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You know what God
is saying to you, Christian?
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You have potential energy.
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It may not be active right now,
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but you're called upon to exercise it.
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And the reality is that as
you seek to exercise it,
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you'll find that you have it.
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Joshua and I were riding our bikes
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out in Colorado
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up this long relatively steep climb
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and it just went on straight.
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It was really hard.
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He and I are huffing.
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This woman - she was probably in her 60's,
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she just goes cruising past us.
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She was on an e-bike.
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You know what an e-bike is?
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It assists.
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It's like as you pedal,
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if you put 100 watts into it,
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it matches it with another 100 watts.
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So she basically has an electric bike
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that is supplementing power.
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Now look, I'm not saying
in living the Christian life
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any of the power is ours,
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but you know as well as I do
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that you have the ability to initiate,
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and as you initiate,
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you're going to find much like that e-bike
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that wow, God is helping me.
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God is enabling me.
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There is something here.
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Brethren, you know how
God has designed the muscle?
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You know one of the
things that's so addictive
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about going to the gym or exercise?
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You get somebody maybe
that's never done it before
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and so they're like "it doesn't
have much attraction to me,"
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but you get them there,
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and you know if you can get somebody
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to consistently work out
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and maybe even correct
their diet a little bit
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just for like two weeks,
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do you know what happens?
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Any idea what happens?
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God has designed our muscles.
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And you know, bringing
this muscle thing in;
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bringing physical exercise in
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is consistent with Scripture.
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You have a text that says
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have nothing to do with
irreverent, silly myths.
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Rather train or exercise or
discipline yourselves for godliness.
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So obviously the apostle himself
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is likening us in the spiritual realm
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over against the physical realm.
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He sees discipline and exercise
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in the physical realm
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as being a good analogy
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to describe what happens in the spiritual.
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And you think about these muscles.
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And the reality is the way
God has designed muscles
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and one of the reasons
that physical fitness
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can become so intoxicating,
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is because you start to use your muscles
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and what happens?
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They suddenly start getting bigger
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and where you were bench
pressing one thing one time,
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you notice all of a sudden
several months later,
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you're able to do significantly more -
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maybe double what you were able to do.
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That's the way God's designed us,
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but you know in the spiritual realm,
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you don't want to be far off from that
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because the reality is if you
begin to exercise yourself,
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what you will find is that God
has designed spiritual muscles
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that come right out of
what this new man is
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that you will be able to clothe yourself.
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You draw on this strength,
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you draw on this reality,
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and you say I have the new man in me.
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This is not only possible -
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God wants me to do this for His glory.
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He wants me to be robed
with these righteous deeds.
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He wants me to be robed with zeal.
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He wants me to be robed with humility.
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He wants me to be robed with compassion.
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He wants these things from me.
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(incomplete thought)
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You know what happens?
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How do you start exercising
the muscles properly?
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Well, you have to tell yourself:
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You're going to the gym.
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Ah, I don't feel like it.
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No, you're going to the gym.
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You're going to take that bike ride.
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You're going to get on that treadmill.
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No, I don't feel like it.
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I don't feel strong today.
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That's what happens in the physical.
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But you tell your muscles:
No, you're going to do that.
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And you're going to eat right.
You're going to take that smoothie.
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You're going to take that protein drink.
You're going to stop eating the garbage,
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the bear claws, the candy bars,
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drinking the soda.
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You see, that discipline sets in.
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But what Scripture is saying
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is you, Christian, have the new man.
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Apply yourself.
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Give yourself to this.
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You don't realize what
a muscle is capable of
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until you begin to use them.
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And then you're surprised at the strength!
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You're surprised at how your body grows.
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You're surprised at how
your body responds.
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You're surprised at how
God has designed the muscle
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to be able to do a whole lot more
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than you ever thought it could do
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because you gave yourself to this.
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You exercise yourself.
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And all of a sudden you're surprised
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at the strength and the
power you're capable of.
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So it is with the new man spiritually.
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So how do we do this?
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I would just say this:
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this is pretty logical,
but pack this away -
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If you want to take this
Christian life seriously,
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then take this seriously.
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Use everything at your disposal
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that you know feeds
and helps to strengthen
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and build up the new man.
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Look, if you want to get maximum impact
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from developing your muscles,
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what are you going to do?
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I'll tell you what you're going to do,
you're going to consider every way
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that you can possibly
make those muscles stronger
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and you're going to
apply yourself to that.
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You're going to give
them the proper nutrition
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and the proper exercise
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to bring about the result that you want.
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And I would say this,
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that new man is in you.
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Do everything possible -
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you know, make no provision for the flesh.
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Don't make provision for anything
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that has to do with your old corrupt life.
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And feed the new man.
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Give the new man the sustenance
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that is necessary;
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the exercise that is most likely
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to make him grow.
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Look, don't just do this hit and miss.
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You have to be constant.
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You know one of the things
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that makes for those Christians
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that really make a difference
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and turn the world upside down
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and get remembered?
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When you look at their life,
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they were consistent.
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You know one of the things
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that just destroys clothing
yourself with the new man
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is inconsistency.
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It's like spanking your children.
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You know the sure-fire way
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to have a bunch of rebel children
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is be super inconsistent.
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One of the ways here
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just to mess this whole
thing up is inconsistency.
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Inconsistent in Scripture,
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inconsistent in walking with the Lord
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in your prayer life,
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inconsistent in fasting,
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inconsistent as Craig was
saying in the first hour
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about just being in the church
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where you get built up,
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where you stir up one
another to love and good works
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and all these one-anothers
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that he's going to look at next time.
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This excerpt is from the full sermon:
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The Christian is a New Man