River Church NOLA
Sunday, Jan 11 New Fitness
  • Counting On God
  • One Way
  • We Are Hungry
  • Make Room
  • Intro
    Any body glad to be in church today?
    Welcome to week 2 of all things New Series. Last weeks message, New Faith was a great message and if you want to go back and listen, it’s on our website.
    We are also on Day 7 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. We are starting week 2 tomorrow. Make sure to join us Wednesday for a special prayer time. Make sure to keep up your fast… no matter what kids.
    We are in week 2 of the series, All Things New. It’s a new year and we serve a God who makes all things new.
    Last week we looked at how God is the God of do-overs. Take a look at this passage in Rev.
    Revelation 21:5 NLT
    5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
    He is the God who makes all things new. Here is another verse
    Micah 7:18–19 NIV84
    18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
    God loves to get you off the hook. He delights to forgive you and show mercy to us. Look what he does with your sin. He throws it into the depths of the sea. IOW, he forgets your sins.
    Somebody ought to shout in praise for the loving merciful and forgiving God we serve.
    Now the appropriate response is: If he is going to do that, we are going to go all in with God. Last week the message was New Faith. You can go back and listen to it.
    Today we are going to talk about New Fitness. I know… I have no real moral authority to talk about being in shape. Round is a shape…
    Someone once said that if God wanted him to touch his toes, He would have put them closer to his hands.
    I am getting in shape. When we travel, I usually go to the gym. I don’t always go in, but I go by it. Anyway… I do work out on my Total fitness and walk.
    We are going to talk about a different kind of fitness today. Listen to this.
    1 Timothy 4:8 NLT
    8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”
    Physical training is good. We are in January and most of us are restarting exercise programs that fell of during the holidays. All that is good.
    Spiritual training is better.
    This training is for the present and the future life. God has a purpose for your life here and in heaven. Look at the last verses of 23 Psalm
    Psalm 23:5–6 NIV84
    5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

    Anointing is when God settles on your life for a purpose that makes you better than yourself.

    This is for everyone. God wants to put his hands on your life for a purpose so that when you do that, you can say. that was God. I am not this good. God is doing it.
    He will make your cup overflow which means that he will give you more than you need so that you can share it with those around you. You never just pray for your own needs, pray for more than your needs so that you have something to share with others. And then you will be able to say, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Listen, this is the life you were created to live.
    But there is a condition.
    2 Timothy 2:20–21 NIV
    20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
    Those who cleans themselves. You go I thought Jesus cleansed me. He did. The moment you receive Him as your Savior and Lord, he cleanses you in the spirit realm… past present and future. When you stand before God, you are clean.
    But this passage is talking about here on earth… our bodies. Basically, Paul is saying that after you are saved, you need to let God start working on your body cleansing yourselves from the old nature so you can be sued for a special purpose.
    2 Timothy 2:21 MEV
    21 One who cleanses himself from these things will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, fit for the Master’s use, and prepared for every good work.
    I want to take you on a journey and help you realize that God wants to not only save you so that you go to heaven, but he wants to sanctify you for special purposes.
    The next verse says.
    2 Timothy 2:22 NIV
    22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
    He says to run from anything that will disqualify you from being a good witness.
    How do we get fit? We are triune beings.
    If you received Jesus as your Lord, He paid for your sins and you will stand before our God perfect, clean and pure.
    But there are two other parts of you that need to catch up with the spirit part of you. Your spirit is made in the image of God. You are a spirit being first, not a human being.

    You are not human beings having temporary spiritual experiences, you are spiritual beings having temporary human experiences.

    We are here in earth with a special purpose on earth, but we can’t do it if the vessel here on earth is not fit for it. God can’t use us if our vessel is not fit.
    2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT
    1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
    promises - God has a purpose for you.
    Not talking about salvation. This is about cleaning up our mind, emotions and bodies.
    2 Corinthians 7:1 MSG
    1 With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.
    within - soul without body and mind.
    God saves you and now wants to grow you or cleanse you so that he can use you for the special purposes he has for you. The Bible calls this Sanctification.
    Give God a year and see what he will do.
    1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 NIV
    23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
    God has a purpose fo each of us but we can’t do it if we are not fit. So how do we get fit? Go all in for a year. Be here Wednesdays and Sundays… take advantage of any small groups or classes that we will offer this year. Valentines Event… We all have issues.
    Here are some issues that we need to deal with. Why do we want to bring these into another year?

    Sins to rid ourselves of

    Addictions: Anything that I do that I didn’t want to do.

    How many of you are an addict? raise your hands. All of you should have raised your hands because addiction is anything I do that I didn’t want to do. internet use, spending, drinking, gambling, lust, and when you do it, you go, I can’t believe I did it again.
    The Bible calls it Mastery. It says this in Rom 6.
    Romans 6:12–14 NLT
    12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
    Don’t let anything master you. Here are soem questions you can ask.
    Do your family and friends say it’s a problem?
    Do you continue even though it hurts people?
    Do you arrange your schedule around it?
    Can you go one week or one month without it?
    Is it leading you to isolation? Are you trying to keep it a secret?
    If you said yes to 3 or more of these, you are likely mastered. What if we decide that even though we are going to heaven we are going to get our vessel fit for service. If God will give me a fresh start, then this is ending in 2026.

    Debauchery: extreme indulgence in sensuality.

    This is stuff that you would not do in front of Jesus. It’s listening to your feelings. We live in a generation where people have chosen to listen to their feelings over facts.
    People will say how I feel is who I am. No it’s not.
    We submit our feelings to God and we are who God says we are.
    In today’s culture if we feel something different, we change our bodies. The Bible says, NO. When your mind says anything contrary to the WOG, you change your mind. Your body is not broken, your mind is.
    Reagan - Just say No campaign. IOW when you had this urge or that temptation, you say no. No One says that anymore. They say, just be yourself.
    We have to get back to being who God created us to be. Just being yourself has let you and all of us down.
    Ephesians 5:18 NIV
    18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
    Be filled with the HS all the time, not just on Sundays.

    Sexual Immorality: all sex outside of marriage.

    Greek word is Pornea. We get the word Pornography.
    It means any sex outside marriage. Look what Paul wrote.
    1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NIV
    3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;
    Learn to control your body - why BS, classes and groups are important.
    1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NLT
    18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
    Say it ends to day. Get it out of your body. You can go to heaven without all this but you will be no good to God here. So let’s get fit this year in 2026.
    2 Kings 4:1–6 NKJV
    1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” 2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased.
    If you owed money to someone, you would have to give them your children to the person you owed.
    Oil - HS and the purpose of God. God had a purpose for you. You say, God is helping me and then your cup overflows.
    God is looking for vessels. The problem is not the oil, it’s the vessels. God is looking for vessels.
    The oil stopped - the problem wasn’t that God didn’t have enough oil, the problem is having enough vessels to put the anointing in.
    Notice she had to shut the door … to shut out the world. 21 Days of Prayer.
    What makes a fit vessel?
    get a Blue Bell container - the box doesn’t make the content, the content makes the box
    The box has to be two things.

    Qualities of a Fit Vessel

    Empty: It doesn’t already have something in it.

    It can’t have too much shopping… to many things in it. You can’t fill this without emptying it first.
    God what do you want to take out of my life in 2026? so that I can experience your purposes
    It also has to be clean?

    Clean: It isn’t contaminated and dirty.

    If the fast was over and I showed you this and said, you can have one, you would want one… But what if I said, before we put the donuts in it, we cleaned up the dog stuff in the yard… you wouldn’t want any then.
    Why is the devil coming after you? He can’t keep you out of heaven, but he wants to keep you from changing the world and making a difference.
    He can come after your body and try to distract you so that you don’t do anything for God. He wants to dirty it up.
    Romans 12:1–2 NLT
    1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
    Now you can step into the purposes God has for you, but He has to have a vessel fit for use.
    Prayer -
    Vessels - work in our bodies and our souls.
    Help us to change in 2026 because we want to useful to you. and experience all that you have for us.
    Give us courage and conviction.
    Salvation prayer -
    None of this is possible if you are not right with God. Salvation happens in a moment, Sanctification is a process.
    prayer sinners prayer.

      • Revelation 21:5NKJV

      • Micah 7:18–19NKJV

      • 1 Timothy 4:8NKJV

      • Psalm 23:5–6NKJV

      • 2 Timothy 2:20–21NKJV

      • 2 Timothy 2:21NKJV

      • 2 Timothy 2:22NKJV

      • 2 Corinthians 7:1NKJV

      • 2 Corinthians 7:1NKJV

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24NKJV

      • Romans 6:12–14NKJV

      • Ephesians 5:18NKJV

      • 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5NKJV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:18–20NKJV

      • 2 Kings 4:1–6NKJV

      • Romans 12:1–2NKJV

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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