Sermon Tone Analysis

Victory Through the Spirit

(GWFL)

Welcome

I want to welcome you to 2023! Welcome to Vision Sunday! - something is shifting RIGHT… NOW.

Let’s pray into the glory of God for a moment.

This is going to be a truly powerful day.

A landmark of day, I believe.

But before we get to all of that, I have an assignment.

And I am here to teach with the help of God on something that every person in the room can benefit from.

Because there is a battle raging on right now.

And I’m certainly not talking about Ukraine.

God love ‘em.

But I’m talking about something far darker of a battle than in any earthly war we’ve seen.

Lesson Connection

How a grain of sand can become a pearl.

TITLE: “Victory Through the Spirit”

Submitting to the Spirit is the Only Way to Overcome the Flesh

I’m going to make a pointed, yet vital statement today that we all have to reckon with: we are held hostage by our flesh.

That is, we are held hostage by our carnal selfish instinct).

Don’t take my word for it - examine your life.

Now, when we receive the Holy Ghost (the Spirit), we are brought into New Life (we proudly hold that name in this church).

And it’s a wonderful thing!

But this vessel (this body) that the Spirit fills - it’s inadequate.

It’s flesh.

And even filled with His Spirit, this flesh is consistently gravitating away from obedience to God.

It’s not just that our flesh struggles in pleasing God; it cannot please Him.

Even after we’re filled with the Sprit, our flesh is just not able to be in harmony with our spirit.

The Word of God tells us that:

Now, at this point, after reading that scripture, our condition seems pretty hopeless.

And so the question we have is: How are we supposed to succeed in living for God?

The answer is here:

If we’re born again, we are living a new life!

And we have started that life in the Spirit, now, we must WALK in the Spirit.

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If it’s really a war between the flesh and the Spirit, then we have to decide which one we are going to contribute to and help win that war.

Let me put it in the most simple terms: “Am I going to live in the flesh or live in the Spirit?”

Somebody is thinking right now: I struggle with “living in the Spirit.”

That’s why this has to become a lifestyle.

It’s discipline.

If Anna is a child of Ryan and Kierstin, what does that mean?

It means she’s around Ryan and Kierstin throughout her day.

And days.

…so… if we’re a child of God… that means that we’re around God throughout our day.

It’s just what we do!

Do you want to know what the enemy of walking in the Spirit is? Tradition.

Because tradition is trying to operate in a dimension of faith once a week.

That’s not a walk with God.

We have to develop disciplines.

And that takes time getting our flesh to submit.

We’ve got to live in the Spirit.

Nothing else will give you the power to overcome the flesh.

We can’t rely on willpower, resolutions, good ideas, or self-help books.

The only way it’s happening is if we crucify our flesh and live in the Spirit, getting in the influence of God DAILY.

It’s not going to come ANY OTHER WAY.

I’m telling you: absent of what I’m talking about (a daily walk; daily disciplines)… without that - I’m telling you what will happen - you will continually watch your flesh overcome the very best of intentions and it’ll keep ruling over us.

That’s not me prophesying, that’s just me telling the truth of the Word of God.

Jesus’ Humanity Submitted to God’s Plan in Gethsemane

Jesus is the perfect example in all of this.

He had already warned His disciples that He was about to be executed.

He told ‘em.

And because He knew that this was about to happen, it’s reasonable that His flesh would recoil from what was coming.

He experienced the pain just like you or I would.

His flesh had fear about it coming just like you or I would.

And His flesh desired to be delivered from that.

And if Jesus had chosen to yield to His flesh and get in the way of the will of God, our salvation wouldn’t have been possible.

Think of that: in the greatest life ever lived, and the greatest act of love ever committed, the Spirit had to overcome the flesh.

We are allowed to see the moment it happened, too, in the Word.

We call it “the Garden of Gethsemane.”

It was an olive grove… so Jesus went to the Olive Garden…

No, no.

It wasn’t nice like the Olive Garden you and I know.

It was a place of pain and struggle.

It was a quiet place (I find that interesting.

Some of the greatest battles happen, and some of the greatest growth takes place, in quiet, secret places).

I Will Submit to the Spirit through Prayer

And there, in the last words of Luke 22:42, we find the answer for our daily struggle with our flesh: “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

If you’ve not ever prayed that, it’s time to pray it!

That prayer is the key.

We can live in victory over our flesh, if, by the power of the Spirit, we consciously choose to follow God’s will, and not ours.

Let me say this: the will of God is not just concerned with major life choices that might come along every couple of years; God’s will is invested in the hundreds of small choices we make each day that affect our spiritual direction.

Think about that!

Living for God involves even the smallest decisions!

There was a massive trend that hit several years ago.

I’m sure you remember it: “WWJD: What Would Jesus Do?” It was huge!

And that focus was good.

It turned people the right direction.

But, I think maybe it might not be the best question.

Maybe, the better question would be: What Would Jesus Have Me Do?

The answer to that is what should guide our decisions.

I Have Victory Through the Spirit

This battle I’m talking about today (between flesh and Spirit) - it’s fierce.

And we’re in the middle of it.

There is no Geneva Convention the says what the conduct of the soldiers has to be in this war.

There are no rules.

The flesh fights hard.

And the enemy tries to play on that, too.

And because of that, we have to take this matter seriously.

We shouldn’t cross over into new life in salvation with a false expectation that there is only going to be peace and care bears on the other side.

Yes, it’s a good life.

I’ve found it to be a good life living for the Lord.