Flesh or no Flesh?

Garth Heckman

The David Alliance

TDAGiantSlayer@Gmail.com 

 

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not Fight, Struggle battle wrestle (my words… grind, onslaught, clash, combat, rumble or harass) against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

 

V. 12 we wrestle… the term for this was to the death, 

no breaks, no rounds, no timeouts… you either gave up or died in the ring. 

 

**As teenage boys: Fighting to the next song that came on…. Greg “Free Bird”

 

We wrestle not against flesh and blood… 

     but wait.

Flesh - our flesh is at war - but the instigator is the spiritual forces behind it. Paul tells us to sacrifice the flesh… to kill the old man. Rom. 6:6-23 tells us to kill the old man and live by the spirit. 

 

 

Tactic #1 The lust of the flesh - we must kill the old man. 

When I was a kid we had an evangelist say all my flesh wants is sleep, food, to be tickled and sex… I was shocked… that he knew exactly what I wanted ;-) 

 

 

THE FLESH IS SO WEAK THAT IT IS OVERPOWERING! 

 

 

SO WE HAVE LEARNED THAT BEFORE WE GO TO WAR WE MUST HAVE OUR RELATIONSHIPS IN ORDER AND….

 

DEAL WITH THE FLESH

Put away lying Ephesians 4:25. 

Speak the truth with your neighbor Ephesians 4:25. Be angry and send not Ephesians 4:26. 

Give no place to the devil Ephesians 4:27. 

Let him who stole Steal No more Ephesians 4:28

Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth Ephesians 4:29 

Grieve not the Holy Spirit Ephesians 4:30 

Put all bitterness wrath anger clamor, evil, speaking and malice. Be put away from you Ephesians 4:31

 

 

Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law- the flesh. 

 

Stay in tune to the spirit… 

**My wife grew up around men who were manipulative, deceptive, untrustworthy…. She can sniff them out in a heartbeat…. She was around it enough to know. 

WHEN YOU SPEND ENOUGH TIME AROUND THE SPIRIT YOU CAN SMELL THE FLESH… AND QUICKY KILL IT.