You Are Free

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Good morning, Thrive. Good to be here, and it's good to celebrate today the fact we're starting a new series today on Romans Chapter 8, okay? And I kind of threw out the challenge last week, if you were here, that we would be memorizing this together. Now, you might be going like, oh my goodness, a whole chapter of the Bible. I know, but if you're going to memorize a chapter of the Bible, this is one of the most mind-blowing, life-changing chapters of all of Scripture, and it gives us so much hope, so much is in here. And really, we're going to take five weeks to go through this. I thought it was six, but five weeks, and in those five weeks, there's 35 days, right? Guess how many? There are 39 verses, so it's just more than one verse a day. I know. I know. You can do it. You can do it. I would really... What? Keep selling. Keep selling. I know. It's better than telling or yelling. I'm sure that can happen in some places, but I think this is great. I love this, and it starts out amazing. If you can't memorize it all, well, I'm not going to, but the first verse, come on, okay? So let's pray. Lord God, thank you so much for what you've done for us. We want to live in the beauty of this passage and to find our hope in you in a hopeless world, but to know how much you impact us all in so many ways. And we have, many of us have experienced tight places, places that we did not see a way out of, and yet you provided the way. You are, Lord Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you, Lord, again and again. You are our hope, and you give us that victory, and you make us more than conquerors because you love us so. So bless this time and this series as we get into it, and may we be immersed in these words. May these words just, each day, Lord, remind us of the beautiful promises of what you are saying in this passage. All this in Jesus' name, amen. So today we're going to look at the first 11 verses. You can kind of follow along as well with this message. In the You version of the Bible app, you will find, if you look under events, you will find that we have the notes for this, with all the little quotes, with all the little ideas. We'd love to have you join in with us. But let's read this together, okay? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You however are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Alright, and you're going like, there is no way I'm going to memorize that. It's not that hard actually, it's not that hard. And you'd be surprised because it makes logical sense and once you start memorizing, you will start understanding the interrelatedness of each of these verses and like, just put one verse up a day. So today, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You memorize verse one. Just like that. Right? Right. I know. Oh. Enough of the selling. Okay, so, most people think all you need in life is food, shelter, you know, clothing, and then everything's fine. But I'll tell you, I think there's something more essential than that. Because I know a lot of people who have not had a reliable source of food for a long time, it's hit or miss here and there. Or who have not always had a place to live, or who have wondered what's coming next. And yet they're doing fine. But those who do not have hope, don't live long at all. It's fascinating. I don't know if you've ever read the book by Viktor Frankl. He was a Holocaust survivor and a survivor of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and he saw those who survived those terrible conditions were those who had hope. He says it this wa...