Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Holiness: Walk By the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-25 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 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. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The Holy Spirit is the source and power of our holiness

The desires of the flesh does not oppose us...they oppose the Spirit.
When we sin, we give control from the Spirit to the flesh. We are free, but sometimes we listen to our old master, sin.

Our sin is fighting with the Holy Spirit. The fruit of sin are listed followed by the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is the cause of these fruits. The Holy Spirit is necessary for our sanctification.

Growth in Holiness happens in learning to walk in the Spirit

When we walk in the Spirit, this is how we grow holy.

Walking in the Spirit means following in the Spirit's lead.

We are like soldiers. We are to follow the leading of spirit. Much like how soldiers listen to the commanding officer.

Setting your mind on the things of the Spirit

The Holy Spirit ministers by spotlighting. It highlights. It draws us to dwell on Christ and the work he has done on our behalf. By winning of attention, it wins our heart. Sinful desires are pushed out by greater desire for God.

Where does the spirit lead us? It leads us to the Father. It reminds us that we are children of God. Over and over again. Why? We fail alot. We stumble alot. We experience hardship. God loves us. Not because of our performance, but in Christ. We easily forget and question God's love. Hardships make us bitter. Failures make us want to hide from God. But the holy spirit reminds us of the unconditional love, the grace, and the mercy of God.

Fruit of the Spirit = Holiness

The holy spirit shows us the father's...this makes us want to love. But even more than that, it makes us love our enemies. It mirrors the unconditional love of God.

The Spirit shows us the all encompassing fulfillment of God. We become filled with thankfulness for the giver rather than the gifts. We are filled with joy, even when God takes away those gifts.

Closing Remarks

Christians should be the most patient and humble people.

The more we are in the Word, the more ammo we give the Spirit to kill sin in our lives.

Listen to the leading of the Spirit.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Holiness: Praying in the Spirit as the Spirit prays in us

Romans 8:26-27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Prayer is one of the most powerful tools God gives to change.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 calls us to continually pray. APTAT finds its foundation in prayer. It is a model imbued with prayer. We know the importance of prayer. We don't struggle with comprehension, but execution. Two things the modern church struggles with: prayer and evangelism. Any discussion of these brings feelings of guilt.

We may feel strange or confused about what to pray about. But we have a helper, the Holy Spirit. He helps us to pray. He prays for us. The spirit strengthens us. We are weak in prayer because we don't know what to pray for. There are many obvious things to pray for. So what is Paul talking about? We are in a broken world, we are not saved from it. God saves us through the brokenness. In the difficult times, the painful times, or horrible times... We don't know what God is doing. We don't know why. So we don't know what to ask for, we are in confusion. That is what Paul meant. We don't know what God wants.

The Holy Spirit prays for us. He prays in the will of God. And all prayers in the will of God are always answered. So even when we are confused, be reassured, the Holy spirit intercedes for us. God continues His work in us, even when we don't pray rightly.

"with groaning too deep for words" has many different interpretations. I think this refers to our groaning in a broken world that waits for redemption. But the Holy Spirit also groans. The deepest longing of the Spirit is for the glory and return of Christ. Not only that, but our groans over our sin and brokenness also originate from the Spirit.

We start out not knowing how to pray. The Holy spirit prays for us. We pray unknowing and uninformed. Then as we learn to pray, the Holy spirit starts to pray through us as well as with us.

Application

Be mindful of the Spirit as you pray

Even when you have a list of prayer items, ask the Holy spirit to lead and teach us to pray. We can get convicted to ask for forgiveness. We can get convicted of sin.

Allow God's general will to shape your prayer life

Pray according to what God wants, generally. God's kingdom come, the growth of the kingdom both in our hearts, lives, and the world. "Hallowed be your name" "your will be done"

The Spirit points us to the gospel

We are weak, He is strong. We were sinners unable to do anything, so the Son had to come save us. Prayer is the language of weakness and dependency. So as we grow, we learn how weak we are.