Today's teaching is going to be part one of a new series that I'm titling How to Overcome Carnality.

I've really been looking forward to teaching this portion of scripture for quite some time now,

and this for a number of reasons, not the least of which, is that we have here at the end of Chapter 5

that famous passage about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Another reason I'm really looking forward to this is that contains powerful and practical

application as it relates to walking in victory in our Christian lives.

I suppose it would be good to start with a definition of carnality, and I think the best way to do that is to see it as being synonymous with the flesh.

In fact, the best illustration and unless you have a better one, this is the one I'm going to

use.

But you know, every time you go to the grocery store and buy a can of chili con cair. You know what that is, right? It's chili with meat.

Dare I say it's chili with flesh? Yeah. So bon appetit.

In other words, that's where we get the word carnal.

It means fleshly.

And so what the apostle Paul is doing here and addressing here is the carnality that has taken up residence there in these churches in the region known at that time as Galatia,

modern day Turkey. We know it today. To be a carnal Christian is to live according to and fulfilling of

the lusts of the flesh.

And as we're about to see, Paul, true to form,

is going to hit this problem of carnality head on.

And in so doing, he's going to provide us with practical ways

that we as Christians can live according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.

This is one of those places in God's Word, and this is another reason why I'm really looking forward to this passage.

It's one of those places where we're not just told what we're to do,

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