0:00
Does this feel crooked? Extremely. Like, it's very it feels very lopsided.
0:05
Hey, Liz. It's really lopsided. Give us one second.
0:11
Hey, Nina.
0:12
How does this thing adjust? Is it? Oh, okay. Is it? Okay.
0:19
How does this thing tighten? It's skinny. It's, like, really crooked in the holder. I'm sorry to pull you into this. The person that's watching is probably like, what's
0:32
going on? I would be
0:36
cautious all the
0:36
audio from you guys will
0:38
pick up just a little bit on that. Oh, it's, like, really, really crooked. It's pretty crooked, but it's okay. I went on the party. Was like, alright.
0:46
Oh, wow. It's Ryan.
27:39
Your
27:45
heart for us today. Convict us, Lord, in your loving kindness. Your word says that it's your loving kindness that leads us to repentance. So allow we allow your loving kindness to touch our hearts, our lives today. Change us.
28:00
We wanna leave here different because we're not with you today. Thank you for every precious heart in this room. Lord, you see them today. You see them today. You know what brought them here in every situation that led up to this moment.
28:15
Thank you that you are the God of our past, our present, and our future. We can trust in because you are great and you are good. Tell him we love you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. What great worshipers today.
28:32
We have a special treat today. Amanda's bringing the word. Brent's Fred's finishing up his last class for outdoor all the things that can't be truck mattresses. How some first aid. Wilderness first aid.
28:48
So get a doughnut, fill everybody. I don't know. I First season, you
30:42
are obeying the Lord and coming here on a gorgeous Jackson Hole, almost summer holiday weekend. Good on you
30:50
for that. The Lord will
30:51
honor your obedience in that way. Pastor Brian is gone, as you heard Lisa say, and my name is Amanda Luck. I'm on staff here at Tribe. And we believe here that it's very important in a healthy family, the voice of a mom and the voice of a dad is very good because they bring different angles and different perspectives, and so that's why you see both male and female leadership here. And so I'm very honored to be able to have this conversation with you today.
31:18
And the reason I say conversation, if you're new to TRIBE, is because we like this to be a dialogue, not just a monologue. Although that would be so very easy to do. So as we're going through the scriptures, as we're going through the word, if there's something that is just for you, keep it yourself. To If there's something that you're like, gosh, your heart is beating quickly and or something and you're like, this is for everybody, please share. Do you know that little buzzing or is that the margarita machine?
32:02
And now you use your hands for the kingdom. Good job. So we are in a series here at Tribe, and I'm just gonna continue on with where I feel like the Lord was leading me with with what Pastor Brian had already kicked off and started. And we're in a series right now called Walking in the Spirit. And week one, we're on week three.
32:22
Week one, Brian just kind of introduced it, like what that is, what that means. Week two, last week, was kind of the importance of it and what that is. And today is week three, and we're gonna talk about the spirit versus the flesh. And we've been talking about walking in the spirit. We're a triune being because we're made after God.
32:42
Right? Father, son, holy spirit. And we have a what? Body. Body.
32:47
Body. We live in a body, our earth suit, the flesh. We are a Spirit. That's our truest self. And then we have a Soul.
32:58
Soul? Question mark. Yeah. I just went with it. Oh, and by the way, thank you for being here in the present.
33:06
And then I wanna special shout out to whoever's watching online, whether it's one of you or 100 of you from all over the place. Thank you for tuning in today and joining us here at Tribe. Alright. Let's just do a quick a quick little review. Last week, we did Romans eight six.
33:22
Well, we talked about a lot of scriptures, and we have this up on the board. Romans eight six is one of my favorite scriptures. I have this on my mirror at home, and there's been you know, like, when you brush your teeth? Maybe I live with all boys, but, like, the it flings, stuff flings. So it's, like, gross and curled, but this scripture is on my bathroom mirror at home, and it still is true.
33:42
And it says, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, but letting the spirit control you leads to life and peace. And this is not just talking I mean, it could certainly be physical death, like your heart pump stops working, but letting your flesh or your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, could lead to death of trust. Right? Death of relationship, all kinds of stuff. And then the spirit, which is what we're talking about in this spirit in this series, leads to life and peace.
34:14
Drastically wonderful. The next one, Galatians five sixteen, we talked about. This is review. So I say, let the holy spirit guide your lives, then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. That is so simple and so hard to follow.
34:31
And, also, by the way, Galatians is so fantastic with what we've been talking about. I consider just today having us open our Bibles to Galatians, holding hands, and just reading it from start to finish because it is so fantastic. So if you're looking for a place to start or have quiet time this week, I would say go to Galatia all of Galatians, all of Romans. It's fantastic. What does it mean to walk in the spirit?
34:56
This is a review a quick review from last week, and we have it up here. And we talked pastor Brian was talking about this in our whole self. And if you'll go to that next slide, it's the spirit, remember, which is our true self, which should be should be in charge of our flesh or our self, and it carries out the wishes of the Lord. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit only speaks what it hears the Father say. The Holy Spirit is part of our heavenly Father.
35:23
It doesn't just do or say what it wants. He carries out only what the Lord says. So he is a trustworthy source to listen to. When we keep our flesh or self in charge, it's like having it in the driver's seat. And we've talked about this.
35:37
Your flesh in the driver's seat makes terrible choices because we have urges and desires and needs that we feel like need to be fulfilled, and it and it doesn't work. We've all let the flesh be in the driver's seat. Maybe some of you are now or you will, but it is no bueno. We want the spirit to be in the driver's seat. So this is what we've been talking about in this series, and I want us to switch gears.
36:05
In in sports, you know, sometimes they say the best offense is to have a good defense. And so if we're wanting our offense to be walking in the spirit, the things of the Lord, today, for week three, we're gonna be talking about walking in the flesh because if we know what we're up against, perhaps, just perhaps, we can carry out better what we're supposed to do. So let's look at this scripture in Colossians, and we've talked about this, of course, but when we walk in the spirit, there are these oh oh, this is even better. Yes. Better than what I was gonna say.
36:40
Thank you.
36:41
Let's read Colossians one nine and ten. For this reason and this this is gold, this scripture. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. This is Paul talking. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the spirit gives so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.
37:10
The more that you spend time intentionally living in the spirit, you're gonna grow in the knowledge of God. It's just gonna happen. You're gonna be filled with more knowledge. It's just gonna happen. You're going to gain more wisdom and understanding.
37:24
It's just gonna happen. You know, we've said this before, and it seems like a cute little elementary thing, but and a pear tree doesn't squeeze as hard as it can and, boink, out pops a pear. Right? It just has the good sense to just exist, and the branches abide in it, and a natural thing that happens is the pear fruit comes. Right?
37:46
And we when we know the scripture in the gospels, when we abide in our heavenly father, the fruit just comes. Right? Now we can abide in the flesh, or we can abide in the spirit. And it has to be a choice. We can't just stay somewhere in the middle.
38:03
You're doing one or the other. And abiding in the spirit, of course, is going to bring forth fruit, and we're going look at that next, positive fruit that comes from the spirit. And abiding in the flesh will, of course, bring death like we saw in Romans. Let's go to that next slide and look at the fruits of the spirit. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
38:29
Against such things, there is no law, which is a very cool sentence. We don't have time to dive in today, but it requires its own blue letter Bible search. It's really cool. Meaning unlimited. There's unlimited fruit, basically, when we abide in the spirit.
38:46
I used to think that and it's it was coming from a good place, but I used to be like, okay. There's nine things here. Like, those are my nine targets. Like, ugh. Okay.
38:54
What can I do that will be loving? Or what can I do that will bring joy? Or what should I do that would be more peaceful? And inherently, that's not a that's not a bad target. But I was focusing on the fruit, like, well, how can I get there?
39:05
How can I get there? But it just happens based on how you're living. Fruit in your life is just going to happen depending on how you're choosing to abide. And so it's kind of a good measuring stick. What is the fruit that's coming out of your life?
39:21
What is the fruit that's coming out of those around you's life? And you don't wanna be judgy and be like, there's a rotten piece of fruit because then probably they'd be like, mhmm. Your whole tree is rotting. You know, like, a good friend would say that. Alright.
39:33
Let's go to let's look at yeah. Yes. Please. John.
39:44
I love when I'm able to apply the word law to, a different kind of law, not necessarily, of the land as much as kind of almost like, physics Mhmm. Where there are laws that you just you can't possibly go against.
40:04
Gravity works whether you believe in it or not.
40:06
Yeah. There exactly. And so there's another scripture. It says for the law of life in Christ Jesus sets you free from the law of sin and death. It's just so powerful, these laws.
40:20
And so to not have a law against the fruits of the spirit by abiding in the spirit is I guess if you took the commerce of that, then there would be a law that would say if you abide in the spirit, you're going to get love, joy, peace. So I just thank you.
40:36
That's beautiful. Yeah. Thank you for that. Do you know what scripture that comes from? Romans eight, period, is a beautiful gold mine.
40:51
Yeah. For sure. So we've we've been talking about this for two weeks, what walking in the spirit is, and we saw it in these scriptures, and there's so many good places in Romans and second Peter and Ephesians and Galatians and practically the whole Bible, that talks about that. But walking in the spirit is our default. You know, like, there's that whole theory, like, there's no real neutrality.
41:16
You're either moving forward or backward. And if you're not moving forward, you're moving backward. And so when we think about this, walking in the flesh because we're in a fallen world is our default with zero effort at all. You guys, we don't have to try it all to sin, not even a little. It just it just happens.
41:35
You think about the little kid who comes to you with chocolate all over their mouth and you say, did you eat that cookie? No. Without even a thought, no. What? That's us.
41:45
It's just grown up versions. So let's look at Galatians five nineteen through 21, and we're gonna look at the opposite. So if the fruits of the spirit that we just read are what come from living in the spirit, let's look at what living in the flesh does. This is a hearty list. The things your sinful old self wants to do are sex sins, sinful desires, wild living, worshiping false gods, witchcraft, hating, fighting, being jealous, being angry, arguing, dividing in I like the way that the New Life version said this, dividing into little groups and thinking the other groups are wrong.
42:27
That's not just in middle school, guys. Adults do that. False teaching, wanting something that someone else has, killing other people, using strong drink, wild parties, and all things like these. I told you before, and Paul said to dad, I told you before, and I'm telling you again, that those who do these things will have no place in the holy nation of God. Yikes.
42:49
Dividing into little groups and killing people are in the same list.
42:53
Yes. That's it. That's easy to just read over scripture, whether it's this or something else, and be like, well, of course, I don't do those things. Well, do you? And I know I mean, big ones, oh, killing people and okay.
43:06
Of course. But, gosh, witchcraft and we don't should I say this? Okay. Witchcraft is not just a person with green skin and a pointy hat like stirring a cauldron. Right?
43:20
That's cartoons. Witchcraft, especially here in this valley, is kind of prevalent. And it can mean a cat fell into something one time, didn't you, by accident, and you were it was crazy. But witchcraft can be worshipping nature. That's very tempting for somebody in Jackson Hole who doesn't know the Lord.
43:38
Witchcraft and I'll be very careful because I'm not an expert on this, but there's this whole new movement with self care. I think it falls under witchcraft if you really study it. Now should you Huxley, should you not bathe and not take care of yourself? No. You should bathe every day.
43:55
So be I'm being very careful. I'm not gonna jump into something I don't feel like I'm an expert on, but self care inherently yes. Of course. Take care of yourself. There really is nothing wrong with that.
44:05
But there is a line that you can cross, and that's between you and the Lord where you get into this self thing, and that's what the enemy wants to do. In fact, I was thinking about this. It seems like for all of time and as many deceptive things that the enemy does, he really kind of just has one trick. And he uses a bunch of different things that he perverts from the Lord because he's not a creator. He cannot create, and he comes up with nothing new.
44:30
But he's sneaky, and it feels like the one thing, the one trick that the enemy can use all the time is to make us focus on ourself. Think about even in the Garden of Eden. Think if Eve came up to the tree that she wasn't supposed to eat from, and the snake the serpent came up and said, did this is what it says in Genesis. Did God really tell you you didn't need to eat from that tree? What if she had asked?
44:56
I don't know. I don't know. Let me ask God. God, did you say that? No.
45:00
Serpent, he said, no. Our humanity would be different. So the enemy's trick, he always wants you to not ask God but be God yourself. Right? You're your own boss.
45:13
You're your own God. You do what you want. You do what feels good. Right? And it's so the best lies have truth woven into them.
45:23
And so inherently, like, well, I shouldn't do good. Well, yes, you should. You know, but this is the leading and the guiding of the Holy Spirit. This is what we're talking about, living in the spirit. You're hearing that what the Bible calls the Holy Spirit, that still small voice.
45:37
There's a couple times this very week, in fact, this very morning where I was reminded of just listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. And it's I mean, there's big things like this list has. If you have a gun and you're like, should I go kill these people or not God? There's some very, very, very obvious no, and there's some very should I worship the Lord? Obvious, yes.
46:02
Right? But I'm talking about this tricky middle ground where the enemy likes to really get in. And, yes, and it it doesn't even have to be super sinful. Yesterday, I had lost my debit card, and I was looking all over for the house for it, and I found it. I found it.
46:15
You can stop licking. I found it, and I just threw it on the kitchen table. Like, none of these, I don't feel like, are from this list. Right? And I just threw it on the table, and I just heard a voice.
46:27
Put that in your wallet now. And this is all happening in, like, a millisecond. And I was like, it's my kitchen table. No one will take it. I'll put it there tomorrow.
46:35
And then I don't know how the Lord speaks to you, but he's like, did I stutter?
46:39
You know, I feel like Stanley on the office.
46:41
Did I stutter? That's how the Lord talks to me. He goes, put it in your wallet now. And that would have been easy to disobey, and I don't feel like, you know, like, wrath would have come upon me, but that was a still small whether it was because he knows I'm a ding dong and I'm probably gonna lose it or he was just letting me practice on something so so tiny. Right?
47:03
The more we practice listening and obeying the voice of the holy spirit, the better we'll get at it. And the more we are following the leading of the holy spirit in both big and small stuff, Sin on this Earth, until we have our new bodies and the lord returns, is never just gonna go away, but it really will. The temptation of it diminishes little by little by little. The more, like a teeter totter, the more we obey, obey, obey, obey the holy spirit and live in him. Oh, and this very morning, I was driving here, and I've been the Lord's been telling me for three days to text this person and congratulate them on something, and I'm not in defiance to it.
47:41
I've either just been driving or just some lame excuse. Right? And then this morning, Christian was driving, not me, so I wasn't texting and driving. But I passed by a car that reminded of them, and I was like, I'm so naughty. I'm like, no.
47:55
No. No. No. And I'm talking about these are the most minor, minor things. Right?
48:00
But I'm telling you, practicing listening to the voice of the Lord is key for us walking as believers and living in the Holy Spirit. Living in the spirit versus living in the flesh. It's all too easy to just say no to tiny stuff like that, and then all of a sudden, your heart another little layer of hardness comes and then another layer, then another. And before you even know it, your heart is hard. You don't hear the voice of the Lord like you used to.
48:28
Shame is a great thing that the enemy likes to put on us, and it's just it's terrible. Alright. So these are very obvious sins. Let's talk about some perhaps not less potent but less obvious or overt sins. And we don't have a slide for this, but how about just when we walk in the flesh, how about pride or even subtle pride?
48:52
This is something that the Lord is always working on me with, And it's arguably the original sin. Right? The enemy in heaven or Satan was a worshiper, Lucifer, and he was kicked out of heaven because of pride. It's a big deal, but it can be huge and obvious, or it can be a teeny tiny seed that's planted. That's walking in the flesh.
49:12
How about self pity? Self pity. Self pity can also wear the disguise of righteous indignation. Eek. Right?
49:24
And what I mean by that is if we've been wronged, and we all have to varying degrees, there's a sense of injustice. That's okay to feel. It's okay to be mad. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to have these feeling, you know, that come up.
49:38
What we do with them is when we decide to sin or not. But righteous indignation is crossing a line where you feel so sorry for yourself that the enemy's got you in his grip. And it's no longer like because pain is real. Pain happens. And there's a moment where you where you're crushed and you you are in pain.
50:00
But, man, in this line is between you and the Lord. I'm can't quantify it for you. This line is between you and the Lord where you're feeling so sorry for yourself, where you cross a line that's hard to come back from. Sneaky. Favoring one group over another is walking in the flesh, and it's not as obvious as these.
50:23
There's a I think it's in James. There's a time where the disciples or group of people were favoring, this rich group over the poor group, and Jesus clearly rebukes it. You don't pick one group over another, he said. How about gossip that feels just like sharing? Gosh, we're so good.
50:47
We could all teach a master class on justifying what we say and do, couldn't we? It's just easy. Disrespect is walking in the flesh. Doing nothing is walking in the flesh. Look at this great verse I found.
51:05
James four seventeen. Very simple. Remember, it is a sin to know what you ought to do and not do it. Well, okay. James four seventeen, Withholding is a less obvious way to walk in the flesh.
51:25
And I want to be very clear. These lists are so easy just to say, and I could tell you story after story from my own life where I have felt pain and where I have been I've been on both sides experiencing something and the one doing it. But I don't want to, for one minute, discount something really, really hard that you're really going through. I'm not just flippantly saying these. You understand that.
51:52
Right? We've all gone through either you have sinned, you are currently sinning, or you will sin, or all of the above. And this is the tension. This is what we're talking about today, the spirit versus the flesh. It's this constant tension.
52:07
It says in the New Testament that they are constantly against each other, and they can't coexist peacefully. I mean, the tension can coexist, but you cannot walk in the spirit and the flesh both well, like, together. It just doesn't happen. This is such a contrast, the fruits of the spirit and then stuff like this, like love and joy, witchcraft and killing, peace, wild parties. Like, it's an it's a no brainer list.
52:36
And so I don't, for one minute, want to give myself or any of us permission for why we do the things we do, but I do want us to know that we are in good company. You guys remember in Romans seven, Paul himself says, I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, and I don't. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know what I'm doing is wrong, this shows that I agree with the law and that it's good. So I'm not the one doing wrong.
53:05
It's the sin living in me that does it. I get that. And you need to read the context because Paul isn't like, well, it's not I'm just a baby. It's not me. It's my sin.
53:15
I mean, that's not what he's saying. But because of the fallen world that we live in, we have a sin nature. That's our flesh. That's our earth suit. That's the things that we've been talking about in this series.
53:27
So here's the good news and the hard news. We have free will, and we get to choose what we do. You can consciously make a choice to walk in the spirit or consciously or, again, like a default, walk in the flesh. And so I know it's easier said than done, but sin is so nasty and the enemy is so tricky. And sometimes we get caught into stuff that we never intended to be caught into, it's a trap.
53:58
And the enemy just gets his nasty little hooks just in us. But like the song we sang today, Jesus paid to free us from the power of that sin. Satan's always lying to us. Let's look at this slide. I don't wanna over spiritualize anything, but I came across this without looking for it, and it felt right to add to
54:19
us
54:19
today. So the heeb there's lots of words for sin in the Old Testament. Right? Like iniquity, sin, transgression, they all mean different things, and they're beautiful. But this word avon is the Hebrew word for iniquity.
54:33
And we read left to right. Hebrew is right to left. So the letters from right to left are there in the left column. Avov, abet, do you know? Anon?
54:44
Doesn't matter. I don't know Hebrew. Does anyone know Hebrew? Okay. Doesn't matter.
54:48
I think. Yeah. But here's what it is. This is this is like the enemy. This is the Hebrew word for sin, and this is what happens.
54:57
Your eyes get hooked, and then they get hooked again. These are what, pictorially, what these individual Hebrew letters mean. Basically, we behold what we we become what we behold. Right? Whatever you set your vision to, your affection to, that's gonna grow and multiply.
55:20
Think about what's growing and multiplying right now in your life and what you're focusing on. Is that producing fruits of the spirit? Is that producing fruits of the flesh? This is no joke. The enemy is no joke as far as his hatred for us because we look like our heavenly father.
55:42
We wanna embrace the power of what Jesus did on the cross. He broke the power of sin in our lives once and for all. Sin is still gonna exist. We still live in a fallen world. Sin still loves to come trip us up and grip us and hook us any way it can.
55:59
We have a choice on what we do with that temptation. It's easier to say no to sin when you spend daily, hourly, sometimes necessary, minutely time with the Lord. Right? Reading his word, seeking him, that gets your appetite more for him, and it makes sin less and less disgusting. No, sin's always disgusting.
56:21
It makes it easier to say no to sin because you're more disgusted by it. Right? Stuff that used to taste bitter will start to taste sweet. Strike it, reverse it. Stuff that sin, stuff that used to taste sweet will begin to taste bitter without you even trying.
56:41
This is the fruit of where we're abiding. We're gonna read a chapter in Romans, but does anyone have anything that they wanna say or that's striking to them or a connection they're making? This is the time we can do that. Excellent. K.
57:00
If you'll turn to Romans six. We're just gonna read this. I'm I'm just gonna read it for us today. Man, this is one this is so powerful. This is talking about sin and its power being broken.
57:26
Says, well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not. Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and we were buried with Christ by baptism.
57:47
And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the father, now we also may live new lives. Praise the lord. Since we have been united with him and in his death, we will also be raised to life like he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin, for when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin.
58:17
And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Have you ever thought about that scripture, that line? We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. He's enough.
58:39
What he did was enough. He only has to do it once. Death no longer has any power over him. When Jesus died, he died once to break the power of sin. Hallelujah.
58:53
But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Boy, that's living in the spirit. Do not let sin control the way that you live. Let me say that again.
59:12
Do not let sin control the way you live. Do not give into self selfish and sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument to evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourself completely to God. For you were dead, and now you have new life.
59:31
So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right and for the glory of God. Sin has no longer become your master for you are no longer living under its requirements. Instead, this is such good news, you live under the freedom of God's grace. That's good. Well then, since God's God's we're almost done.
59:56
This is just so good. You guys since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean that we can go on sinning? That's such a legit question. Of course not, he says. Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?
1:00:12
Remember, you become what you behold. You can be a slave to sin. You can. That's a choice you can make. You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living and life.
1:00:29
Thank God, Paul says, once you were slaves of sin, but now you are wholeheartedly to obey his teachings that we've given you. Now that you are free from your slavery to sin and you have become slaves to righteous living. Because of the weakness of your human nature, remember Paul said that. He's like, why do I do it? I don't wanna.
1:00:49
I feel that way a lot. Why? It says right here in verse 19, because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. He's so kind. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to deeper sin.
1:01:07
Boy, we see that in our own lives. We saw that with the Israelites in the Old Testament. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do what's right. And now what's the result?
1:01:24
You're ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves to God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. And finally, for the wages of sin, what it costs is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1:01:49
Hallelujah. The next slide, Kai, is this encouragement I want us to just see. Again, no permission. You have no permission to sin. None of us.
1:02:00
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are under the obligation to obey what he's asking you to do. And I just this is such an encouraging scripture. Hebrews twelve one two says, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the weight of sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eye on Jesus.
1:02:26
Remember that pictorial Hebrew letter? Keeping our eyes on Jesus. He's the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. The key is to be steadfast, to run with endurance. We are gonna trip up and fall.
1:02:44
You have, you are currently, or you're gonna, or all of the above. Right? Because we live in this fallen broken world. But the key is to get back up. Right?
1:02:57
Jesus always has his hand there waiting for you, extending grace. When you repent, when you make the decision, whether it's big or small stuff, that I'm gonna obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. As children of God, guys, we are we're to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. Be intentional with your choices. You know, we're just talking about Bible and scripture stuff today, but there's a whole God's the author of science, obviously, but there's a whole science that talks about neurology and sin and how it grips, and especially, like, the biggest billion dollar industry of sin is porn.
1:03:39
There's so many fascinating things that happen to our brain when you're looking at porn, and it's we won't we won't talk about it today unless everyone's super comfortable and wants me to just jump right in. But it's a sin that trips us up. The enemy's little nasty hook just wants to get in there. Right? So the opposite, the way that we combat that is to form new neural pathways that make better choices.
1:04:08
Read God's word. Let let's skip to ahead, Kai, two slides, and this is the last thing. I just want us to look at a practical list. Next week, when pastor Brian is back, we're gonna finish I think we're gonna be finishing four and talk about the how. But let me just give you some practical things here.
1:04:23
How do I walk in the spirit and avoid all of this yucky flesh stuff we talked about today? Read your Bible every day. Whether you feel like it or not, whether the words are leaping off the page or they feel nothing. Read your bible every day. You're planting seeds in your spirit, man, when you do that.
1:04:44
Find a Christian community and let them in. This can be one trusted Christian friend or a whole group, doesn't matter, but you let them in. You be vulnerable. And let the Holy Spirit lead and guide that. How much and when and to what degree?
1:05:01
Man, this is a simple and one of the most powerful ones I've personally experienced to combat flesh, express gratitude and thankfulness. Man, especially when you're in pain or you've been wronged or you feel injustice, I don't feel like expressing gratitude or thankfulness. That's the last thing I wanna do. But did you know it's pretty it's like a huge sticking it to the enemy when you don't feel like it and you do it anyway? That's the biggest stick it to the enemy.
1:05:33
It's a churchy way to say that. Listen to the still small voice in your spirit. We talked about that. Even if it's silly, stupid stuff like losing your debit card, practice obey. Practice obey, and you'll get better.
1:05:47
Man, if God can't trust me with putting my debit card when he tells me to, he ain't gonna trust me with nothing. If I can't obey, if we can't obey small stuff, he's not gonna you you can't handle more, and we need to handle more. These times we're living in are only getting darker and harder, and we wanna be a light in this dark world. We wanna be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that we just know his voice. We know what he's saying amidst all the chaos.
1:06:16
Worship him. We spent a few a few weeks ago, the whole sermon was about how to worship the Lord. There's so many ways to do so. Man, especially when you don't feel like it. And like we just said, finally, start new habits.
1:06:28
Begin choosing things that bring life. Remember, the enemy just says, ah, you got this. You're gonna do it. You you be your own god. Do what you feel.
1:06:38
Do what you want. But ask God, should I do that or not? There's obvious things, but the little things that are not so obvious, ask God, should I do that? Is that gonna bring life or death? Think about Romans eight six.
1:06:52
Is what I'm about to do or what I'm about to say going to bring life or death? Is it gonna keep me walking in the spirit or trapped walking in the flesh? Ask. I want us to just I'm gonna pray and be I'm all done. But I just want us to have some ministry time.
1:07:10
The band's gonna sing another song. But I just want, as Brian says, to for you to do business with the Lord. Janine, you got something before we go?
1:07:24
You've already said it, but I just wanna for that last point, what one thing that's really helped me is because we are such a content rich society now in terms of what we can watch and what we can listen to. So much of what's out there isn't necessarily what we would think is evil or bad, but it is worldly. And and there is no doubt that there is an agenda by the people who create content to influence us one way or another. And so I just wanna add a caveat to that last one, which is, father, does this is this an agreement with the word of God, or is this an agreement with the world? Right.
1:08:04
Because there are some things that are masking themselves as bringing life to us that are really the ways of the world Yeah. And not the way of the Lord. And that's helped me as I've think about podcasts and YouTube channels or whatever. Like, father, is this really bringing me the life that that you describe in the in the word of God? Yep.
1:08:25
Or is this humanistic thinking that takes me down a different path? Exactly. That's so good. And isn't one of
1:08:32
the biggest tricks of the enemy on that same vein is, like, keeping us busy but doing good things? Caring for your family, do that. That's good. Taking care of yourself, that's good. Do it.
1:08:43
But the enemy is so sneaky, he'll distract us with busyness, even doing good, where we don't take those times to reflect and to be quiet and to leave margin and to think about that. Yeah. John.
1:08:55
I'd like to relate to especially the guys, but but all of us have been hiking in the wilderness around here and and know that there's grizzlies. And especially the guys who were sneaking up and trying to sneak on elk, and and we get into really, really deep, deep woods, and you pull your you take your safety off when it gets really intense. Get your bear spray out. Well, the relating to the story last week of the guy who got mauled and had his pepper spray with him,
1:10:08
Well, we're just gonna just for a couple more minutes, we're gonna stay in this worshipful space, and band's gonna sing. And I just want you to like you've heard Brian say, do business with the Lord. If you need to surrender your heart to him today, do it. If you want someone to agree and pray with you after, we'll do that as well. But just take a moment.
1:10:25
God, is there if you're not sure and you're like, I feel like I'm doing pretty good, ask him. There's something. Some of you might be in active sin that you're very aware of, whether people know about it or not. Talk to him about it. And if you're in this season where you're like, I'm actually doing pretty good, that's wonderful for you for now.
1:10:47
Let that fill up your tank so that when, not if, troubles come down the road, you'll be ready. John six thirty three says that. Jesus says, in this life, there will be trouble. You will go through trials. He's that's happening.
1:11:03
That's happening. But take heart, Jesus says, I've overcome the world. So let's just however you wanna do it, if you wanna get on your knees, if you wanna stay in your spot, if you wanna stand up and raise your hands, whatever you're comfortable with, just do some business with the Lord as we finish up our time here today.
1:14:53
Just sing that over yourself that you're no longer a slave. That through Jesus, through Christ, he's given you all the strength and all the power to resist the enemy, to resist the devil. The Bible says that when you do that in his strength that he will flee. So if there's an area that you're struggling, that temptation, remind yourself you're no longer a slave to that sin.
1:16:05
You guys, Jesus paid too high of a price for us to choose to continue to live in the flesh. Remember it. You're gonna trip up. It's gonna happen. Sin is in the world.
1:16:20
Don't lose heart and get in a shame spiral or whatever it is. Find community. Read your word. Reach out to one of us here at Tribe. We can talk to you.
1:16:32
As we close, I just want to pray over us, and then Jay's gonna come give you a couple announcements, and we'll get you guys out of here. But as we're sitting there singing for just a moment, I thought, gosh, there's a real most of us know this, but there's a real difference that can feel a little muddled sometimes of and it's wild, but people will say, how can I tell if it's the voice of God or the voice of the enemy? And you think those would be vastly different, but when they're when you're stuck in something like sin and you feel like, uh-oh, there's a huge difference. The voice of the Holy Spirit is conviction. The voice of the enemy is condemnation.
1:17:09
The voice of conviction, the Holy Spirit says, baby girl or sweet boy, that's not for you. I paid for that so you don't have to be gripped by that. I paid for that. Come on. Here's my hand.
1:17:22
I'm gonna dust you off, pat your bottom, and get you on your way. That's the sweet voice of conviction. Condemnation says you are worthless. Of course, you fell into that again because you're worthless. Nobody loves you.
1:17:35
You're gonna do it again, so you might as well just go crazy. Right? Very, very different conviction and condemnation. So let me pray over us, and then Jay's gonna come up. Heavenly father, we love you so very much.
1:17:48
Thank you for your precious, tender voice, albeit firm sometimes, of the holy spirit and that conviction when we mess up and we're walking in the flesh, whether we did it by accident or on purpose, father. When we're living in the flesh, you are so good to remind us that's not our that's not your best, and that's not what you have for us. Father, I pray that you'll help everyone of us in here who has surrendered our heart to you to just get better and better at listening and obeying the voice of your holy spirit. Give us the courage we need to obey that voice. Even if it feels insignificant, it's not.
1:18:28
Acts of obedience are huge to you. Help us also to be able to clearly discern the lies of the enemy. When he comes in and he sneaks in and it feels like our own thoughts. Woah. That's tricky.
1:18:44
I just pray for extreme discernment of the lies of the enemy. Thank you, Lord, for who you are and how you love us. Thank you for the precious gift of your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross, not only for, what they say, fire insurance or a ticket to heaven, but, father, to break the power of sin in our lives that we no longer have to be bound by it. Thank you so much for that gift and of grace and the freedom that you provide.
1:19:17
We love you. We honor you. Lord, we are humbled by your goodness and your grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
1:19:27
Good work. As
1:19:35
we continue in this attitude we're to to that. And Now God's word is is is clear and so, Brian's taught on this, how to do hear the voice of the Lord. One of the first things in that funnel picture, if you guys remember that on our series on hearing God's voice was God's word. In our time of giving, there's something known as the tithe, which is giving 10% of what God has first given to us, and just giving us an opportunity to give that back to us. Now if we wanna go above and beyond the tithe, that's known as an offering.
1:20:15
And so I just wanna take this time here to just lean into that and ask the spirit if he would have us do something above and beyond that. Now, when discerning what the spirit has us do, oftentimes, I get this picture like a Venn diagram. Right? There's what Amanda was saying, like, there's good things that are of the Lord, and there's like bad and sinful things. Right?
1:20:36
Like, murder, bad, like, going to church and worship, good. Right? And then there's that whole middle gray area. And something one of my mentors always gave me to reflect on to help make that middle section as small as possible is do not ask, is this sinful? But rather ask, does this move me closer or farther away from the Lord?
1:20:59
Every single decision that we make draws us closer and helps us to lean in more or pulls us away and make God feel more distant. So I just I pray in this time, if you don't mind bowing your heads with me, that, father, if there are people here that you're just wanting to lean in further, and you wanna draw close to them, Lord, just stir something in their hearts, as we just come before you, just hands wide open in full surrender. We give you everything, Lord. We love because you loved us first. It's in your name that we pray.
1:21:33
Everyone said, amen. Here at Tribe, don't pass buckets or anything like that. We have a little box in the back next to the saloon doors where you can put cash or check. You can also go online to our website. We have a give tab, and my personal favorite way to give is through our smartphone.
1:21:50
You just open up a new text to 84321 and type in a dollar amount there. Couple quick announcements for you guys. If you are new to Tribe, might notice those connect cards on your seats. Those, if you fill those out on the front, that's gonna connect you to our text blast. We can send out pertinent information.
1:22:06
So like for instance, on Tuesday, our normally young adults meeting is at the TMC, but this week, we're meeting at the Hunter's House. Brian and Alyssa are gonna have been so gracious to open up their homes to us and host us there. So that's for an example of a kind of text that would you receive from those text blasts. So I really encourage you guys to sign up for that. There's also on the back of those cards is prayer.
1:22:28
Those same cards, if you fill those out, don't just leave them on your seats if you can because sometimes they can get mixed up into all the other cards. We do a good job checking them, but go ahead and also put that back in that offering box next to the saloon doors. We also have men's bible study tomorrow. It's on Mondays. It's 6PM.
1:22:45
We are going through a watchman ebook talking about how to walk in the spirit. If you haven't been coming, it's okay to show up, check it out, see what it's like. Really encourage you guys to connect through there. There's also a women's bible study on Wednesdays at 05:30, and that has been super super cool. They're going through Galatians.
1:23:03
Where what chapter are you guys on now?
1:23:05
This is
1:23:05
our last week, actually.
1:23:07
Last week?
1:23:07
Come to the whole recap. Just get the whole all Galatians
1:23:11
All the meat. In one study. All the meat. Yeah. And then lastly, miss Laura, who's sitting in that booth back there, who's been doing our sound and audio for worship.
1:23:22
The reason why you guys can hear my voice through this audio is only gonna be with us for a little bit longer, and she's been so faithful to serve through audio. So we can just give her a round of applause really quick. Thank you for just helping create this environment and allowing us just to raise a joyful noise to the Lord. That being said, an opportunity to serve that we'd really, really encourage you to lean into is we need somebody that's willing to do sound. If you know nothing about sound and you're like, I can barely get my iPhone to work, it's okay.
1:23:54
We would love to train you up. All we need is someone that is willing So and if that interests you, please come talk to anybody that's up here or talk to Laura, and we'd love to get you guys connected and create an opportunity for you guys to serve.
1:24:10
And you get to hear extra
1:24:11
worship every Sunday. It's true. Yeah. You get the the pre worship training set, which is like awesome. Yeah.
1:24:20
And if you need prayer and you don't just want to write on a card, John and Kate Micas, if you guys raise your hands for me really quick, they're gonna be in one of those booths back there. If you just need prayer after service, need some healing, things like that. Yeah. Ian and Janine are also in the booth right next to him. You can see him raising their hands.
1:24:36
They are super faithful and would love to pray with you guys. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna have you guys all stand on up. And I'm just gonna send you out with a blessing. Father, I just command a blessing over our tribe here today. Thank you for bringing them here, filling these seats where we could just step into this place, bar, Lord.
1:25:01
It is crazy that you have us meeting here in a place like this in Jackson Hole, and we could be out in the mountains doing crazy things, enjoying your creation, Lord. I just ask that you show these people favor throughout their week, in their work, with their families, and keep them healthy and safe, Lord. It's in your name that we pray. Everyone said, amen. And as you go out, remember, you got this.
1:25:25
Not quite. Not quite. The dramatic pause helped.
