Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made and we're

going to rejoice and be glad in it Open our Bibles this morning to Galatians chapter 5 verse 16 And

it reads as follows Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires

of the flesh Today I want to continue to teach for my series Transformed by the Spirit And it begins

with number one surrender We have to surrender our lives to the Lord totally completely in order

to be transformed by the Spirit Last week we talked about how transformation happens in the presence

of His Spirit Today we're going to learn how to live in that surrendered life how to live in the

presence of the Spirit daily because the Holy Spirit is not someone we encounter in church on Sunday Many of

us have been raised to think that's where the Spirit dwells and the only time that you can

have an encounter with the Spirit is in a building on Sunday morning However the Holy Spirit is

not someone we encounter in church just on Sunday He is someone that we are

meant to walk with every day Our spiritual maturity is not measured by how loud we

shout in church Our spiritual maturity is not measured by how we dance in the church how

we sing in the church in worship Our spiritual maturity is measured by how we live how we

walk when the shouting stops how we live how we walk when the music is over

No more dancing no more running Our spiritual maturity is measured by how we walk live in the spirit

Let's look at this text a little deeper this morning and let's discover how we

should live by the spirit Now Galatians 5:16 is our text and it says walk

by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh I want

to read this to you out of the amplified version And it says but I say walk

habitually in the Holy Spirit Seek Him and be responsive to His guidance and then you will certainly not

carry out the desires of the sinful nature which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts It says

walk in the Holy Spirit habitually This walking in the Spirit is not a one-time thing Like I

said it's not just something we do on Sunday morning Sunday morning should not be

the only time that we have an encounter with the Holy Spirit but it has to

be habitually It has to be daily and we're walking with the Spirit to seek

His will for our life And then once we know the will of the Spirit now we have to be

responsive to his leading We have to be responsive to his guidance And the text

is saying when we do these things we will not carry out the desires of our sinful nature

which responds impulsively without even thinking without even giving it a second thought It responds impulsively without

regard to God or His word So we have to walk by the spirit and when you

do that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh Again Paul did not say try harder Now if

you notice this is a reoccurring human effort in our teachings about being led by the

Spirit and being transformed by the spirit You cannot be transformed by the spirit through your

human effort Paul did not say we overcome the flesh by willpower This is another reoccurring human

effort You cannot overcome the flesh You cannot overcome the desires of the flesh through willpower

and human effort Paul says walk or live in the spirit If you're walking in the spirit you're living in

the spirit That's how we overcome the flesh We have to walk by the Spirit

Our victory is not found in fighting the flesh Our victory is found in following the spirit

the spirit that dwells on the inside of you Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16

Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you He's asking

a series of questions to the Corinthians And if you study the Book of Corinthians They were doing all

kinds of fleshly ungodly things and Paul was letting them know look the Spirit of

God he does not dwell in a temple The Spirit of God is not found

in the church building No the Spirit of God dwells in you He lives in you He resides

in you and his purpose is to lead you and to guide you into all truth but we have to

walk in The spirit we have to go and do and be what the spirit is calling us to do

and to go and to be And if you're living or walking any other way you're not

walking by the spirit You're walking by the flesh You think your way is the best way You

know where you're going You just want God to help you get there No no

no no that's not walking by the spirit That's not living by the Spirit God has given us the power

of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us Therefore we can walk and we can live in the Spirit as

God desires us to do So we take all the excuses off the table about

what we can't do because we have the spirit of God dwelling on the inside

of us we can do So let's talk about it How do we walk or live

in the spirit Number one walking in the spirit is a daily relationship Walking implies a continuous

active lifestyle or conduct Walking implies movement Walking implies a process It's acts of consistency

and it's intentional Walking in the spirit is not a moment but a lifestyle All the running dancing and shouting

that only happens on Sunday morning that's a moment But walking in the spirit is not a

moment it's a lifestyle and you walk in the spirit daily and the spirit is

there to help you and to lead you daily So we have to walk in the spirit with our everyday

decisions Today I'm going to walk in the spirit not by the flesh Holy Spirit

help me That's how you solicit the Holy Spirit's help in your everyday decisions what to do when to

do it Should I do it See if you're not walking in the Spirit your

flesh is going to take over now and you're going to do something say something that's going

to get you in trouble So we have to walk in the spirit in our everyday decisions We

have to walk in the spirit in regards to our reactions in life how we react to what happens to

you You have to walk in the spirit You've got to be led by the spirit If not your flesh

will take over and the next thing you know you're calling somebody for bail money We control how we

react to certain things that happen We don't have to always fly off the handle We don't have to always

go off or set it off The Holy Spirit will lead and guide you in how

you react to things that happen to you each and every day You walk in the

spirit in your relationships with one another The Holy Spirit is going to help you interact with other human

beings the way Jesus Christ would interact with other human beings The Holy Spirit will help

you in your thought life All that stinking thinking those negative thoughts in your mind each

and every day You're worried about this you're worried about that you're fearful of this you're fearful of

that The Holy Spirit will help regulate your thoughts and bring them in line with the word of God And

not only will he regulate your thoughts he'll regulate your habits because you are what you think The Bible says

as a man thinks so is he So if you've got negative thinking your habits your actions are going to

be negative So walking in the spirit is not a moment it's a lifestyle and we have

to walk in the spirit in our everyday decisions and actions in life Again the Holy Spirit is not

only found in church Please understand this He's in you He resides in you He's in you at

work He's in you at home He's in you while you're driving in the traffic Same in somebody same man

That person just cut you off The Holy Spirit is right there to help you in your reactions to what

just happened to you He's in you when nobody's watching Say man mm The Holy Spirit

is not something that just come and go See if you think the Holy Spirit is just in the

church building you think you can do whatever you want to do when you're outside the building No no no

The Holy Spirit is in you when nobody is watching Psalm 139:7 the psalmist wrote this Where can

I go from your spirit Where can I run from you And we know what

the answer is nowhere Why Because the spirit is in you So we need to let him

lead us let him guide us but it requires a daily walk in the spirit And when we do

that spiritual maturity and transformation now can occur in our lives Because we understand that the Holy Spirit is with

us wherever we go and he's there to help us in our daily lives and the decisions that we

have to make So number one we have to walk in the spirit daily Number 2

we have to understand this that the flesh and the spirit are at war We have

to understand that internal battle that internal war Galatians 5:17 says the flesh desires what is

contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh Let me read this to you

and amplify it for the sinful nature has its desires which is opposed to the spirit and the

desires of the spirit opposed to the sinful nature For these two the sinful nature and the spirit are in

direct opposition to each other continually in conflict so that you as believers do not always do whatever

good thing you want to do The flesh and the spirit are at war within you The flesh

was contrary to the spirit So whatever the spirit is trying to lead you and guide you

the flesh wants to take you in the opposite direction and the spirit was contrary to the flesh

The spirit is trying to take you away from the things that are contrary to the spirit Inside

every believer there are two desires One wants to please God The other wants to please

themselves or the flesh They're in direct conflict opposition and this conflict is continual So you have to decide

which of these two desires you're going to follow Somebody said it like this the one

you feed is the one that will lead The one you feed the one that you

give attention to the one that you subject yourself to is the one that will lead If you

subject yourself to the desires of the flesh that's what you feed that's what's going to lead If you

subject yourself to the will of the spirit that's the one that will lead If you feed

into anger you will live angrily If you feed lust you will be bound by that lust If you

feed pride you will live in pride and God resists the proud but he gives grace to

the humble However if you feed the word your spirit's going to grow your faith

is going to increase If you feed daily worship your heart will stay connected to

God connected to the spirit If you feed prayer your ears now will be sensitive to the leading and

the guiding of the spirit You cannot starve your spirit and expect to live a victorious life

If you starve your spirit if you're not giving your spirit the daily nutrition that it needs in order

to survive you cannot expect to live a victorious life Because the flesh and the spirit are

at war and you make the decision which one is going to lead you and what you feed

is the one that will lead Feed your spirit with the word Saturate your mind with the word

Let the word of God dwell in you richly Think on the things that's going to purify your

thoughts and lead to peace That's what you feed and that's what will lead you in

your daily life See walking by the spirit living by the spirit they have made

this thing mystical and have over-spiritualized it It's very simple We have to deny the desires of

the flesh and desire the things of the spirit and the Holy Spirit that's within you if we yield

to it will lead us in a path of victory But you cannot feed on

the flesh and expect to live a holy victorious life You feed what you want

to grow and you starve what you want to die What in your life do

you want to die Stop feeding it Starve it and you will be led in the

direction that the spirit wants you to go Number 3 the evidence of what you're feeding your spirit is

the fruit that will manifest in your life Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 and 23

says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness

self-control Are you feeding your spirit those things that will produce the fruit of the spirit in your life

Are you feeding your spirit things that will produce love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness

and self-control Because if you're not doing that what you end up doing is trying to

manufacture fruit There's a difference between real fruit and plastic fruit From a distance it might look the

same but when you get up close you can see the the genuine from the counterfeit and a

lot of people are trying to produce fake fruit But fruit is not manufactured it

grows naturally from whatever it's connected to An apple tree will produce apples and it's

going to produce apples naturally because it's connected to a tree that's designed to produce

apples An apple tree is not going to wake up one morning all stressed out saying I must produce apples

It's not human effort that's going to produce the fruit It's walking in the spirit So if you're walking in

the spirit your life is going to naturally produce fruit You don't have to try to manufacture it you don't

have to stress about producing it Your life is going to produce fruit as long as you

stay connected to the source of the fruit and that's the spirit Love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness

self-control all these things will flow naturally from your life because you are connected to the spirit

A lot of believers are trying to produce something manufacture something You don't have to do that All you have

to do is walk live in the spirit and your life will naturally produce the

fruit of the spirit Oftentimes believers will feel empty they'll feel overwhelmed they'll feel spiritually weak

and it's because they think they're connected but they're not If you unplug your phone from

the charger your phone will not immediately die But the longer your phone is disconnected

from the charger the power will start leaving Your battery is going to run low and the next thing you

know you're disconnected And the reason why some believers feel empty overwhelmed and spiritually weak is because they are

disconnected from the source which is the spirit They may have been connected but they

expect that one charge to last them a whole week You better re-engage You better recharge And how do

we recharge Through the spiritual disciplines that we know we have to do every day prayer reading studying the

word that daily walk with the spirit That's how we stay charged up So when life hits us

we're charged up When circumstances come we're charged up We're not weak That's where the devil wants you The devil

wants you weak He thought that after Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days and

the devil came at Jesus with temptations and 3 times Jesus came back with the

word It is written it is written it's written You know why Jesus came back with the word Cause

he was charged up He was charged up See when the devil attacks you And

you've got these manufactured plastic fruit it's going to melt under the heat but when you've got

genuine fruit nothing can come against it because genuine fruit is produced by the spirit and you can only have

this position in life as a believer if you're charged up Then you won't feel empty You won't

feel overwhelmed You won't feel spiritually weak You won't think that God has left you

God didn't leave you You were unplugged from the power source So walking in the

spirit means staying plugged in connected to the power source which is the Holy Spirit

And we have to stay plugged in connected to the power source the Holy Spirit daily How do I stay

connected to the Holy Spirit to the power source Number one you start the day off acknowledging

Him If you're waiting to acknowledge the Holy Spirit one o'clock in the afternoon it's

too late Life done already came upon you Good morning Holy Spirit Lead me today guide me today Order my

steps today What are you doing You're submitting to the will of the Spirit You're saying come into my

life and take charge Throughout the day what do you do when you feel frustrated

you feel tempted you feel unsure and uneasy about things Again you connect to the spirit You ask them Holy

Spirit what should I do here in this situation Because we already know the flesh is going to

act without any thought to the situation We're asking the Holy Spirit what should I do Because

if you don't you'll make a decision that's going to impact the rest of your

life in a negative way And at the end of the day you ask the Holy Spirit what were

you teaching me today What lessons should I have learned And what this does this creates an awareness It creates

a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit when you acknowledge Him throughout the day And what the sensitivity does

it now creates and produces obedience because you're going to do what the Holy Spirit is

directing you to do Each and every day The Holy Spirit is trying to teach us something Holy

Spirit what is the lesson that you're trying to teach me today Did I do

what you instructed me to do That's going to create that awareness and awareness is going

to lead to to sensitivity and sensitivity is going to lead to obedience and obedience is going

to lead to transformation That's why James 1:22 says we're not to be hearers of the word but doers

of the word because when you're a hearer of the word only you only deceive yourself So awareness creates sensitivity

Sensitivity produces obedience and obedience leads to transformation That's the goal being transformed by the spirit But

it can't be based on human effort It has to be the spirit's doing when we willingly allow him

to lead us and to guide us So let me leave you with this The Holy Spirit is

inviting you today not just to visit him but to walk with him not just on Sunday but every

day Every day we should ask the Holy Spirit to teach me to walk with you Train my ears

to listen to you train my heart to follow you Remember now the flesh wants to

do just the opposite We have to ask the Holy Spirit to starve the desires of the flesh within me

Remember what you feed is what's going to lead And then asked him to strengthen the desires

of the spirit within me Lead me step by step decision by decision day by day Holy

Spirit I yield my walk and my life to you today We have to learn how to walk in the

spirit It's not natural because your sin nature wants to take you where sin wants to take you but

the spirit our new nature wants to lead you where God desires you to be So we have to make

up our mind daily what am I going to allow to lead me Either I'm going to be led by

the Spirit or I'm going to be led by the flesh If I'm led by the

Spirit I'll live a productive life If I'm led by the flesh I'm going to

live a destructive life And remember the one you feed is the one that will

lead You cannot starve your spirit and expect victory You cannot starve your spirit and expect the more

than abundant life You cannot starve your spirit and expect to live a life of holiness You feed what

you want to grow And you starve but you want to die And when you do this you'll begin the

journey to spiritual transformation being transformed in the image of Jesus Christ Be blessed