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I Love My Life: The Cure (For Spiritual Frustration) – Galatians 5:16-26
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”
Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17For 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. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under the law. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 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. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the
Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one
another.”
Galatians 5:16-26 (ESV)
1. You Are Spiritually Conflicted
“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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
under the law. Now 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.”
Galatians 5:17-21 (ESV)
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the
time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and
emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods;
magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-
yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved;
divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the
vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and
uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t
the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way,
you will not inherit God’s kingdom.”
Galatians 5:19-21 (MESS)
2. The Spirit Is Stronger Than You Think
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16 (ESV)
“…I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:21 (ESV)
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”
Romans 8:14 (NIV)
3. We Should Cultivate The Fruit Of The Spirit
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions
and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:24-25 (NIV)