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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Daily Devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stangey,

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Speaker 1: and today's devotion is inspired by Romans Chapter eight, verses

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Speaker 1: twelve through fourteen, which says, so, then, brothers, we are

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Speaker 1: debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

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Speaker 1: For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

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Speaker 1: But if by the spirit you put to death the

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Speaker 1: deeds of the body, you will live. For all who

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Speaker 1: are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

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Speaker 1: This passage speaks of debts, and it tells us that

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Speaker 1: we aren't debtors to the flesh. What does that mean.

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Speaker 1: It means we are not oblong to live according to

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Speaker 1: the passions and desires of our old sinful nature. We've

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Speaker 1: been set free from sin and death through Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: We aren't obligated in any way to go back to

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Speaker 1: the manner of living we were once caught up in.

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Speaker 1: Truthfully speaking, living according to the desires of our old

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Speaker 1: fleshly nature results in disease, depression, and ultimately death. By

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Speaker 1: the grace of God. However, we have a better option.

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Speaker 1: As sons of God who have been adopted into His family.

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Speaker 1: We are now truly alive. We aren't being led by

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Speaker 1: the forces of evil. We're being led by the Holy Spirit.

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Speaker 1: He's providing us divine counsel. He's speaking to our hearts

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Speaker 1: and our minds. He's illuminating the truth of the scriptures

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Speaker 1: to us. He's pointing us in a direction that is

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Speaker 1: for God's glory and our good. Let's pray. Lord, we

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Speaker 1: thank you for your word, and we thank you for

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Speaker 1: the privilege that it is to be able to read

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Speaker 1: from this portion of Scripture today, from the Book of Romans.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, we're grateful for the new work that you're

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Speaker 1: doing in our lives. At one point, we walked according

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Speaker 1: to the dictates of the Council of our Flesh. We

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Speaker 1: embraced sin, we practiced sin, We defined ourselves and wrapped

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Speaker 1: our identities around our sin, and we craved it more

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Speaker 1: and more and more. But Lord, you tell us we

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Speaker 1: don't need to live that way any longer. We're not

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Speaker 1: debtors to the flesh. We're not obligated to do its bidding. Rather,

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Speaker 1: through faith in your son Jesus Christ, we are enabled

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Speaker 1: to walk by your spirit who lives within us. Father,

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Speaker 1: We're so grateful for the privilege to be led by

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Speaker 1: your spirit. We're so grateful to see things in a

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Speaker 1: new way, and we're grateful that we can rely on

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Speaker 1: your power as we seek to walk in the spirit

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Speaker 1: in every context that you place us in. Lord. This

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Speaker 1: is a true gift, and we're grateful, and we pray

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Speaker 1: that our manner of living would testify to the fact

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Speaker 1: that we know that we belong to you, that we

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Speaker 1: are your children, and we want to honor you in

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Speaker 1: our lives. So thank you for this encouragement from your word.

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Speaker 1: Today we commit this day to your care and pray

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Speaker 1: this all in Jesus' name. Amen.