Seek First: The Realms of the Kingdom, Spiritual vs Physical (1 Tim 4:1-9)
Verse 1 There are other spirits out there, that are not the Spirit of God, and those spirits are deceiving.
• The Spirit of God speaking through Paul tells us there are demons teaching.
o The implications here is some of what you hear, is the teaching of demons.
• Do you see how important it is to stay tuned into and be aware of the Spirit realm?
Verse 2 Today the hypocritical liar could be something like the double standard.
Verse 3 Paul is simply giving specific examples of the kinds of things being taught by demons in their day.
Verse 4-5 He is making reference to food laws. Dealing with something that was an issue for their day.
• But the spiritual realm overcomes the physical realm.
Verse 6 Paul is telling Timothy to act courageously when dealing with people afflicted by deceiving spirits.
• This is largely lost in the church today.
o It is either not seen as a spiritual issue at all, or it is simply covered over with a Christian platitude.
Verse 7 At the end of the verse he says train yourself to be Godly.
• To be Godly requires training, it does not happen by itself.
Verse 8 The implication is that the Godly training is better and more important that physical training.
So now let’s ask the question: What does Godliness training look like?
• While physical training only takes place in the physical realm. Spiritual training takes place in both realms.
Time: Do we invest the same or similar amounts of time in being in the Lord’s Presence or being in the Spirit as we do with physical activities?
• When I win the battle in the Spirit realm with my time, I win in the physical realm, even staying healthier.
Turning down the volume of my flesh:
• I can’t stay tuned into the Spirit realm if there is a lot of other noise in my life and mind.
o I must find ways and train in turning down the noise.
o Praying in the Spirit, Fasting, Worship, The Word
This will not be easy and there will be warfare:
• The enemy will cross over back and forth from physical to Spiritual.
o Which adds to our struggle because we don’t know which way he is coming from.
• But Jesus only calls from the Spirit realm.
o Jesus can manifest Himself in the physical realm, but He only calls to us from the Spirit realm.
• Often, we can hear and even feel the enemy, but we miss Jesus, because He is calling from the Spirit realm.
1 Cor 15:44
Verse 46 We are born from and into the physical or natural realm first.
o So, our natural tendency is to stay stuck in the physical realm.
• But Jesus’ death makes a way to enter into the Spirit realm both now and in resurrection.
Seek First: The Realms of the Kingdom, Spiritual vs Physical
