People of the Spirit

Talk about growing up in a church that didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit a lot in a spontaneous way.

Talk about growing up in a church that didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit a lot in a spontaneous way.

Have you ever heard someone talk about being in the spirit, being led by the spirit, in step with the spirit, moved by the holy spirt, being in with the holy spirit. Why are they important?

Let’s read what Paul has to say about the Holy Spirit.

Let’s read what Paul has to say about the Holy Spirit.

Read 1-4.

So, first of all, Paul only classifies two kinds of people here. Only two. People who are in the Spirit, and people who are in the flesh.

We can live in flesh or we can live in Spirit.

So, who are these two people? Who are the people who live in the flesh? Who are these people who live in the Spirit?

First, lets talk about people of the flesh. Paul says a couple things about them. He says they are people who are hostile, who act as if they hate, God. He says they are people who cannot follow God’s laws. He says people of the flesh cannot please God. He even says that people of the flesh live in death.

Paul is talking about sin.

Slide.

Sin is what makes a person hostile towards God. Sin is what stops us from being able to live according to God’s direction, or His laws. Sin is what causes death. Sin separates us from God and causes us to not be able to live in relationship with him. Sin causes all kinds of evil human behavior, like pride, hatred, lying, and violence. The list goes on. These are the things of flesh Paul talks about. Sin is in our very nature, or as Paul puts it, in our very flesh. When we are living according to that sinful nature we are people of the flesh.

Verse 1-2.

What does this look like.

So far people of the flesh sound bad. So, who are the people of the Spirit then? Paul says people of the Spirit live in peace and life. That doesn't seem like much until you compare it to that really bad list of what the people of the flesh live in.

2

But where do peace and joy come from? Paul says they don’t come from our nature, or our flesh.

How did we become free?

Verse 12 to 13.

Action based on obeying the rules vs out of a response to God.

The flesh is influenced by culture, but the Spirit is influenced by the Word.

Verse 6 to 7

Thought based on the sinful culture around vs or on His word.

The flesh belongs to itself, but the Spirit belongs to Christ.

Verse 14 to 17

Identity rooted in belonging to ourselves vs belonging to God.

law of spirit vs law of sin

we can vs 3

things of spirit

peace vs chaos

hostile to God

how we do it 4-7

scripture vs common sense

3-4 how

5-7 does and doesn't look like

9-11 benefits

Christ in you

eternal life

why do you care?