Morning, church. Good morning to those of you
online. Julaine in Michigan and Elizabeth in
Wisconsin are there today. And you guys are close
enough. That probably makes it a micro location.
We'll just call it that. But no, welcome. Glad
you guys are with us. Pauldin, Baghdad. Super,
super glad that you guys are on the journey with
us and to hear what God is doing. Got a little
feedback of what God's up to. Exciting things
are happening in both of those places. Even like
ministry merging, so locations merging across,
which is really cool, and relationships being
built. And so just super grateful for that and
glad you guys are there today. And welcome to
the room. If you're here, welcome to you. Glad
you are in the room. Okay, we got to get something
out of the way real quick because we got to understand
who's in the room and who's online with us today
on the online fam. Okay, if I do this, if I go
like this, how many of you are like, yeah, I
remember those days? Okay. All right. All right.
Just make sure. Maybe throw some radio chats
in the emoji. Radio emoji chat. Whatever. In
the chat. There you go. I thought I'd bring out
the big guns, by the way, just so you know. Some
of you got stories. I know it. Some of you got
stories of carrying your box and how you breakdanced
after. I know it. I know some of you got those
tales. And then they went to iPods and everything
just kind of fell apart, you know? But yeah,
super, super, super glad you are here. And maybe
just kind of walking into going, right, this,
this, this, not the specific like layout and
structure and all of that and the room and the
lights and whatever. But what God intended when
he came, died on a cross, rose again, is that
a community of people would be born. And you
get right. Like some of you are like, wait, we
laughed in church. Yes, we laughed in church.
You realize this is supposed to be fun. You get
that right. Like like God is the inventor of
laughing and he gifted you with the ability to
laugh. you should be able to laugh, right? Like
it's honoring to him just as much as when you
do other stuff. And sometimes I think like when
it comes down to community and church, we miss
it. If you're not having fun, you're doing this
wrong. Okay, four of you believe that. That's
good. Good. That means I got about 96 % of you
that I still got to work on. But seriously, if
this isn't fun, we're doing it wrong. This is
supposed to be something that when we gather
together, what happens is that hopefully we're
here because we like it. We're here because you
get to hear somebody next to you sing. And you're
like, I can't sing. I'm glad they're singing.
I'm just going to tuck in underneath them and
I'm going to sound good because they sound good.
You know what I mean? But it's supposed to be
something where you come and you're encouraged
and you're around people that have joy. You know
you were given by God this immense joy to carry
everywhere you go? That means you shouldn't be
a lemon face. You shouldn't walk around looking
like you've been sucking on lemons. But how often
do you run into believers, to Christians, to
people who say they trust Jesus and they're the
most miserable people on the planet? You're doing
it wrong. You're doing it wrong. This was meant
to be something that's in, like when somebody
sees you and they see us and especially in a
gathering like this, they're like, I gotta be
a part of that. Because what they see here is
different. What they see here is this thing that
they can't get anywhere else. That's what this
is supposed to be. It's incredible the gift that
we have been given by God. And yet so often,
what do we do? Oh, I got to go to church. I just
got to survive the next, I don't know, 33 minutes
roughly. 38, thank you. Thank you for clarifying.
Somebody's being very kind because I'm speaking,
it's probably more like 45. Let's be honest.
How many of us, how many of us have the absolute
joy sucked out of this life? You said yes to
Jesus, and now all you do is feel a weight, this
immense pressure of you've got to show up, you've
got to perform, you've got to do. That God somehow
is unhappy with you, and he is not towards you,
and so you're constantly trying to earn the favor
of God and bring him towards you. And just, if
I could just get God to give me an attaboy today.
God, you see me in church today, right? Nobody
wants to be a part of that. Including me. That
sounds miserable. And how many of us, how many
of us, if we were really honest, believe that
God is this egotistical being that is just waiting
for you to screw up so he can show you how much
you screwed up. He's just this being that's just
waiting. He's waiting. He's got a big old baseball
bat. Right? I don't know how many of us are just
like on the edge of, man, I'm going to do something
that's going to set him off, and he's going to
remove all the blessings. And so I'm just here
managing blessings, right? I'm just keeping this
being out there, like keep him happy. Can I tell
you something? You never got one blessing because
of anything you did. That's not the gospel. That's
not good news. Good news is that I couldn't do
anything to earn a blessing and God showed up
and goes, hey, you're the most blessed person
on the planet. That's what we have in the person
of Jesus. And that's why we should walk around
going, have you seen those people? Have you seen
how free they are? It is for what? Wow. Three
of you. Thanks for being here last week. Cause
you're really encouraging me by remembering that
whole thing from last week. It is for freedom
that you have been what? Set free. Okay. We got
about 10 of you. We're getting better. It is
for freedom, freedom, freedom that you have been
set free. Okay, so last week we talked about
this idea, right? And just so you know, because
some people were like, I don't know what you
were pointing to last week. You were doing a
lot of this, right? There's a phrase no longer
on one side and there's a phrase not yet on the
other. Hopefully you can see that. The no longer
side is before that, before that, when you were
born on this planet, you were born into slavery.
What was slavery? You were born into, into, if
you were going to get anything, you had to earn
it. You had to work for it. You had to figure
out your way. You were a slave to your own indulgences.
All of that, right? You were a slave. Then you
met Jesus. And Paul says, because you met Jesus,
you are free. It is for freedom that you're set
free. So what happens now is right now, here
and now, even with the struggles of this life,
I'm free. And we'll talk about that more in a
minute. However, however, I know we're not there
yet. You know how I know? I sat down, second
row, right where you guys are, sat down there
this morning, crossed my leg. I looked to David,
who was sitting next to me. I go, you know you're
getting old when you cross your leg and go, ooh,
that hip is tight. Right? We know we're not there
yet. We got pain. We got pain. We know that there's
more to come. We know the inheritance to come,
the new heavens, new earth. We're not there yet.
And so we live in this in between. And what you
have in Galatians chapter five is the roadmap
that if you like, it's the cheat code from God,
how to live this life as a Christian, how to
live on this planet with all this stuff, all
the stuff, all the messaging, all the things
that the media wants to throw at you, everything,
right? Like with all of that stuff, this is how
you live. This is how you live the in -between
life. where I'm no longer a slave, I'm no longer
controlled by everything, but now I'm in this
in -between. And so then he starts in chapter
5, verse 13. And he says, you, you, my brothers
and sisters, so speaking to church people, speaking
to the church, those that have put their trust
in Jesus, right? They cross that finish line
of faith. We're called, we're called to be free.
You're called to be free. That's who you are
as a follower of Jesus. Now, we got to be really
clear what we mean by free. Free means what?
Free. You're free to do whatever you want. Some
of you as parents are going, please don't tell
my kids that. But it's the truth of the good
news. You're free to do whatever you want. How
do I know? You, my brothers and sisters, were
called to be free. But do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another
humbly in love. What does he say? You're called
to be free. Who are you? You are no longer a
slave. You are free. In this in -between life.
Who you are is you are free. Now, what does free
mean? It's that you have been granted freedom.
Why is that such a big deal? Because freedom
means that you have the power of choice. If you
were here last week, you heard us talk about
when you're a slave, you don't have options.
So he frees you from slavery. So remember, I
don't have an option. Don't get mad at people
that don't know Jesus, that live like they don't
know Jesus. Don't get mad at them. They're just
doing what they can only do. Right? Let's stop
judging them. Let's stop putting them to a higher
standard. And let's look at ourselves and go,
wait a minute. For me, for me, as a follower
of Jesus, I have met the living Jesus. That has
transformed me. And now I am free. And the gift
that I have been given is freedom. It's freedom.
You have the choice. You know, you know, okay,
okay. You leave here. And you go out and do the
very thing that God don't want you to do. God,
more happy with you, more sad with you. He hasn't
moved. Why? Because he made you free. He gave
you a choice. And what you did with the choice
is you exercise what you have, but it does not
change who you are and it does not change what
he has done. It's called grace. You can't change
your standing with God because you didn't do
anything to get it in the first place. We've
talked over and over all these last few weeks.
You will never be more forgiven than you are
right now. And at some point, we've got to get
that through our heads, right? The idea of, man,
I have a good day and I have a bad day. Okay,
that's human. But that doesn't change who God
is and it doesn't change who I am to God. You're
completely, completely, this is the good news
of the gospel. You are completely. Free to choose.
Why choose? Go all the way back to the garden.
Remember in the garden, they had a choice, right?
They got to choose. Why? Because they were free.
And out of that choice, they chose something.
They chose what? To display what they loved.
And they chose that they loved themselves. What
do you have? You have the freedom to choose.
What are you doing with your freedom to choose?
You get to put it towards what you're saying
is valuable. And what he says here is don't use
your freedom. Don't use your freedom. This life
you've been given, these options you have to
do whatever you want, whenever you want. And
by whatever you want, I mean whatever you want.
You can do it because you're free. But he says,
don't use it to indulge your selfish indulgences.
Don't use it to indulge your sin nature, what
I inherited from Adam. Don't use it. Don't use
your freedom. And so the original language at
this point, it talks about, or it says to indulge
the flesh. That is actually, it's hard to translate
into English. But what it means is don't set
up a base of operations to get from here to there.
So what he's saying is don't take your freedom
in this in -between life. Don't take the freedom
you've been given and now use it like a launch
pad to set off towards what your sinful desires
want. He goes, you can because you're free. But
don't do it. Because why? I'm no longer a slave.
I'm no longer a slave to the sin and the self
-indulgence and the self -centeredness and the
selfishness that I had before. I'm now free to
what? To use my freedom. And what does he say
to use it towards? Rather serve one another humbly
in love. You see what's amazing with freedom?
Is freedom means I don't have to act like that
no more. Which makes me free to act like this.
So it means that, let's make it real practical.
In my marriage, I don't have to take this thing
that is beautiful, that's God designed, and make
it all about me and my wants and my selfish indulgences.
I don't have to. Why? Because I've been given
freedom. And that freedom is best served, best
used, what? When I humbly serve my wife in love.
I mean, if we just pause there for a second.
If every marriage relationship under the sound
of this microphone went, you know what? I'm going
to take my freedom and I'm going to serve my
spouse humbly in love. What would happen to our
families? They'd be stronger than any you've
ever seen. Why? Because that's what freedom does.
It gives me the freedom. I'm not bound to go
serve myself. I don't have to go back to this
old life and try and rally around this. I am
free. I am free to serve you. I don't have to.
I'm not stuck just making myself happy anymore.
Jesus set me free. And he's saying, use this
launch pad. Use this launch pad to what? To see
others. Don't go back and see yourself. What
does the enemy want to do? Remember the enemy
has a battle plan from last week? What does the
enemy want to do? He can't touch your new identity.
He can't steal your future, but he can steal
your life. So what is the enemy's game plan?
He wants to convince you that what? You're still
the same old person you always were. You're still
a slave to those desires. You still can't control
them. He wants to tell you that you're never
going to have victory over the thing that you're
struggling with. He wants to tell you that there
is no chance that you will ever overcome the
struggle that's in your life. That same old vice
you go back to over and over. That same old thought
pattern you go over and over. That same old mouth,
right? When you open your mouth. All you got
is gossip for everybody else, right? Like you're
going, you're going, I can't. The enemy is telling
you, you can't. God is telling you, you can't.
The enemy is telling you, you will always be
the same. Sorry, you're not the same person.
You were transformed by the person of Jesus Christ.
You were made free. And so those old patterns,
they do not have a hold on you anymore. So use
your freedom. And so he continues on. He goes,
for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping one
command. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love
your neighbor as yourself. If you've been around
church, you've heard this before, right? But
what he's getting at is you go back to the law,
and we'll just take the Ten Commandments for
right now. But you go back to the Ten Commandments,
and if we just pick a couple. Don't covet your
neighbor's stuff, or specifically your neighbor's
wife. If I'm going to love you as I love myself,
I'm not going to covet your wife. Why? Because
I don't want you coveting my wife. Right? She's
not yours. She's mine. Think of another one,
right? I'm not going to steal from you. Why wouldn't
I steal from you? Because I don't want you stealing
from me. Right? You're now free to what? To love
your neighbor the way you want to be loved. Because
my eyes aren't on me and I'm not trying to get
it. So he goes, listen, you fulfill the entire
law. By just loving your neighbor as yourself.
Because that'll put your eyes off of you and
onto what? Onto other people, which is what your
freedom was designed for. But notice he pulls
it now to a specific problem in the church in
Galatia. If you bite and devour each other, watch
out or you will be destroyed by each other. Like
another translation says backbiting. If you go
about backbiting, like that's a phrase we should
bring back. Right? Like it's so graphic. Like,
just think about it for a second. You run around
backbiting each other. It's like, oh man, a bunch
of wild animals up in here. That's the imagery
that he wants them to get. You see, somewhere
along the way in the church in Galatia, they
were using their freedom as a launch pad to what?
Tear each other apart with their words. They
were fighting with each other. And the imagery
here is, if you were hearing it for the first
time in this original cultural context, within
Greek culture, the same phrase is used for wild
animals that continue to go at each other until
they tear each other apart, and more than likely,
both of them are left dead. What he is telling
them here is very real in the early church, that
if they carry on the way they are using their
freedom to go at each other, because you're free.
You're free to yell. You're free to gossip. You're
free to, you can do all that, right? Because
you've been made free in what? In Christ. And
you won't be, you won't be what? Punished for
it. Why? Because Jesus already received all your
punishment. And so you can go about that way,
church. Is what he's saying. But what he's getting
at is if you, and it's to the point where he
goes, if you carry on, there's a chance that
the church in the Galatia area, you're going
to destroy each other. There'll be nothing left.
So it's a practical example of what it looks
like to use your launch pad for yourself. I don't
know. It's worth saying. If you make this all
about you, you're going to destroy it. Right?
You make this about you and what you like. My
latte wasn't hot enough. Right? Nobody said hi
to me. Well, did you say hi to anybody? Did you
choose to become a door greeter so that you could
say hi to fix the problem? I can't get in a life
group. There's no life groups, man. I tried.
There's a wait list. Okay, so did you go, hey,
how do I become a leader? Can you train me to
become a leader? What does that look like? Would
you disciple me to be a leader so I can help
fix the problem that's there? Isn't it interesting?
Like when we take our freedom and make it about
us, we can make this about us. And you just need
to know what Paul's saying. When you make this
about us, when you make it about you, you're
going to destroy it because it's not about you.
That's how churches come and go. It's not long.
I've lived in Prescott long enough. I've seen
the crowd move from church to church to church
to church. Me and God got an ongoing conversation.
How long is it till heights? We do something,
say something. All of a sudden it's like, boom,
we're going to pick a church. That's not what
this is meant to be. You know that, right? This
is so much greater than we give it pictures for.
And what he's getting at here is if you choose
to use your launch pad for your own selfish indulgences
that used to be who you were, instead of living
in the freedom in this life, he's going, now
let me teach you how to live. And look what he
says next. So I say, walk by the spirit and you
will not gratify the desires. of the flesh. Walk
by the Spirit. Okay, people in the room that
you're like, man, I just love me some promises
of God. You know who you are. You got them on
your wall. You got them in your car, right? And
you've been naming and claiming all kinds of
stuff. You've been pulling it from everywhere
you can find it, right? So half the time I sit
with people and they're like, yeah, I got this
promise from God. And they read it. I'm like,
that's not even written to you. That was written
to somebody else. That ain't your promise. If
you're looking for a new tattoo, this is your
tattoo. So I say, walk by the Spirit. Okay, so
let's just all get on the same page there. When
you said yes to Jesus, when you crossed the finish
line of faith, you were given the greatest gift.
that God himself would now indwell you in his
spirit. He would make his home in you. You became
the temple of the living God. Generations would
have longed for what we have. And you became
the temple of the living God. The Holy Spirit's
presence is with you wherever you go. So there
is no reason you can't do what this says when
it says walk. By the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit is with you everywhere
you go. That word walk is to conduct your life,
everything that you do, in the Spirit. But here's
the beautiful part. You ready? Those of you that
maybe, maybe we're in church, so maybe we'll
be honest. Y 'all got that stuff that you just
always struggle with? You just can't seem to
be. It just always seems to have a control on
you. Remember, you were what? You were made free,
so something's wrong. What's wrong is we're not
living the promise that we've been given. See
this language, this language right here? This
language is promised language. In fact, if you
go back to the original language, Because sometimes
in translation, we lose stuff. Go back to the
original language. There are markers on here
to say it is a guarantee. It's a promise. It's
an assurance that what it is saying will happen.
So now let me read it to you. So I say, walk
by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires
of the flesh. Walk. by the Spirit. Walk in the
Spirit and you will not. That's the promise.
You will not. It is not possible for you to live
out my selfish, self -centered indulgences that
I once was. It is not possible in the new life
in Christ, in my freedom. It is not possible
in the in -between life for me to live for myself
and walk in the Spirit at the same time. It's
not possible. And so what it's getting at is
that if you want victory in this life, it's not
about, hey, I just become more self -disciplined,
like I'm going to Tom Brady this thing. I'm going
to stop eating anything. Right? That's not what
this is talking about. It's not talking about
you just get a few more rules, which, by the
way, church people, we love to throw those. Right?
Oh, you met Jesus? Oh, you need to start doing
this. No, you don't. You need to just enjoy Jesus.
We get all these self -disciplines. If I just
get enough of these, I won't do that anymore.
That's not how the Christian life works. That's
slavery, not freedom. Freedom is what I commit
to. I'm going to walk by the Spirit of God, and
if I walk by the Spirit of God, I will not, will
not live like I once was. What does the enemy
want to convince you? You can never, that struggle
you have, you're going to have it until you die.
Oh, that thing that's got control. That's who
you, it's not who you are. Stop believing lies.
You have been set free by the very Spirit of
God. You have been empowered by the Spirit of
God. And the Spirit of God tells you that if
you will walk in the Spirit, you will not gratify
the sinful nature. It's a promise. It's a promise.
So, big question. How? How do I walk in the spirit?
That sounds pretty mystical, right? Is it like
the force? Well, maybe the radio can help us.
Not just because it's cute. So the radio has
an antenna, right? What the antenna does is the
antenna helps put you into proximity. Into presence.
Here's what's interesting with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is present in you right now.
Are you present with the Holy Spirit? I don't
say that judgingly. I have days just like you.
You ever go through a day and you're like, I
did not even think about the Holy Spirit today.
All day. I got busy and I was just doing stuff
and then got to the end of the day and I'm like,
oh, we miss that. But see what the antenna does.
I have to intentionally put the antenna up to
help get inside of the radio frequencies. And
so for you with the presence of God, you with
the presence of the Holy Spirit, what it means
to walk in the Holy Spirit, and we have a list
we can put up. But you have to intentionally,
you have to intentionally recognize that the
presence of God is here right now in the form
of the Holy Spirit. And he will be there tomorrow
morning. And he will be there tonight when the
walls start coming in. And he will be there next
week. And he will be there when you guys go back
to school. He is there. And so we have to make
an effort to put ourselves in proximity. The
next thing is that the Holy Spirit's got a voice.
You know that, right? And so we have to begin
to go, well, what does the Holy Spirit's voice
sound like? And if we're really honest, can you
guys hear that? I can't tell. It's all static.
Just kidding. It's supposed to be static. But
you realize that if we're really honest, this
is for a lot of us, this is what the Holy Spirit
sounds like, right? We just don't know what his
voice sounds like. And so we try and listen and
what we get is static. You know that just like
with somebody in your life, to hear their voice,
right, to recognize their voice, it takes time.
It takes intentionality. And so I recognize the
presence and then I begin to tune. And this is
why nobody listens to the radio commercials.
Oh, we got a head bob. Okay, we'll take a head
bob. Yeah. I think he was high when he read this,
just saying. Isn't it? Isn't it interesting that
if I was to ask you, just off that short clip,
if I was to ask you, we tuned to a voice, what
would you say the purpose of that radio station
is? What kind of music? Easy listening, pop of
old, right? Verses. This is so dangerous, by
the way. Anything could come on. What is that?
Lyrics just aren't the same nowadays, huh? Just
not the same. Just going to put that out there.
What about this one? Not helpful. So much stuff
I could say about Christian radio right now that
I won't. What's the purpose of the one you just
heard? Positive, uplifting, right? Like they
want to bring something positive to your world.
It's going to have a Christian vibe to it, right?
But here's the thing. You had to listen. You
had to listen to gain the purpose. And if we're
really honest with God and we're really honest
with the Holy Spirit, too often we are too busy
talking at God and telling God what we want that
we don't just shut up and listen to the Holy
Spirit. But there is a part that if you are going
to tune into his voice and you want to know his
purpose and direction and discern it, that you
have to listen to what he's saying. Right. So
this is a tuning of my ear to the Holy Spirit.
And as the Holy Spirit then begins to show me
stuff. See if we can do one more. Country fans,
come. And here's what would happen, because I
know country fans enough, that if we listen to
country long enough, it wouldn't be long until
you're kind of scooting. It wouldn't be long
until some of you are like, we've got to get
rid of these chairs and we've got to line dance
in this room. Why? Because what happens is there's
a beat that's being played. There's a beat that's
being played and you begin to follow the beat.
But what it requires is that you are willing
to follow and not lead. You know what's amazing
about the radio? You don't get to choose what
the programming is. Somebody chose it for you
ahead of you. When you walk in the spirit, you
don't get to pick the program. The program's
already picked in front of you. You know that
the Holy Spirit is never going to lead you to
do something the opposite of God. He never will,
which is why the guarantee is you won't gratify
your sinful nature because he won't lead you
there. And so what happens then is the last part
is it requires action. That if I'm going to follow,
it requires that I move. A different picture,
a different scenario is I was following my wife
recently through an airport. And if you know
my wife, she's literally five foot nothing. I
measured her in Walmart one day to make sure
she was five foot nothing. True story. And for
a five foot nothing lady, she walks so fast.
Right? And so we're walking through this airport.
If I'm going to follow her, because I didn't
know what we were doing. She knew what we were
doing. If I'm going to follow her, I have to
be what? In her presence. I got to be able to
see her. And then because I don't know where
I'm going, over time, I have attuned my voice
to what? To know who my wife is. So with all
the noise of an airport, I could pick out her
voice over other people. Why? Because there's
taken time to get to know. And she can tell me
the purpose of what we're doing, where we're
going. But it requires that what? I listen. The
information does me no good if I don't listen.
But there's a point then in following her where
I have to what? Physically let her lead and stop
leading. And some of you need to stop trying
to tell God where you're going and start following.
And then then I have to move, because if I stand
still in an airport and she walking, she's gone.
Right. I've got to move. I've got to move to
follow her. And here's what's amazing about this,
this passage. Verse 17, for the flesh desires
what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit
what is contrary to the flesh. They're in conflict
with each other so that you are not to do whatever
you want. What that just said is in your chest
as a follower of Jesus, in your soul, inside
of you right now, there is a battle, a cosmic
battle being fought. You are at war right now.
You're at war. And inside of you, There's a battle
taking place for how you will choose to launch
or use your freedom, whether it's a launch to
where you're following the Spirit and doing what
God is doing, or it's going to be to my selfish
indulgence, right? There's this battle that's
taking place. And I'll tell you guys, I've taught
this passage, I don't know how many times, and
every single time, I've never seen what I saw
this week. And what I saw this week is this,
that if you go to battle alone, you lose. You
know, in this passage, the pronouns are all plural.
It's about all of us. So yes, you can teach it
individually. You need to walk in the Holy Spirit.
You need to walk in the Holy Spirit. You need
to walk in the Holy Spirit. But you know where
we're supposed to do that is in community. We
go to war together. Why? Because inside of you,
there is a war taking place. And inside of me,
there's a war taking place. And it is a cosmic
war that we need each other to fight for one
another. That I fight for you, right? Because
there's going to be a day when I come in this
room and I can't sing because of what's happening
in my life. And I need to hear your voice. There's
going to be a day when I come alongside. I hope
that when you leave the church, when you leave
this hour together, you're uplifted and encouraged.
You're empowered for life. That's what this is
supposed to be. Why? Because we recognize it's
a war and we need to rally. This is a rally to
not only one another, to what God tells us. And
you realize, church, we need each other. We need
each other. I need a space, as James says, where
I can sit and confess my sins so that those sins
don't have a hold. I need a space where I can
walk in and go, you know what? The enemy's been
telling me this and I've been believing it lately
and here's how it's being lived out. This is
the sin that's overtaking my life. These are
the thoughts. This is the way my mouth's been
going. It's not good. These are the actions.
But you guys, we have to be a community where
we recognize we are at war together and we need
each other to fight this battle. If you try to
fight the battle of your flesh, you will lose
on your own. You're not strong enough. And if
you try to go, okay, I can walk in the spirit.
That's my own personal. Yes, it's personal. It's
also public. If you only keep it personal, you
will fail. But don't miss, don't miss what God
has and what he's given you, right? The next
verse is explain what the sinful nature is. And
Pastor Todd was like, I don't think we need to
cover those. Like everybody, the minute you mentioned
sin and sinful nature and desires, instantly
everybody's got their own, right? Like we know.
But then in verse 22, it says this. So when I
take my freedom, right, I take my freedom and
I use it to launch into walking, walking in the
spirit. Listen, listen to what happens from you.
But the fruit of the spirit, what is flowing
out of your life is love and joy and peace. And
by the way. Flowing out, you can't control it.
It's not like, oh, I'm going to make an apple.
Right? It doesn't work that way. You can't control
it. It flows out of you. Why? It's a byproduct
of what? Attuning to the Spirit, to walking in
the Spirit. The byproduct is that you love, that
you have joy, that there's peace. forbearance
or patience right there's kindness goodness faithfulness
gentleness and self -control against such things
there is no law these things flow out of you
you need to understand something that when you
walk when you take your freedom in this life
in this in -between life i take my freedom i
attune to the holy spirit right i listen to his
voice i know his voice i listen to his purpose
what happens is when i follow and i take my actions
what starts to flow out of you What is coming
to everyone else around you is a taste of heaven.
The soundtrack of heaven is played through you.
And it sounds like love. And it sounds like joy.
And it feels like you're at peace. And you've
got patience and kindness. And gentleness. And
control of the self. That's what the soundtrack
of heaven sounds like. And God has gifted you
to be that today. You are a taste of heaven for
someone else today. Can you imagine? I don't
know how many people are in this room. I don't
know how many people are in the sound of the
mic or through a screen. I don't know. But what
I do know is this. Can you imagine a group of
people who go, I'm going to walk in the spirit.
And when I walk in the spirit, the soundtrack
that comes out is this taste of heaven. That'll
change everything. Your community, your school,
your homes, your marriage, your friendships.
It'll change all of it. And so I feel like we
got some things to thank the Lord for. So if
you would stand. You realize you, you are free
today. I can thank the Lord. You realize that
there's no account. There's no count. If God's
scrolling your highlights of sin, it's blank
because the blood of Jesus has covered it. You
today, today, church, you today, you today have
a reason to thank the God. Thank God, but only
you can do it. Let's sing.