The First Step To Keeping In Step Series

OPENING SLIDE

INTRODUCTION

• When you hear a Christian talking about walking in the Spirit, have you ever wondered what they mean?

• Sometimes when you examine their life, do you think they even know what that phrase means? 🤣

• Today we begin a four-week series looking at what Galatians 5 tells us about walking in the Spirit.

• We see throughout the New Testament that we can only be like the Father by imitating the life of the Son and walking hand in hand with the Spirit.

• This series will consider ways to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) through the new year.

Galatians 5:25 CSB

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

I hope that everyone who has Jesus as their Lord and Savior will make this verse their life verse in 2026.

• This verse is vital to our growth in our faith because most of us don’t wake up one morning and decide to stop following Jesus.

• We don’t announce, “Today I’m done walking with the Spirit.”

• What usually happens is much quieter.

• We get busy.

• We get comfortable.

• We start trusting routines instead of relationships.

• We keep moving—but we stop paying attention to who is setting the pace.

• And before long, we’re still walking, but we’re no longer in step.

• Paul understood this problem; this is why before Paul ever commands believers to “keep in step with the Spirit” (v.25), he addresses what will either enable or sabotage that walk.

• Living by the Spirit—walking with, in, or in accordance with the Spirit— is one of the most challenging things we are called to do.

• Why is it such a difficult task?

• We will examine a couple of reasons why this morning, but on top of those issues, one of the most predominant reasons is that walking by or keeping step with the Spirit requires us to do something we don’t always want to do: surrender!

• That’s why, before he ever tells the Galatians to “keep in step with the Spirit,” he presses pause and asks a hard question:

• What are you really building your life on?

• Because here’s the truth:

• You can’t walk in step with the Spirit if your foundation is cracked.

• You can’t run well if you’re listening to the wrong voices.

• And you can’t stay on course if you treat truth as optional.

• In Galatians 5:6–9, Paul isn’t correcting bad behavior as much as he’s confronting misplaced trust.

• The Galatians hadn’t abandoned Christ—but they had begun adding to Him.

• And that small shift was enough to throw them off stride.

• If the foundation is off, the walk will be off.

• Let’s begin with Galatians 5:6.

Galatians 5:6 NET 2nd ed.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

MAIN POINT 1

SERMON

I. Walk on the Right Foundation

• Many of the Christians in the Galatian church were beginning to become confused.

• The Judaizers had infiltrated the church, leading people astray with their false teaching about the Gospel.

Galatians 2:4 NET 2nd ed.

4 Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.

• These people were trying to get folks to follow the Jewish laws instead of accepting the grace of God through Jesus.

• To take the first step in the Spirit correctly, one must understand what doesn't matter.

• Paul asserts that "in Christ Jesus," external distinctions like circumcision or uncircumcision mean nothing.

• Paul dismantles both legalism and license in one sentence.

• Circumcision (religious performance) and uncircumcision (religious freedom) are neutral.

• What truly matters is faith—but not faith that stays theoretical.

• Genuine faith always moves outward in love.

Here is the connection to walking in the spirit

• The Spirit does not empower self-effort; He empowers surrendered faith.

• Love is not the result of walking in the Spirit—it is the evidence.

• If love is absent, something is wrong at the foundation.

• The phrase "faith working through love" uses the word energeo (where we get "energy").

• This is a middle-voice participle, meaning faith is not passive; it is an active, energizing force.

• Legalism focuses on the "circumcision/uncircumcision" (external markers).

• The Spirit-led walk ignores these and focuses on a faith that is constantly "energized" by love.

• You cannot "keep in step" with the Spirit if you are standing on the foundation of your own performance.

• You must stand on the finished work of Christ.