Keeping in Step with the Spirit, Part 1

I want you to understand that the key to keeping in step with the Spirit. Number one is the wall in walk-in faith now face simply means I put my trust in Christ. Are you struggling with sin today for some good news from Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh hello and thanks for being here for today's destined for victory with pastor Paul Shaffer was it mean to walk by the Spirit. How can we be set free from our sinful flesh and walk in spirit and truth. Pastor Paul is standing by with answers so stay right here. If you can remember you can always visit Pastor Paul.net to listen anytime on demand. That's Pastor Paul… You can also download the podcast at the podcast or wherever you get yours now. Here is Pastor Paul. Today's destined for victory message keeping in step with the Spirit Galatians chapter 5 there like you to look with me at the first six verses, Paul says, if it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words, I Paul tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law you who are trying to be justified by law had been alienated from Christ, you have fallen away from grace.

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness, for which we hope for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor on circumcision has any value.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love will pause our reading there as we continue to examine key portions of Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia and when he moves into this section of the letter Paul continues to expound the feeling that we have seen him speak of off and on through the letter, which is the importance of experiencing and enjoying freedom in Christ, he is writing to people who have been heavily influenced by the Judaizers persons who have come through the churches and insisted that these Gentiles who are accepting Christ must become Jews if they are going to be say their claim laws. You cannot be saved merely by putting your trust in Christ you have to also follow that up with becoming a Jew so they insisted that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and they had to have strict adherence to Jewish law, all in order to be saved. This of course was not in line with the preaching of the gospel.

It was contrary to what Paul and the apostles thought because they understood that salvation was by grace through faith. And it had nothing to do with trying to be converted to Jewish law and so he is continuing to expound this point and he insists here that it was for freedom that Christ has made us free, a very interesting phrase.

He said he set you free, so that you could really be free to set you free, so that he could take you into another form of bondage. He said he set you free. Because he wanted you to be free to serve God love God free to do God's will and to understand that you have blessed us children's and cries that when Christ died on the cross he canceled all of your sins and he made you free to enjoy life as a child of God and so he is insisting that they learn to walk in that freedom. And he said I want you to stand firm. In other words, do not let anyone move you back into legalism. Do not let anyone tell you that you got obey the law in order to be saved. He said take your stand against these people and what they have taught and enjoy what Christ has done for you. In fact, he says you are caving in and you are saying okay. They must be right.

I have to be circumcised. He uses very strong language. Look at what he says. He said for in your case, Christ is of no value to you at all.

In other words, you can be justified by your works, then you have set aside.

You have canceled what Christ did on Calvary and I want to let you know you got a settlement in your life. Even today in the 21st century that salvation only comes through on means and that is by putting our trust in what Jesus did on the cross and allowing him to be the Savior and the Lord of our lives that do not matter if you love being justified by virtue of the way you live your life. Jesus would've never come from heaven to earth. If you and I could pull all having right standing with God, then there would've been no need for the cross cross is our sign and symbol that Abbas could ever be righteous enough to please God and I have a relationship with him. We are in trespasses and sins, with no hope of resurrection. Without Jesus Christ, the only reason you're safe, I want you to know that as we begin to explore a key theme in this passage I want to let you know that you are saved for one reason and one reason alone is because of what Jesus did some of us have to understand that some of us think that we are almost good enough to be like the fourth person in the Godhead. Some of us really don't get it. You really don't know how messed up you are, you don't know how far short you fall and so I want to make sure you have no deception when you read Romans 323 all have sinned and come short so we all think will see your pain shorter than me and I don't know all have sin all come short in fact that phrase all have sin have to do with an archery term that have to do with an archer, aiming at a target and pulling the string back and letting the arrow go. I am the arrow comes nowhere else to the target. That's what Paul is saying all of us took our best shot, and we come woefully short of God's standard and no meat market where your arrow is versus mine. You get the picture.

Don't do that. Don't try to estimate the value of seamlessly using transportation point. Not all know know all unrighteousness is sin. Whether you are good at lying or stealing or cheating or being sinfully angry or being bitter or being hateful. No matter whether you are no dog draw fornicator no matter whether your sin is sexual a homosexual. No matter what ever is going on in your life all have sin. Jesus came because he was the only one who could target the good news we need to be just the body was God when he came. The Bible says he took our sins upon him. In other words, when Jesus went to the cross.

He said I'm taking your shop. You shooting and coming short and being eternally done them before God, the bull's-eye and you put George and me and that's how your say I'm here to tell somebody.

The good news is you don't have to be loss you can be saved right now you don't have to be condemned. You can be justified right now. You live in spiritual death, you can have life in Christ.

Right now you don't have to be eternally condemned.

You get to spend eternity in the presence of God right now beginning right now. Why because Jesus hit the bull's-eye for you and Paul is saying you gotta walk in that liberty you got to stand in that you gotta know that that's why your say you are saved by grace through faith that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.

You cannot earn your salvation. I don't care how good you try to be. You will always come woefully short. If you're simply trying to live in the power of your own flesh and so Paul is trying to make this abundantly clear to these people and he says I want you to know that it was for freedom that Christ set you free. Don't you let somebody send you back to pick up the bow and arrow and say no, I'm going take my own shop because you will fall woefully short.

Now I want you to notice in the course of making that point what Paul says in verse six he says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor circumcision have any value. He said what counts is faith expressing itself through love this chapter Paul is going to make the point that the key to being the person God wants you to be is learning how to keep in step with the spirit. He mentions that in verse 25 of the chapters in this chapter is showing us what it looks like to keep in step with what God is doing in your life and here's the first key he says I want you to understand that the key to keeping in step with the Spirit. Number one is to walk in faith walk in faith. Now faith simply means I put my trust in Christ.

Everything God has planned in my life is going to be executed, not by my works, but it will be executed by my putting trust in him everything I want you to know everything that God wants to do in your life.

It won't be done because you grit your teeth and you work real hard and you tried to muster up enough righteousness to pull it off. Everything good that's going to happen in your life will happen because you simply put your trust in Christ and you follow him where he leads you.

It is his power that makes the difference in his life in us that makes a difference in you and I will never be successful until we wall I made your listening to Destin for victory with pastor Paul Shepherd, senior pastor of destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont California right back with the second half of today's message but first and important reminder if you haven't already, be sure to download our free mobile apps, you can listen to Destin for victory right in the palm of your hand. The app is easy to navigate.

It even allows you to take notes on Pastor Paul's messages to search Destin for victory in the app store and downloaded today absolutely free. Hebrews 11 six tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. How do we walk by faith, find out next and the rest of today's message keeping in step with the spirit. Once again, here's pastor Paul Shepherd, the only system that brings the grace of God into your life, see it as a vehicle. Faith is the vehicle that grace died sin into your life. What is grace grace is God's favor that accomplishes God's purpose God's favor that accomplishes his purpose. Grace of the endowment, the ability God gives you to do what he wants you to do seat way back in the Old Testament.

The Bible says the only way God could move in redemptive history to bring us to Christ.

He had to bestow grace upon people so the birth way back in Genesis that says no foul favor in the sight of God. It wasn't because of who he was. But God sovereignly chose to put his grace on Noah and it is grace that accomplishes God's will. God that allows you to do his will. That's what is going to be the key in your life. How does that get into your life is God's power. How does God's ability God's favor. How does God's blessing come in your life.

It comes through faith. Faith is the vehicle system.

The delivery system that brings God's grace so everything good in your life.

You gotta learn to walk by faith, that simply means when I get up in the mornings. I think God is going to do your will. Today I can only do it by your power and by your grace, so I'm going to ask you now leave me and guide me and help me to call you at every turn in the road that I want to let you know without the grace of God, you're not going to make it without the grace of God. Nothing good will happen in your life. Without the grace of God, you will occur somebody out on that job without the grace of God, you're going to make the biggest mistakes of your life without the grace of God shall be full of hate and bitterness and anger without the grace of God, your life will be out of sorts, morally and ethically, and in every other way. We really need grace, and how does it come into our lives it comes by learning to trust in God.

The walk of faith. Everything good comes by faith. That's what the Bible says the just shall live by faith, the faith saves us and brings the grace that saves us, but then it doesn't abandon us. You gotta learn to have faith every day.

I trust God every day that I'm saying the only reason I'm sated because every day. My trust is in what Christ, the same grace that saves me is going to give me the power to live every day and so I gotta learn.

Keeping in step with the spirit means I walk in faith. I walk in faith. Secondly, it says the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love, through love, faith expresses itself.

Paul says through love.

So the second key to this keeping in step with the Spirit is not only walking in faith but walking in love no limit park there a little bit because this is what we've got to understand that the grace of God is changing our lives and conforming it to God's will and one of the signs that you are keeping in step with the Spirit is you are expressing your faith in love don't know if you met him, but there a lot of Christians I know who expressed so-called faith, but it is not in love. In fact, some of the meanest people I know go to church every week you know any.

Some of the most hateful people I know carry big Bibles. The problem is not going to charge going church is going to promise not have a big Bible Bible you can read and study constructed old with the notes and then all that, that's good, not just that I got some great Bibles myself but listen. What matters is Paul says that expresses itself. People are going to be impressed by your Jesus representing Jesus to them and your will. The battle of so we gotta get this faith has to express himself in love.

What does he imply that he implies that we gotta love in the way the great commandment calls us to love that we in the church often talk about the great commission the great commission is what Jesus said to his disciples before sending back to heaven he said go into all the world preach the gospel, baptize them and teach them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And I will be with you to the very end of the age that's a great commission and so many of us focus on that. We gotta win the world for Christ. Indeed, we do, but you must understand that the great commission is to come to pass. As a result of us focusing on the great commandment.

The great commission is the going to world preach, baptize people and teach them to observe what Christ commanded us, but the great commandment is how Jesus responded to a question he received one day in Matthew chapter 22 teachers of the Lord came to him around verse 37 or so and they said listen, we want to ask you a question. What about all of the law that Moses gave us what is the greatest commandment.

And Jesus without hesitation, said, thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now he was quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6 recording right from the mold and they were asking him about and he said that is the most pivotal commandment into parts.

Love God and love yourself because everything else God wants you to do is going to made from your obedience to those coming so if you keep living the way God wants us to live.

If you obey this command, which Jesus said was the greatest commandment.

We need to really focus on it.

Look at it and says it is a commandment, thou shalt love the Lord your God. Now that might be a foreign concept to some of us because some of us think we have to do with our feelings. We live in a romantic society and many of us just equate love to a certain set of feelings. Some folks think love is the way you felt when you looked across that room, and your eyes fell upon a person and you had a feeling, and a lot of people say that feeling was love that some of you. Your testimony would be alive. Somebody ask you and your significant other or your spouse. When did y'all first get together one of you will probably say all we fell in love.

In March 2003. We were at the same function and I looked across the room and I saw him I saw her, and I was smitten and failed in love and some of you think that's love. It was the feeling you felt and you know their wonderful song that high like that, and you don't have the song when I first saw you, I said old old my that's a dream that's my dream. This is really wonderful and the strings come in all man is wonderful. Way back in Cinderella. When Cinderella we were kids watching Cinderella on TV and what have you, and she would appear at the top of the printer down and that's what all these folks and what have you, and she appeared and he looked up and he was and then before long they are dancing together and other folks. Then off on the side taking don't remember them all a making faces and what have you. And he's dancing.

When Cinderella start singing a song to life. All you stuff. But the problem is, you understand that that feeling is not a substantial love that have not been wrong with the feeling romantic love has its place in a biblically committed relationship.

It's nice.

I often say romantic love is a great feature in a marriage in the house of your marriage. Romantic love is a great feature, but it's a poor foundation because it doesn't have enough substance to get you all the way through life because feelings change coming out feeling when you looked across. That's not gonna hang around for ever. If not, the nature of some of you.

You you and Senior crawling out why because I can be the foundation of a God ordained relationship God's word says that he began a good work in you and he will continue to perfect it until the day Christ returns. He's teaching you live as Jesus lived, which means your learning to love as Jesus loved what if there is an area of your life that needs a little work, learning to walk by faith, learning how to love your neighbors as yourself the destined for victory ministry team would be happy to pray on your behalf. Visit Pastor Paul.net and use the contact feature to send us your prayer requests while you're there, be sure to request Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement.

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Pastor Paul.net thanks in advance for helping keep destined for victory on the air no way to feel something to love God, love God because he is God reference God because he is God reference him because one day he will judge the living and the dead, and I want to be found. Having responded by loving him in return. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepard's message keeping in step with the spirit. Until then, enjoy the rest of your holiday and remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ, you are destined for victory