Return of Throat Punch | Week 5

Pastor Pat McCalla · Nov 30, 2020

Big Idea

Quoting the message: You have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have you, end quote.?

Jesus has set us free by grace alone, so there is no reason to go back to slaves to the law or to sin. Now that His Spirit lives in us, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us every day — but we only experience it when we actually listen to the Spirit's voice and obey it.

Key points

1
1Christ has set us truly free, so don't go back to slavery
Pastor Pat walks through Galatians 5:1 and Paul's repeated use of the word freedom, using the Braveheart illustration of William Wallace coming back to find Scots willingly returning to slavery under England. In the same way, Galatia was being told salvation is Jesus plus something, when the true gospel is Jesus plus nothing.
2
2Salvation is by faith alone, not by works like circumcision
Pastor Pat explains that religious leaders in Galatia were adding circumcision as a requirement for salvation, and shows how Paul reframes it in verse six: faith in Christ is what matters, not being Jewish or Gentile. Paul gets so frustrated by this false teaching that he uses the sharp language of verse 12.
3
3Freedom was given so we could love, not indulge sinful desires
Working through Galatians 5:13-14, Pastor Pat counts how many times Paul uses the word freedom in one verse and connects it to Jesus' summary of the law to love God and neighbor. He teases that next week's message will unpack this idea of love as its own kind of throat punch.
4
4Temptation is not failure — it's the battle between the Spirit and our sinful nature
Pastor Pat shares that he felt guilty as a young man for being tempted, until he understood Galatians 5:16 rightly: even Jesus was tempted. He uses an NFL-films-style illustration of two forces battling in the trenches to picture the ongoing struggle between the Spirit and sinful cravings, and says you can tell who's winning by the fruit that shows up in someone's life.
5
5We died with Christ, so we don't have to keep living out of our old nature
Pastor Pat unpacks Galatians 5:24 and Romans 6:6, picturing the old self as a corpse we keep digging up instead of leaving buried. He offers the line that we'll never get off our throne until we get on the cross, tying it to what baptism pictures — dying with Christ and being raised to new life.
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6The same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us
Drawing from Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3:20, Pastor Pat shows how Paul struggles to find words big enough for the power available to believers, landing on the resurrection power of Jesus. He says most of us are living powerless, ordinary lives without realizing what's actually available to us.
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7Walking in the Spirit simply means listen and obey
Using illustrations of Barney Fife's empty gun, a locomotive pulling train cars, a dead battery, and his own sailing mishap on his honeymoon, Pastor Pat shows that the Spirit is the source of power but we have to stay connected and responsive. He shares a personal story of sensing the Spirit prompt him to help a homeless teenager outside a Circle K, and admits he first dismissed the prompting before deciding to listen and obey.

Application

Pastor Pat's challenge is to pay special attention to the Spirit's voice this week and, whatever He says, listen and obey.

Listen for the Spirit's voice in small moments
Pay attention to the little promptings you usually ignore — the nudge to apologize, to help someone, to turn something off — rather than waiting for a big decision to ask God to speak.
Obey immediately when the Spirit prompts you
When the Spirit says go help this person, encourage that person, or say you're sorry, actually do it that day instead of talking yourself out of it.
Stop digging up your old, dead self
Recognize that your old sinful nature was crucified with Christ, so stop living as though you still have to obey those old cravings and patterns.
Tap into the Spirit's power intentionally
Remind yourself daily — write the word 'belong' where you'll see it — that the same resurrection power that raised Jesus is available to you, and stay connected to it rather than trying to live in your own strength.

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“Romans chapter eight verse nine teaches very clearly, you have the spirit of God. The throat punch, the question, the uncomfortable question for us is, you have the Holy Spirit”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“So Galatians chapter five verse one, here we go. So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law”
From the transcript
“Jump down to verse six, and you can see now after Paul talks to them about this a little bit, he gets to verse six and he says, for when we place our faith, how are we saved? By faith, by faith alone”
From the transcript
“So then we get to verse 12, the throat punch of all throat punches. I'm not even gonna put it on the screen. You can look at it later if you want, but what a throat punch, because Paul's so frustrated”
Paraphrase of the transcript
But now watch what he does in verse 13. Can we put verse 13 up here? Watch this now. For you have been called to live in freedom, one, my brothers and sisters, but don't use your Freedom.
From the transcript
“watch what Paul does now in verse 14. K, go to the next one. For the whole law, how much of the law? The whole law can be summed up in this one command, love your neighbor as yourself”
From the transcript
“We're gonna skip down verse 16. Now this is where we see the culmination of his argument. Look at the first word, so. So, if Paul is saying, based on what I just said”
From the transcript
“Romans eight nine says, when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the spirit of God is now in you, but now you have the spirit of God in you, and you have these sinful cravings”
From the transcript
“he's gonna put a very graphic picture in here now. Those who belong to Christ belong, I love that word. You know what, maybe you should write that word down and stick it on the mirror this week”
From the transcript
“Romans six verse six says it this way. It says, when Christ died, I died with him. That's essentially what it means. When Christ died, I died with him”
From the transcript
“watch this. Look at the next verse here, verse 25. Since we are living by the Spirit, remember in verse 16 when he says we should be walking in the Spirit? Since we are living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in, how many parts of our lives”
From the transcript
“In Ephesians chapter one, when Paul was writing these Jesus followers in Ephesus, he's trying to get them to understand the enormity of what it means that you have the spirit of God inside you”
From the transcript
“Ephesians three verse 20 says, now to him, Jesus, now to him who's able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Day 1

There is a strange pull in the human heart toward rules. Even after we've been genuinely set free, we drift back toward systems — lists of do's and don'ts that feel like they're keeping us in good standing with God. Paul saw it happening in the Galatian churches, and he was blunt about it: Christ has set us free, so stand firm and don't go back to a yoke of slavery. That word 'yoke' is worth sitting with. It's not just a burden; it's a piece of equipment designed to keep an animal moving in a controlled direction. When we add anything to faith in Jesus — our performance, our record, our religious effort — we're slipping that yoke back on. Pastor Pat's point was plain: salvation is Jesus plus nothing. Not Jesus plus your quiet time streak. Not Jesus plus cleaning up your act first. Just Jesus. Freedom isn't the absence of structure or discipline; those things are good. But freedom means those things flow from a relationship with Someone who already loves you completely, not from a desperate attempt to earn what you already have. Today is a good day to ask yourself what yokes you've been carrying that Jesus never asked you to pick up.

For reflection

Is there an area of your life where you're subtly trying to earn something from God that He has already freely given you in Christ?

Pray

Pray for the ability to receive today what Christ has already secured — that you'd rest in His finished work rather than return to striving.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message lands on a question most of us don't think about often enough: not 'Do I have the Holy Spirit?' but 'Am I actually letting Him lead?' Take a moment to think about what that difference might look like in an ordinary Tuesday.

Discussion questions

1
In Galatians 5:1, Paul says Christ has set us free and urges us not to 'let anyone put a yoke of slavery on you again.' What do you think Paul means by going back into slavery — and why would someone who has already been set free be tempted to do that?
2
Galatians 5:14 says the entire law is summed up in loving your neighbor as yourself. How does that reframe what Christian freedom is actually for?
3
Paul describes a daily tension in Galatians 5:16 between the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit, and says the fruit of whichever side wins becomes visible in a person's life. What does that visibility look like in practice — what might people around us actually notice?
4
Galatians 5:24-25 says those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with Him, and then immediately calls us to 'follow the Spirit's leading.' Why do you think Paul connects those two ideas — the death of the old self and the daily act of following — so closely together?
5
Pastor Pat pointed to Ephesians 3:20 and the power that raised Jesus from the dead as the same power at work inside every believer. How does that change the way we think about what's actually available to us in the small, unglamorous moments of the day?
6
Pastor Pat challenged us to pay attention to the Spirit's voice this week in little things — a nudge to help someone, a prompt to hold back a harsh word — rather than waiting for a dramatic moment on a big decision. What might it look like for a community of people to grow together in that kind of everyday attentiveness?

Pray together

Surrender to the Spirit's voice in the small moments this week — and gratitude that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us

Topics

Crucifying the Flesh Daily Obedience Freedom in Christ Resurrection Power Walking in the Spirit

Return of Throat Punch | Week 5

Big Idea

Key points

Application

Take it into your week

Scripture in this message

7-day devotional

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Small-group discussion guide

Open

Discussion questions

Pray together