Sunday, 08 November 2009

• A Short message from Galatians 5

  Stand Firm! Everyone one of you!

  1.       For you have been set free from the bondages of the old way;

  a.       I say to you do not return once again to the things that once entrapped you!

  These things are of no value to you!

  ·         Taking Pride in the Flesh; the accomplishments of human efforts.

  ·         If it is in your flesh, your wisdom, or your standing or position in life that you find security in, then of what value is Christ to you? 

  For it was for freedom from these old ways of boasting in the flesh that Christ died!  IF in these things of the old way you stand, then you have NO PART in the GRACE of Christ!

  ·         I tell you that it is not the boasts of what WE think is strength that we are made righteous. 

  ·         It is through the Spirit of Christ, by everlasting and enduring FAITH that we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness!!

  WE do not follow a book or letters of a law that lead to life and righteousness! 
  For Jesus said in John 3:3-8:

  “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

  And when Nicodemus asked how this could be, Jesus said again;

  “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit!”

  Therefore, I am saying to you, Just as Paul said to the Galatians, In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything.  All that matters, as Paul said in 5:6, is “only faith WORKING through love.”

  See to it, then, that you are not persuaded by anyone that there is anything that matters except that which is in Faith. 

  ·         Nothing except that through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.  (This is Galatians 5:5)

  I think we are tempted, today, to place our trust in things other than the faith that is led by the Spirit!

  ·         We might fool ourselves into thinking that if we go to a certain kind of Church with a certain kind of Preaching and a certain kind of Worship and a certain kind of Prayer we will find what truly matters?

  ·         Perhaps we think that our years and TOILS in our Jobs can lay a financial foundation that can keep us safe and secure? 

  These things have some value, to be sure, but the message that Paul has—and we today have being given to us—is that the Labor of Love by FAITH is all that matters!  You who are Christians.

  Freedom

  You who are Christians, you are free!  Only do not deceive yourself into thinking that Christ’s freedom is to be, or even CAN be used as leverage for the flesh!  For your freedom is so that you can serve each other in love! 

  ·         You have been freed from the boasts of the flesh, from pride, from envy;

  ·         Now, with love, GO and serve one another!   Taking full advantage of your freedom!

  Is not even the Law, which was made to govern over the flesh (as Paul taught us), fulfilled by this saying; “Love your neighbor as yourself”? 

  ·         But, If you return into bondage to the old ways, that is the boasts, pride, and envy of the flesh and begin to BITE and Devour one another, then you will be consumed by each other.

  I do not think that this is strange to any of us, is it?  We have each seen the effects of inter-fighting. 

  Walk By the Spirit, Not the Flesh

  So I say again, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh!! (Gal  5:16)

  We should know, by now, that the flesh desires things that are not of the Spirit and the Spirit desires things that are opposite the flesh! They are at war with each other!

  But if you are led by the Spirit then you have life, and you shall not be under the Law which brings death. 

  So be careful to discern the things that come not from the Spirit but from the Flesh! These things are:

  
  

  1.       Sexual immorality

  2.       Impurity (both in body and mind)

  3.       Sensuality

  4.       Idolatry

  5.       Sorcery

  6.       Enmity which is hostility, hatred, or ill-will.

  7.       Strife which is quarreling, or bitterness

  8.       Jealousy

  9.       Fits of anger

  10.   Rivalries

  11.   Dissensions

  12.   Divisions

  13.   Envy

  14.   Drunkenness (irreverence)

  15.   Orgies

  
  

   

  And the things of this nature; they are contrary to the will of God and I warn you that those who are enslaved to fulfilling these things will not have eternal life to inherit the kingdom of God as was promised to Abraham!

  INSTEAD, because you are led by the Spirit, you should see the fruits of your labor reflected! The fruits of the spirit done in love by faith are:

  
  

  1.       Love

  2.       Joy

  3.       Peace

  4.       Patience

  5.       Kindness

  6.       Goodness

  7.       Faithfulness

  8.       Gentleness

  9.       Self-Control

  
  

   

  There is no law opposed to these things; nothing that can govern them!

  Therefore, LEAVE the passions and desires of your past FOREVER behind as they have been crucified upon the cross!

  Closing and Dismissal

  For so much of my life I was led to believe, by people of weak faith, that I would live entrapped by the old ways of life- living the day-to-day life led by natural instinct and always trying to find room to boast in my flesh instead of in my spirit. 

  The Gospel is that by faith God has counted us righteous, and through Christ we have been set free from these, the old ways of life if only that we walk in the Spirit by faith. 

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