We know that…
Romans chapter 8:28-31
Galatians 5:16-18
Greeting-
Good morning everyone! If you would turn to Romans 8 and Galatians 5 we will be there in a minute.
I am so glad to be here I can hardly stand it. I have been waiting for this day! I have been praying and believe with all my heart that as we get together that the Holy Spirit will speak to us.
Your pastor and I have been friends for a long time.
I appreciate him and his Holy Spirit laugh- His breaking out in song…it is contagious!
We are always hanging out at PCDC together and it wasn’t unusual for people seeing us eat together, talk together, laugh together- they would always say and I laugh about it… Tony you are the good looking one of the two but James your a bit taller!
Oh wait, did you ever hear things the way that you wanted and not hear what was actually said- (Come on) I think I had that wrong- They actually said James you are by far the better looking one of the two but Tony don’t feel discouraged and hurt- God has given you something too, you are taller than he is!
Let’s Prayer-
My wife Becky and Joyce were friends, Becky would love to go to district events to see Joyce- My wife died of cancer almost two years ago now. So when I reach out with this passage of scripture, I want you to know that the Lord has filtered it through my heart and I have learned to believe this passage like never before. I HAD READ IT A HUNDRED TIMES AND ONE DAY … IT READ ME.
Romans chapter 8:28-31 Read from Bible slowly and clearly
This world is messed up and is chaos. We do not need to spend any time debating that!
What the world is most confused about is thinking that they can live like the devil and then claim the promises of God.
They want God’s promises without being in a relationship with the Lord.
The Lord is constantly reaching out with His presence and offering His word to the world in a creative and wonderful way.
He may use a believer, a pastor, He may use a tough situation.
He may even have to break someone of pride to get their attention.
He does not change His word. He promises if we let him that the word will change us.
The world cannot stand on the promise that all things work together for good…because it says those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.
If they do not know Jesus! If they are not called according to His purpose, all things do not work out for their good because the Lord is not in it!
I learned during the hardest time of my life and I do not know how anyone could go through some of these hard times without him was that we can read a scripture often but until it sinks in to our soul and spirit we cannot respond to His word.
I knew all things works together for good to those who love Him, called according to His purpose…but I did not live it. I did not act it out in my life until I surrendered it to the Lord. That somehow you would use the hardest loss of my life and somehow make it matter and use it for your honor and glory.
Apostle Paul goes to speak of the spiritual experience of every Christian- Salvation is open for all!
Christ came into this world, went to the cross, died and rose again! We didn’t write the story and it is all about Jesus! We can only receive the story! It means that from the beginning of time God marked salvation out for us, he in his wonderful grace, reached out to us and we have a chance to respond! Some will and some will not but His desire is that we would all reach out to Him because He died for all. When we have done that- all things work together for good because we are not in disobedience but in his will according to His purpose for our lives.
(31) “What then, shall we say in response to this, if God is for us, who can be against us?”
Amen! Amen! Amen!
The God of the universe, the creator of all things, the God that saves and promises eternal life to those that are in a relationship with Him… if He is for you who can be against you that you have to worry about?
We have to take God word in context and we have to be reminded that this world is not our final resting place.
We are more than conquers in Christ!
We know that all things work together for our good… for those that love Him.
Those who may have present suffering, but will one day receive future glory!
God will graciously give us all things (Roman 8:32) needs and some wants.
No one will bring a charge against you- He (Jesus) will find us innocent
Nothing will separate us from the love of God- protector God
But we have to be in Jesus to receive Jesus promises!
You want to claim that promise that all things work for the good, then you have to love Jesus and be called into His purpose for your life.
You better understand and stand on some other scriptures of His word-
“I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.”
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
The only truth that sets you free is the truth of Jesus- your truth is an opinion and everyone has an opinion.
John 8:34- “Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever, so if the Son… capital Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Apostle Paul writes these words to the church because they thought that living right was about wither they should get circumcised or not.
He tells them it is more than cutting some foreskin off the male’s, it is about living with the Holy Spirit of God directing their life and desiring to please God more than pleasing yourself or people around you.
Galatians 5:16-18 Read from the Bible
Paul says here he has told them before- remember last week in Colossians chapter 3 Paul warned us of things to get out of our lives and here again he is repeated them.
(14) “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ”love your neighbor as yourself.”
Board meetings- you can disagree but it should never be an attack on one another. The person is not the enemy. The enemy to defeat is whatever keeps us from common ground.
Business meeting- able to disagree with the determination to come to an agreement instead of making a bridge so wide that no one can cross and worse yet the bridge is burned and no one can cross.
Every avenue of our life should be about loving others as much as we love ourselves… When common ground cannot be reached (That happens) we still love each other as a person, as a human being.
Sometimes leaving the rest to God and His mercy and justice.
(15) “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Backing a dog into a corner, nobody wins… there will be hurts. Both get bite and both will be hurt.
We destroy each other instead of coming to a solution that brings us together instead of division.
So in a perfect world determined by God, we would love God with all our hearts, mind, soul and body and we would love each other.
In this world, the sinful world where a lot have abandoned God or felt that He is unreachable, Jesus needs Christ followers, those that are called to be a light into this dark world…to walk in God’s Spirit.
(16) “So I say… (Apostle Paul under the anointing of God) “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
He is talking to the church- brothers and sisters is his greeting- to truly be free in Christ is to allow Christ to empower and direct your life and it will be reflected back to those that we come in contact with.
Live by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit. It is not what the world is doing, they are not walking in the Spirit of God, but believers are to be led by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit of God working in our lives.
Let’s take this information and apply it to our lives-
Why would you want to walk in the Spirit of God?
What it would look like if you walked in the Spirit of God?
Let’s first identify what is meant by the fruit of the Spirit
(22) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Notice here, it is not the fruits of the Spirit- it is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not 9 different fruits- it is one spirit that develops nine different characters of the spirit of God.
Some of us can develop love, some patience, some of us are good people- but the spirit of God wants all these things in our lives and they are directed by one Spirit- the Spirit of God.
Not good qualities that we develop on our own.
Here is a simple truth-
Holy Spirit of God is in perfect harmony with God the Father and Jesus the Son
Book of Ephesians tells us we are to be “imitators of God, as well-loved children imitate their father. You must live in love, as Christ loved you, and gave himself to God as a sacrifice and an offering, a sacrifice which was the odor of a sweet savor to God.”
The fruit bearing of God’s Holy Spirit will change us, will transform us, will identify us with Christ. He will always bring us back to pleasing God.
We will never be perfect in ourselves but our desire becomes to please God more than pleasing self.
So first question to ourselves:
Why would we want to walk in the Spirit of God instead of walking in the flesh- or walking in our sinful self?
Jesus warns us in Book of Matthew that it would be hard and we cannot do it in ourselves.
Paul tells us that our flesh is opposite of walking in the Spirit of God.
Why?
Because Jesus commands us too. As Christ followers, we do what pleases our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Because there is evil and there is good and the only way we measure good is what is done in the Spirit of God.
The Bible says… it is our authority;
Evil- Fornication, impurity, idolatry, witchcraft, enmity against each other, jealousy, uncontrolled temper, self-seeking, dissension, injustice, racial divide, gossip, greed. The list could go on and on… we cannot be good without God.
The person that says that are a good person is basing that statement against another sinner and they may not be as bad as someone else, but they are still sinners and the Bible say the wages of sin is death-
I love the person that says that they only get anger after someone has made them mad- uncontrolled temper here is a burst of anger.
Dissension- standing apart- you standing apart from anyone?
Envy, alcohol, sexual impurities- whole nother sermon.
We are not good without Christ- we are exposed to our self and our self does not look good.
Some of these qualities we have in our lives but they are not as good as God’s best.
They do not compare to the fruit we will bear when we are doing it in God’s Spirit.
We will not have the anointing of God when we do things in ourselves.
We human beings tend to overlook the simple truths of life and forget that the profound is usually revealed in the simple.
For example;
We can act out what we are not (at least for a little while), but this will not produce long-term fruit in our lives.
An apple can only reproduce apples, because that’s what it is at its core (pun intended).
If we have an issue with anger, then no matter how kind we try to act, eventually a challenging situation will arise and we’ll blow!
As long as that anger goes unchecked and unhealed in our souls, we will continue to produce the fruit of anger. The same holds true for fear, jealousy, depression, low self- esteem, and so much more.
Many of us miss out on the abundant life that Jesus has for us because we haven’t taken an honest look at our spiritual core and recognized that our souls need some work.
No amount of Christian activity compensates for the failure to be an authentic Christian. Our authenticity (or lack thereof) is made evident by the fruit that our lives are bearing.
If we’re to be recognized as Christ’s followers, we need to be producing the fruit of His Holy Spirit.
(2) Question
What would it look like if we walked in the Spirit of the Living God?
Human nature or the sin nature is what we are all born with- that nature cannot enter the kingdom of God. It has to be changed by God.
The change is called being born again. It means that the Spirit of God has to do something new in your life.
You didn’t come to Christ- Christ came to you first. He made the first move toward you in what we call Prevenient Grace.
God moving toward us and inviting us into a relationship with Him. You in His presence moved toward Him and responded. Thus begins a relationship with Him.
You sense the need for a savior and you except Him as your Lord and savior.
You allow Jesus into your life and He beings to change your life. He begins to illuminate things that need to be changed all the while showing you that you cannot do this on your own but need His Spirit to lead and guide you.
Thus the life that we live is because of what Christ has done in us and we cannot boast about how good we are or how much we have changed ourselves.
When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ.
We are His workmanship
We walk in His Spirit because we have allowed Him to dwell within us and lead us. We have given Him permission to lead our lives.
How Do We Walk by the Spirit?
When we “walk by the Spirit,” we are not controlled by human drives. This is what verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces another kind, and they are opposed to each other.
Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh.
Romans 7:18,
“I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” Apart from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is holy or good, “for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God’s law and cannot submit to it.
The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are “walking by the Spirit.”
We always act according to our strongest desires.
This is what God said he would do in
Ezekiel 36:26, 27:
“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.”
The problem in Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to do the right things.
The problem is not to discover what love looks like but how to love by the Spirit
Closing,
A few Steps Toward Walking by the Spirit
Here are a few things we must do so that it can be truly said that we are walking by the Spirit.
Acknowledge you cannot do this alone
Pray and allow God to put His Spirit within us and we will walk with Him.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Trust Him to do it! Amen.
Why he liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom through months of struggle is a mystery to me.
Act -By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me.
Galatians 2:20,
“I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”
No Lord is an oxymoron- you cannot put those two words together if you are a follower of Jesus-
Closing prayer to allow God’s Spirit to lead us-
