0:00
Speaker 2Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to first b in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yeah. Thanks for coming today.
0:09
Obviously, I'm not Carl Clemmer. Carl is, is heading on for a a family vacation for the next couple of weeks. And so we're gonna, fill in and do the best we can. And just gonna start with a with a word, Psalm what is it? Psalm one forty five eight.
0:27
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love. The Lord is good good to all. He has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, oh Lord. Let's pray let's stand up and praise praise God this morning.
3:15
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements, not many. Actually, a whole bunch of stuff that was supposed to happen happened already. This past week, we had Vacation Bible School.
3:24
We had lots of other things going on in town. Got a few more up on July 16, the Turning Points Gala happens every year. It's an annual fundraising gala. That's happened in July 16. Shelley Donahue is our speaker and that is to benefit Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center.
3:43
If you have not been to this but this is something that's close to your heart, please see me or Diane or Judy Basie or Alyssa Massey after this is over. I'm the easiest one to spot. If you don't know any about those other names, find me. I'm taller than them. So, and Shelly is actually almost as tall as I am.
3:59
She's a very, very interesting lady. So, that's one and this week, we had the G Force Vacation Bible School and I just want to say thank you to the volunteers. I think we had upwards of 40 volunteers. We had several people that have only been coming to church here for a few weeks that said, I wanna go through whatever safety training is necessary and be a part of that and they did and they're here this morning. I just appreciate that so much that people just jump in and we've got folks who have been here thirty something years too that did the same thing but it was a time and y'all see a little video at the end of this.
4:34
Today, we are going to have the Spanish service at 01:30. So, oy. Oy. It's it's a we're going to have that and we're having a good time with that. Florine is preaching sometimes.
4:47
Christian is preaching sometimes and I'm preaching sometimes. So, we take turns. Today is my turn. So, Monday night at First B happens every Monday night and that will happen tomorrow night with Carl being out of town. We're not going to be doing the same series we've been doing.
5:01
First John about walking in the light but Ryan will be leading music there and I think Joe Sikima is going to be doing the message tomorrow or maybe testimony time and for the rest of everything else, just check your bulletin. It's always there. There's so much in there and I know a lot of y'all don't want to pick it up and then throw it away. Don't throw it away. Take it home with you and then you'll know what's going on and I think the video is next.
5:25
So, indeed, thank you. Would you all stand up and greet one another and find somebody who helped out with Vacation Bible School? Thank em. My
12:37
Speaker 2Lord, we we just come before you today and and just thank you for your grace and your mercy on our lives and how how you love us, lord. And we pray that we would respond today in worship and and that we'd live our lives loving others and loving you, Lord. And we just pray for your strength in this in this coming week, and just thank you for for for where we live, and may we may we praise you today just in this in this beautiful creation in this local place we call Jackson Hole. And just thank you for your love. In your name we pray.
13:23
Amen.
14:14
Speaker 1Your name
16:53
Speaker 2Amen. You can be seated.
16:59
Speaker 1The frontline team to come forward. I was just singing through the before the throne of God above. I thought of how good those words are. That's a meal right there. That song is so full of theology.
17:10
Behold him there, the risen lamb. My perfect spotless righteousness, that great unchangeable I am, the king of glory and of grace. One in himself, united with Christ, one in himself, I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my savior and my God.
17:32
Christ my savior and my God. Lord God, Think of Colossians three. Since we have been raised with Christ, set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and set our mind on things above, not on earthly things, for you died, your life is now hidden in Christ with God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appeal with him in glory. God, we thank you that we have lives hidden in Christ with God but lord, we still have this walking around man here on this Earth.
18:10
Would you teach us how to live a life that is crucified? The flesh, lord and that we would know how to walk and show others. Your son. God, I pray that you take the offerings, the things that we're giving back right here. Recognizing that you're the giver of every good and perfect gift, lord.
18:32
That you sustain us, that your providence, lord, is with us. So God, would you take these offerings and use it to spread your kingdom on this earth, in this state, in this nation, Lord, but around the world. I thank you for Krista Nethercott and for her son that are going to Bangladesh coming up soon. I thank you for her uncle who's a missionary there and God, would you encourage them with what we do today here? In Jesus name, may he be lifted up, lord, and draw all men.
19:05
Amen. Today, we're up to Galatians five sixteen through 18. Now, last week, I told you we're going be doing 16 through 24 and we're going to get most of the way through that but rather than focusing the attention on those two lists that are coming up. The list of the works of the flesh and then the fruit singular of the spirit. We're going spend more time I think on 16 to 18 and talk about that a bit.
19:54
I see this as kind of a preamble to what's going on. You understand the list and the purpose better if you pay attention to what's going on here in 16 through 18. So no real lead in this week. No funny story. Nothing about my childhood or life or parents or anybody else.
20:13
We're just jumping right in. But I say, walk by the spirit. Now, this is Paul. Obviously, speaking still to the Galatians. We're in Galatians and I've been using and wearing out the ditches analogy.
20:30
Imma try not to do that as much today because I don't think this part as is as much about that. He is trying to center them and focus them on the spirit and keep em in the center. He'll mention things that go from side to side and in the list, if you pay attention, he's got things from both sides of the aisle but he starts off with an exhortation. I could say a command. It isn't imperative but it is an exhortation.
20:54
He's with him in this. He knows what it's like to walk in the spirit if you read Galatians and Romans, he knows what it's like to not walk in the spirit too and he remembers it very very clearly and he probably still slips off into it. I say, walk by the spirit. Some of your versions will say, walk in the spirit. I say, walk by the spirit and it's an exhortation, a command.
21:20
The but at the beginning of that is a continuation of thought. If you go back to verses thirteen, fourteen, 15, it kind of builds up. It ramps up to it But I think that that's a soft, small conjunction right there, adversity, but it's not always adversity. I think it means moreover. Moreover, indeed.
21:43
Come on. It's it's building an enthusiasm. It's building up and saying, come on people. Moreover, I'm saying to you, walk by the spirit. I'm exhorting you to do this and the spirit notices a capital S and I think that's right.
21:57
The capital S is the Holy Spirit. He's saying, walk by trusting in and believing and following the leading of that still small voice of God, the Holy Spirit in your life. Pay attention to what he is saying. And walk in that. And it's the mundane task of walking.
22:14
They walked everywhere they went. Right? Peripateo. This walking is so prominent in the New Testament. It's talking about day after day.
22:24
One day at a time. Walking, plotting along. Keep on going. Be walking by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Now, I know some of you have revised standard versions and you might be looking at this and going, wait a second, that's not what it says.
22:42
Read any other translation and you'll see that this is what it says. It might have be worded slightly differently. It is an exhortation and then it is a promise that's tied to that exhortation. He's saying, walk by the spirit and then, you will not be gratifying the desires of the flesh. Remember these things that are, this one is like a wheel going this way and the other one is a wheel going this way.
23:04
You cannot do both of those at the same time. I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. It's an exhortation and a promise. The RSV says, the revised standard says, but I say, walk by the spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. So that is a positive exhortation and a negative exhortation.
23:26
It's it puts the onus on you. It feels like, honestly, it puts it on you. And that first one where it says, I walk by the spirit or be walking by the spirit. It's on God. He will lead you.
23:44
He promises that he will. Now, the heart required to listen to what he's saying and be obedient to it. It it's on you. Yeah. But the do not gratify is not in the text.
23:55
That's not there. You can't justify that one grammatically. It's an exhortation and a promise. In fact, I don't do this very often, but sometimes it's fun. The ESV says, but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
24:09
The R McD says, moreover, I am saying because it's a continuous action verb like this. I am saying, be walking about continually habitual action. Be walking about by the almighty Holy Spirit of God. Be walking according to him and according to what he is directing you to do and that's still a small voice. Be walking about by the spirit and ain't no way.
24:33
Y'all will be gratifying the desires of the flesh. And I mean that because it's a triple negative. In the Greek, it's a triple. It goes beyond the double negative. It ain't no way.
24:42
He's saying, that won't be something that you have to worry about if you're right here. In fact, he goes on to say it again in verse 18 in a slightly different fashion but he says the same thing again. We're only really covering three verses hard today and then we'll go through the list a little quicker. So, verse 17, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. We agree with him so far?
25:09
Absolutely. Do we all have em? We all have the desires of the flesh? If we're in the flesh, we still have the desires of the flesh. Yeah.
25:18
But they are against the spirit. And the desires of the spirit, the Holy Spirit of God are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. Now reading that, you just look at it and go, which is it? To keep you from doing the good things you wanna do or to keep you from doing the bad things you wanna do?
25:44
Yes. They are contradictory forces. Galatians five seventeen, remember I told you it was kind of like a sketch. Galatians five seventeen, that one verse is the latter half of Romans seven. I would do the things that I I want to do and I don't do the things I want to do.
26:04
He's saying, I understand what it's like. I know what's going on. I get you but these two contrary forces are at opposition within us. So that keep you from doing the things you wanna do can and should be taken for both. The spirit is contradicting the flesh.
26:25
The flesh is contradicting the spirit. Now, where does that get us? It's like a tautology. It just tells us that it is. It is what it is.
26:33
No matter where you go, there you are. Y'all aren't with me. No matter where you go, there you are. I'm I'm I've stated no new information. Paul has told us something that doesn't sound like helps us at all.
26:46
In the first verse though, he says, be walking by the spirit and you won't gratify the desires of the flesh and then this next part, he just says, yeah, one's against the other, one's against the other, to keep you from doing what you wanna do. Now, if you want to go and just send it up, Christian. You have the Holy Spirit in your life. You're an ex, you're a saved believer in Jesus and you want to go over into that ditch and you think, oh, just once. I really like to get over in that ditch as far as I can.
27:14
There's going to be the spirit of God contradicting you saying, you know better than that. Come on. You don't get down in that ditch. You don't want to be there. The repair work is going to be horrible.
27:27
Trust me. Just stick right here. Or if you want to say, you know what? That guy over there and that dick dog gone in, if he just listened to and you get over here really really legalistic, God's going to urge you to say, you know what? Don't be judging that.
27:45
When Christ was being nailed to the cross, he said, father, forgive him for they know not what they do. It's not on you. Judgement is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. God will repay.
27:59
To keep you from doing the things you wanna do. Now, the last couple weeks, I haven't had a whole lot in here for kids and I know that and it's kinda funny with all the talk we've been doing in Galatians about circumcision in particular that two weeks ago, Jennifer Lampa said, hey, there's a kids page that I made up this morning, and would you mind if I hand it out? No. No problem. So it was list any new words that you've come up with this week, draw a picture of what he was talking about, all kinds of stuff.
28:29
So I thought maybe I ought to add a kid's moment in here somewhere. I'm gonna go to an old Cherokee story. Pretty much every culture has an echo of God's truth in it. This is not Bible, straight up, but it is a good story. It's a good illustration and it sticks with you.
28:47
And I think that it helps especially for verse 17 because it feels like it's given us no new information. Sixteen and eighteen clarify what seventeen's all about, but the Cherokee parable, there are two wolves. A lot of y'all adults have heard it. Some of these kids, it'll be the first time you've ever heard this before. So there was a little Indian and he's talking to the big chief.
29:10
And the big chief says, there's a fight going on inside of me. And the little Indian is watching intently and say, what kind of fight? And he says, and it is a terrible fight, and it's between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger.
29:29
He is envy. He is sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The little Indian's listening intently to his grandfather, the big chief. He says, but the other is good and he is joy and he's peace and love and hope and serenity and humility and kindness and benevolence and empathy and generosity and truth and compassion. And faith.
30:05
So, there are two wolves. They're in a great battle and he says, the fight that's going on me is going on inside of you. Everyone of you has these two wolves that are at war with one another and inside of every other person too. And you can see that they're fighting against one another. They are at exact opposition.
30:30
And then when the big chief stands up to walk away, the little Indian can't stand and say, but wait a minute. Wait a minute. Which wolf will win? And granddad says, the one you feed. The one that you feed is gonna grow in strength, and the one that you deny is not.
30:48
He will wither. Not straight up Bible but that's a good illustration. I'm sorry. That's just straight up, really, really good illustration. The one you feed will win.
30:58
Paul is not quite so explicit but he gives us both of these lists and he starts off by saying, they are at opposition. It's basically the same story. Walk by the spirit. Feed the white wolf. Feed the good wolf.
31:13
Feed the one that is about faith. But I say walk by the spirit and you will not be gratifying the desires of the flesh. Feed the one and deny the other. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and desires of the spirit against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. Sometimes, especially when you're concentrating on it, it feels like you can't get on out of your own way.
31:42
Have you ever seen that happen in anybody's life? My own. Starting a habit of exercise is incredibly difficult to get started. I love it when I'm doing it. I don't wanna start doing it.
31:57
I know it's good for me, and I want to do it, but it is incredibly hard to get that thing started. I know it's good for me and the more I think about it, the hungrier I get and I don't want to exercise nothing but that's why the first verse says, but I say, be walking continually and habitually by the spirit. It's the mundane thing. It's not a grand thing. It's just a little bit.
32:24
Get out and start the process. Be walking by the spirit. Be going through with the things that you need to go through within you know are true. It doesn't have to be grand. Nobody has to give you applause.
32:36
It's not something that is gonna win great reward immediately but it is the mundane things of life. Pay attention to that and don't gratify the desires of the flesh. Don't just be lazy. Engage it. For they're opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do and then verse 18 says, but if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law.
33:00
Now, that one will come back to in a few minutes. I want to go forward through the list and I reserve the right to come back next week and talk more about these lists, alright? I I think that there's more here but with that little preamble about be walking in the spirit and the normal mundane things of life as Renzy or Desperado Truth says, in the mornings, every day, on the radio, he says, make good decisions. Make good decisions. With every chance that you have to make a bad decision, you also have a chance to make a good decision and this is which one of those things are you gonna feed?
33:34
If you start feeding the desires of the flesh, they grow more and more ravenous and if you start feeding the spirit inside you and you start obeying the voice of God inside your life, it gets more ravenous. You get more excited about the things of God. I promise you, that is true. Galatians five nineteen through 23 are those lists. The works of the flesh with an S, the works of the flesh are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife.
34:16
You notice that they're not all what we would think of as super fleshy? They're not all way over in that ditch we wouldn't think. Some of us like, well, strife's not so bad. Jealousy. Now you're going to meddling.
34:33
Fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. So, those are the works of the flesh and that is a list and it's not an exhaustive list because you can see the last thing there. It's like, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. You know where I'm going with this. If you have one that's not on this list but you know it ought to be on this list, it's things like these, okay?
35:00
He covers you right there. Just so you can recognize them, these are the works of the flesh. But, and I love that, that's in there. The fruit of the spirit and that is singular. The fruit of the spirit being singular means that all of these things will be manifest.
35:20
Now, if you have learned this in Bible school from a long way back or if you learned it in a very legalistic background, then you may have heard people say, you gotta love, you gotta love, you gotta love. You gotta be joyful. You gotta do this. It's all on you. Everything's on you and you learn to pretend to do the things on this list and these things, the fruit of the spirit, singular, this is what the spirit of God looks like manifesting in human's life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
36:01
There is no and in there. This is one thing. It's altogether one thing. I personally believe that that last thing down at the bottom, self control, isn't it's an appositive for you grammarians in here. All of that other stuff adds up to self control.
36:21
All of that other stuff is equal to the self control. You have to be loving God and loving people for any of those things to manifest in your life. The joy that comes from within the peace, the patience. When Christ says, my burden is light. He means it.
36:38
If you're walking by the spirit of God and you and you're walking day by day like Christ did, he did that. He walked in the power of the spirit every day, walked by the spirit. Self control is not a problem. I'm amazed by seeing on the mission field, people who have struggled, struggled, struggled, struggled, struggled with things, especially on short term trips because once you've been there and things become mundane, it changes. But somebody who's struggling with something, if they can get out of their element and get onto the field and get their hands dirty in the work of the Lord and they know that this is what their job is.
37:11
They wake up in the morning and it's like, lord, how can I serve you today? Just the removal from the normal, they tend to the sin stuff falls away because they're concentrating on, Lord God, please do what you will through me today. I'm looking for opportunity. Would you please use your spirit to show me what you'd have me do? And the other stuff seems to fall away.
37:34
The fruit of the spirit. So, this is the the two of the verses today but I say, walk by the spirit, command, exhortation, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That's a promise. If you are opening yourself up to God to be used of him, concentrating on him. I could go into the sermon about read your Bible, pray all the time, and that's good.
37:57
That's the way to stay in communion with God. That's the way that you can hear what it is that he's saying. Yes, please do that. That would be part of walking by the spirit. Answering God with obedience and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh Day by day, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
38:25
Which one of those wolves are you going to feed? But if you are led by the spirit, verse 18 says, and if you're led by the spirit, this is what it looks like. It's shown to be the case by evident love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. If you look back, you can you can fake all of these things, okay? You can try to fake all these things and a lot of times we urge ourselves.
38:58
We gotta do this. We gotta do this. I gotta do this. Oh, I can't do this. Verse five, if you go all the way back to verse five in chapter five, it says, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
39:10
Paul's not saying, I've arrived. I've done this. I know exactly how how it is because I experience this. I walk in the spirit every single moment of every single day because now we're eagerly waiting for the hope of more patience. We're eagerly awaiting for the hope of actual kindness instead of just politeness.
39:27
We're eagerly awaiting a time when we will be absolutely faithful to God like he's absolutely faithful to us. We're eagerly awaiting it but we haven't arrived. If you're led by the spirit, if this is what it looks like, you're not under the law and if you look at that, oh the condemnation of the law is on top of everybody except for those who have claimed Jesus as their savior. We have an actual connection with him who are being continually sanctified by the Holy Spirit working in their life. You're not under the law.
40:00
Skip to verse 23, the last part right after the fruits of the spirit says, because against such things, there is no law. One of these things will replace the other. You can have times where you fall off the wagon for sure. God is gently calling you home. Softly and tenderly, the spirit of God is calling you home.
40:24
Against such things, there is no law. Now, the challenge this week is to do an honest self evaluation. Last week, it was a rousing encouragement to go out the door and let's do this. Let's live. But this week, I want you to just concentrate an honest self evaluation.
40:44
Which one of these list characterizes your life? I want you to beat yourself up about it. Be honest with yourself. The works of the flesh, is it these or is it this? The love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control and if it's that, on the other side over there, if it's the fruit of the spirit, praise God for that.
41:12
Praise God for it because it's his work. The fruit of the spirit. The spirit is what's causing the fruit. You're walking around, man. That's great but the spirit is what's doing the work.
41:22
Thank God that he's working in you to create this fruit. But if it's this list, pray that God will bring you around because that's what he did. That's what he came to do, right? Jesus came to take us who were dead in our trespasses and sins and bring us into the light. That's what he does.
41:46
So if you see that your life is characterized by this, praise God for it all week long. Look for opportunities to share love, joy, peace, patience with other people. Reflect the light of God but if it's this other list, be honest about that too and pray that God will help you to remove those from your life. Don't feed this list. I urge you out loud.
42:11
Don't feed this list. Don't gratify the desires of the flesh. Paul is urging you to walk by the spirit and he says this won't even be a problem. So these and things like these, this and self control. I think that's it.
42:28
You never let go, Lord. Ryan, would you come on back up? And would you all stand and sing with us? Also, if you're doing your honest self evaluation this week and you see that you're way over here on this this black list, would you call me and tell me? If you're struggling with something in particular, it might be end things like these.
42:47
It might be something that's not on that list. But if it's something that you're struggling with, would you call and just let me know about it and we'll talk about it. John eight thirty six says, so if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Amen.
