19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This Sunday we will emphasize:  Sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger and rivalries.  We must not walk in these ways!  We must allow the opposing power of the Holy Spirit to help us put to death these works and live in the fruit of faith!

I had been saved for about a year when I witnessed one of the craziest things I have ever seen in sports.  On June 28, 1997, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield fought a rematch for the heavyweight championship.  In round 3, we can see a fantastic example of a human being walking in the flesh, as Tyson purposely bit plugs out of both of Evander Holyfield’s ears on two separate occasions resulting in the fight being stopped and Evander Holyfield maintaining his title.

Unfortunately, the controversy did not end there.  After the referee ended the fight and disqualified Tyson, he continued to taunt and lunge at Holyfield, even after dozens of people flooded the ring to gain control of the situation.  Tyson, enraged over Holyfield’s alleged illegal head butting, retaliated by biting both of Holyfield’s ears.  Tyson continued to push and shove all the way into his dressing room and then over the next several weeks, became visibly enraged as he was questioned by sports reporters as to why he acted in such a barbaric manner.

Several of the works of the flesh were clearly evident in Tyson’s life.  An incredibly gifted athlete that had reached the top of the heavyweight boxing world sustained a long and hard fall due to no fruit of the Spirit in his life.  Eventually, he and Holyfield reconciled, but Tyson’s long story book boxing career would never recover.

Notes for Gal 5, 16-26 Works of the Flesh, Part 3 Final

The women’s ministry of Woodland Baptist Church wants to invite you to a retreat on Saturday, November 10th, at the old Pirate’s Cove off Hwy 69.  If you would like to attend, you will need to sign up by Sunday, October 7th and pay a deposit of $10.00 to Wanda Brackin.  The deposit is to reserve your Bible study guide, lunch and other ministry related items you will receive.

The church will provide a van ride to the lodge that will leave at 8:15am that morning to travel to the site or you can come in your own vehicle or carpool.  Registration is at 9:00am and worship and Bible study begin at 9:30am.  Wanda Brackin will be the lead teacher and Anita Lester will lead worship.

This will be a great opportunity for Bible study, worship, fellowship, and having some fun.  Please come and invite a guest!

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³ and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. ⁴ Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. ⁶ But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷ Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. ⁸ Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

⁹ One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

¹² While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. ¹³ “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. ¹⁵ But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” ¹⁶ So he drove them off. ¹⁷ Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.

Notes – September 18, 2012 – Acts 18, 1-17

This Sunday we will go a little more in depth in trying to understand Paul’s terminology in verses 19 and 20:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

It is so critical that we understand as thoroughly as possible what these words mean so that we can allow the opposition provided by the Holy Spirit against these works to be victorious in our lives.  I realize that some of these words and their definitions are not ones we like to dwell on, however, we must be confronted with them occasionally and be prepared to respond to the Spirit’s movement in our spirit when they attack.

James 4:4-5 – ⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

Larry Flynt

Adolf Hitler

Notes for Gal 5, 16-26 Works of the Flesh, Part 2 Final

**These men are being used as examples of men who, at the time these photos were taken, were completely consumed in the works of the flesh**

Larry Flynt is a prolific pornographer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Flynt) and Adolf Hitler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler) led the Nazi regime during WWII and hated and tried to exterminate the Jewish people.

Again, our goal is to show extreme real life examples of men who were consumed in works of the flesh so that we as believers may be certain to be able to identify them and along with the Spirit’s help, put them to death in our own lives.