WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.200 Today, we're going to take a posture of peace 2 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.600 by keeping in step with the spirit, 3 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:10.480 and it is going to terrorize Satan. 4 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:13.920 Posture is a short, audible fist bump 5 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:16.800 to remind you God is with you in everything. 6 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.800 Together, we're going to be emboldened 7 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:21.320 to take a daily posture of perfect peace. 8 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:27.880 Well, we are back in Galatians 5 today, 9 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:32.680 and I'm going to be reading from verses 13 through 26. 10 00:00:32.680 --> 00:00:36.160 And what I love to do when I read the word of God 11 00:00:36.160 --> 00:00:38.680 is I love to just let it wash over me, 12 00:00:38.680 --> 00:00:41.080 wash me, renew my mind, refresh me. 13 00:00:41.080 --> 00:00:45.720 So as I read today, let the word of God wash over you. 14 00:00:45.720 --> 00:00:47.240 In verse 13, it says, 15 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:52.020 for you, my brothers and sisters, were called to freedom. 16 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:56.280 Only don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, 17 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:59.600 but through love, serve one another. 18 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.280 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. 19 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:06.800 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 20 00:01:06.800 --> 00:01:09.640 But if you bite and devour one another, 21 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:14.320 watch out so that you do not consume one another. 22 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:16.840 But I say, walk by the spirit, 23 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.480 and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 24 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.720 For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, 25 00:01:22.720 --> 00:01:25.840 and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. 26 00:01:26.360 --> 00:01:28.680 They are opposed to each other 27 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:32.140 to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 28 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.760 But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. 29 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:38.260 For the works of the flesh are obvious, 30 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:41.800 sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 31 00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:46.800 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, 32 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:51.800 fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 33 00:01:51.800 --> 00:01:56.680 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 34 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:59.200 I warn you, as I warned you before, 35 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.940 those who make a practice of doing such things 36 00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:05.960 will not inherit the kingdom of God. 37 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:11.880 But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, 38 00:02:11.880 --> 00:02:15.200 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 39 00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:17.520 gentleness, self-control. 40 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:20.920 Against such things, there is no law. 41 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:23.800 And those who belong to Christ Jesus 42 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:28.800 have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 43 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:31.060 If we live by the spirit, 44 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:35.160 let us also keep in step with the spirit. 45 00:02:35.160 --> 00:02:36.800 Let us not become conceited, 46 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.360 provoking one another, envying one another. 47 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:44.400 The word of God is so precious to me. 48 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.200 It has encouraged me. 49 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:47.560 It has emboldened me. 50 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.040 It has comforted me. 51 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:50.400 It has convicted me. 52 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.560 It has confronted me. 53 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.380 It has changed me. 54 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:59.200 Christ, you know, he did not come to supercharge 55 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:02.040 our human performance so that we could finally scrape by 56 00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:04.360 and make it to the finish line of heaven. 57 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.720 No, Christ came to set us free from the law 58 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:10.500 of sin and death so that we would be empowered 59 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:13.840 to experience the beautiful, glorious reality 60 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.600 of heaven here on earth. 61 00:03:16.600 --> 00:03:20.300 Jesus performed a finish work on the cross. 62 00:03:21.140 --> 00:03:22.820 It's finished, it's complete, it's perfect. 63 00:03:22.820 --> 00:03:27.820 And now we get to live in the reality of his performance. 64 00:03:27.820 --> 00:03:32.820 Jesus empowers us to see, think, act, and live differently. 65 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:37.300 And last week, we spoke about the nature of God, 66 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:38.900 who he is, and what he's like. 67 00:03:38.900 --> 00:03:42.340 And his likeness is so clearly revealed here 68 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:43.580 in the fruit of the spirit. 69 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:47.180 Love, joy, peace, patience, all those wonderful things. 70 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:49.780 God is like this all the time. 71 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:53.140 To us, for us, and through us. 72 00:03:53.140 --> 00:03:57.100 This, this is the life that we have been invited to live, 73 00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:59.700 made in his image and likeness, 74 00:03:59.700 --> 00:04:02.980 not him being made into our image and likeness. 75 00:04:02.980 --> 00:04:05.180 And this is such good news. 76 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:08.020 It's such good news because it means that you and I 77 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:11.180 are no longer subject to the nature of the world. 78 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:12.820 We're no longer in bondage to it. 79 00:04:12.820 --> 00:04:14.820 We're no longer directed by it. 80 00:04:14.820 --> 00:04:18.700 We get to experience the absolute delight 81 00:04:18.700 --> 00:04:21.380 of responding to the nature of the world 82 00:04:21.380 --> 00:04:22.980 in the opposite spirit. 83 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:27.980 And this drives Satan absolutely crazy. 84 00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:33.460 If we think about it, you know, often, 85 00:04:33.460 --> 00:04:37.140 often we teach, we preach, we think about 86 00:04:37.140 --> 00:04:39.700 the effects that the works of the flesh 87 00:04:39.700 --> 00:04:41.220 have on us in our world. 88 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:43.900 But have you ever considered 89 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:46.620 the effects of the fruit of the spirit 90 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:50.180 and what they have on the enemy? 91 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:52.260 My friend and mentor, Graham Cook, 92 00:04:52.260 --> 00:04:53.620 who I've introduced to you before, 93 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:55.100 and by the way, him and I are doing 94 00:04:55.100 --> 00:04:56.580 another Facebook challenge this week. 95 00:04:56.580 --> 00:04:59.660 I will link the details to that in the description. 96 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.440 He put together a wonderful list of what the fruit of the Spirit does to 97 00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:09.480 inflict the enemy and I revisit this list often and think about the 98 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:14.080 possibilities. The possibilities when you and I realize that we can exhaust the 99 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:19.120 enemy with our love for each other. Did you know that you can depress him with 100 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:25.560 your joy? That you can weary Satan by becoming peace? You can demoralize him 101 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:30.800 with your patience? You can discourage him with your kindness? You can overcome 102 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:37.840 him with goodness? You can debilitate him with acts of faithfulness? You and I, we 103 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:44.640 can trouble and torment and terrorize Satan with our gentleness. We can dismay 104 00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:51.120 him with our self-control. More than that, we can also dishearten him with our 105 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:58.000 faith. We can weaken him with our mercy. We can intimidate him with our intimacy 106 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:04.120 with God. We can devastate and destroy him with grace. We can paralyze him with 107 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:10.600 compassion. We can cripple him with humility. This, this is the true you. This 108 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:18.120 is the life you have been set free to live. Everything the enemy tries to bring 109 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:24.720 against us can be turned around by moving in the opposite spirit. When we 110 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:29.880 move in the spirit of God's nature, things open up here on earth because 111 00:06:29.880 --> 00:06:36.800 what we release puts the enemy in his proper place, which is under our feet. And 112 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:41.400 not only that, but what we release when we respond in the opposite spirit, it 113 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:47.400 blesses people around us. It blesses the world around us. If we choose, and we can 114 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:53.000 choose, to move in a negative emotion or thought, we are only empowering the 115 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:58.800 enemy against ourselves. So let's not do that. Let's just stop that today. Instead, 116 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:04.240 let's fill up on the fruit of the spirit so that there's no room for any 117 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:11.680 negativity anymore. This, this is the life we can live. Like we talked about in 118 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:21.160 episode 78, you know, there's opportunity to learn and grow in this truth. When you 119 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:26.200 feel pressed towards anger or offense with someone, you know, that's an 120 00:07:26.200 --> 00:07:31.000 opportunity to discover more of God's love. And then what you can do is you can 121 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:36.520 focus all of your attention on receiving God's love for you and connecting with 122 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:41.640 him on how he loves the person who is coming against you. And honestly, that 123 00:07:41.640 --> 00:07:46.400 person is probably in their own place of internal conflict and torment. Because 124 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:52.400 our real enemy, Satan, he has been bringing negativity into our lives and 125 00:07:52.400 --> 00:08:00.240 into our world for years. It's time, it's time that we receive and release God's 126 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:08.520 opposite instead. Guess what that is? That is vengeance. The promise of perfect 127 00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:16.000 peace is found in Isaiah 26 3. In Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete 128 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:22.480 wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus 129 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.320 because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win with 130 00:08:29.440 --> 00:08:34.159 every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and 131 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.159 Satan's defeat on replay.