Wednesday, November 6, 2013

17 Definitive Practices We MUST Crucify

Apostle Paul teaches us in Galatians 5:19-21, a list of 17 practices we must all crucify. (I will be using the New King James Version for each word. It may vary depending on your translation.) 

1. Adultery- {μοιχεία-moicheia}- Loving another person in a sexual and lustful way who you are not committed to in the union of marriage. Crucify it!

2. Fornication- {πορνεία-porneia}-Perverted sexual practices such as lesbianism, homosexuality, intercourse with animals, sex with close relatives, sexual relations with a divorced man or woman, adultery. It has the root word where we get our word 'pornography' from today. Yes, all forms of porn. Crucify it!

3. Uncleanness-{ἀκαθαρσία-akatharsia}-This refers to the moral ways we conduct our life such as the impurity of lustful luxurious, shameless living, extravagant, in partnership with wrong motives. In a nutshell, if you spend your income to impress others buying expensive merchandise, highlight your luxurious life, or spend your finances to be in competition with your peers-Apostle Paul says, STOP IT! Crucify it!

4. Lewdness/Lasciviousness-{ἀσέλγεια-aselgeia}-unbridled lust, shamelessness, excess. Living with no boundaries and with no shame or guilt concerning everything you do. Its a term used to describe a person who in our generation would show his middle finger to all correction or advise. Crucify it!

5. Idolatry-{εἰδωλολατρία-eidōlolatria}- the worship of false gods. Whatever represents the form of an object, either real or imaginary. Also, tied together to this term is the worship of Mammon. To clarify, it was used to describe people who had multiple streams of resources coming into their income and they would use that acquired wealth to fund campaigns against any holy commandment or statue. Crucify it! Does this remind you of our generation?

6. Sorcery/Witchcraft-{φαρμακεία-pharmakeia}- the use or the administering of drugs, magical arts, horoscope readings. As you see its root word is the word where we get 'Pharmacy". Its the mixing of drugs for the purpose of controlling someone's mind, body, and emotions. Mostly, it refers to drug intake and having like a spell cast on you with a chained addiction. Crucify it!

7. Hatred-{ἔχθρα-echthra}- The feeling of enmity, ill-will, bad blood, unfriendliness. Its the picture example of venom. For example, if you had the opportunity to shoot venom directly into whoever you hate you would do it immediately. Crucify it!

8.Contentions/Variances-{ἔρις-eris}- strife, bickering, controversy, wrangling(wrestling), vigorous or bitter conflict of words. Do you enjoy bringing up controversy? Do you 'wrestle' with people on division of words? Do you accuse your loved one of 'saying' this or that? If you had the chance to literary wrestle someone to the ground this is the term implied here. Crucify it!

9. Jealousies/Emulations-{ζῆλος-zēlos}- punitive zeal, an envious and contentious or bitter rivalry. Desiring and putting measurable steps to become better than another person for the sole purpose of degrading them to highlight yourself. Crucify it!

10. Outburst of Wrath-{θυμός-thymos}- angry passion, anger boiling up and soon subsiding again. Think of a tea kettle. As it heats up it screams out loud once the water is boiling and the steam profusely rising and as soon as you take off the heat it calms down again. The only problem is that it does the same thing over and over and over and over again. Crucify it! 

11. Selfish Ambitions/Strife-{ἐριθεία-eritheia}- a desire to put yourself forward, partisanship, one way thinking only. Are you always telling people how right you are and never hearing their views? Crucify it! 

12. Dissensions/Sedition-{διχοστασία-dichostasia}-Strong and divisive disagreements. They cause splits and separations in relationships, partnerships, and unions. Crucify it! 

13. Heresies-{αἵρεσις-hairesis}- The act of capturing or storming a group of people with a diversity of opinions and personal principles. Its the picture word for a group of militia men capturing a city by force and subduing the captors. This is done in the realm of our mind. Crucify it! 

14. Envy-{φθόνος-phthonos}- When you are prompted by envy to do something. Envy is the motive behind your actions. For example, Philippians 1:15, "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill." Are you a person who begins to preach, get involved in ministry, start a business, higher your education on account that someone else is doing it with success and it eats you up inside? So you decide to get involved in those things from the motive of envy. Crucify it!

15. Murders-{φόνος-phonos}- the brutal or violent killing of a physical person. Crucify it! 

16. Drunkenness-{μέθη-methē}- A person given to intoxication of strong liquor or wine. Crucify it!

17. Revelries-{κῶμος-kōmos}- a nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honor of Bacchus or some other deity, and sing and play before houses of male and female friends; thus used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night. So in our normal language it means this: drunken people who party into the night and are more given to being controlled by parties, drinking, and debauchery then holy living. Crucify it!

If you have examined your own heart and found these practices residing in you there is hope. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.". We must not only preach grace but truth with balance. Let these practices be eradicated by the forgiveness found in the precious cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. Seek to practice holiness. 

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