WWUTT 1791 Walk By the Spirit, Part 3 (Galatians 5:16-26)

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The Bible says that works of the flesh and works of the Spirit are contrary to one another.

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If you're in the Spirit, you won't be walking by the flesh. But if you're not in the Spirit, then you do the works of the flesh to your own destruction when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in the book of Galatians. We are still in Chapter 5, the famous section of Galatians that talks about the fruit of the

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Spirit, but also the works of the flesh. So before getting back to our sermon today, let me begin by refreshing our memory as to this text in Galatians 5, 16 to 26.

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I am reading from the Legacy Standard Version. This is the word of the Lord. But I say, walk by the

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Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the

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Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want.

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But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which

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I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit. Let us not become those with vain glory, challenging one another, envying one another.

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We pick up where we left off last week with verse 19, the deeds of the flesh are evident.

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This is part 3 of the message entitled, Walk by the Spirit. And Paul goes on here to say, now the works of the flesh are evident.

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That means we who have the Spirit of God know what the works of the flesh are.

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If you're in the Spirit, then anything that would be contrary to being in the Spirit is going to be a work of the flesh, because these two are opposed to one another.

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If the law of God has been written on your heart and your desire is to please your Savior, you will hate the very garment that is stained by sin, and you will want nothing to do with these works.

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Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.

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I warn you, Paul says, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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This is not just a matter of saying, hey, don't do gross things. These works of the flesh are condemnable.

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A person who lives their life in such a way will be destroyed in judgment, and not like all of them.

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Well, I do one or two of them, but I'm not doing all of them. No. If you walk in any of these, then you are not walking by the

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Spirit. Notice that the first one, two, three, possibly four works all have to do with sexual immorality, as well as the last one on this list before Paul says, and things like these, meaning that there are more sins that could go on this list, but the list is still quantifiable.

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Sexual sins are the surest manifestation of someone who is selfishly gratifying the desires of the flesh.

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Consider that the month of June is designated Pride Month.

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Everyone understands why, right? So it was on June 26 of 2015 that the

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U .S. Supreme Court declared in a 5 -4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed for same -sex couples, and because of that victory of the

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LGBTQ lobby, therefore, June is Pride Month. It's very interesting that in their perversity, the

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LGBTQ RSTUV movement was so willing to confess how truly prideful they are.

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Pride Month. But let us not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.

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Look down on one group of people and say, well, I'm not like them because sexual sin can happen to anybody.

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Sexual sins are nothing but prideful self -seeking with no regard to anyone but the appeasement of the flesh.

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In 1 Corinthians 6, 18 -19, here is what we read. Flee from sexual immorality.

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Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

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Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

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You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify

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God in your body. As for these other works of the flesh that we have on this particular list, idolatry is, of course, desiring anything above God.

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In Colossians 3, 5, Paul says covetousness is idolatry. Sorcery would not only include witchcraft, fortune -telling, or communicating with the dead.

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It would also include taking drugs that alter the mind. The Greek word here for sorcery is pharmakia, and it's from this word that we get the word pharmacy.

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It's a reference to mind -altering drugs, and this is what people would do in the first century when it came to witchcraft.

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They would not only be doing their spells and incantations and fortune -telling and whatnot, but they would be taking drugs that would alter the mind, believing that the mind was going into, like, some other dimension or sense in which they could look into the future and see events that are going to take place.

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The reality was they discovered acid 2 ,000 years ago. They just didn't realize it. So that's what's being stated there when we see sorcery as a work of the flesh.

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Now consider these others, enmity, which is hatred, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness.

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They all seem pretty self -explanatory. You know what those are, right? Now I've taken the liberty of going with the

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New American Standard Translation of Galatians 521 and inserting the word carousing in place of the word that the

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ESV uses. Those of you who have the ESV Bible, you know which word I'm talking about. I've done that for the sake of young ears in the congregation.

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So we contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. Now notice that it's fruit of the

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Spirit, not fruits of the Spirit, right?

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We have nine things listed here, but it's described as a singular fruit.

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You don't get to pick and choose which of these that you want to be good at. Oh, I think I'll have a little bit of love today.

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I think I can be good at joy today. It seems like a pretty nice weather day.

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My house is not underwater, so I can try some joy. I like those things.

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I think I'll leave patience to somebody else. Self -control isn't really my thing.

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Okay, you can't do that. These are not gifts of the Spirit. Don't confuse them with gifts of the

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Spirit. This is the fruit of the Spirit. The person who is walking in the Spirit, also known as a

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Christian, must exhibit all of the fruit of the Spirit, not just some of them.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is... Those of you who come to Awana and you sing this song, all of you could quote this, okay?

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But let's go through this word by word. The fruit of the Spirit is love.

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And I love that. I love that, by the way. So when we come to the next one, say it all together. That was great. I wasn't planning on that, but I love the way it sounded.

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We are to love the way that God defines love.

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Sacrificial love. Putting others' needs ahead of your own.

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Now, notice something here. We've only gotten to the first description of the fruit of the Spirit, and already this is completely opposite of all of the works of the flesh.

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Because none of the works of the flesh are sacrificial. None of them are considering others' needs ahead of your own.

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But the first fruit of the Spirit that we have is love. That we consider one another.

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We're considerate of each other. That's the first. What's the second one?

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Joy, which is not dependent upon mood or circumstance. Now, sometimes even your own body chemistry can betray you today.

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You want to be in a good mood, but your body's just not going to let you be in a good mood. That's happiness, when we're trying to go after happiness.

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Happiness is cheap. It can be taken from you in a moment. Bad comment. Something happened today you weren't expecting.

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Suddenly your happiness, which you were determined to have today, is gone. But joy is not dependent upon mood or circumstances.

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You rejoice in the Lord always. You know, earlier this week, I can't remember what day this was.

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It was probably Friday, because this sounds like something that you would put on a Friday. It was National Smile Day.

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Anybody know that? I made a comment that I have been forgiven of my sins and washed free in the blood of Christ.

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I smile every day. I don't need a National Smile Day. And that's what it means to have joy.

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It's not dependent upon circumstances. It's not dependent upon a day on the calendar. You can have joy on Monday.

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You can have joy on Friday. We rejoice in God, knowing that He has saved us.

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And in Christ Jesus, we have been given an eternal inheritance. What's the third word that we have on there?

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Peace. A peace that surpasses all comprehension, according to Philippians 4 .7.

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And it's a peace that surpasses all understanding, because it's a peace with God. Because we have forgiveness of sins.

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We're no longer under the wrath of God. We are now objects of His love and His mercy.

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And that gives us peace. And that peace will manifest itself in showing peace toward others, not causing or dwelling in division, but letting the peace of Christ rule in your heart.

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Have you ever considered how much work it takes to be mad at somebody? You let them take up residence in your mind, and just be mad at them all the time?

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It can be pretty distracting. But if you have the peace of Christ in your heart, then you don't let yourself be consumed by such things.

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And when you have such thoughts, take them captive, as I said earlier, as Paul instructs in 2 Corinthians 10.

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Take them captive and give them to Christ. Just go before the Lord and say, God, I don't want this thought today.

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I know that this doesn't honor you. And it isn't considerate of another person either, that I would just harbor hatred in my mind for somebody.

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So be at peace. Be at peace in your heart because you have peace with God, and be at peace with one another.

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Letting the peace of Christ rule in your heart. What's the next fruit?

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Patience. That's the first descriptor of love in 1 Corinthians 13, by the way.

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Love is patient. It means that we're not quick to fly off the handle with one another.

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We're not demanding responses right now. We're patient with each other.

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In 1 Timothy 6, the Apostle Paul says that anyone who is teaching something contrary to the sound doctrine that you've received is actually somebody who loves controversy.

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And they love to quarrel over words. And they're suspicious of other people.

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And they think sinful thoughts about people just because they want to. It's like they revel in the controversy.

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They love the combativeness, the fact that there is contention between people.

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It just kind of seems to be the desire of their flesh. That's somebody who is in a work of the flesh that is contrary to the fruit of the

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Spirit. But we've not been called to this. We've been called to be patient with one another. To not assume the worst of one another.

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And the next fruit of the Spirit goes well with that. What is that? Kindness. That seems pretty self -explanatory.

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Not quarreling with one another. Not calling each other names. Not looking down on one another. Or thinking more highly of yourself than you ought to think.

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Instead, you show no partiality because God shows no partiality. And you associate with the lowly because God associated with us.

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Jesus Christ stepping off of His throne and coming to us. And He healed the sick.

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And preached to the poor and the captives. And by the gospel has set them free. And so we are to consider one another in this way.

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Being kind to each other. The next fruit of the Spirit. Goodness. You take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.

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You abhor what is evil. You hold fast to what is good. And specifically what God says is good.

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What's the next fruit of the Spirit? Faithfulness. Faithfulness to Christ. Faithfulness to His Word.

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Faithfulness to one another. Faithfulness also means that you are steadfast and unmoving in your faith.

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You persevere under trial. Understand this well, my brothers and sisters. Faithfulness also means you are still going to be a

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Christian ten years from now. If you have the

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Spirit in your heart, you have been sealed for the day of redemption according to Ephesians chapter 1.

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You're a Christian now. You'll be a Christian ten years from now. You'll be a Christian twenty years from now. Thirty years, forty years.

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If God tarries, or your body holds up, this is faithfulness.

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What's the next fruit of the Spirit? Gentleness. Similar to kindness. You're compassionate toward others.

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You are considerate. Kindness might be more active. And gentleness might be more passive, perhaps.

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You consider them that way. Kindness, you are looking for ways to compliment and encourage others.

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Gentleness is the way that you respond to others and the way that you respond to circumstances. You do so gently.

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You handle one another gently. What's the next fruit of the

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Spirit? Self -control means that you are able to resist temptation. You do not give in to the passion of your flesh.

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You are not easily seized or taken in by wild ideas or conspiracies, by suspicions that you might have of other people.

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You have a sound mind. Another word for this, and some translations put it this way, you are temperate.

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And Paul ends this list of the fruit of the Spirit by saying these seven words, let's say them together, against such things there is no law.

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Meaning, if you're doing the fruit of the Spirit, guess what? You're not breaking the law. You're keeping it.

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Against such things there is no law. Another way of saying this, something that I said earlier, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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Verse 24, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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This is like something Paul said earlier in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer

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I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh,

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I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

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Verses 25 and 26 as we close out, If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the

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Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

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Let me finish with this. We are completely content with Christ our

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Savior. If you are not content with Christ, you will bite and devour one another.

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If you are not content with Christ, you will challenge each other. You will become boastful. You will envy each other.

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But we must know that Christ is sufficient for our every need.

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We're not trying to add something to Christ in order to attain satisfaction or salvation.

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You are saved by grace through faith, and that is enough. My friends, whenever my flesh betrays me and starts going after something in this world, thinking that I have to have this in order to be satisfied, and I will tell you that it is a daily struggle.

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Whenever my flesh starts to go that way, and I start compromising my walk in the

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Spirit by even thinking of entertaining the notion of gratifying the desires of the flesh, there is one verse that, praise

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God, comes to my mind over and over again. And it is a passage that helps to bring me back to center and keeps me right on track and not shifting to the left or to the right, but walking according to the command of Christ my

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King. And it is this beautiful verse, Psalm 23, 1.

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The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

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And I pray that what we've considered today serves you well this week. Continue our