Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Hosts Pastors' Lee and Jim.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
When Two Forces Collide: Understanding the War Within Every Believer
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week with your hosts, pastors Lee and Jim. It's time to inspire, uplift and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now. Hey, welcome back to Beyond Sunday with Pastor Jim, and I'm sitting here with Pastor Lee, excited about today's text. We're going to be in Galatians and, let me tell you this, one's going to be short, but it's going to be mighty. It's going to be talking about the battle that we face every single day as believers and how we are called to live differently. So Pastor Lee will read the scripture and we're going to unpack it, share some thoughts and have a really good time today with y'all. Pastor Lee, you ready?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's going on everybody? Galatians, chapter five, verses 16 and 17. We see Paul writing to the church and this is what he writes. But I say walk by the spirit, that's capital S, the spirit of God. But I say walk the Spirit and you will not 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, For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Speaker 1:I love how Paul drops wisdom. I love how Paul drops wisdom almost in every single line of every single thing he says. It's relevant so much to you and to me in our lives today that it almost cuts every time coming and going. You know he's starting with this command here Walk by the Spirit, which is not a casual suggestion. He's saying your way of life should be to walk with the Spirit. So what does that mean? Walking by the Spirit means letting the Holy Spirit lead you, letting the Holy Spirit guide your decisions, shape your thoughts and direct your actions. And what's the promise in that? He says if you do that, you won't give in to the desires of your flesh.
Speaker 1:But then Paul gets real about why this is so hard. Because there's a war going on inside of each and every single one of us, the flesh, which is what the Bible is calling our sinful nature. Right, it's fighting against the Spirit and the Spirit's fighting back like oil and water, constantly clashing, pulling us in opposite directions. So this idea of walking by the Spirit, it really grabs me because it's directions. So this idea of walking by the Spirit, it really grabs me because it's active. So it's something that I can look to apply to my life.
Speaker 1:That's currently going on on a regular basis, and it's not something that I got to sit back and hope that's going to magically make me a better person. It's something that I have to wake up every single day. It's a daily, intentional choice to follow the Spirit's lead, and so in Psalms 143, david prays something like this, and I love it because it helps me to do this as well. David says in Psalms 143, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground. And that's really the heart of this entire passage asking God to guide us and trusting His Spirit to show us the way. It's like getting led by the Spirit and allowing Him to be your GPS, and so when you get off course a little bit, you remember in your GPS it'll start saying recalculating, recalculating, and so we need to make sure that we're trusting the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of two things are going on to control the body. You're going to allow the Holy Spirit to control your body or the flesh is going to control the body, but that's it. Those are the two things that are going to want to control our body. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us as Christians, then we are allowing the Spirit capital S. We're allowing the Spirit to do what God wants done in our lives and we are choosing light not darkness, righteousness not sin. Now, that's walking in the Spirit. But when we choose the desires of our flesh and sinful pleasures and desires, that's walking in the flesh and allowing flesh to have its way. So it's really truly a war. It really truly is a war that wages within us. The Spirit and the flesh want two completely different things. They've got two completely different goals, finish lines. They both desire two different atmospheres on the inside of us. The Holy Spirit wants one thing from my mind, from my heart, from my spirit, and the flesh wants something completely different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really setting up this battle of flesh versus spirit. And the thing about the flesh is it's not just about our obvious sins like lust, greed, pride. Those things can present themselves as very obvious in our life, but when we say flesh, it's that part of us that just wants to take the wheel right. Our pride, our need for control, our tendency to snap at people when we're stressed out those things come because we are in a flesh suit. So the Spirit, on the other hand, is pushing us internally, outward, for us to go towards love, patience, humility, qualities that reflect Jesus.
Speaker 1:Paul says that these two, flesh and spirit, are opposed to each other, and that is the truth. Yeah, how many times have you wanted to do the right thing? Yeah, but you felt this tug to do the opposite? Or how many times have you wanted to do the bad thing but you felt this tug to do the right thing? And that's this tension in this battle that Paul is talking about.
Speaker 1:And Paul also says in Romans 7, I don't even understand all of my own actions. He says in Romans 7, he talks about how he does the very thing that he hates, and I think that I can say that's me almost every single day. Paul's admitting that he feels this tug of war all the time, but in his writings. I love how, when Paul presents an issue, he always backs it up with hope, because then, in Romans 8, he says this For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, they set their minds on the things of the Spirit, amen. So the key here is where do we set our minds? If we focus on the Spirit, if we focus on God's truth, if we focus on His presence, his power, we're going to start winning all of those battles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, God instructed Noah. I want you to consider something here. God instructed Noah to build the ark and eventually what happens? The floods come. Noah released a raven, but the raven never came back. The raven is known as a type of scavenger bird. It's going to eat on dead, decaying animal flesh. So I can see it now Noah just kind of releasing this raven, it goes out, it lands on some type of huge dead carcass floating in the water.
Speaker 2:The waters had not yet receded, yet An animal may have died in the flood, and here it's floating at the top. This raven goes out and it's just feasting, it's having its way. No need to come home because it's feeding on this dead animal. The raven did not return because it's found somewhere else to be. It's found something to eat. The raven is an unclean bird.
Speaker 2:Then Noah goes on to release a dove. The dove was considered to be a clean bird. So when the dove flies out and it finds nowhere to rest on land or on tree due to the flood, it returns back to Noah. It wasn't going to go down and join the raven and eat an unclean meal in an unclean atmosphere while sitting on the top of a floating animal carcass. So the last time Noah goes to let the dove go, he lets it out. The dove doesn't return, which reveals to Noah that the dove has found something solid, something safe. Safe, solid ground, something clean. It's a symbol that the waters had receded.
Speaker 2:In John 3, 3, Jesus says truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That raven that Noah let go and didn't come back is like a person who goes back to feed on the old self-pleasures they had before they got saved, participating in unclean desires. But the dove the dove is like a representation of our new desire. Once we get saved, we walk in it and we live in it. It is the holiness of God that we walk and live in, and this is being led by the Spirit. When we're led by the Spirit, I don't want to go back to my old ways. I don't want to go back to those sinful, wicked habits. I want to choose to walk in step with the Spirit of God, living in pureness, righteousness, self-control and sound mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's say that you're at work and a co-worker keeps just getting under your skin. Maybe they're taking credit for your work, maybe they're just being belligerent. You know, straight up, annoying, and your flesh is just screaming clap back. I'm going to put this person in their place. But the spirit, on the other hand, inside of us, is whispering. Now. You got to be patient, you got to show grace. Maybe there's more going on with them than what we really know.
Speaker 1:When we walk by the Spirit, what it means is maybe it's take a deep breath, maybe we should pray for them, even if you don't even feel like it. Respond with kindness instead of shade, and it's not always easy to do, but it's what the Spirit empowers us to do. And I've tried it before and I'm going to tell you when you choose the Spirit's way in your marriages, in raising your children, when you choose the Jesus way, I feel like there's this peace. I know that there's this peace. That's so much better than the temporary high of winning an argument, or the temporary high of putting a co-worker in their place, or the temporary high of proving your son he was wrong and you were right. When you choose the Jesus way, when you follow the Spirit, it's such a peace that falls over you.
Speaker 1:And another example would be we do this sometimes in our flesh we compare our lives with one another, like what does so-and-so have, or what they have going on, or social media can kill us in this.
Speaker 1:We've talked about this before on the phone, pastor Lee, where we're like the cell phone is so easy to get trapped into just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and looking at what other people got going on and what happens sometimes, if we're not careful and we're not being led by the Spirit, the flesh is going to say keep scrolling, keep comparing yourself, keep stewing in what everyone else has, and then, before too long, keep stewing in what everyone else has, and then, before too long I get this notion anyway put the phone down, remember who you are in Christ, be content with what God's given you. Walking by the Spirit means close out of the app, right, because one thing that I've learned in the Bible, or learned from the Bible and it says it in the Bible is that we have learned, in whatever situation, that we need to be content in the moment. Right, and so literally step away from your phone and thank God for what's real in your life, and when you do that, it's like hitting this reset button on your heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you mentioned the word, the term temporary high. Yeah, you know what I've experienced about those sinful temporary highs. They're immediately followed up with guilt. You know what I mean. And I think if we would focus on the guilt rather than the high at first, we would bypass the high, so we don't have to experience the guilt. Galatians 5.16 says if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Notice, it does not say that if we walk by our own strength or if we walk by our own knowledge.
Speaker 2:So many times throughout the years of being in ministry, pastor Jim, I have seen people come into church because they're desperately looking for hope, as they should come to church for that. Amen, yes, praise God. But then after some time goes on and passes, after they've come and they've gotten their battery charged up a little, you begin to see some of those folks less and less until ultimately they come no more. And after a few weeks, after a few months or even a few years of not attending at all, you hear that that type of person had gone and fallen right back into the old trap of life again, the same thing that caused them to come into church looking for hope. They've just fallen right back into that place of desperation. And now hear me out, folks If you want true, real victory, you can only have that daily in your life and you can have that, but you can only have that daily in your life as you walk in the Holy Spirit made available to you by God. Almighty upon salvation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think what you just said in two different ways was encouraging, because it reminds us that we're not fighting this battle alone, that's right.
Speaker 1:When you say someone comes into the church. Jesus taught us that when the Spirit of truth comes, he's going to guide you to the truth. Yeah, and so that's getting them, this idea of getting them into the church. But then here's the truth Sometimes we and what the Bible teaches is that we fall short. The Spirit's not leaving us to figure it out solo, though. He's going to guide, teach and strengthen us every step of the way so that when we do mess up because we're going to, god's grace is there. He says it in 1 John if we confess with our sins that he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And that is the safety net that you just spoke of, that there's a safety net that keeps us moving forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd like to point out that walking with the Spirit means being led by the Spirit. Even though we're walking with, we've got to remember that we are being led. We've all been there before when we try to convince ourselves and God why we should be somewhere that we know we should not be. So, yes, we do walk with the Spirit, but it's not my job to lead the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit's job to lead me. He has that position of authority. So it is the Spirit leading the way. Although we're walking together, the Spirit is leading the way. It's the Spirit who's in charge of the direction that we take while we are walking this life out with God and this personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Here's the deal. The Spirit of God knows what lies ahead on the path. He knows whether it's danger or blessing around the corner. He knows whether it's light or darkness just above the horizon in the path there. So I don't want to go down any path that the Spirit doesn't want me on.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So this text really should challenge us on a daily basis to think about our choices. Are we making space to hear from the Spirit, to follow the Spirit? Are we doing that through prayer? Are we reading our Word? Are we pausing just to listen when we feel that tug to give into the flesh? Do I lean into the Spirit's power instead? And these are all things that this passage should challenge us to consider.
Speaker 1:Am I being honest about my struggles or am I pretending that I've got it all together? This passage is calling us to live intentionally, to choose the Spirit's way, even when it's hard, and so how does it apply to our relationships? If I'm walking by the Spirit, is it showing up in how I treat people? Is it showing up in how I treat my family, my friends, how I respond to that cashier who's moving so slow and I'm late for something? Am I reflecting the Spirit's fruit like love and patience, or am I letting my flesh run the show? So what I would really like to do is anybody who's listening to us. I want to challenge you to consider the things that you've heard here today and go through your life and decide where am I following the Spirit and where am I still holding on to some of the things that I operate in the flesh with?
Speaker 2:Father, we thank you so much for this day that you have made. Father, we thank you for this Word, for it is yours. Lord, we just want to praise you in all things and we do daily want to be in step with the Holy Spirit of God Almighty. So help us to do that, father. Help us to be in line and in step right where we need to be at the exact moment, and we know, father, that we can live from that place of victory because of what Jesus Christ has done for us in the finished work on the cross. Father, bless these listeners today, and also Pastor Jim and myself. Father, we just pray your blessing on our lives and our ministry as well. We ask all this in the mighty name and the cleansing, washing blood of Jesus, and all God's people said together, my friends, amen and amen, and we look forward to seeing you next time on Beyond Sunday with Pastor Lee and Pastor Jim. God bless.
