that's what Cleck said.

Galatians 5:16-24- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 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. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

Have you ever been conflicted? We all have. We know something is right, but want to do the opposite. Maybe it’s something small, and you are willing to push aside that little voice in your head telling you not to, or maybe it’s something big, but it’s all the same to God.

Paul writes about this subject in Galatians 5:16-24. He says, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.” There is no compromise between the two: either you follow what the Spirit wants or you do what the flesh wants.

The “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, stifle, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” that Paul mentions often seem very appealing and are frequently easier than resisting them. The rewards however, are very different. By indulging in these acts, you may feel happy or relieved for the time being, but by opposing them, and allowing the Spirit to lead you, you will gain eternal rewards. 

I remember one of the first messages that Pastor Cleck preached. He entered the sanctuary dragging behind him the large wooden cross that now resides in the library. He talked about how, that as Christians, we must always bear our own cross. The problem is that some of the places we go or relationships we enter have very small doors that our crosses will not fit through. We must then decide if we want to leave our cross at the door and go in or stay away and follow our cross. 

I know that we don’t actually carry giant crosses around with us, but the idea is the same. There will be many times in each one of our lives when the Bible will contradict what we want to do. Paul goes on to say that, “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” We should not feel like we have to sacrifice our lives in order to fulfill these fruits, but should be delighted to do so. God sacrificed his Son so that we could spend eternity with Him, and as Paul said, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

 1.   In what ways are you giving in to the wants of the flash?

2.   Which fruit of the Spirit do you need to work on the most?

3.   How do you plan to make this change in you life?

4. Take a minute and journal about this passage.

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Written by Hannah

is that the finish line up there?

Ever watch White Wolves? For those of you that haven't had the privilege, a group of teens and their leader go on a backpacking trip, very much like us, with less canoeing. Their goal is to get to the top of Eagle Rock. They eventually make it to the top and disaster strikes! Their trip turns into a rescue mission. Before that happens they have a little encounter with a bear. Kara doesn’t want to hang the food in a tree and a bear sniffs it out and eats it. If you’ve ever done a wilderness trip, you know how important it is to plan out your food carefully. You don’t want to eat too much or too little so that it lasts for the duration of the trip. A bear eating your food makes all that planning seem to have been done in vain.

[Galatians 2:1-2: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.]

In the last few verses of chapter 1, Paul has explained why he has any power to speak about this whole issue regarding the Gentiles and circumcision and the Law. Now the beginning of chapter 2, he’s telling us what he did about the situation. There are two things that standout to me.

The first thing is the parenthetical comment in verse 2. Paul went to Jerusalem to talk and he sought out the people who were influential and talked to them privately. He didn’t go make a scene and get into a huge public debate. He didn’t protest and post on facebook to get supporters for his cause. No, he went privately to address the issue. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always just go quietly and talk to people who are influential in a situation I have issue with. I think Paul’s honest and humble approach to the situation is something we could all learn from.

The second thing that stands out to me is Paul explaining why he’s doing this in the end of verse 2. He wants to make sure that the effort he has put forth in proclaiming the Gospel to the Gentiles hasn’t been in vain. If he’s got this whole thing wrong, he’s been preaching a false gospel for the past few years and so he wants some clarification.

We all want to have purpose. We want to know that out lives matter. We don’t want to spend years of our lives doing something to find out it was all in vain.

Paul’s life was radically different because of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. He’s been running the race of life proclaiming the Gospel. He runs with purpose. We should do the same. Make sure the things that you are focused on are the things that truly matter. Don’t run in vain.

1. How do you generally handle situations in which you disagree with someone?

2. …in order to make sure I was not _______________ in vain.

3. Are you running in vain or are you running with a purpose?

4. Take a minute and journal your thoughts about this passage:


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Written by Amber