Good morning, CHURCH!

(Church joke of the day)

A young man called his mother and excitedly announced that he had just met the woman of his dreams.

“I think I’m going to marry this one and start a family.”

His mother said, “You really like her that much?”

“I think it was love at first sight.”

His mother told him, “Well if you like her that much, why don’t you send her some flowers and invite her to your apartment for a home-cooked meal?”

“That’s a great idea mom.”

The day after the big date, his mother called to see how things had gone.

“Mom, the evening was a complete disaster,” he replied. “It was horrible!”

“There is no way I’m marrying this girl.”

“What happened?” his mother asked. “How could one dinner invitation change everything?”

“Well, she came over.”

“She loved the flowers.”

“But she refused to cook dinner!”

“No way I’m marrying that girl!”

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s go to the book of Colossians 3:16 NLT for this week’s WISDOM VACCINATION.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

Colossians 3:16 NLT

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

We do this together.

This is how the community of believers is supposed to stay strong, stay connected, stay loving and caring for one another.

1. The message of Christ needs to be in you.

2. We are to teach each other and counsel each other when needed.

3. We worship together with thankful hearts.

An isolated believer is like a baby calf being hunted by a pack of lions.

The Colossians were to constantly recognize the reason for their existence by a continual concern for the gospel message and its implications in the congregation.

Let’s get into it.

Those who walk in the Spirit (3)

In this series we have defined what it is to walk in the Spirit.

To walk in the Spirit means that we yield to His control, we follow His lead, and we allow Him to exert His influence over us.

And we asked ourselves:

Do I yield to His control?

Do I follow His lead?

Do I allow for His influence over me?

We have also defined the flesh.

The flesh being —our fallen nature under the power of sin—is in direct conflict with the Spirit.

When the flesh is in charge, the results are obviously not good.

Here are some of the results to allowing the flesh to control you.

Galatians 5:19-21 NLT

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Our foundational scripture:

Galatians 5:16-17 NKJV

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve discovered that if we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in peace.

If we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in joy.

If we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in love.

If we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in patience.

If we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in goodness.

And if we walk in the Spirit, we should be walking in kindness.

Point #1

Those who walk in the Spirit walk in faithfulness.

Those who walk in the Spirit are steadfast in their trust of God and His Word.

Faithfulness is maintaining faith or allegiance, showing a strong sense of duty or conscientiousness.

Conscientiousness meaning the quality of wishing to do one’s work or duty well and thoroughly.

You’re known for being someone whom complete confidence can be placed. (Trustworthy and dependable)

We can look at it in another sense. Think about sports teams.

(Sammy Watkins, Anthony Davis)

Sometimes the best ability is availability.

Proverbs 28:20 NLT

The trustworthy person will get a rich reward, but a person who wants quick riches will get into trouble.

Luke 16:10-12 NLT

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?

Faithfulness is not an accident. It is a byproduct of what we are through and through.

What we do in the small things is a precursor to what we will do in the big things because it’s who we are.

It’s our character.

God, through the writer is using a natural proverb to make a spiritual point.

In the natural it is not used to be an absolute as there are at times exceptions to proverbs.

As you read on in the passage, he makes it clear that we can’t serve both God and mammon or the world’s system of trusting and seeking wealth and influence above God.

Point #2

Those who walk in the Spirit walk in gentleness.

Those who walk in the Spirit live lives that are characterized by humility, grace, and thankfulness to God.

Gentleness is an attitude and behavior that is in contrast with harshness.

When we walk in the flesh we can at times or often be harsh in our dealings with others.

-Especially if we think we can do it or say it better than them.

-If we are frustrated with them and lack patience, we can be harsh.

-If we are the center of our world and they invade our world at a time or in a way we didn’t expect or wouldn’t see ourselves doing.

Proverbs 15:1 NLT

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.

Titus 3:2 NLT

They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.

The epitome of right relationships was being kind towards everyone.

Remember we talked about having a long fuse.

Not being easily angered.

In and of ourselves we can’t accomplish this.

That’s why we need the Spirit’s help.

In Matthew 11:29 Jesus said:

Matthew 11:29 NLT

Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

We take our gentleness from Jesus.

Yes, from the temple tables turning Jesus and Pharisee’s publicly exploiting Jesus.

Jesus showed us that there is a time to turn up, but it wasn’t all the time, and it wasn’t even most of the time.

Point #3

Those who walk in the Spirit walk in self-control.

Those who walk in the Spirit display moderation, constraint, and the ability to say “no” to the flesh.

The Spirit helps us to exercise complete control over our desires and actions.

Proverbs 25:28 NLT

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Just as a city without walls is in constant jeopardy of being ambushed and attacked, a man without self-control is in constant jeopardy of being ambushed and attacked by his own fleshly desires that have not been crucified.

This is a person who consistently does the things they said they didn’t want to do or doesn’t do the things they said they wanted to do.

Proverbs 16:32 NLT

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

When you think about a time where military strength was everything, for God to lead by His Spirit the author of Proverbs 16 to say something like this!

For all those that are online or here in the building, I have one last question for you.

What is Holy Spirit saying to you?