The Free Gift Is Eternal Life
First B Jackson
2016-06-05

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Puffy from allergies. Right? Yeah. My voice is it's because of that. But, what do you say we stand up and, begin kicking off kicking this off by warming up to the Lord, from Psalm one forty seven.

How good to sing praises to our God. How delightful and how fitting. It really is. And let me pray. Okay?

God, we are grateful to be here, as a church family to come together like minded to give you praise, adoration, worship because you so deserve it. It is fitting. You are a creator and a sustainer. And so, would you, kinda warm us up and, let your presence fill us up as we pour out to you. Amen.

Amen.

Alright. All creatures.

That's me. So, y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements this morning. Not a whole lot but Renzi does have something he wants to say in just a minute too. Monday nights are back on.

We did kind of skip Monday last week. Went straight to Tuesday out at the Bar J. It was a great show and tons and tons of people there like six fifty something people showed up for that turning point fundraiser last Tuesday night and Monday nighters were part of that but Monday night's back on. Nehemiah?

Nehemiah. Yep. Alright.

Very good. Nehemiah's the message part of the meal music and a message and that happens at six tomorrow. Noah wanted tomorrow night but down the hall. Come on down.

Some.

Potluck. Bring something. Alright. Good. Connect hour happens between services.

Nancy Terraziano is taking care of that for this morning. So, after this service and before the next, go down and grab a cup of coffee, maybe a donut and hang out with somebody. The Surf Shack Vacation Bible School is happening. That is June 20 through the twenty fourth. Surf Shack is the theme and there are a few things you had to actually pass by a table this morning with some flowers and sand buckets and stuff like that.

There are a few more of the blue slips of some weird stuff that we need. It's not completely random. It's not all completely random but if you're just bringing it all together, the body of Christ bringing back all this stuff that we need for the what do you call that stuff? Just the stuff. Supplies.

Supplies. Thank you very much. That's what I'm looking for. This is going to be a long Sunday morning, folks. No, supplies.

Vacation Bible School supplies. It's from nine to twelve. We can still use a few volunteers if you want to volunteers, talk to Krista who's in the back right there waving her hand and that's going to be a lot of fun. I think all the other announcement announcements are in the bulletin. If there's anything else but I want to invite Renzi upfront.

Here he is. Take over. There you there you go.

Alright. We have got some senior recognition this morning. Yesterday, all of our seniors or at least the ones at the public school here graduated And I think last week, the rest of them at other schools, various schools in the Valley also graduated. So we wanna take a moment here this morning to recognize those seniors who have officially completed their high school career. So I'm gonna do it a little bit like The Price is Right Here.

So when you hear your name, you can come on down. Let's see who's first. And one second. Eli Kaufman, come on down. Eli Kaufman has enlisted in the United States Army.

He will be joining the nineteenth Delta Unit Cavalry Scout Crew. Congratulations. Next up, let's see who else we've got here. Woah, you have to stay up here. Yeah.

Sorry, four years of that, you have to stay. Is Morgan Seaton in the house? Yet. And she may not be here. We'll find out.

I know they had a big party last night, We'll say it anyway. Morgan, Seaton, come on down. Let's give her a round of applause. Yes. Next up, Rebecca Grauss.

Is Rebecca Grauss in the house? Rebecca Grauss in the house like a Doctor Seuss book. Nope. Hey, we're one for three, not too bad. All right, Rebecca Grauss.

How's about Michael Tarver? No dice? Nope, would one of you like to represent him? Yeah, come on up here. All right.

Michael Tarver has already entered the workforce. He's a mechanic at Troy's Diesel. Congratulations. All right, next up we have, is Regan Myring here? Yes.

Alright, Regan Myring. She'll be attending the University of Wyoming next year majoring in biology and then applying for medical school. An ambitious one we have here. Congratulations. All right, next up we have Samuel McMullen.

Sammy, come on down. Sam McMullen is also going to the University of Wyoming. He is studying athletic training. Congratulations. Let's see here.

We also have Wendy Pearson. Is Wendy Pearson in the there she is coming on down. Yes. Wendy Pearson is going to the College of Southern Idaho majoring in biology, pursuing a future as a laboratory scientist. Is that correct?

Well, congratulations on that then. And a great picture, I might add. Let's see. Who else do we have here? Go ahead and click me, Blake.

Oh, we've got the rainbow wheel of death back there. Maybe. Everybody doing okay this morning? Yeah? We had fun?

How was the senior party last night? Did you guys make it through the water hazards at the pool? Nice work. Did you try it? No?

Eli? No problem. Okay. Still not working? Who else is a senior here?

Helen Stalker, are you in the house this morning? No Helen? Okay. Well, let's give her a round of applause as well. Yes.

And then, is Trevor Swink here? No. Well, Trevor Swink isn't graduating high school. He did last year but he's graduating his one year program out at the Bible College here. So we wanted to give him a little shine as well.

But this minus about seven is our First Baptist class of 2016. Let's give them a round of applause. How we doing back there? No dice? All right, well hey, all I had left was a slide that said something like, here's my best advice for you.

Take responsibility for your faith as you head into college and also what I've been driving into your heads all year, make good decisions. And everything is going to probably work out okay. Probably. So, but we love you. We're so proud of you guys for finishing this phase of life and we're going to just say a quick word of prayer for you and then you guys can get off the stage.

Carl, you want to do that for us?

Yes, please. Absolutely. God, we are grateful for these grads. And I think of the Proverbs three, five, and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he'll make your path straight. And that's true. And I pray that for these guys and they keep standing on the solid rock that is you Jesus. In Christ's name. Amen.

Alright. You guys can stand up, greet one another. Greet these grads, tell them congratulations and we'll bring you back with a song.

All right. What do you say we sing and keep worshiping? Lord, we don't wanna just offer our voices, but we we, we wanna offer our hearts as well. And, I thank you. I I'm thinking of our grads, and I'm just thinking I'm thinking of you just being present with us all the time no matter what.

And, yeah, we are prone to wander, but I thank you, God, for drawing us back gently. It's your kindness that leads us to repentance, and you're a good and loving God, and I pray that if if if we don't know that yet, you'd continually show us. Amen. Amen.

This is my prayer in the desert when all that's within me feels dry. This is my prayer in my hunger need. God is

Amen. You all can be seated. And as we're participating here in a worship through giving, I'd like to pray. God, you have provided. You've given everything that we have, and everything comes from you, and you fill us up so that we can pour out.

And I pray that we wouldn't be hoarding, but that whatever whatever we receive to you, whether it's monetary gifts, all gifts that you've given, that we'd be pouring back out. That's the way we operate best. That's the way we find most life and joy and fulfillment. And I thank you, God, for the gifts here. And as we offer, I pray that it would be just a we'd give with glad hearts on our part.

We'd be genuinely and truly thankful for all that you've given. And we'd say thank you. We love you, and we trust you. Amen.

Thank you.

You are my hiding place. Thank you, Keel. Eric, you must have been sitting in the hiding place. I didn't didn't see you until just now. Eric and Shelly Basie are here.

They're some of our missionaries serving up in South Side Of Bozeman. Billings. Billings. Sorry. Do it all the time.

Billings. Billings. Billings. Alright. I, what do you say, Renzy?

What's happening? You're just crinkling already. I'm crinkling already. Alright. This morning, we're going to go through Romans six one through 23.

Now, for those of you who are here last week, we did six one through 14 last week. So, I made the slides in blue. This is stuff we've already covered but I think that 15 through 23 makes a whole lot more sense if you have had this grounding. So, we're going to go back through it. Just hopefully, pretty quickly.

Lord, would you center our thoughts and our minds on you? Holy Spirit, would you actively be illuminating this word in this room, in this building right now? We love you. We're thankful. This moment has been coming all week.

In Jesus name, thank you lord. For sinners on you. So, Romans six one through 23. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

The antinomian objection people might have if you say that, no, it really is grace. No, it really is grace. Nope, it really is grace. No, you don't have to work for salvation. It really is grace.

People say, so should we keep on sinning? So that grace may increase? I don't quite get this. And Paul says, Meganoito, may it never be. How shall we, Christians, who died to sin, still go on and live in it or be living in it?

Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ, Jesus, have been baptized into his death and I talked about this last week. There are couple words in Greek that you can use for baptize to dip, bapto, and then to change And three or four people called me this week said, I really like to think about the cucumber and the pickle. You can dip a cucumber in a briny solution, but if you leave it there, it will be changed. Does that make sense? The change is what this is focusing on.

The change. It is not just immersion, baptism, water baptism. All of us who have been baptized into Christ, Jesus, have been baptized into his death. We've been changed by his death for our sins. Therefore, we've been buried with him through baptism into his death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life.

Now, last week was Memorial Day and I concentrated on every place that said, die, dead, death, dying over and over and over. We went back through that and some of you also said that was kind of Mormon. Especially when there's life in every single one of these verses. That was the point though. There is life in every one of these verses but death precedes it in every verse.

Does that understand? A dying to self, a change. Christ was raised from the dead by his humble, active obedience. He was by his father, by his spirit, raised from the dead after his humble act of obedience. And then walking in newness of life.

For if we've become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self or old man was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, might be made powerless, rendered useless, powerless. So that we who know would no longer be slaves to sin, For he who has died is freed from sin. Now, if we've died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. See all the highlights are about living this week.

We shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again. Never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin. Once for all.

Writer Hebrews picks that theme back up. We see it throughout scripture that that was the ultimate sacrifice, the last one, the only one that mattered. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all but the life that he lives, he lives unto God in a godward direction. Even so, consider yourselves or I said last week, the good both Greek and southern words, reckon. Reckon yourselves, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God, toward God, in a godward direction in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. That's an imperative. It is the command. All the rest of that stuff has been statements but do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust and don't go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you.

Remember I talked about the present the future tense right there. For sin shall not be master over you. For you're not under law but under grace. I also use this slide. I know a couple of you who drew this in the back of your Bible long ago.

This is a a slide that says, kind of the way that the God works. God chose from the beginning how it would be. He would present the opportunity in the work of Christ for people to be reconciled to him. God is completely sovereign and man is responsible. Christ work, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, his session, his seated at the right hand of the father, all of that, Christ work.

Goes forth with the gospel witness. Southside Of Billings, it's going right there. I just pointed my laser pointer at him. Jackson, it's going right here. I'm pointing it at y'all, okay?

The gospel witness goes forth when people tell the story of Jesus. Do you get that? Okay. Now, at the point that someone believes that, one is saved right there. Saved.

You can count on it. Bank on it. It is about belief. At the point when someone surrenders, their life to Jesus. That faithful step to Jesus.

I believe. One is saved right there but the work of sanctification will happen over the rest of that person's life. Until either Jesus comes back or that person experiences mortal death, okay? We're going through a lot just as a prolegomena this morning. I know that.

The ultimately saved on the day of the Lord and then glorification in heaven forever and I drew this little kind of a graph that says, this is kind of the way that the life goes and there are two different things here. You're saved right here already when you believe. But there's a not yet component too. So, I mentioned last week, there's a binary function. Yes, there are either believers or not believers in Jesus.

By the way, people who are not believers in Jesus don't like to be defined by that. Christians and non Christians. Non Christians don't really like to be called non Christians. We're using our term to define them just so you know. But it is an Us and them.

There is an actual binary function. You either believe or you don't believe but in your life, the way that you practice it and the way that you live it out, there's a lot of gray and that is this upward, hopefully, trajectory from the time that you believe, God is working through his Holy Spirit sanctifying you. Over the next three chapters, we're going to see that a lot. Six, seven, and eight talk about our sanctification. Next week, oh, come on back.

If you struggle, come on back. So did Paul. Chapter seven is all about the struggle. This week though, I want you to be thinking about this and you remember the little clip of the little girl in the car seat? You worry about yourself?

Have you all seen that? Can you play that, Blake? For those who have not seen it. Maybe. Yeah.

Can I tap dance like Renzi was doing? Maybe I'll call some of those graduates forward. No. Anyway, you can just get it ready. Well, I do have to tap dance now.

Be by yourself. Can I help?

I

don't. You can help when we're to

eat. Probably.

Can I help you with the car seat? You worry about yourself. No.

You. No. Thank you.

What do you want me to do?

Write about yourself.

Alright, that's enough of that.

What about you?

Thank you, Blake. So, you worry about yourself. You worry about yourself. This passage of scripture has been used to beat people up for years and years and years and I don't want to do that. So, as you listen to what Paul is saying right here, think about it in your own context to your own life.

Now, should you be on an upward trajectory in in that graph I'm talking about in your Christian life? Yes, you should. If you believe in Jesus, his power is available to make you holier, holier, holier, and holier until that great and mighty day of the Lord. It's available. Are you gonna access it?

That's what this latter half of this is about. Now there are a couple things, indicative and imperative. There are three modes that we use mainly in English, indicative, imperative, subjective. I won't talk about subjective at all, but the indicative, the speaker indicates what is happening. Okay?

He is sure that something is the case. It is the mood of certainty for all you grammar nerds out there. It's the mood of certainty. Y'all already know this. Speaker is sure that something is the case.

It expresses certainty. And the imperative mood is when there is a command. The speaker desires that something would happen. Now, we have Paul speaking in scripture motivated by the Holy Spirit. So, God has in this chapter a lot of indicatives and only one imperative in this section that I'm going to talk about and I want for us to think about that today and worry about yourself.

Don't look around at other people and say, that guy seems to be going backwards right now. I'm not sure if he's really saved. When you start questioning other people's salvation, you've really gotten a focus off of your own heart, okay? If someone says, will you help me with my car seat? You say, yes, I certainly will.

Okay? Click. You can help them because you know. She said, you can help me when we get to the restaurant. I'm good with that, but don't help me with this.

I'm working on this myself. Okay? Are we good? No, we're not good. No, I'm just kidding.

We we you're with me. You're with me. I got you. So, 15 starts off just like six one did. What then?

Shall we sin because we're under law and not under grace. So, this is a different way of forming the same question. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? And with both of these, he answers, may it never be.

Mega noito. Absolutely not. No way, no how, no, uh-uh. Don't do that. You're not understanding the freedom that your grace that God's grace has given you if you want to continue in sin.

You're not getting that. Think about yourself. I'm thinking about myself, okay? Of course, I'm standing in front of 200 and something of y'all. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

May it never be. Absolutely not. Indicative there. We are not under law but grace. That's a statement.

It's a truth. God makes it through Paul. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you're slaves of the one whom you obey. Either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness. It's either one of those.

It's either sin resulted in death or obedience resulting in righteousness. Those are that's a stark comparison right there. We get another indicative out of that. Y'all are enslaved. It's a second person plural.

Y'all are enslaved to whomever y'all are obeying. You get that? You're enslaved to whomever you are obeying. But thanks be to God that though you were in the past, slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you are committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

So, Paul is going back and forth between that binary function that I was talking about, the position in Christ, saved, unsaved, on off. And he's going back and forth between that and how it is that you're living out your faith. How it is that you're living out your life. Knowing that you did not become immediately perfect as soon as you believed in Jesus. It's a growth cycle.

Having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. But having been freed from sin is something that we struggle with. There is still a struggle. When Paul says, reckon yourselves as dead. He's saying, you are in truth, free from the penalty of this sin already.

So, stop it. Reckon yourselves as dead. Quit it. We get more truth there, indicative. Mode mood of certainty.

Y'all used to be slaves to sin but y'all became obedient from the heart to the teaching that was entrusted to you. So, having been freed from sin, you have become slaves to righteousness. Skip that. That was my own notes right there. I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.

Now, when he says that, he opens a subject, flesh and spirit are going to be back and forth, back and forth. He's gonna talk about that for the next three chapters and then on from there. Flesh and spirit. He doesn't mention spirit in this part we're talking about today but I'm gonna mention it. When he says I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, it's hard to walk that balance between the binary, yes, you're saved, and no, you're not yet acting like it.

Are you are you with me? Do you understand that struggle? Do you understand what I'm talking about? I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Flesh and spirit is set up and these are stark contrast also throughout the rest of this book and throughout our lives and remember when we were in Galatians, I told you that Galatians is a very passionate, short sketch for the masterpiece that is Romans.

Everything you find in Romans, you'll find in Galatians. Shorter, more exaggerated in some state. Just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness, just like y'all used to yield to impurity, he says, That's another indicative right there. Straightforward. Nobody's denying it.

So now present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification. That's the only imperative in this passage that we're doing, and that present your members there, yield. He's saying yield. Yield to righteousness and he says, the outcome, it is going to be your sanctification. So, the only imperative in this passage, I won't get to another one.

So, now, yield to righteousness for your sanctification. I have said before that I think that we put in gear and we try to ramrod our own spirituality sometimes and we put it in gear. We're going to do this, doggone. I'm pulling myself up my bum bootstraps. I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. Spiritual growth now. You can't. That's not the way that this works.

Paul is saying to yield to righteousness for your sanctification. Should we strive for holiness? Yes. Do we always know what holiness is? Scripture shows us what it is but in our own work a day life, do we always know what the right choice is?

I think in humility, we can admit that we don't. The good is the enemy of the best and there are lots of tempting things out there. Yielding to righteousness. For the thing that you know to do, do it. For the thing that you know you should not do, don't do it.

Yield. Yield to that still small voice of God, the Holy Spirit in your life. Yield to righteousness for your sanctification. Remember this, the reportedly Cherokee parable of the two wolves. I have heard so many stories about how this got started that I've begun to question whether it was ever Indian, Eskimo, Cherokee, Trail of Tears.

I've heard everything about where this got started. Don't matter. It's still a really really good parable and I wanted to share it especially on this graduation Sunday thinking about going out from here. Grandfather, Indian, grandchild, Indian, sitting there. A fight is going on inside me, says the chief.

It's a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, I could say flesh right there, and ego. It's about self. The other is good.

He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, and compassion, and faith. The same fight that's going on inside of me, he says, is going on inside of you and inside every other person too. These two are at war. And the child, when the chief gets up to walk away, says, well, which one's gonna win? He says, the one that you feed.

The one that you feed will be the one that wins. If you sow unto the spirit, you will be growing and you'll be on that upward trajectory and if you sow to the flesh, you'll be dropping back. Praise God. Chapter eight is coming. He uses it all.

He can use it all. Feed that good one. Now, there's a parable of two rays also. One of them is about 25 bigger than me. One of them is about 30 smaller than me.

I am walking a road between these two rays. I'm right in the middle and I make choices every day. So, one of them is, you know what? All that junk, ho hoes, ding dongs, all that sort of stuff that you eat with a coke and a smile, all of that, that's one of the rays and he's a big old guy. He's a really big guy.

I'm the average ray right between you right now and I've told several of you, I'm working on this and I'm failing and it'll probably come back up in chapter seven. The things I want to do, I don't do. We'll come back to that. Here we are in the text. Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin at one time in the past, you became obedient from the heart to the form of teaching which you were committed and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Now, I'm speaking to you in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. He's acknowledging that it we still do have weakness even though we're believers. This was written to Christians. Even though you are, you still struggle with it. For just as you used to present your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness.

So now, he says, yield, present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification. Presented, so now present even better. Now, be presenting. It's a present tense verb, so it's carrying this weight of habitual action. Be presenting yourself.

Be yielding yourself to righteousness. For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Did you have to worry about anybody else before? You might have for the benefit that you receive from it, care for someone else. It's what Paul is saying, but you were completely free from acting out in any real righteous way.

Nobody blames anybody for looking out for number one. When you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. Another indicative there. Therefore, think about this. What benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?

What did it profit you? What benefit did you receive? What was the outcome of those things? Paul says the outcome of all of those simple things is death. That's what he gets to.

It's a harsh chapter. It is death. The benefit or outcome of impurity and lawlessness is further lawlessness, he says, and eventually death. But the benefit of yielding yourself to righteousness is your sanctification, daily being made more and more into the image of Christ. What benefit were you then deriving from the things which you're now ashamed for?

The outcome of those things is death. If you want a list of the sins, go back to chapter one. That's great but I think you know what they are. I think you know what it is that plagues you. And if you don't know it by the end of chapter seven, consider that.

You worry about yourself. The benefit or outcome being death. The end of that stuff is only death, Paul says. But now, it's great. The turnaround on the but now is always a great one.

Having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification, and that outcome is eternal life. It's a stark comparison. There could not be a greater contrast between the two. Having been freed. How is it that we have been freed?

How is it? Do you feel like you're freed? You feel like you're completely free from it or do you still have temptation? Being freed from sin is not a temptation. I have another grandmotherism.

My Mimi always said, you cannot stop a bird from flying over your head but you can stop it from building the nest in your hair. Okay? Having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome, that outcome is eternal life and you have that from the moment that you believe. The struggle is in walking it out. God has presented the plan, and those of those people who have accepted Christ are his primary means of communication of the plan to everybody else.

And it's not just from you saying, glory, hallelujah, I'm saved. It's from you living it out. Good and bad, on the ups and the downs. He uses every single bit of it. And then the last verse here is a statement of fact.

It expresses certainty. The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord. That's the statement. It's a starkest statement of the gospel as there is. The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord.

He's not saying that you have to walk always upward, put on a good show for everyone around, and God will save you. He's saying, you are saved. God has given you the power. Yes, you have to deal with the flesh but so does everybody else out in the world. Everybody else is dealing with that.

How you deal with it with God's power is very attractive. If you're addicted to something, the power of God can help. It will require you yielding to his power. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our lord. So now yield to righteousness for your sanctification.

All of that indicative, and let me just read those again. We're not under law, Christians, but under grace. Y'all are enslaved to whomever y'all are obeying. Would you not admit that? Y'all used to be slaves to sin, but y'all became obedient from the heart to the teaching that was entrusted to you.

So, you've become slaves to righteousness. Just like y'all used to yield impurity, so now yield to righteousness for your When you were slaves of sin, you are free from righteousness completely. What did all of those things that you're now ashamed of benefit you? The end of that stuff is only death and there are a lot of things in between there. A lot of heartbreak for you and for the people around you before you get to death because the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.

And I'll go back to the imperative. So now yield to righteousness for your own sanctification. That little line right there is something that everybody who is a believer is on. And this is where it fits in the life of those who have not yet believed. Does that make sense?

The cross has happened. The way is available. The plan is there. But between the cross and that person's belief is the gospel witness. So where you are in this journey, and if you'll be bold enough to admit where you struggle in your journey, you probably will help even more people that are struggling.

Have thine own way, Lord, was the song that came to mind. Now, we have another song and we have time to do two. So, I'm going invite the band on back up to get ready for the next one but Florine, would you play just one verse of Have Thine Own Way? Lord, it's hymn number five ninety one. Blake's already ahead of me on it.

Would y'all stand with me and just sing this old hymn? As a prayer, if you mean it. Have thine own way Amen. Now, Carl had a plan. We're gonna stick with this plan but just also, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

If you sing the light, sing it out like you.

So in

Amen. So, that part from Galatians about the wolves is right here. I say to you, walk by the spirit and you won't even gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. They are opposed to one another and next week, we're going to talk about that opposition, that back and forth, that back and forth, that struggle that is the Christian life but I say to you, walk by the spirit this week and you won't even have a problem.

Gratifying the desires of the flesh. In Jesus name, amen.