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Welcome!! This podcast is about "dividing the word one episode at a time" A real, relatable, and refreshing space for young and older adults seeking to grow in everyday life with Christ. Each episode dives into honest biblical teaching and conversations with life experiences that connect generations and deepen our walk with Christ. Whether you’re navigating adulthood or seasoned in your faith journey, there’s something here for you, thanks for being here!!
Christ & Me Podcast (00:05)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Christ in Me podcast where you rightly divide the word one episode at a time. I'm your host Jamir. Today we're going to be speaking about a very heavy topic, probably one of the heaviest that we've come across of the entire podcast. This topic is about killing the flesh or what we're calling this episode, a funeral for the flesh.
Before I really go into different points and other things of that regard, I kind of want to go into a personal story. For the past couple of weeks, around the time that I had received the topic that the Lord wanted me to talk on on this podcast, I would end up coming across numerous times within myself that I would have to learn to murder the flesh. I would have to have a funeral daily for the flesh.
I often time realized that within me I struggled to kill the flesh within myself. Often times giving into things like sexual morality But the lustful struggles that we as individuals go through I noticed was the prime example of something I had to
really realized that the flesh had to be murdered, the flesh had to be killed, which then also emphasized to me the importance of this message. So first thing that we want to get into is the cause of death.
Within the cause of death, there is a murder. Before we do a cause of death for the flesh, we are going to realize that before there was a death for the flesh, there was a murder the spirit. Now, to kind of give a little clarity, when the Lord made us, he made us in his image. He made us holy and without blemish, but we were given a choice to choose him.
or to not choose him. And we all know how the story goes. Eve ate the fruit and due to the fact that Adam was the head of his marriage, all of man fell due to both of them choosing.
to eat the fruit. So then the world became fallen and we now have something known as a sinful nature. That sinful nature along with Satan known as the accuser, our enemy, brings us to have to deal with why we must constantly kill the flesh.
The sinful nature is why we constantly do enjoy the things that separates us from God. The sinful nature holds within itself things like lust, things like pride, things like sluggard behavior. These things are the things that break us away from God. It is these things that separate us from God and it is the whole reason that we as followers of Christ are called to deny our flesh and is why
Jesus had to come to begin with so that he may die on the cross for us.
Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 to about 21 says this The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So Paul writes to the people of Galatia emphasizing that not only what is the flesh These are the acts of the flesh. Something that we have to be mindful of, my brothers and my sisters in Christ, is that within the flesh it causes us to be separate from God,
The same sinful nature that we indulge ourselves in. The things like lust, the things like gossiping, the things like being envious of others and the things that we do not have. These are the things that separate us from God. These are the things that the Lord abhors. He hates this. He hates that we allow ourselves to be so focused on our selfish ways that we give in to our own selves.
than rather giving into his holiness and his kindness. So within that we understand that there is a murder of our holy selves who we once were fully connected to the Lord and there was also a murder of our relationship with the Lord. We once had something fully connected to him but due to our inability to choose him
over our selfishness, a relationship was quickly dashed. So then it brings us to the next point. There must be a killing of your own flesh, of your old self. Luke 9, 23 to 24 says, then he said to them all, this being Jesus, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses it for my sake.
will save it. My brothers and my sisters, we as followers of Jesus must rid ourselves of who we are for the sake of Christ. The Lord is either the Lord of all or none at all. He can be only one or the other.
Bible in Joshua 24 15 says choose I think it's choose ye this day who you will serve.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But it is up to you, people, one person at a time, to stand before the Lord and realize what did you choose? Did you choose unforgiveness? Did you choose bitterness? Did you choose homosexuality? Did you choose lust? Did you choose fear of man, over God?
Because at some point when you stand before God, those are the things that matter. Colossians 3 verse 5 says, to death therefore, whatever belongs to earthly nature, sexual morality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Paul writes to people of Colossi to put to death the evil in their hearts, the evil in their minds, the evil that they act on.
The flesh is constantly the enemy of your soul along with Satan. The flesh is a reflection of evil actions. I once heard this ⁓ quote that says, all the good that I have comes from God, but all the evil that I do comes from myself. It is the reflection that there is evil within us as men and women
both Jesus and Paul
emphasizes the specification of killing the old self and who you once were to pursue the kingdom of God and to leave the old things behind. Jesus in scripture has constantly emphasized a choosing of just Him. The Bible says what? You call me Lord yet you do not do what I say. The Bible emphasizes that we must kill our flesh. Dying to ourselves, choosing Him daily,
The world now for us as followers of Christ or what it should be like as followers of Christ should be like hell because we have things that are constantly at our fingertips. Things where we can fulfill our flesh. We can fulfill it with weed. We can fulfill it with coke. We can fulfill it with having sexual intercourse. We can fulfill it with choosing what we want because we have options. Yet the Lord says choose me instead.
The road to heaven is like hell, but the road to hell is like heaven. Do not allow yourselves to be so fixed on your desires that you lose sight of the one who died for those said desires.
I was just refreshed today in the truth that when we as followers of Christ or even those who do not know Christ yet choose to sin anyway, we, we crucify Christ anew because we continue to choose our sin, then choose him. So we continue to crucify him. We continue to pain his heart with the evil within us.
Something that should also be a port is why it must die. I kind of emphasized it already. Jesus died so we could live.
Jesus died so that we could live.
It would not make sense, my brothers and sisters.
for us to view.
Jesus' sacrifice as a thing to push behind us, but rather for us to magnify. A man died on the cross where his body is exposed to all people. In paintings and in pictures that we see being portrayed of Jesus' crucifixion, they cover him, but yet he is naked in real life.
organs show out of his body.
pain and suffering and people who once said hosanna hosanna once said crucify him
Which one will you choose to say?
There's an analogy that emphasizes that the flesh is a parasite. It feeds off your time, your purity, your peace, and it leaves you emptier. Not your friend, it is your enemy. So my friends, this is what I'm gonna say about the flesh before we move on to how do we end up crucifying it.
For those who are younger, there's a verse in 2 Timothy.
It's 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 22 says, flee the evil desires of your youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Paul is speaking to Timothy as a young man who is being called to pastor in a specific area and he's saying to him, flee the evil desires of your youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call out on.
call out to the Lord out of a pure heart. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible emphasizes that the Lord wants us in to be holy as he is holy. 1 Peter chapter 1 emphasizes that. He speaks about being holy, being a, if we are going to be representatives of him, let us do it with all that we have. 1 Peter says,
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, but as just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy because I am holy.
1 John, he emphasizes if we call ourselves Christian, but yet we attach ourselves to the world, are we really living for Christ?
Do we truly live for Jesus? And I'm gonna pull up that scripture right now,
1 John chapter two verse 15 says this, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass.
away but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Ladies and gentlemen, your flesh cannot come with you into heaven. Satan will not follow after you into heaven so he will do everything in his power to pull you down. Do not be your own tempter. Don't blame everything on the devil when oftentimes it is your choice to submit to the flesh. And I say that to you as much as I say to myself.
We cannot always be so quick to blame the devil for the things that we constantly allow ourselves to give into on our own. So now we're going to briefly speak on.
How do we crucify the flesh?
No.
within crucifying the flesh there is a matter of shifting that we must make.
Romans chapter 12 says this, therefore I urge you brothers and sisters and view of God's mercy to offer your bodies of the living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good.
pleasing and perfect will. This is what I'm going to say. Let's break this down. In view of God's mercy, so because of how merciful he's been with you, how kind he is to die on the cross with you, how kind he is not to throw you into hell for the choices you've made yesterday, for the choices you've made years ago, he says offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.
What does that mean, living sacrifice? Crucify, pick up your cross, die to yourself. Jesus died so that you can live. Pick up your cross, ladies and gentlemen.
And as you continue to be refined, do not allow yourselves to be conformed to the world. Don't allow your thinking, your behaviors, your actions to reflect the world's behavior. Rather, be renewed in your mind of how you think.
Those who live in accordance to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who have their lives in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. Ladies and gentlemen.
those who live in accordance to the flesh.
will face death.
Spiritual death.
Hell was not made for you, but for the devil and his angels.
But the Lord cannot force you to be in a place you don't want to.
If the Lord cannot ask you to come into a house you do not desire to be in, if the Lord wants you now and you continue to reject him, why stand before him acting like you wanted him the entire time?
So in that, if your mind is governed by evil, have it renewed in who Christ is. Have it renewed in his teachings. Have it renewed in the truth of what Jesus has done on the cross for you.
Don't minimize his death on the cross.
magnify it so that you could be more grateful.
The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. What is your mind on? What is your mind on? Is your mind on the Kingdom and expanding the Kingdom? Is your mind on trying to get disciples? Is your mind set on trying to love people better? Is your mind on trying to build the Kingdom of God so that Heaven may be more full than it already will be?
Colossians three verse two says this,
Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.
For you died.
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, you will also appear with him in glory.
So when he returns, and this is.
Something I will say, when he returns you will be with him.
riding out with him in his gloriousness. There is no other God but Jesus Christ for his scripture says he is the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end.
2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 to 18 says this, says, therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, meaning we are constantly facing persecution, we are constantly facing having to deny our flesh, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, fellowshiping with the Spirit of God, having fellowship with Jesus.
and constantly being comforted in the fellowship that we have within the brethren.
for our light and momentary troubles.
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, the things that you face as small and big will build for you an eternal glory.
for the scriptures in Matthew 6 emphasizes that we should build our treasures up in heaven. should allow ourselves to have our hearts and our minds so fixed on Christ that this is how we kill the flesh because we have our hearts and minds set on eternity.
Let your hearts and minds be so fixed on eternity that this is how the flesh is murdered.
So here are some final points about this as I close. Firstly should be daily surrender.
Allow yourself to reflect, picking up your cross daily, dying to yourself.
reflecting on the days before and deciding that you are not gonna conform to the way you thought. That you're not gonna conform to the way that you thought and that you were gonna live out the truth of God's word.
Secondly, confession and repentance.
Repentance is confession and a heart revealing to God.
your heart posture towards the sin that you committed, why you committed it, and what action steps you're gonna take to turn your back to the sin and live in true holiness to God this time.
Confess to your brothers, confess to your sisters, confess to people who love you and care for you.
We cannot see the kingdom of God unless we are holy.
Let us work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
For fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. For fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Let us do what we must to uphold the holiness of God.
that we may live out the truth of the gospel.
There is always someone watching the way we live.
Matthew 18 emphasizes the importance that we must gouge out our eye if it causes us to sin. Cut off our hand if it causes us to sin. And I don't say that in the circumstance that, you literally have to do that.
But what I will say is this, the scripture says woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble. Such things must come, but to who the person through which they come, if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter the life maimed or crippled than for you to have two hands or two feet.
to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, couch it out and throw it away. It is better for your entire life.
with one eye, then to have two eyes and then to be thrown into the fire of hell. when the Lord came and spoke the Sermon on the Mount, He spoke about the Ten Commandments. But He went deeper because people were so literal back then that people thought just because they did things without going further than the literal interpretation, it made it easier to sin.
I'm gonna strip that woman in my mind.
I'm gonna say this instead of saying that. All right, I'll love my brother, but I'm gonna hate this enemy though. But it's so funny how the Lord comes against that and says, no, love your enemy. Forgive as the Lord forgave you because guess what? He won't forgive you if you don't forgive.
When we allow ourselves to be so overwhelmed with the flesh, it is hard for the Spirit of God to come and convict.
Do not let your heart become like stone towards God.
Allow yourselves to be moved by the truth of God's word that you may live out his truth and stand on the rock of his word. For he actually said at the end of his sermon how important it is that people genuinely live out what he said. For a fool, he may build his house on the sand, but a wise man will build his house on the rock. The wind came, the wind blew.
and beat on that house but it was not overcome because it was built on the rock. Allow your life to be built on the rock of God's word.
replace everything that you used to do with the Spirit of God. Don't just try to...
not think about the sin rather keep your eyes focused on Christ. This is so important. John 15 and I think it's verse 13 says apart from Christ you can do nothing.
So allow yourself to make sure that Jesus is at the center. Sit before the Lord and let him tell you what needs my hand in it.
Ask him, ask him what needs your hand in it, Lord? Or what do I need to get rid of that I just can't put you in? Because you're too holy to be in that thing.
So, allow your life to be remembered that your whole life is worship. Not just the songs you sing.
Not just when you say those wonderful and great things to him in prayer, but your whole life should be a fragrance and incense of worship to him. Number four, community and accountability.
Jesus calls us to not live this life alone. Acts 2 42 to 47 emphasizes the beauty of community, how people submit it to the apostles teaching broke bread with one another, how prayers are so powerful for the scriptures say that when two or more are gathered in my name, I am with them. When two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them. So with that truth, live that out.
Allow people, be honest with people. Expose your evil to people. I'm not saying that it's okay to sin. I'm not saying that I want you to just be proud of the sin so you can tell people. No, be honest with yourself because if Jesus can see it, it's not like it was hidden to begin with.
So.
Be honest with your brothers and sisters. Tell them, confess to them the truth of what you've been going through, of how you've been dealing with sin, and how you should go about sin.
We confess the gospel, we should live out the gospel. We confess Christ, let us live Christ. Gandhi once said, I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. The problem is, cause we're not living out what Christ taught. It's hard to like the Christians when we are not reflecting what he did.
Brothers and sisters, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and forgive us of our sins. And he purifies us from all unrighteousness, so be honest with Jesus. For it's not like you could lie to the man who knows all.
So allow yourself to be honest with brothers and sisters as well so that they can keep you accountable. Hey, I thought your timer went off on that app. Hey, I thought you did this, that, and the third. Allow yourself to not be in any way, shape, form enticed by the evil that surrounds us.
Then of course, the next section is about the new life that we have in Christ.
Galatians 2, 2, 20 actually says it awesomely. have crucified. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
And that is one of my favorite verses. I love that verse because of the fact that it emphasizes that I have been crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with him because I have chosen to no longer gratify the sinful nature, but gratify the Spirit of God. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a warning in the scripture about quenching the Spirit of God. Be careful to quench the Spirit.
Because when you continue to quench him, you continue to barely be able to hear him.
and the less he is heard.
the more you become to drift. Do not grieve the Spirit of God.
But to finish what verse 220 actually fully says in its entirety, says, I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
He loved me and in his love he died for me. He told his disciples, he says, and there is no greater love than this, but to lay down one's life for one's friends. So if you call yourself a friend of God, a person who loves God, why don't you obey him?
For the scripture says, abide in me and I in you. If you abide in me, I will in you. If you love me, keep my commandments. Keep his commandments. He's asked you to deny your flesh. Keep his commandments. Sometimes love isn't easy, but that's what he's emphasized. Nothing about the walk that you walk with him will be easy. So you must deny your flesh. Galatians five.
emphasizes that the fruit of the Spirit.
is love, joy, peace.
Forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Let me explain what that line means. This is covering the fact that they're talking about that people who used to live out the law, the Jewish law, would try their best to live it out to their own regard. But in that they struggled.
So to kind of emphasize that their Jewish law, so within the Jewish law, there were like over 614 laws that you would have to fulfill. But Jesus' death on the cross.
nullified those laws that we may live to the 10 commandments through the two commandments he gave us loving one another as ourselves. And what that means is loving people the same way we would love ourselves so much that we would want to fulfill our own evil desires. We love someone so much that we show them so much love that we're treating them as if we would treat ourselves the same way.
the second commandment love the Lord your God with all your mind heart soul and strength and this is actually really important towards growing in the spirit because when you love the Lord with all your mind heart soul and strength you fix your eyes on him you have your mind set on him you have your your thoughts set on him you have your actions set on him for the scripture says whatever you do whether in word or indeed do it all for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, given thanks to the Father through him. So when I'm doing this podcast, I do it all for the glory of Jesus Christ. When I'm at work, I try my best to do my work for the glory of Christ. These are the ways that we should live our lives.
The next verse says, those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So notice, notice how the next part is literally there's the fruit. These are the things that bear fruit. And the way that the spirit bears fruit is because of the fact that you have to crucify the evil within you first. And crucifixion is based in your choice.
When are you gonna choose Christ? Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another. Let us not be jealous of the other gifts someone else may have, but find joy in the gifts that we do have, that we may give glory to God regardless. Because at the end of the day, the Lord wants glory from us regardless.
as I emphasized already in a previous episode is that we are new in Christ.
but it does not give us the license to live in sin. Just because we have grace and that we are new in Christ does not mean we have the license to sin. Romans 6 talks all about that. Do we go on sinning that grace may abound? And the verse follows saying absolutely not. So, we live for Christ for the glory of Christ. Romans 14 says what?
As I live, I live for the Lord. As I die, I die for the Lord. Our lives should be a testimony of God's transformative gospel in our lives. And if it's not seeming like a transformation, and if people of the world are conforming to your choices because they think that the choices you're making are genuinely okay, you might want to ask yourself, are you with the Lord or against him?
If you're not facing the devil head on, you might be running right beside him.
As I close this episode, won't really give, I'm not really going to give any action, plan or challenge. It's up to you to realize what should be your challenge.
I'm gonna pray for you guys and then I'm gonna close. Father God.
In your holiness, we thank you.
We cannot be grateful enough for your death on the cross and the things you endured for our sake. For you despise the scorning and the shame that now you stand at the right hand of the Father. Lord Jesus, thank you for your goodness and your mercy. And I pray for every single person on the other side who may be listening to this podcast episode and those who end up
choosing to listen to this or will come across this episode at some point in time that they will pick up their cross like you've called them to that they will love you so much that they will obey your word that they will love you so much that they will do nothing but want to abide in you that they will live holy as you are holy for you are the Alpha the Omega the beginning and the end there is a no other God but you King Jesus let us live in that truth
I confess Lord Jesus that I have not always been holy as you've called me to be, but I am grateful in your promise and in your kindness. So I pray right now for these people, your children and those who will choose to be your children, that they will obey you and continue to fix their eyes on you that as they fix their eyes on you, the flesh dies all the more. Thank you for your goodness.
Thank you for your overwhelmingly undeserved grace, your overwhelmingly undeserved mercy.
May you be magnified in all of our lives and may this impact every person that listens and hears this. In Jesus' mighty, magnificent and matchless name, we pray, amen.
Christ & Me Podcast (34:33)
Alright everyone, thank you so much for listening, I cannot appreciate it enough. This was Funeral for the Flesh. ⁓ Before we close out fully though, I just wanted to give a new announcement that we have started an Instagram, be posting scripture and quotes and clips from recent and past episodes and also some new episodes that might be coming out in
you'll be exposed to the editing process but of course you can find that as Christ Me Pod on Instagram ⁓ and then you can also find my personal Instagram urbanprince_23 on Instagram as well but overall I cannot thank you enough for your loving support and everyone who has listened so far I pray that these episodes have had an impact and a true guidance and sharpening on your walks with Christ.
May you truly be equipped to living out the gospel. I love you all until we rightly divide the word. One episode at a time. Be blessed.