Vibe Check 1 | Spirit or Flesh

Have you ever felt a certain feeling around someone or something that almost revealed truth to you? We want to talk about VIBES. Maybe you felt like going to a different grocery store one day because you had a weird feeling, and come to find out there was a traffic jam en route to your usual store. Sometimes we get these feelings we don’t understand. However we would like to teach you something about these feelings, and where they come from. Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Tx, My name is Chris Fluitt and I am blessed to serve as lead pastor and bring you the word today. New Series – Vibe Check What is a Vibe? Vibraphone? Our culture values “vibes.” Good vibes only Sending positive vibes Vibe Check   Vibe – A person’s emotional state, felt by others; The tangible atmosphere created by the disposition of our being. Also.. A practical revelation of a spiritual reality.   Vibe Check Our world values vibes, but so does God. Prov 27:19 (NIV) As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. Your outward life is a reflection of your inward heart. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (NIV) 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Paul writes about the aroma -Uses the same word for the fragrance that was present when the woman worshipped Jesus with the perfume from an alabaster jar. -Christ IN YOU should produce a tangible pleasant OUTWARD aroma. Vibe – the cologne or perfume of your life What is your vibe? What is producing your vibe? Our culture focuses on what the can see, touch, feel, and experience. There is value in this. But let us take a step beyond the vibe what we experience and search for what is producing the vibe. Flesh Vibes or Spirit Vibes Galatians 5 talks about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Flesh and Spirit produce their own vibes. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. The best vibes are produced by the Spirit. –          Tangible, possible to experience, real, factual fruit.   Psalm 34:8 (NIV) Taste and see that the LORD is good Are you experiencing the fruit of the Spirit? –          Recognize the difference between Spirit and flesh. Call out your vibe. Focus on what is producing in you. –          Focus on what’s growing in you more than what is happening around you Do not allow the external happenings to produce your vibe. Allow God’s Spirit to produce your vibe and watch your external situations change. Not enough love, joy, peace around you?  Produce it! –          Focus on the kind of person you can be to the people closest to you as the Spirit produces   Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. What vibes are in you? What vibes are in your home? What vibes are in your friendships? What vibes are in your church or connect group? The best vibes are produced by the Spirit. How do we produce the Vibes of the Spirit? You need God’s Spirit. Repent of sin and what sin produces. Let the Spirit overflow.  Meditate – read – think – pray – worship Read what you want to produce. Think about what you want to produce. Pray to God about what you want to produce. Worship the one who produces.   Flesh Vibes or Spirit Vibes The wrong vibes always come from the flesh. The flesh is that part of your human nature that attempts to satisfy and solve our human issues with SELF without God. Galatians 5 tells us about the fruit of the Spirit, and it also tells us about the acts of the flesh. Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV) 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. The acts of the flesh are obvious. The flesh produces bad vibes. The flesh can seem like a good idea, but no one will like the end result. Romans 8:6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Flesh produces death. Dead marriages Dead dreams Dead hearts Dead minds Dead churches Flesh may have right application but the wrong motivation. Flesh may have right motivation but the wrong application. Ray Kroc was a business man who bought a fast food restaurant called McDonald’s. “I believe in God, family, and McDonald’s. And in the office, that order is reversed.” – Ray Kroc Ray’s application and motivation changed with whatever the flesh desires at the moment.   Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle would council married couples, and when he was not able to get them to agree on anything, accept any wisdom, receive any correction, Cymbala would stop the counseling session and order the couple to go sit in the prayer room. “You can’t council the flesh.”  – Pastor Jim Cymbala He wouldn’t even tell them to go pray, but to at least sit in the atmosphere of prayer… the atmosphere of the Spirit. After they had been in the presence of the Spirit… they were able to be counseled. Flesh may have right application but the wrong motivation. Flesh may have right motivation but the wrong application. BUT Spirit brings life AND peace. Spirit has the right application and the right motivation.   Flesh violates Think back to Galatians 5 where it said the acts of the flesh are obvious… Flesh violates sacred sexuality – Sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery Violates Sacred Worship – idolatry and witchcraft Violates brotherly love – hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy Violates community – drunkenness, orgies, and the like… Spirit protects Spirit violates sacred sexuality Spirit protects sacred Worship Spirit protects brotherly love Spirit protects community Vibe Check What is your vibe? What comes out of you is a reflection of what is within you. Who is producing your vibe?   Romans 8:5 (NIV) Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Cain & Able   Change your Desire. (Produce Spiritual Vibe) You need God’s Spirit. Repent of sin and what sin produces. Let the Spirit overflow.      1 | Page