Man versus Wild
Part 1- Intro
Pastor Ryan Akers
Me- Have you ever seen the TV show Man vs. Wild? It is a show about surviving extreme conditions with only a knife and survival knowledge. Bear gets tired, exhausted, wants to quit a lot. He would say, "I could go for a steak." Or, "I could go for a cup of tea." He desired something that he really did not need, because he already had what he needed even though it was not appealing to him.
The show got me thinking. Every season of life we go through we think we know exactly what we need to survive. We think we know what will make us happy. By season I mean stage of life. Child, teen, single adult, married, and act II(empty nest and beyond).
When you stop and think about each season of life that you and I have gone through we can come up with some interesting facts.
*Each season presents different needs
*Each season brings new challenges
*Each season brings joys and pains
*Each season brings different desires
*What I desired in one season of life I will not desire in another.
*When I reach a new season I find that my attitude changes towards a season I have already been through.
*I always have stereotypes about the season in front and in back of me. (Young- selfish, everything is handed to them versus Old- closed minded, unwilling to change)
*We tend to be blind while we are in a season, we can not see until it is too late. (season passes)
We end up saying things like, "If only I knew then, what I know now." Or, "If only I had listened to my parents advice." Another one could be, "If only I would have slowed down!"
Although there are vast differences in who we are or who we become or what we think of others in each season there is one constant...Spirit vs. Flesh
Giving into the flesh is why we have regrets or become cold to others that are in different seasons of life. The Spirit wants to guide us to a mature faith that will cause us to be open to all generations.
*We are normally blind or miss out on amazing opportunities to learn from others because we are choosing fleshly desires over spiritual guidance.
*We miss out because of an inability or an unwillingness to be with those of other seasons. We are to prideful to listen to advice of elders and to busy to help a child.
Over the next 4 weeks myself and Pastor Eric are going to breakdown 4 seasons of life. Teen, single, married, and act II. We are going to ask these questions about each season, What do they think they need? Who do we think they are? (stereotypes), Who are they really? What do they really need? (From God), How can we help?
The goal is for us to recognize that we are not just a young adult church, or a traditional church or a relevant church. We are a multi generational church.
To be spiritually successful we need to have a compassionate and open minded understanding of the uniqueness of everyone around us in order to produce much fruit through a multi-generational ministry.
We can never understand how a multi-generational church works unless we understand how the Spirit and Flesh work. So lets focus on that today.
Galatians 5:16-26
Let me tell you something you may already know.You and I were born with a sinful nature. God can not force us to love him. We must choose to love him. Every day we must choose either the flesh, which is the world’s path, or the Spirit which is God’s path.
This is God vs. Satan
Galatians gives us some key differences between Spirit and Flesh
Spirit guides us (16), Sin entices us (16).
Spirit desires good (17), Flesh desires evil (17)- Romans 7:14-25 , Spirit frees- Romans 8:1-2
Spirit and flesh are in constant battle (17)
Spirit leads home, Flesh leads to the pig’s pen. (19-21)
"Christ gave the illustration of the Prodigal Son who got down in the pig pen but did not stay there. The only ones that stay in a pig pen are pigs. If a son gets there, he will be very unhappy until he gets out. If you continue to live in sin, you are in a dangerous position. It means you are not a child of God." Vernon McGee
Willfully choosing to live a continuous life of sin from God keeps us from being a child of God. But God is always there to embrace us as the father embraced his prodigal son.
Paul list the works of the flesh and then list the fruit of the spirit.
Another contrast- works of the flesh and fruit of the spirit. The works of the flesh are what you do. The Ten Commandments were given to control the flesh. But now the Christian life is to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
22-23
Spirit- no laws, flesh- 10 commandments
Without Christ we can do nothing. Fruit is what He wants in our lives.
"The fruit is produced by Christ using the Spirit of God in our lives. He wants to live his life through us. You are never asked to live the Christian life. You are asked to let Him live through you. No believer can live the Christian life himself. The old nature cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit." McGee
Romans 7:18
You- How can we do it? How can we let God live in us so the spirit controls us and we can fight against our sinful nature?
We have to overcome a big problem. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices but when the altar gets hot we are quick to get off. For the fruit to be produced in our lives we must yield to Christ.
We must yield to the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Love must be what drives us. The spirit fills us with love which will produce the fruit in our lives.
I Corinthians 14:1, Love means you are doing something for others. You cannot produce love or fruit on your own.
Have you ever tried to be humble? If you try being humble, and accomplish it, you would be arrogant that you became humble and then you would lose your humility.
Only when we yield to the spirit to work in us, overcome the flesh can we produce humility or love or joy, peace etc...
Romans 6:13- completely yield to God. Victory for you and me happens when we surrender to Christ. We must make that decision to yield. It has to be a conscious effort to choose spirit over flesh.
Vs. 25- Key scripture to all of this. Walk as the spirit walks. This will take trial and error living. Just like we learned to walk physically by trial and error so we are to walk in the spirit- it is a lifelong process.
But to learn you must start. Take that first step. Say today, "I am going to walk in the spirit, I am going to start today. I am going to yield my life to God’s leading."
Goes back around to seasons of life. It does not matter which season of life you are in, you can break the mode of stereotypical thinking by saying, "God lead me down your path and help me to lead others towards your kingdom."
Yielding to the spirit will allow us to learn in our season, removes the blinders of pride and arrogance, makes us faithful, available, teachable and causes us to become a multi-generational group of believers who help one another, no matter their age or season of life to produce fruit that will bring glory to our Father.
