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Thank you for joining us for a sermon from Sojourn North. We're celebrating Mother's Day today, and in the mix of emotions, and some of us have lost our mothers, and there's so many things going on, but we celebrate Mother's Day because of the beauty of mothers and the position God has gifted them to be an influence to children and to so many others. And so we have a photo booth out in the entryway here. If you want to take some pictures afterwards, Connie and Bob set that up. Very beautiful. We also have carnations for every female as they're walking out today. And don't judge your worth based on how beautiful the particular flowers you get, because some of them may be a little shriveled, but while supplies last, they're gonna be great. So take that and a carnation. Um I was looking it up, but it can stand for distinction, deep love, and affection. So remember that you are loved. And so we we come and I was thinking about, yeah, we celebrate mothers, we give gifts, and I would look online and it's like, man, they have so many gifts you can get people, and so I want to show you a few. You you may have found yourself in a black hole looking at gifts. Some gifts, which may or may not be the best gift, they have witty statements. Here's a few. Um, the hardest part of parenting is the kids that's on the towel. So on that towel you can wash off your hands. This one's everywhere in some form or fashion. It's mom's last nerve candle, and it's like, oh, look, it's on fire. Next we have you there's bath and body works as a store, but for a mom, maybe the back and body hurts. If you can read this, mom is off duty. So those are good, and sometimes you need to get your mom some earrings. So here's some options. There's a cracker cheese and meatboard for earrings, and then in one ear, out the other. And then finally, poultry themed gifts are in this year. Some of these you can mark off as like, not a good idea. So that's that. Those are some interesting gifts to show our appreciation. I was thinking if some someone gets a gift like that, and the mother looks at her kids and says, I don't think you really know me. You know, it's like, you think I'd like that? Okay, we'll see. Um But as I was thinking about the passages we've been walking through with Galatians, we've been talking about being formed, and it fits perfect with Mother's Day, because a mother's love can form a child and their children in beautiful ways. But you have to remember that it's slow. It's not some big event that the mother does typically, it's slow work, slow influence over a long time. And that's much of how formation takes place in our life. It's small things that are mostly unnoticed over a long period of time, and then we see there's been influence that has taken place. And when Paul is talking in Galatians 5, talking about these voices we're listening to, these two ways to live, he wants to slow us down and say, what way are you going? How are you being formed? Because the truth is you're being formed by something, and we've been hitting that a lot. And as we come to this week, we're going to see something is growing in your life. If you have a yard, you look at nature outside, it can be groomed really well, but you can't just push pause and go away all summer and say nothing grow, because something will grow. And typically, if you're not taking care of your yard, weeds grow. So something's growing always. And it will not remain stagnant. But what is growing in your life? It's not just that we're being formed by what we decide, that is a big thing, but it's by what we walk with, it's what we walk in, it's what we set our mind's attentions to, it's what we set our heart's affection to. And as we look at today, a very familiar passage on the fruit of the Spirit, it's my heart that God would show us something, if it's new, beautiful, if not, and deeper application to the truths that we already know, but He has something for each of us here today, because the Holy Spirit knows all things and speaks to our hearts. So with that in mind, I invite you to stand if you wish for the reading of God's word. Passage we read today is Galatians 5, 13 to 26, and it's all about walking, it's all about desire, it's all about fruit and formation, and ultimately it's about a lot of choices we make. And so let's hear this from the Apostle Paul. For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters. Only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. I say then, walk by the spirit, and you will certainly not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the spirit, and the spirit desires what is against the flesh. These are opposed to each other, so that you do, so that you don't do what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. And I'm warning you about these things as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. The Apostle Paul is an amazing pastor. He's done so much already in Galatians. He's given us a theological foundation for us to be thinking about. He's given us a biblical foundation as he's looked all the way back to Abraham coming and then the law and how that all spreads out. And I think as we consider what Paul is doing here, he's making a turn to say, because of all these things, this is how it applies to your life. And we have to take what God teaches us, and it needs to be applied, doesn't it? And so today's passage could be looked at in the way of freedom has been given, so there's freedom. What are you going to do with your freedom? What direction are you going to move? And then what fruit is going to be produced? So the first point is freedom is not self-focused, it is love-focused. So the natural question when you're reading a passage like this, and Paul addresses it in Romans as well, but it's since I'm free, if I'm really free, doesn't that mean I can do anything I want? And there's a nuance to this answer because at the end of the day, it's well, yes, you can do whatever you want. You can. Should you? No. At the end of the day, will you want to do everything you want? And I'd say, no. When you're talking about the flesh, there's so much circular nuance we could go on there. Because he's saying you can take two paths with your freedom. And I think within a day, a week, we're taking both paths. There are times where we live selfishly, like we're alone and we're doing this, and we're the works of the flesh are coming out. It may not be sorcery, it may not be picking up tarot cards, but anger, jealousy, like those things come out. And they can be reminders to say, oh, I am on this path or I've drifted. I want to come back. I want to keep in step with the spirit, because that's not what I'm called to over here. Because we know if we live selfishly, it's not the kingdom of God. And it's I'll say this phrase a few times today. It's not the way of Jesus. Jesus said, give your life away, and you'll find life. To live a selfless life. To live your life for others. And as you live your life for others, as you seek, I may switch again. We're still working on frequencies. Can I go here, Chris? I was about to talk about the gift of frequencies, even though I don't know much about it. RAF. Look it up. I don't even know what that stands for, but the F probably stands for frequencies. But we're working out the wireless stuff here. But what was I saying before we we uh took that little hiatus? I bet I can look down and find it. We're talking about freedom. Oh, the natural outworking of living selfishly. It's not the kingdom of God. So Jesus comes and he shows us a new way. And so what happens when we live selfishly? Well, he tells us in verse 15, you're gonna bite and devour each other. That's what happens. And then it says, you'll be consumed by one another. Have you been in a community where everyone's living for themselves and there's backbiting, there's there's a lot of uh gossip that goes around and people are tearing each other down behind people's backs? What ends up ends up happening? That place, people get consumed and burned and shoved away, and it's it's just not the place that God has for us. But when our freedom we've been given can be used for what it was given for, beautiful things can take place. Now, when I'm thinking about Christian freedom, it's not the freedom to do whatever we want in our flesh, it's freedom to live into who we are created to be, which is to love others and to love God. There are many things that wage war against our soul. And that leads us to point two. The Christian life is a daily walk, not a one-time decision. There's a pastor I love who said one of the most hated words in all the Christian life is daily, because it's a Christian life is a daily walk. It's not you come on Sundays, if this is the only time where you get fed by the word, and then you go walk the rest of the week just in your own strength, and then you come back next Sunday, glad you're here. Keep coming back. But that would be equivalent to eating a little meal, or really when we come on Sunday, it's a big meal, come on, right? We get beautiful music, wonderful liturgy. So let's say you come on Sundays, you stuff yourself, and it keeps you going for the rest of the day, but you wake up in the morning. What's going to happen? If you don't eat for the rest of the week, you will become anemic, you will become weak, and it's not going to sustain you. Yesterday's manna is not good enough for today. We have to continually go back to the source to be filled up. So the Christian life, the walk is daily. You're in relationship with God daily, and we want to grow in that. So Paul shifts from talking about freedom and not using it for our selfish desires and our flesh. He says, Do this. Instead, walk by the spirit. He says, keep this in mind. The desires of the flesh are against the spirit. And then he says this, which I think is very interesting. The desires of the flesh can keep you from doing what you want to do. Now, this is where I want us just to slow down and pause because I think a lot of us come from a lot of different backgrounds. And so I want us to name a couple realities. Because I think again, people can live, and I have lived this way myself, defeated lives because your expectation isn't an expectation God has placed on you. And let me explain that. So many people can think this. Why, if I've been following Christ for so many years, why is this life still such a struggle? And you can say, I must not have had enough faith or whatever else. The reality is, life will always be a struggle. Your flesh will always wage war against the spirit. You have choices to make every day. For the flesh desires what is against the spirit, and the spirit desires what is against the flesh. These are opposed to each other so that you do not do what you want. This is the same thing if you read Romans 7, the waging of the war between the flesh and your redeemed self that the Spirit is speaking to and seeking to guide. So think about this. The flesh, the spirit. So someone hurts you, this is natural to say in your mind, I want to hurt them back. Does anybody think that? Anybody get pulled like cut off in traffic and it's like, I want to speed up and cut them off. See what let them see what that don't do it because people are crazy out there. If you know, you never know how crazy someone is. Oh goodness gracious, just swallow it and move on. But you can say, you know, you feel that anger come up, and you can say this to yourself. I can't believe that I thought that. I wanted to get that person back. I can't believe that I really wanted to do that. I must be such a sinful person. Well, you probably are such a sinful person. We are sinful people. We are sinners, we are saints, and we are sufferers. All those things are true. But if you beat yourself down and you think you shouldn't have a human response to things, the point isn't what your immediate response is. The point is what do you do with that? So someone injures me, and I'm like, oh, I want to get them back, and it's like, if I can go to the Lord by grace, and Lord, I confess to you that I am feeling wounded right now, and I want to strike back and hurt them as well. But Lord, I know that's not the way of you, Jesus. And I pray that you would fill me with love and compassion. I pray blessings upon them. Doesn't this sound like the Sermon on the Mount? I pray blessings upon them, even though they're my enemy. And I trust you, please help me. That is humble surrender. The life with the spirit is a life of humble surrender where you're not doing it alone. If I'm here doing it alone and I'm like, I can't believe I thought that. Well, you might say, like, of course I think that, I'm gonna go get them, but that's a bad thing. But if you're here just spiraling, like, I shouldn't have thought that, I shouldn't, man, you're still alone. You've been set free to be in relationship with the creator of the universe, who intimately knows every detail of your life, knows more about you than you do, knows the number of hairs on your head. He sees you, he knows you, he knows your deepest desires, and this is the God who says, Bring that to me. So the reality is you will struggle. You may have seasons where it's like, man, things are going well, but the struggle will come again. It's gonna happen. All right. Reality number two. In life, you cannot remain stagnant because what Paul said, the flesh desires what the spirit doesn't want, the spirit desires what the flesh doesn't want, and so you're in this war. You cannot just say, Oh, I'm just gonna stay where I'm at. There's a wonderful article that Tim Keller wrote on Christian character and ministry, and his whole point is that something is gonna grow in the garden of your life. It's not if something will grow, something will grow, and weeds will grow if you're not attentive and cultivating your life with God. What is growing in you? So I want to demystify it by just sharing with you uh an illustration of a day in my life, and not even really many details. I want it to be just a normal, boring day. Because I think a lot of times when we say, What does it look like to keep in step with the spirit? Then amazing things are gonna happen. This is gonna be awesome. It's like, no, most of the days are just days. I stub my toe on one day, I stub it on the next. I really don't stub my toe that many times, but it's just normal stuff happens. So this is an ordinary day. This is day one. This is me keeping in step with the spirit. Nothing dramatic is happening, but I wake up and even briefly, just briefly, I acknowledge as I slow myself, I acknowledge God is with me, that He's been working all night long, He always is doing His thing, and I get to re-enter and join Him in the work that He has for me today. As the day unfolds, I begin to notice when I feel rushed. This happened just uh two days ago. I was like rushing around and just feeling so much anxiety. I was like, why am I rushing? Slow down. Let's just notice what's going on. I notice when irritation arises and I don't seek to judge it, I just seek to see Lord, why is this here? When anxiety starts to creep in, I notice it. And instead of just reacting, I want to turn and pray, Lord, let the Spirit lead me. And I trust you. And I seek to turn that over to the Lord. I may do that a hundred times in a day, but I'm doing it the life, I'm keeping in step with the Spirit by not being alone. And we do this with each other too. When we're struggling, I can text Ginger or James Santos or other friends and just say, hey, really struggling today, asking for prayer. That's another humble submission of surrender and just saying, like, I can't do this alone, but I'm not supposed to. That's another way to keep in step with the spirit. Normal day. Here's the same day with a different twist. And I've lived this day many times in my life. And the truth is, you might not be able to notice unless you're in a relationship with me, much of a difference. I wake up and I'm already carrying the day, I'm already stressed because I know some emails I need to catch up on and some other things. So there's no pause, there's no awareness. Everything feels a little more urgent, a little more is on me. It's like I got to make sure this is done. So irritation comes and I just let it brew. Anxiety rises, and then I start seeing it take over. Conversation. I have with people, they feel sharper and more reactive. I feel more annoyed. Frustration starts brewing some anger inside. Why can't people just leave me alone? If they only knew how hard I worked, why would they ask me? I never say that, but someone might, so maybe I should switch that. That's an internal voice. I look at someone on Facebook, which I shouldn't, I don't even have a Facebook account, but sometimes I sneak on gingers just to see what's going on with y'all. And I see someone who's got the perfect life going on. They just got a new vehicle. Maybe I'm struggling with my vehicle. They're happy with the family playing Monopoly, and it's just like, oh, this is great. And I'm like, man, life's not so easy for some of us. Some of us have to work for a living. Do you see all the judgment and stuff? All the sickness in the soul? You know, I could keep going with the illustration, but it's like, wow, what's going on down here? Jealousy? Some covetousness comes out. There's not much difference in the days at an eye level. But at a heart level, they're hugely different. Hugely different. This day I lived on my own like an orphan. This day I lived like an adopted precious child of the King. That's keeping in step with the Spirit. That's why we read the Word. That's why you listen to some podcasts. That's why you get together with Christian brothers and sisters. That's why we gather on Sundays to keep in step with the Spirit. And when we drift, what happens? We drift. We notice these signs. It's kind of the really beautiful grace of God that when life starts going sideways, it's like, okay, anger's coming out. There's something amiss. I need to check in on this. Pull someone who knows you and loves you. And say, hey, this is sneaking out sideways when pressure's coming. I want to, I want to deal with this. Can we pray together and talk together? All right, last point. We're free. We're called to use our freedom to love others, to serve others, not to use it selfishly. We're called to use our freedom to keep in step with the Spirit. You have a thousand choices to make in a day. And we'll make some good ones, we'll make some bad ones. But part of growing in maturity is just acknowledging our need and continuing to seek the Father's face. But it gets to our third point. What you cultivate will become visible in your life. What you cultivate will become visible in your life. Paul makes this contrast concrete. He's going to show us through application. He's like, this is what the works of the flesh look like. This is what the fruit of the Spirit looks like. Which one's coming in your life? So let's look at the works of the flesh. And if you if you think I'm pretty good because this list doesn't hit me, at the end of the list, he says, in anything similar. So this isn't an all-inclusive list. It's like, in anything similar to these things. And you can look at this list, and I love I it's interesting how we gradate sin sometimes. Like uh we'll say, like, I'm not on this list because you read the first few things, it's like, I'm not in sorcery, I'm doing pretty good, but then you read on down, it's like selfish ambition. You're like, well, maybe I am on the list. Got me. You got me, Paul. But let's let's look at it. Sexual immorality. We know that can be external. It might just be internal. Moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry. We all have idols in our hearts. We may not be bound down to them externally, like a carved image, but we all have idols in our hearts. Sorcery, hatreds in this translation, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions. If you're not seeing yourself on this list, maybe just talk to someone who's close to you. Dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things such as these. That's what naturally happens when we follow the flesh. It's gonna happen. You may be really good at hiding that to come out externally, but if it's brewing around and this is all you're consumed with inside, that's not why we've been set free. God's saying, I don't want you to live in that, my child. I don't want you to live there. And I will mention the warning real quick because it's a scary warning. I won't go, I do have an article I've written on this if you if you want uh more information. But he says, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if you have a sensitive conscience, you might look at that and go, Well, I'm not inheriting the kingdom of God because I do struggle with this. But Paul's wording is very important, and looking at the whole of Scripture is very important. Those who practice these things, those who turn themselves over to these things, it's not that if you struggle with envy that you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. It's that those who say, I don't care if someone came to me and said, Hey, I've been set free, Chad, and I do whatever I want, whenever I want. It's awesome. And I say, Well, let's sit and talk. And they said, I go out to the bars and I pick up ladies, and I just do whatever I want because Christ set me free. And I say, Well, let's let me be a fruit inspector. Let's start looking at fruit in your life. And I'm like, I don't care. I just hurt people. I just and I basically I'll stop that example. I look at the person, and this has happened before. And I say, I can't look into your heart, but I have no reason to believe that you are following Christ, that you are his child, because there is no fruit. There isn't the love, joy, peace, patience. You're just hurting people. So don't be self-deceived. Take this seriously because a lot is at stake. That type of life that just turns themselves over and just says, I don't care, I'm doing whatever I want. That's the type of behavior, that person is not one who would inherit the kingdom of God. If you want more information on that and nuance, I can give it to you. But the kingdom of God, as we seek this, and I use this illustration all the time, our goal is to look at our lives. One uh picture is that we are plants. And a plant can't grow itself, but a plant can put itself in two places in this illustration. If the plant puts itself in the closet and shuts the door and gets no sunlight, doesn't get any water or food, the plant is not going to grow. It's going to wither. But that same plant, if it's put into the sunlight, if it's given food and nutrients and water and photosynthesis is just able to take place. Growth will take place. So the fruit that comes out, we cannot force fruit, but we can put ourselves in this place of growth. And once again, different illustrations. I want to hit you with another one. You go outside, and you may say, Chad, you haven't really been outside this season because I can tell because of the paleness of your skin. That's okay. I will get outside at some point. But if you're outside all day and you haven't even noticed much, and then you come in and someone says, Wow, you must have been affected by the sun. And you're like, What? I really and then you go look in the mirror and you've got like a nice little sunburn going on. It's like I didn't even know I was being affected by the sun. If you put yourself in the place of being affected by the sun, S-O-N, you're here. You do that in your life. You may not sense it in the moment, but it matters. And what is the fruit that God produces? Fruit singular, all of these things will come out in some facet. Love. These are all used in relationship. Relationship with God, relationship with others. Joy. This is experiential for ourselves as well. Peace. What a gift. I have lived so many days in my life lacking peace because of anxiety and so many things swirling around. And to be able to breathe and just say, Man, Lord, thank you. You're in control. That fruit of peace to me is one of the sweetest on this list. What's one of the sweetest ones for you? Patience. And it doesn't mean you feel patient, but maybe you're acting impatient because the fruit is taking place. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness, power under constraint, self-control. Your life will bear fruit in coordination with what is forming you. So it's a chance for us to look. And so we have a sentence to carry this week just for you to reflect on. The life you are cultivating is the life that will grow. The life you are cultivating is the life that will grow. And maybe for some of you here today, this is a this is just what we're talking about with Four Nation. Normal Sunday, normal sermon. But this could be the Holy Spirit speaking to you, the point of delineation where you shift to seeking his face more. Subtle shift, huge implications. Because the Father's heart for you, my heart for you, is that you could live in freedom, and that freedom could bring you joy. And that we would be a community growing in love for each other. We're already there in so many ways. And I'm going to talk next week on May 17th about bearing one another's burdens, and I'm going to talk about what God is laying on my heart for us together to facilitate growing in community together amongst each other. Because we have so much here, so much to offer each other. But we're being invited to seek his face. As you come to communion today, this is what has bought us our freedom. And we talked about walking and keeping in step with the Spirit. The posture is one of humble surrender. Lord, you know I want to follow you. Maybe reflect as you come up, as you hear some music and you take the elements back to your seat. Just reflect on this. What type of life am I cultivating, Lord? Lord, what are you inviting me to? And as you pray that prayer, listen. Listen. Subtle changes can make huge differences in your life, brother and sister. If you're a Christian here today, I invite you to come and you can take the elements back to your seat and just hold them, and I'll lead us in communion all together in a bit. Become reflecting with open hearts. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this amazing passage. We thank you that you did not leave us alone. You called us to yourself and you made a way for us to be with you in your family, bound in your arms with affection for all eternity. And Lord, I pray that you would continue to teach us while we're here on earth, before the new heavens and new earth, that how we can keep in step with the Spirit more. That Holy Spirit, we would listen to you for correction and for guidance and for comfort. And through it all, that we would be able to see more and more fruit produced in our lives. That that is the natural outflow of what you are doing in our hearts. Lord, may we be a people who are formed to become more like Christ. Speak to our hearts, Father, and may we listen and respond in obedience as we do this time of communion. We ask this in the precious name of Christ. Amen.