First Baptist Church of Highland Park

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: Hi, I'm Henry Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland. A Bible believing, Christ-centered, and spirit-led congregation. I want to welcome you to our radio broadcast and remember, there's power at the park.

Romans 6:6 is the text we're looking at throughout this weekend. And it says in the New Living Translation, "We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin." Amen. You may go to your seats.

Every now and then, God gives us a divine reset. Not a restart, but a rebirth. Not a redo, but a renewal. Not a touch-up, but a transformation. In our culture, we understand the power of transformation. We've watched documentaries about people who've reinvented their lives. We've seen our people go from picking cotton to owning corporations, from surviving Jim and Jane Crow to becoming CEOs, professors, judges, and even presidents.

We know what new beginnings look like because God has always made a way out of no way for us. Where we did not see an open door or an open possibility, God could step in. But the deepest transformation is not external. It's not just what goes on on the outside. The deepest transformation is that which takes place internally.

Paul says something that one could categorize as radical in Romans 6:6, and I encourage you to read that entire chapter even though I zoom in on that sixth verse. In that, he says, pointing to our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ. That means the old you didn't walk away. The old you died.

This word comes as we move deeper into a season of faith and even this weekend with our Faith Strong gear, fusing fitness and faith. The spiritual discipline of the disciple. Because in order to be a disciple, it takes discipline. It takes meeting different goals, overcoming challenges. And just because you've dealt with a disappointment does not mean that I throw in a towel of defeat. Spiritual growth requires something to be broken down so something greater can be built up.

This week, I was somewhat adventurous and I wanted to try some new exercises to fuse into my life. Once you decide to do that, you're going to start utilizing muscles that you ordinarily don't utilize, which will end up with a sense of soreness. My son-in-law came to the house and we went to the gym two days together. The first day, I showed him my routine.

Second day, he showed me his routine. His routine was different than mine because it was making me have to utilize some muscles that I had not utilized. I can tell you that after all of that was done, I had to jump into a hot tub. I'm not to that point where the athletes can jump into a big tub of ice. I'm not quite there, but I can get in the hot water because I needed that to deal with the sense of how do you start exercising muscles that you had stopped utilizing.

You don't realize the things that you could have difficulties with. You don't really realize it with balance and standing on one foot and how simple it could look and how it was at one time. But then as you develop, as you're not utilizing that, one person even said every now and then you need to spend some time walking backwards because that would help some muscles that are not being utilized. Transformation requires something to be broken down so something greater can be built up.

I go through the soreness to build up somewhere. That's why I said after I ran my first marathon, I was going to keep on running because I never wanted to get back into an out of shape point in my life. Romans is Paul's masterclass in salvation, discipleship, and identity. By the time we reach Romans 6, Paul is addressing a dangerous idea: Since God is gracious, can't we just keep sinning?

Since He's gracious, since He's a God who's going to forgive me anyway, why can't I just continue doing what I once was doing? Paul answers with force and strength. He says, "Absolutely not." Why not? Because the old self, the worn-out, decaying, obsolete version of us, I've got to put that behind me.

The word "crucified" talks about to be nailed to the cross together with. I'm nailed, but I'm nailed to something. I'm nailed to an idea, an ideal, and a way of life. The word "power" really means to render inoperative. It means to deactivate. It means to shut off. Paul is saying when Christ died, the old you lost its operating system.

Sin didn't disappear. It just lost the password to your soul. It's still there and like anybody trying to hack you, we've got so many fraudulent things going on now where they're delivering packages to your house that you didn't even order. You open it up and see a QR code that says, "scan the code." If you scan the code, they're able to drain your bank account.

If you get a strange package, don't take the gift and don't scan the code. You've got to understand scammers are always trying to figure out how to get to your account. Just like a scammer is trying to figure out how to get to your account, Satan is trying to figure out how to get to your soul. In Christ, we are called to reject the limitations of who we were and fully embrace the freedom of who we are becoming.

I'm in a becoming state. God is shaping, God is developing, God is building me up. God is showing me, giving me new understanding, ordering my steps, and protecting me every step of the way. You ought to be better today than you were yesterday or last month or last year or five years ago. I ought to be better.

My sermon title is "Out With The Old, In With The New." Out with negative stuff, but in with something new. God wants to do something new and glorious and exciting in your life and you've got to say, "Lord, I'm open to whatever you want to send my way." Three things we want to look at: You're not who you used to be because the old self has been crucified.

The second thing we have to look at today, the old power has been disconnected. Sin lost its hold on you. I thank God that you've been freed up. Freed up to praise Him and freed up to give God glory. Whatever energy I used when I was unsaved, I can use now that energy to glorify God. The old power has been disconnected.

The third thing we're going to look at: You are free to walk in the new you. You're no longer a slave. You're walking in a new way, a new joy, new energy, new enthusiasm, and a new spirit. I can get up on a Sunday morning and say I have to go to church and I have to praise God and give God glory. I can't sleep in. Out with the old, in with the new.

You're not who you used to be. Before Christ, we were controlled by patterns, pressures, and pain. But Paul says the old you, shaped by trauma, temptation, and broken thinking, has now been nailed to the cross. I'm not going to let the old stuff hinder where God potentially wants to take me. Some of us, God is trying to take you forward but you have too much luggage.

You have too much baggage and you need to let some of that stuff go. When I'm flying through the airport, I'm always trying to figure out what's the best luggage for a certain trip. Am I going to take this bag or that bag? This one has wheels; this one's a spinner. Every now and then, I fooled myself and said I'm going to take one of those bags that doesn't roll, but I'm going to carry it.

That works if the gate is right there. It doesn't work when your gate is on the other side of the airport and you have to go all the way to E75 and I'm standing at A1. Every time I try to pull that off, I start off Faith Strong. But then when bags get heavy in one arm, you try to switch it to the other side.

You take the shoulder strap and you put that on this side. By the time you get to where you're going, you just praise the Lord. I said to myself that is the last time I'm doing that because you see these other folk walking past you and they have these little bags and they're just rolling, moving right along. Here you are acting like you don't need help.

The point that I'm making is that we are trying to carry too much baggage forward. There are some things we've got to put down. I realized that some of my luggage is car luggage. This is car stuff, for when you park your car and the entrance is right here. The man comes out and says, "Can I help you?" and you put that bag right there.

Let me talk to my designer folk, because some of you have designer bags. You like to show your designer bag. You put your nice designer bag out and you show it. It might be nice and it's cute, but it's not functional. You can't put that much stuff in it. You're checking in like, "Yes, those are my bags." Some of you have matching luggage. I see the way you dress in church; all your stuff matches.

Some of us bought our stuff from T.J. Maxx. Marshalls had a sale. I was in Costco and they had luggage, so I took that. Your stuff doesn't match, but it works for you. I'm saying you've got to be careful with carrying luggage that you don't need to have. Whatever trauma has happened in your life, just as our ancestors broke free from the old world of slavery to walk into a new world of hope, God says you must break free from the spiritual plantation of your past.

I'm not going to be stuck in my past. The chains have already been broken. Now you've got to walk like you're free. It's like that dog who's on a chain and the chain is now released, but the dog won't go any further because he still thinks he's chained. There are some people who can't go further because their minds have been chained.

Folk have poured into you what you can't do or how high you can potentially go in your life. You've got to put all of that to the side. Say, "Lord, I'm putting it in Your hands." Who I was is not who I am. Who I am is not who I shall be. I am becoming. God is developing me. I've not reached my full potential.

If you still have breath in your body, you still have possibilities in your life. I know you're not who you used to be, but I thank God that every step with Jesus, Lord, I thank You for anchoring me. I thank You for building me up. I thank You for showing me a way out of no way. Out with the old, in with the new.

The old power has been disconnected. Sin lost its hold on you. Paul says sin lost its power, meaning God unplugged what used to dominate you. When the power is disconnected, the lights flicker, but they don't stay on. The appliance hums, but it doesn't run. The device looks active, but it's not functional.

That's how sin works. It can knock, but it can't control you. You can stop it at the door. I'm rebuking that spirit right now in the name of Jesus. I'm going to anchor it right here in the Word of God. Here's my anchor. Here's where I draw my strength. Sin is going to knock. Sin wants to break in, but you've got to say, "I put my trust in God."

Since we're celebrating Faith Strong weekend, instructors are going to get up here. They may increase the resistance on machines, but the machine only works if you stay under its control. Paul says sin can still add resistance, but it can't run the workout unless you let it. I'm not going to allow sin to run my workout. I'm not going to let sin work out my mind or my spirit, or dash my dreams.

I keep my focus on God. You need to stop treating sin like it has authority. Sin has been disconnected. What sin is trying to do, sin is trying...