May 7, 2017 – Fruit vs Flesh – Part 3 – Sowing

: Last week: Fruit of Spirit

Galatians 6:7-8

NKJ 

“

NLT 

Before I conclude our time this morning, I promised to look at three specific areas (or at least briefly mention); works of the flesh, that I felt compelled to at least mention.

James 1:19-20, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

20

Human anger

1

does not produce the righteousness

2

God desires.” (NLT)

{or-gay’}

1) anger, the natural disposition, temper, character 2) movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion, but esp. anger 3) anger, wrath, indignation 4) anger exhibited in punishment, hence used for punishment itself 4a) of punishments inflicted by magistrates

: I do not have time to delve into all there is to consider when it comes to anger!

Anger is the

.  When you sense a threat your mind generates fear and anger.  The fear you generate is part of a flight response from your physiology.

.  What can be confusing is that your mind creates fear and anger even when the threat is just imagined.

Numbers 5:14 addresses a/the ‘Spirit of Jealousy’

 =resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success oradvantage, etc., or against another’s success or aavantage itself.

It’s a common misconception that 

 is a sign of love.

According to Psychology today: Research has linked several traits to greater jealousy?

: The 3

rd

emotion / position that I want to mention quickly is that of pride.

Not all pride is a bad thing.

As a positive emotion, pride typically manifests as an expression of lasting satisfaction. The kinds of thoughts and behavioral patterns that accompany this feeling include happiness, elation, and joy, and we express and communicate this feeling with intense facial expressions — smiling, blushing —  expanded postures  — head tilted, back arched — and wide, extended gestures 

… and yes, and the waving of large, colourful flags.

This sort of pride is

— it can give us a boost towards fulfilling our aspirations and help us minimize focus on difficulties.

When I was looking for a

, I ended up blending 

 and 

 (calling these 

) and mixed them with a thing called 

Then there’s the other side of pride: the negative, 

 pride.

This is where the motivational force for perseverance becomes an emotional blocker of stubbornness.

On the Dark Side of Pride, the emotions look nothing like happiness, and the facial expressions include few smiles. Here, the lips may purse, the teeth may snarl, the eyebrows may furrow. This pride starts angry and defiant… and 

 that way.  This pride is 

Here on the Dark Side we feel a whole lot of 

 and 

.  The fear typically manifests as an extreme desire for 

 or 

… which leads to 

, which leads to 

.

As for the 

, the close cousin of 

, this is 

. Kierkegaard called it 

So God help us address these matters, by two things: (1)The Presence of God and the Natural Fruit of the Spirit that comes in connection to Him and; (2) Sowing Into our Spiritual man as our opening texts directs!

What does or is Galatians 6:7-8 talking about?

The Apostle Paul starts off by saying “do not be deceived”. In other words, do not be

,

for our life is a open book before God.

Sowing to the spirit or to the flesh? Everyone of us is sowing to one or the other and everyone of us will reap the harvest of what we have planted in our lives.

What we do today will determine who we become tomorrow.

In speaking of tomorrow, it does not mean the next day on the calendar, it means after a while, over a period of time.

Every choice that we make each day is building on our future.

The fruit which I reap will be consistent with the seed I have sown.

In Ephesians there are four major steps one has to take to pursue God that you might finish the race in strength.

How to sow to the Spirit:

If we are to sow to the spirit the types of things we pursue are methods and means that will develop and promote:

: What are we feeding? Carnal, wordly matters or (eat, plant, spend time with)

: What are our most common / preferred restaurants?

: Who, what and where do you spend the majority of your time because that is what you are sowing into!

: I look at my online spending and then discover….did I really go to Patricia’s that many times?

: Let me finish by trying this. I have  spoken the last two weeks about two different sides of a coin. Works of the Flesh and the Fruit of the spirit.

Let’s imagine this coin is a magnet too. A magnet that has two opposing magnets vying for its allegiance.

What direction is your coin going?

Is it connecting and being drawn more often to the flesh or to the Spirit.

The Magnet of your spiritual man has to be a larger and more consistent draw if we are to rise above and be lead and fruitful by God’s Holy Spirit.