Being Led by the Holy Spirit | Abide Week 5

Well, welcome, Radiant Church. We are continuing our series called Abide, where we are finding depth, delight, and direction in being with God. And the whole point of this series is to teach you a daily routine of connecting with God, of being in God's word, and being led by him in every area of your life. So if you're needing direction from God, this is the series for you. I hope you got your books. We are on page 45, and we're gonna talk today about being led by the Spirit, being led by the Spirit. We discussed last week about how to find God's will in God's word, but how many know there are many things that you need direction for in your life that are not found in God's word? Maybe you're looking for a spouse, and you're looking for that name in God's word, and it's not there. You're looking for a job, and it doesn't tell you exactly what job to take. It doesn't tell you what school to go to. So how do we live a life where we are guided by God? The solution to all of that is to be led by the Holy Spirit. This is available for your life. We have kind of made this a mystical, abstract idea, over-confused it, and I'm gonna simplify it and show you what does it actually mean to be led by the Spirit.

Can I just start out by saying it this way? God is directing your life. You are led by the Spirit more than you can imagine. God has been guiding and directing you whether you know it or not. The very fact that you are in church today is because you are led by the Spirit of God. God has not left you to your own vices. Aren't we grateful that he has guided us and he's led us? He gave you that spouse. He gave you that job. Every good blessing you have in your life, it's not because you worked hard for it. It's not because you made it happen. It's because we have the God of the universe that is coming alongside of us to make his plans and his purposes happen in our lives. Even the very salvation you've experienced in Jesus Christ was not because you worked for it, but because the Spirit of God led you and drew you to faith. Aren't we thankful for the Spirit of God that guides and directs our life? And if you'll learn how to recognize the Spirit's leading in your life, then you'll be able to learn how to leverage it in a daily way to be guided into God's plans for your life. He wants to lead you. And when we talk about this subject of the Holy Spirit, I want you to understand that the Holy Spirit

is not just a power to experience, but he is a person to follow. He is a person to follow. He is the third person of the Trinity. He's not some abstract spirit that's out there. He is the Spirit of God that has been given to us to guide and direct our life. When you hear this subject of the Holy Spirit come up in church, you kind of have two camps. You have the first camp, and you're kind of the Holy Spirit camp. You're like, I've been waiting for this moment right here. You love the chaos. You love the craziness of it. I kind of grew up in that culture. I grew up in crazy charismania for a while. And it was fun. I mean, it made church very entertaining. You never knew what was gonna happen. And I remember seeing so much in that that was awesome, to see the power of God and see lives change. But it also got really weird sometimes. I mean, I don't know if you've ever been in some of those cultures. I remember the whole goal of some of the services was to get prayer so that you would fall down. And then if you didn't fall down, you're not as spiritual as the person that did fall down. To be honest, I had a few times where I fell down in a courtesy fall

just because I felt bad. Some of y'all don't know anything about no courtesy falls in that. There's the other side of this that you've kind of shied away from anything to do with the Spirit of God because of just the craziness you've seen online and all the craziness that you've seen of the misuse and the flesh that's involved in it. I just kind of wanna make it very clear and very understandable of what it means today. See, the Holy Spirit is not weird. People are weird. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity given to us to lead and guide and empower our lives so that we can accomplish the mission of God on the earth today. You cannot fulfill the purposes of God without the power of the Holy Spirit evident and working in your life. If you want to live a fruitful life, then live a filled-up life. So don't shy away from the Spirit of God. Lean into it. And as you open up your life to the Spirit's leading and guiding, He will speak to you. He will guide you. He will give you ideas that are so outside of the box. He will create fruit in your life and life change through your life that you

could have never accomplished through your own power. I'm telling you it's available for your life. It's not just something that was given to the church 2,000 years ago. It's given to your life today to be who God's called you to be. We need the Spirit of God in our life. Can I hear a good amen across Tampa Bay? So let's look at what what does the scriptures say about this. We're in the book of John. John chapter 15. We hear about abiding in Christ, connecting with Him, and out of this we'll live a fruitful life that God's called us to live. That's what we talked about the last few weeks. Then we get in chapter 16. This is the final sermon that Jesus is giving his disciples before he's betrayed and he goes to the cross and he dies for humanity. Verse 7. He says, Very truly I tell you it is for your good that I am going away. Now you got to imagine they're pushing back on this statement. It's for our good? You're leaving us? You've only been doing this for three years. How is it for our good? He tells us why. It's for my good because unless I go away, the advocate, say advocate, it will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Verse 13. But when he, talking about this advocate, the Holy Spirit, what he's called here is the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. Think about this. The Spirit of God will come and guide us into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will only speak what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me, talking about Jesus, because it is from me, Jesus, that he will receive what he has made known to you. So look at the progression of this. The Father sends the Son. The Son dwells with the disciples, tells the disciples, what we've experienced the last three years is amazing, but it's better I go away because now I'm going to send the Spirit to come and do with you, with the whole world, what I've done with you. This is amazing. What Jesus did with twelve, the Spirit of God can do with all of us. He can walk with us. He can guide us. He can lead our life. And he calls them the advocate. The word advocate here means one who is called alongside you. He's called to come alongside of us. It's this Greek word, parakletos. It means to come alongside. In ancient Israel, it was the actual term for a defense attorney in a courtroom. So when you're in the

courtroom, this defense attorney has got your side. They're on your back. They're helping you win the case. That's what the Holy Spirit does for your life. You need the Spirit of God to come alongside of you. You need the Spirit of God. You want to get married one day? Don't take that journey without the Spirit of God. You want to raise godly children? Don't do it without the Spirit of God coming alongside of you. You want to build that business? You can have the Spirit of God come alongside of you to build it in a God-honoring way. You want to get out of debt? Don't try it in your own flesh. Let the Spirit of God come alongside of you. He's the parakletos. He will come alongside of you, and he'll lead you and guide your life. It's not an audible voice speaking to you. It's the Spirit of God within you, leading you, guiding you. You wake up with that idea. Where did that come from? The Spirit of God. That nudge on the inside of you. That gentle whisper of an idea. Forgive that person. Give that money. Start that business. Get that crazy idea. Where did that come from? The Spirit of God can lead your life. I'm telling you, this has shaped how I live, and it'll shape your life if you'll learn how to live a Spirit-led life. I'm trying to figure out a way to describe it to you. The best I can figure it out is, I'm not a golfer. I know we have a lot of golfers in our church. I'm not a golfer. I wish I was. I have tried hard to be a golfer. I've taken golf lessons. I did everything I could to be a golfer. I can't do it. I play golf about once or twice a year whenever I get guilted into it enough. Usually it's because there's some charity event that they want me to play for, so I'll go and I'll play for it. Usually when it's that kind of event, it's on a really nice course. I only play golf about once a year in some of the best courses in America. It's like a bad scenario that comes together. The last time I played was actually an invite. I got to be at this charity event. It was an amazing experience, amazing opportunity. It's at Pebble Beach. You've got probably the best golf course in America with the worst golfer in America. All right, now the way I play golf

is that I am what's called a New Testament golfer. New Testament golfer means I'm under grace, not under law. So I'll kick the ball once in a while. If it's in the rough, I'll take it, I'll throw it into a good spot. Like, I'm not living like those Old Testament golfers that are under the law, making score, like making sure it's all perfect. That's not how I do it. So I get there to Pebble Beach, and you get this thing at Pebble Beach that I've never understood. It's unbelievable, where they give you a caddy. Now, I never had a caddy before in my life. So this caddy comes up to me, and he told me, he's done 600 different people, he's brought them through, he's been doing this for years, and he's got all these celebrities and famous golfers that he's done. I'm like, wow. He's like, so tell me your background. I'm like, well, I'm not good. And he says, well, how much advice do you want? And here was my response. All of it. Anything you see, give it to me. So we go on a journey the next four hours together. That is remarkable, because every time I'm about to hit, he's like, okay, open your stance a little bit. Okay, your club face up.

I wouldn't use that club, that's a driver. You're on a green, you're supposed to be putting right now. Like, he's helping me with the whole thing. So about three holes in, I finally had this moment where I paused and I said, can you just play for me? Like, my score would be so much better. Like, you swing it for me. Mine goes this way. You can do it right. And I remember, he goes, no, that's not my job. My job is not to swing the club. My job is to advise you. And I thought, isn't that the Holy Spirit? We want the Holy Spirit to swing the club for us. We want the Holy Spirit to fix my spouse. Nope, he's gonna fix your attitude. He's gonna give you a strategy. He's gonna help you. Get me out of debt, God. He's not gonna get you out of debt. You know what he's gonna give you? Some wisdom on how to handle your finances. He's gonna give you the tools necessary, but he ain't swinging the club for you, church. So you're blaming a lot of the results on the Holy Spirit when the reality is, you're the one that has to swing the club. He's just gonna give you advice on how to be led, and if you'll listen to him, you'll play a better game. Y'all with me today, church?

So how do we live led by the Spirit? Let me give you four things that the Spirit leads us to, and I'm gonna show you how he leads us into these things. Number one, the Holy Spirit leads us to know the truth, to know the truth. There is a lot of disinformation out there, a lot of lies, a lot of confusion, a lot of fake news, and I'm not just talking about with the media or the government. I'm talking about the lies that you believe from the enemy over your own life, the lies about your identity, the lies about your future, the lies that you are your past mistakes, and these lies bombard our life, and they're keeping us from the victory that God has for us. How do we get free? The Bible tells us, you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. How do we know the truth? Well, we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Bible says in John 16, he will guide you into all truth. As you live a Spirit-led life, he's gonna guide you to combat the lies of the enemy and embrace the truth from God's Word. The enemy is working overtime on lying to you. It's been his job from the very beginning to lie, to deceive, and to kill your life, and the way you overcome that

is by embracing the truth of God's Word revealed through the Holy Spirit, and as you live a Spirit-led life, you're asking the Lord, reveal your truth to me so that I can walk in the true freedom and the true plan that you have for my life, and he'll bring it into your life. The greatest way the Holy Spirit reveals truth is through the Scriptures, so that's why when I read the Word every day, the first thing I do is I pause, and I say, Holy Spirit, lead my life. As I read this Word, let it come alive to me. Let there be a truth that I need to apply to my life. A lady wrote me this last week, great question. She said, what do you do if you read your daily Bible-reading plan and you get nothing out of it? Like, there is nothing. Come on, how many, be honest, go, I've read it one time, and I didn't get anything out of it. Yeah, we all have. So we've all had those moments. So what do you do? I said, oh, here's what you do. You pause, you invite the Holy Spirit in, and then you read it again, because there's always a truth in there that God wants to reveal to your life.

Sometimes you just are reading it too fast. Sometimes you're reading it to get through it instead of letting it get through you. That's why John Stott says it this way, the Holy Spirit is the author of the Scriptures and he is the interpreter of the Scriptures. So if you're not understanding what you're reading, you're reading it through the flesh instead of reading it through the Spirit. Because the Spirit will reveal truth to you. And as he's revealing truth, that's what changes our lives. Whatever area of your life that you're needing truth, pause and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it. So let me just give you an example. If you're dating a guy or a girl, you're trying to figure out, are they my spouse? Here's what you wanna pray, especially first date. God, reveal truth to me. Are they crazy? Are they gonna secretly destroy my life in the future? I don't know. I want truth to be revealed. Don't you want it revealed now instead of two years into marriage? Like, some of y'all are like, that's what I would mean. So it's like, you gotta ask for it early. Before I hire somebody, I'm always praying the prayer, Holy Spirit, reveal truth. They're putting on some kind of facade. I wanna know the truth.

I wanna know what's really going on. When there's an area that's at conflict, God, help me reveal truth. When you're raising teenagers and you're going, they're telling me one thing, but truth is another thing. Reveal truth to me and God will reveal truth. My mom, she's one of the most godly people I know, led by the Spirit of God. We had a business that we owned growing up and it was a car business, used car business. So it was a lot of cash in and out of a used car business. And so sometimes the finances would get really tight and there was always some kind of issue. We always wondered, like, are people stealing or what's going on? And I'm telling you, it happened dozens of times. Where over the years, where my mom would be there praying in her quiet times, in her time abiding with Christ. And as she's praying, God brings this thing to her mind. Someone's stealing from you. So then she'll just pray. God, where is it at? What's happening? There's some kind of misuse somewhere. Where is it at? And I'm telling you, time and time again, it would come to her. Check that ledger.

Check that page. Check that thing. Go look at that account. Go look at that sale. Something's off. And she'd go and research it. She'd spend hours researching this thing and then it would be revealed. She'd pull the employee into the office. I remember time and time again. Pull him in there and go, hey, I was just looking at this. Where did that money go? And you'd see, they looked like a deer in the headlights. Like, how did you know? Spirit of God revealed it. And then they're going to jail. That's awesome. I'm telling you, it was tough being a teenager underneath that. It's every time I try to get away from something, she's like, no, I think God spoke to me about this about you. Hey, it's amazing, though. This is a Spirit-led life. God wants to help you reveal truth in your life. Remember the formula I gave you last week? I said it always starts with God's word. It always starts with God's truth. So you wanna start with truth and that's revealed through the Spirit of God

and then you're revealing God's way of doing things. So you wanna know what's the ways of God. Again, the Spirit of God is revealing this and then you'll eventually walk into the will of God. So you're pursuing the will of God but you get it through truth, through God's truth and then God's ways of doing stuff and then you walk into God's will for your life. Don't forget this and this is only possible as the Spirit is leading you through it. So number one, the Holy Spirit leads you to know truth. Number two, the Holy Spirit leads you into God's will, to walking into God's will. This is a life hack because we have the God of the universe who guides our lives into his ultimate will and as you surrender to him, as you connect with him, he's gonna guide you on all these massive things you have to do. Who do you marry? What job do you take? What college do you pursue? What do you do with your finances? God will lead and guide your life to know his will. That's what it says in John 16. He will tell you what is yet to come. It's a beautiful passage. Like we have the God of the universe that knows the future and he'll guide your steps knowing what's coming next. Isaiah 30 says whether you turn from the right or the left,

you will hear a voice behind you. This is a beautiful picture of what the Spirit of God does. Hey, this is the way, walk in it. Now I have never heard the audible voice of God but my life has been led by this, the voice of God directing me. It's a nudge. It's what the world calls it a hunch. Like I just got this idea. It's a gut feeling. No, no, no, no, no. It's more than that. It's the Spirit of God. It's not your idea, it's God's put that inside of you. He's leading you, he's directing you and as you learn to listen to that voice, you'll walk into the plans of God. What I've learned about God is that the Spirit of God may not reveal the details, which he almost never does because he wants you to live by faith but he'll always show you the clear next step to take. And that's what he does. He says, this is what you do today. You forgive. that person. You give that money. You reach out to that loved one. You step into that meeting. You go in with faith. What do you do? He's giving you the clear next step. So how do we live a life getting that clear next step from God? I'm gonna give you an illustration that I give the leaders as I'm training them here at Radiant Church that has changed my life. It's from a road sign that we have here in Florida that you might not know exists. The road sign is this

one right here. It's that sign, okay? Some of y'all are laughing because you're like, I don't even know what that's about. Let me tell you what it is, all right? So this is not a suggestion, all right? This sign is called a yield sign. A yield sign is not a stop sign. So some of y'all are from other parts of the nation and when you see this and you're driving on the interstate and your hands are up like this and you're going you're on your steering wheel and you see this and you just stop and we're all angry with you, okay? So you don't stop, you yield. What does it mean to yield? To yield means to pause and give way. So before I make a move forward, I'm gonna pause, I'm gonna look, I'm gonna evaluate, and I'm gonna give way because there might be something coming that I need to see or I need to prepare for. And if you don't yield before you get on the interstate, you could be taken out by some 18-wheeler. And if you don't yield before you make life-altering decisions, you might be taken out because you made a decision based on your current emotion instead of being led by the Spirit of God. We sometimes go way too quick ahead of God. We make fast decisions, quick decisions, and we get ourselves in a mess because we never slowed down enough just to pause and say, God, what do you want me to do with this? And what do you want me to do? How do you want me to go? How do you want me to respond? I know it felt good for you to say that, but did you pause enough and prayed and actually ask the Holy Spirit what he wants you to do? Maybe you would have better results in conflict if you would just slow down a little bit. Maybe your finances go a little bit better if you just slow down and how you handle your money a little bit. And instead of spending, you yield to the guidance of the Spirit of God. You pause and you give way and say, God, what do you want to do with my life? So let me give you how to yield. This might be the most practical five minutes you ever get in your life. It's gonna be a little teachy, but we're gonna help you with this. How do you confirm? I've got this idea inside of me, but I don't know if it's God or it's the pizza I ate last night. We've all got those moments, right? So how do we know if it's God? Okay, we're gonna confirm it through four things. Number one, we're always gonna start with Scripture. We're

gonna start with Scripture, which is God's leading never contradicts God's Word, His written Word, the Bible. And if you've got an idea but it's against something in the Scriptures, then your idea is not from God. So we're gonna start with the Scriptures. Go through that lens first, that filter first. What does God's Word say? Number two, then we're gonna bring it to the church. The church means you're gonna ask for confirmation from godly community and spiritual authority in your life. You better have some godly friends that are speaking into your life, some mentors, some pastors, some people that have a voice in your life. The Bible tells us there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors, and you've got a lot of people speaking in your life. You better make sure they're godly people that are directing your life. Number three, I'm gonna look at the current circumstances. Sometimes God provides clear open doors and closed doors in our life, and those circumstances are the will of God. Hey, I've closed the door. I've opened the door. Some of y'all are trying to like push the door open or look for a window or a chimney to get there. Let me just tell you. And you wonder why you're missing it, because you don't see the clear circumstances of what God's doing. The last is a big one, which is peace. It's that God's leading will require faith but always be accompanied by supernatural peace. There's peace involved in it. So if you're just riddled by anxiety and stress, and you're wondering why. I'm just so frustrated. Let me tell you, you're maybe not walking in God's will, because God's will, as crazy as it is, is always accompanied by peace. So I want y'all to get that down. You're writing it down. We're gonna have fun with this. So if you're listening to this, I know we have people that listen to this on Spotify and podcasts and stuff, then sometime you need to go and watch this, because I'm gonna give you an illustration that's gonna help you, because I think it'll be something you'll never forget. So what we're gonna talk about today is we're gonna talk about how do you know if something is God's will or not. So let's all start with a question, which should be your ultimate question on anything you do. I don't know. Am I gonna sell my house? Do I buy this house? Do I start this

business? How do I know if it's God's will? Do I date this person? So when you're making the decision... So you're gonna go through this breakdown, and it's always gonna start with Scripture. So our first question is simply gonna be, does Scripture support this? So there's a lot of things that are not bad that you're trying to make a decision for. Scripture does not clearly say that that thing is wrong, so if it's not, then you can move forward. But if Scripture is clear that God does not allow this in your life, then your answer immediately is gonna be no. This is not God's will. So let me give you an example. We wanna date some guy, and he's so cute, and he makes a lot of money, and you're going, is this God's will? But it's not a Christian. Well, the Bible's very clear. You're not to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever, meaning you don't date someone that's an unbeliever. So because of that, you're gonna go, no, it doesn't. Okay, this is not God's will. I'm not gonna sit there and try to figure out, I need more confirmation. You don't need any more confirmation. It's not God's will. We all good? Now, if Scripture does support it,

so hey, they're a Christian, they're great, they follow the Lord, or the Bible doesn't say you can't sell your house or you can't start a business. So if it does, then I'm gonna go to the community of faith, and now I'm gonna ask and go, now, what is the support that I'm getting from the influence I'm getting from godly community? I always have a few people pray for me when I'm making these decisions. Hey, can you pray? Can you speak in? Give me some wise counsel on this. This is why we have our radiant groups. This is why we have pastors and leaders in our life. And then, if this group tells you no, then here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna slow down a little bit and go, maybe, just maybe, this is not the right decision. Now, doesn't mean it's an absolute no, because sometimes people get it wrong. Sometimes your small group leader is crazy sometimes. Sometimes, all right? Sometimes we have friends that are just very vocal, and they all have got opinion about it. But I do wanna take into account the community of faith that God's put around me. So, I'm gonna slow down if I don't have the support from godly community around me. But I'm gonna go to the next question. If I do, and my pastor confirms it,

and people in my life confirm it, then I'm gonna go to the next question, which is, do I have a clear open door? Like, is there a circumstance where the Lord is allowing this to happen? So, let's go back to our dating scenario. So, you wanna date someone. Does Scripture support it? They're a Christian. And you go, yes, Scripture supports it. Then you go to your friends, and you go, hey, will y'all pray about this? And your pastors, and everybody's going, this is awesome, this person is the run for you. And then you go to talk to them, and they won't respond to your text messages. And they actually tell you, hey, I ain't interested at all in you, I'm dating somebody else. Then you know what? You gotta know. The know is, it's either not God's will, or maybe it's not God's timing. And so, you're just gonna let it go. Don't try to push that thing through. And just go, okay, I'm gonna evaluate this. Maybe it's not God's timing. And then eventually, if I get a yes, and the door's open, and some of y'all are praying, hey, God, open this door, let the Lord open the door

as he's leading and guiding your life. And then the last one is yes, then my final question I'm gonna have is, do I have peace about it now? Notice I didn't say, is it easy? There's a lot of things in your life that are the will of God that are gonna be very difficult, that are gonna be overwhelming, that are gonna require great faith. And if I don't have the peace of God with my life, it's not God's will. I don't care how fun it is, how big it is. If I don't have the peace of God, and I'll tell you, some of the craziest things, Katie and I have ever done in faith, when it comes to moving to Tampa and starting the church, we went through this whole process. We had our pastor's support. We know that this is what God wanted for us. It was an open door here in Tampa. And you know what we had? When people ask us, how did you sell everything? It started to, I go, we had the peace of God inside of us. It was crazy, but we had peace. And if you do have the peace of God, my answer for you is, then if you, yes, then move forward in faith. All right, I'm gonna leave it up there for just a second, because I see hundreds of phones out. We worked so hard on putting this together for you,

because I'm so over people making terrible decisions, led by bad emotions, led by what the world wants for you, or your flesh wants, instead of the spirit of God. God will guide you. You just gotta slow down enough, and go, I'm gonna yield my life. Holy Spirit, what do you want? And then as he's speaking to you, does scripture support it? Does godly community confirm it? Do I have an open door, and do I have the peace of God? And as you have the peace of God, move forward in faith, and live a spirit-led life, and change the world, in Jesus' name, for his glory. You can do it, church. You can live a spirit-led life. Y'all with me today, church. All right, number three, we're almost done. The Holy Spirit leads us, number three, to glorify Jesus. The spirit's role is to lead God's people to make our. about the glory of God. He makes Christ known through us. This is vitally important. Hear me out. The Spirit's goal is not to make much of us, but it's to make much of Jesus. There's already too much of us, and we can't change the world. We cannot accomplish what needs to happen in our world today, but Christ in us and Christ through us can make a difference out there. The Spirit of God does not exist to make your platform big, to give you greater followers, to make your bank account immense. No, God exists in you and through you to do one thing, to glorify Jesus in a lost and broken world. It's not to make us big, it's to make Jesus big, to use our lives for His glory and His honor. So as you're living a Spirit-led life, you're pausing, you're yielding, and you're saying,

Holy Spirit, help me in this situation glorify you. I'm about to go into this boardroom, help me glorify you. I'm about to go into this meeting, help me glorify you. I'm about to go into this family reunion, help me glorify you. Help everything I do in my life glorify you. That's why Jesus says it in Matthew He says you, you as followers, as His followers, you are a light of the world, a town built on the hill that cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, O radiant church, would you let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven? Why do we serve our community? Why do we go out there and become a witness to our friends and family? Why do we do serve days like we're doing next Saturday? You know why? Because we exist to glorify Jesus with our lives. Let it not just be something that's in us, let it be something that flows through us, that people want to know Jesus more because of how we live our lives, filled with the Spirit of God. Can I hear a good amen today, church? Number four, the Spirit leads us to live a fruitful life. Just think of that. He's leading your life to know truth, to know his will, to glorify Jesus, and to live a fruitful life. Meaning, you're making an impact. You have a life of overflow. You have a life that is fruitful. We see this garden illustration in John 15 where the vine and the branches, and he comes in and he cuts through and works stuff out of our life. Why? Because his whole process in our life, his whole will for us in our life, is that we become more and more like Christ. We become more and more like him. And the result of living a Spirit-filled life is that the Spirit of God makes us more and more like Jesus. That is why in Galatians 5 he describes it this way, but the fruit, the outcome, the result of the Spirit is what? You speak in tongues more? You fall down in the service more? I'm not against all those things. I've been in services where the Spirit of God was so present and so real, lives were changed, crazy stuff was happening, but that's not the real fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is that you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh, that's what it takes from us, crucify our flesh with his passions and desires, and since we live by the Spirit, look what he says, so let us keep in step with the Spirit. So what is he telling us? He's saying, listen, as you let the Spirit work in your life, the outcome of it is that there's fruit in your life. Fruit that looks like Jesus. You can write it down in your notes this way, because the primary evidence of the Spirit's involvement is not the gifts of the Spirit, which I love so much, but it is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. And if you recognize the fruit in your life doesn't look like Jesus, don't be frustrated with the fruit. Look at the root. It's like the indicator light of your car. Some of your cars look like this, and you're going, I know the solution. Let me change out the bulb. If I can just unplug the bulbs underneath here, I'll fix the problem. You're not fixing the problem. Why? Because you're dealing with the symptom, not the source. And what the Spirit of God has the ability to do is to reveal to us through the fruit, you weren't loving, you didn't have joy in that trial, you're not very patient, you didn't have self-control, you said you weren't going to go back to that addiction, but you did. And what you're doing is you're frustrated with the symptom, the fruit. And the solution is to deal with the source, which is, I don't know if I've given the Spirit complete control of the inside of me. So whenever the fruit is off, evaluate the root. And here's the good news. The Spirit of God has the ability to transform us from the inside out. He's not convicting us to shame us. He's convicting us to show us that there can be real change. And it's not going to happen because you just try harder. It's going to happen because you surrender to a greater level, to the Spirit of God that can do the work that only He can do to make us into those who look like Jesus. Not because we're trying really hard, but because we're surrendered to the God of the universe who can actually do the work in us and through us. Is there anybody grateful for the Spirit of God that is available for our lives? Not just for the disciples 2,000 years ago, but for every believer today, here and now. So let's just close our eyes all over the room. And we're going to take a moment. I know we're about over on time, but we're going to take a moment right now. Those who are watching online,

those on every campus, and we're going to open our hearts to a fresh infilling of the Spirit of God. You see, the Spirit of God does not fill us the way that the Spirit of the world possesses us. It doesn't just take over. It doesn't just come in because we lost control at some moment. No, no. He comes into the level of our surrender. So maybe there's areas of your life that are just out of alignment. Maybe there's areas where you've seen the fruit of the Spirit not evident in your life. Just take that moment right now. Just have a moment and say, Holy Spirit, I invite you in. I ask that you would come in and change me from the inside out. Holy Spirit, we need you more than ever. Just right there in your seat. Just take your hand, put it right over your heart. Say, Holy Spirit, fill me. Fill me. Take control. Be my paracletos, my advocate to come alongside me. Help me parent well. Help me lead well. Help me live like Christ. Help me. Help me in the sanctification process. Help me in my attitudes. God, help us. We can't do it alone. Thank you for your Spirit that's available for us. We invite you in even right now. ministry by sharing this message with a friend or by clicking the Give Now button that you see on your screen so that we can continue to see lives changed for Jesus. Thanks for watching. The best is yet to come.