Clay Smith JFBC
Freedom
Galatians 5:16-18
Sunday Nov 10th 11:30 am
Quote: "With great power comes great responsibility", said Peter Parker's uncle in Spiderman. We don't have superhero power, but we do have the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a movement in American Christianity emphasizes God's grace but downplays that we need to be holy, grieving our sin. Not good.
Now that we are believers need to rely on the Holy Spirit. It teaches guides us helps us understand scripture, prays for us, sanctifies us, gives us our spiritual gift, sets us apart to be holy, etc.
Three central truths in Galatians 5
1. The Requirement: to walk by the spirit of God v 16. To hike we look 6 feet ahead of us nothing but roots and rocks, similar to our daily life. Our pet sins are fun, but will grow and destroy our lives.
2. The Reason v 17 - our culture tells us to do whatever we want…the desires of our flesh. There is a spiritual war going on for our hearts and our souls. Why we need to walk by the Spirit.
v 19-21: The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
3. The Result v 18 if you are led by the Spirit then you are not under the Law. If under the law, your decisions are because of the Law.
Galatians 5:22-23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness self-control: against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
A daily prayer: God: show me, fill me, use me.
Daniel 9:21 spiritual warfare going on during prayer. Some of our missionaries are seeing this among newly converted Christians from the Muslim religion, pulling them back into darkness.
Friday night Nov 8th I wrote the following, during a Sunday School prayer meeting. Dovetails nicely with Clay's message on Sunday.
ME: I won't judge and call someone a false Christian. A Christian's relationship with God is evident by their speech, their actions, and their fruit. This certainly humbles and challenges me personally, to walk all the more closely with Jesus every day. I pray this for all of us, that we wouldn't be blinded by sin and Satan, that we wouldn't be fooled. There's so much confusion and division in the world today. I pray that God would continuously reveal His truth and His will for our lives, as God has already done through His Word.
Lord, help me to run and not grow weary. Help me to give over my thoughts to You, O Lord, for you to hold captive. What I share and think and say might not always be holy and Godly. It's my struggle to seek and find and follow God, all the days of my life.
Small group passage Luke 7:36-50
DENISON: On this Veterans' Day, we give thanks for the men and women who served our nation and defended our freedoms. But the cause for which they served and many died is a cause that must be served by every generation. As Ronald Reagan warned in his 1967 Inaugural Address as governor of California, "Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is inconceivable to me that anyone could accept this authority without asking God's help. I pray that we of the legislature and the administration can be granted the wisdom and the strength beyond our own limited powers. That with divine guidance we can avoid easy expedience." More than 90% of US counties shifted in favor of Trump
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