Eden and Cain and Abel are born. They grow up. Cain is raising crops and Abel is raising sheep. They both make an offering to God. And Abel's was accepted and Cain's wasn't. Now, there's all kinds of theories about why Cain's was not accepted. You know, some people think, well, he didn't give the first fruits of his crop. Yeah, or for two, well, it wasn't like a blood sacrifice, but that isn't what Cain was doing because he was like a tiller of the ground. Right. And then you read, you know, with the priest. Right. You know, they would bring, you know, the first fruits, the wave offering, which was grain and that. So it's not. A blood sacrifice. Right. And it's not necessarily just the first fruits because there are other offerings that are just requiring that you bring some of the flour or the grain that you've brought along with your sacrifice, along with the blood sacrifice or whatever. But there are food offerings.

37:16 So I don't think it has anything to do with the blood. But in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, it says, by faith. Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. So if we look at what happened in Genesis from the point of view of the book of Hebrews, there must have been something about Cain's heart that wasn't right. Was Cain having a flush flash when he went to offer the sacrifice? Maybe. Maybe he was. Maybe he was already jealous of his brother about something else. Maybe there was something about Abel that... that he just didn't like. We don't know exactly what it was, but in Genesis 4 -7, God is speaking to Cain, and he says, if you do well, will you not be accepted? So there must have been something he wasn't doing well, okay? There was something amiss in his heart that God was seeing in his heart, right? And there's a footnote that says, that the Hebrew could also be rendered, will there not be a lifting up of your face? So in other words, he was downcast. Okay, his face was, you know, his face. So he was grumpy when he gave the sacrifice? I don't know if he was grumpy when he gave the sacrifice, but he certainly was grumpy after it wasn't accepted. And God says, if you do well, will you not be accepted?

38:47 If you do well, will there not be a lifting up of your face? So there must have been something about his heart that wasn't right. Yeah, even before the sacrifice. And then afterwards, that's when murder came in. Right. And so then he says, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. There's that unwelcome intruder. The unwelcome intruder was ready to leap on Cain. Which he did. Which he did. Because Cain didn't get his heart right at that point. Well. If he had gotten his heart right, if he would have yielded to God, God spoke to him directly. Yeah. And sometimes God speaks to us directly and we ignore him.

39:30 Yeah. And it said its desire is for you, the intruder. Exactly. And you must rule over it. Exactly. That is words of wisdom for us every day. Right. We must rule over it. Absolutely. So it's the ruling over that unwelcome intruder of sin that we get because Jesus died for us and he went to heaven and the Father sent the Holy Spirit so that we could have what we need to help us deal with that unwelcome intruder that's in our flesh. It's just there. Going on from Romans 7, we have Romans 8. Glory to God.

40:15 Oh, hallelujah. So give us some of that, Philip, out of the Passion Translation. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. And because you belong to him, the power of the life -giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Yes. That's that unwelcome and true. Yes.

40:56 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us who no longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. There's the key. Follow the Spirit. Go ahead. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things. But those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. Yes. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. Ah, there's your mind. What's going on in your mind? We're having to have this fight in our minds, right? Yeah. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will.

41:40 It never will. Yeah. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you who are not controlled by your sinful nature, you're controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all. And Christ lives within you. So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you. Yes. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. And doesn't it urge us? Oh, wow. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. Yes, hallelujah. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children.

43:01 Now we call Him Abba Father. Now, I just have to put in a... Yeah, I know where you're going. There's a picture in my mind whenever I see in the scripture, Abba, Father. I imagine myself in the airport in Tel Aviv or in New York or wherever we're flying from. And there's Jewish families there. And it's late at night. And it's past the children's bedtime. And the children are cranky. And you hear them saying, Abba. And they're, you know, they're just crying out to be held or they're crying, you know, because something, they dropped something or, you know, it's hard enough on children anyway, but when they're tired, they just need help. And they reach out to Abba, right? So this is the cry of our hearts. Abba, Father, I need you. And he's there. He's always there for us. Go ahead.

44:04 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Yes.

44:58 And we believers also groan that though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, we will long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently. And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. Yes. Yes. Yes. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son. Exactly. So that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

46:17 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. So the goal of the Christian life is to become like Jesus. Yes, amen. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That's what that scripture is. It's written in our books that we're designed. We're designed to go through this process to become like him. And we're given these things to overcome. only through the Holy Spirit, only through this wonderful co -laboring together. We can become like Jesus because it was the Holy Spirit that helped him do all the stuff that he did, all the miracles, all the signs, all the wonders, all the compassion, all of the things that we look at Jesus, the good shepherd. He cares for his sheep. He lays down his life for his sheep. It's that same spirit that is available to us and is given to us to bring us into this maturity. And looking like him. We're designed to look like him. Don't have that scripture in front of me that's like, faith without works is dead. I would like to read that in another translation. But if we don't have

47:47 the trials, I mean, faith is a muscle. It's a spiritual muscle. When you're working out, you know, to lift weights, you don't lift that whole thing in one shot. You know, have you ever tried to press 120 pounds? You know, when you only weigh 140, you know, you don't start by just, you start at a lower weight. And when you have something you're comfortable with, you work it up, then you add some more weight, you know, and you build those muscles gradually. You can't do it all at one time. Right. And it's the same way with faith. Yes. You know, it doesn't always come at one. time, you know, we have to have our experiences to build our faith. And when we're faithful in little things, He will have greater things. Right. And this is how we glorify the Father, by letting the Holy Spirit work through us and bring forth fruit. So John 15, verse 8 says, By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

48:50 Now, Galatians 5, we don't have time to go into the whole thing, but Galatians 5 talks about how if you don't give into the flesh and you walk by the Spirit, you're going to overcome the flesh, right? And then there's this whole long list of the works of the flesh that, you know, you can go there and look for yourself. But we pretty much know what the issues of our own flesh are. You know, you know what yours are. I know what mine are. Yeah. And you've lived long enough. You know what you got to do. Yes. And so those are those things that that the Holy Spirit wants to help us with. He wants to help us to overcome and to to overcome the world.

49:30 First John 5, 4 and 5 says, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world, the world, the flesh and the devil. OK, the stuff that's going on in our flesh, overcoming it. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. faith. It's as we're stepping out to work with him in the Spirit and let him work his character in us. Who is he who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So you have this overcoming that comes through the Holy Spirit. And what fruit is it that the Spirit produces in us? When we overcome, Jesus has come over. Oh, that's so good, Philip. Yes, absolutely.

50:15 Come on over. Come on over. Come up here. You know, that's what in Revelation to John, come up here. Amen. Amen. And so it's the coming up into the character of Christ. So the fruit that the Spirit works in us is spelled out for us so well in Galatians 5, 22 to 26. And I'm just going to read it from the ESV. joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control. There's the biggie right there.

50:57 So the Holy Spirit is working these things in us. So the more we work with him, the more we cooperate with him, he's going to produce this fruit that gives our Father glory, because it's the character of Christ that he's building into us. And those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh. Okay, that part of us that is the unwelcome intruder of sin. That's that flesh that has to be crucified. We've crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. So I looked up this word provoke, and it's got a good side and a bad side. It's the triggers, okay? So the outline of biblical usage for this greek word is to make sharp or sharpen to stimulate spur on urge okay so you know think about riding a horse and you kind of you kind of click your heels against the the horse's side you know in some cases they use spurs i yeah i thought only cowboys did that you know the racer racing horses are are also spurred on right you're encouraging the horse to go go go go go So the Holy Spirit will do that in us. The Holy Spirit will provoke us, and sometimes we provoke one another in a

52:30 good way to encourage one another, to inspire one another. You can do it. You can do this thing. You can overcome your flesh. You've got the Holy Spirit. He will help you. He's living right inside you. But then there's this other kind. of provoking. That's to irritate, to arouse to anger, to scorn, despise, provoke, make angry, to exasperate, to burn with anger. You know, like fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath. Okay, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the God. That's the King James Version. But it's don't trigger people. Do Holy Spirit triggering, encouraging.

53:13 urging to do the right thing, but do it in love, right? Do it with all of these fruit of the Spirit. So if you're doing it in love, if you're doing it with peace, if you're doing it with joy, if you're doing it with patience and kindness, you can help to provoke people to be like Jesus, because that's what this is all about. And 2 Peter 1, 3 to 12, you want to read that, Philip? His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. In the 21st century. I haven't heard anybody except in biblical things. So there's other translations that use the word participators so that you can participate in the divine nature.

54:14 I just want us to grab that idea of because the Holy Spirit is working with us. He's given us the privilege of participating in his divine nature or to have partnership or to share in his divine nature. It's something the Holy Spirit is working in us. Carry on. Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. That old unwelcome, unwelcome sin, right? Unwelcome intruder. Yeah, unwelcome intruder. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self -control and self -control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. See, all these things go together. It's the same thing that comes from the Holy Spirit. I mean, it is the Holy Spirit that's doing this. Oh, say that again.

55:29 That is such an amazing statement. See there, we forget sometimes that the church is the, body of Christ and that we're all in this journey together. And all of us are having to learn to deal with our own unwelcome intruder of sin in our lives. All those works of the flesh that don't glorify God. And sometimes people pop off and have a flesh flash and it drives people out of the church. It's because we're all subject to this fleshly nature, but we all are in this process of, you know, growing to be like him.

56:17 So if we want God to have mercy on us, we need to have mercy on other people who are having flash flashes and realizing that they're just dealing with their stuff. And instead of... complaining about them, and instead of being hurt by them, we need to be instantly moved to intercession because they need help from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. I like that. Say it again. If you practice. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. You will never fall. Yeah. Oh. Beautiful.

57:00 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. Hallelujah. These eternal qualities, eternal qualities of brotherly affection and love. And God's going to add all these things to us by His Spirit, taming the flesh, taming the flesh. So I want to just close with, we've already read this, but just to bring it back again. Romans 8, verses 12 to 14, it says, So then, beloved ones. The flesh has no claims on us at all. And we have no further obligation to live in obedience to it. We just say, no, I'm not going to do that. I refuse to do that.

57:59 I refuse to let that unwelcome intruder of sin nature, sinful fleshly nature, rule me. I'm ruled by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to walk in these things. For if you live controlled by the flesh, you're about to die. But if the life of the Spirit puts to death the corrupt ways of the flesh, we then taste his abundant life. The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to say that again, and I'm going to add what's in the footnote.

58:40 It says the Greek is quite emphatic, those and only those. Let me say it again. The mature children of God are those and only those. who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. So let's walk in that wonderful cooperation, that wonderful fellowship. with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, I just thank you for what you are doing in our lives to make us like Jesus, that you are giving us the grace and the ability to say no to that unwelcome intruder because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. He bore all of our sinful nature. He took that horrific torture. and crucifixion to set us free from the law of sin and death.

59:39 And Holy Spirit, we just thank you that you're working your life in us, that you're working in eternal love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness. all of these things that are the character of Jesus. Thank you for doing that in us to prepare us for what you are about to do in a greater way than we've ever seen before. As you pour out your spirit on all flesh, Lord, pour out your spirit right now on our flesh individually to get us ready for the big one that's coming in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

1:00:22 If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us and donate. You can also browse our web store for life changing anointed books. Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with his overwhelming loving presence.