Understanding the Laws of Life & Death

- beginning of a new series by Bishop George Davis 
Romans 7:15- Romans 8:2
-in my flesh there is no good thing. However, through Christ JesuI live by the law of the spirit, not the law of man 
-2 master laws that exist on earth and they are polar opposites:
       1) law of life 
       2) law of death 


-There are things that we do, sometimes ignorantly, that enacts the law of death to work against us when God designed for the law of life to be operating in our lives each and every day. 


-Called laws because they're always working either for or against you for your entire life. 


*Important to know about these laws because if we don't, we may end up blaming God when things go wrong in our lives and get mad at God. 


- You can't expect to live out the law of life in your life if you're continually enacting the law of death
- *Death is always trying to work against you, but because you're in Christ Jesus, the law of life supersedes the law of death because it's more powerful


--> Psalm 115:12- 
-God will bless you on credit! (he knows your heart)
--> Genesis 2:7-9; Genesis 1:26


*It's a powerless place to be in when everyone else is responsible for your mess because that means you can't get out of this prison/ bondage you're in unless they decide to change their ways. But when you take responsibility for it, you have dominion over it. 


[reference scripture: John 6:63, 1Tim 3:16] 


--> Romans 5
From Adam to Moses, the people of the earth were being dominated by the law of death until God gave Moses the law --> now they know what's right and what's wrong so they (we're) without excuse. 
--> John 3:36- 


-He that believeth on the son of God has eternal life. The law of life is the dominating force in the life of a born-again believer so you no longer have to bow a knee to the law of sin.
- God has put himself in us! (supernatural) he's trying to get us to a place where we're in this world but not of this world --> it's a daily fight to live in this world, but not be contaminated by this world 


John 17:13- 


- Stand up and show the world what God looks like! 
*Don't tiptoe around the devil! Why? Because Jesus has made me free from the law of sin! I don't have to try and impress you, be afraid of you, fearful, cowardly, etc. Because God has set me free to be me in Him. 


* assignment for the week: overflow in the word of God this week. You can do that by - CD, meditation, of key scriptures, etc. 

"Dying to Change" ~ Bishop George Davis ~ Romans 6:1-

- Jesus died to give us access to God -> salvation should come after change.

- God doesn't want to just change the inside, but transform the outside as well

* the change comes when you RENEW your mind (if you don't renew your mind, you may just be a born-again believer on the inside only)

- you have to be exposed to a certain expectation of how God operates.

**You can end up with a short-term HIGH of god and no long-term RELATIONSHIP/ commitment/ encounter with him if you don't renew your mind.

7 STEPS TO RENEWING YOUR MIND (sorry, we only got through 4 of them)

1) identify the root cause to your "success"  (i will check next week because i didnt catch the last word of this step, but it only makes sense given the notes that follow that it would be success)

2) **settle the fact that God is right about everything, and we are wrong if we disagree with Him.

3) meditate God's word daily to establish right thinking (psalm 119:84)

4) evaluate & change what you're hearing & seeing

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*Enemy's trick = to make you so guilty to the point that quit! But keep chasing after God!! Never stop trying.

-don't worry about what the devil might throw at you to convince you otherwise. it's between you and God, not you and the devil.

-Joshua 1:8 -> your success is NOT defined by economic or political status; you must live out the word of God. 

                           -> ** a lot of Christians want to live out THEIR own way but get GOD results!

-Yes, God governs over us. However dont blame every bad thing that happens to you on God's doing!! -> Psalm115: what happens down here has more to do with what WE do, not God. HOWEVER he still helps us out...

            -> ex: you're 17, you sneak out of the house when your parents aren't home, and you go to a teen club. upon arrival, shots ring out, you're hit in the head and you stumble to the ground. At that moment you are wondering why you even came to that club in the first place. All the people around you are screaming, and crying, but you are still on the ground, dying. God didn't put you in that situation. However when you continue to live and follow that course leading to destruction, sometimes you get into crashes..

- 1 reason why many christians don't do the right thing: b/c we are trying to will ourselves to do it God's way, but you need revelation! -> 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4 - before you can obey the word, you first must receive revelation of the word.

-meditating is not just closing your eyes and clearing your mind (according to the bible). it means you can take a scripture, repeat it break it down, etc.

       -> example: psalm 23 "the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.."

              - okay... the Lord. The Lord. My provider. Wonderful. Merciful...

               - is my shepherd... shepherd. The good shepherd. That means i/we must be the sheep. He is sovereign over me&you. That means he reigns and i obey his commandments..

                - I shall not want.... I .. me... i shall not want. That means that if i listen to God's calling over my life and follow his commandments he will take care of all of my needs and i won't want for anything!!!

* you see how much more yuou get out of that verse when you meditate on it, rather than just reading it?? and you can do that with any scripture!!

-watch out for hearing anything thats not annointed. DONT listen to it.

*you can't expect to think/act out annointed thoughts if your mind is saturated with stuff that does not line up with the word of God

(references: Eph.1:17; Collosians3:18-; Eph6:; Psalm 101:3; mark4:23-24)

-we ALWAYS look at the end result: the mess up. The lust, the adultery, sin etc. Oh God, please forgive me. I'm sorry. I know i said i wouldn't go there anymore, or do that anymore, etc. BUT we need to back up and think about the MINDSET that got us there!!!

           -> ex: "any man that lusts after a married woman has already commited adultery with her.."

*everything you see & hear WILL IMPACT YOUR HEART!! whether you agree or not, eyes, ears, mouth = the gates/windows to your heart.

          -> you struggle with your flesh when you put secular things before your eyes.

(prov. 4: 20) Living out a holy christian life isnt hard, but living a DOUBLE-LIFE (Christian on the weekends and a whole different person during the week)

- 1 Corinthians7

- so often do christians accept the ungodly, unannointed, sinful things of this world. -> our morality boarder[what we are ok with and what we won't go for] should be smaller than what it is. ex: pre-marital sex, homosexuality, killing, etc. is all made to seem acceptable throught what we listen to, watch, and do. Some of the music out right now is really nothing more than pornography in lyric form.

**Anything that tries to give you a SHORT_CUT to the way God says to do something is the Devil trying to knock you off course.

-step #5: submit to an environment that challenges our "stinking thinking" (that is, your thinking that is not aligned with the word of God)

-if you are my friend i should be a greater christian when im around you.

-my close friends should challenge me to stop my negative thinking (thoughts of temptations to sin, etc), NOT beat you down about it but redirect your mind to that which is aligned with the word of God.

-we all have a tendency to setle for the "norm" (ex: no one else on my block makin straight A's so even though i KNOW i am capable of making straight A's i'm not going toeven try to earn them..)

-it's going to be hard for you to renew your mind if you are still hanging around friends that think the way you used to think.

-step# 6: commit to the longterm pain of change (it takes time)

--> philipians 1:6

everyone has some things to change. God said that he would be working on us until the very moment he calls us home. THEREFORE, we must have something in us that needs to be fixed

-have enough integrity of heart not to boast around like ou are perfectas a Christian because ou are not!

-change is a process

->1peter5:8-

-when ou're attempting to renew your mind, it's a longterm process that ou must continuall work at

--> 2 Corinthians 10:3-

-don't let our thoughts dictate our actions ((u and your thoughts are not one!)

->john8:31&32

-life and death are determined by what is sown into our lives

->john 15:1

(step # 7): remind yourself daily that you can do nothing without Christ.