Church family,
This week I want to remind you of the message I preached – Live by The Spirit, Galatians 5:16-26. As I shared Sunday morning, our lives as believers and followers of Christ are to be different. Paul points out that truth in Galatians 5. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can be free – no longer have to live under the bondage of sin! As I have said before, the gospel of grace, of Jesus Christ, not only saved you but provided purpose for your life! His provision for those who trust Him by faith is salvation, abundant life, and eternal life!
The key question is, how does this freedom and transformation occur in the life of a believer? Answer: through the power of the Holy Spirit! In the Galatians 5 passage, I offered three reminders that will give you direction in living in the power of the Holy Spirit: walk by the Spirit, watch your step, and keep in step. These are true whether you are a child, teenager, millennial, boomer, buster, or boomerang! It all begins with submitting to the Holy Spirit;
>Walk by the Spirit
– follow Jesus around
– say “no” to the flesh and “yes” to the Spirit
– remember, you are in a spiritual battle — your heart is the battlefield
– remember, you are “in Christ” not under the law
>Watch your step
– the works of the flesh – our sinful passions and desires – are obvious; sexual, religious, relational, and indulgences
– the fruit of the Spirit – what the Spirit produces in us as we walk in the Spirit
>Keep in step
– Remember we belong to Christ – He’s our Father
– Sin does not have to dominate our lives
– We have access to the power of the Holy Spirit
Dr. A.B. Simpson comments (Christ in the Bible, vol. 5), Step by step, moment by moment, little by little we dwell in Him and walk in Him. The grace that can keep us for a moment can keep us for a lifetime. The strength that is sufficient for today is pledged for all the days. So let us live in the Spirit; so let us walk in the Spirit; so let us abide in Him who has said, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b).
Resolve to live daily by the Spirit! I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. Galatians 2:20b, 21a (NLT)
Walking with you,
Pastor Brian