Romans 8

The epistle, epistle means letter, is the same as a letter. And Paul, for example, the Apostle Paul did not write letters like the ones we write with one page, or two paragraphs, he wrote letters to instruct the different churches in different cities from which he had planted churches, or had visited in other previous years of his ministry. And the purposes of the letters of the Apostle Paul, for example, or of Peter, or John, whoever wrote the letter, was to instruct, to teach these congregations in the principles of the Christian faith, to correct errors, etc.

So when we say the letter to, for example, the letter to the Romans, it was written to the congregations and Christians who were in the city of Rome. And he wrote this letter to instruct you in the faith, to instruct you in different essential concepts of the Christian life. They are like written sermons, but sometimes very long sermons, like the letter to the Romans, with all kinds of teachings and information and very important theological principles.

Of course, when we preach from those letters, what we do is sometimes separate very specific concepts, well isolated, focus on that to instruct the people of God in things that as one grows in faith, one is adding, adding, adding to his repertoire different ideas, different principles that should govern our Christian walk.

Did I lose them or are they still here mentally with me? Amen. They understand? Because these things are good to explain. For many of you it may sound like something good, so fundamental that it is almost not necessary, but for many brothers who are new to the faith, these are things that we have to remember that we must also teach them as you also learned.

Let's go to Chapter 8 of Romans, verse 1, the letter to the Romans is one of the most profound letters in all of Scripture, it is so multifaceted, so diverse in its teachings that there are people who have taken years and years, preachers, isolating different things from this beautiful letter. Chapter 8, Romans. I'm going to actually read a couple of verses and then we're going to go in different directions depending on the topic at hand.

Chapter 8, Romans, verse 1 says: ".... now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

I'm going to read that again so that if you don't have your Bible, it will impress your mind: “....now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And then the Apostle Paul adds another layer of clarification. It says "... those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit."

In other words, what is it to be in Christ Jesus? Well, not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

It says “... because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death because what was impossible for the law because it was weak through the flesh, God sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and because of sin, condemned sin in the flesh."

And let me jump. Let's leave it there. Alright. I am going to expose other principles and perhaps I will read a little more as we progress in this teaching.

The Lord put it in my heart to share with you a very important principle of the Christian life and it is an expression that you will find many times in Scripture and it is that the Bible calls us to live in the spirit , to live according to the spirit. And let's see what that means. Because from that living in the spirit comes a series of benefits and privileges of the Christian life.

The Apostle Paul begins in Chapter 8 by saying "... now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Whenever you read the Bible and you see a 'well', think about what comes before because 'well', the word well means, well, as a consequence of, or as a result of what we have been discussing. And if you look before Chapter 8, before that expression, what does the Apostle Paul mean that good, now there is no condemnation? What was he talking about?

Well, if you read in Chapter 7, you're going to find the reason why he expresses himself in that way in Chapter 8. If we read, for example, there in Chapter 7 before, in Verse 14, if you have the Bible with me, if you don't listen to me, it says "....for we know that the law is spiritual."

Now, another little thing that you can put in there in your relearn folder. What is the law? What is the Apostle Paul talking about the law? Well, he's talking about Jewish law, not civil law, but Hebrew law. Remember that all the Hebrews, the Jews, before Jesus Christ came lived according to a sacrificial system, all kinds of legalisms. The only way a human being could justify himself before God was through animal sacrifices, through keeping a number of regulations, washing his hands at certain times and not at others, eating only certain types of food.

If you read, for example, the books of the Pentateuch, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, you will see all the prohibitions and all the legalisms, hundreds and hundreds of minutiae that had to be kept in order not to be contaminated, so as not to offend others. God, to receive justification. Justification before Jesus Christ was through a huge apparatus of things that men and women had to do in order to stay justified and feel like they were covered by God and when you failed in any little thing, right away you felt that you were as totally separated from the mercy of God and had to come and offer sacrifice again and start anew. It was a very oppressive system, very legalistic, very restricted, and if you got out of it for a little bit, you were immediately out of God's mercy.

So that was the context and every Jew lived under that sense of oppression, as of imminent failure and the wrath of God. There was even a number of Jews who did not even participate in the sacrifices, nor in the religious life of Israel because they were already completely distanced. Judaism had almost become like a religion for specialists in religion, people who had only been able to reach a very high degree of development, and the majority of the people lived as if on the fringes of spiritual life, so restricted and so demanding. what life was like under Jewish law. And the very word the law, already indicates the restrictions and the great weight that there was on the Jewish religious life.

Then Paul says, "...because we know that the law is spiritual..." 7:14 "...but I am carnal, sold under sin because what I do I do not understand because I do not I do what I want but what I hate, that's what I do”.

Look who is speaking, the Apostle Paul, a man of God, an Apostle filled with the holy spirit, miracles were performed throughout his life. He wrote 2/3 parts of the New Testament, used to support much of Christian theology, and this man, full of God, comes clean through this letter. And he says “look, I know that I am sold to sin”. Imagine the expression so strong: I am captive to sin, if I am honest with you. And by the way, how good it is to be transparent, not to walk around with pretensions or show off, but to be honest with God and with others. That does not lower you, on the contrary, people will respect you more for being sincere and honest. And also that when we humble ourselves before God there is a blessing for that.

So Paul was honest with his readers and told them “look, I recognize the law is good, the law is spiritual, it is to improve the life of man, but I recognize that I cannot live under it, I cannot function under it, because it is too demanding because when I look at myself, I recognize that there is a tendency in me to sin. I hate sin but when I least expect it, there I am offending God.

How many can say love to that experience, right? Many times we want to please the Lord and we say I will never say another bad word and a moment passes and then someone cuts us off on the road and we want to throw the car over him. Oh, I sinned again and we feel again the weight of having offended the Lord.

Everyone, except me, of course goes through a similar situation in life and we all want to please the Lord but in one way or another we continually offend. That is human reality.

Look how he says here in verse 21. He says "...so I want to do good, I find this law that evil is in me."

That is truly the human condition. As long as we are in this skin, brothers, until God has totally regenerated us through the resurrection, the truth is that we are going to be in continuous struggle, we are going to be battling. It's like there are two boxers inside of us. Like those dolls that are boxing there and there is the little devil and the little angel on one side and on the other and they are always looking to see... struggling, right? There is a desire in men to serve God, to please the Lord, to live according to the word of God, and there is another influence, like another principle, another kingdom that is within us that leads us to err and fail in things. good intentions we have.

And what if that is so, then if we are doomed, as it were, to offend God while we are here in this world, what will become of us? What about many Christians and many people who love God and fear God? That when we fail the Lord we feel like there is no hope for us anymore. Many people who struggle with serious struggles in their hearts and habits from the past and all this, when you fail the Lord you say 'ah, I'm going to stop going to church because I'm a hypocrite, right? I don't want to be a hypocrite. God has already lost interest in me. Now God says, 'I'm not going to... enough, I'm not going to give that person any more grace.' And many times we feel guilty, we feel distanced from God, we feel that we are worthless, we feel that we do not want to seek more from the Lord. Many times we are tempted to say, well, if I can't overcome this sin, then I'm going to throw myself into it.

And there are many people in this society, precisely because they can't stay 100 percent victorious, what happens? That they have embraced sin and have elaborated a whole system of beliefs and even cultural aspects to now strengthen themselves in sin and to say, 'no, that is not a sin, but it is simply an alternative, a different way of living.'

And how many people today too, we even see them wrestling with the word of God, changing the word of God and moving the poles, as it were, to make the word of God fit inside their behavior, when what God wants is that our behavior fits within the word of God, right?

So what's up? That man, all of us in our life of struggle between good and evil, the tendency is to feel condemned, to feel separated from God, as those Jews felt who were under that oppressive law.

And that is why the Apostle Paul writes there in Chapter 8, after coming clean and saying 'I also belong to that fallen and sinful race, which is man', then he comes out with this clarification . He says ".... now then," -as a consequence of what I just said-, it is important that we know one thing and that is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

We, brothers. If you are in Christ Jesus, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if Christ operates in your life and you have given your life to Jesus and you know that he lived a pure, perfect, just life, in substitution of your inability to live that same type of life and that he died on the cross in substitution for your sins, then the Apostle Paul tells you ".... you have no condemnation". That is to say, there is no sword hanging over your head ready to cut you as soon as you sin or do something, because now you are under the mercy of God, under the grace of God.

Now, I know that there are many little brothers that I can see their little wheels working on their heads when I say this. They say 'ah, the pastor is preaching that we sin and do what we want, and where is the holiness then, where is the God who says that he is holy three times or 7 times, I don't know how many times, I know that many holy times? And sometimes we think 'ah, a liberal preaching'. Let's be careful, brothers, we know one thing and that is that we must not abuse the grace of the Lord, the grace of God cannot be abused.

Now, it is important that we know that when we are in Christ, we are already free from condemnation. You are no longer condemned but rather adopted to be a member of God's family. And you know what? I personally find it liberating to know that I have a God who sees me with the eyes of my father and even my grandfather, many times, instead of a harsh, austere and vengeful God, who is there with a whip ready to whip me from that I go a little out of line.

Guess what? To me that, knowing that my God loves me and that through Christ Jesus I have continuous cleansing from my sins and grace and mercy, that instead of encouraging me to sin more, and more, and more, what It makes me want to keep myself more within the acceptance of my God, because I say 'wow, God has been so merciful, so full of grace with me, so accepting that he could have destroyed me and yet he has blessed me with his mercy. , I would be ungrateful if I abused his grace and his mercy'.

And I have found, brothers, that it is easier for us to live lives acceptable to God when we do it from the perspective of grace and mercy, than fear and condemnation. Because that frees us, it releases our energy.

It's like children, a child who grows up under an oppressive father, an oppressive mother who for all at once is giving him a strap or putting him in a room or punishing him, or telling him not to do it, no do this, don't think this. What's happening? The boy becomes neurotic and becomes an emotionally sick child who is afraid of life, afraid to express himself, to experiment with new things.

When a child is raised in an environment of acceptance and affirmation and love, but also discipline because both are necessary, what happens? That child grows up healthy. That child grows up with high self-esteem and there are more possibilities for that child to develop into a creative, initiative, professional or at least successful person in life because they have grown up under the love and affirmation of a father, a mother .

And I encourage you, brothers, to change the mental model of how you see God and how you see your Christian faith. Change it from condemnation, from sin, from imminent punishment to the father who loves you, the father who accepts you, the father who receives you, the father who tells you 'look, I know that you are...' 'I know that You have difficulties in controlling your life and walking as I want, but come with me and we will work together and I will take you to that level of the fullness of my son, Christ Jesus.' And that should encourage us, brothers, it should excite us.

That is why the Apostle Paul says "... there is no condemnation, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Remember that always.

The word says that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. And that "cleanses us" say those who know the Greek much better than I, that it is written in a verb that is continuous. In other words, it is like saying, the blood of Christ is continually cleansing us from all sin.

If you look for example at the human anatomy. Right now you are sitting there very calmly, but inside your body there is an incredible dynamism, everything is movement, your blood is constantly running and circulating, that is why it is called blood circulation. Unless you haven't realized that you died, your blood is going to be circulating right now within you. We'll know when everyone's gone, if anyone's still sitting there. But the vast majority of you, your blood is circulating within you. And why does the blood circulate? Because the blood is always collecting all the impurities of the body.

When you move, breathe, act, there are always toxins, as your body is a machine, in a sense speaking, it is always producing good things but also waste, there are impurities left over from biological processes, And how is the body going to get rid of that? Well, your blood collects a series of elements and circulates them to different parts and the body processes and eliminates them or whatever. So there is a process of continuous contamination, but also of continuous purification and cleansing. And I believe that something like that is the blood of Christ in us. Amen.

You don't enjoy how cute the pastoral illustrations are. Even if it is I have to give myself a little compliment, if they don't give it to me. The idea is, brothers, the blood of Christ is always running in you, cleansing you from all sin if you are in Christ Jesus, see? If you are not in Christ Jesus, the only thing that produces your life is pollution, spiritual toxins, damage, death. That's what happens to people when they're not in Jesus Christ.

Before knowing Jesus, every person is in that life of condemnation, of negativity, there is a weight, there is a shadow even if he is a philanthropist, even if he gives money to the poor, even if he is a hard-working and honest person on the physical level of life, but, he is always going to be a sinner. And the only thing that makes us accepted before God would be perfection. None of us can have perfection. Who gives it? Jesus Christ. His death on the cross makes us free from all sin.

Look in Ephesians, Chapter 2, a picture of the condemned person, of the person without Christ, the person who is under condemnation and that's where we all were before we met Jesus. Chapter 2, Ephesians, Chapter 2, verse 1. Says the Apostle Paul, that is another letter written to those who were in the city of Ephesus, it says “.... And he gave you life – he is talking about those people who now know Jesus, but who did not know him before- ... and he gave life to you when you were dead in trespasses and sins..."

Look, the person who is not in Christ Jesus is dead in crimes and sins, he is a spiritually speaking criminal. He may be a very decent person at the social level but in spiritual terms before God, there are two things: he is dead and he is swimming saturated in crimes and sins. He has no forgiveness of his sins.

See? Since the blood of Jesus is not running inside them, the only thing that person is producing is toxins, spiritual toxins, damage. Every time you sin, that sin stays inside and continues to circulate, producing death, producing corruption.

"... you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you walked in another time"

That is very important, he says "... in which you walked." In other words, it is assuming that when one is in Christ one is no longer governed and saturated and practicing sin.

“...following the current of this world...”

Another thing about the person who is under condemnation is that he is governed by the principles of this world. What is this world? The prevailing culture, the Hollywood culture, the Wall Street culture, with its love and attachment to money. The culture of violence, which we see for example in the Middle East, or the culture of sensuality that is seen in many of our cities, or the culture of vanity in the world that is seen in fashion and attachment to the body , which we see in some of the gyms in this city.

The human culture that is simply attached to the now and the here, the men who only think horizontally, in this time, in their body, in their flesh.

"...following the current of this world according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now operates in the children of disobedience...".

Which one is that prince? Satan, the horny one, who does so much harm to humanity. It says if you are under condemnation, if you are not under the control of Jesus Christ, then you are in one way or another, and that should scare us and attend to this, you are under the control of Satan. That does not mean that you go around salivating through your mouth because you are possessed or with your eyes turning in their sockets. Not necessarily that, but there is a principle that governs your life, it is the principle of evil and Satan rules in.... If Christ does not rule your life, Satan rules it, let me tell you.

You can be a very decent, very noble, very good person but Satan is going to have dominion over your life. You can be the president of this nation, but if you are not in Christ Jesus, the one who ultimately rules your life is the prince of the power of the air who causes all the harm that there is in humanity.

And it says “....among whom all of us also lived in another time....”

When? Before knowing Christ.

It says "... in the desires of our flesh doing the will of the flesh and thoughts."

That is the life of the person who does not know Christ, controlled by the appetites of the flesh. The Apostle Paul speaks of not walking in the flesh. What does it mean to “walk in the flesh”? Walking in the flesh means being governed by the body, by low appetites.

And let me say something that low appetites are not only sexual or food appetites, the appetites of the flesh can also be vanity. There are people who have an appetite for the approval of others and will give millions of dollars just to have their name put on a building or a chair at a university and have everyone say, 'Wow, this family gave three million dollars to Harvard for a new building. What more millionaire and more generous people. And that's what they get... and that's also the work of the meat, you know?

The works of the flesh can also be an artist who only thinks 'this is my talent and I made that painting with my creativity and it reflects my artistic greatness' and does not give glory to God. That is also called the work of the flesh.

The work of the flesh can also be a mother who has given herself to her child and who has sacrificed herself for him and who lives for that child and who has projected herself into that child and who takes it and she overwhelms him with her control and when he's a man she doesn't even want him to get married anymore because she needs him close to her, right? And she finds herself fulfilled in that child and develops a sort of controlling and unhealthy relationship with that child who is a projection of her, and people would say 'wow, what a good mother. See how it is given, see how it is delivered. But what? There is selfishness in it, and that too is a work of the flesh.

In other words, meat is everything that has a taste of selfishness, self, this world, low appetites, and can sometimes dress in very sublime clothing but everything is the same: It's meat, meat, meat. They say over there, the monkey even if dressed in silk, the monkey stays. In other words, men sometimes dress our appetites with a lot of uufff... some tremendous adornments, but it's always the same. And all those people who walk according to the flesh are under condemnation.

That is why the Apostle Paul says in Romans, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, this is for those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to what? to the spirit And that brings me to the other point...

According to what principle do you live? Here I am going into the practical part of the passage and with this I am actually almost finishing, because the idea is... Brothers, where are our priorities? You see, says the Apostle Paul, "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," but he develops that a little further.

What does it mean to be in Christ Jesus? Well, it means, walk in the spirit, give priority to the spirit and not just focus on the things of this world.

I want each one of us to measure ourselves, because the Lord is speaking to this congregation, to each man, to each woman who is here. I love each one of you, brothers, and my desire is that each one of us can grow evenly in the Lord, that we can truly enjoy the benefits of the Kingdom of God, and for this reason it is necessary that sometimes the knife of the word between a little deep in us and that we can ask ourselves, what do I live for? where is my priority in life? Andar en... means that: it means giving priority, giving focus to something.

And there are only two things one can live on on earth. One can live focused on the flesh with the consequences that we see here, under the control of the devil, under the condemnation of God, under the appetites of the flesh, under the influence of the world; or one can live focused on things of the spirit.

What does it mean to live focused on things of the spirit? It means giving priority to eternal things, giving priority to spiritual things. For example, you are here today, this morning, in this place. You could be elsewhere, but you chose to dedicate a couple of hours of your life to the Lord. Last night perhaps many sisters ironed their clothes and those of the children and left them all ready, if they didn't get up early to do it.

Other men perhaps... there was a young man here at 9 in the morning who told me, 'pastor, I have to leave at 10:30.' I greeted him for a moment during the service because at work they force me to work, -a humble person- and I can't, it's the only job I have and I need to work, but I come here, I discovered the church and I discovered that they have a service for 9, but I have to leave at 10:30 so he apologized. I told him 'brother, that's good, that time that you... glory to God.'

He had to come and establish a priority. Many of you have come here because you love things of the spirit. And you know that here you are offering your offering to the Lord, you are receiving spiritual teaching to improve your lives, you are exposing your children to Christian doctrine, you are trying to straighten your path. That is an example of walking in the spirit. Because? Because instead of watching television, or reading the Boston Globe in a restaurant, eating a bronch, they are here, in the house of God. They prioritized that. That is walking in the spirit.

But, it is much more than that. walking in the spirit means that your primary interest in life is the eternal and the spiritual. Look, what is the first commandment of the 10 commandments? You shall love the Lord your God, he says with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. Do you know that God is a jealous God, he does not share? God is not a polygamous God. God is monogamous. He marries you and doesn't want other competing gods. And they know that many of us have other gods. We have the god of the body, we have the god of money, the god of education, the god of success, the god of friends, there are many gods. And God says, I don't share my love with anyone. I love you one hundred percent.

So, walking in the spirit means that God wants you to love him above all things, that you give priority to things of the spirit and that your interests, your priorities, your thoughts ....

How many of us can say that all day long, at one point or another, our thoughts turn back to the Lord. We are always thinking, Father, we are as if computing in life always around our Christian identity, that our Christian identity is above any other identity.

Because there are many people who are businessmen from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening, and God is on the side at that time, right? They can abuse their workers, they can cheat all they want, they can do at the expense of others and morality does not enter into their financial considerations, because religion is one thing and the business world is another thing. You know what? that is a lie from the devil. you are a Christian in business and out of business, at work, outside of work, in marriage, and also in ordinary social relationships. You are a Christian 24 hours a day. There's no such thing as putting on your evangelical hat when you walk into church and then taking it off and then now living like the little devil again doing whatever you want.

The Christian is 24 a day like a soldier, on duty, he is always in his uniform, although there is another uniform that we wear as a worker, a student, whatever. No, we are people of the spirit, brothers.

The carnal man, the man who walks in the flesh only thinks, as the Apostle Paul says, in the things of the flesh. He's thinking, again, how he's going to buy the next suit, or the next $200 sneakers to be the first in his school to have it, or how to do something that people say 'wow, what a most accomplished, most accomplished person.' . Or you're thinking about how to use that last exercise to build up the pectorals a little bit, an inch more to use that spandex so all the muscles show better.

The man, the woman in the flesh is thinking about what my friends will think, or what city I'm going to move to to make more money, to have that condo. He is always thinking in carnal terms, my money is mine and my interests are mine, my body is mine, my profession is mine and he thinks that... there is a compartmentalization of life, a bit for God and another bit for others things, the rest is mine. The Christian does not think like that, those who walk in the spirit are all a great circle and God surrounds that circle. God is the circumference and everything is within that.

Brothers, I preach that and I myself do not live it fully but I know that that is where God wants me, and that is where God wants you there too.

My desire is to challenge you, challenge all of us to be able to enjoy the fullness of the Christian life, the benefits of the Christian life, and that will only come when we are radically committed to the Mister. When our mind is always thinking of God, God, God, always.

It is not that we are fanatics, because the man, the woman of God, look, can do everything. The man, the woman of God can be a great professional and must be the best worker in his factory that there is. And the man of God, the woman of God must be a successful person. There is nothing wrong with a man, a woman of God having professional dreams or wanting to buy a house, or having a bank account and thinking about retirement, taking a good vacation, going to a movie, listen to good music, buy a good stereo, none of that is forbidden to a child of God, but each of these options must be saturated with the values of the Kingdom of God.

Enjoy your money. Praise God for that. Enjoy your profession. Glory to God. Enjoy your studies. Glory to God. But know that the Lord owns everything you have and that everything you do is conditioned by your Christian identity.

So, if you are under Christ Jesus and you have made him your Lord, your Savior, your substitute, your representative before the Father, and you then live a life of prioritizing the things of the spirit, there is no condemnation possible for you, my brother, my sister. You can lie down, put your head on the pillow, and know that the Lord is pleased with you.

And when you sin and stray from the ways of the Lord, you go to the Father, repent, confess, strive to be better and God says 'Don't worry, we're fine. Your sins are forgiven. The blood of my son covers you from all sin.'

Brothers, that is the life that every man, every woman should want to live in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. Where are you, where am I?

I suggested to the brothers this morning that they take an exam, one day that you want, sit on a comfortable sofa, with a cup of coffee, find a blank sheet of paper, a pencil, do two columns. On one side the flesh, on the other side the spirit and take inventory of your life.

Take an average week for example and examine where your time and energy were invested in that week. Make a list and in the things of the spirit put everything that leads to nobility, to eternity, to please God, to the moral and spiritual elevation of your life, that kind of discipleship that you took, those hours that you spent in the house of God, those uplifting conversations you had with your brothers, that prayer time you had every morning, the time you spent reading the Scripture, the Chapters of that Christian book you read, the good television programs that edified your soul and his spirit. Put all those things in the department of the spirit and in the flesh, it's not necessarily bad, but put everything that is going to stay here when you die and that when the world burns, all that is going to perish, you can It can even be good things, but that have to do with the now and the here: work, money, friends, gym, physical, external conversations, television, programs that sometimes lead to nothing. Good, but put everything that is human, flesh, earth, biology, time and space, everything that stays here and what you invested in eternity.

Take a look and see, that will tell you if you are walking more or less, if you are walking according to the flesh or according to the spirit. Where were your priorities? what does your life reflect? Where are the values? What are you focused on? What is it that concerns you? What is it that moves you? What is it that excites you? What commands your attention and your priorities and your commitment and your delivery? There, where your heart is, says the Bible, there will be your treasure. Where your priorities are, there you are.

Where are your priorities on this day? Are you in Christ Jesus? Do you walk according to the spirit? If so, there is no condemnation for your life. and if not, there is an opportunity for you too, because the Lord says 'you can change. I can enter your life and make a 180 degree turn if you invite my son into your heart, and if you start now to change your priorities and start looking for more of the things of the spirit.

Let's put our heads down for a moment, while our brothers join us there with something soft to promote meditation and I want each of us to do at least an initial self-examination now, a cursory self-examination , there for an instant only . Take a moment and examine yourself and ask yourself where is my treasure, and is my life based on Christ Jesus.