How The Holy Spirit Can Guide Your New Year

Introduction

In our studies we have visited the idea that the Holy Spirit is the answer of the promises of God made throughout the Old Testament, culminating at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is a divine person. The Holy Spirit is the source of enormous blessings in our life, and we walk daily with Him, even if we remain unaware of His presence.

We are on the cusp of a new year - 2024 - and with that new year comes a multitude of unknowns. There could be dramatic changes in any area of our life. Rather than tiptoe into the new year in fear, however, we should stride in with confidence because of the Holy Spirit who walks with us into unknown territory.

We can allow the Spirit to guide our new year by doing two things: Yielding and Pursuing.

Yielding. In one sense, the more we yield to the Spirit, the greater leeway He has to develop within us the character of Christ - we seek not to quench the spirit but instead to open the door of our hearts and minds to Him.

Pursuing. We are not being called to be bland banana babyfood Christians - just sitting here waiting for something to happen! We need to act! Pursue the things of God!

This is an exercise of the principle of Scripture that “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7-8). Stott: “it is an inflexible principle of all God’s dealings, a loaw of his own consistency, in both the physical and the moral realms, in both nature and human character. Always, invariably, we reap what we sow. … If the Holy Spirit is to produce good fruit in our lives, then we have to sow good seed.

Sow a thought, and you reap an act;

Sow an act, and you reap a habit;

Sow a habit, and you reap a character;

Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

This is how I want to approach the Fruit of the Spirit tonight - as a pathway to a new year of growth, development, strength, and closeness to God.

1. The Fruit of the Spirit is juxtaposed to the Works of the Flesh. (Galatians 5:16-21)

Galatians 5:16-21 ESV But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

While we are not here to study this list - it is a familiar list to all of us.

“Satan does not need to have anyone come in and lecture to the people and plead with them to practice such things. The works of the flesh spring up from the soil of the heart itself. They just flourish like briars and weeds and bushes and whatever obnoxious thing there is that may grow to hinder the production of a crop. … They do not have to be planted, do not have to be cultivated. They do not have to even be wanted…they are always present.” - Gus Nichols

These are the things that work against us throughout our lives - the tendency to follow the flesh rather than the Spirit. Stott: The works of the flesh “...are deeds we do naturally when left to our own resources.”

Romans 7:21-25 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

2. The Fruit of the Spirit: Nine Qualities that Define the Christian Life

Galatians 5:22-25 ESV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.