Winning the War Within Pt 2 Galatians 5:19-26 Live Free…Free to Live a Cross Centered Life

Is Jesus welcome in your home? –Would the things you say and do at home, would the attitudes and actions that become evident outside these walls, provide an atmosphere of comfort for Him or would he want to hide in shame? –You can say all you want that Jesus walks here and is welcome but if the pattern of your life does not portray Christ-like attitudes and actions your words are worthless.

Within every believer there is a raging war between the Spirit and the flesh, one of which desires that sweet fellowship and one that desires selfish gratification. –The desire of the flesh to fulfill its own wants is greater than the desire for sweet fellowship with Christ We want Jesus to be welcome in our homes, but far too often the choices of our lives quickly betray that desire to welcome Him.

1.The choices of the flesh lead to separation from God (19-21) Remember what Jesus said about man’s basic problem… –It is not with what is outside of him that defiles him but what is within him –Every person possesses the flesh, which is sinful and is manifested in behavior, whatever the particular forms of it may be.

Sins related to sex –Implication – When we allow ideas and images to enter our hearts and minds that do not measure up to God’s standard, it is at that point Jesus is not welcome. Sins related to man-made religion –Implication -- any time we long for something apart from God, fear something more than God, or trust in something other than God to make us happy, fulfilled, or secure, we are engaging in the worship of false gods.

Sins related to human relationships Implication is that in all our relationships, our thoughts and actions towards others should never be labeled with these characteristics…Make sure that you are handling your part to follow biblical principles in all your relationships. If you are not doing your part to have relationships that honor and glorify God then Jesus is not welcome

The continual practice of these behaviors indicates an un-regenerated heart. The key word in Paul's warning is practice, which translates a present active participle indicating durative, ongoing action. –It is the continual, habitual practice of such things that marks a person as unregenerate and therefore barred from entrance into the kingdom of God.

2.Obedience to the Spirit produces a life characterized by supernatural fruitfulness The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is produced by God's own Spirit and only in the lives of those who belong to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. The spiritual discipline of walking by the Spirit causes us to put off the habitual, ongoing evil deeds of the flesh and to put on bearing the good fruit produced by the Spirit.

It is a singular fruit that is multi-faceted –what we see here are multiple characteristics of but one fruit and are therefore inextricably related to one another. –They are not manufactured nor can they be manifested in isolation from each other. –The fruit of the Spirit is always produced completely in every believer, no matter how faintly evidenced its various manifestations may be

Even the unbeliever can see the benefit of such behavior. –Even if some consider such things to be signs of weakness, they cannot escape recognizing that they are never harmful. –The believer who walks in the Spirit and manifests His fruit does not need a system of law to produce the right attitudes and behavior — they rise from within him.

3. God’s plan works, use it. Keep the flesh crucified. 24 –We have died to sin and we must DAILY consider ourselves dead to sin. –We cannot make excuses for our flesh and act surprised when the flesh controls our words and our deeds.

Keep in step with the Spirit. 25 –We are not called to understand all that the Captain of our Salvation has in store for us. We don’t need to know every detail of the Master Plan and we don’t need to know where we will go tomorrow. –Our only duty is to get out of bed, get on our knees, and tell the Lord of Hosts that we are reporting for duty. Then we simply follow step by step all day long wherever he leads us

Keep your heart right toward others. 26 If you want to walk in the Spirit and live by the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit, keep your eyes on Jesus, not on the person to your left or your right. Just keep looking at the Savior and everything will work out all right. –If you are looking at your friends (in conceit or in envy), then you aren’t looking at Jesus.

Life Step – Does Jesus live where you live? No one needs to walk in the path of the flesh. We all have a choice to make and we must make it every day. You are the only Bible some people will ever read. You are the only Jesus some people will ever know. The true answer depends on you

Final Thought May our testimony be so clear that everyone can see that we are following Christ.