17 October 2021
Two-Minute Features | 24 October 2021 | 10 October 2021

We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 4 (TMF:1725)

Friday, October 22, 2021
Peace to Live By: We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 4 (TMF:1725) - Daniel Litton
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       It is important for us, as believers, to realize that the putting to death the deeds of our bodies is a lifelong process. It’s not only something that happens the first two or three years of our Christian lives, the first two or three years after we are converted. And, I think it is encouraging, in a way, for us when we come to understand this fact. It means that even though we are not where we want to be in our walks with God we nonetheless understand that we will continue to grow as we go along. Now, some Christian folks (and may I say usually the more legalistic ones), grow the first few years of their Christian experience and then reach a certain level of which they halt their growth process. They feel they have achieved where they are supposed to be in order to be pleasing to God. I could personally name people off of the top of my head whom I know who are like this. But, this is not how we are supposed to see our Christian lives. Anyone who thinks like this is still stuck in first or second grade, even though they think they are in high school. They have an incorrect understanding of our spiritual growth, as believers.

We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 3 (TMF:1724)

Thursday, October 21, 2021
Peace to Live By: We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 3 (TMF:1724) - Daniel Litton
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       We will die if we choose to live according to our flesh. That’s what Paul said. What’s he talking about here? We will die physically? Well, it’s possible we will die physically because sometimes following the flesh can lead to choices so unwise that they actually cost us our physical lives. Really, though, what Paul is talking about here is spiritual death. Living in death is not what we want, as Christians. If we are living in death, we are out of God’s rest and lose our peace of mind. We are out of fellowship with God, and the Spirit brings conviction for us. Once the Spirit brings conviction, he have the choice of whether or not we will make correction. And we have to choose to put to death the sinful actions of our bodies. That’s how we live real life. The Spirit will point out to us what we need to work on as we live out our lives. He deals with each of us individually on his time table. And he doesn’t always work with all of us on the same things at the same times. Usually, he works with one person with one thing and someone else on another thing.

We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 2 (TMF:1723)

Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Peace to Live By: We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 2 (TMF:1723) - Daniel Litton
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       Of course, we are aware that in Romans chapter 6 Paul spent quite a lot of time discussing how are to put the death the sinful actions of our bodies, how we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, so that we obey its passions. And today in Romans chapter 8, Paul shows us that we have a choice. When we come into right relationship with God, we don’t automatically only want to do good, but we all understand we still retain that desire to do what is wrong, what is sinful at times. And Paul reminds us again today that we are under obligation because of what Christ has done for us to actually choose to live according to the Spirit versus living according to flesh. That’s a choice we have to make. We will die if we choose to live according to our flesh. That’s what Paul said. What’s he talking about here? We will die physically? Well, it’s possible we will die physically because sometimes following the flesh can lead to choices so unwise that they actually cost us our physical lives.

We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 1 (TMF:1722)

Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Peace to Live By: We Still Deal with Our Wayward Flesh, Part 1 (TMF:1722) - Daniel Litton
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       One way to look at living according to the flesh is to be full of all kinds of thinking habits and patterns that are incorrect, or which are ultimately sinful. I touched on this last week. Paul talked about the mind, how we are to have the mind of the Spirit. Going to Psalm 37, David says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness” (Psalms 37:3, ESV). I think this verse here from David really captures what Paul is telling us here in Romans chapter 8. We are to trust in the Lord first, and then what? We are to do good. Both of these things are what living after the Spirit is all about. Trusting in God allows us to enter God’s rest. But, even though we may be in God’s rest, we still have to deal with our wayward flesh, and not to mention the spiritual forces that try to enhance our wayward flesh. Paul says we are to put these deeds, these fleshly desires, to death so that we can life real life.

We are Debtors Toward Something (TMF:1721)

Monday, October 18, 2021
Peace to Live By: We are Debtors Toward Something (TMF:1721) - Daniel Litton
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       “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:12-13, ESV). What Paul has just told us in is the we are debtors to something. We have something to work towards. Remember? Back in chapter 6, he would say we are either slaves of sin or slaves of God. And if we recall in Romans chapter 7, we learned that we are to abide in Jesus, as Christians. Abiding in Jesus is the only way that we will truly bear fruit for God. If we live following our own fleshly efforts, our own ways (for clarification, that is, following what we think God is saying without the the Holy Spirit’s input), if we follow God that way we cannot bear fruit for God. Oh, we may think we are bearing fruit for him, but we really aren’t. So, the only way we find ourselves in peace and righteousness, then, is living according to the Spirit, by putting to death the deeds of our flesh. That’s how we live a peaceful life, one that is fret-free, one that abides in Jesus.