The Holy Spirit: Walking In The Spirit | Galatians 5:16-26

FALL MEN'S RETREAT 👉🏼 https://beresolute.org/retreat/ Remember to post your First and Last Name along with your City and State to win a pre-ordered and signed copy of the following: Proverbs: A Strong Man Is Wise. In the journey through a believer's spiritual life, there exists a continuous tug-of-war between two compelling forces: the flesh and the Spirit. And I believe liberation can be found because of two things — the saving liberation of sin by Jesus and the sustaining liberation of sins by the Spirit. But to know this liberation, we must submit our lives to Jesus and the Spirit. And we do this by learning to walk by the Spirit. Today, we will read one of my favorite scriptures written by Paul. There is so much packed into these ten verses. They are from Galatians 5, but they teach us so much about walking in the Spirit. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." — Galatians 5:16-26 So, here are some key observations from this text: There are two desires — desires of the flesh and desires of the Spirit. These desires come from two different sources — from you or the person of the Spirit. Your desires and the Spirit's desires will always be in constant conflict. Your desires have fleshy outcomes, and the Spirit's have spiritual outcomes. This conflict between us and the Spirit is our primary conflict. We will live with this conflict for the rest of our lives. And Jesus knew this. He knew his saving power was enough to provide salvation but that we would need the sustaining power of the Spirit for this ongoing battle. And to live a liberated life, we must learn to walk, be led by, live by, and keep in step with the Spirit, as Paul states here. But many believers don't do this because they do not know how. It's not like walking in the flesh, which is not something you have to teach anyone. We all know how to walk in the flesh because we are all concerned about ourselves and have selfish desires with sinful ends. We are born in the flesh, feed the flesh, live in the flesh, train the flesh, and know the rewards of living a fleshly life. Walking in the Spirit is an entirely new way to do things. So how do we do it? Based on this text today, I would like to walk you through it in a few steps.