From Old Ways To A New Identity In Christ

What if your past no longer had the last word—and your future wasn’t powered by willpower, but by grace that trains you? We take a clear, Scripture-first journey through what it really means to have an identity in Christ and why that identity changes how we live today, not someday. From Titus to Ephesians to Galatians, we unpack how the gospel does more than forgive; it reshapes desires, renews the mind, and sets a new course.

We start with the heart of the gospel—Jesus humbling Himself, dying, and rising—and show how grace appears to all people and teaches us to deny old cravings and live upright, godly lives in the present age. Then we move to Paul’s call to “walk worthy,” putting off the old self formed by deceitful desires and putting on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. No more victim scripts, no more “that’s just who I am.” In Christ, the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

From there, we answer the big question: how do we actually walk by the Spirit? Leaning on John 14, Acts 2, Ephesians 1, and Galatians 3, we explain how the Holy Spirit indwells believers—not by perfect behavior but by repentance and faith—and becomes our Helper who teaches, reminds, and empowers. We contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, exploring practical markers of transformation like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self-control. Finally, we connect identity to mission: love God, love your neighbor, and share the gospel with courage and clarity. God’s plans are better than ours, and He equips what He calls.

If this message stirred hope in you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs fresh courage, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What new step will you take this week to walk in your new identity?

Listen to the podcast and leave a 5 Star Review!



Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UYVliDJH7siMmYKg09VbW?si=ewMDEI0LSFiCenkRlYUQfQ




Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faith-over-fear/id1811267811




Amazon music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/89551cf5-1bae-4aed-83f8-d8b2ec530aa4/faith-over-fear




Follow us on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonotalvaro/
X:https://x.com/Jonotalvaro
Tik Tok:https://www.tiktok.com/@faithoverfear_m

Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io
Produced By White Hot

Transcript

Identity In Christ

SPEAKER_00 0:00

On this episode of Faith Over Fear, we're gonna be talking about our identity in Christ. Once we've been able to understand the gospel, once we've heard the gospel, once we've been able to understand the truth, we have a new identity in Christ. We'll be right back in just a few seconds. It's been a while. I know that I said that I'm gonna be more consistent, but I promise from here on out we're for sure gonna be more consistent. We've been doing more upgrades to the studio, uh getting some new equipment, getting some new things. Um, I want to be able to do things at the best of my ability, at the best that I possibly can. And these little upgrades are, you know, at the end of the day, they might not matter, but for me, I just want to be able to present the best way possible, um, to be able to give the best for our Lord. Um, but it's been I think like two or three weeks since my last episode, so um I just want to say sorry that I haven't been able to upload. Um, I know there's some people that when I post on YouTube, they actually comment a lot and they are always waiting for the newest episodes. Uh, so I just wanted to apologize to you guys. But we are here, we are here now, and we're gonna continue this journey. Um, I actually started paternity leave this week. I started it. So I have two months uh to, you know, a lot of time for myself, for my wife, uh, for our newborn uh Layla. And, you know, that also gives me time to be able to do this because now I don't have to work, you know, eight hours a day. Um I'll have a little bit more time to spend to give to the podcast. Uh so thank you guys for bearing with me. Thank you guys for those who are waiting. Um, and let's get right into the message. Uh, we're gonna be talking about our identity in Christ. Um, this is actually something that I preached last night at our church. For those of you that don't know, um, we have a new English ministry. We've always had an English ministry at church for for a few years now, but we actually started to have service every single Wednesday night at 7:30. If you live in Massachusetts, if you're in the Boston area, um, you know, Lynn, Saugus, Chelsea, Danvers, Peavade, um, East Boston, Dorchester, um, Braintree, there's so many other cities around the area. If you're around that area, reach out to me and I'm gladly, I'll gladly give you the address. Um, it's every single Wednesday at 7:30. We're having service, and it's specifically English. We are a Spanish church, but every Wednesday it's English service. And yesterday I brought this message and I wanted to share it with you guys as well. Um, and before we get started, let's just make sure that we are following, that we are subscribing, that we're commenting, that we are engaging with the content. The more we engage with the content, the more it is um basically given to as many people as possible. It starts showing up in more people's profiles, it starts showing up in more people's for you page, um, all that stuff. So let's just make sure that we are liking, that we're commenting, that we're leaving five-star reviews on Apple Music and Spotify. All of that helps the algorithm to be able to expose this page as much as we possibly can. Um, and before we get into the message, let's just do a quick prayer and then we'll get right into it. Father God, we come before you. And before anything else, Lord, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you because you have given me and my family everything that I have, and because you have given everything that everybody else has, Lord. You have given them health, you have given them, you know, a new day of life, you have given them air in their lungs, you have given them wisdom, intelligence, discernment to be able to make the right choices every single day of their lives, Lord. And thank you, Lord, for the sacrifice that you did for us on the cross. Thank you because your sacrifice is the one that allows us to have access to your presence, the one that allows us to receive your Holy Spirit, is the one that allows us to know that we are saved, Lord, that we have eternal life after this one. And God, may you open up our minds, open up our hearts, open up our soul, open up our spirits to you, Lord, to your word tonight, Lord. And may you use my vessel, may you use my tongue, my my mouth, Lord, to speak your word. In the name of Jesus, amen. So, what is our identity in Christ? Once we've heard the gospel, once we've understood that God Himself came down, He left his throne, He came down from heaven, left His throne, and became a human, humbled Himself to human form, and lived a perfect life, was crucified, resurrected three days later. That is what the gospel is. Once we've understood that, once we understood that he's taken our sins and died for us, paid the price that we had to pay, we have an identity in Christ. And I wanted to start off in the book of Titus, uh, chapter 2, verse 11 through 14. The book of Titus. Um, I feel like a lot of people don't know or don't really read this book as much. It's very short. I recommend you guys to read it. Honestly, all of Paul's letters, I recommend everybody to read them. Um, they're very short, they're very quick. You can read them literally in 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes. Um, you can read the whole book. Um, if even if you take your time, they're so short. They're 20, 24 verses, um, six chapters, seven chapters, most of them, five, some of them are three, four, five chapters, and they're just filled with knowledge, they're filled with wisdom that's inspired by God. So, Titus chapter two, verse 11 through 14. It is right here. Give me one second. Let me actually move this a little bit. There we go. So, chapter 2, verse 11 through 14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Let me stop right here. So, I want to make it very clear. I want this to be as clear as possible. Salvation is for all people. God gave his life for all, for the world, for everyone, not a certain demographic, not a certain group of people, not for people who think they're perfect, not who people who keep the law, no. For all people. All people. Let's make that very clear. Training us to renounce on godliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. So in now, to live godly lives in the present age, now, not just in the past, not just back in the day, not just in the days of Jesus, not in the day of Paul, no, in the present age. Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. So God gave his life for all people. So what? So that we can train, so training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. What does that mean? God gave his life for us, not so that we can continue living the life we used to, not so that we can keep living in lusts, keep living in addictions, keep living in our anxiety, and our depression, and our anger, and our grudge, and our sadness. No, he wants us to live a godly life in the present age. Right now, we live in an age where pornography is everywhere. It's very normal in the world for everyone to watch pornography, and that destroys your mind, that eats your mind. It's it's one of the most demonic things that you can watch, but it's very normal thing out in the world. Homosexuality, transgenderism, confusion, depression, anxiety. Depression and anxiety is becoming so common. Oh, it's okay for you to have depression, we'll just medicate you. Oh, it's okay for you to have anxiety, we'll just medicate you. We'll numb you. You won't feel anything anymore. It's okay, you won't feel that depression, or you won't feel that anxiety, but we'll give you a pill for it. We'll make you pay for this pill. We'll make you pay so that you can stay stuck in that depression, so that you can stay stuck in that anxiety. No, God doesn't want us to live in a life like that. He gave his life so that we can all be saved, all people, and live a godly and righteous life. Depression, anxiety, all that stuff comes from the world, it comes from our actions, it comes from the stuff that we've done, the stuff that we've dabbled with, the stuff that we have put ourselves in. It's a consequence of a lot of the stuff that we do, that we think, that we possess, all that stuff. So God doesn't want us to live a life like that. God doesn't want us to live like our old selves. God doesn't want us to live a life according to the world. No, God wants us to live godly lives and He saved all people. Give me one second. I had my water ready because I already knew. I don't know why, but my throat scratchy. It's been like this for I don't know, a few months now. I think it's probably the cold. It's been so cold over here the past like three weeks. Uh this week was okay, but the lap the past three weeks 10 degrees, five degrees, zero degrees, negative degrees, negative ten. Horrible. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Freezing outside. Um but let's go to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1 through 3. And look at what it says. Therefore, a prison of the Lord, I, therefore, a prison of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. This is Paul speaking right here again. I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. All this has to go to the identity that we have in Christ. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And if we jump to verse 17 through 24. Now, this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. Gentiles were the people outside of the Jewish community, and they were the people that didn't have the commandments, they didn't have the truth, they didn't know about who Jesus was, they didn't know who who God was, who Yahweh was, they didn't know any of that. They followed their own gods, they followed their own rules, they followed their own community, they followed their own completely different um system, right? So what Paul is saying is that you no longer walk as Gentiles, and the Ephesus, they they are Gentiles, they're not part of the Jewish or the Hebrew community. We're Gentiles as well, we're not Jewish, we're not Hebrews, we're not um, we're not of of Israel, right? Back in the day. So it says that we are no longer walking in the Gentiles, as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy, to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learn Christ. That is not the way you learned Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Powerful. What is our identity in Christ? It means to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, your former, your past manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Our former manner of life, our past selves, before we knew Christ, were corrupt through our own deceitful desires, through our flesh, we were corrupted, we were evil, we were in sin. But it says that we are now renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, we have to put on our new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Guys, look at what this means. We are no longer what we used to be in the past. We are no longer our old selves. We're no longer that person who was addicted, we're no longer that person that was in drugs, we're not no longer the person that was in pornography, we're no longer that person that was in addictions, we're no longer that person that lusted, that lied, that got angry, that had no patience, that had grudges, that dealt with sadness, depression, anxiety, pain, hurt, scars. No, we are no longer that person. In Christ, we are a new creation. In Christ, we have access to our new selves that has been created in the likeness of God, living in righteousness and holiness. That is so powerful. And I know a lot of Christians, and I know a lot of people who have heard the truth and still live like victims, and still live like Christian life is hard, and still live like, oh, I can't do this, I can't do that because I am such a way, I or I can't do it because of my past, or I've messed up, I'm this way.

unknown 16:12

No.

Set Your Mind On Things Above

Walk By The Spirit

Who Is The Holy Spirit

Receiving The Spirit: Repent And Believe

Flesh Vs Fruit Of The Spirit

Love God, Love Neighbor, Share The Gospel

Obedience, Fruitfulness, And God’s Plans

Closing Prayer

Final Thanks And Calls To Action

SPEAKER_00 16:14

No, you can't think like that. You are a new creation. You have been created now in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Righteousness is to do what's good in the eyes of God. Holiness is to be separated from the world, to be separated for God. God commands us to be holy, and to be holy means to be separate. We are no longer bound to the world, we are a new creation in Christ because of the sacrifice that He did for us. He took all our transgressions, all our sins, and took them to the cross, not just yours and mine, of all people. Salvation is for all people. If we jump to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. We need to stop victimizing ourselves. We need to stop letting our mind, our fleshly mind, take control of us. We need to stop being lied to. We need to stop believing the lies of the enemy, that we aren't worthy anymore, that we don't have access to the presence of God. Oh, you messed up, you're done for. You are done for. You are done for. You can't access God anymore. You can't go and ask for forgiveness because you did this, this, and that. But that's just the lies of the devil. We have access to forgiveness. We have access to the throne of God because we have been created anew. We have been created into a new creation because of the blood of Christ. Christ already paid the price of all our sins. Does that mean that we can continue to sin? No. But Paul never says that we're perfect. Paul never says that we will never mess up. No. Proverbs 24, it says that the righteous man falls seven times but gets back up. We will fail eventually. But we know that we still can be forgiven. We run to God and ask for forgiveness. We no longer live in sin. And we know that if we mess up, the Holy Spirit convicts us and tells us, you did this wrong. Go and ask for forgiveness. And we also have the Holy Spirit to tell us, don't do that, because you know it's wrong. Go here, do this, don't do that. Make this decision instead of that one. Because we have the Holy Spirit, because we are a new creation in Christ. Don't victimize yourself saying, I can't do this. I'm a horrible person because of my past life, because of this. No, your past has been erased, it has passed away. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come because of Christ. Look what it says in Galatians or in Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 through 10. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Seek the things that are above. Don't worry about the things here. Don't worry about earthly things. Seek the things that are above where Christ is. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. This is talking about when Jesus comes back, we will appear with him in glory as well. We will have new bodies, we will be snatched away from our bodies. And if we're dead already, we will rise first before the ones that are alive. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. And these you too once walked when you were living in them. But how you must put them all away anger, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. I need you guys to understand this. Paul is telling us, put all this away. This is not stuff that is righteous. This is not stuff that a son of God should be doing. This is not something that any of us should be doing. Put all that away. Put it away. Just put it away. And put on the new self, which is being renewed every single day in knowledge, after the image of its creator. Who is our creator? Who is the creator? God. God is the creator. Renew it in all the knowledge after the image of its creator. And then what did it say above? Remember what it said? After the image of God. It said, what did it say? It says it in Ephesians 17, verse. And to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness, verse 24. And to put on the new self created after the likeness of God. And what does it say right here? Which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Our new selves are created in the image of God. We are created in the image of God. Our new self, our our our new being in Christ. We are now being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. And we still say, I can't do this. I can't do that. Christian life is hard. I don't have what I need. I need this. I need that. God hasn't given me this. God hasn't given me that. No, we can't be thinking like that. Why are we thinking like that? We have been renewed in the image of God. We are being given so many things. Because we are now a new creation. Because Christ gave his life for us. And we have the audacity to say, I still need this, I still need that, I still want this, I still need that. I'm not gonna do this until I have this, I'm not gonna do that until I have this. God is sufficient enough, his sacrifice is sufficient enough. That's all we need. All we need is Christ. That's all we need. Look what it says in Galatians 5, 16 through 17. But I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. So it's saying to walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. What does it mean to walk by the spirit? What who is the spirit? What is the spirit? What what what is this talking about? What what is the spirit? What is the spirit? Who is the spirit? Do we have the spirit? How do I walk by the spirit? Let me show it to you guys. John 14, 15 through 18. This is Jesus talking to the disciples. 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. The helper, Capital H, talking about the Spirit. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Again, this is Jesus speaking. First, he's talking in like the third person. He will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I, Jesus says, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. And then we will jump to verse 26. It says, But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to you remembrance all that I have said to you. Powerful. Who is the Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Who how can we walk in the Spirit? The explanation is this it's God Himself coming to live in you, coming to guide you, coming to explain things to you, coming to bring things to remembrance to you, coming to tell you the truth, coming to remind you the truth. The spirit is God Himself. Jesus is God. And he says, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. How is Jesus going to come to you? Come to them if he is not the Spirit Himself, if he says that I will ask the Father to send you a helper, talking about the Holy Spirit, and then he says, I will come to you. Jesus is the Holy Spirit. God is coming to live in you. And then again, we still have the audacity to say, I don't have enough, I don't have the talents, I don't have this, I don't have the knowledge, I don't have the wisdom, I don't have the discernment, I don't have um the Bible knowledge, I don't have the confidence. No. All you have to do is say, God, use me however you want me to be used. Use me however you want me to be used. And he will use you. Because everything that we need comes from God. Everything that we need is God. He will provide us with the knowledge, he will provide us with the wisdom, he will provide us with the words, he will provide us with the truth, he will bring things to remembrance, he will guide us in all truth, he will guide us in all righteousness, he will clean us and make us more like him every single day. And how do we receive the Holy Spirit? How do we give access to the Holy Spirit? How do we let God come and reside in us so that He can guide us? So that He can take us to the place that He wants us to go to. What do we have to do? Look what it says in Acts 238. It says this. And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent. That's the first thing he says. Repent. What does repent mean? Change your way of thinking. Change the way that that you see yourself, that you see the world. Change the way that you think. Change. Change your point of view. I need help. I need God. I need a savior. I am a sinner. Not I can do it by myself. I am a perfect person. I'm a good person. I give to the poor. No, none of that matters. We are all sinners. And we all need that to pay the penalty of death because we are all sinners. Not a single person has followed the law completely other than Jesus. The wages of sin is death. The Ten Commandments, one of the commandments is you shall not lie. Everybody in the world has lied, failed automatically. We are all sinners. None of us are perfect. We all deserve death. Repent. Understand that you can't do it by yourself. That by yourself you don't have access to the presence of God. By yourself, you will not have eternal life. By yourself, you will always fail. There is nothing good in us but God. Without God, there is nothing good in us. That's what it means to repent. Admitting that we need a Savior, admitting that we are sinners, admitting that we need help. That is what repenting means. Repent and be baptized, every single one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift is for everyone who repents and is baptized in the name of Jesus. And then Paul says in Ephesians 1:13 through 14. Look what it says. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, when you heard the truth, when you heard the gospel of your salvation, what is the gospel? I explained it in the beginning. God left his throne, became human, humbled himself to human form to die for our sins, resurrecting three days later. Once you've heard that, you've heard the truth, and you believe in him, in Jesus, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 3, verse 2. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Did you do anything to receive the Holy Spirit? Did you do any good works? Did you follow the law? Did you behave well? No. He's asking this sarcastically. Or by hearing with faith. Or did you hear the gospel and put your faith in Christ? Did you believe and put your faith in Christ and then you receive the Spirit? There's no weird tricks, there's no weird things that you have to do. There's no no um getting on your knees and bawling your eyes out. There's no there's no tricks, there's no no, it's a gift from God. And this gift comes from repentance, baptism, and hearing and believing with faith. You receive the Holy Spirit. You receive the gift from God, which is only a down payment of our inheritance that will come, that will come once he reappears. Again, I'm gonna repeat this. You don't have to do any twists, any turns, any tricks to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter says, repent and baptize yourself in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, for the wiping of your sins, so that you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, once you've heard the truth, once you've heard the gospel and believe in Jesus, and you put your faith in Jesus, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Did you do any works? Did you behave well? Did you follow the law? Or did you receive the spirit by faith? Again, there's no tricks to it, there's nothing crazy to it. It is a gift from God. And again, who is the Holy Spirit? God Himself coming to live in you, coming to change your mind, coming to change your heart, coming to clean you out of all the evil that's in you, coming to transform you into that new creation that we've been talking about. Put away your old self and put on the new creation that is in the image of God, in the image of the creator. And he will guide you in all truth. He will bring things to remember to your remembrance. He will guide you in every single step of the way. And look what it says in Galatians chapter 5, verse 19 through 26. These are the works of the flesh versus the works of the spirit versus the fruit of the spirit. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. There is nothing that tells you not to do any of these things. These are all good things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have 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. We have crucified our flesh. We have crucified our flesh with Christ. Our flesh is our earthly desire, the thing that separates us from God, our sinful nature, our corrupted selves. We have put it on the cross with Christ. And now we have the Spirit of God in us guiding us to be all these things, to be kind, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to have love. That is our identity in Christ. Jesus says that two commandments resume all the commandments. Love God with all your strength, all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. And I said this yesterday. What is the definition of true love? What is the definition of love? What did Jesus do? He spread love to everyone. Did he sin with them? No. Did he hang out with them? Yes. But did he follow them? Did he sin with them? Did he did he take place of what they would do that was sinful? No. But he showed them love to the point where he sacrificed his life for all of us who were sinners. And then he gives us a commandment in Mark 16, 15, which is to spread the gospel to all creation. All of creation. Everyone deserves to hear the gospel. And our identity in Christ. What did he say in John 14? Follow my commandments. Love your neighbor and love God. If you love your neighbor, you won't hurt your neighbor. You won't be envious of your neighbor. You won't be jealous of your neighbor. You won't lie to your neighbor. You won't commit adultery. You won't fornicate. You won't use someone for advantage to them. For an advantage to yourself. You won't harm them. You won't cause pain to them. All the commandments revolve around causing pain to yourself and others. If you love your neighbor, you won't commit such actions. Will you harm yourself and you harm them? Will you put yourself at risk of harming your body? Put yourself at risk of harming your emotional life. Put yourself at risk at harming your spirit, your soul. Love your neighbor and love God. And then at the end of Mark 16, 15, he says, spread the gospel to all creation. Follow my commandments, Jesus says. We have to do what he tells us. Why? Because we have put our faith in him. And us putting our faith in him, we have to be obedient. There isn't faith without obedience. And what again, what's he tell us? Love your neighbor, love God, spread the gospel. That is our identity in Christ. Produce these fruits. And through producing these fruits is to spread the gospel, loving your neighbor so much to that you can't stay quiet. Go into your coworkers and say, Hey, I have a message for you. Did you know that Jesus died for your sins? Did you know that God loves you and He doesn't want to see you in pain? The issue that you're struggling with, He can help you with that. He can give you the answers to that. He can give you the wisdom so that you can get out of that situation. That is what we are in Christ. We aren't just meant to go to church and sit there, listen to the word, sing a little bit, go home and live a life however we want. No. This is a daily battle that goes on every single day. And we have to follow his commandments. We have to be obedient. We have to produce fruit for the kingdom of God. Because what does Jesus say? If you don't produce fruit, you will be cut off, and your branch will be thrown off into the fire. We have to produce fruit for the kingdom of God. And he has plans for every single one of us. He has plans for me, he has plans for you, he has plans for your children, he has plans for your family, he has plans for everyone that lets him in. And his plans are far greater than the plans that we have for ourselves. Far, far, far greater. His wisdom is way above ours. And yeah, you might like your plans, but his plans are the only perfect ones. His plans are the only ones that are guaranteed to be successful, not ours. So about right where you are, let's close our eyes and make this prayer. God, we come before you. And before anything, Lord, I just want to say thank you because even though we wanted nothing to do with you, even though we wanted to be separated from you, you still decided to come down and humble yourself as a human. You decided to give your life for us so that we can be reconciled to you, so that you can reconcile the world back to you. And now we have access to the Holy Spirit. We have access to your presence. We have access to your throne. And now we have mercy. We have eternal life. And we have these gifts that you have given to us so that we can put to work. And God, use me as a vessel. Pray this, pray this. Use me as a vessel however you want to use me. Mold me in the ways that you want to use me. Humble me in the ways that you need me to be humbled. So that I can be used in the way that you need me to be used. God, thank you for everything that you have given us. Thank you because all blessings come from you. In your word, it says that all blessings in the heavenly places are available to us, your children. And God, help us put our faith in you and help us be obedient to your word, Lord. Help us understand that you have given us a mission and you have plans for every single one of us to fulfill that mission for your kingdom, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen. Thank you guys to for listening for um to this newest episode of Faith Over Fear. Thank you guys so much for always supporting. Thank you for being there, for waiting, for being patient. Um, again, let's just make sure that we're following, that we're commenting, that we're subscribing, that we're sharing this with as many people as possible on Apple Music and Spotify. Make sure that we're leaving five star reviews. It helps a lot with the algorithm. And I will see you guys in the next episode. Um, I'm going to be a lot more consistent now. Guys, um, I have a lot more time on my table. Um, again, I'm not working for the next two months, so make sure to keep an eye out for these episodes. And thank you always for the support. God bless you guys, and I will see you on the next episode.