WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:31.260 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.440 Thanks for listening. 00:00:45.160 --> 00:00:47.220 Well done, graduates. 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:52.820 I know it's a lot of hard work on behalf of you for all that you've done, 00:00:52.820 --> 00:01:00.180 and so congratulations as you're beginning to see some of that fruit of the work that you've invested over the last few years. 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:06.480 To the parents and grandparents and support systems and aunts and uncles and everybody else to you, 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.580 I just wanted to also say congratulations. 00:01:08.740 --> 00:01:10.180 You got through right along with them. 00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:16.780 The older my kids get, the more that I understand the difficulty and the battle of that. 00:01:17.740 --> 00:01:22.480 Aaron and I, I was the youth pastor at Cedar Creek Church, and we were there for a small group one night. 00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:27.220 We had a staff small group, and so our senior pastor led that for us, and we were there. 00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:34.160 And we were in the middle of two-year-old twins that stage of life. 00:01:35.420 --> 00:01:39.380 And maybe it was mild to say we were complaining, but we were complaining. 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:42.880 And Terry Lee looked at us. 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:45.440 That was our senior pastor's wife. 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:50.060 She looked at us, and with kindness and compassion and love in her heart, she said, 00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:51.840 it just gets harder, right? 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.620 And so congratulations, parents. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.600 Everyone, today is a day to celebrate. 00:01:59.020 --> 00:02:02.140 If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Galatians chapter 5. 00:02:03.940 --> 00:02:08.400 As you turn there, we are starting our new series, In the Fruit of the Spirit. 00:02:09.300 --> 00:02:12.800 I want to reiterate one of our announcements that we had. 00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:16.960 We will be doing a family mission trip this September. 00:02:17.140 --> 00:02:22.580 And next Sunday, June the 5th, I'm going to be doing an informational meeting about that. 00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:26.140 And so if you're interested, intrigued about going and being a part of this, 00:02:26.200 --> 00:02:30.620 we'll be going to Black Mountain Children's Home, where our men's ministry has had the opportunity to serve, 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.280 as well as our middle school and high schoolers as well. 00:02:33.380 --> 00:02:36.660 And so it'll be a wonderful time for families to go and to be a part of that. 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:40.780 And so if you would like some more information, please be with us after the service. 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:47.120 Next Sunday, we'll meet over in Building 2, and I believe in Room 200. 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:50.100 Also, before we get into this, I just want to take a moment. 00:02:51.140 --> 00:02:54.420 And this weekend, it's been a busy weekend for us. 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:55.920 It's been a busy weekend for a lot of you. 00:02:56.700 --> 00:03:04.140 Erin's family had a family get-together, a family reunion in the big booming town of Waterloo, South Carolina, yesterday. 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:10.460 And we went up to Waterloo off the shores of Lake Greenwood and had a wonderful time with her family. 00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:18.400 And I know some of you this weekend and Monday will have barbecues and cookouts and parties planned to go to. 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:25.460 You've got graduation festivities to be a part of and meals to do and things to celebrate. 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:30.700 These graduates and many others who you've been invited to celebrate them as well. 00:03:31.640 --> 00:03:37.980 But as we do that, I just want to remind us of the freedom that we have to partake in these things. 00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:51.500 It never seeks for the Lord to remind me each morning what a privilege it is that we can gather here in this building without fear of persecution. 00:03:52.440 --> 00:04:00.220 That we can journey from wherever we are in life with our faith and come in here and worship and we can carry our faith and go from there. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:07.440 And that wouldn't happen without the so many of the men and women and families who have served in our armed forces. 00:04:07.440 --> 00:04:14.720 And so many of them who went on to the battlefield and did not come off of the battlefield alive. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:25.780 And so this weekend as we celebrate, as we eat hot dogs and barbecue, as we celebrate graduates and as we get together with family, 00:04:25.980 --> 00:04:32.920 may we continually be reminded of the sacrifice that others made so that we could also enjoy this. 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:40.880 And so as we start off our message, I just want to go to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for the blessing that this is. 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:48.920 Lord, we come to you this morning with eager anticipation to open your word. 00:04:50.820 --> 00:04:54.940 Lord, how grateful we are that you spoke. 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:57.520 It was recorded. 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:07.620 Lord, and we have the opportunity to open up the pages of our Bible and see the very words of our God. 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:17.860 Lord, I thank you for the wonderful privilege it is that we can gather every time we meet in this location together. 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:20.940 We can gather in homes. 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:26.760 We can gather in different places around our community to study your word. 00:05:28.380 --> 00:05:33.040 Lord, I thank you for the graduates and the parties that we will have and that we will partake in. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:45.700 Lord, we know that while we weren't charged to get anything here today, our gathering together came at a cost for so many for our freedom to have this right. 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:52.520 Lord, I thank you for all the men and women who have served in our armed forces bravely and sacrificially. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:06:00.920 But, Lord, also we pause for a moment to reflect on those who gave of their life so we could have this freedom. 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:08.460 Lord, I pray during this weekend that their families would be comforted and feel your peace. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:23.340 Lord, and it's also close to our hearts, the horrific tragedy that happened this past week to those teachers and those young children at the school in Texas. 00:06:26.460 --> 00:06:34.120 Lord, I read a pastor who said it is in these moments where we don't, we feel like we need to say something, but yet we don't know what to say. 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:41.340 And, Lord, I feel like that's been in my heart for several days as we look at those events. 00:06:44.340 --> 00:06:51.180 Lord, could it be a reminder of us of the terrible evil that is in this world? 00:06:52.660 --> 00:07:01.360 And would it create in us a stronger desire to share the hope and life that comes from Christ and Christ alone? 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:16.380 Lord, as those students who are still living and teachers who are still living and families who are still living are left behind and have to process through all that they've experienced and seen and heard. 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:23.100 Lord, we pray for a miracle to happen in their lives as they walk through that. 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:27.940 Lord, provide them those around them who can care for them. 00:07:29.580 --> 00:07:37.020 And, Lord, as we so often do, Lord, we just pray for the protection of our kids. 00:07:38.280 --> 00:07:45.220 From the school, to the playground, to their cars, to their college campuses. 00:07:46.820 --> 00:07:48.540 And just, Lord, ask for your protection on them. 00:07:49.960 --> 00:07:51.240 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:52.400 Amen. 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:57.980 Well, I want to confess something to you this morning. 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:01.780 I meet with a men's group each Thursday for lunch. 00:08:01.880 --> 00:08:09.080 And we've been journeying through various books of the Bible together over two different men's groups over, honestly, the last five years. 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:22.140 And this past series that we went through, we did a study that I think was beneficial for all of us as we walked through each week and looked at a different aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. 00:08:22.140 --> 00:08:28.420 And I was trying to think through, you know, where the Lord was leading me into a series for this summer. 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:36.240 And as I began to look at the number of the fruit of the Spirit, and I began to look at the number of weeks this summer, God said, you see? 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:39.520 And so we're going to walk through the fruit of the Spirit. 00:08:39.920 --> 00:08:47.560 Now, what we're going to do in order to do that is each week we're going to look at one aspect of the fruit. 00:08:47.560 --> 00:08:59.580 And what I hope for us to see, and this is kind of bridging into where we're going this morning, is that these aspects, these characteristics are not necessarily innate characteristics of ourselves. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.540 Instead, they're the reflection of the character of God. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:10.660 It's the fruit of His Spirit that embodies within us as believers and should be seen in our lives. 00:09:10.660 --> 00:09:22.200 And so each week we're going to learn about how God is each of these, and then in response from that to learn how that fruit, that aspect of the fruit should be visible in our lives as believers. 00:09:22.560 --> 00:09:30.220 And how when the gospel works in the miraculous way that it does, how it doesn't point people to you and I for them to say, well, look how great they are. 00:09:30.220 --> 00:09:34.640 But instead it points them to their Creator so they can say, look how great He is. 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:36.880 And so that's what we're going to do. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:52.640 But this morning what we're going to look at are the surrounding verses for the fruit of the Spirit so that we can understand the context in which Paul writes to the church at Galatia and gives this to them so that we can understand this as we move forward. 00:09:52.800 --> 00:09:59.420 So let's start off, we're going to look at beginning in Galatians chapter 5 starting in verse 16. 00:10:00.660 --> 00:10:01.400 Paul says, 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:08.900 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:10:10.020 --> 00:10:16.220 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. 00:10:16.880 --> 00:10:23.160 For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:29.060 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.300 So let's pause here for just a moment. 00:10:31.800 --> 00:10:33.880 So Paul writes to the church at Galatia. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:41.400 We're able to read his words at our church today, and what we see is the battle that we face. 00:10:42.300 --> 00:10:51.200 The opponents in the battle from the very beginning are the flesh, which Paul writes about, and the Spirit, which Paul writes about. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.400 Now, we'll kind of explain these words that Paul's going to give. 00:10:54.740 --> 00:11:02.980 The flesh is going to be the word that Paul uses to describe the material part of your body. 00:11:03.260 --> 00:11:08.780 So we can look down and we can touch in the Greek the word that he's talking about, the flesh. 00:11:08.780 --> 00:11:17.160 But Paul in that is not talking specifically about that your material being is corrupted. 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:20.480 That's not at all what he's driving to. 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:26.480 Instead, he's talking about the sinful component of us, of what's there. 00:11:26.660 --> 00:11:31.140 So he takes a word that they would have understood in their context, right? 00:11:31.140 --> 00:11:42.340 And then he uses that word to create or to bring to them a theological truth so that they will know the depth of the depravity of what's there. 00:11:42.520 --> 00:11:45.980 But then he also says that against the Spirit. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:52.160 Now, when he uses the word Spirit that's there, that word is literally translated, right? 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.360 It is referred to as the breath, breath. 00:11:55.940 --> 00:12:03.440 And so when we look at that and we see of what Paul is trying to communicate, of understanding the very Spirit of God, 00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:08.180 we understand the divine nature of what Paul is implying in there, right? 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:13.560 He's not saying it's by the power of breath, but he's saying it's by the power of God. 00:12:13.620 --> 00:12:16.180 When we look back into creation, what did God do? 00:12:16.380 --> 00:12:20.140 Did God grab his hands and reach down and grab matter and create? 00:12:20.260 --> 00:12:23.260 No, he didn't do that because it didn't exist. 00:12:23.260 --> 00:12:30.120 That God spoke and through the power of his word, through the power of his breath, creation was formed. 00:12:31.540 --> 00:12:33.140 And so it's what we see in here. 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:44.600 And so Paul says there's this battle that rages on within the life of a believer, the battle of the flesh and the battle of the Spirit. 00:12:45.520 --> 00:12:53.860 And again, the flesh, for those of us who are believers, it's still the part of me that I wrestle with. 00:12:54.160 --> 00:13:00.980 It's still the part of me that I battle with, and I still have this to work through in my life. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.920 I read an author this week, he said this, and I love his description of the flesh. 00:13:05.920 --> 00:13:15.220 He says, flesh is the I who tries to satisfy me with anything but God's mercy. 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:24.840 So that we find our satisfaction, we find our hope, we find in anything else that what we can bring other than the Lord. 00:13:24.920 --> 00:13:38.940 And so Paul says there's this thing, there's this battle, there's this flesh that is there, and it is battling with the Spirit, the power of God that dwells in us as believers. 00:13:39.560 --> 00:13:44.520 Now what we see is that the Spirit fights this battle for us. 00:13:45.260 --> 00:13:52.100 So we don't fight in our own power, we don't fight in our own ability, but instead we fight by the power of the Spirit. 00:13:52.380 --> 00:13:54.860 Now this is important for us. 00:13:54.860 --> 00:14:04.100 When we see this, the Spirit is the capital S, Spirit, the Spirit of the God, the Holy Trinity, part of God's very Spirit Himself. 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:06.520 And so this is what we see. 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:11.340 And so verse 16, he says, walk by the Spirit. 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:14.120 We walk in the power of the Spirit. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:18.980 In verse 18, he says that we are led by the Spirit. 00:14:19.380 --> 00:14:27.120 And then later in verse 25, we'll see when he says that we live by the power of the Spirit. 00:14:27.900 --> 00:14:33.960 It's the Spirit who is doing the work in us, and it's the Spirit who's doing the battle through us. 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:38.800 I was given this illustration to describe this this week. 00:14:39.880 --> 00:14:45.020 A preacher said it's the difference between a pace car versus a locomotive. 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:48.440 So let me speak some language to some of us who get this. 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:50.840 Let's talk NASCAR for a moment, all right? 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:55.420 Anybody in your life ever watched a NASCAR race? 00:14:55.680 --> 00:14:56.580 Raise your hand, all right? 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:04.740 Most of us, some of us like NASCAR because we understand the aerodynamics and the skills and all that kind of stuff that's there, right? 00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:07.320 Some of us, Mike Morgan is that guy. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:08.640 Mike Morgan knows that. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:09.860 He loves that, right? 00:15:10.060 --> 00:15:12.780 He watched every lap of every race that's there. 00:15:12.920 --> 00:15:15.320 And then some of us are like, show me the highlights. 00:15:15.400 --> 00:15:16.200 I want to see the wrecks. 00:15:16.260 --> 00:15:16.660 You know what I mean? 00:15:16.660 --> 00:15:21.980 I hope they walk away, but I want to see 200 miles an hour sliding around right there, right? 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.300 We want to see that. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.080 And then after the wreck comes out the pace car. 00:15:26.760 --> 00:15:30.240 And the pace car, no one can get in front of the pace car. 00:15:30.900 --> 00:15:35.600 But every driver has control of their car behind the pace car. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:41.540 And if you've never seen this, what happens is the drivers slow down, they speed up. 00:15:42.180 --> 00:15:53.500 If they've just gotten new tires put on their car, they'll weave their car back and forth to try to cut in the tires to get them warm so that they can grip the track as they're going around the speedway. 00:15:54.680 --> 00:15:59.500 And this pastor said, that's how so many of us view what it means to walk by the spirit. 00:16:00.380 --> 00:16:05.240 That the spirit is the pace car and we are the car behind it and we are just going to do whatever we want to do. 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:09.040 Because this pace car is just what we keep our eye on. 00:16:10.560 --> 00:16:14.260 But we're doing everything else in our own power and our own ability. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.100 And he said, I don't believe that's how the spirit of the Lord works at all. 00:16:18.900 --> 00:16:25.400 He said, the spirit of the Lord is the locomotive engine that pulls the cars. 00:16:26.680 --> 00:16:35.600 That when the power of the train from engine to caboose, when it gets going, it's all going. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:40.920 Not because each individual car is doing what it wants to do, but because the power of that. 00:16:42.020 --> 00:16:49.380 And that in the life of the believer, when we walk by the spirit, when we're led by the spirit, when we live by the spirit, 00:16:49.380 --> 00:16:55.960 it's because we understand that we're attached and we're not doing this on our own power and our own strength and our own desire. 00:16:55.960 --> 00:17:01.080 But we're doing this out of the power of the Lord, by the strength of the Lord, by the desire of the Lord in our life. 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:03.420 And so it's the locomotive. 00:17:04.300 --> 00:17:06.540 It's the spirit that leads. 00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:11.200 Now Paul here in two verses, verse 16 to verse 18, he gives us two promises. 00:17:12.020 --> 00:17:16.360 That when we walk by the spirit, when we are led by the spirit, that there's two promises that will happen. 00:17:16.360 --> 00:17:21.540 And the first promise that Paul gives is that we will not gratify the desire of the flesh. 00:17:21.600 --> 00:17:22.640 Look back at verse 16. 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:32.400 But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:17:33.120 --> 00:17:35.240 There's not a maybe in there. 00:17:36.060 --> 00:17:40.200 This is a direct promise of what Paul gives these believers. 00:17:40.460 --> 00:17:42.540 You don't want to gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:17:42.800 --> 00:17:43.680 Walk by the spirit. 00:17:44.620 --> 00:17:46.580 And this is what this is going to be. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:48.960 In Romans 8, 7 through 8, it says, 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:56.060 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. 00:17:56.280 --> 00:17:57.800 Indeed, it cannot. 00:17:58.300 --> 00:18:03.280 For those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 00:18:04.540 --> 00:18:06.600 It's a statement of truth, a statement of fact. 00:18:06.600 --> 00:18:10.220 In Scripture, it's not left up for debate or for interpretation. 00:18:10.760 --> 00:18:14.100 In the flesh, we can't please God. 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:21.780 But in the spirit, we will not seek to gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:24.520 Look back at verse 17. 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:26.500 He explains this. 00:18:27.120 --> 00:18:27.360 He says, 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:32.720 For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:37.540 For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:39.480 So Paul here writes the battle. 00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:41.600 He explains the battle. 00:18:42.300 --> 00:18:45.280 The desire of the flesh versus the desire of the spirit. 00:18:45.620 --> 00:18:49.660 The war that rages in our lives. 00:18:49.760 --> 00:18:51.540 Now, here's the thing with this battle. 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:56.280 For so many of us, if you are a believer, let me start off with this. 00:18:56.320 --> 00:18:58.740 If you are a believer, this is a battle that you're going through. 00:18:59.980 --> 00:19:04.720 We're going to see and understand that there's different levels of maturity even in these battles. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:13.120 But that as believers, this is what we are all walking through in our lives that we see. 00:19:13.800 --> 00:19:19.320 And what Satan does in these battles, when we want to fight these battles alone in isolation, 00:19:19.580 --> 00:19:23.820 is because we've given in to the characteristics of what Satan wants to give us of shame. 00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:25.780 They won't understand. 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:26.440 They won't care. 00:19:26.520 --> 00:19:27.100 They won't love. 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:27.640 They won't forgive. 00:19:27.820 --> 00:19:28.940 They won't do all these things. 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:32.380 And so we hide and we isolate because we think we're worse. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:33.620 There's no one that can understand. 00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:34.900 There's no one that can come alongside. 00:19:35.320 --> 00:19:36.300 There's no one that can partner. 00:19:36.300 --> 00:19:37.480 There's no one that can hold our hand. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:38.680 There's no one that can hold us up. 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:43.200 And so we fight these battles in isolation. 00:19:44.380 --> 00:19:48.440 But I want to share with you this morning and admit, I'm in the battle. 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:50.780 You're in the battle. 00:19:51.820 --> 00:19:53.000 We're in the battle. 00:19:54.420 --> 00:20:00.300 But also what we find from Scripture is that the Apostle Paul was in the battle. 00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:05.240 I want to read a handful of verses, kind of skipping around to some different letters, 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.080 that show the battle that he was going through personally. 00:20:10.120 --> 00:20:13.120 In 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul says, 00:20:13.300 --> 00:20:18.560 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world 00:20:18.560 --> 00:20:22.160 to save sinners of who I am the foremost. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:28.040 Romans 7.15, Paul writes about himself and says, 00:20:28.540 --> 00:20:30.520 For I do not understand my own actions. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.540 For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. 00:20:35.180 --> 00:20:37.540 Four verses later in Romans 7.19, 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:42.920 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.720 And at the end of chapter 7, verse 24, he says, 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.560 Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:20:52.080 --> 00:20:53.200 So Paul says, look, 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.940 Even as the greatest church planner that the world will ever know. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:04.820 The greatest missionary, the one who Jesus himself chose on that road, 00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:09.340 who blinded so that he would understand and set him to carry out the gospel, 00:21:09.620 --> 00:21:12.120 who wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer. 00:21:12.540 --> 00:21:16.820 Paul says, here's the battle that I face. 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:22.700 So the amen that we can agree with as we begin through is, 00:21:22.820 --> 00:21:26.500 number one, that you're not isolated alone in the battle. 00:21:27.780 --> 00:21:34.360 But that, number two, you haven't been fully set free from the battle yet. 00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:38.760 But we can walk in victory. 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:44.040 Because in the battle, what we will see as we go through is the maturity. 00:21:44.820 --> 00:21:45.520 It's the maturity. 00:21:46.280 --> 00:21:50.740 Because while in this life the flesh will never be fully eliminated, 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.280 the flesh does increasingly grow subdued as the Christian walks by 00:21:57.280 --> 00:21:58.820 and is led by the Spirit. 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:01.940 And this is what we see in the life of a mature believer, 00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:05.760 is men and women of faith who've walked through the battle, 00:22:06.080 --> 00:22:09.560 facing the battle, seeing the Spirit of the Lord leading there, 00:22:09.800 --> 00:22:13.660 not choosing to gratify the desires of their flesh. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.920 And what comes from that is the maturity of the believer that we see. 00:22:18.620 --> 00:22:22.440 Paul writes about this in himself in Philippians 3, verse 12. 00:22:22.760 --> 00:22:23.140 And he says, 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:27.580 It's not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:30.460 but I press on to make it my own, 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.520 because Jesus Christ has made me his own. 00:22:34.080 --> 00:22:36.480 Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own, 00:22:36.540 --> 00:22:38.020 but one thing I do, 00:22:38.380 --> 00:22:40.140 forgetting what lies behind 00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:43.120 and straining forward to what lies ahead, 00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:45.880 I press on toward the goal of the prize 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.540 of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 00:22:51.100 --> 00:22:51.460 Paul says, 00:22:51.600 --> 00:22:53.580 I haven't obtained it. 00:22:54.540 --> 00:22:56.380 I'm not perfected. 00:22:57.500 --> 00:23:00.200 But I'm not staying where I'm at either. 00:23:02.040 --> 00:23:03.260 And I'm pressing on. 00:23:04.040 --> 00:23:05.320 And I'm pressing on. 00:23:06.040 --> 00:23:06.980 And I'm pressing on. 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:09.460 And I love his reasoning why. 00:23:10.360 --> 00:23:11.120 I love it. 00:23:12.260 --> 00:23:13.960 It's not so that people will be impressed. 00:23:15.600 --> 00:23:17.500 It's not so that a church would grow. 00:23:18.860 --> 00:23:20.760 It's not for any accolade. 00:23:21.420 --> 00:23:21.760 He says, 00:23:21.860 --> 00:23:25.400 I press on to make it my own, 00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:27.600 because Christ made me his own. 00:23:28.840 --> 00:23:29.100 Right? 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.700 Because of what he's done for me. 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:38.320 So we see the first promise here 00:23:38.320 --> 00:23:41.900 that we will not gratify the desires of the flesh 00:23:41.900 --> 00:23:43.760 if we walk in the spirit. 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:44.860 But then secondly, 00:23:44.860 --> 00:23:46.120 when we walk in the spirit, 00:23:46.260 --> 00:23:47.280 we are not under the law. 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:48.640 Look at verse 18. 00:23:49.360 --> 00:23:50.720 But if you're led by the spirit, 00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:52.200 Paul says you're not under the law. 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:53.960 You're not under the law. 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:56.960 When you are led by the spirit, 00:23:57.880 --> 00:23:59.340 what comes from you, 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:02.440 what the law commands is love. 00:24:03.380 --> 00:24:05.880 And we'll see this as we study through. 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.160 But Paul says in Galatians 5, 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:09.540 earlier on in this letter, 00:24:09.860 --> 00:24:10.700 in verse 13, 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:11.260 he says, 00:24:11.260 --> 00:24:13.280 For you were called to freedom, brothers. 00:24:14.980 --> 00:24:17.040 Do not use your freedom 00:24:17.040 --> 00:24:19.120 as an opportunity for the flesh, 00:24:20.100 --> 00:24:23.200 but through love serve one another. 00:24:24.080 --> 00:24:27.080 That when we walk in the freedom that Christ gives us, 00:24:27.300 --> 00:24:30.880 it's not the freedom to gratify the desires of the flesh, 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:33.300 but instead the freedom that Christ gives us 00:24:33.300 --> 00:24:35.660 leads us to love and to serve one another. 00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:38.500 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 00:24:38.760 --> 00:24:39.220 Paul says, 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:42.520 you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:43.680 And so Paul says, 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.820 here's what happens in the freedom that we gain through Christ, 00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.640 been set free from the penalty of sin. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.260 What comes from that is not of our own. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:57.820 What comes from that is the maturity and the working of the Lord that brings us to love and to serve. 00:24:57.980 --> 00:24:59.080 So not to say, 00:24:59.340 --> 00:24:59.440 well, 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:02.920 then I've been saved so I can do whatever I want to do. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:03.520 But it says, 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:03.800 no, 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:04.960 I've been saved. 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:09.580 And so now I can love and I can serve and I can be the embodiment of Christ that people see. 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:14.100 Love your neighbor as yourself. 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:17.240 And so promise number one and promise number two, 00:25:17.360 --> 00:25:18.700 we kind of see the same thing. 00:25:18.760 --> 00:25:19.220 It's victory. 00:25:20.260 --> 00:25:20.920 It's victory. 00:25:21.780 --> 00:25:22.020 You see, 00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:25.060 the whole part of our life is victory. 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:31.140 The problem of that for us right now in our perspective is we live in the battle. 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:34.400 We're right smack in the middle of the battle. 00:25:35.620 --> 00:25:37.580 We're in the battle in our being. 00:25:38.860 --> 00:25:41.060 We're in the battle in our relationships. 00:25:42.380 --> 00:25:44.580 We're in the battle in this world. 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:53.400 And it's hard for us to see the victory because we're caught in the middle of the battle. 00:25:55.360 --> 00:26:00.680 But if you read the book and you know what the gospel points to, 00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:09.280 it's all about the fact that right now that we are victorious in Christ. 00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:14.000 We don't have to wait until the clock runs down. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.880 We don't have to wait until the buzzer sounds. 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:24.580 That in the midst of the battle, because Christ has fought it for us and he has gained and given us the victory. 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:27.740 Well, Paul continues on in chapter five. 00:26:27.800 --> 00:26:29.120 Look at verse 19. 00:26:30.620 --> 00:26:32.780 He talks about the works of the flesh. 00:26:32.860 --> 00:26:35.920 Now the works of the flesh are evident. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:56.420 Sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 00:26:56.420 --> 00:27:05.760 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:10.240 So Paul begins, he says, the works of the flesh are evident. 00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:12.520 And here's what he means. 00:27:13.560 --> 00:27:16.080 For us as believers, like, these aren't hard to see. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.500 When you're a believer, no one's sneaking these by us. 00:27:23.080 --> 00:27:26.420 There doesn't need to be a, let me think on that for a moment. 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:35.460 Paul says these are evident and they're clear and then he gives a list and what Paul is doing here is he's giving, Paul's giving a warning. 00:27:36.500 --> 00:27:37.600 You see Paul's warning. 00:27:38.560 --> 00:27:41.920 He says, this is your, this is your check yourself moment, church. 00:27:42.300 --> 00:27:43.740 Is this who you are? 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:47.300 The warning to them and the warning to us. 00:27:48.900 --> 00:27:51.740 When you read through these, is this who you are? 00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:55.940 And then Paul, what Paul does is Paul gives a list of 15 sins. 00:27:57.060 --> 00:27:59.780 Now, in different letters, Paul gives list of sins. 00:27:59.840 --> 00:28:03.800 That's a common practice for Paul that Paul uses in his communication for the church. 00:28:04.520 --> 00:28:08.880 A lot of times there are sins that overlap, sins that we see repeated. 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:12.160 We also see different sins change out. 00:28:13.140 --> 00:28:16.720 Different ones are listed in some letters than they were in others. 00:28:17.580 --> 00:28:27.680 And as I read through this week, what, what struck out, what, what stood out to me in this moment is Paul's not giving an all inclusive list. 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:34.700 He's not saying if you avoid these 15 things and these 15 things alone that you're good. 00:28:35.100 --> 00:28:40.960 And the reason why I know that is at the end of the list, he gives four words, and things like these. 00:28:41.780 --> 00:28:54.340 But what Paul does in every single one of his letter, while the list may be different, the categories in which they fall into are consistently the same. 00:28:55.340 --> 00:29:02.120 Four categories of sin, of works of the flesh that manifest themselves amongst people. 00:29:03.060 --> 00:29:06.880 We see in the list the sins of sexuality. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.540 Sexually immoral, Paul writes, impurity and sensuality. 00:29:11.540 --> 00:29:17.820 And what this means, transcending over every letter that we see of every word in Scripture, 00:29:18.260 --> 00:29:28.640 is those who decide for themselves to embrace a lifestyle of sexuality apart from the design and plan of God. 00:29:30.120 --> 00:29:34.160 Anything that goes against what he says. 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:39.560 While some things of God can be complicated, this isn't. 00:29:40.940 --> 00:29:45.780 One man, one woman, in marriage. 00:29:47.080 --> 00:29:47.920 That's it. 00:29:49.280 --> 00:29:50.100 That's it. 00:29:50.940 --> 00:29:52.380 What can we do before marriage? 00:29:52.700 --> 00:29:53.240 Nothing. 00:29:54.360 --> 00:29:54.680 Right? 00:29:55.580 --> 00:29:56.180 Nothing. 00:29:57.660 --> 00:30:00.020 What can marriage look like? 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:02.680 Well, here's what it should look like. 00:30:03.380 --> 00:30:04.280 One man, one woman. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:06.800 Right? 00:30:07.520 --> 00:30:08.640 It's the picture. 00:30:10.120 --> 00:30:16.040 And when we decide to step out of that, we begin to see the sins of sexuality. 00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:20.480 He also gives a category, the sins of false worship. 00:30:21.840 --> 00:30:25.380 In this list, he gives idolatry and sorcery. 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:32.460 And what we see is those who choose to worship anything other than God. 00:30:32.600 --> 00:30:36.820 And their rebellion in their heart of what they're committing. 00:30:37.040 --> 00:30:39.800 When you go all the way back to the Old Testament, right? 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:47.200 And we see the stories of people even in Israel who decide we're going to make this and worship it. 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:56.620 It's when men and women decide for themselves what they are going to place their worth in and their worship on. 00:30:56.760 --> 00:31:00.860 And it's anything in the creation that is not the creator. 00:31:01.700 --> 00:31:02.940 It's idolatry. 00:31:03.820 --> 00:31:05.060 It's idolatry. 00:31:06.940 --> 00:31:07.100 Right? 00:31:08.040 --> 00:31:11.740 And so the sins of sexuality, the sins of false worship. 00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:15.680 But then he also gives a list of sins against your neighbor. 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:23.420 Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy. 00:31:24.140 --> 00:31:25.960 And so what does this mean? 00:31:26.760 --> 00:31:28.860 Why is this falling into this category? 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:30.600 The sins against your neighbor. 00:31:30.600 --> 00:31:34.960 What goes right back to what the law, what we've been set free from, right? 00:31:35.100 --> 00:31:37.300 To love so that we can serve one another. 00:31:37.520 --> 00:31:41.800 But when we fall into these, we choose me over they. 00:31:43.120 --> 00:31:46.260 And so I become my audience of service. 00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:49.280 It's the manifestation of the heart of ego. 00:31:50.620 --> 00:31:52.600 And so Paul says, warns against that. 00:31:53.420 --> 00:31:59.100 We warn against sins of sexuality, the sins of false worship, the sins against your neighbor. 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:02.220 But then lastly, what we get are the sins of culture. 00:32:04.420 --> 00:32:06.740 Drunkenness and orgies are the list that we find here. 00:32:08.320 --> 00:32:14.860 And the reason why these are called sins of culture is because these were two practices in the Galatian culture 00:32:14.860 --> 00:32:19.120 that were commonly practiced and commonly accepted within there. 00:32:19.120 --> 00:32:22.700 And we've seen through what we've looked at is we've studied different letters 00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:29.440 that the church has this problem when they go into the culture of inheriting the practices of the culture 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.380 and taking them on and thinking that everything's good when they do that. 00:32:32.860 --> 00:32:33.740 Paul says, no. 00:32:34.900 --> 00:32:38.780 You begin to accept these things even though they're common. 00:32:38.780 --> 00:32:46.700 And in that moment, what you do is you reflect the world and not the kingdom of God. 00:32:48.060 --> 00:32:49.560 And not the kingdom of God. 00:32:50.560 --> 00:32:52.620 And so Paul says there's these four categories. 00:32:53.660 --> 00:32:59.040 The sins of sexuality, the sins of false worship, the sins against your neighbor, 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:01.940 the sins of culture, of embracing those. 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:03.740 And then he gives this third promise. 00:33:05.540 --> 00:33:06.620 This is the warning. 00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:17.420 And I think this is a warning that those of us who are not saved but who are culturally Christian do not believe. 00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:20.060 And here's what I mean. 00:33:20.060 --> 00:33:24.000 The third promise, the end of verse 21. 00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:30.960 Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:33:32.320 --> 00:33:33.920 Paul doesn't hide from this. 00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:36.360 So what's Paul talking about? 00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:39.520 Earlier we've talked about the struggle. 00:33:39.880 --> 00:33:41.060 We've talked about the battle. 00:33:41.420 --> 00:33:42.940 We've talked that we're all facing this. 00:33:42.940 --> 00:33:48.000 Paul is not talking about an isolated lapse of judgment. 00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:56.840 Paul's not talking about a struggle and a battle that a believer has with sin. 00:33:57.940 --> 00:34:05.540 But what Paul is talking about, the verb tense that he uses here is the present tense, 00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:13.760 which implies that these are actions of a person who willfully and desires to do them. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:16.860 Without a sense of conviction. 00:34:18.300 --> 00:34:25.780 And what this shows is that in this person, in the continual gratifying of the flesh, 00:34:26.220 --> 00:34:29.880 that there is not the spirit of God. 00:34:32.200 --> 00:34:33.760 And therefore they're not saved. 00:34:35.540 --> 00:34:36.960 So I want to ask you this. 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:42.180 In your life, how reflective is this list? 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:49.360 If you struggle and fight against these, 00:34:51.300 --> 00:34:52.720 can I just say, well done. 00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:55.020 Well done. 00:34:56.600 --> 00:34:58.520 You've got your battle that you face. 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:00.640 You see what's there. 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.440 You're depending on the Holy Spirit. 00:35:05.240 --> 00:35:06.160 And I say, well done. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:07.940 Well done. 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:10.880 But have you embraced them? 00:35:12.380 --> 00:35:13.680 Is this who you are? 00:35:15.580 --> 00:35:19.520 If so, in spite of all that you know, 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:22.700 and all the good that you think you've done, 00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:28.340 what God's word says is that you won't inherit the kingdom of God. 00:35:29.540 --> 00:35:30.560 Not in my opinion. 00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:32.700 Not in my opinion, but God's truth. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:35.560 Verse 22. 00:35:38.080 --> 00:35:49.760 But through the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:35:50.340 --> 00:35:52.440 gentleness, self-control. 00:35:53.080 --> 00:35:55.500 Against such things there is no law. 00:35:56.140 --> 00:36:02.500 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:08.560 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 00:36:09.240 --> 00:36:11.140 So what you see is this list. 00:36:11.220 --> 00:36:17.300 And what I mentioned earlier is each week we're going to look at each one of these starting next week with love 00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:25.800 and understanding this agape love that Paul talks to us and shows us about and that we see in who God is. 00:36:26.060 --> 00:36:27.640 But I want to ask you the question this morning. 00:36:29.300 --> 00:36:36.160 When we see these, walk by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, how? 00:36:37.620 --> 00:36:39.820 How do we walk by the Spirit? 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:45.920 What are some tangible ways that we can look at this morning and say that we're led by the Spirit? 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:55.200 What does it practically mean in your life for today, in your life for tomorrow, in your life until God calls you home or Jesus comes back? 00:36:56.080 --> 00:37:01.520 What does it mean to live by the Spirit? 00:37:02.660 --> 00:37:07.880 And so as I studied through this this week, what continued to come out is consistent in God's Word. 00:37:08.100 --> 00:37:13.860 I don't think this is a one, two, three, this is the list, tie a bow around it and we're good. 00:37:13.860 --> 00:37:21.060 But I do think as I practically look at how the Lord has used these in my life, how the Lord uses these and calls us to in Scripture, 00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:30.000 are things that we can all lean into regardless of where we are in our battle to embrace what it means to live by the Spirit. 00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:31.880 And number one, it is this. 00:37:32.580 --> 00:37:35.840 Set your mind on things above. 00:37:36.900 --> 00:37:39.060 Set your mind on things above. 00:37:39.060 --> 00:37:44.980 Now, I read a statistic this week that blew my mind, all right? 00:37:46.020 --> 00:37:50.780 And scientists, and let me just say this, I don't know how science figures these things out. 00:37:51.040 --> 00:37:54.360 They say they figured it out and I'm just going to trust them for a moment in it, all right? 00:37:55.640 --> 00:38:10.260 Scientists have figured out that the average person receives and processes, all right, roughly 74 gigabytes of information a day, all right? 00:38:11.180 --> 00:38:14.900 Receive it, process it, 74. 00:38:15.140 --> 00:38:19.300 That means everything that we miss is excluded from that, all right? 00:38:20.100 --> 00:38:25.880 Everything your boss, your spouse, your kids say they told you and you honestly missed it, right? 00:38:26.520 --> 00:38:28.000 That's not a part of that. 00:38:28.520 --> 00:38:38.140 But what you hear, what you take in, and what you process is roughly 74 gigabytes of information a day, 00:38:38.140 --> 00:38:44.100 which is the equivalent, scientists say, of 16 movies in a day, right? 00:38:44.740 --> 00:38:46.000 So do that math. 00:38:46.580 --> 00:38:53.060 We're taking in more information in a day than we can watch over the course of a day. 00:38:54.160 --> 00:38:55.440 That's what we're taking in. 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.120 Now, think about what you took in this week. 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:18.140 Every TV show, every news channel, every blog, every Facebook post, every Instagram picture, every tweet, every conversation, every joke, every thought. 00:39:19.980 --> 00:39:21.380 Think about all that you took in. 00:39:24.660 --> 00:39:26.160 How much of that was from above? 00:39:31.220 --> 00:39:33.180 Paul writes in Colossians 3, verse 1. 00:39:34.560 --> 00:39:40.040 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:39:40.600 --> 00:39:44.000 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 00:39:44.300 --> 00:39:53.740 When Paul was imprisoned and beaten until he was almost dead and put in the basement of the prison where feces and urine collected all around him, 00:39:53.740 --> 00:39:57.980 and his choice in that moment was to sing hymns of praise to the Lord, 00:39:58.160 --> 00:40:03.140 I bet it's not because he spent five hours on Facebook that morning, right? 00:40:04.940 --> 00:40:10.200 I bet it's because his mind is set on the things above, which means the reality of which he's in doesn't matter. 00:40:11.880 --> 00:40:12.660 Doesn't matter. 00:40:14.120 --> 00:40:15.860 Set your mind on things above. 00:40:15.940 --> 00:40:17.100 That sounds pretty spiritual, right? 00:40:18.100 --> 00:40:18.900 What does that mean? 00:40:19.540 --> 00:40:20.420 I think it's pretty simple. 00:40:21.700 --> 00:40:22.800 Number one, read God's word. 00:40:23.740 --> 00:40:24.480 Read God's word. 00:40:25.080 --> 00:40:25.720 Read God's word. 00:40:26.620 --> 00:40:30.620 Number one argument against why people don't read God's word is they say that I don't understand it. 00:40:31.500 --> 00:40:35.800 How many times have we watched news or movies or read things that we don't understand, but yet we watch them anyways? 00:40:36.700 --> 00:40:37.340 Read God's word. 00:40:38.340 --> 00:40:40.840 It says even if you don't understand it, it's not going to come back void. 00:40:41.900 --> 00:40:42.300 Read it. 00:40:43.040 --> 00:40:43.640 Read God's word. 00:40:44.760 --> 00:40:47.580 Number two, Paul commands us to pray without ceasing. 00:40:48.320 --> 00:40:48.900 Talk to God. 00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:50.540 Talk to God. 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:51.740 This isn't hard. 00:40:53.020 --> 00:40:53.520 This isn't hard. 00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:55.620 Read God's word. 00:40:56.100 --> 00:40:57.940 Talk to God. 00:40:57.940 --> 00:41:06.620 And then the third thing is be quiet and stop and meditate on God. 00:41:07.580 --> 00:41:08.880 Meditate on his ways. 00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:10.540 Meditate on his promises. 00:41:11.160 --> 00:41:12.080 Listen to him. 00:41:13.200 --> 00:41:20.220 There's probably other things that we can lay out of what it means to set our minds on things above, 00:41:20.220 --> 00:41:26.800 but I find that in my life when these three disciplines ring true in every day of my life, 00:41:27.020 --> 00:41:29.980 that my mind is more focused on the things holy than not. 00:41:30.860 --> 00:41:34.360 The second thing that we need to do is prepare to fight. 00:41:35.220 --> 00:41:36.480 We've got to prepare to fight. 00:41:37.340 --> 00:41:37.600 All right? 00:41:38.180 --> 00:41:39.360 We've got to prepare to fight. 00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:40.980 You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what does this mean? 00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:41.640 All right? 00:41:42.500 --> 00:41:43.380 We've got to prepare to fight. 00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:45.640 The Bible tells us that we're in a spiritual battle. 00:41:46.860 --> 00:41:51.420 It lays out in Scripture of the journey of everything that's going on and taking place, 00:41:51.440 --> 00:41:52.060 and it's not easy. 00:41:53.080 --> 00:41:54.200 And so we've got to prepare to fight. 00:41:55.060 --> 00:41:55.800 How do we do that? 00:41:55.840 --> 00:41:57.020 We've got to understand our opponent. 00:41:58.260 --> 00:41:59.160 We've got to understand our opponent. 00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:02.960 Peter writes in 1 Peter 5, 8, and he describes our opponent, the devil, 00:42:03.280 --> 00:42:08.860 like a prowling, roaring lion waiting to devour. 00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:10.120 Right? 00:42:11.560 --> 00:42:13.900 We treat him like a little kitty cat. 00:42:15.260 --> 00:42:15.400 Right? 00:42:16.180 --> 00:42:18.260 But he's the lion waiting to destroy. 00:42:19.160 --> 00:42:20.280 We've got to prepare to fight. 00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:22.940 Number two, we've got to be fully equipped. 00:42:23.860 --> 00:42:24.660 We've got to be fully equipped. 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.180 For time's sake, I don't have time to read them all, 00:42:27.500 --> 00:42:29.720 but in Ephesians 6, it talks about the armor of God. 00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:30.980 Right? 00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:34.800 Every day we need to wake up and put on the armor of God, not the tuxedo of God. 00:42:35.740 --> 00:42:35.940 Right? 00:42:36.340 --> 00:42:37.380 Tuxedo can't get dirty. 00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:39.340 Tuxedo's when you look pretty. 00:42:40.140 --> 00:42:42.720 Tuxedo's when you stand there and you nod your head and everything's good 00:42:42.720 --> 00:42:44.260 and everything's kind, everything's lovely. 00:42:45.500 --> 00:42:46.760 But the armor's for the battle. 00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:48.000 The armor's meant to get dirty. 00:42:48.100 --> 00:42:49.340 The armor's meant to fight in. 00:42:50.220 --> 00:42:52.620 And Paul tells us to every day to put this on. 00:42:53.420 --> 00:42:56.320 Number two, we've got to, or number three, we've got to understand that this battle, 00:42:56.640 --> 00:42:57.900 this fight is not easy. 00:42:58.640 --> 00:42:59.580 It's not easy. 00:42:59.660 --> 00:43:04.220 2 Timothy 4, 7, Paul writes this to his son in the faith. 00:43:04.320 --> 00:43:05.300 Timothy, he says, 00:43:05.380 --> 00:43:07.640 I fought the fight, I finished the race. 00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:11.760 The race that he describes is not a hundred meter dash, it's a marathon. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:14.060 It's a marathon. 00:43:15.040 --> 00:43:16.600 We're at the end of it. 00:43:17.100 --> 00:43:20.780 You're spent, you're exhausted, and you're done. 00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:29.260 No one ever runs a marathon, and at the end of it says, cool, let's do this again right now, right? 00:43:30.540 --> 00:43:31.600 It's hard. 00:43:32.120 --> 00:43:33.140 It's not easy. 00:43:34.040 --> 00:43:38.600 And number four, we've got to understand that every day we have to prepare to fight. 00:43:39.780 --> 00:43:43.180 Jesus, in his words to his disciples, let's take up your cross. 00:43:43.940 --> 00:43:44.780 Take up your cross. 00:43:45.460 --> 00:43:46.600 Do a little research this week. 00:43:47.520 --> 00:43:49.500 The average cross weighed 300 pounds. 00:43:50.680 --> 00:43:55.040 The average cross beam, the beam that Jesus carried, was 90 pounds. 00:43:56.020 --> 00:44:02.080 Now, I don't know which part Jesus means, 300 or 90, but I'll tell you this, 00:44:02.080 --> 00:44:07.160 even if we want to go in on the low end of 90, tell you what, tomorrow let's all show up here 00:44:07.160 --> 00:44:11.300 and put an extra 90 pounds on us and then go face our day. 00:44:12.060 --> 00:44:17.660 Whatever we're going to do that day, let's face the day with 90 more pounds on us. 00:44:17.900 --> 00:44:19.620 Jesus says, this is what this is. 00:44:19.800 --> 00:44:20.840 It's every day. 00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:22.040 It's every moment. 00:44:22.160 --> 00:44:23.040 It's a battle. 00:44:23.220 --> 00:44:24.800 It's a fight that we're in. 00:44:26.260 --> 00:44:27.400 And we've got to prepare to fight. 00:44:28.360 --> 00:44:30.040 We've got to set our minds on things above. 00:44:30.040 --> 00:44:31.260 We've got to prepare to fight. 00:44:31.660 --> 00:44:35.740 And then lastly, I'm going to close in this, we've got to live in God's forgiveness. 00:44:37.160 --> 00:44:41.560 I'm going to close with not reading my own words, but reading the words of Billy Graham. 00:44:42.720 --> 00:44:48.960 On May 15, 2009, Billy Graham was 90 years old, and he was asked this question. 00:44:50.540 --> 00:44:54.880 How often should we ask God to forgive us? 00:44:56.120 --> 00:44:57.940 Should we ask him every day? 00:44:57.940 --> 00:45:06.640 Today, I know we're supposed to trust Jesus for our forgiveness, and I have, but I'm not perfect. 00:45:08.940 --> 00:45:11.860 Can anyone else other than me resonate with that? 00:45:13.820 --> 00:45:15.440 And here's Billy Graham's answer. 00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:22.480 When we come to Christ, we have a new relationship with him. 00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:27.340 Instead of being his enemies, we're now his sons and daughters. 00:45:28.740 --> 00:45:36.260 The Bible says, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 00:45:37.320 --> 00:45:39.360 This is a very precious truth. 00:45:40.300 --> 00:45:44.320 But it also helps us understand what happens when we sin. 00:45:45.640 --> 00:45:47.760 Think of your own family for a moment. 00:45:48.900 --> 00:45:53.180 Perhaps the family you grew up in or your family right now. 00:45:54.300 --> 00:45:57.400 What happens when someone in your family does something wrong? 00:45:58.260 --> 00:45:59.200 You know what happens. 00:46:00.040 --> 00:46:02.640 The closeness of your family is strained. 00:46:03.300 --> 00:46:07.840 And the fellowship between the wrongdoer and the rest of the family is broken. 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:12.840 And only when they ask forgiveness can the relationship be healed. 00:46:14.220 --> 00:46:18.820 But when they do wrong, do they cease to be a member of that family? 00:46:19.780 --> 00:46:21.020 No, of course not. 00:46:22.100 --> 00:46:26.680 The fellowship may be broken, but not the relationship. 00:46:27.680 --> 00:46:32.720 No matter what they've done, they will always be a member of that family. 00:46:33.500 --> 00:46:35.100 The same is true for us. 00:46:36.180 --> 00:46:40.440 If we've truly given our lives to Christ, we are now God's children. 00:46:41.380 --> 00:46:43.300 And nothing will ever change that fact. 00:46:44.200 --> 00:46:47.900 But when we sin, our fellowship with God is broken. 00:46:49.040 --> 00:46:55.540 And that's why we need to confess our sins to him and seek his forgiveness without delay. 00:46:56.220 --> 00:47:08.180 The Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 00:47:09.220 --> 00:47:12.800 May this be your practice every day. 00:47:14.440 --> 00:47:15.300 Every day. 00:47:17.300 --> 00:47:20.260 Live in God's forgiveness. 00:47:22.100 --> 00:47:23.560 He didn't break the fellowship. 00:47:24.620 --> 00:47:25.480 We did. 00:47:26.700 --> 00:47:29.960 He's just looking to restore it in every moment. 00:47:30.860 --> 00:47:31.580 Would you pray with me? 00:47:37.080 --> 00:47:43.120 Lord, we thank you for the words that Paul gave us through the inspiration of your spirit. 00:47:45.600 --> 00:47:49.800 Lord, we acknowledge the battle that rages in us that we face. 00:47:51.260 --> 00:47:55.140 And we thank you that in the midst of the battle, Lord, you give us your promises. 00:47:56.240 --> 00:48:12.360 That your spirit, the Holy Spirit of God is in us and can lead us in his power through this to defeat the sin and to no longer gratify the flesh. 00:48:13.640 --> 00:48:16.420 Lord, we thank you for your warning that you gave us. 00:48:16.520 --> 00:48:26.420 Lord, I pray for any of us in this room, that if what we've seen and what we're reading about is not the battle that we face, 00:48:27.460 --> 00:48:30.580 but instead the reality of what we are choosing. 00:48:31.980 --> 00:48:37.680 Lord, not through my words, but through the drawing and the leading of your spirit, will you bring our hearts? 00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:40.180 Will you open our eyes to our sin? 00:48:40.180 --> 00:48:46.720 Would you open our eyes to the desperate need that we have for a Savior to be saved from that? 00:48:47.020 --> 00:48:55.820 Lord, so that we would seek out, Lord, that we would desire you in your way above everything else, Lord, that this world has to offer. 00:49:00.340 --> 00:49:02.060 Lord, so that we can live by the Spirit. 00:49:06.560 --> 00:49:19.040 Lord, whether our next stage of life is high school graduation, retirement, our firstborn child, 00:49:20.840 --> 00:49:23.020 our firstborn great-grandchild. 00:49:24.900 --> 00:49:27.620 Lord, may we live by the Spirit. 00:49:29.380 --> 00:49:32.020 Lord, may we set our minds on things that are above, 00:49:33.360 --> 00:49:36.920 things that are holy and pure and good and righteous. 00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:41.720 Lord, may we find them in your Word as we read. 00:49:43.060 --> 00:49:46.340 Lord, may we cry out to you in them in our prayer. 00:49:47.740 --> 00:49:51.020 Lord, could we meditate and focus in on those 00:49:51.020 --> 00:49:57.920 so that when the storms and the situations of our life begin to consume us, 00:49:57.920 --> 00:50:00.240 like it did for Paul in that prison, 00:50:00.440 --> 00:50:06.020 the only reaction that we know is to not grovel in the situation, 00:50:06.340 --> 00:50:07.720 but to praise you in the moment. 00:50:11.540 --> 00:50:13.020 Lord, prepare us to fight. 00:50:14.900 --> 00:50:16.100 Prepare us to fight. 00:50:17.800 --> 00:50:20.440 Lord, our opponent, you know him well. 00:50:22.660 --> 00:50:24.600 And he wants to destroy. 00:50:33.340 --> 00:50:38.720 As a nation mourned a few days ago, he rejoiced. 00:50:40.220 --> 00:50:42.000 And that's who he is. 00:50:45.620 --> 00:50:49.680 Lord, can we prepare to fight. 00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:54.480 Lord, may we put on the armor of God 00:50:54.480 --> 00:50:59.140 in all that you've given us in every single moment. 00:51:00.520 --> 00:51:03.460 Lord, can we understand that it's not going to be easy. 00:51:05.980 --> 00:51:07.460 We do it every day. 00:51:09.860 --> 00:51:13.100 And God, can we live in your forgiveness. 00:51:15.100 --> 00:51:21.600 God, can we understand that you're our father who wants to forgive us. 00:51:22.900 --> 00:51:25.980 Who wants right relationship with us. 00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:33.300 With every head bowed and every eye closed. 00:51:35.860 --> 00:51:40.420 We have prayer encouragers on either side of the auditorium. 00:51:43.420 --> 00:51:45.040 Maybe you need to go to them 00:51:45.040 --> 00:51:49.440 to talk about a relationship with the Lord. 00:51:50.720 --> 00:51:52.160 What it means to be saved. 00:51:55.160 --> 00:52:10.120 And whether that's standing at your feet in songs of praise. 00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:16.100 Or maybe it's coming down front and kneeling. 00:52:18.100 --> 00:52:19.860 And crying out to the Lord 00:52:19.860 --> 00:52:23.900 in confession and repentance of sin this morning. 00:52:25.420 --> 00:52:27.220 And crying out into the Lord 00:52:27.220 --> 00:52:30.820 that his spirit would be victorious in you. 00:52:34.340 --> 00:52:35.740 And crying out to the Lord 00:52:35.740 --> 00:52:38.780 for a son or daughter who's gone wayward. 00:52:39.160 --> 00:52:41.300 A husband or wife who's gone wayward. 00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:47.840 Just pray that you would respond to the Lord this morning. 00:52:49.040 --> 00:52:50.360 And how he's leading you. 00:52:53.520 --> 00:52:57.340 God, may we obey you in every moment. 00:52:59.040 --> 00:53:01.900 From now as we leave and until we return. 00:53:02.520 --> 00:53:04.800 For your name and your glory. 00:53:05.420 --> 00:53:06.680 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:53:07.120 --> 00:53:07.420 Amen. 00:53:14.880 --> 00:53:26.220 Thanks again for listening 00:53:26.220 --> 00:53:28.140 to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:53:28.660 --> 00:53:30.960 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:31.440 --> 00:53:33.340 If you'd like to learn more about who we are 00:53:33.340 --> 00:53:34.980 or explore additional resources, 00:53:35.560 --> 00:53:40.020 visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:53:40.020 --> 00:53:42.240 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church 00:53:42.240 --> 00:53:43.600 on Facebook and Instagram. 00:53:44.880 --> 00:53:45.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:45.880 --> 00:53:46.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:46.880 --> 00:53:47.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:48.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:48.880 --> 00:53:49.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:53:49.880 --> 00:53:50.880 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.