Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] All right. Good morning.
[00:00:06] Good morning. If I have not had the opportunity to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. Can you guys guess which book of the Bible we're going to be teaching on today? Oh, Galatians. Good job.
[00:00:19] So I want to. I want to introduce you to a word that I made up a long time ago. I'm going to be honest. I'm really proud of the word.
[00:00:28] I think I should copyright it. But the word summarizes an experience that most moms know firsthand. And if you have had a good mom or spiritual mom in your life, you have been on the receiving end of this. The word is momstinct. It is not past tense pertaining to her odor. Momstinct.
[00:00:52] I was told that after first service, never thought of that. But that is fair and that it's not that. Okay? This is the motherly superpower of instinct plus intuition. And here's where you especially see this applied. Moms have this inner sense when there is a relationship or a friendship in your life that is not for your good. They're like, eh, I don't know about that one. So growing up, I intuitively knew there were a handful of friends I never brought to my house because I knew my mom would be like, are you sure? And there were some girls was like, you're not coming home?
[00:01:30] Because my mom's gonna be like. And then she's gonna have some really blunt questions. Another time asked me privately the questions that my mom would ask the girls that I brought home. Okay.
[00:01:41] I sat with so many moms, and they have this inner sense, this inner sense, like something is off with their kids. They just know it. They can't put their finger on it, but they know it. Because when you raise somebody and you watch them from the time they're little, you know their patterns and their habits and you know their emotional dis positions, you know, their ups and their downs. And when something is off, moms especially, they're just so tuned in because of their mom stinct that they're like, something is off. And I've just learned, whenever I hear mom say that, I'm just like, I think you need to dig deeper. God has given you this interesting supernatural sense to know things are happening before you actually know what's happening. And so here's what I've learned personally. When the good moms in my life, whether my actual mom or the spiritual moms in my life, when they warn me about someone or something, I have learned to take them very, very seriously. Because mom stinct is a real thing. Now open your Bibles with me. We're gonna be in Galatians 5, but I wanna show you a verse in Galatians 4. So we saw this last week that Paul compared himself in Galatians 4 to a mother giving birth in his relationship with this Galatian church. And here's what he said. He said, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. And so the imagery here is interesting. He's not just putting himself in the role, if you will, of a spiritual parent. He's actually putting himself in the role, sort of like a spiritual mother. Like he realizes the Galatian church they need not just spiritual fathers and mothers. And he's given this very vivid illustration. He's like, listen, I invested so much into you. I am ready. But here's the question that he is asking and he doesn't know the answer.
[00:03:38] When I give birth to you, metaphorically speaking, will you be a real Christian or a fake Christian?
[00:03:47] Did I go through all of this energy and passion and sacrifice just to give birth to a spiritual child who is going to reject the Gospel? Or am I? Or am I giving birth to somebody who's going to be a real Christian? That's like his metaphorical question, the analogy he's asking. And so here's the challenge. The Galatians are Paul's spiritual children. He shared the Gospel with them, he brought them to faith in Christ. And they have allowed a no good group of people called, let's see if you remember the name, the Judaizers, also nicknamed, called the Circumcision Party. Nobody wants to say that on Mother's Day, but I'll say it for you. Fine. He has allowed these no good Judaizers to build a wedge between not just them and God, but them and their spiritual parent, the Apostle Paul.
[00:04:31] Let me summarize it this way. The Galatians have failed to accurately discern the dark spirit that is behind the Judaizers and the Holy Spirit that is behind the Apostle Paul. And this utter failure in discernment will lead to their destruction without the intervention of a true spiritual parent and moms and dads. You know this. If you saw your child in danger, what are you going to do? You're going to intervene? Welcome to the book of Galatians. This entire letter is written from a spiritual parent intervening with a group of spiritual children that the Apostle Paul loves. And he knows that they are in actual Spiritual danger. If Paul had a mom stink. It has been activated. All right, so for the next three weeks, we're going to be spending our time on the last half of Galatians chapter 5. And here's what going to do. We're going to be focusing on how to discern, how to discern the spirit behind the people and the ideas that are influencing you.
[00:05:41] And maybe you're going to get a little bit of insight into the spirit behind the people and the ideas not just that are influencing you, but in you yourself and how you're influencing other people. All right, so I want to start and I'm going to read from Galatians chapter five. It's a short section. If you've been around church, you have heard this, but here's what it is. Verse 19.
[00:06:02] The works of the flesh, they're evident.
[00:06:06] Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions. God bless you, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. The works of the flesh. Verse 21. He goes on, he says, I warn you, as I warned you before, like a good spiritual parent, just always warning, right? Watch out that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness, Faithfulness, gentleness, self control. All right, so most of you are familiar with this text, but most people do not know why Paul gave this list of the fruit or works of the flesh to the Galatians and why he gave this fruit or works of the Spirit to the Galatians. And so here's what's happening in these verses.
[00:07:20] Paul is trying to help the Galatian churches apply a life changing principle that if you get this principle, it will open your eyes to the spirit behind the people and the ideas that are influencing you. This principle, I'm not telling it to you yet. I'm just gonna keep you waiting with bated breath. It comes from you. Better believe it. Jesus himself in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 15. I'll put on the screen. And here's what Jesus says.
[00:07:51] Beware of false prophets. Could we agree that the Judaizers fit into this role with their false gospel? Good.
[00:07:58] Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves. And this is the key right here.
[00:08:05] You will recognize them by what their fruits.
[00:08:10] And then he says, are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles. And I just love this. So, like, per last week's sermon, if you weren't here, you'll figure it out. But I'm just gonna incarnate a little bit of a Southern accent one more time, okay?
[00:08:25] If you keep pricking your finger on a thorn, then it ain't a fig, dummy. Right?
[00:08:30] Like, this is his point. Like, listen, at some point when every interaction leaves you bleeding, stop calling it a fig tree. Maybe you're calling it the wrong thing because a fig tree doesn't have thorns. But he goes down to verse 17, and this might be the most logical statement ever.
[00:08:48] So every healthy tree bears good fruit. Duh. But the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Verse 20. The secret to discern any body or any idea says this. Thus you will recognize them by their what?
[00:09:13] Their fruits. So in Galatians 5, Paul is trying to teach them that everybody and every idea has fruit.
[00:09:23] And he's saying to them, stop for a moment.
[00:09:26] You don't know who to pick.
[00:09:28] Do we follow the Judaizers or do we follow Paul because we can't follow Both, because they're teaching different things and they have different gospels. They're essentially different faiths, and they're trying to figure it out. And he's like, let me give you a framework. Let me give you a rubric.
[00:09:43] Ask yourselves, as you look at them, what fruit do you see? Now, let me make this even more practical for you. Let me summarize the secret in a way that I think can help us apply it. Spiritual fruit is not discerned by good intentions or smooth words, but by behavior, beliefs.
[00:10:03] Outcomes do not zone out. Look at that.
[00:10:07] Spiritual fruit is not determined by good intentions or by smooth words. I hope you talk well, but that is not the standard by which you listen to a sermon or someone talk or an idea or a person. They talk well, so they must be a good person with good motivations. That's not how it works. We look at their behavior, we look at their beliefs, and we look at their outcomes.
[00:10:30] Spiritual discernment is not primarily concerned with how well someone speaks. Here's the question they're asking.
[00:10:37] What fruit are they producing?
[00:10:41] What are their behaviors, their beliefs, and their outcomes? Now, I want to revisit again with you a framework, a rubric. I have shared this multiple times at Village Church, and I will probably continue to teach on this because personally, this is a framework that has opened my eyes to see people and ideas and to be able to quickly discern the Spirit that is motivating the people and the ideas that are influencing me. I hope it is helpful to you, and I'm just going to keep talking about this, but there are only one of three spirits influencing each person and each idea.
[00:11:22] And just like Jesus said that different trees bear different kinds of fruit, different spirits also bear unique kinds of fruit. So the first kind of fruit comes from the Holy Spirit. And if we could summarize the fruit of the Holy Spirit in one word, the word would be life. This comes from John 10:10. Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And so you can begin to discern the Holy Spirit when somebody is coming alive spiritually or they are flourishing, because this is what the work of the Holy Spirit does. It moves you in the direction of life. And here's how Paul says it. In Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22 and 23, he says, the fruit of the Spirit, what does life look like? How do I know if this is something from the Holy Spirit? Because it's gonna produce a certain kind of fruit. And. And here's what it looks like. Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control. And this is what's awesome about this rubric. When you see these behaviors and these outcomes, you can step back and say, I think the Holy Spirit is at work, because these are the kind of fruit that the Holy Spirit produces. The second kind of fruit in the Bible comes from our flesh.
[00:12:46] And this kind of fruit, it does not originate with God, but it also does not originate with Satan. Do you know where it originates? Our own wicked little hearts. And this is called the fruit of the flesh. And if we could summarize it in one word, it would be the word self. And here's how Paul describes this fleshly fruit in Galatians 5. He says, now the works of the flesh, they're evident. They're so obvious. Like, if you just open your eyes and start looking, you'll be like, that's definitely not from God. That's definitely from a different spirit. So here we go.
[00:13:19] Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
[00:13:37] So here's the interesting thing about this. When the flesh is in control, these are the behaviors and the outcomes.
[00:13:45] Some of you are like, wow, a Lot of those describe my life right now. And it's probably because the dominant spirit controlling your life is your own flesh. Now, I want you to notice something really, I think, interesting about the fruit of the flesh.
[00:13:59] It is largely obsessed with two things.
[00:14:02] One, indulging itself and two, protecting itself.
[00:14:08] And so the flesh, by nature is self obsessed, indulgent and defensive.
[00:14:15] And the flesh, you know this because you have it. The flesh has a voracious appetite. It wants what it wants, when it wants it, how it wants it, and when it doesn't get what it wants, then bad things come out of us. Now, here's the deal with all of these things.
[00:14:32] You don't need a demon to trick you into doing any of these.
[00:14:36] Like, if you believe there won't be enough consequence, the flesh moves towards these things. And maybe not right away, but as you become desensitized, then the flesh gets more and more, we'll just say bold. This is kind of the nature. But you don't have to be tricked into these things because by nature, the flesh wants to indulge itself and then also to protect itself.
[00:14:57] The third kind of fruit comes from demonic spirits. And if we could summarize in one word how we know there might be demonic influence. The fruit of the demonic is destruction. In John 10:10, Jesus says, the thief comes. Only that is a big word, by the way. Like, there's no goodness. There's no moment. Like if you had a conversation with the devil where, like, he's like, nah, I got good intentions just for a moment. Nope. He only comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. And so Christians, whenever you see destruction at work, not just indulgence and defensiveness, but actual destruction, we have to kind of stop and recognize in that moment.
[00:15:37] This has moved beyond definitely not the Holy Spirit, but it's moved beyond the flash. And it's very likely that there's gonna be a dark demonic influence here.
[00:15:46] And so, like, we have taught on this extensively, and there's a whole series we did called Traps, and we have a whole series on how to discern demonic influence. And so if you ever want to go deeper into this issue, I think we got like seven or eight messages, and I'd love to send that to you. But for now, these are the three spirits generally at work behind each person or each idea. Okay, so why is Paul giving them the list of the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit? And the reason is simple.
[00:16:17] Paul knows the Judaizers personally. They were all once Pharisees. And by the way, what was Paul before he became a Christian? A Pharisee? Yeah. Like, he knows these guys. He knows what they're made of. And so, like, he's confident because he knows the guys also the kind of behavior that they entertain. And so what he's doing is he's saying, listen, Galatians, I just need to step back for a moment. You have a rubric.
[00:16:39] You know them by their fruit. So let's look at the fruit.
[00:16:43] Are the Judaizers fleshly, or are they spirit led?
[00:16:50] And here's what Paul knows. Paul knows he spent a lot of time with them. And they're gonna. They're gonna say, well, every time we are around Paul, like, the fruit of the spirit really describes him.
[00:16:59] And I'm gonna be honest. Like, when we're around the Judaizers, I mean, the behaviors and the beliefs and the outcomes, like, they're really like this. Actually, the fruit of the flesh describes them pretty well. And the reason Paul is giving them this rubric, this framework, is so that they can stop being confused about who is from God and who is not.
[00:17:22] Now, I think the Galatians are a really, really, really great example that we can use. And we could just, like, for those of you who are not naturally good at discerning, we can use them and what we know about them in the Book of Galatians to kind of build our discernment. But first, let's come back to this principle and make sure we have it clear. Spiritual fruit is not discerned by good intentions or smooth words. Stop being duped by smooth talkers.
[00:17:45] Start looking at their behaviors and their beliefs and their outcomes.
[00:17:51] So first, let's talk about the Judaizers behavior. If you're new to Galatians with us, I'm gonna give you just, like, a quick update here. And just. We've already taught through this, but here's what you need to know, and here's what Paul has already identified in this book.
[00:18:06] He knows the Judaizers will stoop to sinful levels in order to get what they want.
[00:18:13] Here's what they've already been willing to do.
[00:18:16] They've already been willing to lie about the Apostle Paul.
[00:18:19] They have already been willing to slander the Apostle Paul.
[00:18:23] They have actually misrepresented. We get little pieces of this in the Book of Galatians. They've misrepresented Paul's doctrine and theology on purpose.
[00:18:33] They have also misrepresented their relationship with the apostles.
[00:18:38] These Judaizers have somehow come into this community.
[00:18:41] They've Secretly entered in. And then they have claimed that they represent the gospel and the doctrine of the apostles. And by the way, would the apostles ever teach that salvation is by faith in Jesus? Plus you have to be circumcised, plus you have to do all the good works of obeying the law. The apostles would never say that. And so they're misrepresenting the apostles. They're putting words into Paul's mouth. They're lying about him and slandering him. And so like Paul's like, listen, I already know what they're doing. You already know what they're doing.
[00:19:10] All you have to do is step back, use your discernment, look at the fruit, look at the behaviors. And what do we know about all of these behaviors? They're rooted in the flesh.
[00:19:23] And he's like, listen, do you see the difference? It's actually not hard.
[00:19:28] Anybody can trick you or dupe you with smooth words, but I'm done with smooth words.
[00:19:33] I want to look at your behavior, your beliefs and the outcomes. And this is what Jesus teaches us to do. Second, let's talk about the judaizers beliefs. Paul has already identified in chapter four that their gospel comes from. Quote the elementary principles. The elementary principles are the demons that oversee the world. And here's what the Apostle Paul is communicating their beliefs. Their false gospel is not from God. It's actually demonic in origin.
[00:20:05] And so here's what you got.
[00:20:07] You've got behaviors that are the fruit of the flesh and you've got beliefs that are the fruit of the demonic. And then we get to the Apostle Paul and he's like, listen, I'm not perfect, but like, generally speaking, my behavior has been fruit of the spirit. And you already know this, that the gospel I'm giving to you is from the spirit of Jesus Christ himself. It's in line with the apostles. You already all know this.
[00:20:33] Why are you confused?
[00:20:35] And this little rubric should make them just stop and go out with you Judaizers. Because we've already seen everything we need to know. But because behind every person and every idea is a spirit. And the spirit's now beginning more clear. Finally, let's talk about the judaizers outcomes.
[00:20:52] Here's what's interesting. The Galatians did not yet know at the time of this writing what the outcome of the judaizers beliefs and behaviors was going to be. But let's be stray for a moment. Do you need to wait and see the outcome of somebody whose gospel originates in hell and whose behavior is consumed with the flesh and indulgence in protecting itself. I don't need to wait and see the outcomes because I already know the spirit behind the behavior and the spirit behind the belief.
[00:21:24] And again, I imagine just Paul and his mom's stink kicking in, like son, daughter, you know?
[00:21:33] So stop trying to protect everybody and just let's call a fig tree for what it is and a thorn for what it is. Let's call it a grapevine, not tree, because grapes don't come from trees. I had to think about that for a moment. Let's call it grapevine what it is, and let's call a thistle what it is.
[00:21:50] And I think sometimes we need to be empowered to use the biblical framework to call a person or an idea for what it is.
[00:22:00] That friend is really bad for me.
[00:22:03] That social media post is not good for me.
[00:22:07] That influencer does not love me.
[00:22:10] This is gonna shock you guys. You know that news.
[00:22:14] I don't care if you get it on YouTube or actual like, station, whatever. Do you know that they don't love you at all in any way? You are a number, a platform, and an opportunity to be monetized.
[00:22:27] You might even agree with them, and that's great. But don't forget for a moment that they don't love you.
[00:22:34] And so the Galatians have everything they need to rightly discern who was sent by God and who was sent by the Spirit, who, what they believe, if it originated in heaven or in hell.
[00:22:47] And this little rubric gives them everything they need. And the hope for Paul is, I pray all the energy I put into you as your spiritual parent that you come out of this believing in the true gospel and not this Judaizers, fake gospel, because that gospel originates in hell. And all things that originate in hell will end in your destruction. And this is not what he wants for this Galatian set of churches that he dearly loves. I want to share with you two. So what's.
[00:23:15] Here's the first Discern the spirit by honestly examining the fruit it produces in you.
[00:23:25] A simple question. I found it to be really helpful.
[00:23:28] Goes like this. What fruit does the person or idea produce in me?
[00:23:36] And so for the Galatians, they should be able to sit back and say, well, the fruit has been a lot of heartache, a lot of trouble, a lot of confusion and a lot of anxiety. When they got here, everything got a little crazy.
[00:23:49] But when it was just us and Paul, it was peaceful. It was right, like, pay attention.
[00:23:57] Now. I want you to consider the people and the ideas in your life what does this friend produce in you?
[00:24:06] What does this philosophy or this idea produce in you?
[00:24:11] What about a social media page or a platform?
[00:24:15] What does this political conviction produce in you?
[00:24:19] What does this news source produce in you?
[00:24:23] I challenge you to be honest about the fruit. Not just that you see in the thing, but the fruit it produces in you.
[00:24:32] Is this person or idea producing or amplifying Anxiety in me, division around me, bitterness in me, my pre existing mental health, struggles.
[00:24:49] Wedges between me and logic, truth and healthy relationships with truly spirit led people.
[00:24:58] Let's come back to this momstinct for a moment.
[00:25:02] A mom may not know every detail of what's going on when her mom's stink is activated, but she knows when something is off and she knows when there is something. And it could be a relationship, it could be some like movement that you've begun to be a part of and it's bearing fruit that isn't consistent with the Holy Spirit. They know this and they see this. There's less peace, there's more secrecy, there's more anger, irritability, more distance, more compromise.
[00:25:34] And the fruit, all that happening is letting her know that there's a spirit that isn't from God, that's influencing. And it might just be your flesh. It might be a really bad influence who's just kind of activating and encouraging you to live according to your flesh.
[00:25:52] Now here's the challenge.
[00:25:55] When we are too entrenched in an idea or a person or a movement that is destroying us, our flesh will do everything within its power to protect ourselves and that thing. Which brings us to SOA number two.
[00:26:14] Humble yourself.
[00:26:16] Because each one of us are more easily duped than we realize. Some of you are like, you don't know me. I'm undupable. Okay, fine, got it.
[00:26:26] I'll say it, you can reject it. And then I pray inevitably you agree with this.
[00:26:31] We have all been duped, just in different ways and to different degrees.
[00:26:36] You and I are not above this.
[00:26:39] There are powerful forces in this world with a lot of money behind them whose aim is to trick you.
[00:26:47] I'd love to share with you the single force that has duped and manipulated me more than any other thing on this planet. And I will name it bluntly and directly, it is my own flesh.
[00:27:04] I am astounded at the things I have allowed myself to justify in the moment, to indulge myself or to protect myself. The very nature of the flesh. So I want to read to you a passage, a verse of scripture. You know it, but I want you to come back to this.
[00:27:21] Jeremiah 17:9.
[00:27:23] The heart is deceitful. And this is huge language, by the way, above all things.
[00:27:32] And the heart, it's desperately sick. Not my heart. Okay? The fact that you even thought that means it is okay.
[00:27:41] Who can understand it? And if you've been around church for a while, you know the question I'm gonna ask?
[00:27:46] Whose heart is being deceived or who is the heart deceiving? Our own? Ourselves.
[00:27:55] This is the nature of it.
[00:27:56] Our hearts like one of the best defense attorneys on the planet, always defending itself and its desires.
[00:28:05] And it will do whatever it can to dupe our mind so that it gets what it wants. Now, most people are unaware of the next verse, Jeremiah 17:10. And here is what it says.
[00:28:18] The Lord, if I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
[00:28:31] So God searches the heart to see what's in it. God tests the mind, but God repays us according to the fruit of our lives.
[00:28:41] I won't speak for you, but I think I'll speak for most of you. Okay?
[00:28:44] I want you, and I know you want most of you, you want God to look at your life and to see good spirit led fruit. Amen.
[00:28:56] I want him, and I don't think this is selfish because the Bible says, like, this is okay. I want him to reward me for good spiritual fruit and I want him to reward you for good spiritual fruit. I don't want to be rewarded for fleshly fruit and I don't want to be rewarded for demonic fruit. Can I get another amen?
[00:29:15] God is just and he will reward those who are faithful. Scriptures are clear. And so when he looks at my life and your life, I want him to see spirit led fruit. But that means that our hearts need to be trending in a healthy way toward the Holy Spirit.
[00:29:36] Okay?
[00:29:37] I have taught, as I've said extensively, on the demonic realm. But I want to be clear. The primary day to day battle you and I fight is not going to be against the demon. It is going to be against our own deceitful flesh, our own deceitful heart.
[00:29:53] And by the way, this is why we need moms and why we need dads and why we need spiritual moms and why we need spiritual dads and why we need pastors and deacons and elders.
[00:30:07] Because our hearts dupe us all the time. And we need someone with the courage and the relational confidence to look at us and say, stop it, stop. You all need to be. Stop being so dumb, say with a southern accent, we'll receive anything.
[00:30:25] We need people in our lives to help us stop being duped by our own deceitful.
[00:30:34] We need to immerse ourselves daily in our family, in places, church, Bible study, small groups around people and in ideas that bear Holy Spirit fruit in us.
[00:30:52] You're probably becoming aware of some people, places, and ideas that are not actually bearing Holy Spirit and fruit. And they're actually. What they're doing is they're bearing flesh fruit, maybe even dark, demonic fruit. I don't know. You can figure that out.
[00:31:06] And here's the deal. Your flesh is so strong, and my flesh is so strong, and it is on a constant battle to dupe and trick me to feed itself, that we need to be immersing ourselves around the places and the people and the ideas that are gonna create the very thing that God wants to reward, which is spiritual fruit.
[00:31:29] Now, I would be remiss if I did not say this.
[00:31:33] If you are here and you're thinking to yourself, I want to bear spiritual fruit. I want God to look at my heart and my mind, and I want those things to produce spirit fruit. This is what I desire.
[00:31:48] Spiritual fruit comes from who?
[00:31:52] The Holy Spirit.
[00:31:54] And the only way a person can receive the Holy Spirit, one singular way, it is through believing in Jesus Christ.
[00:32:05] That is it.
[00:32:07] And so if you're here and you're like, listen, I believe that Jesus is God. I believe he died for my sins. I believe he rose from the dead. But you've never come to him and said, will you save me and forgive me? Like, if you're sincere, God doesn't want to just save you. He doesn't want to just forgive you. He wants to give you his Holy Spirit and begin not behavior modification, but actual heart and mind transformation that works itself from the inside out.
[00:32:35] He wants to begin working in you a heart that produces not behavior modification, but actual spirit fruit. And so God wants to give you the very spirit that will create the very fruit that he wants to bless you for. Amen, village church. Amen, moms. I just want to say, you know what? I didn't preach on the wrath of God.
[00:32:59] I did not preach on the vengeance of God. That actually always comes up on Mother's Day. So I just want to say, you're welcome to all the moms what came up in the text like it does every year, because we teach books of the Bible. It always comes up in this crazy place. We're talking about hell and destruction and so praise God, this was the text we got today. I want to take a moment, I want to pray for us. Father, I want to just say again, thank you for this book. Thank you for the Galatian church that we have this opportunity to look into.
[00:33:28] Honestly, a really weak moment for them, a sad moment where they allowed a false gospel to build a wedge between them and you and them and Paul, their spiritual parent.
[00:33:38] Thank you that God, as we get to eavesdrop on these literally 2000 year old letters, Lord, it's not pretty all the time and they're dealing with really hard things. But Lord, to be able to see a spiritual parent have the hard conversations, to have a protective heart, to say the things that need to be said, to call out the spirits that are motivating things, Lord, because it doesn't do us or those we love any good to lie about the origins of different spirits, Lord. We want to kind of just have eyes wide open. So I pray God that you would begin to open up our eyes to see the people, ideas and places that are dragging us to the fruit of the flesh. But Lord, I also pray you would show us the places that really want to birth and grow spiritual fruit in us that brings you glory. Lord, every time your Holy Spirit moves all of the fruit that it bears, it brings life. And I know I speak for all of us here when I say we want to be alive. We want to be alive spiritually, we want to be alive physically, we want to be alive emotionally and psychologically. We want to experience life, Lord. We know the fullness of that is not till the new earth. But Lord, between this day and that, I pray you would create more and more life in us, in our families, in our church. We love you and it is our joy and privilege to worship you now in Jesus name.
