Marcel: and Happy New Year.
My name is Marcel Hall and, uh, it's, uh, One of the ministers here for
the OC Church of Christ, especially, uh, specifically here in the North
OC and, uh, honored to speak and so grateful to have the opportunity
to be part of our church family.
Thank you to all those who are visiting here with us today.
So grateful to have you.
Hopefully you had a good holiday season and break and you're ready to bring in.
I want to thank all those who, uh, served last year and are serving
in different roles this year from AV to ushering to our worship team,
welcome team, all that good stuff.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your service.
Really appreciate that.
Uh, do you have any goals for the new year?
You do.
Some of you do.
Okay.
Some of you like, I don't do that new year's resolution thing.
Okay, that's cool.
That's cool.
You know what?
I got up this morning, I was feeling good, and I realized I have to have a new goal.
I gotta lose a couple pounds.
Man, I put on my suit, and I was like, man, this feels
a little tighter this year.
You know what I'm saying?
And I have been doing a couple push ups and some, you know,
some weight lifting, Kevin.
So I feel good about that, but it was around the tummy area
that it was a little tight.
And so I said 2025, well we gonna have to get some, some six pack
back, you know what I'm saying?
And so that is what's going on.
Now those who know me, know that every year I come up with
a slogan for the new year.
And I've been doing this since 2008.
So that was before some of y'all were even born, okay?
And it's really cool because as I've been doing it now, as we get
into it, people give me suggestions.
So I've been getting suggestions this year, like, Hey Marcel, what's the slogan?
What about and so people start giving me suggestions, which I really
appreciate and so I do have a new slogan for the year Are you guys ready
for the slogan for the year now again?
This is my personal slogan and sometimes it applies to the church and we use it
as a theme But we do have a church theme we'll talk about next week But this is
a slogan here and Dallas said it could be where's that a Dallas it could be
the North OC slogan So there you go.
We could have it So I do want to Remind us of last year's slogan and last year's
was become more in 24 and we felt like it we did focus in on that becoming
more and I do feel like God has answered that prayer in more ways than one and
so now for 2025, here's what it is.
Can I better get a drum roll, please?
Here we go.
And so here we go.
The slogan for 2025 is Let the Spirit Drive in '25.
Let the Spirit Drive in '25.
Some of y'all are thinking it's going to be thrive in 25.
Sorry, used that in 15.
There you go.
I've been doing this for a long time.
All right, but you'll go ahead.
You can use the hashtag.
Let the Spirit Drive in '25 on your Instagram and Facebook and
Twitter X threads and tick tock.
There you go.
I'm sure I'm missing another one, but there you go.
YouTube.
There you go.
You can go ahead and use that.
It's free of charge.
Okay.
All right.
So go ahead and use that.
But we're gonna actually, this is going to be the sermon title for today.
Let the Spirit Drive in '25.
Let's go to the Father in prayer.
Father, thank you so much for this chance to worship you
with my brothers and sisters.
God, we're so grateful that you are a God that we can worship.
You're a God who calls us into relationship.
And not only with you, but you call us into a relationship
with the rest of your children.
And God, we get a chance on Sundays and Wednesdays and every time we
meet in our small groups, God, to encourage and strengthen one another.
And Father, we're grateful right now for your word as we're able to dive
into your word and be inspired and be led, be instructed into who you are,
who we are in Christ, and also your direction and will for our lives.
I thank you, Father, for your Holy Spirit that dwells in every true believer.
God who directs and guides our very steps.
It's in the name of Jesus that we pray.
Amen.
We're talking about driving in 25, or let the Spirit drive in 25.
And, uh, one of the many blessings that we have for those of us who
are in Christ Jesus, meaning we are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
One of the many blessings, we get a chance to receive God's indwelling
via His Holy Spirit in our lives.
And so if we're going to be talking about letting the spirit drive in 25,
we're going to look at some text here to, to understand what that means and how
we can live this out in our lives, not only for this week, but going forward.
And so as we talk about letting the spirit drive in 25, I want to
do a quick little example of what that might look like in our lives.
Okay.
Are you guys with me here?
And so for Christmas, my, uh, my family gives my kids a lot of gifts.
We don't really give too many gifts to our kids.
Sorry.
But they get a lot of family members who get gifts.
And my son, he got this, um, this, uh, remote control car.
And it's really cool.
The problem is, he'll use it for about two days.
And we won't ever see this thing again.
You know what I'm saying?
He got about 25 of, uh, uh, uh, remote control cars.
How many does he play with beyond three days?
None.
Okay, you know what I'm saying?
And so I don't even know where the rest of them are.
But many times in our life, we can be like We could be like this car.
And so what happens is we are living our lives and here
we're going and we're moving.
Let's make sure this is Okay, here we go.
We're going along and
We're going.
We're moving along and sometimes we pick up a little speed and we're driving
around and we almost fall off the ledge.
There you go.
But we're moving along, and this is our life, and then sometimes
we go out of control, and we bump into things, we crash.
And this is our life, and yes, we're moving along, and yes, there's some,
maybe some thrills in this, but it's not really living up to what it should be.
Until we go ahead, and we get the remote control.
And we get some power.
And we get a chance to get to moving.
Oh, watch out here now.
Here's my son if I mess up.
I didn't tell him I was using it either.
Okay.
But if we go ahead and we get a chance to have the, the, the.
See that's me driving.
There you go.
But you see we got a little more engine.
We got a little more power.
We're going somewhere.
And here's what's really cool about this one.
Check this out man.
This is kind of cool.
It goes up.
Did y'all see that right there?
When we got the roll control, we realized we can do some things that
we weren't able to do by ourselves.
But then there's some times when we try to go ahead and look at that.
We try to do both.
And when we try to drive, instead of letting the Spirit drive us, because
when we have the Spirit that drives us, we're able to move and become who we are.
And we're able to do some things that we were unaware we were capable of doing.
But sometimes we try to mix it up and we say, I'm gonna let the Spirit drive,
and I'm gonna also drive as well, and we're just gonna be a hot mess.
And it doesn't work.
And so as we can see, our lives, yes, we can move, we can go forward.
But it's not the life that it's intended to be until we
have the Holy Spirit drive us.
Until we're able to do things we weren't even sure we were capable
of doing, but we are guided to live out our intended design.
And so we're going to look over in Galatians chapter 5 and we're going
to see some more about this idea of letting the Spirit drive in 25.
Church, are you with me here?
Let's go ahead and let's get into it.
First things first is when we understand here we are led by and live by the Spirit.
That's really what it means.
To have the Spirit drive us, is that we're led by, and we live by, the Spirit of God.
In Galatians chapter 5, in verse 13, this the, uh, a letter
written to the region of Galatia.
And so the region of Galatia had several cities and several churches and
the Apostle Paul writes this letter.
The Apostle Paul is a Christian missionary and leader in the first century church.
And he writes this letter because there's some false teachings, some false doctrine
that's starting to seep into the Christian church there, into the community.
And so he's correcting it.
And so we're going to take it up in the middle here, or really toward
the end of the letter, alright?
You can read the first part up into it.
But he's going to start turning now to how we're free from these, uh, old,
uh, um, regard to the Mosaic Law, and some of the laws in the Old Testament,
and how we now have freedom in Christ.
And how because of that freedom in Christ, we can live by the Holy Spirit.
So we take it up in Galatians chapter 5, in verse 13.
It says, 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.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will
be destroyed by each other.
Isn't that real right there?
That's real in your family, in the church, wherever.
If you bite and devour each other, you're gonna destroy.
But here's where it turns to our topic.
It says, so I say, walk by the Spirit.
And you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Flesh meaning our sinful nature.
Our desire for what's against God.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit.
And the spirit, what is contrary to the flesh.
They are in conflict with each other.
So that you are not to do whatever you want.
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious.
Sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery.
Idolatry and witchcraft.
Hatred, Discord, Jealousy, Fits of Rage, Selfish Ambition,
Dissensions, Factions and Envy, Drunkenness, Orgies, and the like.
I love that, and the like.
Just in case you thought something wasn't listed, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before.
So as, when he was in person, he had talked to them about this.
And he says, I warn you as I did before that those who live like this, This
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the spirit, the result, the what's produced when
you walk and live and have the spirit of God in your life is this.
It's love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control.
Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
We'll stop right there.
What does it mean to let the Spirit drive?
Again, it means to be led by the Spirit and to live by the Spirit.
As we see here in the text here, when we let the Spirit lead, that means
you will have a God centered life.
You are God reliant and not self reliant.
Trusting in God and trusting in His will and His commands for your life.
It means living by the Spirit of God.
Living a godly and spiritual life.
Not a natural, humanistic lifestyle.
But obeying the Spirit of God's leadership and direction.
And so when we are spirit driven, again it means we are led by the
spirit and we live by the spirit.
The problem I have sometimes is that I can be led by my
emotions and live by my opinions.
Can anybody relate to that?
Um, my emotions get me and so they lead me to wherever and therefore I
make mistakes and I go and I crash into things like we saw earlier.
Or I live based on what I believe is the right thing to do.
And so it's based off of not the science.
Spirit's direction and guidance.
But what I think and what I perceive to be right and oftentimes that
leads me to either getting close to falling off the edge or falling off.
And therefore, causing a train wreck in my lives and affecting others.
Can anyone relate to that?
You see, but what can happen if we live by the Spirit's leadership?
What if the Spirit were to drive our lives?
What can happen in our lives?
Let's go ahead and let's go over this text again.
So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of others.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
You see, it says here that when we follow the Spirit, we actually live
out God's purposes for our lives.
We actually live the way we were destined and designed to live.
Because the Spirit is driving and guiding and leading us.
And He's always going to lead us to God's will.
We're never going to veer out of God's will when we follow the Spirit of God.
Are you with me there?
And so we gratify God's desires and we therefore live a godly life as opposed
to gratifying our sinful desires would lead to maybe immediate gratification but
long term not only distraction but also sometimes drastic uh, uh, uh, disaster
leading us away from who we really desire to be deep in our very souls.
But when we follow God we actually gratify the godly desires that are in us.
And then we're free from being judged by the law, but we now have a freedom
to follow God by faith through grace.
See, we don't have to worry about the do's and the do nots, because the Spirit
is leading us to do the right thing.
Because we are saved by grace through faith.
And then it says here, the fruit of the Spirit.
Meaning God's character and God's activity produces this in our lives.
Love, joy, peace, forbearance, patience is another word.
Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
Who doesn't want that in their lives?
We all want that.
I'm looking at that going, I need some self control with my eating
for the next month to get this soup back to where it needs to be.
But this is what God produces.
Now we have to, we know, we have to work in conjunction with God.
He just doesn't do it all, we do nothing.
We're called to join him in this transformational work.
But God produces these things in our lives.
If and when we follow the Spirit's lead, and He guides us
to His will, and He blesses our faithfulness with ultimate victory.
I want to read a couple passages real quick.
We're going to come back to Galatians 5, but I want to read some classic
passages in the Old Testament, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit,
that help us see the blessings we have that are available for you and for me.
When we let the Spirit drive our lives.
Over in Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5 it says, Trust in
the Lord with all your heart.
Why didn't it say with just some of your heart?
Boy, I wish it would have just said trust in the Lord with some of your heart.
Because I can accomplish that every day.
But it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.
And lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways submit to Him.
He will make your path clear.
When we submit to the Spirit's lead in our lives, the Spirit
guides us to straight paths.
He guides us to God's will and to blessings.
Have you ever tried to guide yourself, though?
How does that turn out, usually?
Doesn't turn out well, does it?
When we lean on our own understanding and think that we
have it, where does that lead to?
Usually, probably friction, even especially in our relationships.
We make poor choices and poor decisions which have consequences
which we regret often.
Let's go on over to Psalm 23.
Church, are you still with me here?
I love this passage.
It's a classic psalm.
It says, The Lord is my shepherd.
I lack nothing.
Nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leaves me beside quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his namesake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Sorry, that's the, that's the Coolio in me.
Gangster's Paradise.
Y'all know what I'm talking about.
That was a 1984 edition.
There's some other translations.
I, I should have put that in there.
Sorry, but every time, sorry.
Y'all just enter Marcel's world.
Sorry, let's get back to the text.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear
no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and your love will follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
We see so many blessings from allowing God to drive, direct, and lead our lives.
It says here we'll have nourishment.
We'll have refreshment.
We'll have peace.
We'll have rest.
We'll also be guided when there's dark times around us.
And here's what's interesting.
Sometimes God's will, sometimes when we follow the spirit of God, there's
actually darkness that surrounds us.
And that's when it's tough to stay following God.
Because we're like, man, there's so much darker.
There's so much hard times.
And I feel like, God, you led me down this path.
So this can't be the right path.
Let me take control and do my thing.
And let me see if I can get myself out of this.
But that's some stinking thinking.
Because sometimes, God's will goes through the middle of darkness.
Do the middle of hard times.
Do the middle of scary times.
During the middle of times where you are a victim of people's
poor choices and sinful behavior.
Sometimes that's in line with what God's will is for your life.
How can that be?
But yet, think about the cross.
It was God's will that Christ would suffer.
Why?
So that you and I wouldn't have to suffer and we can have salvation.
So sometimes God will treat us like he does his son and have us be a
victim but this for something good and better on the other side of it.
And this is when we have to let the spirit drive in our lives even when it's scary.
Even when we're hurt, when we have pain, when we are confused.
I don't understand what's going on and God I see, I'm following you but this
doesn't look like it's getting any better.
In fact, it looks like it's getting worse right now.
Have you ever had that?
No.
But God's saying, just keep following me.
Just keep following me.
I'm driving this thing.
Trust me.
It says we're gonna go through the darkest valley.
Did you catch that?
It didn't say you stay in the darkest valley.
It says you go through the darkest valley.
I heard a preacher say it one time.
He says, The best, the safest place you can be is at the center of God's will.
And that stuck out to me.
I go, that's so true.
Because whether there's so many good things going on in my life,
or there's hard times, if I'm at the center of God's will, I'm safe.
Because He's present.
That's it.
For your rod and your staff that cover me, you are with me.
I don't have to fear evil.
I don't have to fear the outcome.
I don't have to fear people and their judgment of me.
Because you are with me.
And you're taking me through the darkest valley.
And where does it lead to?
Blessing upon blessing.
It says surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
As God is guiding me, there's goodness and there's mercy and there's love
that I can always see is present.
And was it Lee, to dwelling in the house of the Lord forever
being with God for all eternity.
Again, this is what happens and what's available for you and for me when
we let the spirit drive our lives.
So then my question is, well, how do we let the Spirit drive?
Let's get back to our main text over in Galatians 5.
Church, are you still with me here?
Alright, let's get into it.
First thing here is we see we have to submit to God.
If we're going to let the Spirit drive, the first thing we have to
do is we have to submit to God.
Galatians 5, 16 again.
So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to God.
To the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh.
They're at odds.
They're in conflict with each other.
So you are not to do whatever you want.
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
What is this guided to first things first?
We have to make a decision that we are going to submit our lives to God.
We are going to submit.
We are going to surrender and we're going to submit.
I am going to be a God centered person.
I am going to be one who follows Jesus, the Messiah.
I'm going to be one that follows the Spirit's promptings in my life.
If I don't start off with the submission and the decision, I can't get anywhere.
If we don't turn on the, if we don't make a decision, if we
don't turn on that remote, the car doesn't move in the same way.
And so if we take this analogy, we literally have to hand over
the keys of our life over to God and say, Lord, you drive.
Who was it, Carrie Underwood that said, Jesus, take the wheel?
We have to literally say, Jesus, take the wheel of my life and
don't be a backseat driver.
Because that's what we like to do.
Uh, can you please make a left?
Uh, what are you doing?
You're going a little too fast.
Can you slow down?
I believe God be like, man, if you don't shut up back there, let me drive.
My son is six.
He be trying to, he be, he be doing some backseat driving.
I'm like, you've never driven before.
Why are you telling, and he does, he does it to my mom.
My mom's like, boy, if you don't stop, but that's what we be doing to God.
Like, God, if you, can we tell you how to do this?
Do you know I'm the Ancient of Days?
Don't you know I've been doing this for a long time?
I know what I'm doing.
I have a pretty good track record.
And so we have to submit to God.
We have to decide, God, your will over mine.
The same prayer Jesus had in the Gethsemane, in the Garden of
Gethsemane, before he went to the cross.
Not my will, but your will be done.
So we have to make that first initial decision to submit to God.
Second, we have to deal with sin.
We have to deal with sin.
Let's go back over the passage.
It says, the acts of the flesh are obvious and it lists all these things.
Sexual sin, idolatry, that could be any form of, uh, putting
anything above God in our lives.
That could be ourselves, it could be image, it could be fame, it
could be wealth, whatever it is.
Or worshiping things that are not of God.
Hatred, discord, all these different relational issues and sins.
It says, I warn you as I did before, those who live like this will
not inherit the kingdom of God.
Those who belong to Christ, verse 24, have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires.
You see, we have to address and confront these issues in our life.
We have to address that we can't leave these over in the corner
and think somehow if I leave it in the corner it's going to be okay.
We have to confront the sin in our lives.
We have to look and say, is this in my life?
Because it says, and the like.
So what's like this?
Is it in my life?
Is it, is there anything controlling me?
And then here's the thing.
It's not just the outward sinful acts.
It says to deal with.
It says, crucify the flesh and what?
It's passions and desires.
The inside as well.
We have to address and confront what's in our hearts.
Because sometimes we can address, Okay, all right, the drinking, the
smoking, the lying, the cheating.
All right, I can do all that.
But the anger and bitterness that's within us,
the resentment that we may have, the lust that is within us, that maybe
doesn't yet come out in action.
It says we have to crucify that.
That means we have to put it to death.
We got to get a sledgehammer.
We got to kill that sin that's within us.
And it's not a one time thing.
This is a lifestyle.
But we have to crucify the sin that's in us.
You know, God can't bless and He can't leave if we have this
sin unchecked in our lives.
He can't do it.
If I want to get closer to God, but yet I have all this sin that I haven't addressed
and confronted, it's not gonna work out.
Because God's gonna lead me, He's gonna say, We gotta deal with this sin, this
baggage, this stuff is weighing you down, so therefore you can't follow me.
And so He's gonna always call us to deal with it.
You say, I wanna serve, I wanna be more used in the ministry.
But if you have issues with people, that's not gonna work out.
So we have to deal with the sin in our lives.
And first we have to acknowledge there may be sin in our lives.
Then, not after we, after we acknowledge it, then you go, Well, you know what?
I need to get real about this.
I need to confess this to God.
Many times I need to pull other people in my life, so I can get help on
how to overcome this sin in my life.
Brothers and sisters, are you with me here?
We have to deal with sin.
And it's the new year.
What a great opportunity we have to start fresh, to start anew.
It's by looking at our sin right now and by dealing with it so that we can
go out and we can be, become, and do all that God wants us to be, become, and do.
And the next thing we need to do is then we need to keep in step with the Spirit.
After we deal with our sin, we have to keep in step.
I love that imagery that comes to mind in this passage.
It says, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step With the spirit.
It's not a one time thing.
I made a decision on January 5th I need to make a decision on January 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and so forth I need to make a daily decision that me and
the Lord we are going to walk together I'm not gonna jump in front of him.
I'm going to follow his lead in my life So every morning I make a decision I'm
gonna submit to you I'm gonna deal and I'm gonna follow your direction That
means we need to have daily time with God.
Not for legalistic purposes, because we desperately need
God's leadership in our lives.
How can we be led by God if we don't spend time with God?
So we have to spend time with God in His Word and in prayer.
But then we follow the Spirit's lead throughout the day.
You see, when I'm in, I'm in sync with the Spirit.
When I'm, I have a general understanding of God's will for our lives as Christians.
I have that, and you have that general understanding.
But what happens is, throughout the day, the Spirit will lead you and open your
eyes to opportunities where He wants to use you and He wants you to do something.
And those promptings, that's when we have to continually follow the Spirit's lead.
I know what I can do, oftentimes, is, there's an opportunity.
And something will say you should go say something.
You know, go call that brother and sister that you've been thinking about.
Or, you know what, share your faith right now.
And I'll say, uh, I'll do it later.
And later turns into, didn't do it at all.
Can any of you relate to that?
And so then I'm like, Oh man, I messed up.
Okay, I'll do it again.
But yet, the Spirit's been prompting me.
But because I decided I'm going to be here and not stay in step
with the Spirit, I lose out on the opportunity to see God working but
also to join God in His good work.
To continue to be a good, a divine agent of good.
And so we have to make daily decisions, again, to spend time with God.
But then we follow the Spirit's prompting throughout the day.
You know what?
Let me, let me, let me encourage that person at work.
You know what, let, let, let me, let me give some help to that student in class.
You know what, let me call that sister.
I know she's been going through some things.
Let me give her a call.
You know what, so and so, I haven't seen him.
Let me check in on him.
You know, my neighbor, I've never really shared the good news with my neighbor.
Let me share the good news.
And God will start to create opportunities.
And you'll start to see more clearly where the Spirit is prompting you.
And then when you step in faith, you will do it.
And you'll see God work, not only in their lives, but in your life.
As you stay closer and closer to God, understanding more and more of
who He is, His nature, and His will.
That means also consistently connecting with Spirit filled,
Spirit led disciples of Jesus.
To keep in step with the Spirit, that means we gotta have other people around
us that are Spirit filled and Spirit led.
You get what I'm saying?
If I spend all my time, the majority of my time, with people
who aren't Spirit filled and Spirit led, guess what that's gonna do?
Hmm.
I'm not going to be as prone to being spirit led because I'm going to probably
morph into more of their thinking as opposed to the Spirit's thinking.
So are you saying don't ever spend time with non Christians?
No, then you missed every other word before that.
I'm saying here is if we're going to stay in step with the Spirit, we have to have
consistent connection with our brothers and sisters who are spirit led as well.
Let's get real practical right here.
Can we do that?
Can we have some action steps this week here?
Let's go ahead and let's do this here.
Church, are you still with me?
First up, this week here, write this down, take a picture, do whatever
you need to do here, alright?
So you can do this this week here.
I'd encourage you to start tonight or Monday.
Don't wait till Tuesday, cause then you won't do it, alright?
Don't wait till the newsletter comes out.
Go ahead and do it today or, or tomorrow.
Here's first thing.
Address unchecked sin.
Address any unchecked sin.
Sin you maybe you haven't confessed, you haven't acknowledged, or sin
that you just haven't dealt with.
And whatever the spirit leads to prompting, whether that's getting help
or maybe it's just a clear decision.
I need to cut this thing out of my life.
Whatever it is, address the unchecked sin.
And then secondly, pray for the church to be spirit driven.
Not just for you, because it's not just about you.
It's about all of us.
It's about every single one of us being spirit driven.
And so we need to pray not only for ourselves and for our family members,
but we need to pray for the congregation.
And not just our congregation, but for all of the saints all across the world.
Because how incredible would it be if all the saints were spirit driven?
How incredible would it be for every disciple of Jesus to be spirit driven?
What would that look like?
You see, we need to pray.
We need to always go to God.
God, may I be spirit filled, but may your every single one of your saints Be
spirit driven today and let's watch and let's testify to God's goodness as he
leads us closer to him, closer to his will, and closer to being spirit driven.
We're going to take communion right now.
This is a time where we take the emblems, uh, the, the bread and the
juice that represent Jesus blood and body that was broken and spilled
for our opportunity at salvation.
And in Romans chapter 8, you can read Romans chapter 8 because it really
coincides with Galatians chapter 5, the text that we read here.
But it's going to help us see, again, the connection between the It's the
spirit and the cross and the salvation that you and I enjoy and the spirit
that gives us freedom in Christ.
We'll close out here, Romans chapter 8 and verse 1.
It says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation.
For those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law
of the spirit who gives life and set you free from the law of sin and death
for what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh.
God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be
a sin offering, and so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do
not live according to the flesh.
But according to the Spirit.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you so much for your scriptures.
Again, thank you for your Holy Spirit.
Thank you for the opportunities that we have.
God, we do acknowledge, I know I have forfeited so many blessings.
So many good things by allowing, not allowing your Spirit to drive.
But, well, I veer out of the course and direction for my
life because I take things over.
And God, I acknowledge that and I confess that.
And Father, I repent of that.
And Father, we desperately want to be led by your spirit.
We want to be empowered by your spirit.
We want to obey your spirit.
And Father, we are so grateful that it's because of Christ
that we have this opportunity.
We have the spirit in our lives.
And we have the example in Christ.
Thank you, Lord, for staying upon the cross.
Thank you for dying for my and everyone's sins.
But thank you for resurrecting.
Therefore, allowing us to resurrect too, spiritually, and have a new life.
It's in the name of Jesus.
Amen.