1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,200 Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,920 Riverbend Church exists to lead all people to know, love, and 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,360 live new life in Jesus Christ. We hope that you enjoy this 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:20,080 message. Well, good morning Riverbend. 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:22,600 My name is Todd. I get the have the distinct 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,720 privilege of serving as the executive pastor here at 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,720 Riverbend. So thankful that Pastor Ben has 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,240 given me the privilege this morning of leading you in God's 9 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,360 word this morning. So thankful that you have joined 10 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,920 with us as we wrap up our third person series, the of the Holy 11 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:38,320 Spirit. And I hope this morning that you 12 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,760 will discover or we will discover together this path or 13 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,200 the path of the Holy Spirit today. 14 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,360 It helps us to fight against temptation, strengthening and 15 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,400 strengthening our faith and allowing us to have victory over 16 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,680 the flesh. As most of you are aware, 17 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,240 tomorrow's Memorial Day. Memorial Day has been observed 18 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:04,640 in United States since 1868. Today when we pause to honor and 19 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,040 remember those who have given their lives defending our 20 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,680 freedoms. You may or may not know this, 21 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,240 but the original purpose of Memorial Day once called 22 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,360 Decoration Day. It's been set aside so that 23 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,080 whatever faith across America that people practice, that they 24 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,480 would take time to pray for eternal freedom or I'm, I'm 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,040 sorry, eternal peace in our land and across our world. 26 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,400 Of course, it is morphed into what we celebrate today as 27 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,040 Memorial Day. Across this nation. 28 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:36,880 Families will gather, flags will fly at half mast. 29 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,520 We will remember loved ones who were killed in service because 30 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,760 freedom always comes at a price. In my own family, we have loved 31 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,520 ones very near and dear to our hearts who lost the son in 32 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:54,200 battle in 2012. He was killed in Afghanistan. 33 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,920 And so tomorrow we remember Staff Sergeant Matthew sitting. 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,600 Just last month, the state of Florida renamed a portion of a 35 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:06,440 highway in Florida in honor of Staff Sergeant Matthew sitting. 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,880 We call him Maddie or I didn't. I didn't personally know him, 37 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:12,840 but I've had opportunity to meet his family and they are some 38 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,000 awesome people. And so tomorrow on Memorial Day, 39 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,080 we will remember Staff Sergeant sitting along with many others 40 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,520 who have lost their lives in battle. 41 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,600 Tomorrow, as you relax by the pool or possibly on the lake, 42 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,400 take time to remember those who have given the ultimate 43 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,320 sacrifice. Remember their families and pray 44 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,760 for them as they mourn the loss of their loved ones so that you 45 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,280 and I can live in freedom, the home of the brave, right? 46 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,880 We could celebrate and do the things that we do each and every 47 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,280 day because of these who have given their lives, who have, who 48 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,400 have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have 49 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,120 the freedoms that we have. As a Christian, Memorial Day has 50 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,680 a double meaning. The idea not only of freedom 51 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,080 being free because of those who have given their lives in 52 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,760 battle, but also because of Christ who gave his life so that 53 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,640 you and I could experience eternal freedom and eternal 54 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,520 forgiveness. Jesus death, burial and 55 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,720 resurrection gives us freedom from what Pastor Ben mentioned 56 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,440 last week as the unholy Trinity. You remember last week he said 57 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:25,600 it's the word, the the world, the flesh and the devil. 58 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:30,160 That's the unholy Trinity. We Christ died on the cross for 59 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,800 you and me so that we could have freedom from the unholy Trinity. 60 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,320 But freedom in Christ isn't just about being set free from sins 61 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,000 penalty. It's about being empowered to 62 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,160 live this life in freedom, to live this life in victory. 63 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,840 Many of us, if not all of us, suffer in this life with this 64 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,120 thing we call the flesh. All of us have this flesh. 65 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,840 And this flesh causes us to want to do things that are against 66 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,480 the Spirit, causes us to want to do things that we would consider 67 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,480 to be sin. The only way that we can live 68 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,440 free is by living in the power of the Holy Spirit. 69 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,040 And we're going to see all about that here in just a minute. 70 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,880 We call this the path of the Holy Spirit. 71 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,040 This weekend, as we honor those who gave their lives for our 72 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,240 country, let us also consider the One who gave us life through 73 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,360 the path of the Holy Spirit and what it means to truly live 74 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:26,480 free. If you have. 75 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,200 Your Bibles, and I pray that you do this morning, Turn with me to 76 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:30,880 Galatians Chapter 5, if you will. 77 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,720 We're going to spend some time. Diving into Galatians chapter 5 78 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,920 here in just a few minutes as we begin in verse 16. 79 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,920 And while you're turning to Galatians chapter 5, do you have 80 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:42,040 your note? Sheet with you this. 81 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,640 Morning. There's some important notes on 82 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,040 there. I just gave you a very, very 83 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,200 brief summary of Galatians and all that Paul writes about 84 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:52,520 there. In Galatians, there's three main 85 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:57,080 sections #1 in In Galatians chapters 1 and 2. 86 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,360 Paul further explains the unity of God's people. 87 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,760 You see, when Paul begins to write the book of Galatians or 88 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:09,960 when Christ came on the scene, religion was basically reserved 89 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,440 for the Jews and especially the way Christ came onto the scene. 90 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,640 He came to save his people, the Jews, and. 91 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,840 In Acts we see that the gospel goes not only just for the Jew, 92 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:25,640 but it begins to break over into the Gentiles so that all people 93 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,200 are grafted in. Peter has a vision and all 94 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,280 people are grafted into this, to this gospel, to this, this new 95 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:35,240 way of life called the way, these people following after 96 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:40,000 Jesus Christ with their lives. And so as Paul writes Galatians, 97 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,240 he begins by saying, look, there's further unity, there 98 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,640 should be unity. And with within God's people, 99 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,200 Jew and Gentile, we we are now one in the same, right? 100 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,320 And so he explains that in Galatians one and two, in 101 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,680 Galatians 3 and four, he describes the people he 102 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,240 describes to the people of Galatia that Jesus is the 103 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,680 fulfillment of the law. If you know anything about 104 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,360 Jewish law, it was built on these set of things that you 105 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,880 don't do and things that you you do need to do, right? 106 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,640 There were 600 and some odd laws that they had to follow. 107 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,640 And so Paul takes time to explain to them that Jesus is 108 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,760 the fulfillment of the Old Testament law. 109 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:24,440 And then finally, in chapters 5 and 6, Paul explains how there 110 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,880 is a new creation through the power of the Spirit. 111 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:28,840 We're going to talk all about that this morning. 112 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:31,640 We're calling that the path of the Holy Spirit. 113 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,760 And this leads beautifully into our main idea that we've had 114 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,320 throughout this sermon series. The person, the presence, the 115 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:42,800 power and path of the Holy Spirit in our lives or in my 116 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,360 life are necessary for my life. And so we're going to dive into 117 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,680 that this morning. If you have been with us during 118 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:51,800 the first three weeks, the sermon series, you heard Pastor 119 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,040 Ben talk about who the Holy Spirit is and the person of the 120 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,040 Holy Spirit. The second week of the series, 121 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,240 we walk through what happens when the Holy Spirit shows up 122 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,120 and is freed up in our lives as we talk about the presence of 123 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,840 the Holy Spirit. Last week we talked about the 124 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:11,480 Holy Spirit, what he does once he's in our lives, in the power 125 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,000 of the Holy Spirit. And Pastor Ben preached that 126 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:15,920 link from Romans chapter 8 last week. 127 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,960 We're going to talk a little bit about that a little bit more 128 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,160 here in just a minute. I know Pastor Ben has covered 129 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,600 the person, the presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit, 130 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,640 but we're going to do a little bit unique this morning as we 131 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,040 talk through the path of the Holy Spirit. 132 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,680 We're going to revisit each of those three points, the person, 133 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,960 the presence, the power of the Holy Spirit. 134 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,240 And we're going to look at that through Galatians Chapter 5 as 135 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,320 we talk about the path of the Holy Spirit. 136 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,320 And so I hope you're buckled in this morning. 137 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,200 I hope you'll lean in. I hope that you don't think, oh, 138 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,040 you know, I'm good with all of that. 139 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,920 I've heard that I'm good and sort of check out this morning. 140 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,600 I pray that you'll lean in this morning and that you'll write 141 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,720 down whatever the Holy Spirit speaks to your life this 142 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,800 morning. It's been said that you'll 143 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,600 remember about 75% of what you write down versus about you'll 144 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,000 only remember about 15% of what you hear. 145 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,920 So if the Holy Spirit speaks to your life this morning or speaks 146 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,680 to you this morning, write this down because you'll you have a 147 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,120 greater chance of remembering if you write it down than if you do 148 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,560 if you just hear it. So as we get started this 149 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,600 morning, let me ask you a very important question. 150 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:25,040 What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives? 151 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,520 What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives? 152 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,600 Well, we're going to we're going to look at that at length this 153 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,200 morning In Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 16, Paul 154 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,360 writes this. But I say walk by the Spirit, 155 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,480 and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the 156 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,120 desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of 157 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,600 the Spirit are against the flesh. 158 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,960 For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the 159 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:56,120 things you want to do. But if you are led by the 160 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,720 Spirit, you are not under the law. 161 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:00,720 And as you can see on your note sheet this morning, we have 162 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,520 three main points that we're going to walk through. 163 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,400 The power, the presence, and the purpose of the Holy Spirit. 164 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,360 Those are out. That's our outline this morning. 165 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:15,360 So point #1 the person of the Holy Spirit, verses 16 and 18. 166 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,120 As Ben rightly said several weeks ago, and as our bumper 167 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:24,120 video said this morning, the Holy Spirit is not a force or a 168 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:25,960 feeling. It's not a thing. 169 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,640 The Holy Spirit is a person. He's the third person of the 170 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,360 Trinity. We see the Holy Spirit doing 171 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,080 several things in Scripture all throughout Scripture, the New 172 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,720 Testament. When he's promised to come, 173 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,120 Jesus tells his followers, look, I'm going away and the helper is 174 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,520 going to come. The Paraclete is going to come. 175 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,800 And when he comes, you'll be able to do greater things then 176 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,320 then you could do when I was here, right? 177 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:57,240 And so Jesus promises this gift for this, this, this person 178 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,400 that's coming to help us. And then the New Testament lays 179 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,360 out several things that He does #1 in Acts chapter 13, verse 2, 180 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,400 the Holy Spirit speaks. Listen to Acts chapter 13. 181 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,240 Two, while they were worshiping and fast, worshiping the Lord 182 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:14,520 and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart from me, 183 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,600 Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 184 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,280 The Holy Spirit spoke to them when they were worshiping and 185 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,760 fasting. This shows the personhood of the 186 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,040 Holy Spirit. Secondly, in John chapter 14 187 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:34,240 verse 26, the Holy Spirit teaches John 1426 says, But the 188 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,640 Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, 189 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:41,600 He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all 190 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:46,600 that I have said to you. The Holy Spirit teaches number 191 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,680 three or third. In Romans chapter 8 verse 14, 192 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:53,760 the Holy Spirit leads. Listen to Romans 814 for all who 193 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,000 are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 194 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,800 And this verse is the essence of the path. 195 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,960 Of the Holy Spirit as we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead us 196 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,080 and guide us through this life. Now I want to be real clear this 197 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,880 morning. Perhaps you've had an experience 198 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:17,640 and I can't, I can't invalidate your experience, but it's 199 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,600 unlikely the Holy Spirit's going to speak out loud to you. 200 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,840 All right, we we just know that because the Holy Spirit has 201 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,400 given us the Word of God through those who wrote the Word of God. 202 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:32,560 So we've got the word of God in, in what was audibly spoken to 203 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:35,240 these men who wrote the word, OK? 204 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,200 Or they were led by the Holy Spirit as they were writing 205 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,520 God's word. So it's unlikely that the Holy 206 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,120 Spirit's going to speak out loud to you now. 207 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:44,800 You may again, I can't validate your experience. 208 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,520 I can't tell God what to do, but the Holy Spirit is necessary for 209 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,400 you to be taught and for you to be led. 210 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,600 The Scriptures tell us that. The Scriptures tell us that 211 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,720 without the Holy Spirit, this is absolutely foolish for us to try 212 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,400 to read it because the Holy Spirit, 2nd Corinthians 214 says 213 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,120 that these things are spiritually discerned. 214 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,320 And without the Holy Spirit helping us to discern God's 215 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,560 Word, we will never understand what this says. 216 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,440 So we've got to have the Holy Spirit inside of us to teach us 217 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,320 and to lead us. And so the third person of the 218 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,080 Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is who does that. 219 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,400 Paul aptly reminds his readers in Galatia then and us now, 2000 220 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:31,040 years later, that the Christian life is not lived by following a 221 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:37,040 set of holy rules or moral laws. If we follow moral laws, then 222 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,840 that just makes us moral people, right? 223 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,240 If we say at the end of the day, hey, I didn't do anything wrong 224 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:44,920 today, well, that just makes you a moral person. 225 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,320 It doesn't make you a Christian if you say at the end of the 226 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:50,880 day, hey, I followed every single one of these laws where 227 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,160 you'd be a good Jew. But you wouldn't be a Christian, 228 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:57,600 right? And so in order for us to truly 229 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,360 live out the Christian life, we need the Holy Spirit and the 230 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:05,480 path of the Holy Spirit to to give us faith and to live out 231 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,120 this this Christian life in and through us. 232 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,680 We honor God the Father by living out a relationship with 233 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:17,840 the Holy Spirit. Let me give. 234 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:19,520 You just a quick example of this. 235 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,760 So I'm married. I have 5. 236 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,400 Kids. And so in order for me to 237 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,840 develop a relationship with my kids and with my wife, I can't 238 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,960 just ignore them. I can't just be married in name 239 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,360 only, right? I, I can't just say, hey, 240 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:39,920 Jennifer's my wife, but I really have no idea who she is. 241 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,640 Jeremiah, Joshua, Jonathan, Phoebe and Judah are my 242 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,880 children, but I, I, I really don't have any idea. 243 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,000 What they like to do? I don't really have any idea 244 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,080 what they like to eat or don't like to eat. 245 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:54,960 I. Don't have any idea. 246 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,440 What sports that they're involved in, I really don't know 247 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:02,200 them, but they're my kids. That's like what we do in the 248 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:07,200 Baptist Church, you know, because other religions and 249 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,040 other denominations have so abused the Holy Spirit. 250 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:14,160 As Baptists, we tend to shy away from the Holy Spirit. 251 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,080 And we're like, and we that, that that gets a little freaky 252 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:18,720 when we start talking about the Holy Spirit. 253 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:23,000 We can't be like that. We have to embrace this third 254 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,760 person of the Trinity and understand the Holy Spirit is 255 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,280 who leads us and teaches us. And so without the aid of the 256 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,160 Holy Spirit, we're never going to be successful in this life. 257 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,240 And so as we talk about the path of the Holy Spirit this morning, 258 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,160 that's what we mean. Now having a relationship with 259 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:43,160 the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in verse 16, is walking with him 260 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,880 daily. It's a conscious decision to 261 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,160 stay in tune with him moment by moment. 262 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,480 The first point that Paul gives us here in Galatians 5 about 263 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,080 developing the path of the Holy Spirit is through realizing who 264 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,880 the Holy Spirit is, the person of the Holy Spirit, and then 265 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,120 doing everything we can to develop that relationship. 266 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:07,600 We have to develop that relationship with this person of 267 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,760 the third, the third person of the Trinity. 268 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:17,640 Once that relationship is began, developed and deepened, we then 269 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,680 walk by faith as Paul says here in verse 16. 270 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,720 This leads to our second point today, the presence of the Holy 271 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,400 Spirit. Paul writes in verse 17 for the 272 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:33,040 desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. 273 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,320 Now to understand the path of the Holy Spirit. 274 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,000 How does Holy Spirit works in US? 275 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,600 We must understand what Paul's talking about here when he talks 276 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,120 about the desires of the flesh being against this thing that 277 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,880 we're trying to learn about this morning and that being the Holy 278 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,160 Spirit. So when I read Scripture, you 279 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,520 may do this as well. When I read Scripture, questions 280 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,680 often pop into my mind. And so as I'm reading Galatians 281 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,280 516 and following the first question that comes into my mind 282 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,680 when I read verse 17. For the desires of the flesh are 283 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,600 against the Spirit. I'm, I'm weird. 284 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,080 I know I'm, I'm a little different. 285 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,560 Like this morning I have on red, white and blue and somebody told 286 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,520 me this one. I see your red shirt underneath 287 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:15,160 your other shirt. I said, well, I'm trying to be 288 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:16,560 patriotic. I know it doesn't work for 289 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,040 everybody and it really doesn't work for me, but that's what I'm 290 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:20,480 doing. My wife just laughed at me when 291 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,360 I told her I was going to do that last night. 292 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,680 But it is Memorial Day weekend, so I'm trying and I have on red, 293 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,720 white and blue shoes too. So anyway, good grief. 294 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:31,240 I just totally got my train of thought. 295 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,840 Oh, I asked questions of the when I read scripture. 296 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,800 And the question that I asked when I came to verse 17, it was 297 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:40,880 OK. I, I I. 298 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,120 Kind of understand what that is, but but what are the desires of 299 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,000 the flesh? Like? 300 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,640 What does that mean? You know, we, we often read 301 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,120 scripture and we just breeze right through portions of 302 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,760 scripture thinking that we, we have a good idea of what it is. 303 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,120 But often times when we read something and we don't fully 304 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,440 understand it, we need to stop and we need to dig a little. 305 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,359 Well, here in Galatians chapter 5, I'm glad we didn't have to 306 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:10,319 dig very far because Paul gives us this list what the desires of 307 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:13,760 the flesh are. In verses 19 through 21, Paul 308 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,400 says this. Now the works or the desires of 309 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:21,000 the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, 310 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:27,480 sensuality, idolatry, sorcery. Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits 311 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,800 of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, 312 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,880 drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 313 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,240 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such 314 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,400 things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 315 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:46,440 Now, this list is not exhaustive and we know that, right? 316 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,520 There's more things that Paul could have written here, but he 317 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,960 gives us a list that kind of summarizes several things that 318 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:58,280 we in our flesh. Deal with It covers a wide array 319 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:03,000 of life, Paul says. Those who practice sexual sins, 320 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:08,000 sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, he says those who 321 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:14,080 practice idolatry, which would be idolatry, sorcery, enmity, 322 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,120 Paul says. Those who have a bad or sinful 323 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:23,280 heart, Fits of anger, jealousy, rivalries. 324 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:28,840 And those who lack self-control when your flesh lead you to 325 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,720 drunkenness or orgies or things like these. 326 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:37,200 Paul gives an exhaustive but in a but not exhaustive list, if 327 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,720 that makes sense. He gives us categories of life 328 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,200 where these things fall into you're here this morning. 329 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:48,320 You may suffer with with drunkenness, you struggle with 330 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:50,080 that. When life gets hard, you try to. 331 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:53,120 When life is easy, it's easy for you to break away from the 332 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:55,640 symbol. When life gets hard, you suffer 333 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,520 with that lack of self-control. When you turn to the bottle to 334 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:03,680 to to ease your pain, or perhaps this morning, you suffer with 335 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,800 fits of anger. Fits of anger, lack of 336 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:07,840 self-control. As. 337 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,560 I said while ago, I have 5 kids and so the Lord is continually 338 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,520 working on my patients and he's continually teaching me that I 339 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,480 have little self-control over fits of anger. 340 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,680 And so really the Lord's worked with when in me a lot in that 341 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,560 over the last probably five years as my children have gotten 342 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,560 older. And so I'm trying to get better 343 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,240 at when things happen, stopping and saying, OK, Lord, I need to 344 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,720 be led by the Spirit in this moment and just not fly off the 345 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,280 handle because my first instinct is to why did you do that? 346 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:41,320 Why you look? You know, and just giving him 347 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,440 the riot act. When the Holy Spirit doesn't do 348 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,840 that inside of us, the Holy Spirit wants to use those 349 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,320 moments as moments of, of teaching where I can say, OK, 350 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:55,440 look, when you do this, you probably should do this instead 351 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,800 of doing that, right? And so we understand this list 352 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:03,520 is not exhaustive, but it's it it, it lays out a wide array of 353 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,080 life. And so Paul is saying here that 354 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,800 those who practice these things will not inherit the Kingdom of 355 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,040 life. Of the Kingdom of God. 356 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,440 And I just want to be honest with you this morning, this 357 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,640 verse, verse 21 ought to scare us to death. 358 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,400 It really ought to 'cause us, it really ought to cause us to to 359 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,840 stop and evaluate our life. Look, if we're practicing these 360 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:35,200 things that Paul just laid out, then this is the reality for us, 361 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,080 that we're going to not experience a life filled with 362 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,200 God, a life of love, a life of everlasting joy and peace. 363 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:49,000 Paul says if you practice these things, then you will not 364 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,880 inherit the Kingdom of God. Ben mentioned something last 365 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:54,520 week that resonated with my heart. 366 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,600 He said it's not the existence of hell or even the fact that 367 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,400 the Bible describes hell as a place of fire and burning and 368 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,160 torment that makes it terrifying. 369 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,800 What makes hell terrifying is that it's eternal. 370 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:14,600 The eternality of hell. Yes, fire and and and torment, 371 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,840 those things are scary, but it's the eternality that the the the 372 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,440 the existence. Of hell for. 373 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,440 All of eternity, that should scare us to death. 374 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,840 The question came up this week, you know, is it, is it, is it 375 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,840 really the absence of God in hell that really should scare 376 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,960 us? And there is some truth to that, 377 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,200 but I, I tend to think that that God's existence will be known in 378 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,280 hell because somebody's got to be there pouring out the wrath 379 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,080 of God. Somebody's got to be there, got 380 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:51,000 to be there exercising the penalty of, of sin, the penalty 381 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,200 of not receiving Jesus as our Savior. 382 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,440 And so kind of what we talked about was what's going to be 383 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:00,920 absent from hell is realizing that peace, joy and love for all 384 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,800 eternity that God gives us right in heaven. 385 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,840 When we get to heaven, our own the new heaven and the new 386 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,560 earth. And So what makes hell so 387 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:14,520 terrifying and what should just make all of our teens chatter is 388 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,360 the fact that Paul says those that experience these things, 389 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:22,400 those who allow the the the flesh to win all the time in 390 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,440 your life, it's symptomatic of something deeper. 391 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,760 And that something deeper is that you've never given Jesus 392 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,600 your heart and your life in total surrender to him. 393 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,240 Now some of you in here are probably like me. 394 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,000 I absolutely love shooting fireworks. 395 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,120 I get you something about it that just, I don't know, I love 396 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:45,080 it. And really I love shooting 397 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,440 anything I have. I have some some fun toys at my 398 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,880 house that I love to take out occasionally and and have fun 399 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,920 with. And also I really love to burn 400 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,720 anything. So if you want to, if you like 401 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,480 something, you know, that's flammable and you, you bring it 402 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,120 to my house, don't leave it at my house because it's probably 403 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:08,720 going to get burned, right. Hey, let's see what happens when 404 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,560 we do this. Now I do I, I guess I'm a 405 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,840 pyromaniac at heart, but it never, ever, ever fails. 406 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,080 Never. And I'm sure those. 407 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,960 Of you who shoot fireworks. You can identify with this. 408 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,960 It never fails. We go shoot fireworks. 409 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,240 It can be a little bottle rocket or it can. 410 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,640 Be a Roman candle, or it can be ones that go 4000 feet in the 411 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:30,560 air. Whatever it is, I wish I'd never 412 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:32,280 shot one of those. That would be fun if I could. 413 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:34,400 But anyway, I've seen YouTube videos. 414 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,160 When you light the fuse on the fireworks, what happens? 415 00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:44,440 You burn your finger every time. Like I'm not smart enough to 416 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:46,560 realize that I need one of those long lighters. 417 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,040 Like, I got to get really close to the action and use like a 418 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,280 cigarette lighter. And so when you light it, like 419 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,880 shoots back and you burn your finger every time. 420 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,480 I don't care what I'm doing. Anytime we shoot fireworks for 421 00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,920 two days after shooting fireworks, I just know I'm going 422 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:04,480 to have a burn finger, right? And as bad as that hurts for two 423 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:10,320 or three days, I cannot imagine experiencing that for all of 424 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:14,320 eternity. Can I tell you this morning, 425 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,800 church? Verse 21 of Galatians 5 ought to 426 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:29,200 scare us to death because hell is not a place of intermittent 427 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,360 suffering. Until Jesus rescues us from 428 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:39,160 hell, we've got one chance, one life only to receive Jesus as 429 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,960 our Lord and Savior so that we don't have to experience the 430 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,720 wrath of God for all of eternity. 431 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,520 And I pray that today that that as you sit in this room and as 432 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,440 you listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth, that the 433 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,840 Holy Spirit is, is actively penetrating your heart, telling 434 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,840 you, yes, you're good. You know Jesus as your savior. 435 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,000 Because I believe the Holy Spirit will do the opposite. 436 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,720 If you don't know him, the Holy Spirit will also prick your 437 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,440 heart this morning. Your heart will start beating 438 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,400 faster and you'll start thinking, wow, do I really know 439 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,320 Christ? I pray this morning that you do 440 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,360 again. Paul says in verse 16 and 17, I 441 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:26,680 say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of 442 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,720 the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit 443 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,400 and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. 444 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,480 For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the 445 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,840 things you want to do. This is the path of the Holy 446 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,440 Spirit. Through His presence, He allows 447 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,960 us to experience victory over the flesh. 448 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:52,200 Finally, point #3 this morning, the power of the Holy Spirit. 449 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,280 Pastor Brent. Pastor Ben preached on this at 450 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,200 length last week, so I'm not going to redo his sermon. 451 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,840 I invite you to go to our website, Riverbend Church dot 452 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,600 Life. You can go on YouTube. 453 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,360 You can find our sermons in the sermon series. 454 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:10,720 If you haven't been here during the first 3 or 4 weeks of the 455 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,560 series, I pray that you'll go back and you'll watch those. 456 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,920 Pastor Ben's done a great job of laying out what the Holy Spirit 457 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,080 is and who the Holy Spirit is and how He works in our lives. 458 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,920 So I encourage you to do that. But in terms of Galatians 459 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:28,760 chapter 5, I do want to lay out the power of the Holy Spirit as 460 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,640 we look for the path or how the path of the Holy Spirit might 461 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,160 work. If you were with us last week, 462 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,560 Romans chapter 8 was our text. Verse one of Romans says there 463 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,800 is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ 464 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,160 Jesus. Well, why is that? 465 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,880 Well, because the Holy Spirit lives in US and the Holy Spirit 466 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,760 assures me of my salvation. So he frees me from any 467 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:58,200 condemnation whenever Satan starts time to to confuse me and 468 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,040 say, why did you do that? Well, you should be condemned 469 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,000 for that. The Holy Spirit reassures me. 470 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,000 No, you're not condemned for that, because Jesus paid your 471 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,000 penalty. And so the Holy Spirit assures 472 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,480 in me my salvation, because the Holy Spirit assures me of my 473 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:14,960 salvation. I can be. 474 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,800 Confident that I'm living my life and obedience to Him. 475 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,640 And I don't have to. Worry about facing death because 476 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,400 there is therefore now no condemnation. 477 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,720 The Holy Spirit living in US assures us of our salvation. 478 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:35,800 Or conversely, here in Galatians 5, Paul says if we deny the 479 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,200 power of the Holy Spirit and live according to our flesh, we 480 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:40,920 will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 481 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,960 So the Holy Spirit's either assuring you of your salvation 482 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,600 or he's assuring you of your lostness. 483 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,520 The Holy Spirit does both of these things. 484 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,120 And so, as Ben said last week, yes. 485 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,960 Often times when we question our salvation, if you're not saved, 486 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:02,320 then it's then it's going to come in the in the form of a 487 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,160 question or condemnation. But if you are saved, the Holy 488 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,920 Spirit assures us and frees us from that condemnation, if that 489 00:28:10,360 --> 00:28:13,240 makes sense. Now again I like to read 490 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,080 questions or I like to ask questions as I read Scripture. 491 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:22,080 And so as I'm reading. This passage of Scripture, Paul 492 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:26,280 gives us a second list that that contrasts the list of the flesh, 493 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,360 right? So he talks about this living by 494 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:32,000 the Spirit and it'll create desires in US. 495 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,400 And so my second question were what are the desires of the 496 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,760 Spirit? Thankfully, Paul gives us that 497 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,280 in verses 20 through 22 through 24. 498 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,920 But the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, patience, 499 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,720 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and 500 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,480 self-control. I told myself I wasn't going to 501 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,000 do this, but I am anyway. If any of you sang that song, 502 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,680 I've got Lovejoy, Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 503 00:28:57,680 --> 00:28:58,960 faithfulness. We used to sing in youth all the 504 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,600 time and I'm so thankful that my youth pastor decided to sing 505 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,040 that song. We would start real slow. 506 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,320 I've got Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 507 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,600 faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 508 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,280 And then as we sang it one more we get real fast. 509 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,200 I've got Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, 510 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:18,720 faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 511 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,120 So I'm so. Thankful that my youth pastor 512 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,960 taught me that that song because now whenever I think about what 513 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,680 are the works of the spirit, that song comes to my mind and 514 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,160 it allows me to say hey, am I living by? 515 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,120 The fruit of the spirit, Lovejoy, peace, patience, 516 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:37,880 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and 517 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,240 self-control. Are those things evident in my 518 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,080 life. Now, here's one thing about the 519 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:46,600 fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruits of the 520 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:48,680 Spirit. It's kind of like when I hear 521 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,720 people say revelations. There was only one revelation 522 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,240 given to Paul. Yes, it was written over a lot 523 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,880 of chapters. There's only one revelation. 524 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,680 So when you want to study Revelation? 525 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,080 Don't say, hey pastor, talk and we study revelations. 526 00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,400 Now all of you are going to do that just to drive me nuts 527 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,960 because it really does. I want to say, no, it's 528 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,640 singular, not plural, right? But the fruit of the Spirit is 529 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,120 the same way. It's singular. 530 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,640 It's not plural, although the list contains several things 531 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,600 that should characterize our life as Christians. 532 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:28,240 So let me ask you this morning, does your life look like the 533 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:33,360 list of the flesh? Or does your life look like 534 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:42,600 Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and 535 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:48,960 self-control? Which is present more in your 536 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,280 life? Because remember what Paul says 537 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:59,240 at the end of verse 21, those who allow the sins of the flesh. 538 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:02,320 To live out and to characterize their life. 539 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,040 It's those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 540 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,880 However, if your life is characterized, if your character 541 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,640 is made-up of Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 542 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,160 faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then Paul says 543 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,720 against such things there is no law. 544 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,640 And those who belong to Christ. Jesus have crucified the flesh. 545 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,320 With its passions and desires. Now here's the unique thing 546 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,280 about this list of the fruit of the Spirit. 547 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,400 No matter what we do, we can't muscle up. 548 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,360 We can't make this thing happen. We can't pray harder. 549 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,960 We can't try harder to love that unlovable person that's in our 550 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,920 lives. We can't try harder to to muscle 551 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,480 up the fruit of the Spirit. No, you can't, just like we 552 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:01,200 can't earn our salvation. I love The Blood, the last song 553 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,880 that we sang and how it talks about the chasm that that opened 554 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,560 up when when Adam and Eve sinned. 555 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,280 And now all of us are born as sinners and that chasm is far 556 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:17,440 too wide for us to cross. So something else had to happen. 557 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,640 Jesus. God had to move in the form of 558 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,400 sending his Son Jesus to die for you and me so that that chasm 559 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,680 could be crossed, so that you and I were given the gift of 560 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:30,840 salvation that happened. Through the power. 561 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:36,760 Of God sending his Son Jesus. But I love Romans 8. 562 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,880 Pastor Ben challenged us last week to go back into journal 563 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,960 Romans chapter 8 to write the entire chapter. 564 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:46,120 And so I've been doing that this week. 565 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,360 And one of my favorite passages in Romans chapter 8 is verses 28 566 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,040 and following, and it talks about the Holy Spirit in our 567 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,240 lives. Listen to this as Paul writes 568 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,160 this in Romans 828 through 32. And we know that for those who 569 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:02,400 love God, all things work together for good, For those who 570 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,000 are called according to His purpose, for those whom He 571 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,280 foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His 572 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,960 Son, in order that He might be the first born among many 573 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,440 brothers. Those whom he predestined, he 574 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,000 also called. Those whom he called, he also 575 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,840 justified. And those whom he justified, he 576 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,320 also glorified. Can I tell you this morning, you 577 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:23,960 don't play a part in any of that? 578 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:27,840 The Holy Spirit plays a part in all of that. 579 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,000 All we are responsible for is receiving that gift. 580 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,720 And once we receive that gift that is freely offered to you 581 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,200 and me, the Holy Spirit goes to work. 582 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:40,880 He predestined us. He foreknew us. 583 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:45,120 He he, he brings us into glory. All of those things are works of 584 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:48,120 the Holy Spirit. If you want to know the path of 585 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,760 the Holy Spirit, it's through the work that He does in and 586 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,440 through us, through His power. Let me say this as plainly as I 587 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,320 know how. We don't bear the fruit of the 588 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:02,760 Holy Spirit by trying harder. Now sure, there's things we can 589 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,440 do to help. US develop the fruit of the 590 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,080 Spirit in our lives and I pray that you do this by you being 591 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:10,760 here this morning. It's evident that you understand 592 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,840 because some things that we can do are called spiritual 593 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,400 disciplines, right? Spiritual disciplines, attending 594 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:24,440 church, reading your Bible, praying, sacrificing, giving 595 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:29,000 sacrificially, all of those things I believe are are helpful 596 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,520 in developing the fruit of the Spirit in US. 597 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,520 But we can't do those things more and do them harder and 598 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,080 develop the fruit of the fruit of the Spirit faster. 599 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,880 I hope that makes sense to you this morning because the fruit 600 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,960 of the Spirit is the work of the Lord in us. 601 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,560 If I could ask this question this way, I could make this 602 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:48,679 point this way. How many of you are experiencing 603 00:34:48,679 --> 00:34:51,239 trials today? I'm sure many of you would raise 604 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,679 your hand. I could ask the question, how 605 00:34:53,679 --> 00:34:56,000 many of you have experienced trials in your life at all? 606 00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:58,600 And I'm sure every single one in the room, if you're older than 607 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,560 maybe five years old and you understand what a trial is. 608 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:03,560 Everybody in the room would raise their hand. 609 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,640 What did you do to bring that trial into your life? 610 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:12,960 Well, probably nothing. You could say, well, I made a 611 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,400 bad decision. Well, maybe, but you didn't do 612 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:17,880 anything to bring that trial in your life. 613 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,760 That's Romans 828 and following. God allows those things to 614 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,040 happen in our lives to make us more like Him. 615 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,520 All things work together for good for those who are called 616 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:29,200 according to his purposes. Right. 617 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:32,840 And so when those trials come into our life that you didn't do 618 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,040 anything to invite into your life, it's the Holy Spirit, the 619 00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,120 path of the Holy Spirit working in and through you to make you 620 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,920 into the image of his Son. So that when we stand before 621 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,840 Christ at the end of our life, we don't have to say, look, I 622 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,360 did all these things in order to be standing here in front of you 623 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:54,600 today. That would be foolish, right? 624 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,680 Jesus is going to look at us or God's going to look at us and 625 00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,840 he's going to say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, 626 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:01,880 right? You didn't do what I commanded 627 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,120 you to do with my Son. And that is just accept the free 628 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:06,840 gift of salvation that he's given us. 629 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,560 Once we accept that gift of salvation, we're good, right? 630 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:13,840 And then the Holy Spirit goes to work in and through US. 631 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:15,760 I. Hope that makes sense to you 632 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,880 this morning. Instead of asking how can I be 633 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,720 more loving? How can I be more patient? 634 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:27,040 How can I be more joyful? Instead, we should ask what John 635 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,400 writes in John 15 Five. I am divine. 636 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:35,280 You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in 637 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,600 Him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can 638 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,040 do nothing. What's our responsibility in 639 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,640 this Christian life? It's to abide in Christ. 640 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,320 That's it. That's it. 641 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:50,840 You say, well, that sounds too simple. 642 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:56,600 Well, you're kind of right. But the way that we abide in Him 643 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:01,480 is through every day. Soaking up the word every day, 644 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,440 hitting our knees in prayer and saying, OK, God, I'm going to 645 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,760 face things today that are going to push my buttons. 646 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,040 I'm going to say things today that are going to light my fuse. 647 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:13,840 Lord, I want the world to see you through me. 648 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:19,000 And so help me to develop patience for people because 649 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:20,840 people are people sometimes, right? 650 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,520 And they can get on your nerves. Help me develop patience. 651 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:29,000 Help me develop love, help me develop the fruit of the Spirit 652 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:31,240 in my life. John tells us all we have to do 653 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:34,640 is abide in Christ. That's the path of the Holy 654 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,480 Spirit in us. As we draw all of this together. 655 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,640 This morning worship team is going to come. 656 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,760 They're going to begin to play. When I think about the path of 657 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:50,760 the Holy Spirit, Galatians 516 and 525 draw it all together for 658 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,800 me. Paul writes this in verse 16, 659 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:59,960 walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the 660 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:03,080 flesh. And then in verse 25, he says if 661 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:06,920 we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the 662 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:08,160 Spirit. I love that. 663 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,960 I'm a very visual guy. When I think about what Paul 664 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:16,120 says here in verse 25, keep in step, some of you have seen this 665 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,280 on TV, some of you have lived this out in real life. 666 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:23,640 But what I hear when I read that verse is left, left, left, 667 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:28,480 right, left, left, left, left, right, left. 668 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,640 Now, some of you just brought back PTSD, right? 669 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,600 Because you were in the Army and that was drilled into your head 670 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,200 during boot boot camp. But when you. 671 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,920 First, got to boot camp. For those of you that went or if 672 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,160 you know anything about those who have been to boot camp, 673 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,240 walking in cadence is a thing that just doesn't come natural 674 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:47,960 because we all want to do our own thing. 675 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,240 Walking in cadence takes time to to drill into your brain. 676 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,160 Right, we have to figure out my drill sergeant's going to leave 677 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:02,560 me alone if I'm doing it right, left, left, left, right, left. 678 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:05,040 Well, that's what Paul's talking about here in verse 25. 679 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:08,680 The Holy Spirit's like the drill Sergeant. 680 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:12,320 He's like the cadence, the, the, the unit commander. 681 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,640 Whoever calls out that cadence, that's the Holy Spirit in our 682 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,720 lives. He's calling out that cadence. 683 00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:22,200 Follow me. Do this. 684 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:26,280 Don't do that. Make this choice, not that 685 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:30,280 choice. Buy this car, not this car. 686 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,000 Don't buy that car at all. You don't need it, right? 687 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,480 The Holy Spirit guides us and we have to get used to living in 688 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:40,760 that cadence. We have to develop that cadence 689 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:42,960 in our life. And the way that we do that is 690 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:48,640 through studying the Word and through abiding in Christ. 691 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,360 By marching with the Holy. Spirit, by following His path, 692 00:39:55,240 --> 00:40:01,480 we will not gratify or satisfy the desires of our flesh in our 693 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:05,440 life as we often do. On the bottom of your note 694 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,640 sheet, I've just given you two key questions. 695 00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:13,360 I want you to sort of try to internalize the path of the Holy 696 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,640 Spirit this morning. So #1 Holy Spirit, what step or 697 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,960 steps are you leading me to take today? 698 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,880 I believe that every time we come into worship together, the 699 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,320 Holy Spirit desires something of us. 700 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:31,040 Perhaps you're here this morning. 701 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:35,240 The Holy Spirit desires for you to leave that burden that you're 702 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:37,680 you're carrying at this altar this morning. 703 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:40,480 You're not meant to carry that alone. 704 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,200 Some of you have been carrying that burden for far too long. 705 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,720 And the Holy Spirit is is is prompting your heart today to 706 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:49,920 leave that burden at the foot of Jesus. 707 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,240 And we believe that's what this altar symbolizes. 708 00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:56,240 It's us coming up here and just laying our burdens at the feet 709 00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:00,360 of Jesus and leaving them there. How crazy would it be for you to 710 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,320 be carrying around a 50 LB weight and you're like, man, I 711 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,200 just need to get rid of this 50 LB weight. 712 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,520 Well, you lay it down somewhere and you walk away from it and 5 713 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,640 minutes later you go, wait, I forgot my 50 LB weight. 714 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:11,640 I want to go back and. Pick it up. 715 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:13,240 Again. No. 716 00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:18,480 The Holy Spirit wants you to to drop that burden at the altar. 717 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,200 You can't do anything about it anyway. 718 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,400 You worrying about it, it's just going to give you more Gray 719 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:27,160 hair, right? So let's leave that burden at 720 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,680 the feet of Jesus. This morning and then secondly. 721 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:33,480 Have I fully? Surrendered my life to Christ so 722 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,560 I can be led by the Spirit. Some of you are wanting to be 723 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:41,240 led by the Spirit, but you've never, you've never asked Christ 724 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:45,320 to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart and life 725 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:46,920 and save you. Praise the Lord. 726 00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:48,880 There were I know of, at least I think. 727 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,840 Three people last week who gave their heart and life to Jesus. 728 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,680 Praise the Lord for that. Their walk with the Holy Spirit 729 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,760 started last Sunday. But perhaps for some of you in 730 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:04,480 the room this morning, your walk with the Holy Spirit's never 731 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,960 started because you've never surrendered your life to Jesus. 732 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,440 Here, in just a few minutes, our worship team is going to come 733 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,560 up, and they're going to lead us in a time of response. 734 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:19,320 Here's what I ask of you. It's real easy for us to stand 735 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,200 up and sing and maybe slide out. You've really got to go to the 736 00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:23,640 bathroom or something like that at that. 737 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,680 If you need to do that, fine. Why don't I ask? 738 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:31,600 This morning when we stand to our feet, let's have as few 739 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:36,160 distractions as possible. Let's let's give room for the 740 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,000 Holy Spirit to work this morning. 741 00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:43,480 If you're here this morning and you're good with salvation, 742 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,880 you're good with where you are, then pray for the people around 743 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:48,160 you. Pray that God would prick their 744 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,480 heart and that he would move in their life and lead them to 745 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,760 salvation this morning. Father, thank you so much for 746 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,920 your word today. Father, I thank you that this 747 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,840 study has been great for me, this third person series that 748 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,280 we've walked through over the last three to four weeks because 749 00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:09,800 it's brought me front and center to the conversation of, well, do 750 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,680 I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior? 751 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:17,040 Lord, thankfully the Holy Spirit has assured my heart and my life 752 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:21,600 of who I am and, and, and more than that, who I belong to and 753 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:25,680 that's you. Father, I pray that you would 754 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:27,640 have your will and your way in this place this morning. 755 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,800 Lord, that there's burdens that need to be left at this altar. 756 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,320 Father, I pray that you would do that. 757 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,120 Father, I pray that you would release somebody this morning 758 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,760 from this burden that they've been carrying for years, Father, 759 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,960 that they would leave here with a new sense of freedom today. 760 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:47,760 Father, perhaps you're calling somebody to salvation. 761 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,200 Lord, I pray that you would prick their heart in the way 762 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,880 this morning that they cannot get away from and that they 763 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:55,960 would come talk to either Pastor Ben or myself. 764 00:43:55,960 --> 00:44:00,800 And Lord, we could nail down their salvation today. 765 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,480 Have your will and your place. Have your will and your way in 766 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,080 this place, in Christ's name, we pray. 767 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,520 Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast. 768 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,440 Learn more about who we are as a church and how to connect. 769 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,440 You can head over to our website Riverbend Church dot Life.