Scripture referenced 11 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 100:1-2 read as a call to worship at the opening of the service
1 Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!
2 Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.
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Keep this verse
Psalm 8
read as a song lyric about God's majesty and humanity's place in creation
1 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!
2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
4 what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
5 For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,
8 The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
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Deuteronomy 6:4-9
read during Everett James Landis's baby dedication
4 Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.
5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
6 These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;
7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.
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Proverbs 22:6
read during Annie Marie Graham's baby dedication about training children in the right way
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
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Galatians 5:19-21
the main passage, listing the works of the flesh and the warning that those who practice them will not inherit the kingdom of God
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
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1 Corinthians 6:9-11
cited alongside Galatians 5 as a parallel list of vices including sexual immorality, homosexual activity, idolatry, thievery, greed, drunkenness, and reviling
9 Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.
11 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
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Galatians 2:20
quoted to show Paul applying the crucified-with-Christ principle to himself
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
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Galatians 5:22-23
the fruit of the Spirit listed as the counterpart to the works of the flesh
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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Galatians 5:25-26
if we live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit and do not become conceited
25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
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Galatians 6:1-8
covering restoration of a brother caught in transgression, bearing one another's burdens, testing one's own work, and the sowing and reaping principle
1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.
5 For each man will bear his own burden.
6 But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
7 Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
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Ephesians 3:17-19
used as the benediction, praying that Christ dwell in hearts and believers be filled with the fullness of God
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,
19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message worked through Galatians 5, finishing the list of works of the flesh and moving into the fruit of the Spirit. Pastor Carl was away, and the regular preacher addressed the congregation the weekend after the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision, connecting that moment directly to what the text already said.
What was said
The service opened with two baby dedications, for Everett James Landis and Annie Marie Christie Graham. Both families made promises before the congregation to raise their children in biblical instruction and love, and the congregation made the same promise back to them. The whole ceremony was framed as a covenant between parents, church, and child, not just a sentimental moment.
Before getting to the passage, the preacher told a story about his father in Shiloh, Georgia, who refused to let the volunteer fire department building be used for a benefit for a cousin dying of brain cancer, because the bylaws simply did not permit it. His father loved the cousin. He also believed the rules had to be followed by the book, even when it cost him family goodwill. The story was meant to head off the charge that holding to a position in God's Word means you do not love the people the Word addresses.
The preacher returned to the works of the flesh from Galatians 5, then stacked lists from 1 Corinthians 6, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Romans alongside them. The point was not to overwhelm but to show how consistent and wide the picture is, and that no one in the room could honestly claim to be free of everything named. Sexual immorality, greed, envy, dissension, rivalry, and drunkenness all appear together. No single category stands alone.
He addressed the Supreme Court decision directly but briefly, saying he had missed the news entirely while doing a wedding that week. He was not trying to be political. His frame was the same one the Lynn McDaniel story set up: saying something is outside God's design is not the same as not loving the person. He drew a line between Church Street and State Street, said he wanted to stay on Church Street, and moved on.
The grave warning of Galatians 5:21, that those who go on doing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, was matched against the identical language in 1 Corinthians 6. But the following verse in 1 Corinthians was the point: "and such were some of you." The congregation had been there. They had been sanctified and justified. The warning is not for strangers.
The fruit of the Spirit was read as relief after all of that. The preacher used his own weight-loss chart, pulled up on screen, to illustrate what "have crucified the flesh" means in practice. He had hit a goal, stopped paying attention, and drifted far off course. He had just reset the chart and started over. That is what the past tense of crucifixion means for daily life: a fixed starting point, and then keeping in step with the Spirit from there, day by day, without assuming you have arrived.
The closing section tied the fruit of the Spirit to the July 4th weekend by going through each one and declaring it independent of any human institution, then turning around and declaring each one completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control do not rise or fall with a court decision or a constitution. They are produced by God's Spirit in people who yield their lives to Him, and that does not change.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The preacher described his father standing firm on the fire department's bylaws even when it made him look like he didn't love his cousin Lynn. Have you ever been in a situation where doing the right thing made you look unloving to the people around you? What happened?
- The sermon listed works of the flesh from Galatians and several other New Testament passages, then asked whether anyone in the room could honestly say they had done none of those things. What does it do to you personally when you see your own struggles sitting in the same list as sins you might be tempted to judge in others?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,296 words
0:00
Speaker 2You guys are all here this morning. Did everybody have a wonderful fourth of July? Yes. Alright. Very, very good.
0:07
Well, hey, we're gonna stand up and sing together and get this party started here. So Psalm one hundred one and two. Shout with joy to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him seeing with joy, and that's what we want to do this morning.
0:23
So made to worship.
0:25
Speaker 1Carl is still in Minnesota. We're giving him a break and having a ball doing it. But I've got a few announcements this morning. And these are the announcements of the week. And so one of them is that today at 01:30 in the afternoon, we have a Spanish service.
0:40
We have about 15 of us get together regularly. Sometimes there are few more, sometimes a few less. But okay? We're gonna have a less a lesson right here at 01:30 from the book of John chapter five today. And Monday nights at first b.
0:58
If you don't recognize that handsome fellow right there, it's because he's behind you. The only time you look back there is when something goes wrong with the sound system, but that's Blake Morley. And because Carl is in Minnesota, he asked Blake if he would speak tomorrow night. So Blake is gonna be doing that, and it's potluck night. So Monday night, at first B, you can bet on always.
1:19
06:15 in the evening, we'll have meal, music, and a message. The meal is going to be brought by everybody. It's potluck. The music will be brought by this skeleton band right here and the message will be brought by Blake Morley tomorrow night. So next week, we got a few things.
1:34
The sixteenth, that's Thursday, a Thursday evening, July 16 at 06:00 in the evening. The Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center is having their annual gala fundraising event. If you are not planning on going, think about it again, and then call and let them know that you're planning on coming. And before that, there's parents night with Shelley Donahue. She's a relationship education expert, and so some of the things that are kind of hard to talk to your kids about, she's pretty good at giving you different strategies for how you would go about doing that.
2:05
So, parents night is the night before in July 15 at seven and that will be here. No, that will be at the Presbyterian Church and we're going to have the that will be translated into Spanish also. So, check your bulletin for everything else. Right now though, I think I would take the guitar off because we have some baby dedications that we want to do. So, I'm gonna invite up James and Brie and I'm also gonna write invite up Forrest and Christie.
2:38
Are they in this service? I don't know if they're here yet. Okay. Alright. They're on the way.
2:42
We might dedicate that baby next service. So Annie Annie Marie Christie Graham and Everett James Landis are the babies today. And I I look back on this, and for those of you who grew up, we've got lots of folks from lots of different traditions here. A baby dedication, the way that we practice this is basically like a dry baptism if you come from a lot of different infant baptism denominations. Look at that cute little thing.
3:09
Pascal and I I mean, Tanya and Pascal and I it didn't go there. Sorry, Blake. Tanya and I and Pascal were dedicated at Winbrook Baptist Church, the ones that sent us off to the mission field and I still get letters from people. Not on a regular basis but pretty pretty often and they're still checking in on us and kind of checking up. So, this kind of is a a pact really between the parents and the baby but also this congregation and this baby and actually, I'm going invite Steven, Sandy, and the other grandparents.
3:43
Come on up. Y'all are recording from back there. Come get a better seat. Alright. All the way down the aisle.
3:49
Right. I had actually got the pleasure of officiating the marriage for these two too. So, this is something pretty emotional for me. Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, James and Breland Landis have come to bring their handsome baby boy to acknowledge and profess their dependence on the Lord to raise him, Everett James Landis. Let's pray.
4:13
Almighty God, eternal, we ask today humbly for your blessing to rest upon this little boy's life. May he grow up in your nurture and admonition. May he see in his parents and in his grandparents and in this church family many godly examples that would give him the deep desire to know you, lord. From the cradle. Lord, will you convict us of our sin and convince us of your righteousness through your Holy Spirit?
4:41
We know lord that you are the only one who can confer favor of any eternal significance. We bow to you and we ask for your blessing from this day forward. May James and Brie fall deeper and deeper in love with one another and with you. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ and for your glory. So, amen.
5:03
James and Brie, do you come professing Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of your lives? Do you? Yes. And do you come to dedicate yourselves to biblical instruction, discipline, and love for this little boy? Yes.
5:18
And do you dedicate Everett James to the ultimate control and the will of God through our Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. Amen. How about y'all grandparents? Alright.
5:28
Very good. And do you, the assembled congregation here at First Bee, do you agree to support these parents and grandparents by your example through acts of service, and do you agree to reinforce the biblical instruction, discipline, and love of this child under the supreme authority and rule of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you?
5:46
Speaker 2Yes. Amen.
5:49
Speaker 1Would somebody with a Bible in their hand, find Deuteronomy six four through nine. That's a bunch of y'all. Y'all have Bibles in front of me. Everyone of you. I forgot to print it out.
6:01
Somebody hit me. There you go, Peter. Thank you. Deuteronomy six four through nine. And the NRSV says, hear o Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
6:14
You should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your might. Keep these words that I'm commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you're at home and when you're away and when you lie down and when you rise and bind them as sign as a sign on your hand. Fix them as an emblem on your forehead and write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. In Psalm, thanks for the Bible.
6:41
Psalm 22. Psalm twenty two six. Commit your calls to the Lord and let him deliver. Let him rescue the one in whom he delights. Father, we bring Everett James to you today, full of love for him but also loving you with our all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
7:03
We want to raise him up, lord, to love you, and to serve you. Please help us to reflect you day to day as he grows up in your pleasing and perfect will. We pray for your blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Torres and Christy, come on.
7:18
Come on up. That's alright. And it's not Psalms, it's Proverbs. Psalm Proverbs twenty two six is the messianic Psalm and it says, but I am a worm and not a human. So sorry.
7:39
When I hit that, it was a little bit of a stumbling block for me. Sorry. Alright. Screaming a girl. Oh my goodness.
7:48
So brothers and sisters in Christ, today, Forrest Graham and his wife, Christy, have come to bring this beautiful baby girl to acknowledge and profess their dependence on the Lord to raise her, Annie Marie, Christy, Graham. And let's pray again. Almighty God and eternal father, we do ask today humbly for your blessing, lord, to rest upon this little girl's life. We ask that she would grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. May she see in her parents and in her grandparents and in this church family, many godly examples, lord.
8:22
Would you bring about change in their lives through this little girl? Would you draw us closer to you through Annie Marie's witness, lord? Will you convict us of our sin, convince us of your righteousness? We know, Lord, that you're the only one who can confer blessing of any eternal significance, and we bow to you and ask you for that from this day forward. May Christy and Forrest fall deeper and deeper in love with one another and with you.
8:51
We ask this all in the name of Jesus Christ and for your glory. Amen. Amen. So, Forrest and Christy, do you come professing Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of your lives? Do you?
9:02
Yes. Amen. And do you come to dedicate Annie Marie and yourselves to humble biblical instruction, discipline, and love? Yes. And do you dedicate Annie Marie Christie Graham to the ultimate control and will of God through our Lord Jesus Christ?
9:21
Come what may. Yes, we do. And do you, church, family, agree to support these parents by your example and through acts of service and do you agree to reinforce the humble biblical instruction, discipline, and love of this child under the supreme authority and rule of Jesus Christ our lord. Do you? Yes.
9:39
Amen. Proverbs twenty two six says, train children up in the right way and when they're old, they will not stray. Father, we bring you today, Anna Marie, and we bring you our hearts, lord, full of love for her but also loving you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. First, lord, loving God and then loving people. We desire to be a part of raising her up, to love and serve you, and please help us to reflect you day by day as she grows up in your pleasing and perfect will.
10:10
We pray all of this in Jesus precious name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much.
10:14
Alright. Alright. Y'all can stand up and greet one another, and we'll bring you back together with a song.
10:28
Speaker 2Alright. A song that goes with that is Psalm eight. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place, What are what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them, yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything. You made putting all things under their authority.
10:56
The flocks and the herds herdsund? Help me out with that. Herdsman? All the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish of the sea, everything that swims, the ocean currents. Oh Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fill the earth.
11:15
Let's sing blessed be your name. Nice job. You guys don't even need a leader. Excellent work. Tell Carl to stay another week.
11:23
Perfect. Alright. Revelation song.
11:38
Speaker 1God almighty, you're good and you're holy and we love to sing about it, lord. We thank you that every good and perfect gift is given from above. We've seen that and just the way that you bless our lives this morning with the babies and these families that are here, lord. As families in your family, we we ask you lord that you would accept what we're giving back right now. You have given us so much.
12:04
We thank you for the beauty of this place and we're in awestruck wonder as the song says about it. God, we trust you and and showing that we trust you, we wanna give back. Lord, would you take your good gospel? Would you spread it? Spread it.
12:20
Through the will and witness of your concerned believers, Lord. Every day, all the time, you're at work. And so God, we ask that you take these offerings that we give now and that you would multiply em lord to do your kingdom's work, that the gospel would advance. In Jesus name, lord, would you allow it to be on our lips? Amen.
14:52
Amen. Galatians. We're back to Galatians. Five nineteen six through eight is what we're going to go through today. I've got a a couple, I got a story first.
15:07
Lynn McDaniel is a was a cousin of mine and I grew up in Shiloh, Georgia. Y'all most of y'all know that. A lot of y'all are visiting. I welcome you. I'm glad you're here.
15:16
But the folks that are here hear about my hometown a lot, they it's kinda like Mayberry, quite honestly. It's a lot like that. And my dad is kinda Andy Griffith of that town. You know how he had the sheriff, but he justices the peace. He turned that around.
15:28
My dad has been for many years. So, he was a sawyer at a sawmill, my grandfather owned when I was growing up. But he then became the mailman about the time I was a senior in high school. So, he's a mailman. He has been on the city council forever.
15:43
As one of the councilmen, he has been the mayor of town. He has been the chief of the fire department. He has not been the policeman, but he's been everything else. Any position that a citizen can hold, he's pretty much held it. Chairman of deacons in the church and just an all around good guy.
15:59
Should've said this a couple weeks ago on Father's Day, but I I love him. And he is a man of integrity, and there's never been any doubt for me that he was. He he sought to do God's will. He's a good guy. Lynn McDaniel is a cousin.
16:11
He is my dad's first cousin. He'd be, you know, depending on how far you count him, my second cousin. Lynn is while my dad was the chief of the fire department. They had moved into a new building. They had decided at the outset in that new building that they would not have any special occasions that happened in this building except for fire department related stuff.
16:34
Auxiliary or volunteer fire department stuff could happen, but they weren't gonna rent it out for quinceaneras and birthday parties and stuff like that, bar mitzvahs. They weren't doing that. It was Georgia. Anyway, Lynn McDaniel had brain cancer. And about the time that it looked like they were gonna need to do a benefit, he didn't have enough insurance to cover it, they needed help.
16:56
And you all see that in Jackson. We see it all the time. We see people gathering together to help others, and I I love that. I'm glad that this community has a very great spirit of that and Shiloh, Georgia did too. So, everybody wanted to do it and there's a brand new shiny building and it had this volunteer fire department that said, well, Billy, why don't you why don't we're we're going to do Lynn's party here.
17:16
He said, no, you know, can't do that. There's a the bylaws say that we're not gonna do that. The whole constitution of this place says we're not gonna do that. And so, well, Lynn McDaniel, Billy McDaniel, this is his cousin, you know. Well, you don't love Lynn?
17:33
He goes, well, of course I love Len, but I also appreciate the rule of law, you know. I understand this. He fought Vietnam. He's a he's a good American, you know, a good guy. And he really believes in Lex Rex, the law is king, not Rex Lex, the king is law.
17:49
So he's like, no, we're not going to do that. He said, there's a way that we can do it, but we'd have to get together, regular scheduled meeting, we have to get together and all of us would have to decide to take that provision out. If we take that provision out, then I have no problem with it whatsoever. But everybody got in a big tizzy because he was not gonna do what the rule said could not be done. So that, it was a family rift there for a while.
18:12
Everybody loved Lynn, but my dad looked like he didn't because of he's taking a stand on the rules. So last week, when I got up and preached, I had had on Friday afternoon, I had had a wedding here that we had a wedding rehearsal. We had a lunch because it was for Scott at the Barjay's daughter. So we had lunch instead of supper. Lunch, then here for the rehearsal, then the Bar J for supper after that while Scott was performing.
18:40
And I didn't hear anything about the news. And Saturday, I'm catching up on the sermon because I've been doing wedding stuff all week, doing my slides. I didn't even think about checking to see the whole supreme court decision thing. You all know me, you know I'm not a political guy. I don't ever do this.
18:57
I just didn't see it though. Didn't see it at all. And I had several of you come up before I reached the back door. Had several up. So you didn't say anything about this at all.
19:04
How can you not say anything about it at all? You gotta say something, especially with what we're dealing with. And so I reserved the right last week to come back to some of the passage and we're gonna come back to it. I'm gonna try not to go. I'm not political.
19:16
I'm not gonna turn into it. I'm not I just can't do it. But there were provisions. There are provisions within our constitution of The US that say how things should go, and it's a whole lot like Lynn McDaniel. To say that I that my dad didn't love Lynn and say that we don't love homosexuals.
19:36
It's the same thing. Ultimately, it comes down to the same thing. There's got to be if you're not loving, you're not living Christianity out. So, we're gonna go through it and I'm gonna take probably a harsher edge than normal, I think. Let you see this, hopefully.
19:54
Challenge last week was actually just honest self evaluation based on those two lists, the virtues and devices, the flesh, works of the flesh, and the fruit of the spirit. Last week, we put them up there and this were this these were they. So, the works of the flesh, the text says are evident. They are evident. It's easy to see these things.
20:14
Sexual immorality, is the Greek word, and it means anything, any sexual activity outside of the context of a marriage. Gotta say now, union of man and wife. Sexual immorality. Impurity, saying the same thing again. Anything that is unclean that is outside of sanctity of the union of husband and wife.
20:41
Sensuality. That one has a broad definition too which includes homosexuality. It's in the list. There's there's not really much of a way to get around. Let's keep on going though.
20:52
Idolatry. Putting anything in the place before God. Anything in God's place is idolatry. Sorcery, I mentioned last week is Pharmakia. Pharmakia is drugs.
21:05
Whether you're using them to poison somebody or poison yourself or trying to conjure up whatever religious feeling or set yourself free, that's covered under sorcery. Not to mention what we still call sorcery is covered under sorcery. Trying to control fate, voodoo, trying to control God, or even if you don't believe in God, trying to control things by what you do. Enmity. Okay.
21:37
Now we're getting the meddling. Enmity is where you have something between you and a brother or something between you and someone else. Strife. Strife. That's in the list.
21:53
Jealousy. This one can be jealousy, but since envy is further down, it also means zeal. So excessive, unnecessary, or unfounded zeal. People that just go crazy for basically anything that's not God. An excessive unfounded zeal is probably what's that referring to.
22:13
Although, it it can be founded and in several lists in the New Testament, it's listed as a virtue, not a vice. So, zeal is a good thing as long as it's placed in the right thing. Fits of anger. Be angry but sin not. Fits of anger are when you step outside of that.
22:31
Rivalries, where you've just got that enmity between you and somebody else, and it's gonna stay. Prejudice. Rivalry. Dissensions. Dissensions.
22:45
I'm reading the report this week. Dissensions, the dissenting opinion. I agree with all of the dissenting opinions, every one of them. Read the whole majority opinion and all four of the dissenting and I agree with all of them, and I think that they're right. It was respectfully submitted though, and I think that that's a good thing.
23:04
When you just have dissension in your ranks where you're in, it goes with rivalry and enmity. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. That's a bad thing. Divisions, When there's a split. How many of us have been through a church split?
23:18
Okay. Close your eyes and raise your hand. Every one of us. Alright? Envy.
23:24
That is when either you think that someone else got what you deserve or they didn't get something. Sorry. Envy. When you look around and you think, I deserve that, but they got it. They don't deserve it.
23:47
It brings them down. It it vaunts self. All these things vaunt self. Drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. And I wanna list the things like these.
23:56
If you if I told you last week, I said, if you don't know what they are, if there's that thing that's nagging you and the still small voice of God is saying, this is one of them. It's not on that list, but it's really close. It's covered with and things like these. This is the general duty clause. Okay?
24:12
The fruit of the spirit remain the same. Check this out though. If we add to Galatians five nineteen, one list that looks a whole lot like it, first Corinthians six nine through 11, starts off the same way, sexual immorality. Starts off the list most every time. Adultery, to be more specific, although that's covered under sexual immorality.
24:31
Homosexual activity and there's no arguing about this one. I've I've seen several things this week because y'all are sending them to me. One of em is something that the reformationproject.org is trying to promote. That there are only six verses in the Bible that say anything about homosexuality at all and all of em can be interpreted in a different way. Well, you can interpret things however you wanna interpret em but if we look with an honest look at scripture, either it's going to bend us or we're going to bend it.
24:57
If you're trying not to bend what scripture says, homosexual activity. In this case in Corinthians, it actually says passive or active. So, both sides of the equation, consensual or not, does not matter. Homosexual activity is covered. Idolatry again, thievery.
25:15
I love where Paul says in Ephesians, those of you who are stealing, stop stealing. Thievery, greed. Oh, that's close to home too. Drunkenness. Reviling.
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Swindling. If we add to that, Ephesians. Lying. Evil talking. Fornication.
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Again, back up to adultery, sexual immorality. Obscene, silly, or vulgar talk. Empty words, disobedience. If we add to that, Colossians, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, quenching the spirit, despising the words of the prophets. Self indulgent, double tongued, conceited, filled with a morbid craving for controversy, eagerness to be rich, anger We had to that second Timothy, overtaken with stupid and senseless, senseless controversies, quarrelsome.
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Add to that, Romans, wickedness and evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, gossip, slanderers, God haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of new ways to do evil. That actually says that. Rebellious toward their parents, foolish, faithful, faithless, heartless, ruthless, lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, and lovers of pleasure. Do you all get the point? I mean, if you don't know what it is does any is anybody that from this list that I just read, is there anybody in here who can honestly raise their hand and say, I have done none of those.
27:06
I am clean and pure. No, it keeps on going and it's an indication of these are the, this is what it looks like. This is normal work of the flesh life. If you do not believe in God and you do not have the Holy Spirit in your life, this is what it's going to look like. I thought I was through.
27:27
Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, we've covered it. Impurity, anything that is unclean. That means unclean. Mixed with something dirty.
27:39
Sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. These are the works of the flesh so that you'll know them. Just so you know. If you're slipping in your walk, you're gonna see it this way. This is what's gonna show up if you're slipping in your walk of the spirit.
28:01
So there are four different ways, and there's no reference to rainbow here. I'm sorry. It's just trying to make it stand out. Sorry. And when we sang Clothed in Rainbows of Living Color this morning, how many of y'all thought that?
28:14
Like, oh my goodness. Yeah. We a lot of us did. That's a shame. The first sexual sins, they often lead off any list of vices.
28:23
It's those things that we are hardwired for sex. We are hardwired for procreation. We're hardwired for it. And so that's something that the devil can grab hold of and use. So, there are three of those listed.
28:35
If you see any order in this and all, sins against true religion. Idolatry is putting something else in God's place and sorcery is trying to manipulate God. For personal gain. Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy. There are more of those than any other.
28:54
What are those? Those relational sins between ourselves as body of Christ or beyond that to the world. If we have these things and we have valid reasons to be concerned certainly but there's no excuse for enmity. There's no excuse for strife, for jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, or envy And then drunkenness and orgies are sins of intemperance intemperance where you can just go there and get way out of control. If you look at these, they have corresponding ones on the other side.
29:30
So, as I'm driving this van, First Baptist Church and I'm coming up against Church Street and State Street. I am all for Church Street. I think that they are separate things. I think anytime in our history that we have tried to blend the two has not gone well for very long. I do believe that we were started with Judeo Christian ethics because those were the guys.
29:52
Even if they were deists or theists, those were the guys who got this thing rolling and they recognized that God gives us freedom. He gives us freedom to choose the wrong thing. So, as we come upon this, just know that I am going to try to always to stay on Church Street. If I swap over in the State Street, I'm upset about it. I don't wanna do that.
30:10
There are lots of folks who are really, really political in here on both sides of the aisle, and I praise God that y'all can get along and you're here together. We are not a homogenous bunch except in the spirit. One in the spirit. I got ten minutes to reach preach the rest of this lesson. Galatians five twenty one is a grave warning and it follows right after that list of vices.
30:33
I warn you or I am warning you, progressive action. I am warning you just as I warned you in the past that those who are doing such things, progressive action. Those who are doing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The reason I said that this one matches so closely with this one is because it says the same line at the beginning. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God and it goes into that.
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Do not be deceived about it. Don't fool yourselves. Don't allow other people to fool you and to believe in that. He's saying, sexually moral, idolaters, adulterers. Oh, yeah.
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We can sit here and go, amen. Amen. Amen. Nor men of practice. Oh, amen.
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Nor thieves nor the greedy. Wait a second. Drunkards. Oh, it's just a few times a week. No no revilers.
31:23
Well, I kind of hate that person nor swindlers. I get whatever I can out of these tourists while they're here. Will inherit the kingdom of God and he says and such were some of you in the past, such were some of you. He said, you've been sanctified. You were sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God.
31:48
So, he's saying, walk by the spirit. Walk by the spirit. If you do that, remember from last week, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. If you concentrate on walking by the spirit, then those other things will pale in comparison. Either legalism or license will go aside.
32:05
Legal and ethical. I could have put moral up there, but I had a better image for ethical here. So the things that are ethical or moral are not always the things that are legal. They don't always correspond. There are some things that are legal that are not moral, and it's my job driving the van on Church Street to say, of God, these things are not good.
32:27
This is not moral. It's not good. Law is essential to the maintenance of human society. Legal and then morality. There's an overlap there, and some things are and some things aren't.
32:41
Roe versus Wade. I don't get political about it. I'm the president or the chair of the board or whatever they call it at Turning Point because I believe that abortion is wrong. But I also know that the ladies that find themselves in that situation have a very, very difficult choice in front of I believe that that's that's outside of what is moral but it's inside what is legal. We have a couple things that we've just added to that list.
33:05
But the fruit of the spirit is, amen. Thank you. It's like a bath from all the uncleanness to that first part. The fruit of the spirit, singular fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, and against such things, there is no law. Have you ever been accosted for being loving?
33:30
Have you ever been thrown in jail for being patient, kind, good. Yes. People get persecuted. It happens from time to time. But it will not endure.
33:45
Against such things, there is no law. Certainly not God's law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Those who belong to Christ Jesus. This is a different set than just everybody, okay?
34:03
Those of you who belong to Christ Jesus, you've been made one with Christ by belief. You've crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Have crucified. That's that tense. Have crucified.
34:18
In the past, it happened at a certain point and that has ramifications forever. Now, can you slip off of the center middle way into either of the ditches? You can but he's reminding you that you have already crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Remember, Paul said the same thing. He never says anything anybody else that he doesn't expect from himself.
34:37
Galatians two twenty, he's already led off with this. He says, for I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in flesh. I live what?
34:49
By faith in the son of God who love me and gave himself up for me. Looking at Christ's holy life and his example is one thing but he's saying, Christ died for sin and my sins, past, present, future are nailed to that tree. I don't want to walk in them anymore. I'm walking by his spirit. Jesus walked in the power of the spirit.
35:08
His whole earthly life and Paul says, that's what I want for myself too. Those who belong to Christ have crucified. They've put it in the past. I've crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. I mentioned last week and I probably shouldn't do this but I mentioned last week that I have been struggling to eat right and exercise.
35:28
This is my weight chart from April '13 to about four days ago, right there. And I had a goal. Y'all can't see it. I wish it were a little darker, but I had a goal that was right there and I hit my goal and I stopped paying attention. Isn't that the way it works?
35:48
Y'all gone, I'm gonna get to two twenty no matter what, and I did, and then I got to two fifty. Started off at two thirty five. That's a perfect example for me. I don't know about y'all but that one hits me where I live and so, actually, the have crucified, put that down, nail it down right there, get yourself a starting place, and then move forward. You can't see this either but from right there, there's a very faint line that goes down to my goal.
36:18
It's a very faint line that goes at a slope like that. And now, I'm up here. I'm so far away from my staying on course that I can't even recognize it anymore. I don't even I can't see it on the screen at the same time that I can see how much I weigh. And so I started over the other day, right there.
36:38
It said, cancel history. Are you sure you wanna cancel that history? You don't wanna be able see what it's been like? I'm like, oh, I wanna forget that. I wanna put that behind me, I wanna start fresh and new.
36:46
I wanna look at things day by day after my honest self evaluation. Lord, forgive me for what's behind but help me now for where I am right now. Can you help me go forward from here? And so from right there, I start over. I'm nervous.
37:01
I started over and now I can see the line. The line is that fruit of the spirit. God is going to produce it in you but you have to yield your life. You have to live a yielded life. You can fake all of em.
37:14
Don't do that. I'd rather you be off in the other ditch, honestly. It's easier to spot those problems. The works of the flesh are evident. When somebody's faking goods, goodness, that's harder to see sometimes.
37:26
If you don't, don't just remember that line though. If we live by the spirit, Paul says, then let us also keep in step with the spirit. Capital S, Holy Spirit of God. If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit. That's watching that trajectory go down, doing the things necessary, doing the exercise, doing the eating right, all of that sort of stuff.
37:50
Seeing it as we progress, keep in step, and let us not become conceded especially if we feel like we've hit our goal. Let us not become conceded and provoking one another, envying one another. I said last week that it's having delusions of grandeur either about yourself or someone else or two weeks ago. Let us not become conceded and think, I got this. No.
38:15
The only way you got this is if God is right there with you and you're yielding your life to him. You can't say, no, lord. You can say no but realizing he's not your lord or you can say, yes, lord. So, brothers, oh, we're still going. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, whatever it is, it does not matter.
38:36
Anything on any of those lists that we've read, anyone is caught in any transgression, those of you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Why? Because that's one of the fruits of the spirit. If you're gonna hit somebody with aggression, malice, anger, and reminding them of the past, you're not gonna be a safe person for people to come to. Nobody's gonna fall in love with Jesus because of you.
38:59
Keep watch on yourself too. Lest you too become tempted. Keep watching yourself lest you too be tempted. That's enough said, right? Pride goeth before a fall.
39:13
Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So, this is the law now. The law of Christ. What did Christ say with two greatest commandments were? Love lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
39:26
What's our motto? With all we are, loving God, loving people through Christ. It's the only way. I'm going to hurry through this last little part because I'm trying to get to verse eight. For if anyone thinks that he is something when he is really nothing, he deceives himself but let each one test his own work and then, his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
39:47
For each will have to bear his own load. At the judgment, you know, you're not answering for anybody else. You're not answering for the Supreme Court justices. You're not answering for anybody but yourself. For each one will have to bear his own load.
40:01
Let each one test his own work. Let the one who has taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. That's a great tithe sermon right there, I'm sure. Do not be deceived, folks. God is not mocked.
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He's not gonna be mocked. No matter who rails against him and for how long, he's not mocked ever. He never has been, never will be. You can try to make a mockery of God but he's it. At the end of time, he's the judge, right?
40:30
So, here you go. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Remember the black wolf and the white wolf? From last week. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
40:41
For the one who sows or feeds to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. The one who sows to his own flesh will from that flesh reap corruption. The one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. Okay. I got a declaration of independence on 07/05/2015 right here.
41:04
Our love is not dependent on any human institution. Don't act like it is. Okay? Your love is based on God's love. We can love because he first loved us.
41:13
Our joy, not dependent on any human institution, not the country, not anything else. Our peace is not dependent on any human institution. Our patience is not dependent on any human institution. Our kindness is not dependent on any human institution. Our goodness is not dependent on any human institution.
41:32
Our gentleness is not dependent on any human institution, constitution or set of bylaws. Our self control is not dependent on any human institution. But we must at the same time declare this because other than that, circumstances are gonna control our lives. God is good. Our love is dependent upon your spirit.
41:57
Lord, Our joy is dependent upon your Holy Spirit, Lord. Our peace is dependent on your Holy Spirit, Lord. Our patience is dependent on your spirit, Lord. Our kindness is dependent on your spirit, lord. Our goodness is dependent on your spirit, lord.
42:18
Our faithfulness is dependent on your spirit, lord. Our gentleness is dependent on your spirit, lord, and our self control is dependent on your spirit, lord, And God, forgive us if we ever think we've got it all under wraps within ourselves. I think that's it. They'll know we're Christians by our love. Would you stand up and sing with us as loud loud enough to cover up me and Renzi?
42:47
We also, after this song, we have a commissioning. We want a commission. So, don't run out the door right now. We have several going out on mission this week. Amen.
42:55
Y'all can have a seat for just a second. I'm going to invite up the Pearsons and the Ripley's. Pearsons who are going. Ripley's who are going and I have a picture up here of Kristen Josh Nethercott that are going also. Kristen, Josh are going to Bangladesh this week.
43:15
She has a grandfather and uncle who are missionaries there and they're going for encouragement and for missions, opportunities to churches. Sending them out. We've sent them out with blessing to hopefully be a blessing to others and I'm gonna let you say. You don't wanna do that? Let him talk.
43:32
Alright. Okay.
43:34
Speaker 3So, we're going to Cabos, and there was a hurricane last year and devastated a lot of their they had some churches that had some kitchens. They feed about 5,000 kids a month there. So, So, we're going to help em. I really don't know what we're going to end up doing. Amen.
43:52
But we're going with the love to help. Do whatever. Whatever it takes. Amen. And that's what we're going out in.
43:58
Speaker 1Thank you. Kurt also does a ministry at the Living Center for First Baptist. When we have our turn at the Living Center, he does that and it's awesome. So thank you. I'm gonna let you do it anyway.
44:09
We're going with Kurt and those guys. There you go. Alright. And so, would you be please be praying for him and I wanna get Steve Landis if you don't mind. Can you run up here wherever you are?
44:18
You've been up here a lot today. Would you come up and send them off, please? A commission and prayer. And the benediction for this morning is from Ephesians three seventeen through 19. Now, may Christ dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints.
44:35
What is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of God. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Y'all can go.
Topics
Baby DedicationFruit Of The SpiritHomosexuality And The BibleSowing And ReapingWorks Of The Flesh
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